Defense sucked tonight

[conqueso]

I don't know what the fuck Popovich was thinking tonight...I don't think he should be fired or anything. But I didn't have to watch Nowitzki blow up for 34 points to tell you it would be a bad idea to let him take 17-foot jumpers over Tony, Nicky V and Manu all night. That defense they were running was an absolute disaster. I haven't seen it before...Bowen was shadowing his man, and the rest of the spurs were in a one-man front zone with the remaining three playing at the back. That left the guy at the front of the zone (usually a small guard) to d up Dirk when he shot from free-throw line extended. WTF?!

It seemed to me as if Pop didn't really care about this one, that he gave it away. I can only rationally justify his decisions tonight with the explanation that he didn't really care about the W, he was more concerned with giving Fin and Nicky B minutes in order to get them accustomed to the way the system. I'm not really sure if that's the best policy, though.

Not to take anything away from Dallas. They played with fire and intensity and passion. They played like they had something to prove. The Spurs just couldn't hit anything in the second and third quarters, Manu plyed like ass for three-and-a-half quarters, and some 22 year-old unknown guard had a career night. The Spurs deserved to lose, and will continue to lose to upper-tier teams if they remain unfocused and continue to receive questionable marching orders from their general.

[Leetonidas]

Thanks for re-wording what many have said already.

[leemajors]

nowitzki was cooking up bowen in the first half too. the mavs played just about as well as they can, and the spurs played terrible. when the mavs shoot like that they are hard to beat. weird substitutions in key situations killed the spurs. but the game's over.

[SenorSpur]

Dirk is a one-dimensional player and if you take away his jumper, he's toast. Though Bowen can't guard everybody. He was on Dirk, but also spent time on Howard. I was also confused as to what kind of defense the Spurs were in.

[Doc Jerome]

Whatever the defense, it was horrible except for brief periods of cohesiveness. Pop is supposed to be a great in game coach, last night was sub-par all around. TP is the only Spur that shined.

[boutons]

Dirk is a pretty good rebounder (for playing so far from the basket), and has been driving more, so he's not just a jump shooter anymore. He's weak on defense, but he's hardly alone there.

[MI21]

Pop is supposed to be a great in game coach

I believe that in game switches and strategic changes are actually one of Pop's weak points. That's been the general perception over the years.