Game Thread: Spurs @ Bulls — Feb. 14th, 2022 — 7:00pm CST

[Dex]

Let's get real here. Spurs couldn't score because the Bulls stepped up their defense.

Their poor performance in the 4th was imposed on them. It's nobody's fault that no Spur is an elite talent.

This seems to be the case in a lot of our losses.

Spurs have enough youth and talent to score with other teams using the run & gun game, but when things get tight in the fourth quarter and the opponent's clamp down...that free-flowing faucet seems to get stopped real quick.

We're not quite to the Beautiful Game level where we can overcome that as a team, especially against different opponents every night...and we don't really have a "go-to" scorer for those situations. Sometimes we manage to do enough to survive, but as the record shows, we flounder more often than not.

Those are the times when someone like Dejounte has to step up and take over, because no one else on the team seems capable of doing that consistently.

[MannyIsGod]

Thought this game was there for the taking. Devin just laid an egg in this one, and Lonnie's great game some what pulled out the slack, but the Spurs were just unable to score in the fourth. The biggest stretch to me was the 3 or so minutes in the fourth were Demar went to the bench and we didn't make up any ground. Demar was gassed at that point and if we had been able to make Donovan bring him back into the game sooner, then he likely would have been gassed again by the end of the game. But the Spurs had way too many turnovers and missed shots. DJM had some great looks on mid range jumpers at the end and they just didn't go.

I don't agree with y'alls comments on Devin in this thread. He 100% has some consistency issues, but dude is super young still. I have been pleased to see his development form last year. He's found way more ways to score this year than last and he's made some good progress. I think people here just expect too much from young players a lot of the time.

[MannyIsGod]

Let's get real here. Spurs couldn't score because the Bulls stepped up their defense.

Their poor performance in the 4th was imposed on them. It's nobody's fault that no Spur is an elite talent.

Actually really disagree with this. The Bulls aren't really capable of playing great defense without Lonzo and Caruso. The Spurs shots in the fourth last night were largely open, makeable, and shots they normally hit. They just missed them.

[MannyIsGod]

So decided to do a quick scan through the DVR'd 4th last night to see what kind of shots we got, I'll post the results below when I'm done.

[MannyIsGod]

11:31 Tre Jones to Z Collins on a roll after a pick, makes the layup. Slightly contested but should make this most of the time.
10:52 Keldon contested jump hook 6 feet or so from the bucket. Not the best shot, well defended, but not terrible either. Misses the shot.
10:20 Lonnie out of control drive. Bad shot. More of a bad decision than good defense, IMO.
9:53 Devin hits free throw line jumper. Good pump fake, not great D.
9:30 Keldon drive. Demar actually makes a good defensive play here. Keldon misses badly. Definitely a good defensive play here.
9:00 Devin makes a good runner in the lane that isn't really contested. Defender doesn't even jump with him.
8:27 Uncontested shot for Collins off a roll with Tre. About 10 feet out, shot goes in off the bank so lol, but this is a wide open jumper I expect him to make most of the time if he's going to be a good player.
7:51 Devin WIDE open free throw jumper that he barely draws rim on. Defense here was atrocious, but Devin just leaves it way short.
7:37 Keldon draws a foul on a drive. Good drive, gets to the line
7:02 Keldon makes a 3 foot shot at the rim. Not good D to allow him to get that close and just have a layup.
6:22 Collins make a bad pass to Primo, Primo tries to save but goes out of bounds. This isn't really defense either, its just not a sharp pass in a bad situation. Self inflicted.
5:52 Wide open DJM shot at the elbow. Just comes off short. This is a high percentage shot for DJM. Defense was bad.
5:25 DMJ blows by the defense for a wide open layup. Straight down the lane.
5:00 Out of control reverse layup by DJM. Looks like he wanted a foul, but I didn't see one. Just went up awkward. Defense wasn't bad, but DJM could have done way better here.
4:42 Lob to DJM. Great play call by Pop here (don't get to say that much) Easy layup at the rim, not good D.
4:17 Open midrange jumper on the wing. 12ish feet out? DJM makes this shot at a high percentage. Not bad D, but not good D either.
3:46 DJM jumper from 6 feet out. Bulls do contest this shot late, so not wide open. Not bad D, but this is the kind of shot DJM makes a living off of. Comes off the rim.
3:41 Wide open McDermott shot from the corner 3 off the inbound. Comes off, but this is a good shot for Doug. Pretty bad D.
3:03 Lonnie drives and draws a foul by going into the D. Great drive. Defense fouled so kinda hard to say it was good.
2:39 Jakob makes a contested shot 6 feet out off a roll. D not bad at all, Jakob just makes a good shot.
1:58. McDermott with an atrocious pass that results in a TO. Defense not bad here at all, but holy this pass was awful.
1:32 DJM goes up and is defended well, makes an atrocious pass as well. Turnover. This is good defense but also really bad offense.
1:03 Keldon with a really bad drive. Defense is not bad here, but for the 3rd time in a row a Spurs player leaves his feet with no where to go and ends up badly. This series of possessions don't scream good defense to me as much as they scream AWFUL offense.

Game is out of hand at this point. With 2 minutes to go they are fully in this game, but they just blow it after that. Part of the reason they struggle is because the pace slows down a lot in this quarter once Derozan catches fire and is making every shot he takes. Easier to play D after a made basket. Still, Spurs had a ton of shots they usually make and just didn't.

[BacktoBasics]

Thought this game was there for the taking. Devin just laid an egg in this one, and Lonnie's great game some what pulled out the slack, but the Spurs were just unable to score in the fourth. The biggest stretch to me was the 3 or so minutes in the fourth were Demar went to the bench and we didn't make up any ground. Demar was gassed at that point and if we had been able to make Donovan bring him back into the game sooner, then he likely would have been gassed again by the end of the game. But the Spurs had way too many turnovers and missed shots. DJM had some great looks on mid range jumpers at the end and they just didn't go.

I don't agree with y'alls comments on Devin in this thread. He 100% has some consistency issues, but dude is super young still. I have been pleased to see his development form last year. He's found way more ways to score this year than last and he's made some good progress. I think people here just expect too much from young players a lot of the time.

I chalked that up to coming off the bench, needing more early minutes to establish himself etc. Now that he's starting we'll see if that matters. Hopefully he can find some more consistency. He looked good the other night.

[RC_Drunkford]

People shouldn‘t be surprised. Spurs are 29th in the NBA in points scored in the clutch

[ceperez]

DeRozan is 7 years older than Dejounte Murray. That is 7 years more experience than the oldest Spur on the court (except for Doug)!

No wonder he single handedly destroyed the entire team of young Spurs players who never accomplished much other than staying in the league!

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Spurs shot 6-20 from 3? Not gonna win till they shoot more consistently

[Fireball]

how about pushing the pace in the 4th as well ...

[DAF86]

Unsticky this ish timvp

[itzsoweezee]

Pop’s ready to retire faster that last Murray shot