drastic changes required for game 5

[spur4life]

i think what the spurs should be focused on now is how to unravel the pistons defence:
1. play defence @ high intensity, be aggressive & clog the lanes
2. play duncan with 4 guards (including small forwards)
3. don't play beno @ all in the game!
4. give big dog minutes
5. play entire 48 minutes aggressively & as if it is a game 7
6. tell timmy to stop complaining to officials DURING the game....spurs should also have been whining during press conference to get officials on their side...enough of trying to show class, trying to be "too" nice"
7. knock their guards to the floor if they come near the paint....i noticed the pistons have been doing that to our guards...if necessary bring in t-mass for some minutes for this...rasho seems too slow for this kind of game
8. ....or else, pop & pj just have to think of something creative that will destabilize destroits' defence...after all, that is what they are paid to do!
9. robert horry seems to be falling in love with shooting 3s....shoot only when you are sure robert
10. rotate ball & help super-gino...ginobili should start running around d court like rip to free himself
11. last but not the least...take care of the ball! & cut of piston's transistion game! ..after all, they are not phoenix who love to run!!

[Ishta]

nice post spurs4life, and welcome to Spurstalk :spin

[Phenomanul]

Start Glen Robinson.... at least play the shooter.

I agree with knocking down Detroit's guards... I'm not a retaliative sort of person but the calls that we got away with in Games 1&2 (probably the same amount as what the Pistons got away with in games 3&4) were no where near as physical. I watched the replay of Chauncey's foul on Parker... he definitely wasn't looking at the ball, he was looking at Parker's head... the result was that Parker was knocked out with his elbow. In the first two games the Spurs' got away with missed out of bounds calls, with a missed goal-tending call, a charge, etc... the Pistons' are getting away with no-calls on flagrants.... shoves from behind, hacks at the arms. and moving picks.

Having said that, the Pistons are clicking... we better figure them out again.

[JamStone]

Chauncey's foul on Tony Parker in game 3 was definitely a hard foul. And, while I'm sure Chauncey wanted to make sure Tony had no chance to make the basket, I believe Chauncey made a play on the ball. Before David Stern implemented the flagrant foul rules to make the NBA charmin soft, those kind of fouls happened all the time in the NBA. It's a good hard foul. By the way, Robert Horry laid the wood down on Tayshaun Prince pretty good in game 1. Good hard foul. Nothing wrong with that, for either team to do to players who attack the rim.

Unfortunately for the Spurs, the Pistons guards don't attack the rim nearly as much as Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. And, the Pistons guards like to score with jumpshots, not lay-ups. So, the Spurs have fewer chances to give out hard fouls to the guards.


Even though I'm a Piston fan, I would make a suggestion to the Spurs. If I were Coach Pop, and was disappointed with the play of Beno as the back-up point, I would consider moving Manu Ginobili or Brent Barry over to the point when Tony Parker needed a rest and let them bring up the ball and be responsible for setting up the offense. Both are very capable of doing it. And, that could open up more minutes for Devin Brown and maybe Glenn Robinson. I would strongly consider that.

Even though Beno made a couple of jumpshots in game 4, his overall play has been a liability for the Spurs.


And, this goes for both teams, I think when you have two great defenses like we have here, it's not always about schemes and adjustments. It's more about focus, energy, and effort. Execution on offense will be better if you have those three things. To me, in all four games, the team that played the hardest and with the most intensity won the games. San Antonio has proven all year long, and all post season long that they are one of the if not THE best team in the NBA. They are too good to not come back from these two lopsided defeats. As a Piston fan, I wouldn't mind if they didn't. But, I suspect both teams to start playing really hard and really well, as the end of the tunnel quickly approaches for both teams.

[FoxMulder]

The rest of the team must shoot consistently Horry, Udrih, Barry, Bowen, lets make plays for them. Stay focused and in deffense. No abuse the frontcourt game. The Pistons are dominating the paint. Try more shoot from outside. Sinking some threes, the paint will be open for Tony, Manu and Tim. Use a lot more Tony Mass and Rasho to hack Wallace, McDyess and Sheed with HARD fouls. Use your fouls man!! Don´t make them easy to go to the basket. And also to the guards. Hits them like they do with you!!!

A foul for a foul, a goal for a goal...

Greetings from the south of the world


GO SPURS GO

[easjer]

I think you'v emade some excellent points, Jamstone.

I need to see more aggressiveness. I think they need to clamp down more consistently on D. And I think they need to run. Contradictory? A little. But hell, let's turn it into a running game - we can do it, and they can't keep up. Get back on transition D, and just do what we did in Pheonix. Let their less offensive players take their shots, clamp down on the perimeter and get the hell out there.

They need to be quicker than the Pistons, because the Pistons are getting downcourt faster, and that allows Ben W to intimidate and try to steal on the perimeter, which is one of the things interrupting their ball movement and flow.

Hitting their effing shots woudln't hurt either. They've moved beyond the half court game, they are better at the full court running game, and they've ground down into the half court, which the Pistons dominate. Get it going! Get it moving! And they won't be able to keep up.

[easjer]

All this talk about retaliation fouls . . . look - they are getting ticky tack calls, and they will get these calls too. Don't pretend the refs call games consistently or evenly from side to side. The Pistons are not intimidated by the Spurs, and the Spurs bringing hard fouls is not the answer - it's only going to make the refs call ALL fouls, hard and ticky tack, and raise the level of physicality, which is dangerously high already.

If they stop worrying about the fouls and just play ball, we'll be ok.

[ata]

IMHO Pop should change staring five.

Parker
Brown
Bowen
Duncan
Nesterovic

Rasho for Nazr is no brainer. Rasho is way better defender against Wallaces and Nazr's offense is inefecive againts Pistons. Rasho also makes a lot of space in offence for driving layups for Manu and TP. Nazr should still get his minutes.

Decision for Brown is harder. My primary goal is not to start Manu. First reason is, that Manu was dismatled in 1Q of games 3&4 (in G4 all Spurs were dismantled in 1Q already). Starting of the bench could provide stable beginning of the game. Second reason - it worked during regular season.

PS (5 min later): nothing will help, if wide open shots will be missed!

[ididnotnothat]

Score, score and score.

[mavsfan1000]

Forget the changing the lineup. If Ginobili isn't right you can give opportunities to G. Robinson or B. Barry but you have to be sure that Ginobili isn't effective before you do this. Brown has not given the minutes to be effective and waiting this late to see if he is effective is risky.

[ambchang]

Nah, no need to panic, just rebound, and rebound and rebound. Play with heart, play with energy, don't worry about picking up fouls, just go play.

[mrpach]

MOre rasho time :jack
Big Ben seem to be outrebounding Nazr becz of strenght and jump, while Rasho is bigger and heavier. It would be easier for him to post, becauz of his size and when tim was out last year we saw that rasho has a little post game