Whats going on with the spurs?

[ceperez]

However, even with all of this, the biggest concern is Boban. He needs to provide some minutes without Timmy. It just has to happen. So hopefully they look at film and continue to get him reps when possible.

Well, I did not expect to have to rely on Boban. Unfortunately, the Cavs really exposed him. The first time he's played against elite compe ion and he was destroyed. Also for some reason he couldn't get to his spots in offense and Spurs couldn't exploit his mismatch.

[skulls138]

Our SL has been terrible all season, even with Timmy, too much iso ball. But at least with Timmy they were a defensive monster. Without Timmy, they suck. It has always been the bench coming to the rescue, most of the season. Here they could not do it, and I fear against elite compe ion they won't be able to do it bc of Manu. He tends to heroball in a bad way when things get out of hand. He's a catalist but in the games against GSW and Cavs, he was a catalist for the other team. At this point, Anderson is more heady making plays than Manu and Simms is better driving and finishing.

But LMA needs iso's, its who he is. I think the other players games are more adjustable. Feed the ball to LMA and him pass it out when double teamed until the open man is found. It may be unfair to Kawhi but his game is more adaptable than LMA's and he can still get good numbers. I also get the feeling Kawhi wouldnt mind at all if it was that way, especially if it worked.

Having said that, LMA needs to earn getting fed the ball by doing the hard stuff like D, rebounds offensive and defensive and being a good screener for others. Thatll go a long way towards establishing a good rapport amongst teammates who feed him the ball. And also drive that ball, dont settle. Loved some of the moves he made before having to sit down.

[SAGirl]

But LMA needs iso's, its who he is. I think the other players games are more adjustable. Feed the ball to LMA and him pass it out when double teamed until the open man is found. It may be unfair to Kawhi but his game is more adaptable than LMA's and he can still get good numbers. I also get the feeling Kawhi wouldnt mind at all if it was that way, especially if it worked.

Having said that, LMA needs to earn getting fed the ball by doing the hard stuff like D, rebounds offensive and defensive and being a good screener for others. Thatll go a long way towards establishing a good rapport amongst teammates who feed him the ball. And also drive that ball, dont settle. Loved some of the moves he made before having to sit down.

Kawhi is a fierce compe or and having him spot up for a 3 with LmA being in the post might be the best 2 man play between them not PnR. You either live with LMA making shots or Kawhi making a 3. LMA needs to play a more prominent role than Pop has given him with all the deferral. I do think Kawhi will do what is needed to win. That is all he cares about and spotting up allows him to rest on defense.

someone was commenting the amount of energy you expend on offense and how Kawhi's defense can be suffering from that.

[skulls138]

Kawhi is a fierce compe or and having him spot up for a 3 with LmA being in the post might be the best 2 man play between them not PnR. You either live with LMA making shots or Kawhi making a 3. LMA needs to play a more prominent role than Pop has given him with all the deferral. I do think Kawhi will do what is needed to win. That is all he cares about and spotting up allows him to rest on defense.

someone was commenting the amount of energy you expend on offense and how Kawhi's defense can be suffering from that.

Yes, and also Kawhi can fake the three and be creative which is literally where he's improved so much.

The only question I have though is how does TD fit into this equation?

[SpursBig3s]

It's not just about overreacted, the team constantly comes out flat in opening quarters and on the road against decent team that is suicide. Spurs playing like they have no pride and getting absolutely WAXED. Yes, it's January and no Duncan but as much as people hide behind the Pop not showing his cards crap, losing this badly to contenders is a worrying sign. I understand losing road games to good teams, but lose like this where the Spurs were barely in the game both against GS and Cleveland is a glaring issue.

I just don't trust this team to have enough players consistently show up in the playoffs to go really far. It's like the Clipper series last year. Everyone is all over the place and inconsistent.

I remember the year when we lost to every le contender multiple times... Oh yeah, we won the le that year too

[DMC]

When the Spurs are running the current system well they are monsters. When they aren't they are slightly above average. They don't have the ability to run and gun and win if they don't have defense first mentality.

[DMC]

I remember the year when we lost to every le contender multiple times... Oh yeah, we won the le that year too

I remember the year we lost to le contenders multiple times. We lost. Your anecdote is cute but doesn't mean anything.

[r0drig0lac]

I remember the year we lost to le contenders multiple times. We lost. Your anecdote is cute but doesn't mean anything.

exactly, apart from the fact golden state is a proven monster this season, and their best player is having the best offensive season in league history

[wildcardX]

Marathon.

Not showing all your cards, actively not coaching to win, players giving relatively underwhelming effort. etc etc

Not having Duncan out there. He's the leader, even on the bench(Houston game). I think it's a good thing getting the team experience without Duncan in the lineup, just ty luck he gets injured when the team plays the 2 top teams in the league. They have to learn to play without him sooner or later though. Although I would like to see Duncan with the team after he retires.

[jbspurs]

Spurs needs a point guard that can push the ball and not walk it down at every possession. I don't think they can play like that without Timmy, LA still need to learn from Timmy on how to read defense when posting up.

[ceperez]

Spurs needs a point guard that can push the ball and not walk it down at every possession. I don't think they can play like that without Timmy, LA still need to learn from Timmy on how to read defense when posting up.

walk down??? Spurs don't walk down the ball.

[spurs10]

Spurs needs a point guard that can push the ball and not walk it down at every possession. I don't think they can play like that without Timmy, LA still need to learn from Timmy on how to read defense when posting up.

Yes with regard to learning from Tim. Now everyone knows LMA is a multi- time All Star for a reason. However he has a great opportunity to learn from one the greatest to have ever walked on the court!

[jbspurs]

walk down??? Spurs don't walk down the ball.

Used to not walk down.. The only time I see it now is when Mills in on the court. Biggest problem is their defense, Our PG's are now a liability on defense. Before, only the big guards gives them problem. Now, they can't guard even the short ones.

[Atl Spur]

Has anyone stopped to think why the spurs ran zone almost the whole second half?? The cavs game was no more than a live scrimmage of sorts. The national media doesn't care about the spurs and nor does pop care about giving them a true game! The refs were beyond atrocious also......

[xellos88330]

I am not sure if any of you all noticed this, but the screens the Spurs have been setting have been weak. There is little to no contact on the screens they set. This takes away a lot of the passing lanes to half the court because the defender hasn't been shed by the screen. With the options being limited, it makes it that much easier to predict what the Spurs will do. I think the angle of the screener needs to be changed so that way if the pnr is iced, the defense is forced to make a 50/50 choice rather than the 100 decision because the ball handlers defender is still in the play. The screening has been weak off the ball as well. You can't get open looks and make the defense scramble if there is always defenders close by you. The amount of plays resulting in post ups is IMO, a direct result of poor screening.

[JeffDuncan]

... the screens the Spurs have been setting have been weak. There is little to no contact on the screens they set. This takes away a lot of the passing lanes to half the court because the defender hasn't been shed by the screen. With the options being limited, it makes it that much easier to predict what the Spurs will do. I think the angle of the screener needs to be changed so that way if the pnr is iced, the defense is forced to make a 50/50 choice rather than the 100 decision because the ball handlers defender is still in the play. The screening has been weak off the ball as well. You can't get open looks and make the defense scramble if there is always defenders close by you. The amount of plays resulting in post ups is IMO, a direct result of poor screening.

Yes, I've also noticed bad screening. All I'll add is that it takes two to screen. I hardly ever see any of the Spurs ballhandlers make best use of the screens they get. No idea why not, except . . . bad coaching??

[spursfanincolorado]

It almost feels like the team knows Duncan is done and playing uninspired ball. I know it's not likely but there's something with the psyche of this team.

Maybe be they are tired of the pressure and want to "go back under the radar"

dunno but this has been a difficult last few games (Warriors, Cavs) and two beat downs to put it bluntly.

Duncan appears to be a psychological anchor to this team at the mid point of the season.

perhaps he hangs it up soon?

[weeks]

It almost feels like the team knows Duncan is done

you shut your in mouth

[YGWHI]

Feed the ball to LMA and him pass it out when double teamed until the open man is found.

Kawhi is a fierce compe or and having him spot up for a 3 with LmA being in the post might be the best 2 man play between them not PnR. You either live with LMA making shots or Kawhi making a 3. LMA needs to play a more prominent role than Pop has given him with all the deferral. I do think Kawhi will do what is needed to win. That is all he cares about and spotting up allows him to rest on defense.

Pop's giving LMA all the shots on offense...It seems like some people forget that LMA has led the Spurs in FGA in the last two months.

Kawhi has scored more than him just because he's more effective, instead of LMA who needed 20 FGA to score 20 PPG with the Blazers.

I know that you aren't advocating for him having 20 shots every night, and Pop is playing him as our first option.

someone was commenting the amount of energy you expend on offense and how Kawhi's defense can be suffering from that.

Not sure why people say his defense has regressed/suffered. According his numbers on defense, ppp/FG% opponents, Kawhi's still the best perimeter defender in the league this season even when he has to carry the load on offense in some games.

We can't say he didn't defend LeBron well when most LBJ poinst came from plays on Mills/Manu and to due Pop's zone. LeBron didn't have a lot of success against Kawhi one-on-one defense in the last two seasons and Pop should have stopped to play zone when it turned ineffective and put Kawhi on LBJ the rest of the game.

I can agree that Kawhi's defense wasn't that good against Curry. But Pop put Kawhi on him after Curry went supernova against Parker/Mills and all our guards. Start the game with Green on Curry and then change the assignments could be a lot better option.

[SAGirl]

Not sure why people say his defense has regressed/suffered. According his numbers on defense, ppp/FG% opponents, Kawhi's still the best perimeter defender in the league this season even when he has to carry the load on offense in some games.

It wasn't his best night the past few games. Even against Houston he wasn't special.
But I will give you this.... Pop is clearly experimenting with Simmons and Anderson. Anderson guarding Love? Simmons on Lebron and Kyrie? on Curry? Pop is developing, so what no one will point out is that Kawhi has been moved to less threatening targets in a few games bc Pop is giving opportunities to others, and we may need those others bc Patty/Tony/Manu are not going to pull their weight defensively and defense is a team effort.

[YGWHI]

It wasn't his best night the past few games. Even against Houston he wasn't special.

...

Kawhi held Ariza to just 8 points in the whole game after Ariza scored 31 points vs Pels and 29 pts against Dallas in the last two previous games, and defended really good Harden when Green was on the bench.

Shot over 60 FG%...7-12 and 3-4 from 3...18 points.

I'd say he had a really nice game on both ends.

But I will give you this.... Pop is clearly experimenting with Simmons and Anderson. Anderson guarding Love? Simmons on Lebron and Kyrie? on Curry? Pop is developing, so what no one will point out is that Kawhi has been moved to less threatening targets in a few games bc Pop is giving opportunities to others, and we may need those others bc Patty/Tony/Manu are not going to pull their weight defensively and defense is a team effort.

And for the same reason we can't say he has regressed/suffered on defense.

[SAGirl]

...

Kawhi held Ariza to just 8 points in the whole game after Ariza scored 31 points vs Pels and 29 pts against Dallas in the last two previous games, and defended really good Harden when Green was on the bench.

You know what I mean, I am not ting on Kawhi per se. his steals, and defensive plays haven't been there, and Kyle was on Ariza at times and Brewer. Ariza is mostly a spot up shooter. The real threat that game was Harden, who Danny was on for a whole lot. He wasn't good against either GSW and CLE. You know very well these are not Kawhi's best defensive games, and for his standards are quite meh!
But as i also stated, Pop was trying other guys, so its not so much on him. Him stepping up communicating on defense is probably the bigger issue, but should be corrected after the CLE game

[Dex]

The "problem" with the Spurs is that everyone is still comparing them to Golden State. To do so at this point of the season would be a fallacy.

Still a lot of time left to develop the team, and I still like our chances once the playoffs roll around.

Also, people need to remember that nothing is a given and no one is guaranteed to win the championship. Not the Spurs. Not the Warriors. Nobody.

[skulls138]

The "problem" with the Spurs is that everyone is still comparing them to Golden State. To do so at this point of the season would be a fallacy.

Still a lot of time left to develop the team, and I still like our chances once the playoffs roll around.

Also, people need to remember that nothing is a given and no one is guaranteed to win the championship. Not the Spurs. Not the Warriors. Nobody.

I agree. Worrying about the Warriors, talking about the Warriors does no good. We need to be the best we can be before thinking about anybody else. These losses could be a blessing when all is said and done.

[skulls138]

Pop's giving LMA all the shots on offense...It seems like some people forget that LMA has led the Spurs in FGA in the last two months.

Kawhi has scored more than him just because he's more effective, instead of LMA who needed 20 FGA to score 20 PPG with the Blazers.

I know that you aren't advocating for him having 20 shots every night, and Pop is playing him as our first option.

Thats good, now it has to work better. He needs to back his man down and be a post presence, let the jumpshot be something when the shot clock winds down, not be his primary shot. Scoring inside is going to open everything else up. TD should get some post ups too when he gets back. Kawhi too for that matter.