Grades: Spurs vs. Suns - Jan. 29, 2019

[Play Boban]

Poop is an idiot for only playing Poeltl for 8 minutes. He needs to be fired.

[Roscoe P. Coltrane]

Walker is so bad and Pop still tries to give him minutes. The guy needs to learn so many things ... As of right now it even looks like he has not so good bball IQ. He is getting lost out there. Not even that. One on one he just is a rider without a head and he do not understand positioning of the opponents defense.

Hopefully he can learn though cause he is super athletic and can shoot the ball.

Walker has bust written all over him.

[RC_Drunkford]

the defensive drop off is expected. This team has a bunch of bad defenders and all it really takes to expose that is proper scouting. I hope Pop can somehow pull a rabbit out the hat in the playoffs, but would much rather trade for a good defensive wing still

[vavvi]

the defensive drop off is expected. This team has a bunch of bad defenders and all it really takes to expose that is proper scouting. I hope Pop can somehow pull a rabbit out the hat in the playoffs, but would much rather trade for a good defensive wing still

I don't believe such a rabbit exists. In the most optimistic scenario it's a Schrodinger rabbit.
Any team with good offensive guards is killing us in the playoffs when teams actually scout.

[cd021]

yeah but in the playoffs the refs may be calling the game differently... I would say top5 O and top20 D is good for regular season, not for the playoffs

If that is the case then Houston and OKC are also in trouble- possibly more so. I think offenses will get less efficient with better defensive teams and fewer weak links (8 or 9 man rotations instead of 10) and the refs letting more contact go.

Slower games should benefits the Spurs defense and they should still be able to score effectively on offense. Pop will likely rely more heavily on White as a stopper well as Aldridge, Gay and DeRozan to carry the offensive load with less reliance on Mills and Beli who are more likely to get exploited.

[vavvi]

If that is the case then Houston and OKC are also in trouble- possibly more so. I think offenses will get less efficient with better defensive teams and fewer weak links (8 or 9 man rotations instead of 10) and the refs letting more contact go.

Slower games should benefits the Spurs defense and they should still be able to score effectively on offense. Pop will likely rely more heavily on White as a stopper well as Aldridge, Gay and DeRozan to carry the offensive load with less reliance on Mills and Beli who are more likely to get exploited.

I think OKC on the contrary will get an advantage with having more defensive players.
Houston is interesting. In theory - yes, they should get worse but realistically it will depend on Harden officiating.

[cd021]

the defensive drop off is expected. This team has a bunch of bad defenders and all it really takes to expose that is proper scouting. I hope Pop can somehow pull a rabbit out the hat in the playoffs, but would much rather trade for a good defensive wing still

I think you're discounting the problems this team may give other teams tbh. How many of the other teams have a defensive response to Aldridge?

Gay playing more minutes should help out DeRozan by either taking some of the scoring load off of him or forcing teams to put their bigger wing on him. Spurs also lead the league in 3pt shooting and are a low turnover team. I still think he'll have a bit of a field day scheming against Houston and OKC.

[cd021]

I think OKC on the contrary will get an advantage with having more defensive players.
Houston is interesting. In theory - yes, they should get worse but realistically it will depend on Harden officiating.

They are one of the worst shooting team's in the league iirc, and Russ is a big reason for that. There is a strong chance that their offense struggles with Westbrook playing more minutes and having an increased usage rate.

They definitely have good defensive personnel but Adams struggles to capably defend Aldridge and the Spurs didn't have Gay for either game so there is a chance that DeRozan plays better with Gay taking some attention off of him or Gay taking advantage of Ferguson.

I am skeptical that Harden will be able to keep this up over a 7 game series, let alone two if the Spurs were to meet them in the Semis. He tend to draw fewer FTs and teams will be much more drastic with how they game plan for him.

[kobyz]

no way pussynelli should be on the floor in crunch time, it's the second time this season that happened to him ...

[DAF86]

I think it was a tale of two halves for White. On the first one he played like an all-star.

[RC_Drunkford]

I think you're discounting the problems this team may give other teams tbh. How many of the other teams have a defensive response to Aldridge?

Gay playing more minutes should help out DeRozan by either taking some of the scoring load off of him or forcing teams to put their bigger wing on him. Spurs also lead the league in 3pt shooting and are a low turnover team. I still think he'll have a bit of a field day scheming against Houston and OKC.

I was talking defense, you are talking offense. Spurs are hard to guard and loaded with shooters. But can they get a stop when needed? That's the question. Now Pop might come up with a genius game plan or schemes on steroids, but the Spurs don't have a lot of good individual defenders and in the playoffs you'll need more than just Derrick White

[cd021]

I was talking defense, you are talking offense. Spurs are hard to guard and loaded with shooters. But can they get a stop when needed? That's the question. Now Pop might come up with a genius game plan or schemes on steroids, but the Spurs don't have a lot of good individual defenders and in the playoffs you'll need more than just Derrick White

I mentioned offense because I view offense as being more important in today's NBA. It's worth mentioning that several of the teams above the Spurs in the west aren't significantly better defensively. GSW is 15th, the Spurs are 18th and the Rockets are 25th in adjusted D Rtg. Interestingly enough GSW, Houston and San Antonio are 1,2, & 4 on adjusted O Rtg and are 1, 5 & 6 in a conference.


I'd be more worried if this team drops below 20th on that end but the way the NBA is, if a team has a great offense, they really only have to be good enough defensively to win. Over this 19-7 stretch, this team has jumped almost a dozen spots in D Rtg and despite poor showings against the Wiz and Suns they haven't actually dropped in that category.

[Brazil]

in the other news a win is a win tbh

[Blake]

Pau was brutal. He got torched on defense every time on the 4-5 possessions he was in there. Completely sucks that Pop can't rely on him.

[vavvi]

Pau was brutal. He got torched on defense every time on the 4-5 possessions he was in there. Completely sucks that Pop can't rely on him.

Yeah (( bad matchup for him. At this stage Pau is basically unplayable against small ball and guard dominated teams

[r0drig0lac]

Yeah (( bad matchup for him. At this stage Pau is basically unplayable against small ball and guard dominated teams

agree

[vavvi]

They are one of the worst shooting team's in the league iirc, and Russ is a big reason for that. There is a strong chance that their offense struggles with Westbrook playing more minutes and having an increased usage rate.

They definitely have good defensive personnel but Adams struggles to capably defend Aldridge and the Spurs didn't have Gay for either game so there is a chance that DeRozan plays better with Gay taking some attention off of him or Gay taking advantage of Ferguson.

I am skeptical that Harden will be able to keep this up over a 7 game series, let alone two if the Spurs were to meet them in the Semis. He tend to draw fewer FTs and teams will be much more drastic with how they game plan for him.

i wish you were right but I’m not so optimistic.
I can see OKC getting a crunch time stop against DeMar and it’s harder to see a crunch time stop against Paul George. Our hope will be basically Westbrook shooting OKC out of the game.

[cool cat]

I didn't understand Pop's "we didn't respect our opponent" speech. The Spurs are not some Vet team going through the motions of a mid season game, like in years past. This is a new team barely in playoff contention still trying to figure each other out while missing their best offensive player

[KimmyGib]

Beli has proved to be incapable of protecting the ball in those situations

[spurs10]

Thanks for the grades. It seemed to me that Patty did provide a needed spark at some critical points in the game. Dead-on about them switching defenders on Booker, over and over and over.....he was brutal.

[tbdog]

It waa about time we got a bad win. We have lost unfairly this season, Grizzlies as an example. Time we caught a break.

[tbdog]

I didn't understand Pop's "we didn't respect our opponent" speech. The Spurs are not some Vet team going through the motions of a mid season game, like in years past. This is a new team barely in playoff contention still trying to figure each other out while missing their best offensive player

We have a 57% win rate. Just like last season. The difference between 3rd and 10th is going to be close again. Spurs are a playoff team just like the jazz or blazers.

[Seventyniner]

i wish you were right but I’m not so optimistic.
I can see OKC getting a crunch time stop against DeMar and it’s harder to see a crunch time stop against Paul George. Our hope will be basically Westbrook shooting OKC out of the game.

That's actually a solid strategy.

[vavvi]

That's actually a solid strategy.

Agreed Well, it surely used to be in the past.
But lately he seems to be smarter. Trusting George and even passing on open 3s.
Hopefully in the playoffs the good old hold-on-I'm-shooting-a-pull-up-3 Russ comes back

[Seventyniner]

Agreed Well, it surely used to be in the past.
But lately he seems to be smarter. Trusting George and even passing on open 3s.
Hopefully in the playoffs the good old hold-on-I'm-shooting-a-pull-up-3 Russ comes back

He's not that far removed from it.