I'm Calling you Out Pop

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Parker fucked up half of our possessions in the third, and you leave him in, sub Manu out (who actually hit a three).

You watch Phoenix go on a 10-0 run without even thinking about a timeout.

And you do it all with your hands in your pockets.

Come on Pop, wake up.

[SpursFanDan]

fuck up... like hes going to listen to a nobody. get over it... the suns d sucks.. and we'll make a comeback, its only the third for christs sake.

[shyne]

he still had a shitty lineup in there

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Yeah, it's only the third. And we went from leading by 7 to down 7, and gave the Phoenix offense a chance to get clicking.

Tell me how that's a good thing.

Ginobili played 5 minutes of the quarter, got to shoot the ball once. Meanwhile, Parker started out the quarter by going 0-6, 2 turnovers, while Pop stood by and didn't sub for him or call a timeout.

Parker played all but 24 seconds of a quarter that saw us smoked by 14 points.

You don't let a team that thrives on offensive rhythm find its rhythm, or you're asking to lose.

[Tom_Foolery]

I was very surprised he let Phoenix get up by 10pts or so before calling a timeout.

Kind of uncharacteristic. I didn't like Pop's advice to his team instructing them to play "just enough to win".

What is THAT about???

Play "just hard enough to win"???

I don't know about you, but if we have to go to Phoenix and then come back to the SBC center, it could be just like Derek Fisher's 0.4 seconds.


Pop, do some coaching and close this thing out or else we could be making history as the only team to lose a series being up 0-3.

[ducks]

yeah
it is tony's fault that pop kepted playing him
it is tony's fault big dog's mom died
it is tony's fault spurs put devin brown on the playoff roster when he has no legs and is useless

and it is tony's fault spurs are shotting 50% from the strip

[ducks]

and I posted in the game blog how effective beno was in the first half

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Who cares about the first half?

Manu was effective in the first, and Pop seems to think that means he's better off on the bench.

Face it, tonight we are being treated to one of those vintage Gregg Popovich moments where he out thinks himself, makes dumbass substitutions all night long, and we are left scratching our heads.


it is tony's fault that pop kepted playing him
it is tony's fault big dog's mom died
it is tony's fault spurs put devin brown on the playoff roster when he has no legs and is useless

Ducks, none of those have anything to do with Tony continuously taking bad shots, but I guess you've gotta pull some shit out of your ass when you don't have a valid argument.

[shyne]

While we are at it quit giving Tim the Dam ball tonight, MANU ISOLATION TOP OF KEY PLEASE POP

[1Parker1]

I love amateurs trying to be coaches :)

Spurs in 5. Give credit to the Pheonix Suns---who by the way are a great team despite what you may think---62 wins. You really thought they would just roll over and get swept?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

1parker1,

I love it when players go 0-6, 2 turnovers, and turn a 7 point lead into a 10 point hole.

I like Parker, but he played like shit in the third when the game was on the line.

Amateur or not, he sucked dick that quarter.

[beirmeistr]

I also think Popovich did not have a good coaching game tonight. If they win, they get to rest for a week, so why not keep Ginobili in the game to guarantee a victory? And I don't understand if the Spurs just could not slow down the tempo or if they thought they could keep up with the Suns, but the fast tempo benefited the Suns a lot in the third especially.

[ZStomp]

Of course, I would expect this from AHF...:rolleyes

[Gatita]

1parker1,

I love it when players go 0-6, 2 turnovers, and turn a 7 point lead into a 10 point hole.

Parker played like shit in the third when the game was on the line.

Amateur or not, he sucked dick that quarter.

Agreed.

[Dre_7]

I didnt read any of the posts, but I just gotta ask, do you have to start a "Pop call out" thread after every loss!! I know you hate him, but man, bump one of you 500 other anti pop thread, dont start another one. If you do, at least be consintant and start a pro-Pop thread after everywin. But your right, Pop sucks. He made Tim miss so many free throws. What a pathatic coach!

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Of course, I would expect this from AHF

I'm sorry, let me try again.

It was pure genius having Manu sit on the fucking pine while Tony pissed the game away.

Better?

[Dre_7]

I'm sorry, let me try again.

It was pure genius having Manu sit on the fucking pine while Tony pissed the game away.

Better?

Just be consistant!

If your gonna destroy Pop when he does bad, at least give him love when he does well!

We are up 3-1!!

[ducks]

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17149

[ZStomp]

Just be consistant!

If your gonna destroy Pop when he does bad, at least give him love when he does well!

We are up 3-1!!


Something like that....

[E20]

AHF HAS EVERY RIGHT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT POP AND I HATE IT WHEN HE DOES.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

If your gonna destroy Pop when he does bad, at least give him love when he does well!

We are up 3-1!!

I gave him a lot of props after the last two games when he put the ball in Manu's hands at the end of the fourth.

At the same time, some of you seem to think Pop deserves all the credit when the Spurs win.

In that case, you all need to look in the fucking mirror and realize he deserves some blame when the Spurs lose, instead of your constant "Spurs win, it's all because of Pop's greatness, Spurs lose, it's all because of the players" bullshit.

[Kori Ellis]

Sometimes Manu is too tired to keep playing -- that's why he gets subbed out.

Parker sucked, but give JoJo some credit on D. The reason the Spurs lost was not because of the refs, Pop's subs, or anything else but 48% free throw shooting.

Relax yourselves.

[Dingle Barry]

yeah, GRob was going to save our asses tonight.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I don't think Nazr played but maybe 2 minutes of the fourth. Horry got the rest of the run, and was tugging at his shorts the last two minutes when we needed him the worst.

Also, Beno played well tonight, but didn't even see the court in the third while Pop pissed away the lead.

Bad substitutions.

[smeagol]

Kori:

Pop made some really bad substituitions. I agree with AHF.

Nevertheless, FTs were THE main reason we lost.

[whottt]

This just in...the Spurs scored 106 points tonight and missed 12 FT's...

Pop's offensive decision making was not the reason we lost...and I never like seeing Beno come in for Parker in these playoffs...


This loss is not on Pop.

It's on the Spurs players...and mainly Duncan.

[2centsworth]

Parker sucked, but give JoJo some credit on D.

JJ was great on offense, but if sagging and letting tony shoot wide open jumpers is not good d, it's just bad o.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Yeah whott, in a quarter we got smoked by 14 while Tony clanged away bad shot after bad shot, there was nothing wrong with our offense.

[whottt]

Um....we got smoked because the Suns scored 36 points in that quarter.

You are truly an Aggie tool if you think we are supposed to score a 120 points nightly.

Did you really want Beno out there? Do you really think he would have made a 14 point difference?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

He didn't have to make a 14 point difference. Just six. And he was playing better than Parker tonight for significant stretches.

Anything's better than 6 bricks, 2 turnovers, and a minus 14 while on the court.

Aggie tool? Look in the mirror, considering you're the president and founder of the Brent Barry excuse society.

[whottt]

So basically...you are ripping the Spurs for not scoring 36 points rather than giving up 36 points...got it.

[timvp]

Whottt is on fire today.

Welcome back.

[whottt]

He didn't have to make a 14 point difference. Just six. And he was playing better than Parker tonight for significant stretches.

Anything's better than 6 bricks, 2 turnovers, and a minus 14 while on the court.

Aggie tool? Look in the mirror, considering you're the president and founder of the Brent Barry excuse society.


I am sorry but I just couldn't leave this alone...

What in theeeee fuck makes you think this:6 bricks, 2 turnovers, and a minus 14 while on the court. could have been prevented by Beno? Because he finally had a game where he didn't cause a nine point swing in 2 minutes?

He most certainly could have done worse...in face he has done worse...many times in these playoffs.

You are insane.

And on the subject of Barry...

A. You have defended Barry almost as much as I have...and you took credit for getting his back all season after that Phoenix game too...Stance Changer.

B.Who didn't get major PT in the 4th this game that did in every other victory against Phoenix?

Who hasn't missed a 4th quarter shot against Phoenix in these playoffs yet(although I think he finally missed one tonight? Who came up with 9 points in the final 2 minutes and OT of that big Phoenix win?



So you see...I most certainly could have bitched and blamed Pop...you know why I didn't?

Because we didn't lose because of not playing him, I'd be ripping Pop if I thought we did...we lost this game because of Duncan's performance at the FT line. Pop had nothing to do with this loss and in fact I was quite pleased with his decision making tonight. If everyone had brought their A game as much as he did, we'd have won.

But go ahead and rip Barry all you want...I mean after all...he didn't score 15 points on 60% shooting in the 10 minutes of PT he got tonight...

[gilmor]

Aggie.. u gotta look at defensive schemes also. I think Parker guarded Nash best on pick and roll. Plus the fact that Beno is not really a great sub for Parker. I am not comparing subbing Manu instead of Parker, because they play 2 different positions.

[jcrod]

1parker1,

I love it when players go 0-6, 2 turnovers, and turn a 7 point lead into a 10 point hole.

I like Parker, but he played like shit in the third when the game was on the line.

Amateur or not, he sucked dick that quarter.

:shootme

Games are not won in the third, there are four quarters. Bottom line freethrows cost them the game.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Okay Whott, you're wrong, I'm right, Barry is an All-Star, blah blah blah.

As for Beno in the third:

All he had to do was not make two of Parker's bonehead turnovers, and pass one of Tony's bricks to one of Manu, Horry, or Bowen.

Spurs win.

Or are you trying to tell me that when this team went to hell and got whipped by 14 points in a quarter, that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

This isn't about the Spurs scoring 36 in a quarter. They played Phoenix pretty much even in the first and fourth, outscored Phoenix by 10 in the 2nd, and lost the third by 14. Game over.

Phoenix gained its final margin in the third when Parker was fucking up left and right. There's even two articles by Express-News people highlighting it, but I guess they don't know what the fuck they're talking about either.

[SWC Bonfire]

Public Service Announcement:

Aggie Hoopsfan's views are not neccesarily the views of generally well behaved & loyal Spurs fans (I'm sure they're at least 20 of them or so), Texas A&M University or the general brotherhood of collective graduates known as Texas Aggies, many of whom admire the hard work and discipline administered by coach Pop.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled complaining.

[ambchang]

I won't be surprised if it was by design. A sweep would be sweet, but the Spurs will be overconfident, and I actually think 7 days of rest is way too much for the Spurs. Given the 2-3-2 format in the Finals, losing Game 1 at home because of too much rest (that really could happen) would be devastating.

[WalterBenitez]

yeah
it is tony's fault that pop kepted playing him
it is tony's fault big dog's mom died
it is tony's fault spurs put devin brown on the playoff roster when he has no legs and is useless

and it is tony's fault spurs are shotting 50% from the strip

Come on DUCKS Tony is a GREAT PLAYER, but as human being, sometimes, he must realize when he has a bad night, this is the only critic you can take seriously; but for sure "the kid" will learn and will improve.

[CaptainLate]

I was very surprised he let Phoenix get up by 10pts or so before calling a timeout.

[snip] I don't know about you, but if we have to go to Phoenix and then come back to the SBC center, it could be just like Derek Fisher's 0.4 seconds.

Pop, do some coaching and close this thing out or else we could be making history as the only team to lose a series being up 0-3.

Yeah, they could join the '79 team that blew a 3-1 lead to the Bullets and lost.

[CaptainLate]

Yeah whott, in a quarter we got smoked by 14 while Tony clanged away bad shot after bad shot, there was nothing wrong with our offense.

Nice move, Pop. <eyes rolling>

Archive this: If they lose this series because Parker pulls another Lakers series of 4 crappy games, look for trade talks in the offseason for a stud SF while Beno, a more conventional PG takes over.

[MannyIsGod]

Big suprise. The Spurs lose and AHF is calling out Pop.

There maybe 24928392830282093820938 reasons why the Spurs lost that have nothing to do with anything Popovich does, and this dumbass will start a thread about the 3 that do. Had he sat Parker, and the Spurs still lost, he would have bitched about not sticking with your best players.

Tony Parker has gotten it done this entire series. There was no reason to bench him even after some bad play. You go with the guys that got you here to begin with.

But the bottom line is that they lost this game due to poor transition defense. They gave up more 3s in that 3rd than I've seen in quite awhile. The only times they've looked like a worse team than the Suns is when they give up those 3s and allow Phoenix to score in a bunches. Big bunches.

All in all, you chalk it up to a bad menality coming into the game, missed freethrows, and a general lack of effort. I would hate to be Pheonix in game 5.

[Fouled Out]

They kept feeding the ball to Duncan down low late in the game with about 2:36 left in the fourth period. He was missing some and getting fouled at the same time, that is where Pop should have went to Manu to drive and get the foul to make the free throws. It was that simple!!!!

[FromWayDowntown]

I thought Pop made some bad decisions last night and got a little too hard-headed with trying to impose the Spurs' will on a night when the players weren't executing the Spurs' game plan. I also didn't notice Pop missing any free throws, failing to rotate to 3 point shooters in transition, or allowing Amare to come up with several key offensive boards in the 4th quarter. Those are on the players.

Still, whether you put it on Pop or the players, or some combination of the two, I take solace in the fact that Phoenix shot almost 60% for the entire game, the Spurs shot under 50% from the line and got very little from Duncan and Parker, and the game still came down to possessions with less than a minute to go. Get an offensive board on the Suns' last shot (8 seconds or so to go) and you have the ball and chance to force overtime on a night where everything seemed to go the Suns' way.

I'm disappointed that the Spurs' lost -- particularly after making that run to end the 1st half only to crap it away with soft play in the 3rd quarter -- and there's a lot that needs to be corrected, but it's not like the Spurs were miles away from getting that game. If Pop can make the corrections that must be made after last night and get his team to play with some passion and fire for 4 quarters, they have a good chance to end this in 5.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Pop's decision for the Spurs to miss their free throws was an unorthodox tactic that clearly backfired. Look for a reversal of strategy on that one. Look for him to call more "make the shot" plays as well, instead of the "miss the shot" plays that he was calling for much of the second and third quarter.

Coaches don't shoot the ball, although I think the way the Spurs were shooting last night Pop could have gone in and hit better.

[mrpach]

MABE and just mabe
Pop played Parker the time he threw bricks and the 10-0 run because, as i read in this forum, the matchup parker-billups would be very important if it ever ocurred
Mabe he wanted the boy to get more play and figure the things out for himself
but again, this is only a mabe

[Rick Von Braun]

I would like to clarify something regarding the bad transition D in the 3rd quarter. I believe this issue is the chicken and egg problem.

In several of the Spurs' offensive possesions in the 3rd quarter, for whatever reason, they were taking long jumpshots (particularly TP). The problem was the following. Bruce was standing the in the corner waiting for a pass that never came. The 2 bigs were near the paint waiting for the rebound. After all the misses, 2 things happened:




Long jumpers produce long rebounds that were capitalized by the Suns in their transition game.
Because Bruce was camping in the corner, the 2 bigs were near the paint, and TP was 16 ft from the basket after a miss, only Barry/Manu were running back on time in transition D.
In the previous game I saw up to 3 Spurs running back on D. If TP/Pop decided to piss off the game in the 3rd quarter with long jumpers, at the very least they should have asked Bruce to get out of the corner so he could run back on D faster. I would rather sacrifize spacing (that is useless anyway if the Spurs are taking jumpers) for better transition D.

The transition D problem starts with a bad set up in offense, and allowing low percentage shots that create opportunites for the Suns' running game. If the Spurs pound it inside and take 3 pointers with 3 perimeter players behind the arc, you get better transition D by default. If Tim misses inside, the miss produces a short rebound and you have 3 Spurs running back. If the Spurs take a trey, the other 2 players behind the arc can start running back immediately.

The combination of long range jumphots inside the arc, Bruce static in the corner not getting the ball, and the 2 bigs inside waiting for long rebounds was killer. You can strongly argue that the bad transition D was a direct consequence of a bad offensive strategy.

[Jimcs50]

I feel the same way Rick.

I think the Spurs will stop this trend before it gets to be a habit.

whether or not that is enough to win, only time will tell.

I can tell you this though, with every win by Phoenix, the pressure on SA builds exponentially.

[MadDog73]

My two cents (probably not worth the money it costs to coin them):

Tim, Tony and Pop can all share in this loss. But after all is said and done, we still had a chance to put this thing away when we were only down by 1 pt. late 4th quarter. It didn't happen, but my God, the Spurs made so many mistakes, left so many Suns wide open, allowed something like 30 fast break points, and we still only lost by 5 points to the #1 team in the NBA, with the MVP and COTY to boot.

AHF: Sure Pop made mistakes, like Tim and Tony did, but tell me, why are you calling him out? Would you rather have D'Antoni and his 6 man rotation?

[sungo99]

Assuming the outcome is still in question, either Duncan or Ginobili has to be on the court at all times. There were three separate occasions (including a long stretch in the third) when both were on the bench. To put it plainly, if last night's game was a game 6 or 7 there's no way Pop leaves both those guys on the bench. He was dicking around last night. He does that a lot.

It's ironic that we are complaining about Pop (and rightfully so) when it took Mike D'Antoni (NBA Coach of the Year) 13 quarters to figure out how to guard Tony Parker. Parker was downright awful, but it's hard to give Beno a lot of minutes when he passes up wide open shot after wide open shot.

[MiNuS]

First half DOMINATED by Manu. One play where he stole it and went the length of the floor.I thought WHO needs the rest of the team? Just let Manu play against the Suns by himself! That's what it looks like sometimes.

More Manu in the last quarter and thats it! Its money in the bag!

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I think I've stated my case Mad Dog.

Damn, if we can't criticize what we think went wrong, why even have this site?

But again, here you go:

* Beno played well last night, and should have seen more time when Parker was stinking it up.

* Horry was played too much by Pop and was gassed at the end of the game when we needed him fresh. Nazr played 2 minutes of the fourth, and Tmass, Rasho were DNP-CDs.

* Manu had 16 points in the first half. In his first 6 minutes of play in the third, he got TWO shots. Meanwhile Tony was working on his 0-6 shooting off the pick and roll. Is it so hard to think "hmm, maybe I need to run a play for Manu..."?

* When Tim starts missing FTs left and right, he loses all offensive confidence. Yet Pop keeps running plays for him and watching him alternate between bricks from the field and bricks from the FT line.

NOTE: I am not saying bench Tim. I am saying you've got four other guys on the court, it's okay to use them.

Manu got bitched out for taking one three after coming off the bench. I never saw Pop try to reign in Tony. If he did, then I apologize for my rant. But he didn't call a timeout during all that fiasco in the third, and just let Tony throw up brick after brick.

Sometimes I go off on Pop more than I should, but tonight Pop let the game get out of his control in the third, and it cost us the game.