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2018-2019 San Antonio Spurs: Fuck Kawhi Leonard


Michael Knight

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12 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Patty Mills played arguably the worst 182 seconds of NBA playoff basketball history at the beginning of the 2nd quarter where Denver went on a 16-0 run 

The guy was simply atrocious. He's even making Belinelli look fairly serviceable, which is hard to do against a team as quick as the Nuggets.

I appreciate Patty's many contributions over the years. But of late he's been out of his element, Donnie. 

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Some things to watch in game 4...

The Spurs keep putting Jokic in the pick and roll and making him play in space, especially when he's guarding LMA. White did a ton of damage to them last night just dribbling around screens and going straight to the rim. Denver has had a tough time adjusting. You can't leave LMA alone on the perimeter because he's such a good pick and pop shooter and Jokic just doesn't have the foot speed to keep up with White when they do switch. When Denver rotates, and their rotations were fairly pathetic last night,  Millsap is too undersized to protect the rim. Plus Millsap has been saddled with fouls the last two games trying to deal with LMA. They put in Plumlee for a bit to get some size but he's zero threat offensively, especially compared to Millsap. They can guard Plumlee with Rudy Gay and then the Nuggets have their own issues trying to match up Plumlee with Gay on the perimeter. They started sliding under the pick later in the game and daring White to shoot -- which is much better than giving the guy uncontested layups -- but Murray was really inconsistent in executing it. White was smart enough to reset the pick and then just get them to switch anyway. I foresee them sliding under every one of those picks in game 4 and making White prove he can shoot it over the defense. At least, that's why I'd do and then try trapping him if that doesn't work. Clearly switching that off and making Jokic move his feet at the three point line is a losing strategy.

The more this series unfolds, the more the Nuggets are getting exposed in the matchups. Honestly, their best chance is to turn the game into a track meet and just try to outscore the Spurs. But hell, they shot 53% from three last night on a good number of attempts (28) and still got blown out. Granted, those numbers are skewed with some crunch time 3's but they still shot it really well last night. 

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5 hours ago, miguelito said:

Agreed, and this goes back to that long article about Pop, and the family culture he works to maintain within the organization.

I was thinking about this yesterday. I definitely agree. And my next thought was whether the young guys we have on this team now (whereas you know Manu and Tony and Boris and Patty probably loved the wine/dine shit) are down for the wine-tasting 5-course dinners. They very well might be, but I also wondered whether Patty was helping pick up some of the extra team-bonding by have the Coffee Gang meetings. It's basically the same shit, and it's pretty cool to see how it started with 3 or 4 of them, but now basically the whole team invited themselves and just hang out at different coffee shops on road trips now.

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2 minutes ago, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

What's your take on Poeltl? I'm impressed by how physical he gets underneath and his willingness to do the dirty work.  He's thinner and more muscular than Jokic and seems to be wearing his ass out.

Agreed. I thought he was great last night especially on the offensive glass. Spurs had something like 18 second chance points. It made a huge difference in the game. Denver especially had trouble matching up when he and Aldridge were on the court together. When Denver switched Jokic onto Poeltl, they started using Poeltl to set picks for White and again pull Jokic away from the basket. They targeted the shit out of Jokic last night, really trying to make him work on defense. Denver might even try to play some zone and make the Spurs beat them from the perimeter. It would certainly work better than what they trotted out there last night.

I thought the Spurs lineup was interesting during that big run in fourth quarter. They were shuffling guys in and out, but for the most part it was Poeltl and Aldridge up front, White and then some combination of Marco/Forbes/ Mills in the backcourt to spread the floor. They blew the game open with that look and I'd anticipate seeing more of it. Also interesting that Bertans didn't get much burn. 

 

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10 hours ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

Some things to watch in game 4...

The Spurs keep putting Jokic in the pick and roll and making him play in space, especially when he's guarding LMA. White did a ton of damage to them last night just dribbling around screens and going straight to the rim. Denver has had a tough time adjusting. You can't leave LMA alone on the perimeter because he's such a good pick and pop shooter and Jokic just doesn't have the foot speed to keep up with White when they do switch. When Denver rotates, and their rotations were fairly pathetic last night,  Millsap is too undersized to protect the rim. Plus Millsap has been saddled with fouls the last two games trying to deal with LMA. They put in Plumlee for a bit to get some size but he's zero threat offensively, especially compared to Millsap. They can guard Plumlee with Rudy Gay and then the Nuggets have their own issues trying to match up Plumlee with Gay on the perimeter. They started sliding under the pick later in the game and daring White to shoot -- which is much better than giving the guy uncontested layups -- but Murray was really inconsistent in executing it. White was smart enough to reset the pick and then just get them to switch anyway. I foresee them sliding under every one of those picks in game 4 and making White prove he can shoot it over the defense. At least, that's why I'd do and then try trapping him if that doesn't work. Clearly switching that off and making Jokic move his feet at the three point line is a losing strategy.

The more this series unfolds, the more the Nuggets are getting exposed in the matchups. Honestly, their best chance is to turn the game into a track meet and just try to outscore the Spurs. But hell, they shot 53% from three last night on a good number of attempts (28) and still got blown out. Granted, those numbers are skewed with some crunch time 3's but they still shot it really well last night. 

Great stuff.... Loved the Hack-a-Plumlee move by Pop last night... 😆

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13 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

If Spurs win Denver series, who is a better matchup for the Spurs in the next round.... Okc or Portland??

Portland. Let Lillard and McCollum get their usual 20-30 and keep the rest of their roster in check.

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