Game Thread: Spurs @ SONS Oct 31ST - HAPPY HOLLOWEEN - (4 AM Riga Time)

[John B]

They aren’t going to fold. They didn’t fold last game either. They just got beat by a much better team.

Nah last game everybody just pretty much gave up once Clips took the game early in the 3rd. I’m glad they got beaten miserably last Clips game. Hopefully that game had them working harder, and this win shows they could win if they stick in there and play hard

[DAF86]

It's hard to see how he can do it differently. If Wemby can only play in short stints and needs a certain amount of time to recover, then this is basically the rotation you get. The only element of complaint could be that he played too long to start the fourth. I think Pop assumed Wemby was playing his last stint but saw the game was still winnable and had to sneak in some rest for him. Hopefully in a year or two, Wemby will be able to play through the quarter in games like this. There was no way he was going to do it tonight though.

Just because Pop opted for this rotation pattern for Wemby, it doesn't mean the kid can't handle longer stints. He was playing 35 out of 40 minutes just a couple of months ago in much more pressure packed games.

Someone has to take those shots, and both of those guys were told for years it was their jobs. Vassell's shot was on a broken play because Wemby isn't good at setting screens (which is why Sochan should've done it but whatever). The Spurs just lack a guy who's going to close a game from the perimeter. They used to have a few, but I don't know that anyone on the team has a chance to do that. Maybe Branham if everything goes right?

First, who says it has to be perimeter players taking those possessions? Just give the ball to Wemby in the post like at the end of the Rockets game. You can also try by actually running a play with some more screens and ball movement. I don't see why everything has to be isolation.

A couple of things. 1) Keldon on KD made sense, because they knew they were going to help no matter what. If know you're going to send help, you can tell the main defender to just hold a little bit of ground. If put your best defender on him, you're still doubling, but now you've taken out your ace and leave your worse guys scrambling to stop the other guys. 2) Jones and Keldon were great at swarming on that last play. Chuck was talking about KD passing, but Tre jumped into the passing lane right before Keldon came back into the picture. I can't imagine anyone playing defense on the inbound better.

Help defense doesn't matter if the main defender can't stay reasonably in front of the offensive player, and that's more likely to happen when you put your worst defender guarding one of the greatest scorers of all time in crunch time.

And yeah, that was a heads up play by Tre and Keldon on that last steal, but that's an unforced error by the Suns. Vogel should have called timeout and advance the ball. Then KD could have called timeout. They have multiple options to prevent what ended up happening.

[heyheymymy]

lol Spurs came back to win by 1 from 20 points down

[spurs10]

Hip check, Tim 3 ptr, and the Steal!

[thiste]

Suns led for 47:58.8

[Arcadian]

Victor blocking 3-pointers is so valuable. It's an instant fast break starter. Now if only his teammates could actually find him on the break.

[Mugen]

[spurraider21]

raiders fired McDaniels and Ziegler too

what a night

[Chinook]

Just because Pop opted for this rotation pattern for Wemby, it doesn't mean the kid can't handle longer stints. He was playing 35 out of 40 minutes just a couple of months ago in much more pressure packed games.

Maybe you haven't seen what he looks like at the end of his stints, but it's pretty clear why he's coming out. Victor himself has mentioned that the pace of the NBA is different, and he still plays an exhausting brand of basketball. I have no idea if his minutes in Europe looked different, but I wouldn't be surprised. Pop to my knowledge has never played a guy on a five-minute rotation before. I do not believe it's merely his decision to do it this time.

First, who says it has to be perimeter players taking those possessions? Just give the ball to Wemby in the post like at the end of the Rockets game. You can also try by actually running a play with some more screens and ball movement. I don't see why everything has to be isolation.

You can't iso in the post in the same way as you can on the perimeter. You can run a play at the end of a game to get the guy the ball in the post, but you can't put it in his hands with 15 seconds left and have him run the clock down to take the last shot. Yes, the Spurs should be running plays to get Wemby post shots. I don't think a single person disagrees on this board. Why they aren't doing it is a mystery, and it probably isn't just that Pop doesn't want to. He's had multple post stars in his years. He certainly knows how to run plays in that area.

Help defense doesn't matter if the main defender can't stay reasonably in front of the offensive player, and that's more likely to happen when you put your worst defender guarding one of the greatest scorers of all time in crunch time.

Defense doesn't really work the way you're describing. Help isn't just a generic guy running out to "defend more". It's a player coming from a predictable (to the main defender) angle while the main defender gets a narrow defensive assignment. It's like in the NFL how a corner having safety help means the safety is going to take one "side" of the receiver's possible path so the corner can just focus on the other side. If you're going to put safety help on a guy every play, you don't put your best corner there too because he'd be wasted, and the worse corner who doesn't get safety help becomes a liability. If Pop tells Keldon "Okay, you're job is to just not let Durant go baseline on you", then Keldon should be able to sit on that area and give KD a path toward the midline, into the help. If instead you have better defender there, you're still telling that defender to take away baseline, but now you have Keldon trying to stop KD on the move, which is the scenario you're afraid of.

All things considered, I thought Keldon did a fine job tonight. He's had a pretty good season so far, and folks are hating on him more than he deserves.

[ace3g]

Victor blocking 3-pointers is so valuable. It's an instant fast break starter. Now if only his teammates could actually find him on the break.

Yep, I've only seen like 2 players make a 3 against his closeout/contest.

[heyheymymy]

How about that play in the 4th where Victor closed out Allen I think it was on the corner 3, Greyson took it to the rim and Victor didn't even have to recover and his long arm just reached out and blocked the attempt

Vic can afford to over commit on that perimeter close out and still recover if the opponent drives past. Allen looked like he was caught surprised by the reach length.

[Arcadian]

Victor made #1 on the SportsCenter top 10 plays tonight with his left handed "dunk" (even though he really just dropped the ball into the net).

I didn't watch SC last Friday, but I'm guessing his reverse dunk was high on the list as well.

Even during the dynasty, I don't think the Spurs made SportsCenter this often

[ace3g]

[ace3g]

[ismael-robert]

Booker n Beal will play next game n put us back to losing by 40

[ace3g]

[buttsR4rebounding]

Agreed. Isaiah Collier or Stephon Castle would be a godsend tbh. Not sure we’ll lose enough games to get either though.

Topic looking like the best PG prospect right now.

[heyheymymy]

Victor made #1 on the SportsCenter top 10 plays tonight with his left handed "dunk" (even though he really just dropped the ball into the net).

I didn't watch SC last Friday, but I'm guessing his reverse dunk was high on the list as well.

Even during the dynasty, I don't think the Spurs made SportsCenter this often

One of the two skeletons on TNT set tonight was wearing a #1 Spurs jersey. TNT would never feature SA without Wemby hype. The other jersey was a #34 Lakers iirc.

Wemby forces the Spurs to get some media darling treatment and it's a shock to see happening.

[Fireball]

Nice win.

Going through this thread is pure gold again. Resembles all my emotions ... yes I also jumped ship after the first two baskets of the Suns

[Arcadian]

Interesting how at 2:40 Victor says "his teammates look for him" and "they make him a problem the way they set up the plays for him" (referring to Durant).

It's almost as if he's implying his own teammates aren't doing that enough

[Mal]

Booker n Beal will play next game n put us back to losing by 40

So 1W and 1L against the Suns

[Brazil]

Typical wemby game… in France we used to call him the diesel because he always start slow. He started this game 0/5 and finished 6/12

btw that’s a tip for game thread before lashing out on a Victor bad game, just wait a bit

[playbonner15]

I agree with Chuck, Devin has a tendency to take some really bad/hard shots. They need to figure out how to give him more space to work at the elbow ala DDR since he has developed some good footwork there.

Need a good pg to setup plays, or else it's gonna be iso hero ball with a little bit of screen and roll. Pop's missing a Tony and Manu

[dbestpro]

This game is convincing that Tre Jones should start and is the best PG we have.

[Spurs Homer]

This game is convincing that Tre Jones should start and is the best PG we have.

or…

that the reason tre jones looks better is because now he plays against bench players…

start him again and you will that he should come off the bench…