Did Blair outplay Millsap?

[mchammer]

Seems like Blair is settling in. Tonight seemed like his best game so far and he held his own. I think he was putting too much pressure on himself the first few games. I think Pop wants to make sure he maintains Blair's confidence so he plays him ahead of Splitter. Splitter will get plenty of time to shine.

[Chomag]

Good to see Blair come out and play a good game. It's been painful to watch him regress a little this season from the last.

[Ditty]

yeah blair best game so far looked real good out there better then Paul

[Spurs7794]

He still does some annoying things (I hate when he tries to create offense with a dribble...he always tries a quick spin and loses it and he made some bad passes) but overall, his defense and rebounding were great this game as well as his scoring.

[Em-City]

agreed, best game for the beast.

[ducks]

good matchup for him tonight
against lakers blair height might be a problem
but spurs have SPLITTLER

[Yorae]

Hell yeah he did!!!

[DesignatedT]

Blair was a beast tonight! glad to see it.

[8FOR!3]

His touch under the basket looked a lot better, he was hustling to get the rebound.

[LatinLover69]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Foahtz9xnw8

[The Truth #6]

Finally Blair showed some composure when playing the post. He effectively used his weight to keep his man off balance before going up for the shot. He should learn from this game as far as what works and what doesn't.

I have no idea why Pop played Bonner so much this game when he obviously wasn't doing anything useful and Blair was having one of his better games of the year. Bonner's last 3 attempt barely drew iron. Good lord. All I can think is he was resting other players for tomorrow night...but considering how little Tiago has been playing lately, that doesn't make much sense either.

[Chieflion]

I am not trying to downplay Blair's play, but Millsap reportedly had a severe head cold the night before and was playing sick. Blair stepped up and took advantage though. Good for him.

[EricB]

That explains Milsap's malaise out there.

That being said Blair was a stud in that 4th quarter.

[Trill Clinton]

Yes, Blair finally showed some patience under the basket.

[Cessation]

Best game so far for blair, good to see.

[Warlord23]

This was the perfect match-up for Blair in terms of using his physicality to outmuscle the Jazz frontline. Which is why it's annoying that Pop gave Bonner 17 minutes; this was the worst possible matchup for Ginger.

The good thing is that Pop has a lot more options this year:
- Against centers with genuine size/length, he can throw Splitter out there (to match up with the likes of Bynum, Chandler, Yao)
- Against PFs with all-round good offensive skills, he can use Dice (Nowitzki, West, Amare, Randolph, Odom)
- Against tough, scrappy players he can play Blair more (Millsap, Love, Haslem)
- Against skill players he can use Bonner (Okur, Murphy, Frye)

Pop's weakness is that sometimes he will play people based on whether they are in his good books or in his doghouse, and not based on match-ups. That's when you see Bonner or Blair getting exposed against bad match-ups.

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

This was by far Blair's best performance this season.

[doobs]

This was the perfect match-up for Blair in terms of using his physicality to outmuscle the Jazz frontline. Which is why it's annoying that Pop gave Bonner 17 minutes; this was the worst possible matchup for Ginger.

The good thing is that Pop has a lot more options this year:
- Against centers with genuine size/length, he can throw Splitter out there (to match up with the likes of Bynum, Chandler, Yao)
- Against PFs with all-round good offensive skills, he can use Dice (Nowitzki, West, Amare, Randolph, Odom)
- Against tough, scrappy players he can play Blair more (Millsap, Love, Haslem)
- Against skill players he can use Bonner (Okur, Murphy, Frye)

Pop's weakness is that sometimes he will play people based on whether they are in his good books or in his doghouse, and not based on match-ups. That's when you see Bonner or Blair getting exposed against bad match-ups.

I agree with this except I'm not sure it's a weakness. It's frustrating to see, but over the long term it might be what has helped make this team competitive over the years. Who knows what might happen if Pop didn't take the long view? Especially now that the team has some young guys; they need to be broken like wild horses.

The Spurs seem to draft and trade for guys with that already in mind. They select "Spurs guys" so Pop's indoctrination is all the easier. Who knows what might have become of Hill, Blair, or Stephen Jackson? Remember young Tony Parker? Or what about the new guys, Neal and Anderson? Choo Choo Neal is an alleged rapist, after all.