Where are the threads condemning 4Down &....

[Marcus Bryant]

...'small ball'? I guess AHF was too drunk to post last night.

-MB

[FromWayDowntown]

Same place as all of the threads recognizing Brent Barry's +15 last night, I guess.

[Obstructed_View]

When the Spurs run smallball for the entire game against a team with two seven footers on the floor and start to hemorrhage points in the paint, surrender rebounds and lose games, you'll hear complaints.

When Duncan starts to stand there with his back to the basket for 10-12 seconds waiting for a double team that never arrives while his teammates stand around waiting for something to happen and the offense completely grinds to a halt, you'll hear complaints.

[smeagol]

When the team does not perform, you'll hear complaints.

When the team wins, those who complain will celebrate.

It's a win-win for them.

[cherylsteele]

Same place as all of the threads recognizing Brent Barry's +15 last night, I guess.
I know Barry didn't play well but....that one three he made seemed to take the lid off the basket and that seemed to change the game....as small as the shot seemed.

[Marcus Bryant]

I know Barry didn't play well but....that one three he made seemed to take the lid off the basket and that seemed to change the game....as small as the shot seemed.

The reason was that the lineup on the court checkmated the Suns' new defensive scheme.

TP
Barry
Manu or Fin...I forget
Bowen
TD

Too much ability to drive and shoot on the perimeter for the Suns to defend.

[Obstructed_View]

The reason was that the lineup on the court checkmated the Suns' new defensive scheme.

TP
Barry
Manu or Fin...I forget
Bowen
TD

Too much ability to drive and shoot on the perimeter for the Suns to defend.
Isn't it amazing how changing lineups for specific situations and short stretches works better than just throwing five guys on the floor together for the first time and asking them to play out of position for an entire series?

[T Park]

Small ball and 4 down won?

IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FromWayDowntown]

Isn't it amazing how changing lineups for specific situations and short stretches works better than just throwing five guys on the floor together for the first time and asking them to play out of position for an entire series?

Speaking of topics that might deserve their own threads . . . it's the second consecutive Game 3 in which Pop has made a substitution decision in the late 3rd/early 4th that the opposing coach didn't respond to quickly enough.

[Marcus Bryant]

Nah, let's play two bigs for the entire game because 'that's what got us here'. Yep.

[T Park]

Pop made a good coaching move?

I mean, come on, this is just madness your talking.


Hes not capable of it.

Im sure all of this Aggie will explain was due to the greatness of Manu and PJ on the bench.

[ducks]

and pop made an adjustment at half and bench elson the entire second half

[Obstructed_View]

Nah, let's play two bigs for the entire game because 'that's what got us here'. Yep.
"For the entire game"? Um, Elson had about five times as many minutes last night as Rasho and Nazr had in the last five games of the playoffs.

And just to remind you, the Spurs lost that series.

[T Park]

:lol

If there was a way to go back and watch what the plus minus on having small bal in there, that would be great.

Small ball at the end of the 2nd quarter and all of the second half is what won the game!

[Obstructed_View]

:lol

If there was a way to go back and watch what the plus minus on having small bal in there, that would be great.

Small ball at the end of the 2nd quarter and all of the second half is what won the game!
So that automatically makes small ball the perfect way to run every situation, even introducing it to a team that isn't familliar with it during a playoff series! Genius! Maybe the Jazz will take a page from that and put Okur and Boozer on the bench against the Warriors. It's so simple: Just bench Elson and Oberto and the Spurs will win the championship just like they did last year!

[T Park]

:rolleyes


Keep advocating "what got us here" and don't adjust.

[Obstructed_View]

:rolleyes


Keep advocating "what got us here" and don't adjust.
Um, benching the centers last year and not adjusting when the Spurs were giving up points in the paint was a lack of adjustment. Using smallball in stretches where it puts the other team on their heels has been great this year. What got us here this season is not the same as what got us here last season.

I guess if you repeat the same thing for long enough, it finally looks like you knew what you were talking about all along. You're finally a genius, T Park. Congratulations.

[T Park]

ah personal shot, congrats for being like everyone else.

Amazing how small ball is used quite a bit in the Denver series, and now this series its just being used "a little"

yet alot of games during the season where the spurs won or come from behind to win due to small ball were "flukes" or whatever.

[cherylsteele]

The reason was that the lineup on the court checkmated the Suns' new defensive scheme.

TP
Barry
Manu or Fin...I forget
Bowen
TD

Too much ability to drive and shoot on the perimeter for the Suns to defend.
I understand that, but we were shooting like crap before that shot though.

[FromWayDowntown]

So that automatically makes small ball the perfect way to run every situation, even introducing it to a team that isn't familliar with it during a playoff series! Genius! Maybe the Jazz will take a page from that and put Okur and Boozer on the bench against the Warriors. It's so simple: Just bench Elson and Oberto and the Spurs will win the championship just like they did last year!

I won't pretend to speak for TPark, but I think the point was recognizing that Pop made a solid adjustment by going small -- as you say Obstructed View -- in appropriate stretches of the game, rather than trying to force small ball for 48 minutes. Again, I thought Pop made a canny adjustment in Denver by going to small ball during Game 3 and instigating a big run that propelled the Spurs to victory. I thought he did the same thing last night.

There's no reason -- with this roster -- for Pop to play wall-to-wall small ball. But in stretches, with the right combinations, it can be very effective.

[Obstructed_View]

ah personal shot, congrats for being like everyone else.

Amazing how small ball is used quite a bit in the Denver series, and now this series its just being used "a little"

yet alot of games during the season where the spurs won or come from behind to win due to small ball were "flukes" or whatever.
Yeah, hitting five threes in a row to beat Portland was just coaching skill. Small ball was used just as cleverly in the first round as it has here. Neither situation has any resemblance to the lineups thrown out there last year.

Sorry to take a personal shot, I know you've never done that before. You are always so respectful of everyone else's opinions.

[Obstructed_View]

I won't pretend to speak for TPark, but I think the point was recognizing that Pop made a solid adjustment by going small -- as you say Obstructed View -- in appropriate stretches of the game, rather than trying to force small ball for 48 minutes. Again, I thought Pop made a canny adjustment in Denver by going to small ball during Game 3 and instigating a big run that propelled the Spurs to victory. I thought he did the same thing last night.
I agree completely. The Denver one in particular was very well done.


There's no reason -- with this roster -- for Pop to play wall-to-wall small ball. But in stretches, with the right combinations, it can be very effective.
At least this year the team has some experience with small lineups. They had almost no preparation for it last year, which hurt them, especially with the seeming unwillingness by the coach to even insert the centers on defensive possessions in close games.

[timvp]

Same place as all of the threads recognizing Brent Barry's +15 last night, I guess.

I did my part. :angel



One thing I haven't seen anyone even mention is Parker's defense. Parker played 41 minutes and nobody scored on him. Nothing. No field goals and he didn't send anyone to the line.

But yeah, I guess since he was only guarding Nash and Barbosa, nobody really cares.

[FromWayDowntown]

I did my part. :angel



One thing I haven't seen anyone even mention is Parker's defense. Parker played 41 minutes and nobody scored on him. Nothing. No field goals and he didn't send anyone to the line.

But yeah, I guess since he was only guarding Nash and Barbosa, nobody really cares.

I noticed that Parker was sickly effective on the defensive end, but I hadn't realized he was THAT effective.

[lemming]

I did my part. :angel



One thing I haven't seen anyone even mention is Parker's defense. Parker played 41 minutes and nobody scored on him. Nothing. No field goals and he didn't send anyone to the line.

But yeah, I guess since he was only guarding Nash and Barbosa, nobody really cares.
i'm looking into my crystal ball here. i predict the sports guy mentions parker's defense in his next column... :stirpot:

[Obstructed_View]

One thing I haven't seen anyone even mention is Parker's defense. Parker played 41 minutes and nobody scored on him. Nothing. No field goals and he didn't send anyone to the line.

But yeah, I guess since he was only guarding Nash and Barbosa, nobody really cares.


More impressive than his offense was his defense. He dominated Nash defensively in the first half and when he switched off onto Barbosa, he stopped Barbosa from producing. Defensively, this goes down as a highlight in Parker's career.
What more really needs to be said? I certainly didn't see anyone take issue with your take on Parker anywhere in the thread, which doesn't happen often.

[Obstructed_View]

I noticed that Parker was sickly effective on the defensive end, but I hadn't realized he was THAT effective.
Yeah, he was amazing. That performance should rank up there with his job on Rip in the Finals.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

...'small ball'? I guess AHF was too drunk to post last night.

-MB

Nope, some of us actually have lives and go out once in a while.



Pop made a good coaching move?

I mean, come on, this is just madness your talking.


Hes not capable of it.

Im sure all of this Aggie will explain was due to the greatness of Manu and PJ on the bench.

You two are a perfect couple. Maybe you can be Spurstalk's next power couple :lol

I expect this kind of ignorant talk from Tpark, but I guess I always expected more out of Marcus.

There is nothing wrong with small ball - in stretches. It's when we play it for a whole game, or when Pop goes to it when the matchups are going to get us smoked (like asking Brent Barry to guard Boris Diaw in the post) that gets us killed.

Small ball is effective in stretches. And it was effective in stretches last night. And I have no problem with that. The problem here is you two clowns are more concerned with attempting to call out other posters than pay attention to what is going on in the damn game.

Small ball doesn't work for 48 minutes. Small ball works in stretches. We saw that last night. We saw that in one of the Denver games where Pop went small to come out in the fourth quarter for a 3-4 minute stretch. That's a big difference from going small for the entirety of quarters and wondering why we get killed in the post and by points in the paint.

Same thing with four down. Go look at our assist numbers last night. Yeah, we ran the offense through Duncan, but the difference between game 2 and game 3 was that in game 2 Pop had all his guys spotting up for the kickout. Last night you had ball movement, and you also had us running plays for other guys not named Tim.

Game 2, for example, Manu was expected to score by setting up on the perimeter waiting for a kickout. Last night, we got him involved in some pick and roll, had him moving around screens to get the ball free of Raja on him with room to operate, etc.

Come on Marcus, I expect better from you. Ah, who am I kidding, you're stuck on Holt is a cheap fuck and calling out other posters without really backing up your case (like your original post).

And the other comical part about all this is the personnel on the court. I called out Pop for having a small ball lineup of Vaughn, Barry, Finley, Manu, and Oberto.

And you two come on here and pat him on the back for running out a small ball lineup of Tony, Barry/Manu, Finley, Bowen, and Duncan? :lmao

If you can't see the difference there, I don't have anything else to say to either of you two losers.

Having Duncan and Bowen in there gives the D strength and stability, and that first lineup only required Phoenix to guard two guys - Manu and Finley. The second (from last night) put five guys on the floor that Phoenix had to account for. And their defense suffered accordingly.

Further, Oberto can't hold down the paint in that first small ball lineup, and that's what made it a colossal failure in game 2. If either of you think that Oberto is anywhere near the rebounder of Duncan, not to mention having anything resembling the ability to block shots and close down the lane on defense like Tim Duncan, you need to turn in all your logins to Spurstalk and go join the clowns at Spursreport.


:rolleyes


Keep advocating "what got us here" and don't adjust.

Oh the irony. That's what most of us criticize - lack of adjustments by Pop. Going small for an entire series isn't an adjustment. Going small in stretches, and choosing personnel to take advantage of weaknesses of the other team is making adjustments.

Sorry this is lost on you, but I guess that shouldn't be surprising seeings you haven't brought a true basketball x's and o's or personnel take since this site opened.

All you do is bandwagon and gravy train other people's posts to try and appear to have some sort of point. And you picked the wrong post to gravy train on, because you both come off ignorant in this one.

[Obstructed_View]

:clap