Game Thread: Spurs vs. Grizzlies - January, 30th - 7:30 PM central time

[ace3g]

and just like that , lol

[Atl Spur]

One loss You boys are a bit unreasonable.....

[cjw]

Chalk it up to a back to back. Serious issue is the minutes now that White is back

That’s how I look at it. Interesting to see how minutes get divided up going forward as there are 10 guys firmly in the rotation plus Lyles against some teams.

Big takeaway is how much White can raise the ceiling. Forget how good he is out there when you don’t see him.

[MannyIsGod]

Only three games separate them from the 13th seed with a lot of season left. Spurs have also been fortunate so far with COVID/injuries.

The Spurs best player has literally played 2 ing games this season and we've been fortunate with injuries?

What the ?

[jbspurs]

This was the last time we saw Keldon...

3rd Quarter

4:59

Trey Lyles enters the game for Keldon Johnson

Keldon needs to bring his uncle to their next practice. I bet Pop will not let the 4th qtr. benching happen again.

[PhantomDashCam]

One loss You boys are a bit unreasonable.....

I agree. The true test will be next game.
Grizzlies played well. Spurs clearly put a lot into the Denver game.

If the Grizz win Monday, then you can bring the torches.

[daslicer]

Still not too late to get the tank back on track tbh. If they lose these next few games they'll be around 11.

Spurs will have to be below .500 to miss the playoffs. Even at this teams worst I still see them finishing a few games above .500 whenever this season ends.

[daslicer]

2 things I hate about this Covid Era NBA is how some teams can have nearly 2 weeks off due to Covid protocols and if you face them there is a high chance of losing due to the rest advantage. The other thing I hate is playing a bunch of mini-series. Those 2 things make schedule losses likely.

[daslicer]

Looking at the boxscore, its really Melton, Bane and Dieng - 50 points from them three, man

They are all a product Morant's gravity. Spurs have to do a much better job of rotating on these scrubs.

[daslicer]

On a sidenote Ja Morant has ridiculous hangtime that I haven't seen since MJ. He can hang longer in the air which allows him to have ridiculous finishes. It's one of the reasons he is difficult to guard.

[Robz4000]

The Spurs best player has literally played 2 ing games this season and we've been fortunate with injuries?

What the ?

Other teams have literally lost half their players to COVID for weeks at a time. I love White but he isn't a superstar or even all star (at least consistently).

[Thomas82]

Too many guards on this team

This team has more guards than a penitentiary.

[ragas]

Eubanks is on this team for 2 more years. Someone in the front office needs to lose their jobs over that decision.

I remember that the majority of ST posters wanted this signing so badly after the bubble.

[SpurPadre]

2 things I hate about this Covid Era NBA is how some teams can have nearly 2 weeks off due to Covid protocols and if you face them there is a high chance of losing due to the rest advantage. The other thing I hate is playing a bunch of mini-series. Those 2 things make schedule losses likely.

You mean RUST disadvantage? Facing a team that had two weeks off could've worked to our favor. There's no guarantee that would benefit a team.

[daslicer]

You mean RUST disadvantage? Facing a team that had two weeks off could've worked to our favor. There's no guarantee that would benefit a team.

Most of the time it's going to benefit the team that has rest especially if they play a team coming off of a back to back.

[tim_duncan_fan]

This is going to keep happening as long as they insist on sagging 8ft off the man they are guarding to double-team literally every opposing player with the slightest ability to dribble a basketball. Just leaving players open all game and hoping they don't hit open shots or that the guard neglects to pass them the ball is a re ed strategy.

We'll get some wins because sometimes guys miss shots, like Denver did, but we won't beat anyone consistently.

[tbdog]

2 things I hate about this Covid Era NBA is how some teams can have nearly 2 weeks off due to Covid protocols and if you face them there is a high chance of losing due to the rest advantage. The other thing I hate is playing a bunch of mini-series. Those 2 things make schedule losses likely.

I love the mini series. It's imo, great for the game and as a fan.

[Ice009]

This is going to keep happening as long as they insist on sagging 8ft off the man they are guarding to double-team literally every opposing player with the slightest ability to dribble a basketball. Just leaving players open all game and hoping they don't hit open shots or that the guard neglects to pass them the ball is a re ed strategy.

We'll get some wins because sometimes guys miss shots, like Denver did, but we won't beat anyone consistently.

I just watched the game and can't believe we got lit up and lost.

And yeah, you're right, I can't stand this strategy at all. Stop leaving shooters wide open all the time. If you get beat off the dribble, no need to double-team and leave guys open all the time. Teams seem to hit such a high amount of open shots Vs the Spurs this season. Use the double team sparingly for when a guy is hot and can't be stopped one on one. You don't use this strategy for large portions of the game. Also, in years past, our own players such as Danny Green couldn't hit a wide open shot, yet somehow, nearly everyone seems to be swishing wide open shots against the Spurs. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the opposing team's center, guard, power forward, whoever, they're all nailing threes against us. Whoever came up with this defensive strategy to double and leave shooters wide open, needs to rethink it and try something else.

Also, why was Trey Lyles playing and both Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell not playing at all in the 4th quarter? I don't understand that decision, either. Now that Derrick White is back, we needed defense, so Devin should have played in place of Lyles and Keldon could have also played in place of Mills in the 4th quarter. Mills can't stop anyone and was exactly on enough to justify playing him over Keldon when defense and toughness and rebounding was needed to try and slow the Grizzlies down. Pop is going to have to learn that Mills should not be closing games and Lyles shouldn't be playing in the 4th quarter if he was not in the rotation for most of game. He doesn't bring enough offense to justify playing him.

As for Jakob, although he does some good things, sorry to say, this guy is soft, soft, soft! I am so sorry that I used to think Rasho is a soft back when he was on the team. I judged him too harshly, as Jakob is making him look like Ben Wallace in the toughness department, and at least Rasho could hit a free throw. I never thought I'd say this, but give me Chris Dudley at the free throw line. It's absolutely embarrassing. Free throws are like layups to me, so I am finding it so hard to fathom how he can be this bad, especially without fans there. I know for sure the fans could cause him to miss a few as they are a factor for poor shooters, but there isn't even any fans out there to heckle and yell at him. How in the is he managing to shooter 23% from the line. Spurs made a huge mistake paying this guy what they paid if. If other teams wanted to pay him similar or more, they should have let him walk.

Oh, and I may as well mention Demar. My god is this guy terrible when he gets angry or upset out there. It seems that when at any time he feels some negative emotion, it's all over for him. It's hard to watch him crumble and be taken out of his game so easily when this happens. He's got to be mentally tougher. Show something. Use it to fuel you. Get mad and take it out on the other team. Crank up your defense if your offense isn't on, just do something positive out there. It doesn't always have to be scoring, you can do other things to help the team win. I am so used to seeing guys like TD and especially Manu dominate when they're mad. I don't really want to use this analogy, but Manu, in comparison used to detonate out there and nuke the other team, whereas Demar, is like a guy that walks into the nuclear radiation zone after the nuke goes off and gets ed up.

[Ocotillo]

Yes to Demar letting his emotions get him out of the game. Manu didn't get angry, he got even. Demar is the anti-Manu in that regard.

[RD2191]

LMA and DDR are both mental midgets and losers. They can't get the off this team soon enough.

[duncan2k5]

Other teams have literally lost half their players to COVID for weeks at a time. I love White but he isn't a superstar or even all star (at least consistently).

Not consistently? When has he ever played at an all star level? Lol

[duncan2k5]

I just watched the game and can't believe we got lit up and lost.

And yeah, you're right, I can't stand this strategy at all. Stop leaving shooters wide open all the time. If you get beat off the dribble, no need to double-team and leave guys open all the time. Teams seem to hit such a high amount of open shots Vs the Spurs this season. Use the double team sparingly for when a guy is hot and can't be stopped one on one. You don't use this strategy for large portions of the game. Also, in years past, our own players such as Danny Green couldn't hit a wide open shot, yet somehow, nearly everyone seems to be swishing wide open shots against the Spurs. Doesn't seem to matter if it's the opposing team's center, guard, power forward, whoever, they're all nailing threes against us. Whoever came up with this defensive strategy to double and leave shooters wide open, needs to rethink it and try something else.

Also, why was Trey Lyles playing and both Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell not playing at all in the 4th quarter? I don't understand that decision, either. Now that Derrick White is back, we needed defense, so Devin should have played in place of Lyles and Keldon could have also played in place of Mills in the 4th quarter. Mills can't stop anyone and was exactly on enough to justify playing him over Keldon when defense and toughness and rebounding was needed to try and slow the Grizzlies down. Pop is going to have to learn that Mills should not be closing games and Lyles shouldn't be playing in the 4th quarter if he was not in the rotation for most of game. He doesn't bring enough offense to justify playing him.

As for Jakob, although he does some good things, sorry to say, this guy is soft, soft, soft! I am so sorry that I used to think Rasho is a soft back when he was on the team. I judged him too harshly, as Jakob is making him look like Ben Wallace in the toughness department, and at least Rasho could hit a free throw. I never thought I'd say this, but give me Chris Dudley at the free throw line. It's absolutely embarrassing. Free throws are like layups to me, so I am finding it so hard to fathom how he can be this bad, especially without fans there. I know for sure the fans could cause him to miss a few as they are a factor for poor shooters, but there isn't even any fans out there to heckle and yell at him. How in the is he managing to shooter 23% from the line. Spurs made a huge mistake paying this guy what they paid if. If other teams wanted to pay him similar or more, they should have let him walk.

Oh, and I may as well mention Demar. My god is this guy terrible when he gets angry or upset out there. It seems that when at any time he feels some negative emotion, it's all over for him. It's hard to watch him crumble and be taken out of his game so easily when this happens. He's got to be mentally tougher. Show something. Use it to fuel you. Get mad and take it out on the other team. Crank up your defense if your offense isn't on, just do something positive out there. It doesn't always have to be scoring, you can do other things to help the team win. I am so used to seeing guys like TD and especially Manu dominate when they're mad. I don't really want to use this analogy, but Manu, in comparison used to detonate out there and nuke the other team, whereas Demar, is like a guy that walks into the nuclear radiation zone after the nuke goes off and gets ed up.

Bro...DeRozan is over 30...that ship has sailed ..he isn't suddenly gonna be different...he is who he is

[duncan2k5]

LMA and DDR are both mental midgets and losers. They can't get the off this team soon enough.

Someone gets it

[Ice009]

Bro...DeRozan is over 30...that ship has sailed ..he isn't suddenly gonna be different...he is who he is

Yeah, I am somehow hoping he changes, but like you said, that ship may have sailed a while ago. .

[look_at_g_shred]

Man that game