Mark in Austin
05-23-2005, 02:46 AM
Somebody's gotta say it. Pop's doing a great job these playoffs. For a coach who most thought was a known quantity (defense-first, can't or too stubborn to make adjustments on the fly, or counter the adjustments other coaches make), he's made some huge adjustments this postseason.
I'll admit it: I never thought he would be this good. I don't think it is possible to coach a better game than what he did in game one. Think about the adjustments this game alone:
-Having Bowen defend Marion for most of the afternoon. (I actually can't remember if he did this in the regular season, but if he did apparently nobody on the Suns remembered either, given how poorly prepared they were for it.)
-Duncan on Richardson to start the game. effective, but wtf? :lol
-Changing how to defend Nash in the fourth was when the Spurs took control of the game. Phoenix was left scrambling and reacting instead of playing their game. We'll see if the Suns figure out a counter for this defensive adjustment, but for at least a quarter the Spurs were able to slow down Nash and disrupt the pick & roll.
-Playing Barry 34 minutes after his unremarkable Seattle series.
My theory? I think having Duncan and Manu missing significant numbers of game sdown the stretch and adding two new faces later in the season than normal for the Spurs has brought out the best in Pop's coaching. He had to think out of the box for a big chunk of time, and the whole team has benefitted from it.
I'll admit it: I never thought he would be this good. I don't think it is possible to coach a better game than what he did in game one. Think about the adjustments this game alone:
-Having Bowen defend Marion for most of the afternoon. (I actually can't remember if he did this in the regular season, but if he did apparently nobody on the Suns remembered either, given how poorly prepared they were for it.)
-Duncan on Richardson to start the game. effective, but wtf? :lol
-Changing how to defend Nash in the fourth was when the Spurs took control of the game. Phoenix was left scrambling and reacting instead of playing their game. We'll see if the Suns figure out a counter for this defensive adjustment, but for at least a quarter the Spurs were able to slow down Nash and disrupt the pick & roll.
-Playing Barry 34 minutes after his unremarkable Seattle series.
My theory? I think having Duncan and Manu missing significant numbers of game sdown the stretch and adding two new faces later in the season than normal for the Spurs has brought out the best in Pop's coaching. He had to think out of the box for a big chunk of time, and the whole team has benefitted from it.