A week that started on a high note and ended with a guessable loss to the defending champs. Such a bummer not to have gotten the win against the Spurs to lock down the NBA Cup West Group C win, but it’s a significant step in the right direction. You have to think we win that game if Jrue is out there and healthy. But the bigger picture is that we are not making our free throws. We missed 27 of them this week. You shouldn’t miss that many over the course of 10 games, let alone three games. Tiago needs to have a heart-to-heart with the team on this because it’s going to bite us in the ass when games get tight later in the season. Next week we’re away from Portland and need to pick up some wins as we’ll be back home for the back end of December. This team is not healthy, and it’s showing. Hopefully, once Jrue is back, it’ll help re-identify our defense. Then, when Scoot returns, the offense will click.
Game #18 - 11/24 @ Milwaukee (115-103 W)
No Giannis, no problem. Taking care of Milwaukee seems to be a trend as of late. Since the jaw-dropping Dame trade, Portland is 4-1 against the Bucks. Giannis and Dame played in four of those games, losing three to Portland, so it wasn’t a “getting them on an off-night”. But tonight we didn’t see Giannis, but we did get a season-high from Jerami, scoring 35 points while going 16/19 from the free-throw line. He has started to make the most of his starts by getting up more shots and taking a bit more of the offensive load with Deni, especially with Shaedon still injured. This was one of our better 3-point shooting efforts, making 18/43 from deep. Seeing Deni, Jerami, and Toumani making multiple threes is big. We need all of them to be making 3+ from three-point. Since we’re (supposedly) so focused on the defensive end, if we’re able to limit the number of possessions from the other team and shoot well from three, it’ll give us a much greater chance to win games. But we do need to step it up from the free-throw line. Missing eight shots is unacceptable. It’s a free shot. It’s even in the name! All that to say, this was an excellent performance from an understaffed squad against a team missing its best player. This is precisely the result that should have happened, and hopefully it’s a good omen for a big game against San Antonio.
Game #19 - 11/26 vs San Antonio (115-102 L) NBA Cup Game
A very competitive game turned sour at the end with De’Aaron Fox scoring 37 points and eliminating us from the NBA Cup playoffs. Deni matched Fox, but we didn’t get enough from the rest of the team to compete late. You have an incredibly low chance of winning games when your last shot from the floor is made with 4 minutes left in the game. That is absolutely brutal to watch. The Spurs took the lead early in the second half and figured out how not to give it up for the rest of the game. We have not been the same on defense as we were in the first few weeks of the season. Tonight we forced nine turnovers. That is the opposite of this team's identity. Yes, we’re missing people like Jrue and Matisse, but that shouldn't be an excuse for guys like Toumani and Clingan not to be still relevant on the defensive end. On top of that, we missed 11 free throws. That’s 19 free throws over the last two games. Something needs to change. We cannot have guys missing this many uncontested shots that you can practice every day, especially someone like Deni, who takes 9+ free throws a game. As much as it would’ve been incredible to win this game and secure a spot on the NBA Cup playoffs, it was definitely a bit of a fever dream with the state of the roster. It would have naturally figured itself out with Jrue and Shaedon coming back to full health soon, but overall, it's the same as the last two seasons: winning game one and flaming out fast.
Game #20 - 11/30 vs Oklahoma City (123-115 L)
In a shocking turn of events, this game was actually close from start to finish. Deni, once again, led the way with 31 points, 19 rebounds, and 10 assists, notching his second triple-double of the season. He is only out-triple-doubled by Jokić, which one can assume he’ll lead that category this season. But the Thunder finally have a fully healthy roster and look like they really won’t lose another game the rest of the season. They are so locked in on both ends of the court. If Chet Holmgren can start to figure out his offense a little bit more, then he and the Thunder will truly be unstoppable. Now they have Jalen Williams back, their perimeter defense will be even better, even though this game was much closer than it was 11 days ago. But, once again, we missed too many free throws. Deni getting to the line 23 times is a bit insane. SGA is one of the guys who has led the league in free-throw attempts over the last few seasons, and Deni is now 4th with an average of 9.3/game. But if we can start knocking more of them down, we should have a better chance in these close games, even if we had no business keeping it close against Oklahoma City.
Pinwheel of the Week
Deni’s back, back again. Deni’s back, tell a friend. This man is absolutely insane. I still cannot believe he gets to don the red-and-black pinwheel. His second triple-double, two 30-point performances, and a massive amount of free throws; this man is quickly becoming a one-person wrecking crew. He needs some support from the soon-to-be-back-injured guys, but he is on a crazy pace right now, and hopefully it continues throughout the rest of the season.
Record: 1-2 (8-12)
Week 7 Games: Tue 12/2 @ Toronto, Wed 12/3 @ Cleveland, Fri 12/5 @ Detroit, Sun 12/7 @ Memphis