Pop to the fans who want the lakeshow in round 1

[in2deep]

"The ones that say 'We don't care who we play,' they're full of baloney too, because we're all trying to hide from the Lakers," Popovich said. "I mean, really. 'Who do you want to play in the first round?' 'Oh, the Lakers'. What an idiot."

:lol

[silverblk mystix]

I really hope that Pop is using REVERSE psychology to keep the lakers PRIMED for an upset---

but if not---

I know i stand the same way----FUCK the lakers---I STILL think that the lakers are MORE vulnerable in the EARLY rounds.

After a round or two---usually PJ and Kobe will probably be MORE focused and have ironed out all the idiot plays/mistakes by the rest of the scrubs...

but despite all this---and I respect Pop's honesty (sometimes)---

I think he is making a big mistake with this stance---hope the rest of the team secretly believes in themselves a little more---because otherwise---they are just taking a losing attitude against the lakers...

[afireinside20]

It is reverse psychology, trust me! Pop knows that a. it'll jinx the Lakers in a way cuz it'll boost they're overconfidence and b. some of the Spurs will take it as fuel to they're motivation to beat L.A. Year after year you can say whatever you want about a team that can beat the Lakers, like the Nuggets,Cleveland etc. But when it all comes down to it the Spurs are always the team that can threaten them the most. It don't matter what rank the Spurs are in, the Spurs know and especially the Lakers know that, it'll all mostly come down to they're battles against each other. These two teams are linked together through they're history, although not as much as LA and Boston. Good move by Pop to say that!!!

[TJastal]

It's more than Pop just using reverse psychology, there is actual truth to what he is saying.

Last thing the spurs want is to face the lakers in the opening round of the playoffs, and especially an angry laker team with a chip on its shoulder., so its def good that Pop was humble and respectful.

[jimo2305]

It's more than Pop just using reverse psychology, there is actual truth to what he is saying.

Last thing the spurs want is to face the lakers in the opening round of the playoffs, and especially an angry laker team with a chip on its shoulder., so its def good that Pop was humble and respectful.

agreed

[nkdlunch]

It's more than Pop just using reverse psychology, there is actual truth to what he is saying.

Last thing the spurs want is to face the lakers in the opening round of the playoffs, and especially an angry laker team with a chip on its shoulder., so its def good that Pop was humble and respectful.

thank you. You don't use reverse psychology vs. the champions. :rolleyes

[SAGambler]

It's more than Pop just using reverse psychology, there is actual truth to what he is saying.

Last thing the spurs want is to face the lakers in the opening round of the playoffs, and especially an angry laker team with a chip on its shoulder., so its def good that Pop was humble and respectful.

I think the last thing the Lakers want is to face the Spurs. See you just got your ass kicked by them on your home court. This after a couple of weeks ago PJ said the team he always fears is the Spurs.

[JR3]

I don't take pop seriously on this one. I still want them in the first round. They are not playing well right now. That could change in a month.

[Dex]

I don't think a first-round meeting with the Lakers would necessarily be a death knell, but I was having with this discussion with my Dad recently. He was trying to play the "Well you have to beat the Lakers at some point" card.

While I agree with this, I think you want to take the best chances that you can get. If you can force the Lakers through one or two series before playing them, who knows how that plays out. Maybe a team goes hot and pulls off the upset (ala the Warriors). Maybe a player twists an ankle or breaks a hand. Maybe the Lakers exhaust themselves getting up the ladder.

Sure, these things may not happen, but I'd much rather give them a chance to than not.

[EmptyMan]

Pop pusses out every time he faces Phil,

Of course he doesn't want the Lakers.

[Russ]

"The ones that say 'We don't care who we play,' they're full of baloney too, because we're all trying to hide from the Lakers," Popovich said. "I mean, really. 'Who do you want to play in the first round?' 'Oh, the Lakers'. What an idiot."

:lol

The Spurs need to get healthy before they see the Lakers.

[TJastal]

I don't think a first-round meeting with the Lakers would necessarily be a death knell, but I was having with this discussion with my Dad recently. He was trying to play the "Well you have to beat the Lakers at some point" card.

While I agree with this, I think you want to take the best chances that you can get. If you can force the Lakers through one or two series before playing them, who knows how that plays out. Maybe a team goes hot and pulls off the upset (ala the Warriors). Maybe a player twists an ankle or breaks a hand. Maybe the Lakers exhaust themselves getting up the ladder.

Sure, these things may not happen, but I'd much rather give them a chance to than not.

Exactly my thinking too.

Actually if the spurs can finish the season strong the lakers will end up with either the thunder or blazers as the 8th seed, who both play extremely well against them, and there is a decent enough chance they will pull an upset or at the very least push them to a long drawn out series. Add another series after that and if both teams are still alive the spurs will face a tired, possibly depleted laker team in the WCF.

[Whisky Dog]

From the thought process of Holt - a lot more money to be made if you get past round one than if you don't, and facing the best team means a harder road out of the first round.

[Whisky Dog]

Exactly my thinking too.

Actually if the spurs can finish the season strong the lakers will end up with either the thunder or blazers as the 8th seed, who both play extremely well against them, and there is a decent enough chance they will pull an upset or at the very least push them to a long drawn out series. Add another series after that and if both teams are still alive the spurs will face a tired, possibly depleted laker team in the WCF.

If the Spurs get there, and who's to say that team won't be tired and worn out if they do just like in '08.

[NFGIII]

I don't think a first-round meeting with the Lakers would necessarily be a death knell, but I was having with this discussion with my Dad recently. He was trying to play the "Well you have to beat the Lakers at some point" card.

While I agree with this, I think you want to take the best chances that you can get. If you can force the Lakers through one or two series before playing them, who knows how that plays out. Maybe a team goes hot and pulls off the upset (ala the Warriors). Maybe a player twists an ankle or breaks a hand. Maybe the Lakers exhaust themselves getting up the ladder.

Sure, these things may not happen, but I'd much rather give them a chance to than not.

There are pros and cons to both sides. I believed prior to HIll's injury that maybe it would be a good thing to get them in the 1st round for several reasons:
1) at this time they aren't playing that well so might as well get them now.
2) Bynum would be just coming back and rusty - he's length and being 7' is something that the Lakers don't have as of now. Pau, Bynum and Odom make for a pretty tall frontline at the end of the game.
3) the Spurs are playing very well - finally they are living up to expectations
4) TP would be coming back - Laker's weakness are their PGs. TP's speed exposes them and casues all sorts of problems - but of course he would be rusty, too.

Though the Lakers are the champs this team hasn't shown me that it can just flip the switch and bam!! they're playing like then did last season. Even though Kobe isn't playing all that well he is the type of player that when he gets it together he could win a series by himself.


The Spurs need to get healthy before they see the Lakers.

Which is a reason for maybe not getting them in the 1st round. Damn that injury to HIll just sucks! They were playing so well and then that had to happen and it had to be Fisher!

Now the Spurs will have to see what they can do without both TP and Hill. This is going to be interesting to say the least.

[Mixability]

bring em on!

[bus driver]

we get who we get on the 15th....if its the lakers than so be it.
in the words of mixability...."bring em on!"

[weebo]

It's more than Pop just using reverse psychology, there is actual truth to what he is saying.

Last thing the spurs want is to face the lakers in the opening round of the playoffs, and especially an angry laker team with a chip on its shoulder., so its def good that Pop was humble and respectful.

like the lakers would be any less motivated in later rounds :lol

[Man In Black]

You take them out when they're at their weakest. And that time is now. Bynum hasn't been talked about other than to say he's getting an MRI. But again, 7-1 275 on an achilles strain on a guy whose had a history of leg issues isn't exactly playing to their favor. Kobe Bryant has decided to go 1 against 5 again and his FG% is in the toilet in these losses. Artest isn't still as good a fit in the Tri as Ariza was, and the LAL truthfully...has no bench, so again, they are going to be over reliant on their starters. Fisher is still a turnstile, Farmar is still a dunce, and Shannon Brown has a girl's name and is inconsistent as hell, I'm sure that tape job he wears on his shooting hand doesn't help either.
You take a team down when their weak. You make them question if they have enough and then you show them, with your higher intensity level like yesterday, that they do not.

It's a different season. For 09, they had to listen to how they carried Boston's jockstrap the entire season, how the biggest finals loss in history was on Kobe & Phil's watch, and how Gasol did his best impression of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. That burns a whole hell of a lot hotter than, we're the defending champs and the 4-Letter is telling you and us that we're going to win by just showing up.

This is classic Pop playing the "under the radar" card. NO DOUBT and NO D-aw-nuts!

[TJastal]

You take them out when they're at their weakest. And that time is now. Bynum hasn't been talked about other than to say he's getting an MRI. But again, 7-1 275 on an achilles strain on a guy whose had a history of leg issues isn't exactly playing to their favor. Kobe Bryant has decided to go 1 against 5 again and his FG% is in the toilet in these losses. Artest isn't still as good a fit in the Tri as Ariza was, and the LAL truthfully...has no bench, so again, they are going to be over reliant on their starters. Fisher is still a turnstile, Farmar is still a dunce, and Shannon Brown has a girl's name and is inconsistent as hell, I'm sure that tape job he wears on his shooting hand doesn't help either.
You take a team down when their weak. You make them question if they have enough and then you show them, with your higher intensity level like yesterday, that they do not.

It's a different season. For 09, they had to listen to how they carried Boston's jockstrap the entire season, how the biggest finals loss in history was on Kobe & Phil's watch, and how Gasol did his best impression of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. That burns a whole hell of a lot hotter than, we're the defending champs and the 4-Letter is telling you and us that we're going to win by just showing up.

This is classic Pop playing the "under the radar" card. NO DOUBT and NO D-aw-nuts!

That's a lot of chest thumping but again.... why go through all that if you don't have to? Just take Denver out instead (who will be missing a key player -- Kmart) and wait and see if Oklahoma City or Portland or a 2nd round team can do the dirty work of eliminating the lakers.

[vander]

:lol:lol the person who thinks his team can hide from the lakers, What An Idiot

the only way to hide from the Lakers is to not get the 8 seed, and then lose in the first round, then you wont have to play the Lakers.

Pop is an Idiot, (if he meant that as stated) a title run goes through LA, better to play them now while they are in a slump and without Bynum, than later after they have tuned up against teams like Portland and Phoenix (who don't have a chance against LA)

[silverblk mystix]

:lol:lol the person who thinks his team can hide from the lakers, What An Idiot

the only way to hide from the Lakers is to not get the 8 seed, and then lose in the first round, then you wont have to play the Lakers.

Pop is an Idiot, (if he meant that as stated) a title run goes through LA, better to play them now while they are in a slump and without Bynum, than later after they have tuned up against teams like Portland and Phoenix (who don't have a chance against LA)

THIS.

Couldn't have said it better.

FTL

[TJastal]

:lol:lol the person who thinks his team can hide from the lakers, What An Idiot

the only way to hide from the Lakers is to not get the 8 seed, and then lose in the first round, then you wont have to play the Lakers.

Pop is an Idiot, (if he meant that as stated) a title run goes through LA, better to play them now while they are in a slump and without Bynum, than later after they have tuned up against teams like Portland and Phoenix (who don't have a chance against LA)

Don't count the blazers or thunder out, they are not going to be easy outs and their athleticism and point guard play has given the lakers fits this year. They could easily take the lakers to a full 7 games and with one hot game from Roy or Durant beat them too.

[vander]

:lol:lol the person who thinks his team can hide from the lakers, What An Idiot

the only way to hide from the Lakers is to not get the 8 seed, and then lose in the first round, then you wont have to play the Lakers.

Pop is an Idiot, (if he meant that as stated) a title run goes through LA, better to play them now while they are in a slump and without Bynum, than later after they have tuned up against teams like Portland and Phoenix (who don't have a chance against LA)

although, if we were able to beat the Lakers in the first round, then other teams would have successfully hidden from them, so...

[in2deep]

:lol:lol the person who thinks his team can hide from the lakers, What An Idiot


Pop was referring to hiding from the Lakers for the 1st round, genius

[Budkin]

Kobe in the Playoffs is deadly... I'll pass thank you.

[afireinside20]

Bring on the fucking Fakers!!!! If your in the NBA as coach or player and your scared of another team, then you shouldn't even be in the league!!! This league is all about winning championships,playing hard and competing. Why the hell, should you be afraid, it's dumb.

[raspsa]

Tongue n cheek from Pop. Pop has gone on record so many times in the past stating that he's not concerned with seedings in the POs, only that the Spurs be "one of the four or five teams with the chance to win it all" IIRC. Any wins the team makes is not to avoid the Lakers but rather to work toward the goal of getting the team in the best possible shape to contend, physically and mentally.
Pop is smart. You've just beaten the Lakers badly on their homecourt, embarrassing them on natonal TV. The last thing you do is give them additional motivation the next time you meet them, w/c could very well be in the 1st round of the POs.
Timmy and RJ had several similar comments giving respect to the Lakers. Simply not in the nature of the Spurs to gloat. What's left unsaid is that the Spurs made a statement with this game that they won't back down from any challenge, wheteher it be the Lakers or anyone else.

[Shaolin-Style]

I actually want them to play the lakers.

If we're gonna lose or win, better to lose or win facing them. I'd be more entertained at the very least.

[Obstructed_View]

Pop was referring to hiding from the Lakers for the 1st round, genius

And it's still a stupid statement, unless the Spurs are hoping that someone else will take out the Lakers for them and then they can spend their time hiding from Utah instead.

[TD 21]

Pop is so over the top with his comments about the Lakers that, like his constant praise of Bryant over the years, I have to think this is some motivational tool for the Spurs. Like he's hoping they come out like they're shot out of a cannon when they play the Lakers, don't back down, or look scared and believe that they can beat them, to stick it to the naysayers who think this is an impossibility. That or it's reverse psychology, where he's hoping to lure the Lakers into a false sense of security and have them overconfident (not that this would take much). Either way, these comments have to be tongue in cheek. It's one thing to say "they're the best", it's another to concede that you're scared or "hiding" from them. Even if that were the case, who admits to that?

[Supreme_Being]

Well, if we're going down, let's go down in flames. So yeah, the Lakers.

[celldweller]

Our destiny is to meet in the WCF!

[SenorSpur]

I don't think a first-round matchup will be as automatic of an out for the Spurs, as it once looked. The Spurs have no reason to fear the Fakers. After all, it was Pop who is famous for the proclamation, "either you're good enough or you're not." That said, if Pop wanted his team to avoid the Fakers in the first round, perhaps securing a top-four seed would've been the better alternative.

Let's get real anyway. The reason the Spurs are looking at an 8th seed and a possible first-round matchup with the Fakers is because they've been a woefully inconsistent and mediocre team for most of this regular season. Only up until about 2 weeks ago have they begun to round into a formidable playoff-style team. Albeit injuries have been an issue, yet TP is still out and they've been playing some of the best ball of the year - led by Manu's resurgence.

Of course, I'm sure this is all Pop's reverse psychology because you can bet he's telling his team the opposite behind closed doors.

[tothrowed]

"The ones that say 'We don't care who we play,' they're full of baloney too, because we're all trying to hide from the Lakers," Popovich said. "I mean, really. 'Who do you want to play in the first round?' 'Oh, the Lakers'. What an idiot."

:lol
your a dumbass why the fuck would we not want the lakers fuck the lakers, this nigga is gay his sn is in2deep niggas is goin in 2 deep in u huh

[Flux451]

Anyone who wants the Lakers in the first round is borderline retarded. Of course if Spurs play remarkable they will eventually face them. But why would one want to play the best team in the West right away when Tony is barely coming back, Hill just got injured and the team will need time to regain chemistry. I don't doubt we can finish other teams without full strength, but the Lakers, no way. We need to play the lesser teams first to gain momentum. Great win against LA, but that doesn't exemplify Spurs dominance.

This isn't a matter of being scared, but thinking smart.

[TJastal]

Anyone who wants the Lakers in the first round is borderline retarded. Of course if Spurs play remarkable they will eventually face them. But why would one want to play the best team in the West right away when Tony is barely coming back, Hill just got injured and the team will need time to regain chemistry. I don't doubt we can finish other teams without full strength, but the Lakers, no way. We need to play the lesser teams first to gain momentum. Great win against LA, but that doesn't exemplify Spurs dominance.

This isn't a matter of being scared, but thinking smart.

+1

Of course they aren't the ones that have to go out and play the games, its real easy for them to thump their chests and act all tough and macho from the safe confines of the easy chair with dual cup holders.

[Ditty]

Anyone who wants the Lakers in the first round is borderline retarded. Of course if Spurs play remarkable they will eventually face them. But why would one want to play the best team in the West right away when Tony is barely coming back, Hill just got injured and the team will need time to regain chemistry. I don't doubt we can finish other teams without full strength, but the Lakers, no way. We need to play the lesser teams first to gain momentum. Great win against LA, but that doesn't exemplify Spurs dominance.

This isn't a matter of being scared, but thinking smart.

:toast

i dont want another long ass summer if we beat the lakers in 7 games we most likely will play the mavs,suns,jazz or nuggets and with a tired spurs team that would be tough

might as well hope someone like thunder or blazers can take the lakers out with there youth

[duhoh]

your a dumbass why the fuck would we not want the lakers fuck the lakers, this nigga is gay his sn is in2deep niggas is goin in 2 deep in u huh

get dat nukka talk outta here foo!

nothing would piss me off more than losing to dallas though, because if they beat SA, then they'll quit playing good basketball.

the west still goes through LA regardless.

[PURO SAN ANTO 210!]

Bring on las lakers!

[xellos88330]

I believe the Spurs have the ability to defeat the Lakers in the first round no doubt. Stating that opinion doesn't mean I want LA in the first round. If they do meet in the first round, then so be it. LA will be in for a huge surprise.

[Slippy]

You're a bigger fool if any-one expected POp to say " oh yah, we can't wait to play the Lakers" or "we don't worry about who we playing ". It goes against his mantra. Respect and appreciate your opponent. He would only be stoking the fire if he stated otherwise. This sort of quote just re-iterates what many would be thinking. There wouldn't be a team out there that prefers to play the Lakers in the first round. They are the best and defending champs. Does it mean he's crapping his jocks if they do face the Lakers in the first round? After beating them at home with Bynum probably only just coming back . Off-course not.

Pop's biggest concern , would be the team's health.

[G-Dawgg]

It's hard to say.. if the spurs play the lakers first round, it gives Parker and Hill less time to heal from their injuries... but on the other hand it's better for Ginobili and Duncan to bang-heads with Kobe and Gasol in the first round rather than playing the lakers in the 2nd round and having the wear and tear of a hard-fought 1st round series under their belt already before facing the defending champions..

so either way it doesn't matter to me. 1st round, 2nd round, whichever... one way or another we'll eventually have to send them home crying..