I know, I know. It's been almost two weeks. Six games have been played since opening night by this team.
Did I realize just how much time was involved in watching every game and then writing about it (even if it's just a few scattered thoughts)? No. No I did not.
If you don't mind, I'm going to write about this as if I haven't been following the team in the five games since this one. And don't worry, I haven't even watched all of those yet (as I've learned over the past few years of aging and moving to the EST, East Coast Bias is a real thing).
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The home opener came against Toronto, surely a leftover from some scheduler who forgot Kawhi doesn't play for the Raptors anymore. If Kawhi didn't just absolutely HAVE to go play near his home,
he would have had a nice quiet night in the empty AT&T Center. Oh well, his loss.Nothing much has changed in my mind since watching the opener against the Grizzlies. The team just has to be an awful lot better. And I'm sure they can get much better, even this season. But it's going to be at least a little painful, and it might not happen even if it's a lot painful.
The young guys (Dejounte, Derrick, Keldon, Lonnie, Jakob and Devin) all need to not only develop some offensive tools and shooting consistency, but need to just get to grips with where they belong on the floor during their minutes. Dichotomies in player skill and experience and talent and scoring prowess abound in the NBA, but the Spurs are a team with such a chasm who really just aren't used to the feeling. The DeMar/LaMarcus/Rudy/Patty core are all crafty and pretty smart, and the new boys just don't have it yet. I have already seen Vassell and Keldon struggling with rotations and that's no surprise. I'm not the one to cast aspersions...lots of us struggle to make the necessary changes in our lives. Hell, I'm the same guy who just started using his phone for flight boarding passes a couple years ago.
The point is, this is going to take time. That's okay, but it's not a normal feeling for a Spurs fan (or a Spurs coach, for that mattter).
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The first quarter was a little sad, with the Raptors hanging a quick 39 on the Spurs. The Raptors collected 13 assists in the period, which is far too many--a pace of 52 assists in a game is a sign that the defense isn't making the offense work for anything.
On the bright side, DeMar got 16 points of his own during Q1. Unless the opposing team sticks a lockdown defender on the guy, he just goes wherever he wants to and looks incredible doing it. It's when they buckle down that the optics really change from slick and slippery to desperate and flailing.
The Spurs fought back in Q2, erasing their deficit and pulling away by a couple points going into the second half. Truth be told, I don't really remember what happened in this game anymore. But the box score tells me it was something like this: PATTY MILLS! PATTY MILLS! PATTY MILLS! The guy can't be a go-to scorer on a nightly basis, but sometimes he just looks unstoppable. This was one of those nights.
Speaking of unstoppable, Fred Van Vleet had it going through the second half. I am tempted to say that it can't just be coincidence that he had the hot hand a game after Ja got his 44, but maybe that's all it was. Of course, Patty, God bless him, isn't a defender, but I don't see a lot of impressive work from Dejounte yet this season either. He had the late-career, Jason Kidd-type triple double, but he seems to get caught by screens an awful lot.
Jakob Poeltl has acquired a nice passing touch and sets an okay screen sometimes. Calling him a new Tiago Splitter is an oversimplification, but there's no reason to think he can't remain the Spurs C for several years.
From the Toronto side, man do I miss Aron Baynes. Aussie, went to WSU (Go Cougs), does all sorts of little things, and came away with 13/7/1in just under 20 minutes. Like a lot of Spurs after the '14 season, he went and got himself paid (a bit). Good for him. But know that you're missed, Banger.
And Chris Boucher. Who the hell is this guy and why did he get 22/10 with 7 blocks (!) against us? Scrawny and definitely older than I at first suspected, but what a nice piece the Raptors had stashed away.
An ugly 2-0 for the moment, but I'll take it.
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