Obstructed_View
05-19-2013, 07:32 PM
Thought this deserved its own thread, because it's a big deal for this team.
Anyone notice how the Spurs' defense has kind of struggled at times over the last few months? Remember how it was chugging along in December? Remember how they killed teams with a pick and roll that nobody could defend? Wonder where that went? So did I. I've openly questioned Pop for going away from something that's so effective and dominant against everyone.
Today's game suggests that perhaps there was a method to this madness.
I noticed it during the game, and the ESPN crew was actually smart enough to notice this in the postgame talk. Magic asked if Pop was playing possum. I think there's a possibility he's right.
That pick and roll game is back in full force. Maybe it was just the energy of the players, maybe it was the hustle. Maybe it was the rebounding and defense, but it sure looked like the offense that Pop decimated teams with earlier in the season.
Maybe it was the three pointers, but those weren't just open three pointers. "Wide open" just doesn't tell the story. Pop calls a timeout and screeches like my third-grade teacher when the Spurs leave a player that open. Guys can get benched for several games if it happens twice. The Grizzlies left the Spurs that open a couple dozen times. How could the Spurs NOT shoot 25 three pointers in the game? In a lot of cases, the Spurs took the three even though the offense had worked for a fair-quality two point shot. It was pick-your-poison for Memphis, and both outcomes were going to end up looking pretty much the same.
But Hollins said at halftime that wasn't the defense he wanted. Something did that to them. Something the Spurs did turned the best defense in the NBA into the 2002 Dallas Mavericks.
I think it was that pick and roll game. I think it's been there all along, Pop made sure all his starters and subs knew it back and forward, then he rolled it up and put it in his pocket, only using it once in a while for the rest of the season while the Spurs sat under the radar, gaining their wind, resting their injuries, and biding their time as the insurmountable gap between them and every other team in the west not from Oklahoma gained ground and confidence. After all, Memphis split the series with San Antonio. Nobody ever checks the box score to see who was sitting.
Very recent Spurs teams were built for the regular season and flamed out in the playoffs. Pop really looks to have turned that formula around this year. The first indication that the Spurs had a separate playoff game plan was Manu Ginobili going from turnover-king to John Stockton in game one against the Lakers.
Whoever the Spurs saw in this round was going to get a big fat helping of that offense today with a side-dish of rebounding and no turnovers for dessert. OKC wouldn't have been able to stop it if they had Harden and Westbrook. Anything short of Joakim Noah probably wouldn't have saved them. Memphis simply looked lost and shellshocked most of the afternoon.
Nobody goes back to tape from December to game plan for a playoff series, do they? Maybe Memphis should do exactly that before game 2.
Anyone notice how the Spurs' defense has kind of struggled at times over the last few months? Remember how it was chugging along in December? Remember how they killed teams with a pick and roll that nobody could defend? Wonder where that went? So did I. I've openly questioned Pop for going away from something that's so effective and dominant against everyone.
Today's game suggests that perhaps there was a method to this madness.
I noticed it during the game, and the ESPN crew was actually smart enough to notice this in the postgame talk. Magic asked if Pop was playing possum. I think there's a possibility he's right.
That pick and roll game is back in full force. Maybe it was just the energy of the players, maybe it was the hustle. Maybe it was the rebounding and defense, but it sure looked like the offense that Pop decimated teams with earlier in the season.
Maybe it was the three pointers, but those weren't just open three pointers. "Wide open" just doesn't tell the story. Pop calls a timeout and screeches like my third-grade teacher when the Spurs leave a player that open. Guys can get benched for several games if it happens twice. The Grizzlies left the Spurs that open a couple dozen times. How could the Spurs NOT shoot 25 three pointers in the game? In a lot of cases, the Spurs took the three even though the offense had worked for a fair-quality two point shot. It was pick-your-poison for Memphis, and both outcomes were going to end up looking pretty much the same.
But Hollins said at halftime that wasn't the defense he wanted. Something did that to them. Something the Spurs did turned the best defense in the NBA into the 2002 Dallas Mavericks.
I think it was that pick and roll game. I think it's been there all along, Pop made sure all his starters and subs knew it back and forward, then he rolled it up and put it in his pocket, only using it once in a while for the rest of the season while the Spurs sat under the radar, gaining their wind, resting their injuries, and biding their time as the insurmountable gap between them and every other team in the west not from Oklahoma gained ground and confidence. After all, Memphis split the series with San Antonio. Nobody ever checks the box score to see who was sitting.
Very recent Spurs teams were built for the regular season and flamed out in the playoffs. Pop really looks to have turned that formula around this year. The first indication that the Spurs had a separate playoff game plan was Manu Ginobili going from turnover-king to John Stockton in game one against the Lakers.
Whoever the Spurs saw in this round was going to get a big fat helping of that offense today with a side-dish of rebounding and no turnovers for dessert. OKC wouldn't have been able to stop it if they had Harden and Westbrook. Anything short of Joakim Noah probably wouldn't have saved them. Memphis simply looked lost and shellshocked most of the afternoon.
Nobody goes back to tape from December to game plan for a playoff series, do they? Maybe Memphis should do exactly that before game 2.