roycrikside
01-25-2010, 05:08 PM
Spurs games have been disturbingly similar of late. The team plays so-so for the first six minutes, Ginobili comes off the bench and brings energy, creates a bunch of easy baskets for himself and others in the 2nd quarter, and the team is up at half time.
Then in the second half, they come out flat as the French Dribbling Machine That Is Tony Parker sucks all the air out of the arena and the offense has no ball movement, no rhythm, no nothing. It's pretty deflating for an offense when the best or 2nd best player of the first half is on the bench to start the 3rd quarter (and the last 20 or so games Manu is almost always the team's best or 2nd best player in the first half - it's pretty much undeniable).
By the time Manu checks into the 3rd quarter, the Spurs are once again trailing/reeling, the other team has all the momentum, only now they've made halftime adjustments to stop Manu, plus he's less fresh than he was to start the game. He's not as effective, especially in the 4th quarter, because he simply uses up too much of his energy rallying the team in the first half.
So here's my solution.
Reverse Tony and Manu's roles in the 2nd half.
Don't give the other team a chance to retake the momentum. Ensure that we start the 3rd quarter, with, if nothing else, at least some decent ball movement. This way RJ will be still be mentally engaged, as will Blair, Hill, etc. You need to give these guys shots on offense to keep them energetic and focused on defense.
Opposing coaches will be caught unprepared because they don't think Manu's going to be in until midway through the quarter, so their gameplans will have to be tweaked.
Then, with like six minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, after the opposing guards have worn down a little, we unleash a fresh Tony at them and he can drive right at the basket over and over again. They won't know what hit 'em.
At the very least we'll see Manu go into the 4th quarter rested instead of having played the last six minutes of the 3rd and spent.
I think if we do this, we can go into 4th quarters up 10+ points and give ourselves more of a shot to close out games. We've got to try something different because I'm tired of seeing us get our asses kicked every 3rd quarter.
It should at least give us a boost for a few games before people start scouting it and preparing for it.
Tell me this wouldn't work.
Then in the second half, they come out flat as the French Dribbling Machine That Is Tony Parker sucks all the air out of the arena and the offense has no ball movement, no rhythm, no nothing. It's pretty deflating for an offense when the best or 2nd best player of the first half is on the bench to start the 3rd quarter (and the last 20 or so games Manu is almost always the team's best or 2nd best player in the first half - it's pretty much undeniable).
By the time Manu checks into the 3rd quarter, the Spurs are once again trailing/reeling, the other team has all the momentum, only now they've made halftime adjustments to stop Manu, plus he's less fresh than he was to start the game. He's not as effective, especially in the 4th quarter, because he simply uses up too much of his energy rallying the team in the first half.
So here's my solution.
Reverse Tony and Manu's roles in the 2nd half.
Don't give the other team a chance to retake the momentum. Ensure that we start the 3rd quarter, with, if nothing else, at least some decent ball movement. This way RJ will be still be mentally engaged, as will Blair, Hill, etc. You need to give these guys shots on offense to keep them energetic and focused on defense.
Opposing coaches will be caught unprepared because they don't think Manu's going to be in until midway through the quarter, so their gameplans will have to be tweaked.
Then, with like six minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, after the opposing guards have worn down a little, we unleash a fresh Tony at them and he can drive right at the basket over and over again. They won't know what hit 'em.
At the very least we'll see Manu go into the 4th quarter rested instead of having played the last six minutes of the 3rd and spent.
I think if we do this, we can go into 4th quarters up 10+ points and give ourselves more of a shot to close out games. We've got to try something different because I'm tired of seeing us get our asses kicked every 3rd quarter.
It should at least give us a boost for a few games before people start scouting it and preparing for it.
Tell me this wouldn't work.