Grades: Spurs vs. Nuggets - Game 6, 2019 NBA Playoffs (Apr. 25)

Let Jokic get his, let him score 50 if that means he’s not getting doubled and passing to wide open shooters. Everyone stay home and play him one on one. Game 7 is going to be a lot about the bench, Mills, Marco, Rudy/Beasley, Morris, Barton. The Spurs bench won last night hope they can do it Saturday.

Thanks Timvp. On spot again. I like the physicality and staggering Demar and White. Gay overpowering his defender is a must.

Just let it fly, they literally have zero pressure on them. Outside of this board, nobody is going to care if they shit the bed...

Losers like Patty, Beli, Gay and Forbes should throw up at least 5-6 threes each. DWhite should just trust the jumper....

Get up by 6-8 on them and see if that Big Tittied Fuck and the rest of those nobodies can respond....

Gay was a big difference maker. Originally I thought the Spurs had to hit at least 12 three pointers to win, but they hit 10 I believe and to me that was another huge difference maker as well. Their rotation on defense especially late in the 3rd quarter and most of the 4th quarter was really good.

Feels like everyone but Mills should have gotten an A last night.

The Amare Strategy

Spurs have a great chance as long as they make things as hard as possible on the Denver 3 point shooters. Both teams have been hitting difficult shots all series long, it is what it is, but I'll take our chances making it as hard as we possibly can on their "others" at the 3 point line, a lot of that comes down to effort, get around the screens and make Beasley, Craig, and all of em feel you, it's not like it's Jokic and 4 Ray Allen clones running around. Spurs do that + get at the very least solid production from the secondary and main cogs and they put themselves in their best position to upset. Let Jokic have his cake.

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Originally Posted by baseline bum

Feels like everyone but Mills should have gotten an A last night.

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Grade on Mills was too high. He was a defensive liability every time. And those 3 steals, he was just there at the right place to pickup a loose ball, and didn’t even convert. He had two turnovers, one I believe resulted a 5 points turnaround that caused Pop to call a timeout. I’m not hating on Mills, but he is overmatched by Nuggets athletic young guys enough to sway the momentum back to Nuggets. Pop really needs to consider limiting any combination of Mills/Beli/Bertans/Forbes out there. Malone’s eyes open wide in excitement every time. I would keep on milking Gay. They have no answer for him and his post slows down the tempo to Spurs pace, and avoid 2nd unit’s fastbreak from long rebounds caused by missed long shots. There just not enough athleticism in our 2nd unit to defend the avalanche. Gay cannot run, Mills too small, Beli has no defense. I’d keep either Demar/White with Aldridge/Poeltl all the time.

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Originally Posted by Coach X

Thanks Timvp for the grades as always.

I'm not that positive. I believe the team relied too much in shooting accuracy in contested shots. I appreciate the energy and winning attitude displayed by the players, of course.

Poetl did his worst game IMO, playing soft as he used to do for a good ammount of the season. Jokic got into his head early and Jakob got paralyzed, not being able of contesting any shot (even a FT line jumper without jumping). Jakob didn't help his teammates protecting the rim and didn't carry out his duties in the defensive rebound.

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I can’t believe that you don’t realize that Poeltl’s goal was to play defense the best he could without fouling.. he’s arguably our most important defensive player against Denver and can’t afford to get in foul trouble. He was trying to stay on the court as long he he could. He has a lot of responsibility and what he was trying to do was just try to alter Jokic’s post up an three point shot and live with the results since he wasn’t gonna get any help from double teams in this game. The refs were calling some weak fouls this series so of course he was cautious of that and it made it appear that he was playing soft against the post ups.

An A for Gay. Not a fan, but he got it done last night.

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Originally Posted by KDKSpurs24

I can’t believe that you don’t realize that Poeltl’s goal was to play defense the best he could without fouling.. he’s arguably our most important defensive player against Denver and can’t afford to get in foul trouble. He was trying to stay on the court as long he he could. He has a lot of responsibility and what he was trying to do was just try to alter Jokic’s post up an three point shot and live with the results since he wasn’t gonna get any help from double teams in this game. The refs were calling some weak fouls this series so of course he was cautious of that and it made it appear that he was playing soft against the post ups.

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Agreed. It were not for Poeltl rebounding and rim protection it would be close. But Gay was the X factor and won us the game. I cannot stress it more. Nuggets don’t have answer for Gay and should milk him every time. He would open the 3’s to our shooters, just ready to fire. I hope Patty’s been shooting. His 0-7 was not helping.

Props to DeRozan (I still can't wait to no longer have him on the Spurs, but that is another story)! He balanced looking for his own shot and creating for others really well and even held his emotions in check for once.
Damn impressive win for our guys. They came out guns blazing as expected - but they also managed to get through these Denver runs better than in recent games. This time around, more of the Spurs' role players stepped up offensively and delivered a much needed good shooting performance from downtown. And yeah, welcome to the postseason, Rudy Gay!

I don't quite get why quite a number of people here seem to think that the Spurs have been the better team for much of this series. In my opinion, it is the other way round. Denver is more talented overall and has the higher ceiling. Their offense has been better, not by that much, but still. They shot 6 for 24 from downtown in game 6 and still are at just over 39 % for the series.

B is an improvement for White, so I'll take it without splitting hairs. I really loved watching him throw the ball away and then run up the court and get it right back. He's been doing that more and more lately, and it reminds me a lot of another Spur player (almost) all of us loved. Those things have a definite impact on momentum, and that part doesn't show up on a stat sheet. I gues that's what "intangibles" are, but players who do those things are worth more than you can easily see in the numbers.

I might split hairs a little over Poeltl. He just didn't do much wrong, other than get into foul trouble. And at least one of those whistles was the kind fans scream about. And he did a good job of avoiding more foul trouble when he got back into the game. There were a few memorable plays where Poeltl played nearly flawless defense, and Jokic made ridiculous shots anyway. But there were also enough times that Poeltl frustrated Jokic. I like watching him box out. I like watching him set solid picks. And I like watching him fly out to challenge 3P shooters, when a couple of other Spurs are notably flat-footed. I think the Spurs have to start feeding him in the low post more often - it would turn into more points. But until then, he definitely does "all the little things" that you want out of a big man.

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Originally Posted by timvp

Summary: The Spurs are a completely different team when Gay is Gay.

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rainbow warriors.

if rudy has a solid game 7, regardless of outcome, i wonder if this tips the scales on the spurs offering him another contract this off-season.

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Originally Posted by rjv

if rudy has a solid game 7, regardless of outcome, i wonder if this tips the scales on the spurs offering him another contract this off-season.

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100%. As they should anyway.

I just noticed that Patty is shooting a whopping 11.8% from three on 6 attempts a game throughout this series.

I get that is normally one of his primary weapons and he is a designated floor spacer but...you would think between the slump and his injury, he would stop letting it fly in ways that would make Steph Curry blush.

Play within yourself, Patty.

Great write-up!Yes on 'easily best game of the year' for Pop and, for me, best game of the year.

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Originally Posted by spurs10

Great write-up!Yes on 'easily best game of the year' for Pop and, for me, best game of the year.

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The Toronto win was pretty sweet too, but this one is up there in terms of pressure.

I would have been pretty disappointed if the Spurs lost in 6 with the way the series started, but in my opinion, the Spurs are playing with house money now.

If we win, we will have upset the 2nd seed on their home floor with an overmatched squad talent-wise.

If we lose, it will pretty much have gone according to plan considering everyone said this team's ceiling was a first round exit, and the visiting team rarely wins Game 7s.

All of the pressure is riding on the Nuggets right now.

The fact that we have gotten this far gives me comfort that the team has, more or less, lived up to its potential. Now we can just sit back and see if they want to go shock the world.

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Originally Posted by Dex

I just noticed that Patty is shooting a whopping 11.8% from three on 6 attempts a game throughout this series.

I get that is normally one of his primary weapons and he is a designated floor spacer but...you would think between the slump and his injury, he would stop letting it fly in ways that would make Steph Curry blush.

Play within yourself, Patty.

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There's literally no other skill he brings to an NBA basketball court tbh :lol

If he's out there (and he will be), he might as well let it fly.

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Originally Posted by Mugen

There's literally no other skill he brings to an NBA basketball court tbh :lol

If he's out there (and he will be), he might as well let it fly.

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Not if he isn't hitting. That's basically giving 5 free possessions to the Nuggets by the numbers.

I know he has to shoot some to keep the defense honest, but he's also shown value with his penetration and passing. He had six assists last game, and has the 2nd most assists in this series for the Spurs. He needs to focus more on doing that, and less on letting it fly whenever he thinks he has a glimpse of daylight.

He is taking more attempts per game while playing less minutes from the regular season, and hitting at a pathetically low rate. This isn't a "just keep shooting" situation. At a certain point, you have to adjust your approach.

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Originally Posted by Dex

Not if he isn't hitting. That's basically giving 5 free possessions to the Nuggets by the numbers.

I know he has to shoot some to keep the defense honest, but he's also shown value with his penetration and passing. He had six assists last game, and has the 2nd most assists in this series for the Spurs. He needs to focus more on doing that, and less on letting it fly whenever he thinks he has a glimpse of daylight.

He is taking more attempts per game while playing less minutes from the regular season, and hitting at a pathetically low rate. This isn't a "just keep shooting" situation. At a certain point, you have to adjust your approach.

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I get your point but disagree tbh, especially in Game 7.....

If it was up to me, he'd be seeing 5-10 mins at most, but if Pop is going to run him out there for 15-20 minutes then he needs to let it fly. I don't trust his playmaking / decision-making at all. I'd rather him lucking into 4 made three pointers then going out there and trying to run the offense tbh.

somebody tell Chinook that Poeltl's offensive rating in this series is 147. He's clearly the best offensive player on our team

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Originally Posted by RC_Drunkford

somebody tell Chinook that Poeltl's offensive rating in this series is 147. He's clearly the best offensive player on our team

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And he's been wide open under the basket many times where he didn't get the ball. LMA DDR need keep thier eyes open for him more.