Game Thread: Kings at Spurs - Thursday, March 3, 2022 | 7:30 PM CT

[John B]

Spurs Injuries: Romeo Langford (Questionable — Groin)
Kings Injuries: Terence Davis (Out — Wrist), Richaun Holmes (Questionable — Back)

Fox and Sabonis are playing well together, which is good if Spurs are tanking :lmao. I seriously don’t know which direction the Spurs are taking. Spurs are favored -275 on moneyline. Pop got his tie breaker tonight. Spurs by 10pts. Go Spurs Go!!! :flag::flag::flag:

[rjv]

team tank should be worried if spurs win this one. NOLA is playing solid ball now but with the way the lakers are falling, the spurs are in danger of making the play-in.

[slick'81]

Sours finally at home . Should be a good game i guess. Hopefully the spurs find a way to get this W and make that playoff push

[KingKev]

team tank should be worried if spurs win this one. NOLA is playing solid ball now but with the way the lakers are falling, the spurs are in danger of making the play-in.

Beating the Lakers in the play-in would be a pretty nice consolation prize to ending up with what is now looking like could be a low teens draft pick.

Still some hope we slide these last 20 games and get a lucky ball drop for a top 5 pick.

[Leetonidas]

Murray always struggles with Fox...let's hope he's fired up after getting rawdogged by Morant the other night and brings his A game

[RC_Drunkford]

damn no Haliburton anymore to cook us. Let's hope they somehow get the L

[BatManu20]

Kings are terrible. This is an easy Spurs dub tbh.

[BackHome]

Yeah we should easily win this as the Kings are all in the Tank mode

[mystargtr34]

Looking at advanced lineup stats for the Kings on nba.com, there are some lineups with Sabonis and Fox that have worked really well i.e. have a good net rating while others which have been really poor. Not surprising given both have weaknesses on defense that get exposed if you don't have the right role players around them.

Sabonis-Fox 2-man lineup has a net rating of -2.8 in 225 minutes on the court together. Not that great but not horrible.
Sabonis-Fox-Mitchell 3-man lineups are +16.9 in 51 minutes.
Sabonis-Fox-Mitchell-Barnes 4-man lineups are +20.4 in 42 minutes.
Sabonis-Fox-Mitchell-Barnes-Lamb lineups are +24.0 in 21 minutes. Sample size starts getting too small now to read too much into it.

The 5-man lineup that has been used the most since the Sabonis trade is Sabonis-Fox-Barnes-Harkless-Holiday which has a net rating of -16.2 in 69 minutes.

I don't think Gentry is smart enough to realise any of the above.

[emanueldavidginobili]

Romeo is available for the first time as a Spur.

[slick'81]

Spurs going 13-7 these final 20 games

[CGD]

Just need to get past this pop record already so we can tank in peace!

[Robz4000]

First game after a long road trip is always hard to win. Kings take this imo.

[Robz4000]

Oh shit, Trey Lyles revenge game tonight.

[slick'81]

Tre motha fckn lyles

[LakerHater]

Trey Lyles is a king?

[slick'81]

Hopefully spurs come out hungry after getting embarrassed

[John B]

What no tribute video for Lyle? :lmao

[slick'81]

Lonnie/primo!!

[slick'81]

Poodle with the fresh cut looking gooood

[John B]

I like Lonnie’s no hesitating to shoot that 3. It didn’t go in, but just keep on shooting

[slick'81]

Play in getting closer and closer

[slick'81]

Sky walker bitches!!

[Sugus]

EL FUCKING CUATRO!!!

[slick'81]

Mini Arvydas not bad

[PhantomDashCam]

Like the way Lonnie’s is mixing it up to start the game. Less pre-programmed so far.

[slick'81]

Meeeeeetu

[Sugus]

I don't know how people look at this version of Lonnie and not want to keep him, tbh. He's been very aggressive, and mixing up his scoring on all 3 levels with ease, whilst bending defenses left and right. Yes, he's not making every shot, yes he has a lot to work with, but he's never looked like he wants it more than this last stretch. Of course you gotta see if it's sustained, but it's looking increasingly likely that the Spurs can't afford to lose Lonnie, tbh. They have literally no one on the bench that has that "fire" or scoring spark, and he fits the offense to a T. He wants to stay in SanAn... What more do y'all want out of him?

I said it before the season, the Spurs will regret not giving him another contract. I gave a $10m/per figure, which predictably was laughed at, but now I'm even thinking it was conservative. I have little doubt that he'll garner interest from other teams, if only for his athleticism alone, not to mention the rest of his game. Might be one of the more interesting storylines of the off-season tbh.


And by the Gods, ship Tre Jones to the fucking moon. Disgusting to see a player so scared to shoot and score at all levels. Defense alone ain't gonna cut it in the modern NBA, not even for a savant like Thybulle, much less for a pretty pedestrian one like Tre. I've been everything but impressed with him this season.

[slick'81]

Vassell for3

[slick'81]

Pop looking to get thrown out tonight

[slick'81]

Lonnie microwave walker!!

[slick'81]

Resign lonnie now!!

[slick'81]

Tre jones you suck

[Sugus]

Ahh, Lonnie shitting on SpursTalk is such a sight to behold... Yes my boy, YES!!

[Robz4000]

Lonnie going for 50.

[slick'81]

Lonnie is god

[Sugus]

NUT

:ihit:ihit:ihit

[slick'81]

You cannot stop skyWalker you can only hope to contain him

[Slippy]

Ahh, Lonnie shitting on SpursTalk is such a sight to behold... Yes my boy, YES!!

Exstatics going to be plucking some numbers out of his arse to prove this fluke lonnie . Lol

Seriously spurs need to get a stop or they going to waste this performance by Buddah.

Its a lay up drill on the other end for the kings

[TDomination]

This is the lonnie I think we were all hoping for

go lonnie go!

[heyheymymy]

Walker looking like a one man dream team

[heyheymymy]

Lonnie bout to hit 4 straight games with 20+

[slick'81]

Trading white may hve saved lonnies career

[GB20]

Lonnie is putting himself in a good position if keeps playing like this for the rest of the season.

[slick'81]

Lonnie is putting himself in a good position if keeps playing like this for the rest of the season.

to walk away from sa for a payday

[heyheymymy]

Walker with 14 pts in this quarter alone!

[Dex]

Lonnie gonna give the Spurs something to think about if he keeps this up

[slick'81]

Derrick white who?!

[heyheymymy]

How much does Lonnie's improved play price him out for a return to SA?

[slick'81]

Get lonnie the ball

[slick'81]

Fckn bs

[NASpurs]

Way to ignore the guy with the hot hand for the past hour.

[GB20]

to walk away from sa for a payday
But the spurs can match

[Robz4000]

Keldon having an absolutely forgettable game.

[slick'81]

What an awful end to the half

[slick'81]

Lmao lonnie mitchell

[Sugus]

Lonnie Mitchell gonna have to score 50 to will these Spurs to a win against the Kings :lol

[TimDunkem]

"Lonnie!...Mitchell..?..with 22!" - Bill Land

:lmao

[Slippy]

Couldnt get stops and could get the hot man the ball when he was in . Pop then benches lonnie to finish the half.. typical spurs ball

[PhantomDashCam]

Look, I love how Lonnie is playing atm but you can see how poor this team is defensively w/o White (which was a pretty ordinary Defense to begin with).

[Chinook]

Way to ignore the guy with the hot hand for the past hour.

Yeah. People don't understand that Lonnie seems so passive because he seems to be the only guy who doesn't instantly believe his shot is the best the team can do. The one touch he had in that last stretch would have been an off-balance mildly contested three. It's a "heat-check" shot, but not a "good-to-great" look. So rather than breaking off the offense to get his stats, he passed it on. Meanwhile, the three possessions before that were his teammates jacking up bad look after bad look. It's like they felt the need to get their points rather than looking for him. Criticizing Lonnie for being scared just because he doesn't play that way has always been wrong-headed. Even when he's in the zone, he's not selfish. He needs to be more consistently aggressive, but his teammates also need to work on their shot-selections, especially Vassell. Devin takes bad threes all the time. DeJounte calls his own number too much as well, but I think that's mostly him trying to make something happen and put the team on his back. Vassell's aggression should be more situational.

[John B]

I guess it’s another 20+ pts night for Lonnie, bitches :lmao

[Slippy]

This whole starting unit with DJ leading has been shithouse on both ends to start the second half.

[Barfunk]

What in the Sam George Hill is going on in this game? I go away for two seconds and this...

[slick'81]

Mcdermoot mia

[slick'81]

Fck lonnie walker! Ill give lonnie mitchell $50 mil

[Robz4000]

Lonnie still cooking at least.

[SpurSpike]

Walker comes in and instant points on the board.

[PhantomDashCam]

Lonnie !!

https://media.giphy.com/media/l378nIveMELd0Q2D6/giphy-downsized-large.gif

[John B]

Lonnie 30pts bitches :lmao

[slick'81]

29/1/1 Skywalker

[Leetonidas]

Is Primo ever going to actually try to score?

[John B]

Spurs suddenly got cold

[Leetonidas]

There you go Primo

[Barfunk]

Primo!! He may be getting old, but I haven't lost hope in him!

[PhantomDashCam]

Is Primo ever going to actually try to score?

Ask and you shall receive… :tu

[John B]

Primo!

[Leetonidas]

Jones choking at the line

[Barfunk]

What was that Tre??

[slick'81]

This ones for pop!

[slick'81]

Lets go lonnie mitchell

[SPURt]

Lonnie is cooling off, but he’s just getting better and better, I’ve really enjoyed watching him lately.

[SPURt]

Did Keldon get hurt?

[Leetonidas]

The Spurs are the worst jump ball team I've ever seen :lmao

[Robz4000]

Did Keldon get hurt?

Just benched. He's been dogshit tonight.

[Robz4000]

Kings got this tbh.

[slick'81]

Diop fouled him?

[Sugus]

Lonnie is cooling off, but he’s just getting better and better, I’ve really enjoyed watching him lately.

Yeah, agreed, also getting tired. He shot a 3 a couple plays ago that was a great play, but very short. No legs on his jumpers at this point in the game makes his shot more erratic than usual, but I'm glad he's still taking them.

[Sugus]

Kings got this tbh.

Tank rolls on? :eyebrows

[SPURt]

Just benched. He's been dogshit tonight.
I guess dog shit > injury, so that’s positive adjacent?

[ace3g]

Another drought....

Spurs had 103 points at the 3:49 mark of 4th quarter.


1:16 - 4th


1
2
3
4
T


SAC
30
34
24
18
106


SA
27
24
31
21
103

[heyheymymy]

This would be a good loss to help pull the Kings ahead of us in the standings. Let's win 2 more elsewhere.

[SPURt]

Yeah, agreed, also getting tired. He shot a 3 a couple plays ago that was a great play, but very short. No legs on his jumpers at this point in the game makes his shot more erratic than usual, but I'm glad he's still taking them.
Good point, that mid range shot he missed looked tired too

[slick'81]

Nice move lonnie

[Leetonidas]

Murray's been a train wreck tonight

[slick'81]

GG! 3 straight losses for sa

[SPURt]

Had so many opportunities to win this up 4, at least it gets them a better pick.

[Robz4000]

Tank rolls on? :eyebrows

Tank rolls on :flag:

[slick'81]

Sssss salt and peepas here

[Slippy]

What a dumb decision by DJ. Took it into a bunch of defenders in keyway. Not sure what he was aiming. Would rather he set up than looking for his own. Spurs were getting great looks this 4th by running plays .

[PhantomDashCam]

DJ seems to have lost trust in his teammates in these recent late game situations.

[Sugus]

Tank rolls on :flag:

Sad to see a Good Lonnie outing go to waste, but it's all for the betterment of the team. Get 2 more random wins through the season so Pop's record is done with, preferrably after the standings are pretty much set and we've out-tanked some opponents. Then with some luck of the ping pong gods... We can have a chance at getting DJ his long-awaited running mate.

I'm sad to read the 2022 draft thread and hear that it's not (supposedly) a very good draft, but it also makes a high pick all the more important. Tank it out, let the bois play, retool in the off-season and see where we're at next season. I'm all for it.

[slick'81]

Spurs 7th worst record in the league. 1 game ahead of ny/por

[Sugus]

DJ seems to have lost trust in his teammates in these recent late game situations.

Yeah, sad to see. I can understand him being frustrated when Lonnie is pretty much the only other guy who came to play tonight, but still, you're the PG. Get the rest of the team involved. These losses, beyond furthering the tank, should also be helping the team learn and figure out how to close out games. DJ hogging the ball and trying to hero-ball his way into Ws is not good for the team overall.

[heyheymymy]

Premium tanking from the Spurs tonight. A sliver lining loss coming back from 19 down on the Kings as if to say Spurs could almost hang now as is but will cough it back up in hopes of a better pick. Good data from a few guys notably Walker but Jones continues to polish up and Primo had a few possession stretch where he briefly flashed promise. Dev and Poeltl looked pretty good tonight. Off night for KJ and MCD.

Strategic loss to help try and pull Kings up past the Spurs in the standings.

[slick'81]

Murray with the save

[GAustex]

All star coming up short and stat padding when the game is over
GG Walker

[slick'81]

Bring on the hornets

[Sugus]

Ok, credit where it's due: those were great 3's by DJ. Rushed and a bit ill-advised, but understandable given the situation. If only he'd get those pull-ups in his bag to use on the regular, and not just when the game is on the line... He clearly can make them.

[John B]

Lonnie with another 20pts game bitches :lmao

[PhantomDashCam]

Sad to see a Good Lonnie outing go to waste, but it's all for the betterment of the team. Get 2 more random wins through the season so Pop's record is done with, preferrably after the standings are pretty much set and we've out-tanked some opponents. Then with some luck of the ping pong gods... We can have a chance at getting DJ his long-awaited running mate.

I'm sad to read the 2022 draft thread and hear that it's not (supposedly) a very good draft, but it also makes a high pick all the more important. Tank it out, let the bois play, retool in the off-season and see where we're at next season. I'm all for it.

Piggybacking off of this further, Lonnie’s recent ascendancy may give the Spurs brass something extra to think about if initially targeting a SG in the draft. They may very well pivot or at least not rank it with the same level of importance anymore. I love that Lonnie is controlling his fate here. A good situation all-round tbh.

[Dex]

Disappointing, but good loss for tank purposes, I guess.

We really only need two more wins and we can call this season a success.

Still, I’m getting tired of this team shitting the bed when the pressure goes up

[heyheymymy]

Subtly nice distribution from Walker tonight in one example. Found Poeltl cutting (rolling?) to the basket and Walker was able to slip the pass through very sneaky. Walker was obvs not passing a lot tonight (30pts/2ast) but that time at least he flashed an ability that bodes well with Spurs seemingly going forward with only Murray/Jones as classic or official ballhandlers.

Walker can also move very fast with the ball which is another requisite need if he is to slide more into a ball handling 2 or even 3rd string 1 in select matchups / situations. Does it appear the Spurs are testing Walker slightly in that area? I also feel like Primo can bring up the ball at least so that's an option.

[Sugus]

Random note as I was reading another thread: where the hell is Jock Landale??? I don't think I've seen him on the court once in the last what, 5, 7, 8 games I've watched? Maybe I just missed the ones where he was featured? Or is he injured and I didn't realize? He's not on the injury report for this game at least...

Weird that Mr "should replace Jakob in the SL" is riding the pine so thoroughly. I don't think he's a future star or anything like that, but it's weird that he's not playing at all, in spite of our lack of quality bigmen. Zollins hasn't been something out of this world that keeps him from playing, either. What's up, Pop?!

[John B]

Subtly nice distribution from Walker tonight in one example. Found Poeltl cutting (rolling?) to the basket and Walker was able to slip the pass through very sneaky. Walker was obvs not passing a lot tonight (30pts/2ast) but that time at least he flashed an ability that bodes well with Spurs seemingly going forward with only Murray/Jones as classic or official ballhandlers.

I’m totally okay with Lonnie being selfish, for now. A big part of his problem was over deferring, too unselfish. He needed that scorers’ mentality. Good for him. Way to go Lonnie!!

[slick'81]

Random note as I was reading another thread: where the hell is Jock Landale??? I don't think I've seen him on the court once in the last what, 5, 7, 8 games I've watched? Maybe I just missed the ones where he was featured? Or is he injured and I didn't realize? He's not on the injury report for this game at least...

Weird that Mr "should replace Jakob in the SL" is riding the pine so thoroughly. I don't think he's a future star or anything like that, but it's weird that he's not playing at all, in spite of our lack of quality bigmen. Zollins hasn't been something out of this world that keeps him from playing, either. What's up, Pop?!

definitely the 3rd big now. Spurs seem Committed to see what zollins has down the stretch

[GAustex]

Game slows down and defense tightens up Spurs struggle. No real go to scorer.

But we knew that.

Only chance Spurs have is together playing as a unit and with lots of effort.

They really need two PFs

[heyheymymy]

Jock got 26 mins in the Heat game and did decent with them I guess. Seems like he lost his outside shot. But that almost seemed like a showcase because outside of 2 recent games with good mins he has been benched or garbage time only.

[John B]

definitely the 3rd big now. Spurs seem Committed to see what zollins has down the stretch

Yup Zollins is a big pickup if he pans out. Spurs are patient but it’s nice to see him running out there.

[heyheymymy]

I’m totally okay with Lonnie being selfish, for now. A big part of his problem was over deferring, too unselfish. He needed that scorers’ mentality. Good for him. Way to go Lonnie!!

Agreed and that's Walkers role so anything extra aside from scoring is gravy.

[BatManu20]

Landale is a poor defender and a poor rebounder. That’s why pop doesn’t play him much. He’s trying to win games and get his record.

[offset formation]

Random note as I was reading another thread: where the hell is Jock Landale??? I don't think I've seen him on the court once in the last what, 5, 7, 8 games I've watched? Maybe I just missed the ones where he was featured? Or is he injured and I didn't realize? He's not on the injury report for this game at least...

Weird that Mr "should replace Jakob in the SL" is riding the pine so thoroughly. I don't think he's a future star or anything like that, but it's weird that he's not playing at all, in spite of our lack of quality bigmen. Zollins hasn't been something out of this world that keeps him from playing, either. What's up, Pop?!

He played quite a bit the other night against Miami on the second night of a b2b.

As for where he's been beyond then...Pop, man.

Like you said, its not like Zollins is out there manhandling his minutes.

[heyheymymy]

If Spurs can pull off a soft tank and secure a great draft night all while fine tuning and developing the surrounding cast to drop that new talent into this season will be a task failed successfully.

[heyheymymy]

Watched White tonight in the Boston game. Granted against a heavyweight in Memphis but White looked good but replaceable. Starting to really ripen on this White trade personally. Tough to replace White's intrinsics. DW could control a game, good D, draw fouls all the little stuff like take charges. It's like that set of intrinsics are done by committee now without DW.

But the breathing room it opened up for Walker was very impactful. Walker seems like he thinks too much and I wonder how much, mentally speaking, DW was positionally looming so to speak over Walker.

In the Heat game JRich gave Spurs 14/4/4 in 26 mins on 50%, small sample size indeed but I mean the offense DW provided seems replaceable. Now if Spurs can work their magic on Langford, plus the FRP trove?

The White trade was a win for SA.

[MultiTroll]

Glaring weakness.
SF/PF that can consistently score.

Have McForbesbot and KJ ever had a good game on the same night?
McDermott had a very good Feb, hats off to that.
KJ some good games too.

But consistency and especially in close games? Pretyy much gonzo.

[tim_duncan_fan]

Whoever is actually seething about these losses, if anyone is, can seethe. I need that top 5 pick baybeeee!

We don't have the talent on defense or offense to win consistently. Keep losing. Infuse via draft.

[BackHome]

I was really hoping that Boston would loose against Memphis but that didn’t happen oh well.

[tim_duncan_fan]

Nevermind

[MultiTroll]

FT discrepancy seem legit tonight if any saw most / all?

[timtonymanu]

Get pop the 2 wins and then tank the rest of the way. Spurs competing in the play-in is just lowering their lottery chances.

[Fireball]

that first half defense ... oh boy

[pookenstein]

Great loss for our team. Now go on and loose again in Carlotte. Then win against the Lakers, because fuck them. The only thing good about winning the next two would be Pop breaking the record against LA.

[Biggems]

I didn't get to watch the game. However, I noticed a huge FT disparity. We are near the top of the league when it comes to least FT attempts for our opponents. I was shocked that they shot like 20 more than us. Why was the disparity so high?

[pookenstein]

I didn't get to watch the game. However, I noticed a huge FT disparity. We are near the top of the league when it comes to least FT attempts for our opponents. I was shocked that they shot like 20 more than us. Why was the disparity so high?

They went to the basket way more and harder than we did. Especially in the first half. Maybe the 16 they got more is a bit too much, but definitely not unwarrented that they got a bunch more than we did IMO.

[John B]

I didn't get to watch the game. However, I noticed a huge FT disparity. We are near the top of the league when it comes to least FT attempts for our opponents. I was shocked that they shot like 20 more than us. Why was the disparity so high?

Poeltl floaters

[KobesAchilles]

I keep teetering between are we close to making the playoffs with our core or are we in rebuild mode. And a simple question I asked myself was this: Besides DJ, is there another player on the Spurs that would be a starter on a playoff team in the West?

And the conclusion I came to was an overwhelming no. There is only one example where I believe one of the other 4 starters on our team would be a starter on another playoff team. That was poeltl and GS. And when that answer is an overwhelming no, then I think we should just tank for talent

[RC_Drunkford]

super important L. Spurs need to lose a lot more games so they don't take over the Blazers and Knicks. Keep the tank rolling

[John B]

I think it’s a good L last night for the tanking team (especially against Kings), plus we saw Lonnie continuing his promising performance. Albeit the rest of the team didn’t perform well especially Keldon. But if they will have down nights, last night would be a good one to have. Tank for Chet!

[Biggems]

They went to the basket way more and harder than we did. Especially in the first half. Maybe the 16 they got more is a bit too much, but definitely not unwarrented that they got a bunch more than we did IMO.

ok, makes sense

[XDT76]

It's difficult to get FT when we constantly shoot floaters, avoid contact and seldom pump fake.

[Slippy]

Landale is a poor defender and a poor rebounder. That’s why pop doesn’t play him much. He’s trying to win games and get his record.

Can agree man on man he aint the quickest with the feet but he more than makes up for it thru rebounding. He a rebounding machine that goes after every loose ball on both ends. Jock has that rebound instinct to go after it that not many bigs possess tbh.

Him not playing i think has more to do with Zollins. As in spurs are trying to find out what he capable of post injury. Jock was playing regular rotational mins up until zollins came back.

[Slippy]

Just looked back . The last game zollins didnt play was on a back to back on 13th of feb . That game jock gets decent mins and scores 10 off the bench.


Then the miami game last week where Jacob was rested Jock scores14 off the bench.


Zollins from decent mins off the bench so far has not delivered. Can only assume spurs are trying to give Zack every chance to prove himself .