Bad move with TD

[Josepatches_]

Yes,this time Pop was dumb

Put TD in when we are down by +12 in the second quarter if you were trying to limit his minutes don't have sense. Now He will have to play 30 minutes at 100% without rest if we want to have a chance to win or he will play 15 minutes for nothing,Only to down his scoring and rebounding average.

At the end he would be less tired if he had started the game.Really bad move.Sit him all the game but not start him from the bench.

We can win the game but TD will have to work a lot of more.

[alchemist]

Definitely a bad move, he's the one that has to live with the choice though.

[Texas_Ranger]

Pathetic move.

[pjjrfan]

I understand you want to rest Duncan, but why sit Blair along with him and really disrupt the starting lineup, the bench, the team's rhythem, you name it, there's not a single facet that pop didn't screw up with this brilliant move.

[Spurs Brazil]

That was a pathetic move by Pop

Rest him the whole game or play him his normal minutes

[z0sa]

Agreed. Either hold him out completely, or play him normally.


And, back 2 back nights with scoring droughts. Eventually, one must realize and accept that this team should not have trouble offensively, only defensively. Offensively we should be among the best teams in the L, night in and night out. We should literally never have scoring droughts. Such droughts can be caused by a lack of focus when they occur so often, especially considering out of timeouts we're unbelievable.

Where does the blame lie?

[Tp9gospursgo]

at least put him in with Manu...not rest him the whole 1st quarter

[SpursRulez4eVeR]

RJ is supposed to be the go to man on situation like this...but look at his stat :(

[StoneBuddha]

Very, very strange. Can't wait to hear Pop's post game comments and hear his rationale. Hopefully, they at least claw back and get the win. We may get a vintage prickly Pop.

[DAF86]

Pop wants to inflate our bench stats.

[Spurs Brazil]

Pop saw his mistake and started Blair/TD in the 2nd half

Maybe it's already too late

DAMN Pop

[Spurs Brazil]

This one is 100% on Pop

Raptors sucks

If he played the normal rotation this game would be over in the 3rd

Now we got a L and no rest fot TD

Great job Pop :bang

Normal rotation in the 2nd half

Spurs - 52
Raptors - 43

Really good job tonight Pop, really good

[benefactor]

Agreed...if Duncan is going to play close to regular minutes anyway I don't see the point in not starting him.

[TIMMYD!]

Fuck off. Pop won 4 rings for the Spurs, don't question him.

He can be questioned when he fucks shit up.

[alchemist]

He can be questioned when he fucks shit up.
sarcasm bro :lol

[ajballer4]

Horrible play calls at the end too. Duncan wasnt making anything or any free throws

[beachwood]

This has got to be one of the dumbest moves Pop has made in a long long time. Horrible decision to mess with the lineup when the team is trying to find consistency.

[Spursfan 87]

That was a pathetic move by Pop

Rest him the whole game or play him his normal minutes



:tu:tu:tu

[TJastal]

It looked like Duncan was pissed about not playing tonight too.

[SCdac]

I'm not gonna read into this too much because I doubt it happens again... But a move like this sort of craps on the "it's who finishes the game that matters" notion to me. Who starts the game very much matters. No Ginobili till the 6 minutes mark in the first, and no Duncan till a few minutes into the second, isn't a recipe for success.

[Yogurt210]

indeed very stupid. Timmy is healthy. Why is pop's acting like he is mr.glass?
Is he that scared of losing ppl come playoff time!?

Get over it POPs, You cannot prevent injuries. PLay your players like they are getting paid. If it is meant for them to get injured, they will get injured.

Who knows, Pop's is fucking retarded.

[mexicanjunior]

It looked like Duncan was pissed about not playing tonight too.

He should be pissed about tanking all those 3 free throws at the end and pretty much blowing any chance to win.

[gm5k]

wow I usually think it's stupid for Spurs fans to question a lot of Pop's decisions, but this one does seem incredibly stupid :bang

[BadOne]

What ticks me off the most about this is that the Mavs face the Lakers tonight. I know nothing is promised, but if the Mavs lose, the Spurs [once again] fail to take advantage of them losing and gaining ground in the division.

Pop is losing his marbles...:dizzy

Also, with all the shots not falling tonight, I think we missed Bonner tonight. Too bad he's still injured.

[BadOne]

He should be pissed about tanking all those 3 free throws at the end and pretty much blowing any chance to win.

I agree, but we all know that's never been a strength of his. Most bigs for that matter.

The point guard, on the other hand...

[HarlemHeat37]

It was a poor decision that left the team and Duncan himself out of rhythm..

Duncan had a bad game..

it happens, bad loss, get over it..doesn't mean anything in the overall outlook..

[boutons_deux]

The high percentage of FTs that Tim has been shooting this season, including 5 of 6 in this game outside of the those 3 misses in crunch time, tells me that Tim just choked.

iow, expectations were that he'd make them.

If he were 2 of 6, then missed 3 in crunch time, no expectations, so no choke.

[sa_kid20]

It was a poor decision that left the team and Duncan himself out of rhythm..

Duncan had a bad game..

it happens, bad loss, get over it..doesn't mean anything in the overall outlook..

+1

and with all that being said, if we shoot a decent ft% we probably win the game anyway.

[VivaPopovich]

Pop is taking this "resting" thing too far. Just like the Colts "resting" Peyton Manning but still playing him an entire half.

In the end you end up not resting them and totally destroying team morale.

Phil Jackson doesn't rest Kobe because playing him boosts his morale which is what you need first mentally before performing well physically.

[Josepatches_]

If we want to rest him then sit him all the game.
We need TD to win most of the games.Tonight we were down by 12 when he cames in.
So it's stupid put him on the court if you are trying to limit his minutes when you are in that situation.

It was a very bad decision.If you put him when the game is pretty difficult for us he will have to made a bigger effort while if the game is easy for us he doesn't have to play.Do what you do it's a mistake if he plays off the bench when you are trying to limit his minutes.Sit him all the game.

[loveforthegame]

Not sure why Pop did this. He said he would rest the older guys on b2b nights. Maybe with Bonner out he didn't feel they could win with just Blair, Ratliff, and McDyess up front? Not saying Bonner would have won the game for us by any means but it would allow Pop not to be tempted to throw Duncan out there.

Also disappointing is that Hairston couldn't get some minutes with Ginobli not feeling well.

[Shastafarian]

Fabbs is looking at this thread, masturbating furiously.

[ffadicted]

Tim did choke, you could see it in his face. He had a terrible game for his standards from the field, and he was out of rhythm. Doesn't change the fact that him and tony are the only ones that actually tried doing anything tonight. Last two games havn't been great basketball, I'm looking for the spurs to pick up the pieces with this time off, and come back strong against the Pistons.

Let's see what happens

[Agloco]

The high percentage of FTs that Tim has been shooting this season, including 5 of 6 in this game outside of the those 3 misses in crunch time, tells me that Tim just choked.

iow, expectations were that he'd make them.

If he were 2 of 6, then missed 3 in crunch time, no expectations, so no choke.

This. And that's not on Pop. Make some fucking free throws Timmy.

[thOOdee]

you will have ups and downs on offense, wasn't timmy's best game but that is not the overall problem. the big thing is "THE TWIN TOWERS". you have rj and timmy gaurding two 7 footers!....defense is key and this just won't due. imagine if we play the lakers. you think rj and timmy can match pau and bynum. highly unlikely

[pjjrfan]

It was a poor decision that left the team and Duncan himself out of rhythm..

Duncan had a bad game..

it happens, bad loss, get over it..doesn't mean anything in the overall outlook..
It would be alright if this team had shown some consistency in it's game, but it really hasn't. And this past week they were finally showing some signs of life and really coming together. Guys just didn't play right, from the get go, and McDyess just looked like he didn't want to be out there. They got jerked around by the coach. Go figure.

[Dunc n Dave]

I'm not one to usually question Pop's moves, but...

Duncan off the bench = EPIC FAIL

I've never seen Timmy so out of rhythm.

First shot...air ball...
Second shot... short off front of rim...
Can't hit his free throws (like the Timmy of the last 3-4 years)

He comes in down 12 and they immediately go to him in the low block, ice cold. Talk about having the pressure of carrying the team out of a huge hole? Sheesh, Pop!

[hsxvvd]

I'm pretty sure Holt ain't paying the luxury tax so that Pop can try and lose games.

He has clearly reached a point in his career where he is overrating his own ability.

[Blackjack]

Definitely not one of Pop's finer moments..

The limiting of minutes or even holding out of Tim on the second night of a back-to-back, at the end of a six-game-in-nine-day stretch, is completely understandable. Deciding to have him come off the bench after 30+min.'s of real time had elapsed and throwing him into the fire with the team down 12, when everyone else on the court was warm and up to speed, was just mind-boggling: You're going to throw Tim in cold and expect him, at this age, to just go about business as usual? Really? Yeah, you're going to get an air-balled jump hook, the turning down of shots that kill the flow of an offense, and a guy like Bosh (whose balls usually retreat up into his lower intestine in Tim's presence) going at him immediately to take advantage of him when the circumstance is favorable; I can't remember ever seeing Bosh being so eager to get a shot up on Tim. Fortunately, as usual, it didn't last long.

If Pop would have decided to bring Tim in at the start of the third, after a good halftime warm-up where all the players would be on pretty equal footing, I wouldn't have had as much a problem with the decision. You could play Tim 18-22 of the 24min.'s left in the game and it would've allowed Tim and the team to find a better flow; you at least wouldn't have Tim trying to get up to speed and find his rhythm by forcing the action and not having the game come to him; I wouldn't be shocked if the missed free-throws were partially due to him just being a little thrown off and out of sorts from the position Pop put him in.

This one's on Pop.

(Oh, and Hell's officially frozen over; at least it must have after Bosh actually scored a meaningful bucket on Tim..)

[Chomag]

It's not about who starts it's about who finishes. Isn't that what many of you have said anyway? =P

[Xevious]

What's the point of Pop bringing Tim off the bench to play 30 minutes? That was dumb. If you're going to rest Tim, let him rest. Instead he sticks him in the game to play catch-up.

[Danny.Zhu]

Agreed.

[TD 21]

I didn't like the move either. Pop tried to have his cake and eat it too, when really he should have decided one way or the other beforehand. Either don't play Duncan at all regardless of how the game is going, or start him but don't under any circumstance play him more than 30 minutes. As it is, he played 29, but he looked dead-legged and weary throughout, missing chippies (or bunnies, whichever you prefer), which is always a sign that Duncan is fatigued. As always, he played his heart out, but alas it wasn't enough.

McDyess has to start playing more minutes. The Spurs can't be this reliant on Duncan + smalls to win every game; they need more from the front line. Bonner is out, Blair is performing and Haislip and Mahinmi don't play, so it comes down to McDyess and Ratliff. A game like this, McDyess should have played roughly 25 minutes and Ratliff roughly 15-20.

[Baseline]

I could write ten pages on this subject, but it all equals this...

Pop. Moron.

[Ice009]

Pop is taking this "resting" thing too far. Just like the Colts "resting" Peyton Manning but still playing him an entire half.

In the end you end up not resting them and totally destroying team morale.

Phil Jackson doesn't rest Kobe because playing him boosts his morale which is what you need first mentally before performing well physically.

I'll go a point further if you remember game 2 of the 2003 WCSF series Spurs Vs Lakers Bruce Bowen outplayed Kobe and was dropping threes from all over the court and had shut down Kobe and outscored him, but with the Lakers down 30 Phil had Kobe out there to save face and he scored some more in the end to finish with a better game that if Phil would have sat him.

Pop the last two seasons has become the master of destroying his team's morale.

He took it a step further last season with the outright quitting on games. I've never seen the Spurs make any decent comeback wins in the last season and a half.

btw I just finished watching the game 10 minutes ago and was wondering what is going on when TD was not starting. Really stupid stuff from Pop.

[TJastal]

I'll go a point further if you remember game 2 of the 2003 WCSF series Spurs Vs Lakers Bruce Bowen outplayed Kobe and was dropping threes from all over the court and had shut down Kobe and outscored him, but with the Lakers down 30 Phil had Kobe out there to save face and he scored some more in the end to finish with a better game that if Phil would have sat him.

Pop the last two seasons has become the master of destroying his team's morale.

He took it a step further last season with the outright quitting on games. I've never seen the Spurs make any decent comeback wins in the last season and a half.

btw I just finished watching the game 10 minutes ago and was wondering what is going on when TD was not starting. Really stupid stuff from Pop.

+1

And a look at the schedule shows the nets coming up in a week. At home no less. You wanna rest someone Pop? There's your rest game, moron.

[TJastal]

This. And that's not on Pop. Make some fucking free throws Timmy.

Popalogist Agloco to the rescue!

[cherylsteele]

He should be pissed about tanking all those 3 free throws at the end and pretty much blowing any chance to win.
He should also be pissed about missing a number of easy shots in the lane as well. Pop could have limited is minutes, as though Tim was in foul trouble or something, that would not have messed with the chemistry, even then the Spurs had plenty of chances.

[Zero_Twilight]

Yep, pretty bad move to put TD in after a long stretch.

I'd rather the Spurs get blown out and learn a lesson in humility and appreciation for TD. Instead TD was sent in to salvage the game, which he did but was clearly frustrated.

I'm at home watching the game and I hated watching TD like that especially near the end during the freethrows. Imagine how bad that must be to be in the same locker room as him. You can't really say anything.

Merry Christmas Toronto.....

[SPURSGOAT]

We would have won if Duncan had played his normal starting minutes...His coming off the bench messed up the whole flow; really showed in the last couple of minutes with the mistakes we made; was a very winnable game.

[TJastal]

We would have won if Duncan had played his normal starting minutes...His coming off the bench messed up the whole flow; really showed in the last couple of minutes with the mistakes we made; was a very winnable game.

+1

Exactly, this was a really stupid move that backfired and affected the team in an extremely negative way. Essentially it ruined all the good chemistry the team had developed up to this point. I don't know if the team will recover, it was a serious blow to team morale. I wouldn't be surprised to see the spurs not ever regain that swagger and confidence they had been enjoying this season.

Moral of the story for Coach Pop? It's good to rest your veteran key players but do it by keeping their minutes reasonably low (which you had been doing a great job all season so far), not by trying to give them nights off against
red-hot teams at their buildings with the full intention of bringing said key players back in if things go terribly wrong.

[Brazil]

I'd prefer the famous make your efforts at the beginning, try to win the game early and bench everybody in the fourth

[anonoftheinternets]

actually everyone is missing the important point tat for all our off season acquisitions we are still ridiculously dependent on Duncan. I mean, I can understand spurs go as far as he carries us in the PO. But cmon regular season against raps? I think mcdyess/RJ should have been able to spell DUN if not the entire thing.

[anonoftheinternets]

in fact id go so far as to say duncans superlative play has resulted in camouflaging our real struggles to find consistent performances from any other player not named Timmay.

[TJastal]

actually everyone is missing the important point tat for all our off season acquisitions we are still ridiculously dependent on Duncan. I mean, I can understand spurs go as far as he carries us in the PO. But cmon regular season against raps? I think mcdyess/RJ should have been able to spell DUN if not the entire thing.

Are other clubs giving their 30+ superstars nights off? Don't see Nash getting a day off for "rest". Dirk Nowitski, nope. Kobe? No. Billups? No. Never heard of any player getting a night off until now.

And only a fool would look past the raptors. They are in 2nd place in the eastern conf and are 7-3 in the last 10. So obviously they are not a team to be taken lightly.

[TJastal]

And like I said before, it was foolish of Pop to put Ratliff and McDyess in together, two guys who are new to the spurs system and only seem to know the high pick and roll so far.

The much better strategy would have been to go small ball with 1 big + Jefferson as the PF. Jefferson could have guarded Bargnani out on the perimeter just fine. Offense would have flowed much smoother with Money Mason or Manu in there.

Funny that Pop loves to use his small-ball lineups all year long in unfavorable circumstances but then when they do favor it he stubbornly refuses to do so.

[wijayas]

RJ is supposed to be the go to man on situation like this...but look at his stat :(

Maybe it is time to concede that SPurs' RJ experience is a failure, very much like Pop's moving TD to the bench.

[BOHOLANO#21]

i was pissed too! fuckin popovich just think all he does is right. that fucker...

[BOHOLANO#21]

I'd prefer the famous make your efforts at the beginning, try to win the game early and bench everybody in the fourth
popovich bet on the raptors that night!

[hsxvvd]

Jefferson's 37 minutes for 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Fuck the scoring, those are Eddy Curry numbers... lazy fuck.

[TJastal]

Pop gambled and was wanting to give Duncan a full night off. Both teams on a b2b and Pop thought the Spurs were going to take this one. He craped out and played Duncan for the win and lost. He lost in resting Duncan and he lost the game.

Dumb gamble, he should have know the raptors would be tough as nails at home and riding a hot streak.

Even dumber when you consider in exactly one week the spurs will play the worst team in the NBA in their own comfortable confines of the AT&T center.
That would have been the night to give TD off, as its a much safer bet to snag a victory without him and it also gives him a solid 4 day rest before the lakers.

[superbigtime]

Best example that POP JUST DOESN'T GET IT. HE'S SO FUCKING STUPID.

[cherylsteele]

And like I said before, it was foolish of Pop to put Ratliff and McDyess in together, two guys who are new to the spurs system and only seem to know the high pick and roll so far.

The much better strategy would have been to go small ball with 1 big + Jefferson as the PF. Jefferson could have guarded Bargnani out on the perimeter just fine. Offense would have flowed much smoother with Money Mason or Manu in there.

Funny that Pop loves to use his small-ball lineups all year long in unfavorable circumstances but then when they do favor it he stubbornly refuses to do so.
Actually, when heard he was doing that I thought it would work, but for whatever reason, it did not. I am not sure if it was a chemistry issue, they haven't played together much, or what it was.

Theo is best used in a role similar to Kevin Willis when he was here.

[ploto]

I feel certain that Pop thought the Spurs did not need Duncan to beat the Raptors and thought he could rest him the whole game. Raptors felt disrespected and responded as they did.

[polandprzem]

I feel certain that Pop thought the Spurs did not need Duncan to beat the Raptors and thought he could rest him the whole game. Raptors felt disrespected and responded as they did.

I say nope

If Pop wanted to give Tim day off he would. Not making a decision during game. You will play or not.