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OKC is the new Utah from the 90s for the Spurs. You’re just not going to get any calls there, and they are going to get away with being super physical. It’ll be hard to beat them in a series, especially if they have HCA.
Belli has balls. You can’t coach that. I’ll take that ice water in veins from him. We need that in the playoffs. That makes me forgive his defense somewhat.
OKC is the new Utah from the 90s for the Spurs. You’re just not going to get any calls there, and they are going to get away with being super physical. It’ll be hard to beat them in a series, especially if they have HCA.
I'm just curious as to how Eubanks, Gasol, & Poetl fill that void of Rudy Gay in Pop's eyes?
DDR actually defended PG13 pretty well both games. Wonder if he had no legs-all of his misses were short and rarely side-to-side which is a good sign.
Forbes and Bertans missed tons of shots they usually make. I think we could've had this one easily, pretty disappointing. Not sure why White was benched for so long in the 2nd half.
Actually I was pleasantly surprised by the refs in this game. I thought they would be killing us but they were alright for the most part. Much better than in Memphis
What about DeMar’s performance in Memphis? No legs after defending Kyle Anderson? :-)
I am wondering the same. I'm hoping it's just fatigue or just a really long slump. It's hard to figure out since he did so well in the beginning.
It’s so dumb poop won’t play poeltl more minutes. He’s killing the rhythm he used to have. Now cancerpau is stealing his precious minutes too smh....
Demar is probably having trouble because White is becoming more of the ball handler now. As long as Demar works hard rebounding and defending he will find his place eventually on the offensive end.
They need to be working the ball more to Aldridge anyway. He is looking really good and has a ton of confidence.
Bellinelli was embarassing on two plays, one after the other, when they went at him. On one, a crossover by Westbrook almost put him on the floor in a split. You really had to feel sorry for him. By the way, he looks a little thick in the body. Maybe he's not in shape.
DDR is a premier shooter. A coach is going to keep using him, thinking he will shoot his way out of a slump. But in two game against OKC I think they have his number defensively. He just never looks like he's open and can't get himself open for those short jumpers. That causes him to pass and he's showing some ability and willingness to do that, but it has to be frustrating to him that he can't get his shot.
Thanks for grades. Can we just go back to the start of the 3rd quarter and try this again? If not, then %#$!
@Monty: 10+
Poeltl lost his confidence since Pau is back!
He's thinking too much, and trying too hard to fit in. Similar to LMA's early Spurs days.
Considering the astronomical net rating, going 14-6 in this 20 game stretch is actually underwhelming. Pop has been brutal lately . . .
- Utilizing Bellinelli, not Bertans, as the secondary George defender, when the Thunder offer safe hiding places for the former at PF.
- Not going back to Bertans in crunch time of the first game, instead going with midget ball, as the Thunder, a perennial elite rebounding team, bludgeoned them on the offensive glass.
- Continuing to try to force feed 2 big lineups. Gasol over Cunningham made sense initially, with the thinking being play your best talent if possible, but it's clear these lineups have destroyed their rhythm. Plus, Cunningham would have made for a more natural George defender than the dreaded DeRozan/Belinelli duo.
- Not coaching DeRozan at all. From allowing him to abandon the 3 to not getting on him or at least benching him for his selfish, lethargic, unfocused play of late.
- Inexplicably sitting White far too long in the 2nd half as the game was getting away (99% chance it makes no difference, but still).
They better make a trade to fix this unbalanced roster or watch as either their playoff spot slips away or they become 1st round fodder because of their unwitting overreliance on the now perpetually gimpy Gay.
Maybe the effort on defense DDR has been expected to expend has led to his offense deteriorating. Or maybe he's just a pouty little . Either way he's been absolutely horrible for many games in a row now. A team with DDR will never win a le unless he's the 6th man, mark my words.
To me Demar needs to keep his emotion in check. It's consumes him to the point he freezes his teammates out. The game becomes about him . Opposing defenses find it easy to defend because it predictable and allows time for extra defenders . Demar isomode kills ball and player movement
He has to adjust. Coach needs to coach but im hoping it's not by reducing his mins. It's all mental so last thing we need is Demar to lose his confidence. Part of it comes from letting the offense come to him. The other is trusting your teammates to create easier opps for you like LA and DWhite can do.
I think Paul George offensive struggles was due to him focusing more on the he defensive end on DeRozan. OKC understood to beat the Spurs you have to stop DeRozan. Reason being is his facilitation. He’s really the primary reason our offensive flourishes. OKC understood Alridge wouldn’t have another career night. So they stuck to the same game plan they had the previous meeting when the two teams met. It’s actually a good plan. Eliminate the most effective overall player for us and let the role players try and win the game against there role players. Which I don’t think our role players can beat theres. Unless we have a career Three point shooting night like the first outing.
Someone mentioned players exhibiting bad body language towards DDR. What were they doing exactly?
Demar has played a lot of minutes and has done practically 2 jobs (point guard and shooting guard) while actually playing decent defense. It's a lot to ask of a player and he's going to struggle at times. I expect Pop to rest him more as the season goes on, when Rudy is healthy to help with the scoring load. January is always a hard month for NBA players. If after the RRT he is still playing like this then I will be worried.
Bertans needs more minutes. I mean Gay isn't even playing and Bertans is still not getting enough minutes. He's actually rebounding too!
Poetl also needs to take all of Gasol's minutes once we get Rudy back. ALL OF THEM.
Overall I'm not too worried about our situation and we are withing striking distance of homecourt. That's all you can really ask of this team.
what is wrong w derozan lately. ever since the Kawhi game.
If that's really the reason for DDR's struggles, it will take him the rest of the season, if not longer, to recover from the @TOR game. That game will be 100 times as emotional for him as the Raptors' trip to SA.
seems to be so emo, hurt feelins and bruised ego and takes himself out of the game mentally. Maybe this will make LMA emotionally stronger. To me, LMA is the leader of this team. I don't think everyone feels that way.
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