I’m thankful for our shared community here.

Not to be a downer, but we still have a lot of problems.

I’m with Chog that Coach Lue should be fired. 95% of me does not trust that his decision-making, but, the 5% optimist in me — let’s stay healthy and play the games.

Russ is an enigma. He is such a great athlete, but he makes a lot of bad passes and drives to the basket that do not result in a score, but rather lead to a fast break opportunity for opposing team.

Russ can play great basketball — we have seen such great play in the short time with the Clippers. He needs to be fully focused in leading and incorporating everyone on the court.

For example, when Russ and PG play together, do not let PG bring up the ball, Russ should initiate the offense. Even a simple 2-man game with Russ and PG (if done properly) can be very effective and cut down on their turnovers.

But more importantly, Luka will be the best player in a series between Dallas and the Lakers. His pull-up 3s are scary good and I was even more impressed with his vision, decision-making and passing, especially when jumping up/playing out of double teams and consistently throwing bullet passes right into the pocket for open teammates. Head fakes, awesome. The shot quality he creates for others… On top of that, Lakers are flawed. Can’t shoot (though Bron has improved a ton over last year), their half-court offense doesn’t scare me, AD is inconsistent, so is their defense – and their only guard who’s actually good. The 3 spot isn’t strong either. While obviously having upside, the Lakers will rarely have the shooting and a dominant AD to reach their ceiling, they will lose to teams that play sound, good basketball. Hope to see that from us vs the Pels, limited turnovers, defensive fundamentals, good shot selection.

Norm’s groin was Amir’s good fortune

There’s a line I never thought I’d see on 213.

But, I do like what is happening.

Fast paced point guard that can defend on ocassion: Russ, check.
Cerebral floor general that can find the free man on the half court and shoot when required: Harden, check.
Elite two-way wings that can lead an offense: Kawhi, PG, check, check.
Defensive big man: Zu check.
Athletic jack of all trades, master of none, a winner, a connector and crowd favourite: Mann, check.
Back up big that can do some of this, some of that: Plumlee, currently injured.
Scorer type that somehow is our best remaining catch and shooter: Norm, check.
Third back up big that looks like he’s after the main big’s job: Theis, check.
A variety of youthful types who’s sole mission should be to steal minutes from PJ Tucker:
Bones, Coffey, Moussa, Brown, BBJ, Miller, Primo, check (6)
Secret weapon G-leaguer: Moon,check.
Hardened veteran that should not play much but still does, and we hope to be useful in a playoff setting: PJ Tucker, check.

If only we had a nice, rebounding 3&D PF that is not washed out…

An Amir sighting & boy was it great! Not because he played well, that def helped, but cuz he actually saw the floor in meaningful min. I will point out though that he didn’t miss a beat out there & you wouldn’t have known that he wasn’t part of the rotation. Was aggressiveness on both ends & just showed how good of a player he is.

Continue to like what I see from the PJ & Theis pairing. They just work really well together defensively & have great chemistry. They were out there when Sochan made those 2 3s, which put a dent in their good showing. You give Sochan those 3s every time.

In addition to those 3 guys, was impressed with the defense from Russ & Mann out there. Mann was good on ball & Russ was good on & helping out. You can see the chemistry between Russ & PJ out there as well.

The one guy who continues to have major letdowns defensively is PG off ball. He’s been good to start the season off defensively, as a whole, but he gets caught ball watching way too fuckin much. Kawhi has a bad habit of this also but not as bad as PG.

Don’t pay any kind to the +/- ppl love to talk about, especially with Russ & the starters. Watching it back, give credit to the Spurs. There was some bad TOs & breakdowns on defense, mixed in with a off balance 3 from Vassell, that aided the Spurs “run”. Nothing from that unit screamed bad, like the numbers or ppl will try & say. I will say that I want to see Theis with the starters. He provides a cleaner fit on both ends & is something they’re gonna have to start doing now that they’re getting ready to face better competition.

I like how aggressive PG has been, & he’s practically the offense with that 2nd unit, but he needs to be a bit better. There’s a difference between being aggressive & forcing the issue & there are times where he forces it a bit too much. Would like to see him continue to be aggressive but also get others involved & play make a bit. Just a minor “gripe” though.

In all, it wasn’t the greatest showing but there was lots of good. Give credit to the Spurs for battling. It was always gonna be tough to beat the same team twice in 3 days but they competed.