Game Thread: Kings at Spurs - Thursday, March 3, 2022 | 7:30 PM CT

[PhantomDashCam]

DJ seems to have lost trust in his teammates in these recent late game situations.

[Sugus]

Tank rolls on

Sad to see a Good Lonnie outing go to waste, but it's all for the betterment of the team. Get 2 more random wins through the season so Pop's record is done with, preferrably after the standings are pretty much set and we've out-tanked some opponents. Then with some luck of the ping pong gods... We can have a chance at getting DJ his long-awaited running mate.

I'm sad to read the 2022 draft thread and hear that it's not (supposedly) a very good draft, but it also makes a high pick all the more important. Tank it out, let the bois play, retool in the off-season and see where we're at next season. I'm all for it.

[slick'81]

Spurs 7th worst record in the league. 1 game ahead of ny/por

[Sugus]

DJ seems to have lost trust in his teammates in these recent late game situations.

Yeah, sad to see. I can understand him being frustrated when Lonnie is pretty much the only other guy who came to play tonight, but still, you're the PG. Get the rest of the team involved. These losses, beyond furthering the tank, should also be helping the team learn and figure out how to close out games. DJ hogging the ball and trying to hero-ball his way into Ws is not good for the team overall.

[heyheymymy]

Premium tanking from the Spurs tonight. A sliver lining loss coming back from 19 down on the Kings as if to say Spurs could almost hang now as is but will cough it back up in hopes of a better pick. Good data from a few guys notably Walker but Jones continues to polish up and Primo had a few possession stretch where he briefly flashed promise. Dev and Poeltl looked pretty good tonight. Off night for KJ and MCD.

Strategic loss to help try and pull Kings up past the Spurs in the standings.

[slick'81]

Murray with the save

[GAustex]

All star coming up short and stat padding when the game is over
GG Walker

[slick'81]

Bring on the hornets

[Sugus]

Ok, credit where it's due: those were great 3's by DJ. Rushed and a bit ill-advised, but understandable given the situation. If only he'd get those pull-ups in his bag to use on the regular, and not just when the game is on the line... He clearly can make them.

[John B]

Lonnie with another 20pts game es

[PhantomDashCam]

Sad to see a Good Lonnie outing go to waste, but it's all for the betterment of the team. Get 2 more random wins through the season so Pop's record is done with, preferrably after the standings are pretty much set and we've out-tanked some opponents. Then with some luck of the ping pong gods... We can have a chance at getting DJ his long-awaited running mate.

I'm sad to read the 2022 draft thread and hear that it's not (supposedly) a very good draft, but it also makes a high pick all the more important. Tank it out, let the bois play, retool in the off-season and see where we're at next season. I'm all for it.

Piggybacking off of this further, Lonnie’s recent ascendancy may give the Spurs brass something extra to think about if initially targeting a SG in the draft. They may very well pivot or at least not rank it with the same level of importance anymore. I love that Lonnie is controlling his fate here. A good situation all-round tbh.

[Dex]

Disappointing, but good loss for tank purposes, I guess.

We really only need two more wins and we can call this season a success.

Still, I’m getting tired of this team ting the bed when the pressure goes up

[heyheymymy]

Subtly nice distribution from Walker tonight in one example. Found Poeltl cutting (rolling?) to the basket and Walker was able to slip the pass through very sneaky. Walker was obvs not passing a lot tonight (30pts/2ast) but that time at least he flashed an ability that bodes well with Spurs seemingly going forward with only Murray/Jones as classic or official ballhandlers.

Walker can also move very fast with the ball which is another requisite need if he is to slide more into a ball handling 2 or even 3rd string 1 in select matchups / situations. Does it appear the Spurs are testing Walker slightly in that area? I also feel like Primo can bring up the ball at least so that's an option.

[Sugus]

Random note as I was reading another thread: where the is Jock Landale??? I don't think I've seen him on the court once in the last what, 5, 7, 8 games I've watched? Maybe I just missed the ones where he was featured? Or is he injured and I didn't realize? He's not on the injury report for this game at least...

Weird that Mr "should replace Jakob in the SL" is riding the pine so thoroughly. I don't think he's a future star or anything like that, but it's weird that he's not playing at all, in spite of our lack of quality bigmen. Zollins hasn't been something out of this world that keeps him from playing, either. What's up, Pop?!

[John B]

Subtly nice distribution from Walker tonight in one example. Found Poeltl cutting (rolling?) to the basket and Walker was able to slip the pass through very sneaky. Walker was obvs not passing a lot tonight (30pts/2ast) but that time at least he flashed an ability that bodes well with Spurs seemingly going forward with only Murray/Jones as classic or official ballhandlers.

I’m totally okay with Lonnie being selfish, for now. A big part of his problem was over deferring, too unselfish. He needed that scorers’ mentality. Good for him. Way to go Lonnie!!

[slick'81]

Random note as I was reading another thread: where the is Jock Landale??? I don't think I've seen him on the court once in the last what, 5, 7, 8 games I've watched? Maybe I just missed the ones where he was featured? Or is he injured and I didn't realize? He's not on the injury report for this game at least...

Weird that Mr "should replace Jakob in the SL" is riding the pine so thoroughly. I don't think he's a future star or anything like that, but it's weird that he's not playing at all, in spite of our lack of quality bigmen. Zollins hasn't been something out of this world that keeps him from playing, either. What's up, Pop?!

definitely the 3rd big now. Spurs seem Committed to see what zollins has down the stretch

[GAustex]

Game slows down and defense tightens up Spurs struggle. No real go to scorer.

But we knew that.

Only chance Spurs have is together playing as a unit and with lots of effort.

They really need two PFs

[heyheymymy]

Jock got 26 mins in the Heat game and did decent with them I guess. Seems like he lost his outside shot. But that almost seemed like a showcase because outside of 2 recent games with good mins he has been benched or garbage time only.

[John B]

definitely the 3rd big now. Spurs seem Committed to see what zollins has down the stretch

Yup Zollins is a big pickup if he pans out. Spurs are patient but it’s nice to see him running out there.

[heyheymymy]

I’m totally okay with Lonnie being selfish, for now. A big part of his problem was over deferring, too unselfish. He needed that scorers’ mentality. Good for him. Way to go Lonnie!!

Agreed and that's Walkers role so anything extra aside from scoring is gravy.

[BatManu20]

Landale is a poor defender and a poor rebounder. That’s why pop doesn’t play him much. He’s trying to win games and get his record.

[offset formation]

Random note as I was reading another thread: where the is Jock Landale??? I don't think I've seen him on the court once in the last what, 5, 7, 8 games I've watched? Maybe I just missed the ones where he was featured? Or is he injured and I didn't realize? He's not on the injury report for this game at least...

Weird that Mr "should replace Jakob in the SL" is riding the pine so thoroughly. I don't think he's a future star or anything like that, but it's weird that he's not playing at all, in spite of our lack of quality bigmen. Zollins hasn't been something out of this world that keeps him from playing, either. What's up, Pop?!

He played quite a bit the other night against Miami on the second night of a b2b.

As for where he's been beyond then...Pop, man.

Like you said, its not like Zollins is out there manhandling his minutes.

[heyheymymy]

If Spurs can pull off a soft tank and secure a great draft night all while fine tuning and developing the surrounding cast to drop that new talent into this season will be a task failed successfully.

[heyheymymy]

Watched White tonight in the Boston game. Granted against a heavyweight in Memphis but White looked good but replaceable. Starting to really ripen on this White trade personally. Tough to replace White's intrinsics. DW could control a game, good D, draw fouls all the little stuff like take charges. It's like that set of intrinsics are done by committee now without DW.

But the breathing room it opened up for Walker was very impactful. Walker seems like he thinks too much and I wonder how much, mentally speaking, DW was positionally looming so to speak over Walker.

In the Heat game JRich gave Spurs 14/4/4 in 26 mins on 50%, small sample size indeed but I mean the offense DW provided seems replaceable. Now if Spurs can work their magic on Langford, plus the FRP trove?

The White trade was a win for SA.

[MultiTroll]

Glaring weakness.
SF/PF that can consistently score.

Have McForbesbot and KJ ever had a good game on the same night?
McDermott had a very good Feb, hats off to that.
KJ some good games too.

But consistency and especially in close games? Pretyy much gonzo.