who is to blame for all of the 2nd&3rd quarter collapses?

[playblair]

is it the strength & conditioning coaches fault? is it the head/assistant coaches fault for overplaying players thibs style?

[dokdok]

How about we aren't just good enough and we get gassed by the end of the game.

[John B]

Not having a Tier 1 to carry the team. Basically Spurs need to play almost a perfect game every night, but that’s hard for a young team. I think they would get there, but it’s not going to be overnight. Keep pounding the rock!

[XDT76]

I will stick to my 2 points, we lack size and poor fitness and conditioning. Murray is averaging 35, KJ and White around 31, Lebron and Westbrook are averaging more than all of them and the Lakers is currently 2nd in Pace, Chris Paul is averaging 32 and the Pheonix is playing at a higher pace. Our players are also exerting more energy trying to challenge and rebound on both end of the court against taller and bigger players on quite a number of teams.

[playbonner15]

Manu..... Is he even attending games? His salary can be added to attract Mo Bamba to SA

[Fireball]

its basically no regular rotations IMO ... first quarter is set in stone and in the fnal quarter Pop goes with starters + what worked best

[T Park]

its basically no regular rotations IMO ... first quarter is set in stone and in the fnal quarter Pop goes with starters + what worked best

Been the case for 24 years

[Fireball]

Been the case for 24 years yeah but I guess these irregular minutes seem to irritate our young guys more than the teams of the past which consisted largely of veterans ... ah I don't know ... just wanted to throw in another explanation which has nothing to do with condition

[XDT76]

No need to try and read too much into it. I remember when was still with us, he was also quite gas in 4Q especially in playoff. Our fitness and conditioning are not tip top.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

This team wins with defensive energy. They're not really a very good offensive team, and as others have said, lacking in star power. Their limitations become pretty obvious when they take their foot off the gas, and I think they use up so much defensive energy early in games, that they run low in Qs 2 and 3, and then fight back a bit in the fourth.

Stars can pace themselves and trade baskets in Q2 and Q3 and save their energy for the beginning and end of games. Our team can get thrashed when we take aren't playing at max effort. Hard to do that for four quarters.

[Chomag]

:pop:

[baseline bum]

Lack of talent. It was also like this in the 80s after Ice got traded, Johnny Moore got sick, and Artis got old.

[wildbill2u]

Most players, and especially a bunch of young guys like ours, get their conditioning by playing in games and running the floor every day or so. You never heard of a team running wind sprints up and down the court on off days. On our current team, We try to fast break and get back on defense early so that adds to the conditioning. They shouldn't be gassed in the second half if the individual players get a few minutes off the floor every once in a while.

For all the years of the NBA, the starters all averaged over 30 minutes per game and in fact players would get pissed if they didn't get their minutes because it hurt their stats and starter images. We don't have any players playing more minutes than normal. What we have is some players who aren't as skillful as two or three superstars they are up against when playing many teams. Every night the starters face at least 2 or 3 players that are superiour to them on most teams. They simply lose their focus when those competitors turn on the pressure.

I've been very pleased with the increasing skill sets of some of these players due to good coaching IMHO. I have criticized DJ's skills in ball handling and shooting when he came into the league. He has made great strides in both areas. Remember when neither he nor Lonnie could make a layup when they drove to the basket? Poertle actually becomeing a good defender and rim protector with improvement in scoring seemingly in every game??? Fuggeddaboutit! For the most part those days are overfor each of them. And all these youngsters are getting better before our eyes I silll have a problem with Kelden getting so many minutes because he is so one-dimensional, but let's see whether he develops. Vassell can be a joy to watch when he can get some floor time. And Primo is in the wings??

We're gonna lose some games we could win, play valiantly in some losses against better teams, and win some we steal, but it will be a fun season if we keep our perspective. [NOTE: This is Spurs Talks so perspective is impossible.:makemyday]

[poopbox]

Not having a Tier 1 to carry the team. Basically Spurs need to play almost a perfect game every night, but that’s hard for a young team. I think they would get there, but it’s not going to be overnight. Keep pounding the rock!


I agree with this. The difference between us and the upper half of the nba is they have a player that when things get ugly offensively they can just give him the ball and it result in a bucket, freethrows, or a wide open look for someone else.

Another problem is we have like 5 players who really only do one thing and when that doesn't work they are useless. Forbes only shoots open 3's. Eubanks only gets wide open dunks. So when Forbes doesn't make shots and Eubanks doesn't get dunks it is two players on the court doing absolutely nothing, which is a death sentence in todays nba of ball movement and body movement.

Playing a backup center as a starter also isn't ideal but you can't renovate your house in one day...

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

Blame Forbes

:toast