Plenty to be encouraged about. Offense is going to be potent but chemistry just isn't there yet.

And I still hate sports... And OKC can still go suck it.

Good game for the Spurs to open. They are gonna be tough this year. OKC just had a few of their non stars play well above average shooting the ball.

I don't like the way that inbound was drawn up. If we're gonna have someone come off a screen for a pull up 3, I don't want it to be Verde. I want Green spotted up in a corner and Ginobili or Kawhi coming off the screen for the option of a 3.

Of all the teams they match us with they pick OKC, can't stand them, and of course in OKC.

Lamarcus 4/12
Green 2/9

OKC has always been a tough matchup for us because of the incredible athleticism of Westbrook and Durant. We've got plenty of time to gel and get our new pieces better acclimated. Lots of good things to take away from tonight, but definitely many areas for improvement. Finding a way to stop the Westbrook Durant pick and roll will definitely be something Pop will need to have ready if a playoff series comes around.

In typical Spurs vs. OKC fashion the Thunder had double the free throw attempts.

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In typical Spurs vs. OKC fashion the Thunder had double the free throw attempts.

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That's just the reality of how the two teams differ in their style of play and a reality of how officials will call games. I think more important than worrying about them doubling us up is holding them under 25 FTs.

Also, hopefully this isn't a trend going forward but the 2nd unit bigs got dominated by OKC's. There were a couple opportunities to build a bigger lead early in the 4th and a couple 2nd and 3rd chance points by OKC kept it close.

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Also, hopefully this isn't a trend going forward but the 2nd unit bigs got dominated by OKC's. There were a couple opportunities to build a bigger lead early in the 4th and a couple 2nd and 3rd chance points by OKC kept it close.

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Their lack height revealed itself. They struggled rebounding and protecting the rim. Offensively, they played well.

West was +3 and Diaw was 0. Diaw also had some great plays defensively in the 4th.

Diaw's line was 20 min, 9 points off 4-5/1-1 shooting, 6 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks. That's pretty damn good.


I'm not really worried about a West/Diaw second team big guys that much other than how slow they are.

Aldridge shot poorly when he posted up. Ibaka played him really well.

Green had a rough night all around. I don't know why he handled the ball as much as he did.

Manu looked good. If he can give 15 minutes of that quality per game, he'll be a valuable addition to the team.

Kawhi... He's Jonesing for #2 status behind Lebron. He can't score like Curry, Harden, or Durant, but he plays defense that those guys can't even dream of. He embarrassed Durant all freaking night

West + Diaw are great. They're both the same height, thickly built (though West is a lot more muscular), and are versatile on offense.

Duncan was really quiet.

Parker used to be better than Westbrook, but those days are gone. Watching him try to defend Westbrook now is grimace-inducing. He still did some nice things, though and I think he can give us some quality play.

We've got work to do on offense, but we still did some good stuff. When West and Aldridge get up to speed, we're going to have so more options on offense than we know how to handle. We'll be able to play our typical dizzying spread it out game and slow it down and bang in the paint. Should be a lot of fun.

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In typical Spurs vs. OKC fashion the Thunder had double the free throw attempts.

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Eh like 6 of the Thunder's came in the final 30 seconds. Before that it was 16 to 13.

I thought the refs were mostly fine. The bigger deal was that the Thunder hit 21/22 FTs. Miss just 2-3 more and it's a different game going down the stretch

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Aldridge shot poorly when he posted up. Ibaka played him really well.

Green had a rough night all around. I don't know why he handled the ball as much as he did.

Manu looked good. If he can give 15 minutes of that quality per game, he'll be a valuable addition to the team.

Kawhi... He's Jonesing for #2 status behind Lebron. He can't score like Curry, Harden, or Durant, but he plays defense that those guys can't even dream of. He embarrassed Durant all freaking night

West + Diaw are great. They're both the same height, thickly built (though West is a lot more muscular), and are versatile on offense.

Duncan was really quiet.

Parker used to be better than Westbrook, but those days are gone. Watching him try to defend Westbrook now is grimace-inducing. He still did some nice things, though and I think he can give us some quality play.

We've got work to do on offense, but we still did some good stuff. When West and Aldridge get up to speed, we're going to have so more options on offense than we know how to handle. We'll be able to play our typical dizzying spread it out game and slow it down and bang in the paint. Should be a lot of fun.

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All of this. So much to be excited about. Kawhi was pretty unreal, honestly. Surprised he only logged 3 steals. He had his hand on way more than that.

OKC caught some breaks down the stretch. Like Waiters pulling 4 points out of his ass and Russ' lose ball wide open 3 in the corner.

The west is so brutal. But we are going to be tough to beat. I'm pumped.

That was the best ref crew we could have asked for for a game in OKC. They let the teams play for the most part and nothing was ridiculously terrible.

Parker's defense down the stretch....

Leonard dominating Durant:

https://streamable.com/87cf

Game notes:
I thought it was interesting that Aldridge didn't get a touch until the other four starters had scored.

Kawhi is a freak.

It's awfully early in the season for Diaw to be playing defense, isn't it? Also, I don't think there is anyone in the league that is better at taking advantage of guards and small forwards in the post. Lots of post players will commit offensive fouls, get the ball stolen, or fall victim to the Bonner Conundrum (I should score on this guy easily, so I won't try hard because I would look dumb if I have to try hard against Matt Bonner/a guy 6 inches shorter... and therefore I end up launching an awful, off-balance brick because even Matt Bonner and little guys are NBA players). When Boris gets the ball in that situation, a score seems inevitable.

The Spurs defense was good, but Parker is clearly a very weak point. In the fourth quarter the Thunder were basically iso-ing whoever Parker was covering, or trying to attack him on switches and PnR.

I read that they've spent basically all of camp working on defense, and it shows... on both ends. I think that's why we saw so much iso on offense. Sure, Kawhi and Aldridge will get iso post ups all year, but probably more often on mismatches generated by off-ball action. Tonight that was the first option a lot more than I expect by the end of the year, at least against defenders like Adams and Ibaka.

It seemed like West in particular mistimed or took the wrong angle on some of his cuts and picks and ended up kind of shutting down the play. Nothing that some practice and game time won't fix though.

Anderson still looks painfully slow. Players go right past him.

Patty looked a little overeager, but generally was doing the right things. Danny got a lot of good looks, those will go eventually. He looked pretty comfortable on a couple of his drives, which is a good sign. If he can competently attack a closeout, he'll help out the offense a LOT.

Back to Parker, I generally thought he looked mediocre on offense, but he did have a couple nice moves. Again, I think the timing on the pick and roll game hasn't gelled. Otherwise, it's hard to tell if he's moving slow because the offense isn't that crisp yet or because he can't move faster.

Duncan had several nice blocks. I think being able to play true center will really suit his present day strengths, because he'll spend a lot of time down by the rim on defense. Less ground to cover to go after shots.

Boris/West is a bad rebounding lineup. The Thunder came back largely on the strength of several offensive rebounds, and it was usually West or Diaw getting shoved around. Not many teams have a backup big like Canter, but it's still something to keep an eye on.

Manu looked pretty good. Had some turnovers, but also had some nice scores and defensive plays. Moved well.

Overall, I think we saw the defense play at a level that will stifle a lot of teams. The offense still has some work to do, but we've got two guys who can go get points and a lot of pieces who do specific things very well. The team we saw tonight would win a lot of games this year, and I think they have a lot of room to improve pretty quickly.

Can we just sit Tony Parker until Christmas?

Worried about his legs come June.

He played in France all summer right?

Good game last night Spurs fans. I'm shocked that was Leonard's career high. I agree with what Soup said about the refs, I commented that the FT attempts for both teams last night was low and I like that they let them play but didn't let it get out of hand.

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He played in France all summer right?

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Yes.

I wouldn't mind seeing Pop just sit his ass until January as a way to pay his dues.

Maybe the way our football season is going has me skeptical of Tony's outlook this year.

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He played in France all summer right?

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Yes.

I wouldn't mind seeing Pop just sit his ass until January as a way to pay his dues.

Maybe the way our football season is going has me skeptical of Tony's outlook this year.

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Yeah I wish he would stop playing in France during offseasons. I mean, I get why he does, but he just doesn't have the legs anymore to be doing all that plus an 82 game regular season that has a long playoff process

I don't understand how someone could fault a player for playing for his country in the offseason. Paying his dues? What?

Lol @ TP paying his dues.

Dude has 4 rings.

I was exaggerating for effect.

I accept the summer play for what it is, just sucks down the stretch for us most every year.

After that loss, the Spurs are 17-2 in season openers under Pop.

I looked up the other loss, 2008 v Phoenix (98-105). First round loss to the mavericks.

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I looked up the other loss, 2008 v Phoenix (98-105). First round loss to the mavericks.

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Doom is upon us.

Just took at look at the schedule. We probably rattle off 10 straight wins after this game. 9-1 at worst.

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Just took at look at the schedule. We probably rattle off 10 straight wins after this game. 9-1 at worst.

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Normally I would say take of the silver and black goggles, what with Pop inevitably doing Pop things and randomly sitting players, but our bench could legitimately run with most of the teams we play next by themselves.

Nets
Celtics
Knicks
Wizards
Hornets
Kings
Blazers
76ers
Blazers
Nuggets

Do you really see two losses in there? I mean I know we lost to the Knicks last year, but that **** ain't happening again.