Grades: Spurs at Blazers - Dec. 28, 2023

[timvp]

https://www.spurstalk.com/2023-spurs-blazers-grades-30/

:danceclub

[yagozev]

:spin

[cutewizard]

Go Spurs go

really a glimpse into the future.....

may we have more games like this please Spurs

[cutewizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXJEgem-C1Y

[cutewizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEDvSA0V3IQ

[cutewizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv60jIN1lRo

[Dejounte]

Ratings are one thing, but the description given here for Zach’s play last night is laughable. There aint no way that was a good performance. That was a typical game where Zach would weigh this team down with his momentum breaking awful defense.

[99 Problems]

:bobo

[PhantomDashCam]

Wow! Wemby is something else. Seemingly every moment he was on the court resulted in a highlight play.
Guy was blocking shots while facing the other way, completing 360 lobs, found Tre wide open for a layup as the shot clock expired…
If you haven’t seen this one fam, get on it.

[Fireball]

Blazers made it easy for the Spurs but Wemby really showed what he got, especially showing his teammates how he can pass the ball when they actually pass it to him in the first place ... great court awareness for a 19 year old kid

[R. DeMurre]

30, 6, 6, & 7 in 24 minutes is quadruple double territory if Wemby plays 34+ minutes-- then throw in the 0 fouls and 1 turnover. Just an amazing display by Victor.

[exstatic]

30, 6, 6, & 7 in 24 minutes is quadruple double territory if Wemby plays 34+ minutes-- then throw in the 0 fouls and 1 turnover. Just an amazing display by Victor.

I think he will be the next player to do it, and I also think he can do the 5X5, at least 5 each of points,asst,steals,blocks,rebounds.

[itzsoweezee]

The micro ball was a disaster. What’s the point of doing that without real shooters? There’s no advantage.

[exstatic]

The micro ball was a disaster. What’s the point of doing that without real shooters? There’s no advantage.

Victor is still on a minutes restriction, and Collins fouled out in 17 minutes. That was the point.

[itzsoweezee]

Victor is still on a minutes restriction, and Collins fouled out in 17 minutes. That was the point.

That is absurd. The guy had played less than 25 minutes at the time. And if wemby’s minutes are such a big concern, add a big to the active roster. Collins is a fucking turnstile, his inability to be a big you can rely on shouldn’t be a surprise.

This is the problem with the whole season, just doing dumb shit for no reason other than to “experiment”. This coach is 70+ years old and apparently has learned nothing from his decades of experience.

[MultiTroll]

Should this be hung in the rafters?

[jjspur]

I'm grateful for the win, any win, but then I saw how many Portland players were missing. Five more wins to avoid the horrible Sixers season record.

[Obstructed_View]

Victor is still on a minutes restriction, and Collins fouled out in 17 minutes. That was the point.
If Victor is on a minutes restriction, why the fuck is Barlow in Austin while Wesley is called up?

[Chomag]

Funny what happens when they feed Wemby (their franchise player) the ball. Imagine that...

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

*waah* why can't the spurs have won differently? waah *fire pop*

[poopbox]

Well boys I think we found the secret sauce for success...just need to play teams missing 3 of their top 4 players...

Well...except for the Grizzlies.

[MultiTroll]

Funny what happens when they feed Wemby (their franchise player) the ball. Imagine that...
Deep, GOAT strategy needed for that.

Only took him 30 games too. Imagine how long a non GOAT coach would have taken.

[NASpurs]

What's up with Wemby's rebounding ? He's gotten 18 rebounds the past three games. I guess the simple answer would be the ankle.

[Davidicus]

Every player should now see the light with Victor. It's now a FACT that if you feed him the ball, everyone eats and we have a shot at a

WINBANYAMA™

No need for applause.

Regarding the grades, my only two qualms are Collins may have well borrowed a giant sign from the Coyote that reads SCORE HERE next to the bucket. Grant destroyed him. Some of his fouls were ticky-tack to me, but overall Zach just got schooled down low every single play. We really missed Bassey's rebounding tonight, and couldve put him in to save Zach's embarrassment.

Only other nit-pick was I felt like Vic could have gotten a few more rebounds, the team as a whole didnt put in the effort there.

Was great to see Vic embrace his siblings at the end there, he put on a show for them.

Here's to hoping Pop changes his mind for tonight and Vic plays a bit, since he only played 24min last night. One can wish.

[KobesAchilles]

Crazy how featuring VW as the guy in the offense leads to open baskets. Who knew that you could use a 7’4 center in the open break? Also did you know he can catch lobs too? Crazy. I was also told he’s too raw and would be inefficient and turn the ball over if we featured him instead of Vassell or KJ.

What I learned from this game is apparently when Victor got the ball he found open people by making beautiful passes to others, shot efficiently, can effectively run a pick n roll (and works as a finisher too!), and he didn’t shoot the ball 50 times. Oh and the offense looked way better going through him than when he was on the bench. It’s weird bc I was told all these things wouldn’t happen and that he’s 19 and too raw for this to happen…

[spurraider21]

Victor is still on a minutes restriction, and Collins fouled out in 17 minutes. That was the point.
Seems like a natural time to give Barlow some run. Seemed like an obvious path for that since the Bassey injury

[rjv]

sean was giddy during the telecast last night

[SouthernFryd]

Best first quarter, or any quarter, I've seen from the Spurs all season.

2nd and 3rd quarter were back to normal and I thought they'd lose the game...even with that monster lead. Spurs lose focus easily. That's youth.

Wemby was incredible. That guy is really something else. Only reason to watch the Spurs this season...but, it's a good reason :)

And I still like Collins. He can't handle bigs as well as I'd like, but this guy gives effort every game. Sometimes he's the best player in the game. Always setting picks, Plays the top of the Key center facilitator pretty damn well. I like him. He'll foul where others will move aside. He's gotta learn to stay on his feet and move more laterally defensively. I hope Duncan is helping him. He gives the effort. I think his natural positions are power forward or second team center.

[Degoat]

Sochan has looked so much better being away from PG! We need him to continue to progress because he is important to our future. I loved him being decisive and just attacking the rim on fastbreaks

[Degoat]

I sure hope spurs fans vote Wemby to the all star game

[John B]

Thanks Timvp. It was great to see the Spurs win. It was great to see Wemby getting the lob passes, blocking and altering shots. He was also more disciplined of his selection shots. My only criticism is his 6 rebounds. I truly expect Wemby to average double-double every night, especially on a night that Blazers had offensive rebound 22-to-7. It’s not all Wemby but single digit rebound sticks out. A lot also from the other players to box out their guys and avoid 2nd chances. That helped Blazers to get back (plus them getting hot on 3 especially Brogdon). For that I will not give Wemby A+, maybe A-. But only because Wemby is so capable to do more rebounding the ball.

I like Keldon coming off the bench. Again this allowed plenty of touches for Wemby early, while also spreading the touches to Keldon when he gets in. But I need Keldon not to settle on shooting 3 pointers. 1-of-6 was not good, and also not getting into the FT line. Keldon is very capable of attacking the rim EVERY SINGLE TIME. He brings so much energy doing that, and would get the opponents in foul-trouble early.

I thought Zach battled well, and was physical down low. Sure he could’ve controlled the boards better. But I don’t see why people hating him in this group when Zach is the more physical player out there every night. Sure he gets beat but not for lacking of trying. I think Zach has the potential to be one of the better backup bigs. He moves well, passes the ball, has range (when he’s not forcing the 3pt shots), and has plenty of dog in him.

Brahnam was acceptable last night. He is not Spurs starting PG in the future, but this gig is again developing the players to have more skills that Spurs can use in the future. Malaki’s pedestrian defense is an understatement, allowing Scott 25 points (but alas Scoot has been advertised as a scoring guard becoming a top 3 pick). I think Pop could’ve inserted Blake, a better POA defender, with the big lead and helped control the lead. Blake needs to get more minutes, than just garbage time. I think Blake’s defense could’ve help sustain the lead.

Overall it was a great win, even though the Blazers were missing 4 rotation players. Let’s see how the players respond tonight with Blazers making sone adjustments. I think the Spurs also have some adjustments to make especially controlling the boards, and protecting the 3’s. Let’s go.

[John B]

Oh yes, Sochan attacking the rim early was great.

[freetiago]

Popovich tried his hardest to throw the game with that small ball lineup. Definitely not an A. Collins was abused inside, like every possession they went at him and scored or they missed and got a putback once he was out of position on the contest

[Obstructed_View]

Question: Last night Vic blocked a jumper so clean that it was called a jump ball. They didn't count it as a block.

What up with that?

[Obstructed_View]

Oh yes, Sochan attacking the rim early was great.

It's pretty evident to my eyes that every problem he has is confidence-related. When he forgets and just plays he's really a help to the team.

[duncan2150]

I thought Zach battled well, and was physical down low. Sure he could’ve controlled the boards better. But I don’t see why people hating him in this group when Zach is the more physical player out there every night. Sure he gets beat but not for lacking of trying. I think Zach has the potential to be one of the better backup bigs. He moves well, passes the ball, has range (when he’s not forcing the 3pt shots), and has plenty of dog in him.

.

I also think that he battled well yesterday but his defense near the rim is really really weak imo, portland's players made some easy layups a lot of times and that's regular with collins.

Offensively he's good when he doesn't take a lot of threes, still he could be one of the better big off the bench but i'm less and less fan of his contract tough not awful.

[CorrectCrusader]

Victor is still on a minutes restriction, and Collins fouled out in 17 minutes. That was the point.

One day Pop will realize Barlow is on the roster

[John B]

One day Pop will realize Barlow is on the roster

Yes with Bassey getting injured, I would think Barlow would get his minutes. Let’s see tonight on the 2nd night of a b2b.

[Proxy]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D276aZ4UYAA_2I7.jpg:large
after any W this season...