Why we Lost: 3rd Quarter, Pop, Tony, FTs

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Sorry late game officiating aside, let's look at the stuff we CAN control...

We lost this game in the third when we went from 6 up to 10 down.

Why do I single out Pop and Tony?

Tony started out the third quarter clanging 6 straight shots, and sprinking in 2 turnovers along the way.

Tony played 11:36 of the 12:00 minutes of the third.

Meanwhile, Pop pulled Manu at about the 8 minute mark of the third, and Manu didn't return until there was under 2 minutes left and the damage had been done.

Manu was tearing it up in the third, and got one touch on offense in the pivotal third quarter. Meanwhile Parker was missing shit left and right.

And the other kicker is Phoenix started out the third by going on a monster run, including a 10-0 spurt at one point.

Did Pop call a single timeout to stem the flow? He called one at the 10:30ish mark, nothing thereafter.

Manu spent entirely too much of the third, and subsequently the fourth, quarters on the bench. He should have been inserted to stem the tide in the third, but Pop went with a cold Parker over a hot Manu (16 in the first half), stupid.

The FTs, I think they go without any elaboration necessary, but I'll give it anyway...

When Tim bricks his FTs, he gets passive on offense, and it showed the second half. But we kept forcing it to him anyway, when you had Manu, Horry, and Bowen of all people hitting their shots consistently.

Tonight Pop had a brainfart personnel wise, his substitutions sucked, and I don't get the whole switching on the pick and roll thing leaving Tony to guard Amare Stoudemire.

In games 1-3 in this series, we trapped Nash hard on the pick and roll. I don't get why Pop decided to get cute with the switch tonight.

I hope to God that we learn from this, but past indications tell me we're in for a long series now. Pop will pucker on offense, which means a heavy dose of 4down into the teeth of the Phoenix zone in game 5.

Time to start praying.

[ZStomp]

Didn't you already fucking make a thread on this?

Why start another one??

Duh.

[ducks]

tp and manu do not play the same postion
otherwise the post was not that bad
pop went to the point guard that got him there then the rookie point guard that has been none effective in the suns series except for the first half tonight

and I hope we learn from this


but I think barry deserves to be called out tonight as well as tony and duncan

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Barry hit a couple of threes tonight, why are you calling him out? He was tasked with trying to defend Joe Johnson while Bowen stood in the other corner with non-entity Marion.

Here's the thing: as long as Marion is running around on the perimeter, Barry can guard him.

Put Bowen on Joe Johnson.

[ducks]

barry hit one three all night
had 4 fouls
he needs to be effective especially with big dog not being able to go

[dn0]

td and tp combined for 28 points, tp had more turnovers than assists.
Enough said.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Well whoopdedoo.

Let's give them a gold star. :lol Tim was 3-15 FTs (check out the winning margin and get back to me on that one, if Tim even hit 2/3 of his FTs), airballing FTs, Tony was trying to go one on five, but if you think either one of those is a good thing, knock yourself out.

[smeagol]

barry hit one three all night
had 4 fouls
he needs to be effective especially with big dog not being able to go
Anything that deflects attention from TP, right ducks?

AHF is hitting the nail on the head with his analysis. TP sucked bigtime in the third Q and Pop not only let him play pretty much the entire Q, but he did not stop him (TP) from shooting brick after brick. Meanwhile this was going on, Manu was riding the pine.

Plain stupid.

[Spurminator]

One simple answer.

TRANSITION FUCKING DEFENSE

[DDS4]

Why we lost: transition defense was horrible. Suns got 26 points off transition and shot 57%.

Unacceptable.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Hell, if Tim would have hit 2/3 of his FTs tonight, we would have won.

[ducks]

yeah it is tp's fault duncan got tenative out there because he was sucking from the line
yeah it was tony's fault
suns shot 59%

but less blame this loss on tp
it is all his fault no one else

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

ducks, shut the fuck up.

This isn't about Tony being blamed for Tim's shitty FTs.

It's about his bad play on the offensive end in the third, when he single handed blew 8 of 10 Spurs offensive possessions while Phoenix went from 6 down to 10 up.

I saw you in another thread say Barry didn't do shit tonight. If you are going to do something like hang anything on Barry for tonight, you need to give up on defending Parker, he single-handedly flipped the scoreboard in Phoenix's favor tonight.

[Catharsis]

You lost for two reasons: Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire. Many here did not think Joe Johnson made a difference. TP's point total and turnovers shows you the difference he makes. He's the second best defender on the team--best perimeter defender on the team. He also doesn't just hurt you by making shots, but he opens up the court for other players. How many times were the Spurs in a zone trying to keep Amare out of the paint to have him dish it out to Johnson who dished it out to Richardson. It was the first time I saw thr Spurs running to guard an open man this series. It isn't just a coincidence that Richardson is now hitting threes--Johnson opens everything up.

Amare has been getting nothing easy in the paint (only 6 free throw attempts) yet still leads all scorers.

Spurs still win the series though as they have three games to end it.

[samikeyp]

You lost for two reasons: Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire.

I disagree. If the Spurs take care of their own business, they win this game. Although Johnson and Stoudemire played well.

[T Park]

Id say Tim Duncan not showing up also helped in that.

[slayermin]

TP sucked ballz and our lack of intensity in transition were the main reasons we lost.

Damn, I am pissed. I wish I had something I could kick.

[Sense]

I'd rather blame everything on Duncan...

after going 15-15 from the fts...he was VERY dissappointing...

However I expect him to step his shit up next game just like the ones in Denver and Seattle and lead us again..

If Duncan sucks we suck..blame him!

[boutons]

"I expect him to step his shit up next game"

I figure the Suns will neutralize Tim again in PHX, with fast and hard and close-in doubling, they have the athletes to do it. It worked so well tonight, why would they top doing it? The Suns played some defense, and the Spurs, esp Tim, folded.

[smeagol]

yeah it is tp's fault duncan got tenative out there because he was sucking from the line
yeah it was tony's fault
suns shot 59%

but less blame this loss on tp
it is all his fault no one else
ducks, are trying your best to be this stupid, or is are you leaving something in the tank for later?

Nobody is saying its all TPs fault. TP is only one of the reasons we lost. Together with Tim's FTs, Pop's bad coaching decisions, etc. One of the reasons. Do you get it?

The problem is you get so defensive when anybody says anything bad about TP, you start making no sense. You attack Manu, you attack Barry. But you never come to admit that TP is not infallible. He blew it tonight, specially in the 3Q. But TD's missed FTs were a big part of the reason why we lost.

Manu also missed a FT and a layup in the last two minutes, but its difficult to blame this one on Manu, can we?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Tpark, the FTs criticism up above is all Tim's.

[Sense]

"I expect him to step his shit up next game"

I figure the Suns will neutralize Tim again in PHX, with fast and hard and close-in doubling, they have the athletes to do it. It worked so well tonight, why would they top doing it? The Suns played some defense, and the Spurs, esp Tim, folded.


You don't think his ft's...and fg misses had anything to do with his game?

I don't think they played good D on duncan..but I did notice he had less asists because he couldnt find the man...

That was a big difference and I can blame it on him.

[SouthernFried]

No, we lost cuz Timmy didn't hit his FT's...end of story.

Tony sucked it up tonight too. Missing all those outside shots and travelling, stepping out of bounds, etc. Horry, Manu and Bowen were incredible.

Still, if Tim just hits a measly 60% of his FT's we win...

Amare was a monster tho, one of the best blocks I've ever seen...and that between-Horry's-legs-while-falling-out-of-bounds pass Nash threw to Amare was pretty amazing as well.

Still, with Suns shooting 75% in the third quarter, and around 54% for the game, if Tim hits 60% of FT's we win.

[1Parker1]

ducks, are trying your best to be this stupid, or is are you leaving something in the tank for later?

Nobody is saying its all TPs fault. TP is only one of the reasons we lost. Together with Tim's FTs, Pop's bad coaching decisions, etc. One of the reasons. Do you get it?

The problem is you get so defensive when anybody says anything bad about TP, you start making no sense. You attack Manu, you attack Barry. But you never come to admit that TP is not infallible. He blew it tonight, specially in the 3Q. But TD's missed FTs were a big part of the reason why we lost.

Manu also missed a FT and a layup in the last two minutes, but its difficult to blame this one on Manu, can we?


I personally blame Rasho. Way to step up on your Birthday and save your team :spin

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Anyone who has been paying attention to Tim's career would know that his FT dictates his game.

Nights like tonight when he shoots horrible early, he plays softer than Charmin' at the offensive end because he doesn't have any confidence about getting fouled and going to the line and hitting them.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Is it me, or are Manu, Horry and Bowen the only consistant Spurs in these playoffs??

[pjjrfan]

Sorry late game officiating aside, let's look at the stuff we CAN control...

We lost this game in the third when we went from 6 up to 10 down.

Why do I single out Pop and Tony?

Tony started out the third quarter clanging 6 straight shots, and sprinking in 2 turnovers along the way.

Tony played 11:36 of the 12:00 minutes of the third.

Meanwhile, Pop pulled Manu at about the 8 minute mark of the third, and Manu didn't return until there was under 2 minutes left and the damage had been done.

Manu was tearing it up in the third, and got one touch on offense in the pivotal third quarter. Meanwhile Parker was missing shit left and right.

And the other kicker is Phoenix started out the third by going on a monster run, including a 10-0 spurt at one point.

Did Pop call a single timeout to stem the flow? He called one at the 10:30ish mark, nothing thereafter.

Manu spent entirely too much of the third, and subsequently the fourth, quarters on the bench. He should have been inserted to stem the tide in the third, but Pop went with a cold Parker over a hot Manu (16 in the first half), stupid.

The FTs, I think they go without any elaboration necessary, but I'll give it anyway...

When Tim bricks his FTs, he gets passive on offense, and it showed the second half. But we kept forcing it to him anyway, when you had Manu, Horry, and Bowen of all people hitting their shots consistently.

Tonight Pop had a brainfart personnel wise, his substitutions sucked, and I don't get the whole switching on the pick and roll thing leaving Tony to guard Amare Stoudemire.

In games 1-3 in this series, we trapped Nash hard on the pick and roll. I don't get why Pop decided to get cute with the switch tonight.

I hope to God that we learn from this, but past indications tell me we're in for a long series now. Pop will pucker on offense, which means a heavy dose of 4down into the teeth of the Phoenix zone in game 5.

Time to start praying.

Damn, that pretty much sums it up, except that Tony got passive after he got pulled out in the 1st qtr, he just never looked to penetrate into the lane after that turnover that got him benched. And it's strange cause Pop was telling them to drive it the whole game.

[pjjrfan]

Is it me, or are Manu, Horry and Bowen the only consistant Spurs in these playoffs??

Well, really up until this game, Manu, Tim and Tony were pretty much tearing it up. They just picked a bad time to have a bad game. I just hope they got it out of their systems.