Grades: Spurs @ Rockets - Dec. 22, 2018

[timvp]

The last game before Christmas was an eventful one. Despite a valiant late push, the Spurs fell in Houston by a final score of 108-101.

The first quarter was nip and tuck before San Antonio was able to make some hay in the second period due to strong defensive play. The Rockets went without a point for the first five minutes of the quarter. Unfortunately, the Spurs offense wasn't clicking very well either and they were only able to build a seven-point lead.

San Antonio's offense then died on the operating table late in the half. The Rockets went on a 16-0 run that started in the second quarter and extended beyond halftime. In the third quarter, Houston caught fire from three-point land and nailed nine triples in the quarter. After scoring 41 points in the first half, the Rockets scored 43 in the third quarter and led by 15 points heading into the final stanza.

In the fourth, the Rockets got up by as many as 17 points before San Antonio mustered a gritty rally. Beginning with a Davis Bertans three-pointer with 11 minutes remaining, the Spurs went on a 28-10 run over the next eight minutes to take a one-point lead.

But, on this night, it wasn't meant to be. The Rockets took the lead for good over the next two possessions by hitting three-pointers off of offensive rebounds.

When it came down to it, San Antonio's inability to grab defensive boards cost them the game. Sure, the offense sputtered and the individual defense was ugly to watch at times ... but the good guys win the game if they don't allow 19 offensive rebounds.

Coming into the game, the Spurs were fourth in the league in defensive rebounding percentage -- so this weakness on the defensive glass was unforeseen. What was the cause? The Spurs could have done a better job boxing out and a few specific players simply didn't compete well enough. But it's also true that long, unlucky bounces played a factor; the Rockets fired 54 three-pointers on the night and many times unpredictable caroms simply bounced their way.

Overall, I thought the Spurs did pretty well. They were the underdogs as they were playing on the second night of a back-to-back against a team sitting home and waiting. San Antonio definitely could have won this game despite their lackluster rebounding and the fact that they shot ten less free throws (even though they outscored the Rockets in the paint 52-32). The Spurs lost but I didn't see any reason to be too dismayed. Things didn't go their way. It happens.

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LaMarcus Aldridge

The aspect of LaMarcus Aldridge's evening that can't be overlooked was his lack of rebounding. Pulling down only four defensive boards in 31 minutes isn't going to get the job done when the man he's defending (Clint Capela) grabs eight offensive boards. Sure, those weren't all one-on-one battles for the ball since Aldridge was tasked to rotate off of him a lot to defend the lane, but the Spurs needed their starting center to pull down more defensive rebounds -- particularly key ones in the fourth quarter. Offensively, Aldridge was okay but it should have been better. He allowed the Rockets to switch and defend him with smaller players for much of the game. And while he was more physical than usual, he apparently wasn't physical enough because he didn't go to the free throw line despite shooting many contested looks in the paint. Add in a key missed layup late and it was just a forgettable night for Aldridge.
Grade: C-
Summary: Aldridge didn't do enough.

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DeMar DeRozan

You look at DeMar DeRozan's statistics and it looks like he had a wonderful night. But, in reality, he didn't. Defensively, he was bad. One-on-one bad, help-defense bad. Offensively, he was breaking plays most of the night. The team couldn't get into a rhythm because DeRozan killed ball movement and muddied the flow. He hit a number of big shots during the comeback and I can applaud his lack of turnovers despite the high usage ... but the Spurs don't need him to dominate the action as much as he did tonight. Instead, DeRozan would have been better served playing within the offense and using some of his energy on the defensive end.
Grade: C-
Summary: DeRozan's numbers were pretty. His true impact wasn't.

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Rudy Gay

The good: Rudy Gay knocked down more outside shots, once again passed the ball really well and his effort level was commendable. The bad: On offense, Gay was just a bit too herky-jerky. I'm not sure what caused it but he seemed a half-step out of rhythm all night on that end. On defense, despite his eight rebounds, his inconsistency boxing out ended up really hurting the team. He was going after the boards but he would have been better served keeping his body on his man. Hopefully that's a lesson learned ... and a valuable one at that since he's playing almost exclusively power forward right now.
Grade: C+
Summary: Gay didn't do good enough work on the defensive glass.

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Bryn Forbes

This was a run of the mill game for Bryn Forbes. Offensively, he scored enough and limited his mistakes but the quality passing we witnessed last game wasn't on display tonight. Defensively, I thought he did all he could do on the defensive backboard in terms of boxing out and chasing down rebounds -- that wasn't on him. But he fouled too much and wasn't really helping create stops, either.
Grade: B-
Summary: Forbes was Forbes.

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Derrick White

Interested outing for Derrick White. His individual defense was far and away the best on the team. In fact, he was the only Spurs player who had a prayer of slowing down James Harden. Yes, Harden scored 39 points but it took him 34 shots; he would have easily gone for 50-plus if it wasn't for White being able to take on the duties of trying to stop him. All in all, White was really active defensively on and off the ball (I counted four steals, he got credit for one steal and three blocks instead). Offensively, White helped out with a few outstanding passes and a timely three-pointer ... but everything else was ugly. He was too hesitant and found himself in the air a couple times without anywhere to go. It looks to me like White is on the edge of figuring things out but he still has a ways to go. Let's hope he gets there sooner rather than later.
Grade: B-
Summary: White was huge defensively but he wasn't without sin.

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Davis Bertans

Davis Bertans did his job. He hit three more three-pointers, including two off the dribble (if he can hit off the dribble threes consistently, he'd be a whole different beast). He also hit a silky two-pointer that he created on his own. Defensively, he held up. When switched onto Harden, I thought Bertans did well. Heading into the game, if you told me the Spurs were going to struggle grabbing defensive boards, Bertans would have been the prime suspect. But, truthfully, it wasn't his fault. He did more than his typical share in that department.
Grade: A-
Summary: Fatherhood continues to treat Bertans well.

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Marco Belinelli

Marco Belinelli didn't do much right. He missed all but one of his six field goal attempts. He wasn't making plays with his passing or his movement. Defensively, he was atrocious -- especially on the ball. The Spurs don't need Belinelli to play outstanding defense or anything like that but they can't have him being a complete and utter liability on that end.
Grade: D+
Summary: Belinelli didn't help.

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Patty Mills

Though his energy level was adequate, Patty Mills' production was sub par. His defense, or lack thereof, made it difficult to keep him on the court. The Rockets went right at him numerous times and Mills was easily overwhelmed. Offensively, he was trying to make plays but it was difficult for him to string multiple positive possessions together. Mills as of late has found ways to be an asset one way or another ... but that wasn't the case Saturday night.
Grade: C-
Summary: Mills didn't aid the cause.

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Jakob Poeltl

Solid. Jakob Poeltl has no reason to hang his head. Maybe he could have rebounded better but that's about the extent of my critique. His pick-and-roll movement helped open things offensively. His screens and passing were again pluses. Defensively, he moved well and guarded the rim with gusto. Playing him more probably would have helped matters.
Grade: B+
Summary: Poeltl was a bright spot.

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Pop

The good: Pop showed a ton of confidence in White, which can only help hasten his development. He resisted the urge to insert Dante Cunningham into the game to help with the defensive rebounding. The defensive and offensive playcalls in the fourth were mostly correct -- unfortunately, the players failed to rebound on one end and missed a few easy looks on the other end. The bad: DeRozan should have played less on the second night of a back-to-back, especially since he wasn't actually helping much. In hindsight, Poeltl probably should have played more and Bertans definitely should have played more.
Grade: B+
Summary: Pop coached with an eye on the team's long-term development. I'm not mad.

Looking ahead: Well fought. Fixable errors. Not a moral victory but also not a bad loss.

Now the Spurs don't play again until the day after Christmas. This will be their first stretch with multiple days off since the middle of November. It'll be a good opportunity to enjoy the holidays, rest up, refocus and come back ready to take on the much improved Nuggets on December 26th.

[D-Robinson 50 fan]

I liked your grades and overall agree with your assessments of each player. Aldridge can really be perplexing sometimes. This is one of those games that he should’ve had way better numbers by how Houston played him but he came up so small

I agree that DeRozan tried too hard to take over the game which threw the offense out of wack but I liked that he was aggressive and seemed to understand that he had to do something to get the team going. This was a game the Spurs should’ve won because Houston isn’t really that good and they were without Chris Paul. The 3rd quarter energy and attention to detail was so disappointing

[Chinook]

It was a game that the Spurs should have won. Completely healthy, I think they're a better team than Houston, so they damned sure are better than the Rockets without Paul. They might have won, too, had Green not gone off from three in the third. I missed most of the game, though, because I was watching football instead. I won't comment as if I really know everything that happened.

As I've said many times, DeRozan represents the Spurs' floor, while Aldridge represents the team's ceiling. Having a competent facilitator who's also a premier scorer is a really nice foundation, but the Spurs aren't going to beat anyone unless they get consistently great play out of Aldridge. He's the guy that when he gets going can ruin gameplans, force rotations and change opposing lineups. On nights where he can't channel last year's magic, the Spurs are a 7-10 team in the West. This was one of those nights. It's possible that the dude can't play back-to-backs anymore, even ones like last game when he didn't have a full load. I don't think it's a coincidence that he found himself again while he was home. That doesn't bode well for the team going forward, though there is the potential that Aldridge is saving his energy/effort for the playoffs. They have to get there, though.

I don't think there was a major defensive issue. The parts of the game I saw seemed fine on that end, though I missed every one of Gerald Green's threes and don't know how many of those looks were because of defensive breakdowns as opposed to Rocket-style chucks. The Rockets' whole offense is about taking a load of shots that would be terrible except for them being artificially inflated due to the three-point line. For most of the night, it had the predictable result of not really helping them overall. However, streaks happen, and the team hit a lot of shots in a row to open up a huge lead. It's something to worry about in an individual game, but not a series. Bigger concern was how many easy shots the Spurs missed. They can't beat Houston by wasting looks.

Rebounding sucks most of the time. Aldridge has to be dominant on that end with the roster they have now. Besides guys doing a better job individually, the team needs to gang-rebound much better than they usually do. That requires hustle that the guys didn't seem to show a ton of during the game. Five guys need to go for the defensive rebound in almost every case. Guys need to start pushing back before going for the board so the ball stops flying over their heads. You can't play small if you don't understand how you're going to make up for your lack of size. Pop's probably not going to overreact to this loss, but things like this is why he's tempted to bring out Cun.

[skookumchuck]

Spurs aren't going to beat anyone unless they get consistently great play out of Aldridge.

Yes, most certainly. As long as the team continues to insist playing through him so much, your point remains valid. It has less to do with how much value LMA holds towards this teams success and more with how much value Pop intends trying to force out of Aldridge.

[cd021]

Thought the bench besides Poeltl and Bertans was a letdown.

It's getting harder and harder to justify not starting Bertans, no jinx but he is having one of the best shooting seasons in team history.

Overall, impressed by White's defense and passing. He is already an average NBA defender, that's pretty impressive. His lack of consistency as a 3pt shooter worries me; is he a good shooter or isn't he- it's sort of hard to tell but matters a ton to his role going forward.

[Chinook]

Yes, most certainly. As long as the team continues to insist playing through him so much, your point remains valid. It has less to do with how much value LMA holds towards this teams success and more with how much value Pop intends trying to force out of Aldridge.

Aldridge has a higher ceiling than anyone on the team, including DeRozan. The team would have a much harder time beating the best teams in the West by relying on their perimeter players. They have some talent there, but it's not really very good compared to the rest of the field, especially without a healthy and ascended Murray. I can't see a credible argument from going away from Aldridge without trading him for a legit high-impact player in the very least.

[monty4329]

The rebounding probably costed the game, but the real issue is the inability to play a decent third quarter. It happened already too many times this season. 43 points in a quarter is totally unacceptable.

I wouldn't blame too much LMA for the lack of defensive rebounding. Actually, most of them were on missed threes, that is they were long rebounds. And when your guards are so small, they can't get the rebounds. Twice Forbes had the proper boxing out, but couldn't get to the ball anyway.

[skookumchuck]

Aldridge has a higher ceiling than anyone on the team, including DeRozan. The team would have a much harder time beating the best teams in the West by relying on their perimeter players. They have some talent there, but it's not really very good compared to the rest of the field, especially without a healthy and ascended Murray. I can't see a credible argument from going away from Aldridge without trading him for a legit high-impact player in the very least.

LaMarcus has value, or gravity, still. And, out of all our players, his ceiling might be the highest. Yet, the team(especially with DD) has a higher ceiling without him. Make any sense?

Would love to get a high impact player for LMA, though.

[Chinook]

LaMarcus has value, or gravity, still. And, out of all our players, his ceiling might be the highest. Yet, the team(especially with DD) has a higher ceiling without him. Make any sense?

Would love to get a high impact player for LMA, though.

I don't think the bolded is true. I don't think that team would beat anyone in the Western bracket in a playoff series. DeMar is just one of many accomplished perimeter stars in the West. Most have either a better perimeter star or a guy to guard him. DeRozan's rep for being an anti-clutch playoff performer doesn't help matters at all. Aldridge is what makes the Spurs unique. Without it, the Spurs are just an under-talented clone of the other teams.

Best analogy I have is that a LMA-centric offense is like a run-heavy offense in the NFL. Through a lot of rule-changes and cultural shifts, we've reached a state where passing offenses are almost required to survive. Then enters a run-heavy attack like what Baltimore has going, and it's real easy to think they will fail if they don't go with convention. But if they used their personnel like that, they'd be a mediocre passing team that doesn't score enough points or stay on the field long enough to support their defense. A great passing offense might be better than a great rushing offense. But a great rushing offense is much better than an average passing offense.

[dbestpro]

I would still be happy to trade White if it brought back a legit PG.

[Raven]

LaMarcus has value, or gravity, still. And, out of all our players, his ceiling might be the highest. Yet, the team(especially with DD) has a higher ceiling without him. Make any sense?

Would love to get a high impact player for LMA, though.

Not really..

[RC_Drunkford]

people here are overreacting tbh. Yes Aldridge getting the rebound and making the lay up would've been a game changer, but the loss is not completely on him. On the rebound he blocked out Capela and Capela tipped it over the back. On the lay up he fought for position to get in front of Tucker and layed the ball up off the glass, it just hit one side of the rim then the other and rimmed out. like this happens. It's not like he fell asleep on D and then totally missed the bunny, the effort was there. Just bad breaks, like this happens.

Also people need to understand that if a player like Harden or Gordon drives to the basket Aldridge has to rotate and jump to contest the shot. That leaves Capela open under the basket. Nobody can contest the shot, get back on his feet, run to the other side of the rim, block out the opposing Center and jump up before him to get the rebound. That's impossible. If LA rotates the other players have to block out Capela and go for the rebound. Them being undersized makes that a tough task which is why they killed us on the boards. It also doesn't help if Bryn Forbes is fighting for rebounds against PJ Tucker. Tucker wins that match up any day.

This was the game where we needed Gasol. That's how we always killed the Rockets. If you got LA and Gasol one can contest the driver and the other can get the rebound. You take that LA is out on the perimeter then sometimes guarding Daniel House or PJ Tucker or whoever, but you then get the boards and make it tough for them to score in the paint. On the other side Pau can feed LA while he's posting up Houston's PF and they can kill them with high low action.

I really don't like that once the opposing team sends a double team to Aldridge nobody on the team warns him about it coming. They have to communicate on offense so he knows it's coming and can find the open man or go to his shot immediately

The fact that we stayed compe ive til the end and could've won this game without playing 2 bigs makes me optimistic. Also holding the Rockets to 108 points is not that bad. White did a nice job on Harden defensively. Him not getting the offensive foul call in the 4th quarter was a huge break

[paperboy77]

At least we’re talking about a game that could have been won. Spurs are playing good ball right now. Anytime you play a team that is committed to this gimmicky style you just never know what’ll happen. Props to Pop on not playing DC and how he handled White. The good guys seem like at the very least a tough out again.

[duncan2150]

I like the spirit, despite some mistakes or so-so game by some players. Something changed since some losses in early december.

I hope the team will continue To improve.

[justinandimcool]

I'd like to think we'd get more of those boards if it were a playoff game tbh


Defense is really starting to come together tbh. White, Gay, Bertans, and Aldridge are starting to look pretty consistent on that end.
We forced Philadelphia, Utah, and Minnesota into some really bad shots but to see a defensive gameplan executed against a real team like Houston is nice.

Murray's injury really ed us over as he would elevate us into top 10 in defense in the league just by being there. House, Green, and Knight throwing up 20 threes a night and Harden settling for 19 threes...give me that every night over a 7 game series tbh

[venitian navigator]

I think there were at least three bad call against us in the last minutes. The non call on Harden offensive foul on White. The non call on the offensive rebound of Capela on LMA. And a call on in favor of Harden on a three point shot against White. That's a little too much to stand in the final minutes...

[ceperez]

I blame the loss on Spurs inability to get comfortable in offense. The Rockets defense was disruptive enough that Spurs had to take uncomfortable shots. The cause of this may be that the Spurs didn't have the legs to run around and get open.

What's promising is that White's defense. Sure, Harden scored a lot, but his efficiency tanked.

Pop, as suggested, should have played Bertans and Poetl more and given rest to the mid-3.

[bklynspursfan]

DeMar had his best stretch in the 4th, deflections, strong finishes, etc... It just came a bit too late. LMA has to be better, and not all the rebounding fall on his shoulders, but sometimes his lack of boxing out were the cause. B2Bs might be a problem for Gay, not surprised he showed some inconsistency.

Looking forward to them handling the Nuggets on Wednesday.

[SpursDynasty85]

Thought the bench besides Poeltl and Bertans was a letdown.

It's getting harder and harder to justify not starting Bertans, no jinx but he is having one of the best shooting seasons in team history.

Overall, impressed by White's defense and passing. He is already an average NBA defender, that's pretty impressive. His lack of consistency as a 3pt shooter worries me; is he a good shooter or isn't he- it's sort of hard to tell but matters a ton to his role going forward.

Had to bold this statement because no way he is only an average NBA defender. Honestly, his on ball defense looks much better than what Dejounte showed last year. If our team defense keeps improving in ranking like it has been and White is always defending the best perimeter player like he should be, then he should get all defense honors this year. Besides a mptivated Aldridge and a non fouling Poeltl, everyone else on this team is a terrible defender.

I think a lot of the reason Murray gets good defense credit and his stats pop out is his rebounding ability.

[DAF86]

I agree with pretty much e everything:

-Aldridge and DeRozan: inefficient as they have been all season and will continue to be. I know they won't get traded but I wished Pop would realize they really don't need to play that much or have that big of a role for the Spurs to win games. In fact, quite the opposite.

Aldridge's minutes need to continue to be slowly but surely be taken away by Poelt to the point where they almost share half a game each, which would thankfully provoke Aldridge to demand a trade.

DeRozan can keep playing about 33 minutes per game, but he should be looking to play as a facilitator more instead of forcing his own inefficient shots.

-And Bertans needs to play above 30 minutes and be a regular closer, no questions asked.

[Fusternino]

In all fairness, the "Mid 3" were constantly getting shoved in the back on post-ups with no calls. Totally pathetic even though those were bad possessions.

[Play Boban]

Play Poeltl.......

[XDT76]

To me the 2 main factor for the loss is rebounding and Pop swap out White too early. White was owning Harden in the 1st Q. I was surprised when he was replaced by mills.

[cd021]

Had to bold this statement because no way he is only an average NBA defender. Honestly, his on ball defense looks much better than what Dejounte showed last year. If our team defense keeps improving in ranking like it has been and White is always defending the best perimeter player like he should be, then he should get all defense honors this year. Besides a mptivated Aldridge and a non fouling Poeltl, everyone else on this team is a terrible defender.

I think a lot of the reason Murray gets good defense credit and his stats pop out is his rebounding ability.

I don't think White is nearly as good as a healthy Murray was last season, he was truly disruptive on that end but White has only played about 600 NBA minutes and already looks good on that end suggests he can be a really good defender. Next season having both definitely bodes well for this team's defense going forward along with Poeltl's improvement.

[cd021]

I would still be happy to trade White if it brought back a legit PG.

I think White is a legitimately good passer already with good court vision but is still adjusting to a higher level of play and talent, I'd certainly keep him.