some_user86
04-30-2007, 08:24 AM
link: http://www.denverpost.com/kiszla/ci_5781656
Popovich gets best of Karl
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 04/30/2007 12:45:08 AM MDT
This is not why the Nuggets pay coach George Karl the big bucks.
Why is Denver trailing San Antonio 2-1 in a best-of-seven NBA playoff series? The answer can be found on the bench.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich is proving why he has won three championship rings.
Karl is proving 829 regular-season career victories are highly overrated if you can't get it done in the playoffs.
Popovich has dictated the style of basketball in this series, forcing Denver to win the way San Antonio likes to play.
Karl has established he can get a technical foul for failure to stay in the coaching box.
This is not how Karl earns an annual salary of $3 million.
San Antonio is limiting the Nuggets to 91 points per game, 14 fewer than their regular-season average. Is any team in the league as good as imposing its will on a game as the squad coached by Popovich?
"Hmm," Karl replied Sunday. "I think Phoenix is pretty good at it. But when I see Phoenix and San Antonio play, it seems like San Antonio dictates."
Popovich is ordering the adjustments Karl must make on the court. Sound familiar? Since Denver lost to San Antonio in the 2005 playoffs, the Nuggets are better and the Spurs are older.
But the coaches remain the same.
The beauty of the NBA, a major reason why everybody from Jack Nicholson to Rocky the mascot loves this game, is because talent usually wins in the end. With his back to a wall outside the visitors' locker room in San Antonio, Karl recently suggested coaches usually cancel each other out in the playoffs.
A coach gets maybe one psychological gambit a series. Karl blew his by declaring Game 3 was a must-win for the Nuggets.
A coach is guaranteed precious few chances to make a crucial substitution in a series. Karl botched one huge opportunity as the Nuggets came unraveled late in the third quarter of Game 3, allowing the ugly implosion of 21-year-old J.R. Smith, an excitable guy who at any given minute is capable of swishing a sweet 3-pointer or rubbing the Sunday pot roast all over his chest.
An NBA coach who makes a difference would have removed Smith from the court immediately after one boneheaded pass and calmly told the young player to sit down and take three deep breaths.
Karl was not hired in Denver to get bounced from the opening round of the playoffs three straight years.
After watching Robert Horry drop Denver in a big hole by drilling big jump shots that dropped the hearts of Nuggets fans to their stomachs, Karl explained away the 96-91 loss in Game 3 by suggesting the Spurs had tricked his team.
Excuse me? Nobody pays me $3 million a year for my basketball knowledge, but every American household that owns a TV has witnessed Horry make himself a household name during the NBA playoffs. And the coach of the Nuggets acts as if he doesn't know the difference between Big Shot Rob and SpongeBob SquarePants?
This was not why the Nuggets picked up the option on Karl's contract, committing to him through 2010.
Despite the gray in their beards, the Spurs are a lot of good things. Poised. Smart. Tougher than barbed wire. But tricky they ain't.
Karl was asked point-blank if seven games would be long enough to figure out all the tricks by his counterpart on the San Antonio bench.
"I think we're one for three in tricks," replied Karl, wanting credit for not being outsmarted in Denver's lone victory against the Spurs.
OK. We'll give Karl one gold star and an oatmeal cookie as a reward.
Get outsmarted two nights out of three in the playoffs, and it's a surefire formula for Karl seeing his team eliminated in six games.
This series is a reminder of a crazy basketball notion I have been espousing for years: The best coach in the NBA is not Phil Jackson or Pat Riley or Don Nelson. It's Popovich.
Carmelo Anthony, averaging a spectacular 28 points and 10 rebounds against the Spurs, is proving he can compete with Tim Duncan.
But Karl has yet to prove he can handle Popovich.
After kicking away home-court advantage, the Nuggets were defiant. Smith was asked to evaluate the series.
He replied: "We're losing games we should win."
You can analyze those words 1,000 ways. But here's the bottom line: A team that loses games it should win is the definition of poor coaching.
========================================
^ Denver media exploding on their own team? :)
Popovich gets best of Karl
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 04/30/2007 12:45:08 AM MDT
This is not why the Nuggets pay coach George Karl the big bucks.
Why is Denver trailing San Antonio 2-1 in a best-of-seven NBA playoff series? The answer can be found on the bench.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich is proving why he has won three championship rings.
Karl is proving 829 regular-season career victories are highly overrated if you can't get it done in the playoffs.
Popovich has dictated the style of basketball in this series, forcing Denver to win the way San Antonio likes to play.
Karl has established he can get a technical foul for failure to stay in the coaching box.
This is not how Karl earns an annual salary of $3 million.
San Antonio is limiting the Nuggets to 91 points per game, 14 fewer than their regular-season average. Is any team in the league as good as imposing its will on a game as the squad coached by Popovich?
"Hmm," Karl replied Sunday. "I think Phoenix is pretty good at it. But when I see Phoenix and San Antonio play, it seems like San Antonio dictates."
Popovich is ordering the adjustments Karl must make on the court. Sound familiar? Since Denver lost to San Antonio in the 2005 playoffs, the Nuggets are better and the Spurs are older.
But the coaches remain the same.
The beauty of the NBA, a major reason why everybody from Jack Nicholson to Rocky the mascot loves this game, is because talent usually wins in the end. With his back to a wall outside the visitors' locker room in San Antonio, Karl recently suggested coaches usually cancel each other out in the playoffs.
A coach gets maybe one psychological gambit a series. Karl blew his by declaring Game 3 was a must-win for the Nuggets.
A coach is guaranteed precious few chances to make a crucial substitution in a series. Karl botched one huge opportunity as the Nuggets came unraveled late in the third quarter of Game 3, allowing the ugly implosion of 21-year-old J.R. Smith, an excitable guy who at any given minute is capable of swishing a sweet 3-pointer or rubbing the Sunday pot roast all over his chest.
An NBA coach who makes a difference would have removed Smith from the court immediately after one boneheaded pass and calmly told the young player to sit down and take three deep breaths.
Karl was not hired in Denver to get bounced from the opening round of the playoffs three straight years.
After watching Robert Horry drop Denver in a big hole by drilling big jump shots that dropped the hearts of Nuggets fans to their stomachs, Karl explained away the 96-91 loss in Game 3 by suggesting the Spurs had tricked his team.
Excuse me? Nobody pays me $3 million a year for my basketball knowledge, but every American household that owns a TV has witnessed Horry make himself a household name during the NBA playoffs. And the coach of the Nuggets acts as if he doesn't know the difference between Big Shot Rob and SpongeBob SquarePants?
This was not why the Nuggets picked up the option on Karl's contract, committing to him through 2010.
Despite the gray in their beards, the Spurs are a lot of good things. Poised. Smart. Tougher than barbed wire. But tricky they ain't.
Karl was asked point-blank if seven games would be long enough to figure out all the tricks by his counterpart on the San Antonio bench.
"I think we're one for three in tricks," replied Karl, wanting credit for not being outsmarted in Denver's lone victory against the Spurs.
OK. We'll give Karl one gold star and an oatmeal cookie as a reward.
Get outsmarted two nights out of three in the playoffs, and it's a surefire formula for Karl seeing his team eliminated in six games.
This series is a reminder of a crazy basketball notion I have been espousing for years: The best coach in the NBA is not Phil Jackson or Pat Riley or Don Nelson. It's Popovich.
Carmelo Anthony, averaging a spectacular 28 points and 10 rebounds against the Spurs, is proving he can compete with Tim Duncan.
But Karl has yet to prove he can handle Popovich.
After kicking away home-court advantage, the Nuggets were defiant. Smith was asked to evaluate the series.
He replied: "We're losing games we should win."
You can analyze those words 1,000 ways. But here's the bottom line: A team that loses games it should win is the definition of poor coaching.
========================================
^ Denver media exploding on their own team? :)