It took 4.5 games but....

[Mugen]

Pop finally realized the value of Danny Green in this series:

-Solid job on Monta + help D
-Took all of Beli's minutes in the 2nd half
-Knocked down his open looks

He's going to make some stupid plays (biting on Dirk's fakes, sagging off Carter) but he's ultimately a plus when he's out there IMO, especially when Beli is giving you nothing.

This series has that GSW feel where Pop finally stops overthinking and makes the obvious moves IMO...hopefully he keeps it up.

[alpha_HaZE]

so true, liked the adjustments pop made and the way our team played. Best game so far, let's keep it up! Spurs in Six.

[ElNono]

Pop finally realized the value of Danny Green in this series:

-Solid job on Monta + help D
-Took all of Beli's minutes in the 2nd half
-Knocked down his open looks

He's going to make some stupid plays (biting on Dirk's fakes, sagging off Carter) but he's ultimately a plus when he's out there IMO, especially when Beli is giving you nothing.

This series has that GSW feel where Pop finally stops overthinking and makes the obvious moves IMO...hopefully he keeps it up.

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m811xz6riV1qb4e05o1_400.jpg

:lol

[testies]

Dallas and Spurs run a similar fluid offense, but our D in regular season is what set us apart from them, and they turned it on in 3rd qtr and other periods of this series

When we turn on our D, we are unstoppable

[RD2191]

DPG finally grew an inch?

[raybies]

agreed. I'm glad he shortened the rotation. Greens a more consistent defender and perhaps a better 3 point shooter. I don't think Marco matches up well in this series. can't really hide him on anyone and they are playing him tight not to mention he's missing the shots he normally makes.

[DPG21920]

Still way too few minutes. To play less than 16 minutes, in this series when you are electing to play Beli is silly. But there are varying thoughts to Pops mindset. At the end of the day it's about winning and Danny deserves more minutes IMO. However, Pop is good enough to perhaps win this series while positioning for down the road as well.

[heyheymymy]

pops playing chess and sometimes the other coach is only playing checkers.

[SnakeBoy]

I'm ok with how Pop has handled Green this series. Pop knows his players and in order to play well Green needs to be bitch slapped once in a while.

[Malik Hairston]

The Green/Leonard combo is the biggest difference between the failed 2009-2011 Spurs and the Spurs of the past 2 years, tbh..

Belinelli's presence is too similar to the shitty old Finley, Roger Mason and Richard Jefferson of those years..I thought Pop was finished with the offense-only wing players, but this series has proven otherwise, so far..

Thankfully, he finally cut Belinelli's minutes in the 2nd half, hopefully that continues the rest of this series and the playoffs..

[Mugen]

I'm ok with how Pop has handled Green this series. Pop knows his players and in order to play well Green needs to be bitch slapped once in a while.

I'm fine with that but Beli seemingly has a longer leash than Danny Green even when both are underperforming...hopefully Pop has come to his senses for the rest of this series tbh.

[ElNono]

He'll play again in game 6. I'm also pretty sure that he'll get minutes in a future series.

At least it's good to see Pop recognizing Danny is an option.

[objective]

Does anybody doubt that the spurs would have lost tonight had pop gone back to Marco for another 10 minutes in the second half?

[wildchild]

Danny only played 16 minutes tonight...

I can't understand. The Spurs don't want to develop Leonard-Green as a great defensive combo? And Pop play them together only 10 minutes in playoffs games?

[letmk]

Still way too few minutes. To play less than 16 minutes, in this series when you are electing to play Beli is silly. But there are varying thoughts to Pops mindset. At the end of the day it's about winning and Danny deserves more minutes IMO. However, Pop is good enough to perhaps win this series while positioning for down the road as well.

Moving forward, the Spurs still need Belinelli to win games. So it makes perfect sense for Pop to give him some minutes. Plus, IIRC, Belinelli didn't play in the 2nd half.

If and when we get passed the Mavs, I expect at least one of Green/Belinelli/Milles to get hot on 3-pointers.

[MI21]

Pop finally realized the value of Danny Green in this series:

-Solid job on Monta + help D
-Took all of Beli's minutes in the 2nd half
-Knocked down his open looks

He's going to make some stupid plays (biting on Dirk's fakes, sagging off Carter) but he's ultimately a plus when he's out there IMO, especially when Beli is giving you nothing.

This series has that GSW feel where Pop finally stops overthinking and makes the obvious moves IMO...hopefully he keeps it up.

It's absolutely amazing that it has taken that long.

It's not like he has been chucking (is actually 5/12 on 3's...) or turning the ball over (3 TO's in 75 minutes) or not playing defense (has been ok in isolation, has 5 blocks and 4 steals in 75 minutes as a SG and can do a reasonable job on Dirk/Monta/Vince/Jose when switched to them)... He always creates space for others because of his reputation from range and he is a familiar face and has good chemistry with the Spurs most played lineups which is always important in the playoffs.

I don't understand why Pop has limited his minutes so much, particularly when the alternative is Belinelli who has looked like shit the whole series.

[SnakeBoy]

I'm fine with that but Beli seemingly has a longer leash than Danny Green even when both are underperforming...hopefully Pop has come to his senses for the rest of this series tbh.

Green ultimately responds to Pops scolding. Beli is either going to play well or not but not because of anything Pop says or does. If you've spent time in Italy you know they don't give a shit what anyone has to say to them.

[DPG21920]

Moving forward, the Spurs still need Belinelli to win games. So it makes perfect sense for Pop to give him some minutes. Plus, IIRC, Belinelli didn't play in the 2nd half.

If and when we get passed the Mavs, I expect at least one of Green/Belinelli/Milles to get hot on 3-pointers.

Agreed. This was the first time Pop stopped going to Beli after terrible results which leads me to believe it wasn't so much Pop trying to get him going, vs just not realizing how bad he was for some reason. I don't know how the role players will do next round assuming the Spurs advance. This is a mediocre to bad team being able to take them out and have good results. I am sure HOU or POR will play them similarly. In fact, POR's entire defensive plan is to limit 3's which again might hurt guys like Danny who can't create for themselves. Beli might do better because he can dribble, but I don't know.

However, Carlisle is a way better coach so maybe POR or HOU won't recognize this as much.

[pgardn]

First game we have looked like the old Spurs with the bigs passing to each other for layups.
We got some very easy buckets late off of motion and great passing.
This gave us that cushion which allowed us to overcome Dirk and Carter having fantastic shooting games.

Green was a nice addition, but the above makes it so much easier. That block at the rim might return some confidence to his fragile mindset. Dallas is a great shooting team. But they do not get the easy ones that allow a breather to play good D. Dirk had to work his rear off. No big worked harder than he did on either team. And this wears on him defensively.



By far our best game in this series imo. Nice to see some regular season patterns returning.
Now let's get Duncan going. He looked tired to me. Tiago took up the slack.

[BackHome]

The problem with Green is he was turning the ball over and could not dribble to save his life. If he can get over that then he should be good to go maybe he was scarred and it took him some time to play relaxed....big lights big show..

[DarrinS]

He should be playing 25 minutes, at least.

[DPG21920]

I mean, I don't necessarily think Danny looks shaken. He might get there if Pop continues a guy playing worse in every facet of the game. But it's not like Danny is clanking a bunch of open looks. He's not hesitating at all, he's hitting some 3's when he gets an inch of daylight and is still hustling on defense.

[pgardn]

Agreed. This was the first time Pop stopped going to Beli after terrible results which leads me to believe it wasn't so much Pop trying to get him going, vs just not realizing how bad he was for some reason. I don't know how the role players will do next round assuming the Spurs advance. This is a mediocre to bad team being able to take them out and have good results. I am sure HOU or POR will play them similarly. In fact, POR's entire defensive plan is to limit 3's which again might hurt guys like Danny who can't create for themselves. Beli might do better because he can dribble, but I don't know.

However, Carlisle is a way better coach so maybe POR or HOU won't recognize this as much.

Great point.

[SpursFanInAustin]

Agreed. This was the first time Pop stopped going to Beli after terrible results which leads me to believe it wasn't so much Pop trying to get him going, vs just not realizing how bad he was for some reason. I don't know how the role players will do next round assuming the Spurs advance. This is a mediocre to bad team being able to take them out and have good results. I am sure HOU or POR will play them similarly. In fact, POR's entire defensive plan is to limit 3's which again might hurt guys like Danny who can't create for themselves. Beli might do better because he can dribble, but I don't know.

However, Carlisle is a way better coach so maybe POR or HOU won't recognize this as much.

Except Terry Stotts worked under Carlisle in Dallas from like 2009-2011. Expect Carlisle to give Stotts the inside info should SA meet Portland in round 2

[DPG21920]

Except Terry Stotts worked under Carlisle in Dallas from like 2009-2011. Expect Carlisle to give Stotts the inside info should SA meet Portland in round 2

Perhaps - doesn't mean that he will have the ability of RC to recognize certain things. RC has made very few mistakes in game. Stotts I don't trust to coach as cleanly thus negating this strategy. Keep in mind, while the strategy has worked with Dallas some, the Spurs have played pretty damn poorly overall which makes that strategy look better than it is.

[MI21]

The problem with Green is he was turning the ball over and could not dribble to save his life. If he can get over that then he should be good to go maybe he was scarred and it took him some time to play relaxed....big lights big show..

3 TO's in 75 minutes. Yes he can't dribble, but he wasn't turning the ball over. You might be confusing a series long problem with the 2 TO's he had close together in Game 2, tbh

[KaiRMD1]

Belli simply isn't for this series. Maybe in a series against a team whose defense ain't shit (Rockets perhaps) but not this one. Oh well

[Mugen]

Beli is a luxury on this team and should be treated as such. If he's not hitting shots then there's no reason he should be getting steady mins when Green/Kawhi can both play 35+ mins a game tbh.

[freetiago]

Pop isnt playing Green as much since Manu is playing well
if you play Green then that means Manu would shift over to SF
and Leonard would go to PF

if you do that lineup then you can't have both Duncan and Splitter on the floor which is important since Ellis can get into the paint at will and Splitter has to stick to Dirk on the pick and roll
Duncan is able to contest Ellis since hes guarding Dalembert who wont do anything outside of dunking so he doesn't have to rotate

If Manu was having a bad series then he might play more but hes been the 1A best player in the series

[heyheymymy]

Beli is a luxury on this team and should be treated as such. If he's not hitting shots then there's no reason he should be getting steady mins when Green/Kawhi can both play 35+ mins a game tbh.
:tu

[BillMc]

I think earlier in the series Pop was going to Marco over Danny because Marco is better off the dribble and a better playmaker and since the Mavs were staying home on our shooters, he wanted to have Marco help the O. But the defensive trade off was too brutal, and Marco didn't really create much.

[BillMc]

Pop isnt playing Green as much since Manu is playing well
if you play Green then that means Manu would shift over to SF
and Leonard would go to PF

if you do that lineup then you can't have both Duncan and Splitter on the floor which is important since Ellis can get into the paint at will and Splitter has to stick to Dirk on the pick and roll
Duncan is able to contest Ellis since hes guarding Dalembert who wont do anything outside of dunking so he doesn't have to rotate

If Manu was having a bad series then he might play more but hes been the 1A best player in the series

This too.

[Chinook]

The problem with Green is he was turning the ball over and could not dribble to save his life. If he can get over that then he should be good to go maybe he was scarred and it took him some time to play relaxed....big lights big show..

I don't know how this stance keeps surviving. At least it's not the, "Green can't finish at the rim," take that was popular at the beginning of the season.

[rasuo214]

Danny should have Marco's minutes. Give Marco a shot and if he isn't hot then stick to just Kawhi, Manu and Danny rotation for Game 6.

[Sean Cagney]

The Green/Leonard combo is the biggest difference between the failed 2009-2011 Spurs and the Spurs of the past 2 years, tbh..

Belinelli's presence is too similar to the shitty old Finley, Roger Mason and Richard Jefferson of those years..I thought Pop was finished with the offense-only wing players, but this series has proven otherwise, so far..

Thankfully, he finally cut Belinelli's minutes in the 2nd half, hopefully that continues the rest of this series and the playoffs..Atleast Finley hit a ton of threes in the Spurs 07 playoff run though and came through against Dallas bigtime in 06, he really tried and could hit his shots. Belli just flat out misses and sucks it seems :( I agree on the later Finley though after 07, TRUE indeed. I agree on the other two as well, they sucked. Belli so far a huge dissapointment later in the year, period.

[downunder]

The bench works like this. If Belli is off on shooting, use Green, or use Leonard but Pop demands increased defensive effort AND feed the marquee players the ball if shot not on. That system works and explains Mills being given minutes on the floor when his scoring numbers were low. Parker was 9 from 23 and was encouraged to shoot. Mills wasn't sue shooting but played increased defensive, gave Ginobli & Parker rest time and fed them passes.

[MI21]

Pop isnt playing Green as much since Manu is playing well
if you play Green then that means Manu would shift over to SF
and Leonard would go to PF

if you do that lineup then you can't have both Duncan and Splitter on the floor which is important since Ellis can get into the paint at will and Splitter has to stick to Dirk on the pick and roll
Duncan is able to contest Ellis since hes guarding Dalembert who wont do anything outside of dunking so he doesn't have to rotate

If Manu was having a bad series then he might play more but hes been the 1A best player in the series

You have a lot of good points, but I'm not sure how playing Green an extra 10-12MPG instead of playing Belinelli the 10=12MPG changes up the lineup. It's a like for like swap... If Manu is on the court with Marco, he is a SG/SF. If he is on the court with Green, he is a SG/SF.

It's not about Green getting 40MPG or anything, it's just about him completely eradicating Belinelli's minutes.

[freetiago]

You have a lot of good points, but I'm not sure how playing Green an extra 10-12MPG instead of playing Belinelli the 10=12MPG changes up the lineup. It's a like for like swap... If Manu is on the court with Marco, he is a SG/SF. If he is on the court with Green, he is a SG/SF.

It's not about Green getting 40MPG or anything, it's just about him completely eradicating Belinelli's minutes.

Pop doesn't give up on players unless there name is Tiago Splitter and they fail to make a defensive rotation that they weren't making all season (2012 OKC)
hes still trotting Bonner out there after all these years
doubt hes gonna stop playing Marco tbh..

[said7]

I thought the biggest difference was they hedged the pick and roll vs Harris and Ellis. Dirk is too slow to make them pay with a roll and it stopped the full speed drive to the basket.

[will_spurs]

The Spurs don't want to develop Leonard-Green as a great defensive combo?

It's hard to create a "great defensive combo" when one of the two players isn't such a great defender. I'm not saying Green is useless on D, but he hasn't found his place against Dallas on the defensive end, that's for sure. He played 16 minutes and that means 16 minutes of Vince Carter hitting wide open 3s. He was Neal-esque in his 3-point defense last night.

Pop's comment "I'll put up a poster of Carter on our bench so that my players know he exists" was mostly aimed at Green.

[Malik Hairston]

It's hard to create a "great defensive combo" when one of the two players isn't such a great defender. I'm not saying Green is useless on D, but he hasn't found his place against Dallas on the defensive end, that's for sure. He played 16 minutes and that means 16 minutes of Vince Carter hitting wide open 3s. He was Neal-esque in his 3-point defense last night.

Pop's comment "I'll put up a poster of Carter on our bench so that my players know he exists" was mostly aimed at Green.

:lol Danny Green and Vince Carter were on the floor at the same time for 3 minutes and 18 seconds, tbh..Vince Carter only scored 3 points with Green in the game tonight..

I don't know what the fuck you were watching, my nigga:lol..

[Seventyniner]

:lol Danny Green and Vince Carter were on the floor at the same time for 3 minutes and 18 seconds, tbh..Vince Carter only scored 3 points with Green in the game tonight..

I don't know what the fuck you were watching, my nigga:lol..

Obviously wasn't watching at all. Box score GM.

[Chinook]

It's hard to create a "great defensive combo" when one of the two players isn't such a great defender. I'm not saying Green is useless on D, but he hasn't found his place against Dallas on the defensive end, that's for sure. He played 16 minutes and that means 16 minutes of Vince Carter hitting wide open 3s. He was Neal-esque in his 3-point defense last night.

Pop's comment "I'll put up a poster of Carter on our bench so that my players know he exists" was mostly aimed at Green.

Despite what a lot of Spurs fans (and apparently Pop) seem to think, Green is at least in the same tier defensively as Leonard. Danny only allowed eight points all game. The three Green gave up to Carter was because Diaw hedged so far that Green thought Boris was going to stay with Vince. When Diaw started running back to his man (Dirk?), Green actually got a solid contest on Carter's shot, but Vince was already hot by that time, so it didn't really matter. I assume Pop was upset with Green because Danny was supposed to know Pop didn't want to switch in those situations. But unless I got firm instructions not to switch, I would have assumed I was supposed to switch as well if I were Green.

[Beaverfuzz]

Sit the fuck down Marco. Have Patty teach you the finer ways of waving a towel.