FanPost

Game 2 Adjustments

Well that game was pretty painful to watch. I thought the Spurs were supposed to be the calm, collected, precise team, but instead we looked panicked and unsure of what our strategy was. There were moments though where it clicked (for about 2 minutes at the start of the second quarter). But for most of the rest of the game they looked a little outgunned and certainly not as athletic. So what do we do different? On one end, it seems like there aren’t too many adjustments to make. Maybe next time, Danny Green goes 4 of 7 from three instead of 1 of 7 and we shoot 75% from the free throw line and right there you have 15 extra points which is a tie ball game. Still we looked a little blindsided at times so here’s some thoughts on how to adjust without overreacting to Game 1’s outcome.

--Defense –

I’m sure we all generally agree that Kawhi was a viable candidate for defensive player of the year if not the defensive player of the year, so how do we use that weapon against the Clippers. On Sunday we saw him thrown against different guys, including Chris Paul at times and even on some switches match up against Blake. An interesting proposition might include matching Kawhi up on Blake more full time. His speed and athleticism should allow him to stay in front of Blake and not get so lost on the pick and rolls as Baynes/Splitter and even Duncan did a few times. This certainly creates a size mismatch but Kawhi has been showing his ability to play against larger guys all year. Add in some help defense from whatever big is in and I think you’d see some turnovers (I’d much rather see Blake pass out to DeAndre or or Matt Barnes than take it himself, the man is a weapon). I’d also rather test Blake’s post game and his ability to work with his back to the basket than watch him routinely speed past our slower bigs for dunks and layups. If anything else, it would slow the game down by taking away the easy fast stuff and putting a better pick and roll defender out there when he’s playing off of Paul. I don’t think we would want to try this full time, if only because guarding Blake Griffin for the 43, yes, 43 minutes that he played on Sunday would be exhausting even for a youngin’ like Kawhi, but mixing it in could help kill Clipper momentum and throw a different twist into the defensive mix.

Kawhi could of course just get full-time Chris Paul duty but Paul is such an ample passer and is one of the few guys who is crafty and speedy enough to give even Kawhi difficulty containing him. I’m more inclined to shift Danny Green onto Paul with bouts of Patty Mills and Cory Joseph who can just hope to run him down with constant pressure defense all game. This all begs the question of where we put Tony when he is in, but I’d much rather have him match up with one of the shooters, either JJ, Austin Rivers, or even Jamal Crawford. Much like Tony couldn’t guard himself playing offense, he really can’t guard Chris Paul. You run the risk of letting a guy like JJ Redick get going, but even on Sunday when it felt like he was killing us, Redick only scored 10 points and shot below 33 percent. Blake and Paul combined for 58 and putting our two-way buzzsaw of Kawhi (with lots of help defense) and Danny onto those two could throw a wrench into their plans. Sure Chris will get his, but I think when we overplay him he becomes more dangerous. He’s a point guard at heart and when you take away open threes and easy pick and rolls for layups (and soul/Baynes crushing dunks) he’s a less effective player. If you force Chris Paul to be the primary scorer and even if he gets 30 (with maybe 5 assists) and we can hold Blake to 15 that’s absorbable (although holding Blake to 15 might be a pipe-dream). Remember that their bench is god-awful. Outside of Crawford their entire bench scored 5 points on Sunday AND IT FELT LIKE THEY WERE PLAYING WELL. Glen Davis, for instance, seemed like he was killing us but he only had 3 points.

--Offense—

The question again starts and ends with how to most effectively use Kawhi. Every effort to isolate him and let him do his thing ended up with a quick DeAndre double team and an awkward pass with little remaining on the shot clock. This one seems like a no-brainer. Stop iso-ing Kawhi on the baseline. Instead iso him at the top of the key. Clear out the shooters and let him go all James Harden with room on the left and right. As soon as the double comes book the open man to the basket or send him below the double team for the pocket pass. Then all the Clippers are out of position and it’s a race to the basket.

Alternatively, we can just forget the isos and just turn back to the motion offense. Using Kawhi as the roller in a pick and roll situation could help him get the ball while already in motion and make it a lot harder to send double teams without really leaving someone wide open. In that case they’ll most likely just start switching the picks, which likely leaves Kawhi guarded by a guard who he should be able to outmuscle or outsize.

What we definitely need less of is Danny Green charging recklessly into the lane. If they overplayed him maybe, but instead we’re ending up with his painful looking mid-range shots off the dribble.

There also seemed to be some strange lineups that Pop seemed intent on riding. One included (I think) Kawhi, Manu, Baynes, Marco, and Joseph. I’m worried because when Manu isn’t hitting it’s really only Kawhi on that squad that I trust to create a shot and on defense that’s a pretty painful squad to watch outside of Kawhi and Joseph. What I’d like to see is more of the smallball lineups where you roll Green, Kawhi, Parker, Diaw, and Manu/Joseph. They’ll have their troubles against LA’s size, but that squad is fast and defensively savvy. It would be nice to match their pace for a little and I think a smaller group could maybe do that.

Anyways, these were just a few thoughts. I don’t profess to know even a fraction of what Pop does, and I have every confidence that he’ll solve this one before it’s all said and done. Just wanted to throw out some ideas and see what people thought. Go Spurs Go!

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