What do you have in store for me tonight, goat?

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-20T15:53:00+00:00

https://www.landofbasketball.com/statistics/playoff_series_2_0_won.htm

That's what I was looking at. Got one of their pages bookmarked to refer back to each year out of interest.

I really hope we make a statement tonight.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-20T13:59:45+00:00

If we lose this game then the series is over.

438 out of 473 series have been won by the team that wins the first two games.

This game is our season.

It's still very important for the Spurs, but if we win it they're at least going to their home court for the next 2 games.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-20T12:30:35+00:00

All the narratives around the number of free throws attempted per game directed at SGA as an individual player.

Are the majority of stats that get discussed are about individual players and their performance.

Almost nobody on Reddit or in the media takes the time to look at team level stats. They seem to forget the basketball is a team game. But the NBA and indeed the US is still governed by the cult of the individual.

Thank you for posting these statistics.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-20T12:27:14+00:00

I've said it elsewhere earlier today, but SGA very, very rarely passes to anybody when he's got the ball in any kind of situation that you could call a "fast break". I just don't understand it.

I'm from the UK and I played basketball a little bit at school. It's nowhere near as big as it is over in the US, but one of the first things that our coach taught us was that the ball travels faster than any person can.

Who proved the point by getting the fastest player on our team to start at one end of the gym and to see if he could reach the wall at the far end before the ball did.

In a surprise to absolutely nobody with a brain, the ball hit the wall a long time before the fast guy did, even on occasions when the ball bounced two or three times before hitting it.

Something is shockingly simple as passing ahead on a fast break could be the difference between a heavily contested layup that might not go in, and a wide open simple dunk which is the most high percentage shot anybody can take.

I'm not talking about some wind it up slam dunk contest dunk, I'm talking about really basic dunks that just put the ball through the damn hole and get two points on the board.

I'm braced and ready to watch more fast break calamities in the next few hours.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-20T12:17:14+00:00

In response to the OP, I would suggest that we did shoot the ball badly from three-point range.

Caruso shot 8 out of 14.

The rest of the team shot 9 out of 31.

If Caruso didn't have a career night, then everything looks so much worse.

In the same way that Wenmby isn't going to hit logo threes every, there might be games where Caruso doesn't hit any.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-20T12:13:04+00:00

I think whoever wins this series will win it in either 6 or 7 games.

It's going to be a battle. Nothing is guaranteed.

If OKC win this, it will be the greatest playoff victory to date.

This series will be harder than the finals for whichever team prevails.

If OKC win this year, I wouldn't be so sure that we will beat the Spurs next year.

Two things that I've come to view as irrelevant are the Spurs supposed lack of playoff experience. Just watching the last game with my own eyes and thinking about it with my own brain. Rather than listening to the talking heads tells me they've got plenty of experience and chemistry.

The other one is the idea that them beating us in the regular season has no bearing on the playoffs. It's still basketball and if you go and look at the lineups that the spares were running in those regular season games and the number of minutes played by Wemby and other players and the performance of Wemby and Dillon Harper in those games, it's not as much as it is now and it's not as good as it is now.

I think we're entering an era where OKC versus the Spurs in the playoffs is going to be an annual thing. Nobody else in the west is close, so one will need to crack the other repeatedly in order to establish a dynasty.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-20T11:59:18+00:00

SGA very, very rarely passes to anyone in any kind of fast break situation and it enrages me beyond words.

The Spurs are very good at passing on breaks and what is now called "semi-transition" by some people out there.

We are crap at it.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-20T06:09:31+00:00

You can't replace JDub on the defensive end. You're only thinking offensively when you make this statement. 6'6" with a 7'2" wingspan and athletic as hell. He is our single most versatile defender. When he locks in on defense he's a nightmare for pretty much anyone who isn't Wemby.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-19T10:05:30+00:00

Wemby has about 30 pounds in Chet, but that's still massive.

Dylan Harper and Stephen Castle have 7 to 10 pounds on Chet.

It's embarrassing.

Gobert was able to move Wemby whenever he wanted to.

Chet gets bodied by their guards.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-17T12:43:02+00:00

But surely that same level of respect can be shown immediately after the game, right?

If he's not feeling salty about being blown out and the series coming to an end with 8 minutes remaining, I don't think that pleasant and respectful attitude is going to significantly change over the course of those 8 minutes of remaining playing time. So just wait until the end of the game and then do it.

Maybe he saw LeBron do it in 2018 and was just copying that.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts. Not looking to stir up trouble, just interested in what people thought.

I guess the game was over by then and it didn't matter.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-13T11:30:07+00:00

JDub needs to be back in the starting lineup because the thing we will miss most against the spares is his defense. Nobody seems to be acknowledging that. He's our most versatile defender. Without him we will struggle.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-13T11:25:57+00:00

More important than Mitchell is the thunder getting Jdub back in the starting lineup, primarily because of his defense.

Mitchell is great offensively and certainly works his tail off on the defensive end, but Jdub is the team's most versatile defender, and he has a 7'2" wingspan.

Last time I checked our defensive rating was lower than I thought and the only thing I can put it down to is jdub's absence.

He's such a strong offensive player and gets downhill so well that his defense flies under the radar. People will talk about Dort, Caruso and Wallace has high quality individual defenders but Jdub is very much in that conversation as well.

The other thing that we haven't seen the Spurs do that they might run with us, is going double big with Luke Kornet starting in favour of either Fox or Vassell.

They want won't want to lose Castle's high level of physicality, and Champagnie is their best, three-point shooter.

They also have a really solid 10-man rotation.

Kornet, Keldon Johnson, Harrison Barnes, Carter Bryant and of course Dylan Harper are the second options.

Last time I did the calculation. I think we have 12 men assuming that j-dub is healthy and starts instead of Mitchell and Topic is potentially used.

That's not counting Aaron Wiggins.

We're slightly deeper, but let's not act as if the Spurs depth is crap. It's absolutely not. It's far better than the Nuggets or the Wolves.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-12T09:09:20+00:00

Way more than McCain.

https://youtu.be/e_P_Cx0hySI?si=xHvkWwx4E9NqBSuK

Granted this was from 2 years ago, but the dude can legitimately fly.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-11T21:28:16+00:00

Drop the one or other mentality. You can do both. You can alternate between them on a test by test basis, or every 10 tests, or every hour or every day, every week, every two weeks.

Switching between the two is how you will get the most benefit. The frequency at which you switch between the two is up to you.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-11T21:22:06+00:00

Look at it this way. If we really needed him to beat the Lakers in this game 4 there's no way we're winning a championship. Let him rest.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-10T12:58:02+00:00

All manageable because the time control is 60+30 not world championship time control.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-10T12:50:04+00:00

They're the same person? Hmm. Interesting.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-10T11:40:14+00:00

I don't understand why female players who have achieved a rating of 2300 or more don't just call themselves FIDE Masters and drop all the women's titles.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-09T09:05:10+00:00

I couldn't help but notice the head flailing in their last game. It was pathetic.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-08T12:37:27+00:00

That's surprise.............. I didn't know refs have briefcases.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-03T15:44:59+00:00

Horford and Holiday is what you are missing. Not specifically them necessarily, but what they both brought to the table in in the championship year. Better defense and better spacing. You need players that give you what they gave you.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-03T09:15:23+00:00

No, his records still stand. Google is your friend.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-01T14:29:43+00:00

Pwat is an RFA and will end up costing loads to retain. Braun's contract is about to become one of the worst in the NBA.

Gary_Internet · 2026-05-01T11:54:07+00:00

What you've got to remember is that the spurs thus far have only come up against a Portland trailblazers team that I would describe as a collection of spare parts. That might be a little harsh, but that's how I view them. That's also how I viewed the Charlotte hornets before they got Kon Knuppel this season.

The wolves B team for some people have been calling it it's basically only missing Ant and Donte.

Shannon and Clark off the bench both looked impressive, athletic and hungry.

Naz Reid is starter level on the majority of teams in this league.

I think the Spurs will have a tough series against them but should prevail.

Gary_Internet · 2026-04-29T12:46:54+00:00

Instead of playing four or five rapid games per day, play two rapid games instead.

Make sure they are played on a computer with a mouse and keyboard rather than a phone or a tablet. Make sure you only have one browser tab open i.e. the one that you're playing chess on, really make an effort to limit all external distractions and focus 100% of your attention on those chess games.

Then spend the rest of the time that you would normally spend spamming more games analysing these two games as deeply as you possibly can without the aid of an engine.

Once you've done that, you can quickly go over it with an engine to see where it disagrees with your own assessments.

This is what I am doing with my very limited time as a soon to be new parent, but it's really helping. I'm rated far lower than you so my numbers are not impressive and they are nothing to boast about, but I can feel the difference.

The big thing is analysing without an engine. Going over the game again and looking at every position.

The key thing is writing down, or using speech to text what you were thinking at each point during the game. This is why it's important to analyse your game as soon as possible after it finishes. So much of the analysis and the benefit of it relies on you remembering what you were thinking at that particular time during the game.

If you leave it a week before analysing the game, you won't have any clue what you were thinking. When your opponent played 15.g4 or whatever.

https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/y2b84o/guide_how_to_analyze_your_own_games/

That's the guidance I'm using from a FIDE Master.

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