Game Thread: Spurs vs Bucks -- Wed. (12/2) - 7:30PM CST (3:30AM Riga Time)

[ceperez]

He is really benefitting from time on the floor with Kawhi. Kawhi looks for him and finds him at spots on the floor where he can succeed. Those two could possibly become a seriously athletic wing combo.

Interesting that Danny and Kawhi never developed a two man game. I think the player that Danny plays well with is Tim. Tim is able to find Danny his 3 point shots or when he cuts. I don't see other players being able to feed Danny.

[Brazil]

winning a game by 25 pts with 41% from the field tbh...

[NameLess Scrub]

Greek Freak's length will be a problem for KL.

Seems like it was. I think I saw Kawhi trying to force stuff through somebody longer than him.

[SAGirl]

Interesting that Danny and Kawhi never developed a two man game. I think the player that Danny plays well with is Tim. Tim is able to find Danny his 3 point shots or when he cuts. I don't see other players being able to feed Danny.

I think Tony used to have a kind of 2 man game with Danny, since whenever Tony got into the paint, he kept in mind where Danny was if his drive was stopped. Since the team has changed, and Tony now has to feed our two premier scorers preferably, Danny is not the release valve he was for Tony.

Danny used to have a green light to shoot transition 3s (he still takes them but more with the bench. Kyle primarily looks for Danny in transition), but the SL just plays different right now and they want to slow the pace.

Danny's game has been the most affected. He still gets open 3s plenty, they are just created in different ways, and he has apparently been encouraged to make plays off the dribble, where he's terrible.

[SAGirl]

Seems like it was. I think I saw Kawhi trying to force stuff through somebody longer than him.

Yea, Pop didn't like that one bit, after that happened, he had Kawhi attack the paint and distribute. He did a good job, he drew fouls at a good rate and also found open guys.

That just shows you, Kawhi is still a young guy and still with all his experience needs to be coached.

[ceperez]

Seems like it was. I think I saw Kawhi trying to force stuff through somebody longer than him.

Leonard always has offensive problems with players that are longer that him. He is best when he does have a length advantage.

There not a lot of speed in his offensive game. He just dominates the other player, which doesn't work with longer players.

Diaw also has the same problem, but compensates by having a lot of creative moves.

Against the GSW, Diaw can post up any of their 5 (Green, Thompson, Barnes, Curry, Igoudola). I can't say the same for Leonard until I see them play.

[boutons_deux]

For those clutch games, what's the W-L for the Spurs vs W-L GSW?

[SAGirl]

He had 3 steals... his length is disruptive, even against a long team like the Bucks. You can't teach length.

In offense, he's like Diaw, doesn't want to score. A little more urgency in his offensive game will do well. But he plays conservative because pop wants him to play conservatively.

He's a jumpshooter I gather because he's not athletic most times he gets in the paint he wants to dish. He had a very evolved midrange game in college, and took a lot of midrange shots in the SL as we saw. Obviously Pop doesn't want him doing that. He's only gotten aggressive when the shot clock is winding down and takes a lot of desperation shots, which surprisingly he can make bc he's crafty and has length to get shots off over others, but it affects his percentages. He's passing out of easy shots others make for him, and then he's taking all the hard stuff, no wonder his shooting is so low.

He does need to get more aggressive quite honestly. The start of the season it was 1 minute play and bench. Pop was so strict that I think he's become even more reluctant to shoot or drive, and you are right, he's like Diaw, you can't promote something like that in a guy like Diaw because he will disappear offensively in games for you. He needs to be pushed.

I am happy that Pop is coaching him to get his too. Simmons is clearly a superior athlete, even than Kawhi, in terms of explosiveness and quick first step, so Simmons will be more efficient, but Kyle's value is to space the floor shooting that 3, then his post up game which will allow him to create from the post for others or get his own shots. He's a baby in that area, still very much finding his game. Its very different from what he was doing in college, and it relies on skill not athleticism. He's athletic enough to defend and he's got a nice shooting touch, but we don't see that enough and sometimes quite honestly, the team needs it.

I am very excited to watch them develop, each provides different things, and what is more exciting is that they are not redundant with Kawhi and Danny either. Each of them has a different game.

[kaji157]

Interesting that Danny and Kawhi never developed a two man game. I think the player that Danny plays well with is Tim. Tim is able to find Danny his 3 point shots or when he cuts. I don't see other players being able to feed Danny.

Manu does a lot

[TheDoctor]

I thought the Bucks were supposed to be good? As a group, they look pretty mediocre.

Yeah, compared to last year, they aren't fulfilling their expectations. Underachieving in all regards but specially in defense.

[sasaint]

The KL & Simmons can be deadly. The way KL posts up, he does so in a way that he still has options to pass. However his passes aren't the kinds that go across the court, but rather shorter ones. Simmons gives KL a release valve to pass to him if he cuts at the same time. Simmons in motion is very difficult to stop, furthermore he can finish in traffic.

That is the essence of the synergy the two guys seem to have. Even though Simmons likes to have the ball, he is good at off-ball cutting to the basket, and he doesn't press or disengage if Kawhi rewards him. It really builds his confidence. On Kawhi's end, you are exactly right, it is the kind of pocket-type passing that Kawhi prefers to whipping the ball cross-court to a spot-up Danny, for example (as you kind of implied in another comment).

[BatManu20]

[BatManu20]