The last letter had a lot of good feelings in it and then the Grizzlies just kicked some Spurs ass.
If you wanted to make excuses you could point out that the Memphises played with a playoff rotation — short bench and tight rotations. That is not good reason to get out played but it sure is an excuse.
Pop’s quotes are usually about getting more effort and grit and whatnot. Behind the scenes he talks strategy and technique and the like. The overriding theme with him, however, he is always about effort.
To him, effort to understand the scheme, to execute it, to stay consistent and effort to compete are app connected. You need to want to.
That is all true, and sometimes it isn’t enough to win. Pop understands that. The anecdote about him coaching his overmatched college squad and saying “What are you looking at me for? Go enjoy yourselves” is curious to me. I understand that sentiment but I wonder how it fits in with his “compete always” ideas.
Whatever the case, getting beat handily is good. The Spurs can take stock, clean up mistakes, and fix the weak parts of their game. Pop had some new material to use to yell at these guys. “Remember when Dillon Brooks looked like a HOFer against you?”
Memphis is very good, though. They have guys that can compete and there look to be no weaknesses. Like, the dude Bane is not anyone’s idea of an All-Star but he was getting buckets. No one looked scared to shoot or make plays. Add in a truly great talent like Ja Morant? Well that’s how you win. He can get anywhere he wants — Dejounte Murray and Derrick White were both cooked, and that’s the best we have! — and it draws the defense away from four other guys who can make plays.
This is all familiar because that is what the Spurs are trying to build. Lonnie, Keldon, Derrick, Dejounte are all multi-talented dudes. The question is if DeMar can do the Ja Morant stuff. The answer is “yeah mostly”. He was off again, and the refs allowing some extra physical play did not help things. DeRozan gets real complainy and also gets into shoving matches with his defender when this happens.
List Time
Dudes who are playing well:
Dejounte — getting buckets from three. No hesitation anywhere.
Keldon — aggressive
Patty — International
Jacob — rim defender
Dudes who are not playing well:
Vassell — looks lost in his role last two
DeMar — jumper is only sort of falling. Not to his standard
Lyles — remember him?
Rudy Gay — bricks