An Obvious Absence From Tonight's Successful Rotation....

[VI_Massive]

Mr. Michael Finley!

And surprise, surprise, the Spurs seemed athletic, quick, aggressive, defensively-minded, insert positive adjective here.

Any chance Pop notices the correlation and works to distance himself from long-time love Michael Finley?

[EricB]

Uh, his minutes started decreasing against Toronto..

[ulosturedge]

I hope so. I was like a kid in a candy store when I saw the starting lineup tonight.

[peskypesky]

Mike, thank you for your contributions in the past. now keep that bench warm.

[Whisky Dog]

Uh, his minutes started decreasing against Toronto..

Well, well just so happens to be another game they won. I'm sensing a trend...

Bench Finley!!!!

[VI_Massive]

Well, well just so happens to be another game they won. I'm sensing a trend...

Bench Finley!!!!

His minutes have been at about 15 per each game of the season except tonight's. I hope Pop is willing to keep his minutes low if the results stay positive.

[rayray2k8]

His minutes and Bonner's have started to go down.

[Mr. Body]

Finley and Bonner are great guys to bring off the bench. Bonner can be a nice rotation guy, but too weak and erratic to depend on against a starting set. Plug him in against benches and see if he's 'on' or not.

Same with Finley. If the regular guys aren't hitting their shots, try him out. Otherwise, he's no longer needed.

[VI_Massive]

Finley and Bonner are great guys to bring off the bench. Bonner can be a nice rotation guy, but too weak and erratic to depend on against a starting set. Plug him in against benches and see if he's 'on' or not.

Same with Finley. If the regular guys aren't hitting their shots, try him out. Otherwise, he's no longer needed.

I think Bonner is good to bring off the bench for the reasons mentioned above -- he brings good shooting from a big and is competent enough on D to play against other team's bench bigs.

I disagree on Finley. I really thinks he hurts more than he helps. His good nights are few and far between and are always on offense. He kills the Spurs on defense. I really think he should be severely limited or even eliminated from the rotation.

[Mr. Body]

I agree. I mean to say Finley shouldn't really be a rotation guy, but Bonner looks like he can contribute.

[FromWayDowntown]

Oh noes! What is Fabbs going to bitch about now!?!?!?

[Spursfan092120]

The Finley hate in here is at work again...you guys do know he's shooting 48% and 54% from the arc, right? And when he was in the game for those 7 minutes, guarding Dirk, Dirk didn't get shit.

[sabar]

Oh noes! What is Fabbs going to bitch about now!?!?!?

Don't worry, Pop is still the coach!

[The Truth #6]

I would say Finley played an appropriate amount of minutes. He came and in competed for a bit, took a few shots, gave some rest to the other wings, and didn't do anything too bad. I can live with that. I'd like to see what Hairston could do in a similar number of minutes at some point. I'd like for them to trade off games as the last wing so that Hairston is still involved in the action and Finley gets time to rest in case he ends up playing more later (not that I'm advocating that.)

I like this rotation we saw tonight. Great intensity on defense. That was a joy to watch.

[Flux451]

He is a good guy to have just in case no one is hitting anything.

[TDMVPDPOY]

finley needs to stfu and sit the fuck down and accept the beno udrih victory cigar role....

[Cry Havoc]

Finley is just there to eat minutes to save wear and tear on our other players. He's still a good shooter, so he's far from worthless.

[Dre_7]

I love Fin Dogg, but he is at the point in his career where he needs to be getting only 10-15 mins a night.

[Austin_Toros]

less than 7 mins for Fin against the Mavs. Hopefully this sticks.

[Seventyniner]

I love Fin Dogg, but he is at the point in his career where he needs to be getting only 10-15 mins a night.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=242

Finley is currently averaging 16.7 mpg for the season, and 13.6 mpg for the last five games. For all the people crying about too many minutes for Finley, stop. His minutes are already low, and they won't go much lower than this. I think it's a happy medium.

[coyotes_geek]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=242

Finley is currently averaging 16.7 mpg for the season, and 13.6 mpg for the last five games. For all the people crying about too many minutes for Finley, stop. His minutes are already low, and they won't go much lower than this. I think it's a happy medium.

Exactly. The Spurs still need shooters and so far Finley has been the most consistent one on the team. He'll continue to get minutes. Finley only got 6 minutes last night because Bogans was on fire.

[all_heart]

So let's say Bogans is the real deal and eats away at Finley's minutes from here on out. The big question to me is how will Finley respond over the long term? Will he be ready when called upon or will he suddenly show his age and be done?

[coyotes_geek]

I don't see reduce minutes affecting Finley's productivity much. If anything, it might actually help him by keeping him fresh.

[SA210]

Thank God!

[quentin_compson]

Good sign that Pop didn't feel the need to play Fin a lot. But there will be games when his reliable shooting will be needed again.

[Agloco]

So let's say Bogans is the real deal and eats away at Finley's minutes from here on out. The big question to me is how will Finley respond over the long term? Will he be ready when called upon or will he suddenly show his age and be done?

Those of you counting on Bogans to duplicate his performance from last night on a consistent basis are going to be sorely disappointed.

He's a solid defender, but the offense he gave us last night was all gravy.

[SpurNation]

Those of you counting on Bogans to duplicate his performance from last night on a consistent basis are going to be sorely disappointed.

He's a solid defender, but the offense he gave us last night was all gravy.

Bingo.

What I don't get is some wanting to discard the players we have. We have built a team with players that can at any moment contribute positively when called upon. That's a great problem to have. Finley, Mason, Bogans are exceptional role players that can be utelized when someone else is having a bad game or one doesn't match well against the team we're playing.

[thispego]

The Finley hate in here is at work again...you guys do know he's shooting 48% and 54% from the arc, right? And when he was in the game for those 7 minutes, guarding Dirk, Dirk didn't get shit.

NO, they dont realize that because they are all short sighted andf they dont have the ability to see the positive in light of the negative

[benefactor]

Finley should get minutes on a "test the waters" basis. There will be nights when he is on and can help with his shooting and aggressive play...and there will be many other nights when he is not. I think we saw some of this last night. He was put in and was not being productive, so he was replaced with someone who was. Hopefully this trend continues.

[FromWayDowntown]

Bingo.

What I don't get is some wanting to discard the players we have. We have built a team with players that can at any moment contribute positively when called upon. That's a great problem to have. Finley, Mason, Bogans are exceptional role players that can be utelized when someone else is having a bad game or one doesn't match well against the team we're playing.

I thought Bogans brought the Spurs a really good effort on the defensive end last night, particularly against Josh Howard early in the game. Given the Spurs struggles down through the years to deal with Josh Howard -- particularly last spring, when Howard was pretty much the difference in the series -- it was encouraging to see someone in a Spurs uniform who could pester him relentlessly and make him work for all that he got. I understand that Howard is still limited -- and I understand that Bruce Bowen was capable of doing the same (though mostly asked to defend other threats). But Bogans' effort last night was great.

[loveforthegame]

Finley is a professional. I don't see him slacking off because his minutes are down. His shooting percentages are up despite his shot attempts being down.

I think the limited minutes will help him stay fresh into the playoffs.

[TJastal]

NO, they dont realize that because they are all short sighted andf they dont have the ability to see the positive in light of the negative

Fail.

There is/was no positives in Bonner and Finley playing starting roles and logging 20-30 minutes a night. Not sure what you expected everyone to see in that but it wasn't working. They are in their proper roles now, as bench players that will come in on an "as needed" basis and get anywhere from 10-20 minutes a night.

[TJastal]

Well in Finley's case hopefully 0-10 minutes a night depending on whether Mason gets his shooting touch back.