Spurs Vs Rockets thoughts

1) Starting Kyle was interesting. It goes against the grain of what we've been doing all year. I wonder if this was an adjustment in preparation for the Warriors. Either way he played very well. On offense he played within himself and made plays. On defense, he was crafty, although it was easy to hide him with non penetrating threats. It was when we played him against capela that I was really watching. He played smart with box outs and fouling when he was beat.

2) was it just the lineup or did it seem we were playing at a faster pace. Thoughts here

3) watching Duncan on the bench gave me some hope that he'll still be with the team when he retires. He's so much of a gamer it might be attractive. He looked really involved and his mere presence made a difference.

4) Aldridge had a bounce back game and that was promising. Watching him play against Howard as center made me come to a realization that if he wants to be tougher he needs to grind against players like Howard, and Jordan, and Drummond. He's not gonna overcome his weakness by taking the easy way out. Him wanting to not play center may be the problem. He has the size to play center and he needs that imo. But, as a defender he lacks the instincts of a Duncan. Many times tonight he stunted and didn't try to alter shots. I understand he was trying to not let Howard go off but there were times he could of made more of an impact.

5) overall great bounce back game. Very dominant and focused. Good sign. Seems we have gotten over the Houston hump. Really liked the small ball and developing Kyle there. Curious not to see juice tonight but green was hitting so we didn't need him. Still think the bench lacked energy without any of the Kyle, juice, boban three.

trade Duncan for a useful bigman who can stay on the court, like Andrew Bogut tbh

Thanks for the writeup.

HOME SWEET HOME

That is all... :toast

Kyle played well, was very smart, I think he is a unique player in the NBA, more of the mental powers rather than the physical hmmmmm

Thanks for this writeup Raybies.
I would give you 5 stars)bc I missed over half the game, and got to watch it just as Kyle and Capela were dueling. I thought that showed guts bc Capela is insanely more athletic and also bigger/stronger.
Glad that Kyle had a good game that highlighted his strength in passing and that everyone got in a rhythm making shots.
Glad to see Lamarcus aggressive.

Much appreciated Ray
:bobo:flag:

My thoughts? I can't wait until March 19th, tbh.

Boban with another double double, the guy is amazing

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by r0drig0lac

Boban with another double double, the guy is amazing

---

He's got a long way to go, too many mistakes, not aggressive enough. He needs to complement his height with better BBIQ and aggressiveness. but he's a keeper

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SpurPadre

My thoughts? I can't wait until March 19th, tbh.

---

This for me too lol... people will go nuts after 1 game, but this happened last year too. They beat us bad, then they came to our house and we put it on them. Kawhi was toying with Curry and had 7 steals.

LMA looked good last night, as did TP.

Biggest deal for me was Green and his shooting. If he can get it going, it helps us immensely. He did have Haren guarding him so obviously that won't happen every night. But it could be enough to get him going

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by raybies

2) was it just the lineup or did it seem we were playing at a faster pace. Thoughts here

---

Because Houston tbh. Their transition defense is atrocious. In theory faster pace = more transition buckets vs Roxs. So the faster pace had nothing to do with preparing the Team for Golden Showers. A half-court game is better suited for them. Same strategy as the Bucks and Xmas Day Cavs.

We started Kyle because they started small.

Starting Kyle gave the Spurs another ball handler on the floor. Green and LMA immensely benefited from that. You saw the offensive output because of it, 35 points in the 1st quarter.

LMA played to his potential, 25 pts 10 rb 5 ast in only 29 minutes. Really, this is exactly the type of player I saw in LMA as a Spur by the end of this season. I hope that GS really lit a fire in him and he continues to play this way for the rest of the season. Oh yeah, he did that with mostly Howard guarding him.

Last night showed why it was a joke to have Capela over Boban in the Rising Star game.

Big from last night was Green and Mills shooting. But did great and hopefully they break out of their slumps for good. Getting beat down like they did probably will benefit the Spurs in the long run.

Pop giving minutes to guys like KA and Simmons is great. Spurs are going to need these guys in the playoffs and both will give the Spurs an advantage in certain matchups.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cowboys_Wear_Spurs

Starting Kyle gave the Spurs another ball handler on the floor. Green and LMA immensely benefited from that. You saw the offensive output because of it, 35 points in the 1st quarter.

LMA played to his potential, 25 pts 10 rb 5 ast in only 29 minutes. Really, this is exactly the type of player I saw in LMA as a Spur by the end of this season. I hope that GS really lit a fire in him and he continues to play this way for the rest of the season. Oh yeah, he did that with mostly Howard guarding him.

Last night showed why it was a joke to have Capela over Boban in the Rising Star game.

Big from last night was Green and Mills shooting. But did great and hopefully they break out of their slumps for good. Getting beat down like they did probably will benefit the Spurs in the long run.

Pop giving minutes to guys like KA and Simmons is great. Spurs are going to need these guys in the playoffs and both will give the Spurs an advantage in certain matchups.

---

Having Kyle play the four was a great move. Houston doesn't have alot of all around players. They have alot of specialists. But, either way Kyle played very passable d, guarding the perimeter and the post at times. He's also not bad at rebounding. Very versatile player.

LMA did play to his potential. The surprising thing was he was demanding the ball. He kinda gets the love treatment and falls in line with the flow of the offense but last night he was looking for his which was a good sign. He said himself that he wanted to put a stamp on the game. It took half a season for him to be more assertive but if this was an effect of the loss than the loss was worth it. He also said that they just wanted to get back to playing like themselves which leads me to believe they are not overly concerned.

As for Anderson and Simmons I think your right. Simmons has that same toughness that I though we'd lose with the departure of Cory. And Anderson reminds me of a bigger version of Shaun Livingston. Both can pass, post, handle the ball, have mid range games, although Kyle may be able to stretch the defense more eventually. Shaun is faster obviously but I think we could put Kyle on him in the playoffs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by raybies

Having Kyle play the four was a great move. Houston doesn't have alot of all around players. They have alot of specialists. But, either way Kyle played very passable d, guarding the perimeter and the post at times. He's also not bad at rebounding. Very versatile player.

LMA did play to his potential. The surprising thing was he was demanding the ball. He kinda gets the love treatment and falls in line with the flow of the offense but last night he was looking for his which was a good sign. He said himself that he wanted to put a stamp on the game. It took half a season for him to be more assertive but if this was an effect of the loss than the loss was worth it. He also said that they just wanted to get back to playing like themselves which leads me to believe they are not overly concerned.

As for Anderson and Simmons I think your right. Simmons has that same toughness that I though we'd lose with the departure of Cory. And Anderson reminds me of a bigger version of Shaun Livingston. Both can pass, post, handle the ball, have mid range games, although Kyle may be able to stretch the defense more eventually. Shaun is faster obviously but I think we could put Kyle on him in the playoffs.

---

I do like having Kyle in the ball game because of his size. I like how he just snatched the ball on top of Harden's head to start a fast break. You just can't teach length!

Spurs need Kyle against Livingston. Livingston is the kind of player that can kill the Spurs. He makes a living in the midrange and our guards are exposed when he's on the floor. Unfortunate for Spurs to not see his potential when he was playing well with the Nets. Kyle definitely is bigger than Livingston but not as quick, but he's long enough to neutralize Livingston's post up game.

Van Gundy was all praise for Simmons. His comment about the NBA not having enough energy guys is spot on.

My hope is that Simmons learns to be as effective as Dellevedova in guarding Curry. What is nice about his game is that he's willing to take contact. Hope this translates to getting under Curry's skin.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ceperez

...Van Gundy was all praise for Simmons. His comment about the NBA not having enough energy guys is spot on...

---

Yes he did. Even saying Jonathon was his favorite Spurs at the moment.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TheDoctor

Yes he did. Even saying Jonathon was his favorite Spurs at the moment.

---

That's a big validation of his potential. Of course they were wondering why the Nets didn't even pick him up. Well, that's because they didn't know who he was and the Spurs hid him with the Nets in SL before signing him up. CIA Pop at work.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by UNT Eagles 2016

trade Duncan for a useful bigman who can stay on the court, like Andrew Bogut tbh

---

Jump off a tall building.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sharkenleo

Jump off a tall building.

---

:lmao GNSF n00bs not understanding the blue font custom

I like your #4. IMO he needs to get more fit and stronger (images of Drob come to mind). If he did that maybe embracing the C position would be easier.

My only question is if Anderson is the long-term answer as the front-court partner for LMA. I'd prefer a guy like Ibaka or an actualized LJC, but Anderson has a mismatch at the four on most nights, and his playmaking would be nice with Parker declining. The defense is mostly there already, though there are match-ups he couldn't handle.

I missed the start. What was the lineup?

LMA reminds me of Duncan in that he doesn't want to play center. But just as Duncan came to terms with it as his speed declined, maybe LMA will realize that his defense and offense against centers might be a lot easier than against faster PFs. The NBA really doesn't have many of the old style powerful centers that used to dominate the position. Crafty Pop will get him used to the 5 slot by substituting a 4 when he takes Duncan out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wildbill2u

LMA reminds me of Duncan in that he doesn't want to play center. But just as Duncan came to terms with it as his speed declined, maybe LMA will realize that his defense and offense against centers might be a lot easier than against faster PFs. The NBA really doesn't have many of the old style powerful centers that used to dominate the position. Crafty Pop will get him used to the 5 slot by substituting a 4 when he takes Duncan out.

---

Howard only took 3 shots against LMA. The only true dominate scoring Center in the league today is Cousins. That's it. This ain't the 90's and 00's.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chinook

My only question is if Anderson is the long-term answer as the front-court partner for LMA. I'd prefer a guy like Ibaka or an actualized LJC, but Anderson has a mismatch at the four on most nights, and his playmaking would be nice with Parker declining. The defense is mostly there already, though there are match-ups he couldn't handle.

---

Very curious. Can't be pop just trying to give him minutes, right? In this new age nba he could find his niche as a small ball four. Still too weak to be a post defender but his length and height are more than adequate. But I definitely prefer LMA to be center. I think he needs that challenge every night cause him being shutdown by Greene was unacceptable.He's much better than that. Back to Kyle, I think if he can rebound well enough and get stronger in his legs and arms without putting on too much weight he could be our Greene. He's never gonna be raw our have the passion that Greene has but he'll have the finesse. I wonder if we could put him at the top of the three and let him pass like dray does. Any chance we could have kawhi and green come off screens for catch and shoot situations? Not in their game, maybe. I know Kyle could do the side screen and roll and take the smaller defender. Anyways, I want to see Kyle play the four more and against dray.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by spurs10

I missed the start. What was the lineup?

---

Officially, it was:

G - Parker
G - Green
F - Leonard
F - Aldridge
C - Anderson

Interpret how you will who was the 4 and who was the 5 (Aldridge/Anderson).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by spurs10

I missed the start. What was the lineup?

---

Parker
Green
Leonard
Anderson
Aldridge

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bklynspursfan

This for me too lol... people will go nuts after 1 game, but this happened last year too. They beat us bad, then they came to our house and we put it on them. Kawhi was toying with Curry and had 7 steals.

LMA looked good last night, as did TP.

Biggest deal for me was Green and his shooting. If he can get it going, it helps us immensely. He did have Haren guarding him so obviously that won't happen every night. But it could be enough to get him going

---

I just hope he gets back to his old self. Truly he gets wide open shots every game just needs to knock them down.

I suspect the Spurs will see if Anderson could potentially play against Harrison Barnes when they matchup against GS.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by raybies

1) Starting Kyle was interesting. It goes against the grain of what we've been doing all year. I wonder if this was an adjustment in preparation for the Warriors. Either way he played very well. On offense he played within himself and made plays. On defense, he was crafty, although it was easy to hide him with non penetrating threats. It was when we played him against capela that I was really watching. He played smart with box outs and fouling when he was beat.

---

Pop has started third stringers when sitting starters all season, so that wasn't terribly uncharacteristic, but to me this is a sign that Pop thinks he needs to develop small lineups in order to compete with the Warriors. Given Lamarcus' inability to post up at ALL against them, I can't say I disagree with him too much. The Dubs are so good at passing the ball inside to cutters that having another long-armed guy like Kyle to disrupt passing lanes isn't the worst idea in the world. Frankly, anything that gets Pop off his ass and allows him to develop his young players works for me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by elbamba

I suspect the Spurs will see if Anderson could potentially play against Harrison Barnes when they matchup against GS.

---

I don't doubt Kyle could, cause Barnes is not really going to cause many problems anyway. Barnes doesn't play a ton anyway. He should be the least of our worries. Throw Parker on him and let him go nuts if he can..

Spurs attempted 23 3 points shots, 9 more than against the Warriors.

Spurs scored 130 points, this is the first time this season the Spurs have scored more than 123 points.

In short, if you don't take those 3's, then you aren't going to win against the Dubs who will take those 3's.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by raybies

3) watching Duncan on the bench gave me some hope that he'll still be with the team when he retires. He's so much of a gamer it might be attractive. He looked really involved and his mere presence made a difference.

---

That was one of my favorite parts of the game! His leadership is unmatched. I could definately see him being involved with the team in some aspect when he retires.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by travis2

Officially, it was:

G - Parker
G - Green
F - Leonard
F - Aldridge
C - Anderson

Interpret how you will who was the 4 and who was the 5 (Aldridge/Anderson).

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by raybies

Parker
Green
Leonard
Anderson
Aldridge

---

:bobo

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ceperez

Spurs attempted 23 3 points shots, 9 more than against the Warriors.

Spurs scored 130 points, this is the first time this season the Spurs have scored more than 123 points.

In short, if you don't take those 3's, then you aren't going to win against the Dubs who will take those 3's.

---

The Spurs took jumpers off the dribble against the Warriors. They took jumpers off the pass against the Rockets. Big difference.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bklynspursfan

I don't doubt Kyle could, cause Barnes is not really going to cause many problems anyway. Barnes doesn't play a ton anyway. He should be the least of our worries. Throw Parker on him and let him go nuts if he can..

---

Probably would be a better matchup for Livingston b/c he can play point over Patty (if Barbosa or Rush aren't in the game) & has the length to bother Livingston on his postups. Simmons can handle Barnes b/c he isn't a guy that moves much without the ball (which is Simmons achilles) & put Manu on Iggy since he's too crafty/experienced for Simmons.

So basically,

Iggy/Manu
Barnes or Rush/Simmons or Boris
Kyle/Livingston
Barbosa or Rush/Patty or Simmons
Ezeli/West

Long term with Anderson, what he can be depends on his development and also the other options we have available. To venture into that land is interesting speculation, maybe for another thread. He needs to improve defensively but he seems in a good path, having improved since his rook season and also as the season has gone along. He's also a bit stronger and more agile than he was last season and some of his tentativeness has decreased. His BBIQ and passing helps the SL offensively specially because at times they tend to fall into lack of motion and look disjointed not moving the ball enough.

For this season, there are matchups we may need him. For smaller lineups, he's the best option at the 4. He will need to continue to focus on rebounding, and boxing out. That is a big task for the 4. His passing and BBIQ is a definite plus if you don't have TD.

The only reason I post that article is that there is chart in it that I can't post by itself charting the big men combination. It doesn't tell the full story bc obviously Pop pairs the bigs depending on matchups (and it doesn't account for other players in the lineups but in general:
Ducan and Kyle are a net +32.3 in 94 minutes together.
Lamarcus and Kyle are a +14.6 in 141 minutes.
Lamarcus and TD together are a +13.2 in 706 minutes together.

When paired with a true Big/Center I believe Kyle will do a good job specially if the other 4 is not a heavy PF that will post him up. Against PF who just like to step outside and shoot he's been fine enough. Obviously, there are defensive lapses, but they are correctable mistakes specially considering his inexperience playing that position at the NBA level.