Pop's Genius Down the Stretch

[timvp]

What a great play Pop drew up for Danny Green's game-winner. Common sense said to give the ball to TP or TD but Pop's outside-the-box thinking was genius. When attacking the Lakers defense, their biggest weakness is Kobe's aimless roaming. He is ALWAYS looking to play the passing lanes and really just isn't good at navigating around screens.

So on the design of the play, Pop's play first took advantage of Kobe looking to make a play off the ball. Then it took advantage of Kobe being slow to get around screens. The result was a wide, wide open three-pointer. Great call, Pop :tu

And let's not forget the defense. Pop didn't flinch all game when Kobe was lighting up Green. For the final two minutes, he switched Leonard onto Kobe ... and dealing with Leonard's length seemed to throw Kobe's rhythm off. Pop's patience in not using the Leonard switch until the very end also ended up being genius.

Hall of Fame coach doing Hall of Fame things, to be honest.

[lefty]

Great

Now stop playing fucking Matt Bonner in the playoffs and fucking up the rotations in a crucial WCF game 5

[Wildcat67]

Or he could of put Leonard on him to start the second half and we win by 10.

[BillMc]

Well said! Fantastic move by POP!

[Obstructed_View]

What a great play Pop drew up for Danny Green's game-winner. Common sense said to give the ball to TP or TD but Pop's outside-the-box thinking was genius. When attacking the Lakers defense, their biggest weakness is Kobe's aimless roaming. He is ALWAYS looking to play the passing lanes and really just isn't good at navigating around screens.

So on the design of the play, Pop's play first took advantage of Kobe looking to make a play off the ball. Then it took advantage of Kobe being slow to get around screens. The result was a wide, wide open three-pointer. Great call, Pop :tu

And let's not forget the defense. Pop didn't flinch all game when Kobe was lighting up Green. For the final two minutes, he switched Leonard onto Kobe ... and dealing with Leonard's length seemed to throw Kobe's rhythm off. Pop's patience in not using the Leonard switch until the very end also ended up being genius.

Hall of Fame coach doing Hall of Fame things, to be honest.

All the credit in the world to Pop. Let's hope he does the same things in the playoffs when the team is desperate for a win. Last time I remember him doing this was when he put Jacque Vaughn under the basket so the Suns couldn't leave him alone.

[ffadicted]

goat

[Malik Hairston]

He's the best coach of my lifetime at drawing up game winning set plays, tbh..

I also like how he opted against using hack-a-Howard..it'll be part of the strategy if the Spurs face LA in the playoffs, especially if LA's offense improves under Pringles..

[Spur|n|Austin]

And I don't think I saw a minute of the Red Sprockette tonight.

[Fabbs]

Or he could of put Leonard on him to start the second half and we win by 10.
:lol

[Nathan89]

Playing Tiago over 10 min was also a good decision.

[lefty]

And then everyone praising Pop right now will be calling for his head in the playoffs

[gospursgojas]

Dont forget that great play he drew up for Matt bonner to sit on the bench

[letmk]

As tony just told NBATV, Pop designed the play to take advantage KB's "cheat on defense by staying in the paint." That's a tremendous game plan.

[SA210]

Are these signs that the old Pop is back? I hope the focus stays on D. I'll take lower scoring games over the 110 point games. As long as it's all about the Defense

[Mugen]

Yeah he can outcoach Bernie Bickerstaff but can he outcoach Mike D'An... :lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao

[Arcadian]

Bonner - DNP CD :tu

[lefty]

Pop didnt screw up in the playoffs










yaayyyyyyyyy..............











Bipolar Spurs fans :lmao

[spurraider21]

Dont forget that great play he drew up for Matt bonner to sit on the bench
I'm still laughing at this haha

[Darius McCrary]

TP completely validating timvp's take on NBA TV

[racm]

Bonner should never play against the Lakers tbh

[lefty]

Bonner should never play again

fify

[SenorSpur]

Fantastic call by Pop to run a play for Green. In listening to TP's post-game comments on NBATV, he indicated that "we all know Kobe likes to cheat off his man and stay in the paint", which is EXACTLY what happened. Bryant got nudged off a pick and was late getting out on Green. I think Kobe was as surprised as anyone that the play was ran for Green. Excellent chess move by the master - Pop.

Another brilliant move by Pop was the insertion of Splitter into the starting lineup. A move likely made to help deal with the Fakers length. This is something that many here in the forum, myself included, have been pleading for for a couple of seasons now. While Splitter is just seemingly destined for a regular date with foul trouble, he was active on the offensive glass, defended Gasol as best he could and got some garbage baskets on putbacks. He even managed to draw a couple of key offensive fouls on Howard in the 4th quarter. While he still needs to be more aggressive, he did his job.

The last brilliant move by Pop was giving Bonner a DNP-CD. In my opinion, Bonner wasn't missed at all. The thought of him trying to go up against either Pau Gasol or Jordan Hill is a frightening one. It's a good thing we didn't have to endure it. I could certainly stand to see a few DNPs for the big red-head.

Big :tu to the head coach for this game!

[Obstructed_View]

I have no problem with Bonner getting minutes, what I have a problem with is him getting ROTATION minutes. His minutes should correlate with how many baskets he makes. His time on the floor should result in one of two things: Increased three point attempts or a spike in points in the paint.

[Splits]

Another brilliant move by Pop was the insertion of Splitter into the starting lineup. A move likely made to help deal with the Fakers length.

This is not new. Splitter started 2 games last season. Both of them were against the Lakers.

[Stabula]

Or he could of put Leonard on him to start the second half and we win by 10.

[UZER]

Pop is Pop. He draws up good plays in crunch time...except for Terry Porter dribbling to his knees.

But we will all still be cursing his name if Bonner is a big in the rotations in the playoffs.

[Fabbs]

Pop is genius. Who else could have thought of those moves?

[Floyd Pacquiao]

I thought I saw coach Bud drawing up that play tbh could be wrong though.

[Fabbs]

I thought I saw coach Bud drawing up that play tbh could be wrong though.
:lol:lol

[Baseline]

What a great play Pop drew up for Danny Green's game-winner. Common sense said to give the ball to TP or TD but Pop's outside-the-box thinking was genius. When attacking the Lakers defense, their biggest weakness is Kobe's aimless roaming. He is ALWAYS looking to play the passing lanes and really just isn't good at navigating around screens.

So on the design of the play, Pop's play first took advantage of Kobe looking to make a play off the ball. Then it took advantage of Kobe being slow to get around screens. The result was a wide, wide open three-pointer. Great call, Pop :tu

And let's not forget the defense. Pop didn't flinch all game when Kobe was lighting up Green. For the final two minutes, he switched Leonard onto Kobe ... and dealing with Leonard's length seemed to throw Kobe's rhythm off. Pop's patience in not using the Leonard switch until the very end also ended up being genius.

Hall of Fame coach doing Hall of Fame things, to be honest.

Great point, timvp. Pop is astute enough to know that Bryant hasn't played real defense for probably four years, and even when he did play D, it was "hero" defense. Meaning he'll play the passing lanes for the flashy stea rather than just solid team defense.

Whatever the flashy, selfish, look-at-me play is...that's what he'll do 95% of the time. I mean, what's glamorous about fighting through a screen?

So it was that much sweeter that Pop took advantage of Bryant's tendencies and Danny Green made it pay off.

[Stabula]

So it was that much sweeter that Pop took advantage of Bryant's tendencies and Danny Green made it pay off.

Exploiting Kobe's selfishness is always oh-so sweet.

[Raven]

i still have nightmares of plays designed for udoka tbh

[blizz]

Or he could of put Leonard on him to start the second half and we win by 10.

The point is that pop intentionally left Leonard off him so that Kobe couldn't get used to his D and so that it would be a change that Kobe would have to adjust to

[lakerhaterade]

i still have nightmares of plays designed for udoka tbh
Udoka was a sorry ass player

[Raven]

Udoka was a sorry ass player

that's why there shouldn't have been plays designed for him in the clutch ..

[ChumpDumper]

Pop is genius. Who else could have thought of those moves?Not you.

[buttsR4rebounding]

Yeah he can outcoach Bernie Bickerstaff but can he outcoach Mike D'An... :lmao:lmao:lmao:lmao

I don't know. Bernie had this wonderful insight after the game:

"If I can quote Shakespeare, the problem lies not within the stars, it lies within ourselves."-- Lakers coach Bernie Bickerstaff

Does that mean he's blaming it on the bench?

[benefactor]

Another good thing is none of this should change when D'Antoni finally takes over. Pop was notorious for going into the fetal position against PJ but it's the exact opposite with Pringles. Pop has literally made a career out of outcoaching him. We'll see plenty more coaching goods from Pop if the Spurs see the Lakers in the playoffs.

[turkish spurs fan]

nearly the same game winner set againts magic http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Qr58diX9L5c

via http://filelisepet.blogspot.com/2012/11/

[spurspokesman]

What a great play Pop drew up for Danny Green's game-winner. Common sense said to give the ball to TP or TD but Pop's outside-the-box thinking was genius. When attacking the Lakers defense, their biggest weakness is Kobe's aimless roaming. He is ALWAYS looking to play the passing lanes and really just isn't good at navigating around screens.

So on the design of the play, Pop's play first took advantage of Kobe looking to make a play off the ball. Then it took advantage of Kobe being slow to get around screens. The result was a wide, wide open three-pointer. Great call, Pop :tu

And let's not forget the defense. Pop didn't flinch all game when Kobe was lighting up Green. For the final two minutes, he switched Leonard onto Kobe ... and dealing with Leonard's length seemed to throw Kobe's rhythm off. Pop's patience in not using the Leonard switch until the very end also ended up being genius.

Hall of Fame coach doing Hall of Fame things, to be honest.
My thinking exactly. Pop didnt show his hand until late hoping that the spurs would either be ahead or within a hair of the lakers and then throw leonard at kome. I had a gut feeling that pop set the play for green but told the guys if your open in a comfortable spot just let it fly.

[Budkin]

I watched the play several times over on the DVR. Man they couldn't have run it more perfectly.

[DejuanorwhatDude]

If you see the look on Danny Green's face right before the play you can tell he was gonna shoot. He had this deer in the headlights look right before it happened.

[silverblk mystix]

It only took 3 years for Pop to realize he had no one else to pair with Timmy except for Splitter, but Pop made DAMN sure that Splitter was over himself before giving him minutes.

Next game though, Splitter is back to the doghouse. Oh yeah, Pop also mentioned that more "small ball" is coming.

Genius coach.

[ace3g]

Gregg Popovich: Rare And Surprising
http://hoopchalk.com/2012/11/14/gregg-popovich-rare-and-surprising/

shows how they set up the play with pictures

[dbreiden83080]

Praise of Pop..


Wow!!!

[024]

The play for Green was pretty intelligent. Letting Green get abused over and over by simple screens was not.