I'm a fan till the end, but how was this game even close!?! It shouldn't have been. We stuck more than I thought.
No mention about Pop's inexplicable reasoning behind having Forbes inbound the ball on that last play? He's not a specially good passer, he is a midget that can't have a good look over the inbound defender and he's a good FT shooting option to get the ball. Just a bad decision all around.
I'm a fan till the end, but how was this game even close!?! It shouldn't have been. We stuck more than I thought.
Well, given that the Spurs appear committed to playing Forbes, what better time than an early-season out-of-conference game to put Forbes on the spot?
Hopefully Walker eats up some of his minutes soon. This team would certainly have a different defensive feel if he and Murray had been available this year. I’m sure Walker won’t blow the league away, but I think him getting reps should help Pop shift some lineups away from Cunningham.
I doubt Walker takes Cunningham's spot, unless he wows. I am fine with Pop starting Bertans.
Having two high volume, high percentage 3pt shooters around DDR,Gay, and LMA would be far more effective than playing 4 on 5.
If the NBA rules and reffing are so skewed towards offense, then why wouldn't it make sense to maximize the amount of shooting and spacing knowing that it would be almost impossible for teams to stop that lineup from scoring?
Bertans is a far better offensive player than Cunningham is a defense one so really think that that lineup would far more effective, even if worse defensively.
His shot selection is far worse now than then. It's shocking how often he takes bad shots, and not shocking how few they go in.
That contract is looking really bad already, only twenty games into it.
Pop deserved the resulting TO and I really wish Arci made that heave. Just feel like lessons aren't really learned unless the team losses. Otherwise, it's another burn the tape situation.
I wouldn't have thought I'd say this but I completely agree.
I'd like to think that when Pau returns that it'll help Beli begin to get some easy baskets on cuts but I am probably kidding myself.
He is still respected as a shooter and with Mills, White and Bertans that is a ton worth of spacing and that unit tends to move quicker and be more assertive moving the ball and finding the open man. Pondexter probably still isn't good enough to be a rotation player, so I would probably still take my chances with Belinelli and hope that Walker can push for minutes off the bench.
Is anyone expecting Forbes to have a torn groin or something? He was limping at one point grabbing near the groin area...
If you practice shooting on the move too much, it actually becomes harder to make them standing still
Looked like he got hit in los pelotas, tbh.
Ouch! I missed that part. At least that heals faster than torn groins. Feel sorry for Forbes though.
?
I know it's in vogue to blame Pop for everything but:
1) There was no inbound defender on that play. In that case, you want your point guard throwing it in.
2) There was no timeout before that play so Pop didn't directly draw it up. Looked like Gay was going to inbound it but then waved over Forbes.
3) Forbes was the worst free throw shooter on the court. And with his history of yips at the line, he was obviously the last of the bunch you'd want shooting.
My guess is that Bertans makes far too many bonehead mistakes for Pop's liking.
1) You want your PG inbounding when he's the best passer of your team, not when he's arguably the worst.
2) I don't remember if they had a TO left, but if they had one, they should have use it. If anything, to get the ball the farther away from out hoop as possible. Even with no TO's the coach should still call the play and say who's inbounding. In fact that was what probably happened, that's why Forbes took Gay's place.
3) in terms of FT% Forbes wasn't the worst shooter on the court. Patty has a worse FT% this season. Also, I don't care how good Aldridge's FT% is, when the game is on the line I prefer anyone but him taking those FT's. The worst thing of all is that the inbound pass was going his way.
Last edited by DAF86; 11-27-2018 at 03:28 PM.
The East is just so bad at the bottom that tanking is nearly impossible. Even at our worst I think we would be like the 10th pick. But man it is really so disheartening to see us struggle and lose to ORL and PHX and MIA and SAC. I'm just glad we didn't have to add the Bulls on that list
1) No defender on the ball. Forbes is not anywhere near the worst passer on the team. That's hyperbolic.
2) Forbes should have called a timeout when no one popped open. Pop would have called a timeout if they were inbounding under the other team's basket but they weren't. You don't take your last timeout in that situation to move the ball a couple feet up the sideline.
3) Mills is 85% career, come on bruh. Aldridge is north of 80%.
But, yeah. Blaming Pop for everything . . . finds a way, I guess.
I meant of that specific lineup that was on the floor, not of the entire roster.
Spurs should have had two time-outs there, not one. I don't see why they didn't call one, especially after making the decision to put in Forbes out of bounds for Gay at the last second. There's nothing wrong with going over how to get to someone open for the pass. That's even more true after the play started, when anyone (including Pop) could have called the time-out once they saw how the Bulls were defending the inbounds. Instead, you just had guys running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Ignoring the time-outs, since apparently everyone forgot about them, Forbes made the correct decision to pass it to Aldridge. The pass wasn't perfect by any means, but he put it in a position where Aldridge should have been able to catch it cleanly or at least bat it back to Bryn.
I can't agree Pop coached a good game last night. Not everything is his fault obviously (especially not the fault of Pop as a coach), but he's been up and down this whole season in a way that evens out to a below-average performance.
The final step in his transition to the new Manu.
Even knowing how bad this team is, it's still stunning just how bad they are.
Facing a bottom feeder, missing 4 of their top 8 players, in a game they had to view as a must win, it still came down to a virtual coin flip. Luckily for them, it was a rare time, especially on the road, where things broke their way. They can thank their lucky stars that LaVine had one of the lowest IQ finishes to a game in recent memory.
Think Gay got benched for the 1st unit's lack of movement and energy and over reliance on low percentage, ISO ball shots. We've seen it a few times now. The difference with Alridge and DeRozan is, he pretty much has to go back to them at some point. Gay, depending on the match-up, they can occasionally do without.
Cunningham can't score and he is worried about Bertans? I don't think Bertans makes many mistakes; he isn't a good defender and tends to get bullied when defending drives and struggles on the glass but he is a good passer, great shooter and can drive on occasion. His plusses outweigh Cunningham's.
Loving these writeups and the consistency with which you're posting them. You are the Tim Duncan of Spurstalk. Thanks.
Rudy is back to playing hampered again. Its pretty obvious when he has not lift when shooting or aint as spry on the movement. Pop knows it too but probably allows Rudy the respect of choosing to play on.
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