Quick Grades: Spurs @ Nuggets - Game 7, 2019 NBA Playoffs (Apr. 27)

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Originally Posted by John B

No man. Gay had 21 points playing off the bench. What else can you ask for? This lost was on Pop not pushing the right buttons, bad substitutions, not calling timeouts early, and at the last minutes. This lost was on Aldridge settling, not playing aggressive, not making Jokic play both sides of the court and maybe getting him fouled. But referees also tbh didn’t call some of those and let Jokic pushed, slap Forbes in the face, moving picks, moving his hips, holding on picks. Referees let Jokic did whatever he want, but Aldridge should’ve fought harder. Lost was on Mills, Beli not hitting anything, no defense yet playing heavy minutes, but again on Pop letting it happen.

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IT DOESNT MATTER IF YOU SCORE 21 IF YOU GIVE UP 22.

STOP WATCHING BOX SCORE AND WATCH GAME

Rudy gays lone defensive play of the game was when he got burnt off the dribble, he came form behind and blocked, sadly the block didnt result in a to but a score for the nuggets... shocking that points scored still blinds judgment

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Originally Posted by tholdren

Rudy gays lone defensive play of the game was when he got burnt off the dribble, he came form behind and blocked, sadly the block didnt result in a to but a score for the nuggets... shocking that points scored still blinds judgment

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Dude it wasn’t Gay’s lack of defense that lost the game. He kept the Spurs afloat and within striking distance from the bench. The lack of defense was on Mills, Beli, Aldridge on Jokic. Two man play of Jokic/Murray (Gay wasn’t even in the vicinity). Gay played an excellent game FROM THE BENCH.

Yeah Rudy has a terrible series this last game he was still not good on defense and was better on offense but expected a lot more from him.

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Originally Posted by John B

Dude it wasn’t Gay’s lack of defense that lost the game. He kept the Spurs afloat and within striking distance from the bench. The lack of defense was on Mills, Beli, Aldridge on Jokic. Two man play of Jokic/Murray (Gay wasn’t even in the vicinity). Gay played an excellent game FROM THE BENCH.

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What is 21 minus 22?

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Originally Posted by ceperez

With the number of free agents out there, there's a ton of opportunities to remake many teams.

We can bitch about DeRozan, but Spurs had few options in trading away Leonard. Spurs at least got Poetl and a 1st round draft pick.

The team was poorly constructed in its lack of defensive stoppers. Those stoppers were Cunningham and Pondexter, two players past their prime.

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Yet the problem was always the offense, not defense.

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Originally Posted by tholdren

IT DOESNT MATTER IF YOU SCORE 21 IF YOU GIVE UP 22.

STOP WATCHING BOX SCORE AND WATCH GAME

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So you think you can win a playoffs game scoring 86 points?

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Originally Posted by tholdren

What is 21 minus 22?

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The guy had 21 points, 8 rebounds, 2 offensive, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 1 assist from the bench. He wasn’t guarding Murray/Jokic pnr :lol:lol It was Mills/Aldridge. It was Beli on Barton’s dunk.

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Originally Posted by FkLA

It's time for Pop to transition to a Pat Riley role. We'll probably just turn into another shitty, small-market team if he were to leave entirely so it's important that he's still around. Just not as coach.

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He's the best coach in the NBA by a mile. The problem you have with him is that he actually makes decisions instead of just being a shoulder for the star of the team to cry on.

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Originally Posted by DMC

He's the best coach in the NBA by a mile. The problem you have with him is that he actually makes decisions instead of just being a shoulder for the star of the team to cry on.

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Normally I would have the same sentiment. But I feel he didn’t coach the best last night and was looking to the next season. He is still the best coach out there and I still want him until the wheels fall off.

Timvp


Thank you for the great write up and effort it has been another interesting season for me as a spurs fan ... and reading your grades have been part of my match day routine .. I have enjoyed them thanks again

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Originally Posted by John B

Normally I would have the same sentiment. But I feel he didn’t coach the best last night and was looking to the next season. He is still the best coach out there and I still want him until the wheels fall off.

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Look at Mike D tonight. What adjustments did he make? He just stands on the sidelines and bitches. Look at Kerr. What adjustments does he make? He manages guys minutes and stands there looking wise while his uber talented squad dismantles the opponent. Both coaches are good coaches. Neither of them does a lot with little. Both can do good with a lot. Pop can do good with little, then people expect him to micromanage the little bit of talent he has to a championship.

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Originally Posted by DMC

Look at Mike D tonight. What adjustments did he make? He just stands on the sidelines and bitches. Look at Kerr. What adjustments does he make? He manages guys minutes and stands there looking wise while his uber talented squad dismantles the opponent. Both coaches are good coaches. Neither of them does a lot with little. Both can do good with a lot. Pop can do good with little, then people expect him to micromanage the little bit of talent he has to a championship.

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Look at Clips. We have more talent, but they were mentally prepared. Putting Mills/Beli without moving the ball was bad. Did they get open? Attempted open shots? Nope. Worst they didn’t defend

Thanks for the grades troughout the season!

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Originally Posted by monty4329

So you think you can win a playoffs game scoring 86 points?

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Denver won scoring 90 :rolleyes

It's a game7: Defenses always prevail to offenses.

Spurs were supossed to play tough defense as Nuggets did in the first quarter (like they did in the 4th). Instead, all first half long, Nuggets fested around Spurs' basket and as Pop said in the 1Q interview, they were lucky DEN only shot 1/9 from 3pt line in good shots or they game would have been lost there already.
Nugget's defense was very good, exploiting Poetl's presence on the court, collapsing inside leaving White open behind the 3pt line. Of course DeRozan and Aldridge helped shooting mid jays instead of attacking the rim as they did in the second half but have a look to the Nuggets paint when they got the ball and you will know why they preferred not to go there. Give credit to Nuggets defense.

IMO, Poetl was absolutely inneficcient defending Jokic, protecting the paint and the defensive rebound in games 6 and 7. I believe that costed us Game7. Aldridge finally showed some proud playing very good 1on1 defense vs Jokic in the second half, and over Millsap in the first. Why didn't he do that before? Removing Poetl from the court also helped Spurs to find ways to the rim. Should Aldridge have played that good defense on Jokic before (he is totally capable), Nuggets offense would have struggled and the series had been totally different. I can't totally blame LA when only Poetl's purpose was that.

Gay scored well in the last two games and not even so made up his playoff numbers (40%FG, 10p). Add to that his regularly bad defense. That's a clear negative net contribution for the series.

Another key for the series was the number of players doing well for their team. Mills, Marco not hitting threes barely can contribute. Poetl and White with their ups and downs. Bertans benched... Malone kept a 9 men rotation for the hole series, all of them contributing here and there.

White had a bad game 7 which is understandable for a defacto rookie. Finally, experience played against Spurs on White and Poetl. Murray won the match-up, scoring critical points for his team in the last quarter.

DeRozan and Aldridge were ok but Jokic was the better player in the series by far and usually the team with the best player wins. Numbers wise, both were fine but for the Spurs to win, they need to play better defense or have a superior impact in the offense (by scoring more or generating more for the team).

Spurs could have won the series playing better defense in the end of game 2 when they received 39 points in the 4th and lost a 19pt lead, potential 0-2 with the next 2 to be played at home. The team defense struggled all year long and, stats are there. Yesterday's Aldridge post defense on Jokic or Gay playing decent defense migth have given game 4 or game 5 to Spurs. Poetl wouldn't have been that necessary and DeRozan and White had found better penetration lines and generated more quality 3pt shooting.

Popovich didn't lost the series himself but Malone helped more his team to suceed IMO.

Anyways, Game 7 L was honorable so I'm fine with it. This Spurs team didn't have a much higher ceiling TBH.

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Originally Posted by John B

Normally I would have the same sentiment. But I feel he didn’t coach the best last night and was looking to the next season. He is still the best coach out there and I still want him until the wheels fall off.

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Pop isn't the best coach in the NBA right now... Coaches, like players fall off as time goes on

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Originally Posted by timvp

If Pop actually wanted the Spurs to foul, then it was his fault because he never signaled it. He gave the "pressure the ballhandler" signal, not the "intentional foul" signal. When he calls for an intentional foul, it's with one arm striking the other. He instead did the push up motion.

Maybe Pop was yelling to foul but I could see Aldridge's confusion, tbh.

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Damn, I didn't see that. I could see him yelling "foul". Never even noticed the signal. That turns everything upside down. Aldridge was doing what he was told. Pop really should fire himself.

Thanks for a season of grades. It always livens the place up, and we all know you put a lot of work into it.

Disappointing, but not surprising end to the season.

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Originally Posted by Coach X

Denver won scoring 90 :rolleyes

It's a game7: Defenses always prevail to offenses.

Spurs were supossed to play tough defense as Nuggets did in the first quarter (like they did in the 4th). Instead, all first half long, Nuggets fested around Spurs' basket and as Pop said in the 1Q interview, they were lucky DEN only shot 1/9 from 3pt line in good shots or they game would have been lost there already.
Nugget's defense was very good, exploiting Poetl's presence on the court, collapsing inside leaving White open behind the 3pt line. Of course DeRozan and Aldridge helped shooting mid jays instead of attacking the rim as they did in the second half but have a look to the Nuggets paint when they got the ball and you will know why they preferred not to go there. Give credit to Nuggets defense.

IMO, Poetl was absolutely inneficcient defending Jokic, protecting the paint and the defensive rebound in games 6 and 7. I believe that costed us Game7. Aldridge finally showed some proud playing very good 1on1 defense vs Jokic in the second half, and over Millsap in the first. Why didn't he do that before? Removing Poetl from the court also helped Spurs to find ways to the rim. Should Aldridge have played that good defense on Jokic before (he is totally capable), Nuggets offense would have struggled and the series had been totally different. I can't totally blame LA when only Poetl's purpose was that.

Gay scored well in the last two games and not even so made up his playoff numbers (40%FG, 10p). Add to that his regularly bad defense. That's a clear negative net contribution for the series.

Another key for the series was the number of players doing well for their team. Mills, Marco not hitting threes barely can contribute. Poetl and White with their ups and downs. Bertans benched... Malone kept a 9 men rotation for the hole series, all of them contributing here and there.

White had a bad game 7 which is understandable for a defacto rookie. Finally, experience played against Spurs on White and Poetl. Murray won the match-up, scoring critical points for his team in the last quarter.

DeRozan and Aldridge were ok but Jokic was the better player in the series by far and usually the team with the best player wins. Numbers wise, both were fine but for the Spurs to win, they need to play better defense or have a superior impact in the offense (by scoring more or generating more for the team).

Spurs could have won the series playing better defense in the end of game 2 when they received 39 points in the 4th and lost a 19pt lead, potential 0-2 with the next 2 to be played at home. The team defense struggled all year long and, stats are there. Yesterday's Aldridge post defense on Jokic or Gay playing decent defense migth have given game 4 or game 5 to Spurs. Poetl wouldn't have been that necessary and DeRozan and White had found better penetration lines and generated more quality 3pt shooting.

Popovich didn't lost the series himself but Malone helped more his team to suceed IMO.

Anyways, Game 7 L was honorable so I'm fine with it. This Spurs team didn't have a much higher ceiling TBH.

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I get you and I generally agree, but to a point.

- I think LMA in game-7 was fantastic on defense. Like, for real he was super. He fought like a beast the whole game. Besides pissing me off that he didn't do it the whole series, it also makes me wanting him in the tema (and at 22 mil he is a bargain).

- White was so bad for three games I can't blame Pop for not getting him in when the team was coming back into the game. He already exceeded by far any expectation, next season he will be even better..

- I still strongly believe you can't win only with a good defense. And the fact that DEN shot ridiculously bad but still won proves my point. Defense in the PO is essential, and game7 even more so, but still you got to make baskets. The most efficient shot is FT and then the 3. You got to make some 3s or you lose even against a team that have an awful night. Because in the end, they make one or two shots anyway (Murray killed us).

- Pop went into the game with an obviously flawed offensive gameplan. And not just a bit, but massively flawed.

- I maybe was still shocked we lost (I didn't think we would), so it took me one full day to realize this: the end of game blunder was enormous. That's something so bad to deserve the firing of at least Pop+Messina, but probably the whole bench staff.
There is no way on earth you don't have a plan for a situation like that, and you don't have the team ready. I love Pop and everything, but his history proves again and again he doesn't have the ability to prepare and execute end of games effective strategies (just this season only, how many games we lost because of subpar inbound schemes or pathetic last shot strategies?)

-Jokic is God. I am old enough to have seen Sabonis with some knees, and then destroying the Admiral when already didn't have knees. Jokic is almost as good as Sabonis was pre-NBA. Almost (nobody was as good, yet). If he does some real conditioning this summer, he might change the game more than Curry did.

Having timvp back and regularly posting grades and thoughts has made a weird season seem almost normal and has made it fun despite some bad vibes with Kawhi and having our carefully planned successor to Duncan bail on us.

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Originally Posted by ShutUp SayItAgain!

:lmao turned an easy sweep into a 7 game series loss

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It was never going to be an "easy sweep." Let's break it down.

First of all, psychological reactance is an important factor. When a team loses a playoff game, they become more likely to win the next game, if nothing else due to the increased motivation and desperation not to be eliminated. You might call it a "rubber band effect." It happens within games, and it happens within series.

If the Spurs hang on to win game 2, the Nuggets are now the more desperate team, and they become more likely to win game 3.

Even if the Spurs win game 3, the Nuggets are now down 0-3 going into game 4. Nobody wants to get swept, so they'd show up for game 4 and protect their pride. (And, more importantly, the Nuggets actually won game 4 in reality.)

And there would be nothing "easy" about it regardless. These teams split the first 10 games against each other (regular season + playoffs), and it was a struggle throughout. So let's just throw that narrative in the garbage where it belongs.

Crazy how we played each other 11 times this year total.
Nuggets won 6 while Spurs won 5. Can't get much more even than that. And game 7 ends with a 4pt difference? Lets chalk it up as Homecourt won this one.

Lets get homecourt next year.

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Originally Posted by John B

The guy had 21 points, 8 rebounds, 2 offensive, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 1 assist from the bench. He wasn’t guarding Murray/Jokic pnr :lol:lol It was Mills/Aldridge. It was Beli on Barton’s dunk.

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He played more than 2 starters. Your post is the issue. Box score stats mean nothing. He had a good offensive game, bit he was still too dumb to figure out how to be good offensively FOR 6 PREVIOUS GAMES. Then he was too stupid during the game to start off attacking the basket. Then he was too stupid during the game to shoot ineffective 3s that actually cost spurs momentum.

Milsap made him look like a fool just like plumlee. Denver won because they out physicalled the spurs. Spurs had to counter jokic with aggression, on both sides of the ball. Spurs got beatdown because rudy was scared. He was awful

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Originally Posted by tholdren

He played more than 2 starters. Your post is the issue. Box score stats mean nothing. He had a good offensive game, bit he was still too dumb to figure out how to be good offensively FOR 6 PREVIOUS GAMES. Then he was too stupid during the game to start off attacking the basket. Then he was too stupid during the game to shoot ineffective 3s that actually cost spurs momentum.

Milsap made him look like a fool just like plumlee. Denver won because they out physicalled the spurs. Spurs had to counter jokic with aggression, on both sides of the ball. Spurs got beatdown because rudy was scared. He was awful

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Spurs scored 86 points. You can’t win with 86 points. Gay did his part with 21 points, more than Pop could expect from him. It’s Mills, Beli who didn’t pull their weight. It’s Aldridge too soft offensively. At least Demar went to the hole in the 4th but too little too late. Spurs couldn’t string points together. I would’ve tried Bertans. Maybe he could get hot. But Pop insisted on Mills/Beli who didn’t do shit. Nah, Gay played good in my books.

I just noticed some things in the advanced stats from the playoffs. As close as the series turned out to be, this really stands out as reasons why the Spurs couldn't beat Denver.

Forbes, Belli, and Bertans all had a DRTG of 118. We all knew it, but the numbers make it clear.
Patty Mills had an ORTG of 98! The next lowest among rotation players was Bertans at 103, and Gay at 104.

It's worth noting that Poeltl had an ORTG of 143. If he could have stayed out of foul trouble...

Points per 36 minutes: White - 20. Forbes - 12.7. Mills - 8.8.

3P%: White - .294. Mills - .136.
FG%: White - .547. Mills - .326.
FGA/36: White - 14.1. Mills - 10.2.

Pop's decision to keep Mills on the floor instead of White? I don't give a damn if White was struggling. Patty sucked. His contract makes it worse, but even if he was on a min contract, he fucking sucks. You look at those numbers, and Pop deserves an F for the series.

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Originally Posted by ZeusWillJudge

I just noticed some things in the advanced stats from the playoffs. As close as the series turned out to be, this really stands out as reasons why the Spurs couldn't beat Denver.

Forbes, Belli, and Bertans all had a DRTG of 118. We all knew it, but the numbers make it clear.
Patty Mills had an ORTG of 98! The next lowest among rotation players was Bertans at 103, and Gay at 104.

It's worth noting that Poeltl had an ORTG of 143. If he could have stayed out of foul trouble...

Points per 36 minutes: White - 20. Forbes - 12.7. Mills - 8.8.

3P%: White - .294. Mills - .136.
FG%: White - .547. Mills - .326.
FGA/36: White - 14.1. Mills - 10.2.

Pop's decision to keep Mills on the floor instead of White? I don't give a damn if White was struggling. Patty sucked. His contract makes it worse, but even if he was on a min contract, he fucking sucks. You look at those numbers, and Pop deserves an F for the series.

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what grade will he get next season when he does it again? At this point we all know Patty sucks and we all know Pop will keep playing him in crunch time, cause he loves his pet