Game Thread Spurs (30-13) @ Rockets (25-15) (Tue 1/20/26) [7:00PM CDT]

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013850188712985046

 

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013832719118049515

 

[heyheymymy]

Not going to lie I turned the tv off when it got like 86-92 just disgusted at what I saw. Not mad at the refs or Houston, the Spurs players were terrible. There was a point in the 2nd half where Houston was down big and had two turnovers in short span, they were dead in the water. To lose a game from that point, or from up 16, it is just disgusting. Like in a horror film when they shoot the killer one time and got him laying face down but want to get cute instead of the double tap going in for the kill. Hell of a game by Champ.

 

[Snaq O'Meal]

No disagreements here. I’m not trying to defend Mitch, I’m just saying it’s easy to see what the FO was going for and how they’d like feel stuck at this point.

I think it’s clear that Mitch was a hand chosen successor by a guy who has wrestled complete control of the organization with zero accountability. And we are stuck in no-mans land with the outcome. If the team were failing to meet expectations, it would be easy for the FO to move on this offseason. But barring a complete disaster in the remaining 38 games, there is zero chance the FO make a change. At this point, all we can do is hope Mitch catches up.

Mitch may eventually catch up and turn into a half-decent coach 5-10 years from now. But can the team afford that gamble with Wemby's development and patience at stake?

 

[RC_Drunkford]

loved how the plan going into the 4th quarter was to heroball and shoot a bunch of off the dribble 3s. That's exactly what gets you wins when you're up by double digits. At least Mitch seems to think so.

 

[RC_Drunkford]

We just missed shots...just like other games we lost.Didnt make shots when it mattered the most.

when you up by double digits in the 4th all you gotta do is make easy baskets, couple of 2s and lay ups. Get to the line. Not chuck up 3 after 3 when you ain't hitting anything.

 

[Ice009]

Victor may have had a great game stat wise last game, but he will have to be more locked in tonight. He has some lazy defensive plays and effort in the previous game. Maybe he was taking it a bit easy, but if not, he'll have to lock in if the Spurs are to win this one.

Just watched the game, and darn, Victor did not show up. Not good when Adams didn't even play.

Piss poor performance. Julian saved them from getting blown out early. Spurs overall played a poor game. And then you've got the fucking supercoach Mitch Johnson. Why TF didn't he challenge that out of bounds call deep in the 4th quarter (edit : it was with 3:32 left) or so of the 4th? I didn't watch the replay, but it looks like it went out of bounds off of Houston and not Harper, and they hit a three off of the play. Could have cost the Spurs the game by not challenging.

I was worried going into the 4th quarter and we lost the 10 point lead within a few minutes of the start of the quarter. What a joke. 45 degree celsius (113 Fahrenheit) day here too, which just tops it right off.

Reed Sheppard also outplaying Stephon wasn't good either . Steph's looking like complete crap on offense.

Edit : Did De'Aaron get fouled with about 57 seconds left to play. I couldn't tell if Shitgoon touched his elbow on that shot with the score being 104-106. I'm not blaming the refs for the loss. I just wonder if that was a blown foul call.

 

[Ice009]

This is a young team learning on the job. The 2003 team was notorious for blowing huge leads, including in the playoffs. I’m not saying they’re winning a championship this season, but this shit happens when you have a bunch of young guys trying to figure it out. And yes, that includes the coach.

Yes, that 2003 team blew leads, but they had Tim Duncan, and 2003 Tim Duncan is way better than anyone on this current team.
I know you're trying to bring up a good example, but this team isn't as good as that team. They don't have the margin for error that team had. Stephen Jackson could hit clutch 3 pointers, Manu, although coming into the season with an injured ankle was going to start playing better towards the end once it had healed a bit. Young TP is better than our current young guards (he would shred Steph). You had Bruce Bowen who I think could lock up any of the Spurs' current 3 point shooters (He'd have Julian in a straitjacket). Then you had D-Rob who's better than any big outside of Victor that this team has. I fail to see what's similar about this team compared to that 2003 team (apart from blowing leads).

Anyway, I do agree with what you've said (about this team being a young team with a young coach - I don't like the coach that much, though), but I just don't think there's a need to bring up the 2003 team comparing it to this team (a few other people have brought it up at various points this season).

 

[LeBowen]

There’s an entire thread with people talking about how we’re ahead of schedule at the midpoint. You’re going to argue that we’re not?

Record wise we definitely are.
Gameplan/execution wise we looked good early in the season, but are descending into mediocrity more and more as the season goes on.
We went from looking unstoppable at times without Wemby even when we weren't that hot from 3 to looking like last season's team that was completely reliant on him and couldn't do shit when he's not carrying.

Right now we're regressing because as it usually goes opponents adjust over the course of the season and we don't seem to care about it.
We're pounding the rock.

If Wemby didn't go off against both the Timberwolves and the Jazz, we'd be on a 1-5 streak right now, beating just the Bucks that have arguably the worst roster in the league around Giannis.

And last night was the first game where there was a noticable lack of effort and hustle from most our players.
We gave up I think 4 uncontested layups in situations that weren't even a transition, but just our guys getting beaten down the court because they didn't take it seriously.
That can't happen to a young team.
We can lose, get blown out, have a ton of turnovers, but when you get outhustled by 37 year old KD repeatedly, then there's something wrong and the coach isn't holding the players accountable.

The less said about Mitch's rotations, the better. We went over it many times already.


Over the past 15 games we're 24th in ORTG and 29th(!!!) in TS%.
Defense is very good, 4th DRTG and 12th NETRG.

 

[RC_Drunkford]

the story of most games is the following:

We physically overwhelm teams in the first half and get a big lead

The opponent adjusts at halftime and gets more physical in the second half

Now we look lethargic and miss a bunch of shots while turning it over and complaining to the refs

By the fourth quarter we're in a dog fight

 

[Quentin_Compson]

That was a useful game because it showed how things MIGHT go in the Playoffs (minus the fact that there are no b2b games in the Playoffs, of course) for a young and inexperienced team like the Spurs: Castle being unable to finish against good defenses and not (yet?) having a counter; Fox being too passive and not showing up when the team would need him to; Wemby settling too much for bad offense because he/his teammates/the coaching staff can't figure out how to get him into better positions on a consistens basis; the shooting is coming and going; Mitch being out of his depth with lineup- and in-game management.

It's crazy that the Spurs took 22 (!) more shots than the Rockets (who had double the amount of the Spurs' FTAs, though) and still lost the game. But Wemby settling for contested fadeaway jumpers and Castle taking eight threes is an automatic win for any opponent's defense - not to mention Mitch trotting out a Harper/Castle/Bryant/Keldon/Kornet lineup and playing Kornet and Wemby together down the stretch in a game like this.

 

[Ice009]

If Wemby didn't go off against both the Timberwolves and the Jazz, we'd be on a 1-5 streak right now, beating just the Bucks that have arguably the worst roster in the league around Giannis.

I was talking to someone a week or two ago about the standings, and I was told that all teams were struggling in the West (which they kind of were at that point). They told me I was wrong when I said I think the Spurs are one of the main ones that might stay at 4-6, 5-5 over 10 games stretches based on the way they've been playing.

I believe teams like the Nuggets, Rockets etc. are going to start playing better and start going 6-4 (Nuggets are already here and without Jokic back yet), 7-3 and the Spurs will drop in the standings if they don't start playing better.

When I said it a week or two ago, there wasn't many West teams with a winning record over their last 10 games, there's now 7 teams in the top 10 that have a record of 6-4 or better over their last 10. Spurs are one of the three teams that are 5-5 or worse over their last 10, and like you said, Spurs are darn lucky to have even that 5-5 record. If they lost those two games you mentioned that Victor carried them to wins in, they'd be 3-7 over their last 10 which would give them the worst record out of all the top 10 teams in the WC over their past 10 games. So far, it looks like I've been right.

The Spurs are playing poorly, and if they don't right the ship, and right it soon, they will lose that second seed. They can easily slide to 6th if they start being one of those treadmill teams if they continue on this 4-6, 5-5 ten game stretches.

 

[Dex]

You can't go scoreless for 5 mins in the 4th quarter and hope to win many games. All those shots that were falling in the first half stopped falling, and the gutless worms got shook.

 

[elpimpo4cc]

Alperen "Wemby" Sengun Jr tbh

 

[LeBowen]

You can't go scoreless for 5 mins in the 4th quarter and hope to win many games. All those shots that were falling in the first half stopped falling, and the gutless worms got shook.

It wasn't like Minnesota games where our shots stop falling and they get hot, Rockets couldn't hit shit all game long other than that Sheppard sequence.
We didn't even need to make any 3s in the second half, just get some good looks from anywhere instead of resorting to stepback 3s.

 

[spurs2112]

Seems like Sengun turns Vic into Chet every time they play. Vic is averaging less than 20 pts a game against the Rockets. I think Senguns aggressiveness against Vic gets to him. Vic needs to get more aggressive himself and stop settling for jumpers against him. Also seems, maybe its just me, but Vic is flopping/on the floor a lot more than I remember.

 

[Amuseddaysleeper]

We have stopped pushing the pace and getting outscored on fast break points all the time now

 

[spursistan]

Really starting to remind me of the late 00s/10s Thunder in the worst ways tbh.

We are in our Scottie Brooks era of coaching-- Winning on pure talent.

@LeBowen put up above the disgusting OFF rating rank/TS%. of the past 15 games, and yeah Devon Vassell being out isn't the reason for this cratering. Mitch Johnson is really struggling with roles and rotations now that the squad is whole (the Castle-Fox dynamic for starters)

 

[Dbreiden83080]

If Wemby just had a half way decent game Spurs win comfortably. I saw nothing that tells me we can't or won't beat the Rockets in a 7 game series.. See them again Next Wed..

 

[scott]

Mitch may eventually catch up and turn into a half-decent coach 5-10 years from now. But can the team afford that gamble with Wemby's development and patience at stake?

That’s the big question (and what I alluded to in my original response). I don’t think the FO has the balls to replace Mitch even if they determine that he’s not the right fit at the right time.

 

[Floyd Pac]

I watched him struggle. I also watched him get absolutely mauled and abused over and over - and the kid kept com8mg back and fighting and scrapping and htting the floor and getting up and continued being

FIERCE

So yes , i am enjoying the fuck out of watching these young spurs getting experience and learning and growing and competing like bad asses.

If you want to keep bitching- just think back to
Zollins and malakai and wesley and primo and then thank the motherfuckin universe that we got some nba players now.

Not hard to finally get nba players when you tanked for 6 straight seasons and land a generational big and fox. You call it fierce I call it retarded, it’s the definition of insanity watching castle stop runs and barrel himself into the lane and get blocked by the rim over and over again. Any instinctively smart player would figure it out but this asshole just doesn’t stop hero balling. doesn’t help his coach won’t bench him either.

 

[BatManu20]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2013857539826610289

 

[LeBowen]

If Wemby just had a half way decent game Spurs win comfortably. I saw nothing that tells me we can't or won't beat the Rockets in a 7 game series.. See them again Next Wed..

So we're just going to rely on Wemby hard carrying every game?

As I wrote, 24th ORTG over the past 15 games.
Wemby played 13 of those (missed Indiana W and Portland L), averaging 25ppg on 50/40/87.

How the hell can you have 24th ORTG with your franchise player averaging 25ppg on elite efficency and being one of the best floor spacing bigs in the league?
What are we talking about?

 

[Ice009]

Not hard to finally get nba players when you tanked for 6 straight seasons and land a generational big and fox. You call it fierce I call it retarded, it’s the definition of insanity watching castle stop runs and barrel himself into the lane and get blocked by the rim over and over again. Any instinctively smart player would figure it out but this asshole just doesn’t stop hero balling. doesn’t help his coach won’t bench him either.

I think it's between half way. He should be reigned in a bit IMO. I don't think they should tell him to completely stop attacking and playing the way he does, but he also shouldn't get such a long leash to do whatever he wants.

Dylan IMO should also be getting more court time. How the best natural PG on the team gets less time than the other main guards, I don't understand.

 

[Dbreiden83080]

That’s the big question (and what I alluded to in my original response). I don’t think the FO has the balls to replace Mitch even if they determine that he’s not the right fit at the right time.

If the players feel he is holding them back the FO would have little choice.. Wemby in particular. The question would be do you bring in a vet coach like a Mike Malone? A coach who had his own players revolt. But the rest of this season will be interesting. Mitch has to get better with line ups, managing min, X's and O's yeah everything.