How to Slow Down Dirk

[newacc]

This is playoff basketball. It's unacceptable for anybody to hit 12-14 FGs on you. The Spurs need to change how the person guarding Dirk guards Dirk. It's obvious that Dirk is good enough to adjust to whatever schemes the Spurs throw at him so the Spurs need to employee a combination of these 3 techniques to get his focus off.

First and foremost, throw choir boy, text book defense out the window. It obviously doesn't work. It's time to start ruffling Dirk's feathers. Trip him, push him, elbow him, step on his feet. Yes, you might get a technical, a flagrant 1, or even ejected but Dirk needs to have a fear of playing his normal basketball. He's too good for any of the Spurs defenders right now so you need to be extremely rough with him. Also, judging by the past, everyone knows he hates to be physically and mentally tested.

Second, stop worrying about contesting the shot. Dirk isn't fazed by anybody putting a hand up because he knows he can shoot over anybody on the Spurs. You have to take out Dirk's base: see legs. You take out his legs and all of a sudden his jumper doesn't have that same comfort level or strength. He'll also start jumping lower with constant body contact. Get underneath his body and start pushing his lower half of his body out when he's posting up. I wouldn't even worry about getting a hand up with him until you can master bodying him up with force.

Third, talk trash to him and get in his face. Make everything he does a living hell. Make him labor just to walk up the court. Battle him fiercely to get a rebound. Don't let up on him for one second. Make it to where basketball is no fun for him. He gets no rest whatsoever. Knock him down or off balance every chance you get.

Sadly, Bruce Bowen was a master at most of these. He surely is missed now.

[Mixability]

Sure do miss Bruce....

[Fpoonsie]

Sweep the leg!

[ecksrobecks]

the only thing the spurs can do is throw doubles at him. the spurs don't have a guy like kenyon martin on their team or really anybody that can stop him 1 on 1

[Rito3d30]

Mahinmi?

his mobility....height..







Most importantly,
He's not a Rookie....:flag:

[sefant77]

This is playoff basketball. It's unacceptable for anybody to hit 12-14 FGs on you. The Spurs need to change how the person guarding Dirk guards Dirk. It's obvious that Dirk is good enough to adjust to whatever schemes the Spurs throw at him so the Spurs need to employee a combination of these 3 techniques to get his focus off.

First and foremost, throw choir boy, text book defense out the window. It obviously doesn't work. It's time to start ruffling Dirk's feathers. Trip him, push him, elbow him, step on his feet. Yes, you might get a technical, a flagrant 1, or even ejected but Dirk needs to have a fear of playing his normal basketball. He's too good for any of the Spurs defenders right now so you need to be extremely rough with him. Also, judging by the past, everyone knows he hates to be physically and mentally tested.

Second, stop worrying about contesting the shot. Dirk isn't fazed by anybody putting a hand up because he knows he can shoot over anybody on the Spurs. You have to take out Dirk's base: see legs. You take out his legs and all of a sudden his jumper doesn't have that same comfort level or strength. He'll also start jumping lower with constant body contact. Get underneath his body and start pushing his lower half of his body out when he's posting up. I wouldn't even worry about getting a hand up with him until you can master bodying him up with force.

Third, talk trash to him and get in his face. Make everything he does a living hell. Make him labor just to walk up the court. Battle him fiercely to get a rebound. Don't let up on him for one second. Make it to where basketball is no fun for him. He gets no rest whatsoever. Knock him down or off balance every chance you get.

Sadly, Bruce Bowen was a master at most of these. He surely is missed now.

Ok, so you will be fine when Stevenson will hurt Gino or when Damp gonna put Parker on his back?

OK...

[Avitus1]

I miss Bruce during times like this :-(

[SanAntonioSpurs23]

Tonya Harding?http://i40.tinypic.com/16knes6.jpg

[redzero]

There are two ways to slow down Dirk:
-be a Golden State Warrior.
-play him in the Finals.

[Amarelooms]

I would let Duncan guard him....if nothing else Timmy can get away with more :elephant

[sefant77]

There are two ways to slow down Dirk:
-be a Golden State Warrior.
-play him in the Finals.

There are 2 ways to be irrevelant:
-play for the Hornets
- cheer for the Hornets

[newacc]

There are two ways to slow down Dirk:
-be a Golden State Warrior.
-play him in the Finals.

I guarantee the Spurs can do it. It's just going to take a whole lot more than move your feet and get your hand up. That's nice but Dirk is playing on another planet right now.

[jdev82]

het blair to rip his fucking arms off, antonio make him fear going to the hole, and have RJ just straight up knock him the fuck out, since he obviously isnt busy doing anything else

[DAF86]

I'd throw Duncan at him some times too.

[m33p0]

Tonya Harding?http://i40.tinypic.com/16knes6.jpg

you beat me to it.:lol

[BanditHiro]

just have the spur defending him wear another team's jersey like preferably a laker jersey, because the spurs will never get any respect from the refs

[8FOR!3]

I wish we had Horry to take a cheap one on that piece of shit Dick Nowitzki.

[alchemist]

I would let Duncan guard him....if nothing else Timmy can get away with more :elephant
lol fail.

One of the few times Duncan defended Dirk he picked up a foul.

[clubalien]

while i believe injuring dirk would be very effective.
I don't think it is sports manlike thing to do.
Can you imagine if someone took out manu or one of our players.

[Johnny RIngo]

Sadly, Bruce Bowen was a master at most of these. He surely is missed now.

Even with Bowen on the team Dirk was shooting a suspiciously high FTA/FG. It's impossible to stop someone when he's blowing the refs as hard as Nowitzki has the past few years.

[redzero]

There are 2 ways to be irrelevant:
-play for the Hornets
- cheer for the Hornets

Yet, my irrelevant team beat your relevant team in five games.

Also, my irrelevant team has the same amount of championships as your relevant team.

[ElNono]

I don't have a problem with Dirk draining shots. But to foul him like wimps and give him the And1(s) is inexcusable. I'm looking at you Matt.

[SpurOutofTownFan]

Ok, so you will be fine when Stevenson will hurt Gino or when Damp gonna put Parker on his back?

OK...

They have tried that already on both Ginobili and Parker. And this guy is right, they need to step up the D on Dirk and make him sweat for each shot. If he's comfortable, he can score at will. If you are going to get calls against you just for looking at him you might as well rough it up a little bit. Contemporary BB is made of pussies nowadays.

Watch some file from 15 years ago. 70% of the calls Dirk got tonight were no calls at all.

[txallstar]

let him score, if he's score and takes majority of the shots, that means no one else, it's still a team sport. oh yeah and also just let him shoot, quit touching his arm or bumping him on the jump shot, after the 3rd time in a row you would think some one (bonner) woud learn. if you foul you foul hard, don't get the and 1

[HarlemHeat37]

Obviously there was no answer to defending Dirk either way, but I hated the closing out strategy in the 2nd half..they had Bonner defending Dirk with Timmy shadowing down low, getting ready to help..the Spurs got KILLED using this strategy..I don't mind doubling Dirk, but the rotations were poor when this strategy was used..Dirk swung the ball to the wing every time, and it led to 3 easy layups in the middle of the paint for the Mavs once Duncan rotated to Nowitzki..

Bogans defending Dirk won't work..Bogans' only good defensive skill is his post D, but the refs aren't going to allow him to get physical with Nowitzki, as we saw tonight..if he isn't allowed doing that, he can't really do anything else, since he doesn't have notable foot speed or athleticism..

The p&r D against Dirk-Kidd was extremely poor..the Spurs inexplicably left him open(McDyess on most of them) to close off Kidd's driving lane, causing a late rotation on Nowitzki's shot..Kidd NEVER likes to finish at the rim, he's always looking to pass, there's no reason to overplay him like that..Dirk's defender just needs to stick on him..

Yes, this was obviously an inevitable point that somebody was going to make, but I don't see the harm in trying out Mahinmi..Ian's main flaw as a player is that he's foul prone..the refs are clearly calling the touch fouls on Dirk regardless of the defender tonight, so might as well try the player with the most ideal physical tools to go up against him..I don't see the harm for trying it for a few possessions..

The Spurs don't have a chance at defending Dirk IMO..it comes down to double-teaming or letting him score..I prefer letting him score, since I don't trust the rotations of the Spurs' D..the refs are going to call a foul if you breathe on him or he's just going to score either way..

[Kori Ellis]

Dirk gets calls with staying aggressive and having a herky-jerky way of throwing the ball toward the basket. You can't let him get And-1's with wussy fouls. If you are going to foul him, make him feel it, and make sure he doesn't get the basket. The Spurs don't have a good match to guard Dirk - they need someone of Udonis Haslem's body style to get him out of his comfort zone.

But seriously, Spurs fans need to stop with blaming the officials on every loss (I'm not addressing the original poster but rather the dozens of other thread starters). It's embarrassing. Spurs didn't play good basketball today. They need to sack up and take game 2.

[alchemist]

Dirk gets calls with staying aggressive and having a herky-jerky way of throwing the ball toward the basket. You can't let him get And-1's with wussy fouls. If you are going to foul him, make him feel it, and make sure he doesn't get the basket. The Spurs don't have a good match to guard Dirk - they need someone of Udonis Haslem's body style to get him out of his comfort zone.

But seriously, Spurs fans need to stop with blaming the officials on every loss (I'm not addressing the original poster but rather the dozens of other thread starters). It's embarrassing. Spurs didn't play good basketball today. They need to sack up and take game 2.
TO's were the archiles heel tonight and that's why the lost but ignoring how you weren't allowed to defend the Mav's best player is ignoring a cancer that exists.

[badfish22]

TO's were the archiles heel tonight and that's why the lost but ignoring how you weren't able to defend the Mav's best player is ignoring a cancer that exists.

fixed. The Spurs were allowed to, just not able to.

And Kori was talking about bitches like you when she said that IMHO.

[daslicer]

We need an enforcer player who can physically and mentally intimidate him like the player in this clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC-pzv34c50

[LongtimeSpursFan]

I have no problem letting Dirk shooting turnaround jumpshots from 12, 15, 18 feet. If he can make them at the rate he is doing now so be it. I do have a problem with Dirk getting the benefit of a whistle when he is a 7 foot jumpshooter. Timmy, on the other hand, does not get a call and has a Mav player pushing him on the back taking it to the rim.

[JustinJDW]

Yeah, I wouldn't mind fucking Dirk's shit up.

[dude1394]

Funny...so you are admitting that you need another dirty player like bowen. :) Dang that's making me crack up.

[fotan2]

we miss Horry more than Bowen in this regard

[pawe]

Duncan got called for a foul even if Dirk was the one who stepped on TD's foot. Id still stick dice on him just to mess up his release.

[Basileus777]

the only thing the spurs can do is throw doubles at him. the spurs don't have a guy like kenyon martin on their team or really anybody that can stop him 1 on 1


Kenyon Martin got raped by Dirk last post-season too. He dropped 34/12 on him on excellent efficiency.

[GSH]

But seriously, Spurs fans need to stop with blaming the officials on every loss (I'm not addressing the original poster but rather the dozens of other thread starters). It's embarrassing. Spurs didn't play good basketball today. They need to sack up and take game 2.

Dirk is a great player, and a tough match for anyone. And it's not fair for people to blame Bonner for not being able to guard him 1-on-1. Nobody is going to do that very well. Dirk is going to get his points.

But you can't always blame guys for not playing hard when the refs are giving out breathing fouls on one end. It's no different than when Tim (or anyone else) has 5 fouls midway through the 4th quarter. He can't defend the same way, because he can't afford any more whistles. We were there for most of the second half - at least.

Did you ever look closely at that 2006 series against the Mavs? In their 3 wins, the Spurs committed 19.3 fouls per game. In their 4 losses, they averaged 28.25 fouls per game! What happened there? Was it really because the Spurs needed to "sack up" in those 4 games? Maybe 1 or even 2 games they might commit that many fouls, but not four. And tonight, with a little over 3 minutes left in the 3rd, the Mavs had a 20-4 FTA advantage?

Looking at the numbers tonight, and from the 4 losses in 06, you would have to say that both squads (06 and 10) are a bunch of wussies... unless you can concede that the whistles have at least some part in things.
That 06 team was damned good. This team may not be as good, but they aren't totally incompetent.

[m33p0]

if only the spurs have someone who could force him to play defense the whole game.

[Kori Ellis]

...

Stars get whistles. That's how it is. And Dirk gets his fair share. But Spurs fans blame every single loss to the Mavs on the refs.. If fans really think that the refs are controlling every outcome, then they probably shouldn't watch basketball. Or maybe, they should watch it and think of it like wrestling or something. One reason that Dirk gets a lot of calls against the Spurs is because he is a huge huge mismatch for them. The guys that might be strong enough are too slow, the guys that might be athletic enough are too small.. you get my drift. He's a mismatch for most teams, but the Spurs don't have anyone on the roster that can do a decent job on him, and Pop hasn't figured out a game plan to make Dirk work on the other end.

And there was a lot more going on this game than the refs. Tim and Manu combined for what, 11 turnovers? RJ, Hill, Bogans, Bonner and Mason combined for 3-for-15 from the field, the Spurs lost the battle of the boards, and they let Jason Kidd control the tempo.

So anyway, my point was that it's not ALWAYS and ONLY about the refs... sometimes, the Mavs outwork, outhustle, outplay the Spurs. There were 15 threads started after the game complaining about the refs.. laughable.

[Xevious]

if only the spurs have someone who could force him to play defense the whole game.
This.

Dirk isn't having to work on both ends of the floor. McDyess and Bonner just aren't a threat, on either end of the floor.

[GSH]

But seriously, Spurs fans need to stop with blaming the officials on every loss (I'm not addressing the original poster but rather the dozens of other thread starters). It's embarrassing. Spurs didn't play good basketball today. They need to sack up and take game 2.

One more thing. If the Spurs got their share of whistles and missed the FT's - fuck em. If they got any open shot they wanted and pulled up blind all night - same thing.

But when Tim gets hammered taking it to the rim and no whistles get blown? That's another story. When he's got the ball and someone comes down across both of his forearms, and it's just another turnover for the Spurs? No. How ridiculous does it have to get? If you knew... I mean really knew, that the refs would never blow a whistle, you could win an NBA title with a bunch of college kids. Yeah, that's extreme. But at some point, you have to acknowledge that the whistles can affect the outcome of the game.

How far down the ridiculous curve does it have to go? Because tonight was pretty bad. And it would have only taken a couple of less whistles on one end and/or a couple more on the other. The margin of difference just wasn't so big that you can wholesale out most of the team for being wussies.

I don't want to argue with you in particular. It can't turn out well. I just think tonight was too much of a bad thing. The Spurs could have overcome it by playing better. But they shouldn't have to do it this often when playing the Mavs in the post-season. 19.3 fouls per game vs 28.25. That cost Tim a ring for his thumb.

[HarlemHeat37]

if only the spurs have someone who could force him to play defense the whole game.

This is what I've always wondered..

If the Spurs had another low-post player next to Tim, it would force Dirk to play defense inside the paint, where he's a liability..it would either lead to wasted energy or free points due to his lack of defense..

Scola obviously would have been that guy, but it's too late for that..hopefully Splitter is that guy next year..defending Dirk simply hasn't worked for this team, so it'll be interesting to see what will happen next year if the Spurs add a guy like Splitter(not an offensive juggernaut, but could at least go at Dirk, unlike anybody we currently have)..

[blkroadrunners]

Dejuan Blair's that type of player who can force Dirk to work on defense. True, he doesn't have any set low-post scoring moves yet as say Scola, but he's very active on the boards and the PnR scenario as well forces Dirk to move on his feet. He imploded w/ a 20/20 performance the last time the two teams played in the season.

Of course, his defense is a concern since he doesn't move well w/ his feet as Bonner nor McDyess do, and plus it wouldn't be logical to put Duncan on Dirk for the most part of the game.

[newacc]

Funny...so you are admitting that you need another dirty player like bowen. :) Dang that's making me crack up.

Yeah the Spurs do need someone that doesn't go by the book, but just so everyone knows I'm not talking about trying to hurt Dirk. I just want him to be roughed up and played more physically. That clip of what Kenyon did is a good example of what I mean, but I'm not talking about going so far as to do the Bowen step under the jump shooter thing. Stephen Jackson in the GSW upset is a prime example of someone crowding Dirk and taking out his lower body from the equation.

If someone is busting you up like Dirk was tonight, you've got to change something. With straight up defense - given the Spurs personnel - there really wasn't much more the Spurs could do. Pop resorted to fouling Dampier probably more so to break Dirk's rhythm than the the hack-a-strategy itself.

My main problem is Dirk's biggest concern out there was which finger he was going to point to the sky after lighting up another Spurs defender. In the regular season that's all well and good, but for the playoffs you have to make someone go through hell if they're going to torch you like that. MJ made the trek across the fire several times. Dirk won't be nearly as successful.

[biziofromdowntown]

We've to try Ian oh him.

[sefant77]

Watch some file from 15 years ago. 70% of the calls Dirk got tonight were no calls at all.

So you want the old rules back? Seriously? You know what would happen with Gino and Parker driving, huh?


Dejuan Blair's that type of player who can force Dirk to work on defense. True, he doesn't have any set low-post scoring moves yet as say Scola, but he's very active on the boards and the PnR scenario as well forces Dirk to move on his feet. He imploded w/ a 20/20 performance the last time the two teams played in the season.

Of course, his defense is a concern since he doesn't move well w/ his feet as Bonner nor McDyess do, and plus it wouldn't be logical to put Duncan on Dirk for the most part of the game.

The last season game Haywood/Damp not even tried hard to box out and get rebounds, dont overrate this game. Blair is a great talent but Dirk would just eat him alive and shoot all night over him or drive by him...

[Taco]

How to Slow Down Dirk

Don't breath on him otherwise he's on the FT line:wakeup

[blkroadrunners]

The last season game Haywood/Damp not even tried hard to box out and get rebounds, dont overrate this game. Blair is a great talent but Dirk would just eat him alive and shoot all night over him or drive by him...


Of course, that's why I stated in my last sentence Blair's defense against Dirk would be a big concern. All I was just pointing out was Blair's activity on the court would force Dirk to exert more energy on defense than say Bonner.

[TJastal]

Ok, so you will be fine when Stevenson will hurt Gino or when Damp gonna put Parker on his back?

OK...

+1

And in all honesty, breaking out thug tactics is often a sign of desperation that's more likely to backfire than do any good.

[Slippy]

I hardly ever call out the refs, if ever in the play-offs. Not even after the 06 series. If the Spurs have to face soft calls againt Dirk IN THE PLAY-OFFS, then i don't like our chances.

[TJastal]

Yeah the Spurs do need someone that doesn't go by the book, but just so everyone knows I'm not talking about trying to hurt Dirk. I just want him to be roughed up and played more physically. That clip of what Kenyon did is a good example of what I mean, but I'm not talking about going so far as to do the Bowen step under the jump shooter thing. Stephen Jackson in the GSW upset is a prime example of someone crowding Dirk and taking out his lower body from the equation.

If someone is busting you up like Dirk was tonight, you've got to change something. With straight up defense - given the Spurs personnel - there really wasn't much more the Spurs could do. Pop resorted to fouling Dampier probably more so to break Dirk's rhythm than the the hack-a-strategy itself.

My main problem is Dirk's biggest concern out there was which finger he was going to point to the sky after lighting up another Spurs defender. In the regular season that's all well and good, but for the playoffs you have to make someone go through hell if they're going to torch you like that. MJ made the trek across the fire several times. Dirk won't be nearly as successful.

Getting physical isn't going to help matters.. this isn't 2007 anymore. The refs won't tolerate it. Bit there is something the spurs didn't try much last night .. doubleteams. The second Dirk touches the ball give him a hard double and force the ball out of his hands and see if any other mav steps up by hitting shots. Butler is the only other guy that really concerns me in that starting unit, so you don't double off him, so its prob Dampier/Haywood or Marion's man

[OrEmuN]

I would say just let him score. Do not even try to double or have any help defense. Guard everyone else and let Dice, Blair and Ian play one-on-one physical defense (active ball denial and do not let him have his positions). We have 18 fouls this to play with but probably he will get tired quickly when he is the one man scoring team.

[TJastal]

I would say just let him score. Do not even try to double or have any help defense. Guard everyone else and let Dice, Blair and Ian play one-on-one physical defense (active ball denial and do not let him have his positions). We have 18 fouls this to play with but probably he will get tired quickly when he is the one man scoring team.

Good idea, lets get the mavs into the bonus every quarter and let Dirk shoot free throws all night.

[iManu]

I would say just let him score. Do not even try to double or have any help defense. Guard everyone else and let Dice, Blair and Ian play one-on-one physical defense (active ball denial and do not let him have his positions). We have 18 fouls this to play with but probably he will get tired quickly when he is the one man scoring team.

+1

Blair can push him around in the post until he´s fouled out and still get more minutes than he did.

He just put up 20/20, it´s time to unleash the BEAST.

[bus driver]

have temple kick him in the balls.....:wakeup

[OrEmuN]

Good idea, lets get the mavs into the bonus every quarter and let Dirk shoot free throws all night.

Look at it another way, even if we double team him, he will be shooting FT all night anyway. The idea is to force him to be the focal point and score, and letting the rest of his teammates go cold.

Instead of contesting his shots, we may consider to make him fight for possession to tire him out. We just need to take 5-6 s off the clock while he looks to fight off the defenders to get the pass. After doing so, with less time on the clock and having exerted plenty of energy to get the ball, we can realistically hope that he will miss more. Of course, he might still get bailed out by the referees anyway but what choice do we have ?

I am just saying i like our chances of keeping the likes of Kidd, Butler, Barea, Terry, etc quiet more than chances of keeping Dirk from scoring/getting to the FT line.

[jack0fspeed]

At this point in his career Dirk is extremely difficult to slow down. He's 7 feet tall and has a killer jump shot. If you crowd him he pump fakes you to death and if he doesn't get you up in the air, he hits one of his crazy leaners. If you let him get to the rim, there's a great chance he's going to get an and-1. If you bite on one of his pump fakes he's either going to get a wide open look or an and-1.

He's also become very good at identifying where the double team is coming from and can find the open man.

There are really no weaknesses in his game anymore. Years of being the focus of everyone's defense have forced Dirk to be a complete player.

IMO the best defense against him is to keep him guessing. Bring the double team on the catch sometimes. Bring the double team on the dribble other times. Bring the double team from unexpected places. Single him up a lot of the time. Use different defenders against him. Of course you always want to crowd him and be physical.

But even with all that he's still going to get his. You just don't want him to get 30+ and have a hot hand at the end of the game.

[SpurOutofTownFan]

So you want the old rules back? Seriously? You know what would happen with Gino and Parker driving, huh?
.

yes, I want the old rules back. It's gotten pretty bad now you can't rough someone up anymore. BB is a physical sport by definition.

[carib]

Dirk Stopper is that aggressive thug that the front office along with Pop does not like with size and speed.

The Spurs does not have an explosive player with size that can score at will that demands double team all night.

In order to stop Dirk and Dallas is to make them double more and play more defense, Dirk is having a field day; he is not playing any defense. So he is not using any energy or not getting into no foul problems.

[SenorSpur]

This is what I've always wondered..

If the Spurs had another low-post player next to Tim, it would force Dirk to play defense inside the paint, where he's a liability..it would either lead to wasted energy or free points due to his lack of defense..

Scola obviously would have been that guy, but it's too late for that..hopefully Splitter is that guy next year..defending Dirk simply hasn't worked for this team, so it'll be interesting to see what will happen next year if the Spurs add a guy like Splitter(not an offensive juggernaut, but could at least go at Dirk, unlike anybody we currently have)..

That's why I've advocated inserting Blair. There's no way he's going to far any better on Dirk. Don't expect him too and if he's not smart he'd probably foul out. My point on Blair is getting him into the low post on the offensive end and causing some havoc. Running him on the pick-n-rolls with Manu. Allowing him to do what he does best, clean the glass. His effort, desire and proclivity to rebound would be more benefical to the Spurs than watching Bonner give up "and-1's" and chuck up missed 3-pointers.

Seeing the Spurs get exposed -again- because they do not have an athletic, long, PF on the roster to matchup against the opposition, this is where I figured the acquisition of Tyrus Thomas would've served them well.

[byrontx]

Ok, so you will be fine when Stevenson will hurt Gino or when Damp gonna put Parker on his back?

OK...

+1 From a Spurs fan. You man up and play the game. If you get outplayed you lose. I detest injurying or roughing up the players. I want to see good backetball, not that shit.

[TJastal]

To stop Dirk "Weinerschnitzel" Nowitsky his defendant need to play him close and physical, no matter the refs protect him more than a father protecting his virgin first born. If "The weinerschnitzel" goesw for a lay-up hit him hard so next time he will think about it...these are the play-offs, treat him as they treat Manu, put him on the floor a couple of times, for real, not the flops he/she has been pretending for years.
Spurs in 6...:flag:

I like how you think..., lets injure his ass and then watch Dampier clothesline Ginobili on a drive to the basket and watch him get injured too.

Smart move. That way, no matter who advances to the next round, we all end up losers.

[sefant77]

I like how you think..., lets injure his ass and then watch Dampier clothesline Ginobili on a drive to the basket and watch him get injured too.

Smart move. That way, no matter who advances to the next round, we all end up losers.

this.

Carlisle wont lean back and watch and just complain with the refs. Najera and Stevenson would see some courttime for the purpose to take away the drive from Gino and Parker the same way...

Everybody loses and instead of a classic series it becomes a cheap and classless...

[SCdac]

Here's to hoping that Pop and staff give DeJuan Blair more of a shot in the rest of the games. Even if it turns out to be a failure, he deserves at least 12-15 minutes to find that out. And really, it's not like shorter defenders have never given Dirk trouble. Udonis Haslem, Kenyon Martin, Bruce Bowen, Stephen Jackson - none of those guys are taller than 6'9. Even if Blair gives up some points on D, you know he's money in the paint, and will generally demand attention when he's getting close to double digit scoring and snagging rebounds. He helps OUR TEAM control the tempo.

[sefant77]

Here's to hoping that Pop and staff give DeJuan Blair more of a shot in the rest of the games. Even if it turns out to be a failure, he deserves at least 12-15 minutes to find that out. And really, it's not like shorter defenders have never given Dirk trouble. Udonis Haslem, Kenyon Martin, Bruce Bowen, Stephen Jackson - none of those guys are taller than 6'9. Even if Blair gives up some points on D, you know he's money in the paint, and will generally demand attention when he's getting close to double digit scoring and snagging rebounds. He helps OUR TEAM control the tempo.

How many years this guys were in the league when they played Dirk?

[Mixability]

Dirk gets calls with staying aggressive and having a herky-jerky way of throwing the ball toward the basket. You can't let him get And-1's with wussy fouls. If you are going to foul him, make him feel it, and make sure he doesn't get the basket. The Spurs don't have a good match to guard Dirk - they need someone of Udonis Haslem's body style to get him out of his comfort zone.

But seriously, Spurs fans need to stop with blaming the officials on every loss (I'm not addressing the original poster but rather the dozens of other thread starters). It's embarrassing. Spurs didn't play good basketball today. They need to sack up and take game 2.

:tu :tu :tu

make them 6 fouls count damn it!

[SCdac]

How many years this guys were in the league when they played Dirk?

who cares?

Matt Bonner has been in the league for 4-5 seasons, and he still sucks, same for many players. Not to mention, Bonner is not planning on being with the Spurs for 3-4 more seasons like Blair officially is. Might as well give him some playoff experience, and not make the same mistake we made with George Hill.

[mavsfan1000]

Put jefferson on him as a PF and double team Dirk from the blind side. Use the small lineup to allow for quicker rotations on the pass out.

[senorglory]

1) cut out the and-1s;
2) shut down Butler.

[cherylsteele]

My biggest beef with the refs can be summed up in 1 word

Consistency.