Takeaways and adjustments/approaches for Game 2

[SameOldNudityDrew]

I'm back! (Anybody else gett a weird certificate message from their browser when coming to this webpage?)

Preface
Anyway, damn, what a game!

Gutsy win. Still, ugly ending. We didn't dodge a bullet there. It felt like we were trying to step into the line of fire and the shooter just missed!

The way everybody responds to many non-blowout games so often commits a logical fallacy. One team wins by a few points, and everybody talks about all the good things they did and all the bad things the other team did. But one or two shots bounce the other way, and we'd reverse it. But both responses oversimplify the messy reality. Last night was a perfect reminder of that messy reality. That was a REALLY close game that easily could have gone either way, and I'm glad that whatever the content generators looking for attention will say, Ant at least seemed to focus on what he needs to learn from the game going forward.

Adjustments?
My question is, what takeaways would you guys draw from this game that could lead to effective adjustments or approaches for game 2?

We shouldn't overlearn a lesson from one game, but coaching decisions seem to have such a big impact on these playoff series.

Blocking Wemby from Blocking Shots?
One thing I noticed that may have been a mid-game adjustment was that in the second half on offense, I feel like I saw Randle and McDaniels essentially trying to box out or even face-block Wembanyama to clear driving lanes for TJ. I'm not exactly sure where the line is where that becomes a foul, but it definitely seemed to work a couple of times. To what extent could/should that be built in as a strategy?

TJ's continued Ant impression?
I was a little surprised that we kind of kept using TJ as the "lead guard" bringing the ball up the court and initiating the offense like we did against Denver, given that we had Ant back and were facing the better guards that San Antonio has. But it seemed to work in terms of putting pressure on the rim. I wish he had enough court sense to have picked up a couple more assists off those drives, but with Ant diminished athletically and Ayo still out, I thought that worked ok for us. Overall, it's nice to have his athleticism on the floor. Do you guys see him continuing to play that initiator role going forward?

Sitting Rudy to stretch the floor?
It seemed like we went with this a bit in the second half to try to pull Wemby away from the basket. Do we have enough outside shooting to make this a real threat though? If we get Ayo back, or if Conley keeps shooting like this, I feel better about this approach. At the same time, I would expect San Antonio to counter with a zone to keep Wembanyama near the basket, so I wonder how that would play out?

What do you think about those? What other approaches or adjustments do you guys imagine, and how do you see those playing out?

I'm getting interested in the strategy behind these series.

[Q-is-here]

Drew! I was wondering when you'd make your quarterly cameo, LOL. Stick around once in a while, will you? You have well thought out opinions and analysis.

On Wemby - I'm sure Finch and his staff spent a TON of time trying to figure out ways to mitigate Wemby's impact on defense, including the "seal-him-off" approach you mention. Game 1 was an unquestionable coaching triumph, despite his record-setting 12 blocks. Look at what he did on the other side of the ball (11 measly points on 17 shots and 3 TOs). He was downright terrible offensively and part of that has to do with how much work we made him do defensively.

Also, do you know how many times Wemby has played 40 minutes this season? The answer is once and that was last night! This is the Jokic strategy all over again, but just in a different way. Make him defend. Push him around. Make him work for everything. Make him play big minutes. The goal is to just keep wearing him down so that his legs are tired late in games and late in the series.

On TJ - Yes, I see him continuing to play that initiator role (at least part of the time), even as Ant recovers and (hopefully) Ayo getting back. He actually made a couple of other nice passes, but they resulted in fouls on the guy he passed it to, so he didn't get credited with an assist. Besides the fact he's the most explosive athlete on the floor, he's also one of our most suspect shooters, so we're probably better off with him trying to break the paint off the bounce. Ayo, Ant, and Conley are all very good catch-and-shoot 3-point shooters, so to me this is about taking advantage of everyone's strengths. Glad Finch has finally come around to this on TJ!

On Sitting Rudy - Yeah, San Antonio has probably seen every trick in the book used to pull Wemby out of the paint, so they have schemed ways for him to stay near the basket even in a 5-out strategy. Plus he covers so much ground that he can literally be in position to contest a corner 3 AND still be able to get to the rim to block a shot. It's crazy. I think it goes back to my first point of just trying to make him work hard on that end and take our lumps in the process.

[Monster]

Every 3 pointer I saw Wemby take I was like that's totally fine. I think everyone of them were at least contested. I know Wemby is tall but still I'll live with him taking those kind of shots. Wide open 3's? No but off the dribble contested 3's? That's fine.

The difference between Wemby and when Kornet is in there is night and day and Kornet is a good backup. Thinking about more...how good are the Spurs defenders or are they relying on those bigs cleaning things up?

[Coolbreeze44]

With Rudy in the game Wemby really doesn't have to guard anyone, making him free to roam the paint swatting away anything near him. But there is a tradeoff because Rudy is one of a few guys who has the length and strength to truly bother Wemby on the other end. Finchy will need to make good decisions on when the best time is to deploy Rudy during the Wemby minutes. It will be fascinating to watch.

[Monster]

With Rudy in the game Wemby really doesn't have to guard anyone, making him free to roam the paint swatting away anything near him. But there is a tradeoff because Rudy is one of a few guys who has the length and strength to truly bother Wemby on the other end. Finchy will need to make good decisions on when the best time is to deploy Rudy during the Wemby minutes. It will be fascinating to watch.

Rudy was pretty good in this game which continues the theme from last series.

Another consideration is Randle having to deal with Wemby coming over to help on him or around the basket. Without Wemby around to help I think Randle could give the Spurs some problems because they don't have a lot of size to deal with him. I mean how many of Randle's shots in this game were blocked by Wemby?

[rapsuperstar31]

With Rudy in the game Wemby really doesn't have to guard anyone, making him free to roam the paint swatting away anything near him. But there is a tradeoff because Rudy is one of a few guys who has the length and strength to truly bother Wemby on the other end. Finchy will need to make good decisions on when the best time is to deploy Rudy during the Wemby minutes. It will be fascinating to watch.

Yeah I think it's just about giving Wemby different looks. Let Wemby wear himself out trying to block everything while Rudy keeps bumping him and taking energy out of him. In the 4th quarter go more Randle and Naz, and keep screening Wemby as players drive to the basket.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wemby off the floor? Get to the rack as much as possible.

Wemby on, Rudy on? Let's set picks for Jaden to step into the midrange, which feels like a high percentage shot. Maybe we could also time it so that Rudy sets a face-block on Wemby just after the pick to spring Jaden to make sure Wemby can't step in and challenge Jaden's jumper.

Wemby on, Rudy off? Space the floor with shooters, drive, kick when Wemby commits, and let it fly from 3 when we're open.

Feels like that's the best approach in all those scenarios.

[FNG]

Good thread, guys.

Jaden is not the most eloquent interview in the NBA, but I liked what he said about approaching Wemby: pretend like he's not there. Seems foolish on first blush, especially against a guy who set an NBA record for most blocks in a playoff game. But I think going at Wemby relentlessly wears him out...he's not Rudy, who bever seems to tire. In contrast every Spur seemed to always know Rudy was there, even Wemby. So many never minds, and a never mind is almost as good as a block.

And yes, let TJ or Mike continue to originate the offense...anything to keep Ju and Ant off ball.

And finally, I threw out a few possible ways the Wolves could go defensively, but none of my options had Mike on Champagnie...but that's what Finchie went with, and it worked. Julian is a catch and shoot guy, and Mike is good at close outs. One of many reasons Finchie is coaching this team and I'm not.

[Q-is-here]

Wemby off the floor? Get to the rack as much as possible.

Wemby on, Rudy on? Let's set picks for Jaden to step into the midrange, which feels like a high percentage shot. Maybe we could also time it so that Rudy sets a face-block on Wemby just after the pick to spring Jaden to make sure Wemby can't step in and challenge Jaden's jumper.

Wemby on, Rudy off? Space the floor with shooters, drive, kick when Wemby commits, and let it fly from 3 when we're open.

Feels like that's the best approach in all those scenarios.

I've been doing a bit of the podcast tour and it sounds like the Spurs usually don't like to leave Wemby on an island even though he's obviously still an elite rim protector. While a lot of the national NBA media is breathlessly fawning over his 12 blocks, the reality is we still got a lot of paint points. That tells me that the Spurs may commit more bodies to cutting off driving lanes so it doesn't fall 100% on Wemby, which should lead to more open looks from 3.

With DDV out for the playoffs and Ayo questionable, it makes all the more sense to have Ant off the ball and spacing the floor since he is the best shooter on the team.

Drew, One possible combination you didn't contemplate above is a Wemby-Kornet frontcourt pairing for the Spurs. It's something their coach staff might be pondering. They rarely do it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they try it against our "super-sized" lineup.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Damn, I didn't even think about a combo of Wemby and Kornet, but we should be ready for that. I'm not exactly sure how, but I imagine putting Rudy on Luke and Randle on Wembanyama defensively should help. I feel like if they do that, there's an advantage we could gain, but I can't quite think of what it might be right now. I hope our coaches are ready for that, as well as for some more zone defense.

Defensively, I'm starting to think more and more that Randle is kind of the perfect defender against Wemby, at least in key moments. He did this earlier in the year, and he showed it again in game 1, but Randle is just so thick and strong and able to basically prevent Wemby from getting to his spots. Plus, offensively, I think Randle's court sense to basically face-block Victor to create driving lanes is a huge opportunity to for us to neutralize his shot-blocking. So whether Rudy's out there with him or not, I'm actually feeling kinda good about what Randle can give us in defending Wemby.

We should be careful not to overreact to whatever happens tonight, whether we win or not (unless it's a serious blowout, either way).