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Thanks for the grades. I have to say LA’s effort these last 30 days have been off the charts no matter if his shot is falling or not.
Great win. There's no other way to describe it. The Spurs were at home taking on a Nets team that had won 20 of their previous 26 games and had won six consecutive games versus Western Conference foes. San Antonio dug out of a fourth quarter hole to post a gritty, gutty 117-114 victory to win their fourth straight game.
The teams traded runs throughout the affair. As one example, the Spurs opened a 29-17 advantage in the first quarter ... only for Brooklyn to score 12 points in a row to tie the ballgame.
Fast forward to four minutes into the fourth quarter when the Nets scored to go up 97-90. Instead of wilting, the good guys fought back. Derrick White scored six straight points for the Spurs to tie the game 101-101 three minutes later.
The Spurs were nursing a one-point lead with a minute left when LaMarcus Aldridge hit the biggest shot of the game: a layup and a foul for an old-fashioned three-point play on a beautiful pass by White. The Nets, as they're wont to do, kept fighting and actually had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer but missed a desperation three-point heave.
The best part of this win was the fact that San Antonio prevailed despite an uncharacteristically high number of missed wide open three-pointers. For the game, the Spurs hit only 40% of their shots from the field. So, how did they win? The good guys hit six more free throws (despite both teams attempting 29), did great work on the offensive boards (+8 in that category) and turned it over only nine times (compared to 14 for Brooklyn). Well done.
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LaMarcus Aldridge
A glimpse at the statsheet doesn't tell how well LaMarcus Aldridge played tonight. The newly minted All-Star was beastly. While he missed eight of his 13 field goal attempts, the Nets were crashing into his lap on every touch. But Aldridge kept battling, kept playing a physical brand of basketball and forged success out of a difficult situation. His game-high 11 free throw attempts helped his offensive efficiency and he was a terror on the offensive glass all night long. Defensively, Aldridge was better than usual. He was stout in the paint and supplied quality help out on the perimeter; Aldridge was much more spry when forced to defend smalls than he's been in a while.
Grade: A-
Summary: Aldridge was every bit an All-Star against the Nets.
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DeMar DeRozan
After missing three games with what Pop describes as a myriad of bumps and bruises, DeMar DeRozan was back in action. It was ... a mixed bag. Offensively, DeRozan played the sloppiest zero-turnovers-in-36-minutes game I've ever witnessed. He was having issues catching passes, seemingly fumbled the ball whenever he tried to string multiple dribbles together and it was almost as if his defenders were a step ahead of his moves. To make matters more unsightly, the Nets were sagging way, way off of him whether he had the ball or not (they were purposely sagging into Aldridge's airspace -- a smart strategy, at least on this night). Due to the defense being played against him, it was difficult for him to do any sort of playmaking. But it wasn't all bad for DeRozan. He hit two key shots in the fourth quarter, including a tip-in that gave the Spurs their first lead in the final stanza. And I thought his defense was quite a bit better than usual. He was active, attentive and pulled down multiple contested boards on his way to a ten-rebound night.
Grade: C
Summary: It wasn't pretty but there were a few subtle bright spots.
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Rudy Gay
Exactly like Aldridge ... but the opposite. At a boxscore glance, it looks like Rudy Gay played really well. In reality, he was rather shaky. When he was in position to score, Gay converted at a fine clip. However, his handle out on the perimeter was loose and his decisions while attempting to take on playmaking duties were iffy. Defensively, while Gay rebounded well and sneakily played passing lanes, he fell asleep on the weakside too often and struggled to contain dribble penetration. After being one of the better defenders on the team for long stretches this season, Gay's D has taken a few steps backwards lately. Let's hope he refocuses on that end of the court ASAP.
Grade: C+
Summary: Gay wasn't as good as the numbers suggest.
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Bryn Forbes
Bryn Forbes' evening was a roller coaster. He shot well from three-point land -- but was atrocious within the arc. Honestly, I didn't really mind his shot-selection. On paper, 15 shot attempts for Forbes in 28 minutes looks to be too a bit overboard -- but the sagging Nets were daring him. I don't mind him shooting a lot in that situation. Defensively, while he wasn't especially effective, I thought his effort was really good and he mostly avoided the mental mistakes that had plagued him recently. However, Forbes gave back a lot of that progress on the defensive end by recklessly reaching in and piling up dumb fouls.
Grade: C-
Summary: Forbes was all over the map.
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Derrick White
Wow. I was really impressed with Derrick White's play. He dealt with foul trouble the first three quarters but had the last laugh with a one-man momentum-shifting fourth quarter. That was actually part of a game-long pattern: With White on the court, the Spurs looked like a functional basketball team. When he sat with foul trouble, things collapsed. On his journey to his career-high 26 points, White was brimming with confidence. He made the right passes and took the right shots -- and did so with impressive amount of patience, savviness and awareness. Defensively, he was far and away the best perimeter defender and that was extremely valuable against a Nets squad with perimeter players who are difficult to corral. While his foul trouble was admittedly self-inflicted, his fundamentals were sound and he got whistled while trying to make plays on that end. Those types of fouls are more forgivable.
Grade: A
Summary: The Spurs were best when White was in the game and the ball was in his hands.
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Davis Bertans
The bad: Davis Bertans shot poorly. His shot-selection early wasn't good but even when it improved he kept missing. He got burned a couple times in man-to-man defense and made a couple mistakes in transition defense. The good: Despite the misses, Bertans kept firing and didn't let his confidence dip. While he's never going to be a large-scale playmaker, Bertans made some plays off the dribble and authored a few superb passes. His help-defense in the halfcourt setting was timely and his boxing out was strong.
Grade: C+
Summary: Bertans wasn't a liability despite his rickety shooting.
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Marco Belinelli
Marco Belinelli's fiery streak skipped a night. He wasn't as active offensively as we've become accustomed to -- he too often blended into the background. The bench had a difficult time keeping its collective head above water with Belinelli unable to get on track scoring-wise or passing-wise. Defensively, Belinelli played with a lot more passion than usual and had a few promising moments. But the extra effort on that end led directly to a few bad fouls ... so I'm not sure if that should be classified as defensive improvement. Probably not.
Grade: C-
Summary: Belinelli was off-kilter in multiple facets.
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Patty Mills
With the bench in a shooting rut, Patty Mills' 17 points were vital. He was a threat at all depths -- from three-pointers to midrange to rim -- and the Nets were forced to keep tabs on him. Unfortunately, he couldn't find many passing lanes and made more bad decisions than usual when attempting to run the offense. Defensively, his intensity was dialed up to 100 but Mills was still overwhelmed by talent and size multiple times. To his credit, he was able to make enough plays to avoid being much of drag on the team's D.
Grade: B
Summary: Mills came to play.
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Jakob Poeltl and Pau Gasol
Hmm. Pop played Pau Gasol as the backup center in the first half and Jakob Poeltl as the backup center in the second half. They both passed the ball well. Gasol helped on the boards, while Poeltl was better on defense. But neither one was able to find a rhythm in their short stints.
Grade: Inc.
Summary: Pakob Pasoltl is the world's least intimidating two-headed monster.
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Pop
I don't have much substantial criticism -- this game turned out mostly to be about weathering White's foul trouble. But I don't like the idea of Gasol and Poeltl splitting minutes. Pick one (preferably Poeltl) and roll with it. Otherwise they both suffer. (If Pop is giving Gasol minutes in order to increase his trade value, ignore this criticism. I guess we'll find out soon.) Splitting minutes between Dante Cunningham and Quincy Pondexter also didn't help matters. Pick one (preferably Lonnie Walker IV or random G-League call-up) and roll with it.
Grade: C+
Summary: Pop had a few iffy decisions but his rotation was altered by foul trouble so it's difficult to draw conclusions.
Looking ahead: The Spurs will attempt to sweep their four-game homestand Saturday night versus the Pelicans. New Orleans has actually played pretty well since Anthony Davis decided to abandon ship so this isn't a game that can be totally overlooked. Appropriate fear is a must.
Get it.
Thanks for the grades. I have to say LA’s effort these last 30 days have been off the charts no matter if his shot is falling or not.
Gutsy win. Back in the day when your team shot 40% they'd score like 77 points, not 117.
I love that Jakob and Pau are in two heads of the same dragon, lol.
Also, glad that LMA had a good game! Whew!
Does Demar have small hands? Do we have the opposite version of Kawhi, in terms of hand-size here? Lol.
Poorly coached game.
Poorly executed offense.
Survived because White took control.
Derrick White game
White and LMAlpha were great down the stretch tbh.
can somebody explain why Pop thinks he has to go from a successful 9-man rotation to a 12-man rotation?
Bryn Forbes was horrible. He played zero defense and kept doing the same stupid foul to put the nets on the line. Like seriously how many times do you have to foul before you realize that reaching for the off arm is a stupid thing to do against D-Bust? The answer is a lot apparently. Offensively he was chucking shots rather than playing smart. He would shoot a contested 3 when the smart thing to do was to pump fake and take a shot 2 feet inside the arc that's wide open or maybe drive to the hoop and see what opens up. It's no accident that the Spurs won this game while he was on the bench.
Derrick white has been playing like I imagined he would be this season. Everything I saw in the G-League I knew would translate and we are seeing it all come together more often than not recently. He reminds me of a poor mans James Harden offensively, stutter steps, step back jumpers, soft finshes around the rim, and able to finish over people in traffic. It's really impressive. I think he's starting to realize how much the team needs him and he is finding his number more and more while still getting others involved. Everyone got their touches tonight for instance yet he still shined and it's great to see that going forward.
It was a horrible game. Thank God for Derrick White. He's unbelievable. With the way Derozan has been playing I really don't mind trading him. It's not just his play, which sucks, but his demeanor on the court. He looks unhappy. He looks disengaged.
this was the exact comparison I made last season, unfortunately he does not have the strength of Harden because he could be a superstar if he had
I did not really even think of that if WHITE can maybe gain 5 to 10 pds of muscle
how much better would that make him?
What happened to DDRs handles? I remember at the beginning of the year, when he would handle the ball he looked silky smooth with how he would drive, move around with the ball. Now he struggles to dribble.very odd
Great win but Cs for everyone but White and Mills. I'm not sure why Mills wasn't an A or A-.
Brooklyn is seriously good right now. They're a threat to anybody, even missing Caris and Dinwhiddie. They've been knocking off WC playoff teams.
Wonder what a DDR trade would get the spurs.
Agree. Mills and White are the reasons we won. And Mills as much as he is hated here played a key role in this one. Comparing to Forbes he also seems like a lock-down defender
Derrick White
Yeah. Two things are puzzling about Forbes D: 1. repe ive reaching fouls as you mentioned 2. not trying to stay in front of his opponent. I mean Patty Mills gets that you are supposed to try to stand in front of your opponent, even Belli gets it (just usually can't do it physically). But Forbes gives an impression he doesn't even try to... he's always like "please come to our paint sir" and "LaMarcus, here's a guy coming to you, deal with it"
Pau is a seasoned veteran, veterans should be respected in the army.
Cun is a Swiss Army Knife, he always listens.
Because the rodeo trip is coming. And if you believe the narrative, DDR is sore.
Poop is castrating Poeltl's development.
At least a pair of testicles more than now, probably many more, depending how many players we would get back for 26 mil a year.
I don't believe it. He got a week off to visit his psychiatrist
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