Re: Initial Reaction: Spurs vs. Warriors - Mar. 24
Really good points on Pop, LJ :tu
It seems like his experiments went way too far. Pop used to change many things and watch the players in different situations. But what he is doing now it's a pure chaos.
I was watching the second half and mostly I was pissed by lack of agression and stupid mistakes.
Tim played good game, but still this is Golden State. Most bigs in NBA having season or life games against them.
Tony was fantastic but how much more he can run the spurs having all team on his shoulders? IMO he should get a night off the next b2b.
Atlanta is having great stretch right now, and they are really hot. And what's worst for the spurs - they are athletic as hell.
I will be watching today and hopefully I will see the spurs I want to see.
Because now I'm all dissapointed. I see the spurs from last year and I see the same concerns I had then and damn I was right last year.
This year it all looked good utlil ASB came. Then Manu, Tim and blown rotations and no agression and no "on the mission" attitude. The offense is looking horrible and now defense is going back to November and December.
Re: Initial Reaction: Spurs vs. Warriors - Mar. 24
I posted this elsewhere, but the decisions with Vaughn last night made me finally punt on the notion that I can understand what Pop is doing. I'm sure there were some smallish things that I missed, but this much certainly seemed to make sense: the Spurs offense has been in disarray for a number of games now when Parker sits; a solution to that is putting a reliable point guard on the floor in those stages of the game; Pop turns to Vaughn in the third and the Spurs seem to find some offensive fluidity and make a little spurt to create some distance. Would seem to say to me that Vaughn deserves a chance in that role, no matter his other limitations.
But pulling Vaughn almost immediately and going back to what hasn't worked very well of late -- only to see the Warriors make an immediate push at that juncture -- left me scratching my head.
Re: Initial Reaction: Spurs vs. Warriors - Mar. 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by
FromWayDowntown
But pulling Vaughn almost immediately and going back to what hasn't worked very well of late -- only to see the Warriors make an immediate push at that juncture -- left me scratching my head.
Pop's mad scientist routine is really confusing the board! Maybe, his basketball genius is beyond our mortal comprehension. :hat
Hopefully, whatever he's doing now makes the small difference that wins a game/series in the post-season.
Re: Initial Reaction: Spurs vs. Warriors - Mar. 24
Quote:
Originally Posted by
timvp
Pop had countless coaching moves that I disagreed with. His rotation was lunacy at its finest. It was literally like he had a hat with every player's name in it and he would just randomly pick names out of the hat to form his lineup. Neither rhyme nor reason were with Pop on this night. Here are some problems I had with his coaching:
1) Mason goes off for 17 in the first half after getting off to a hot start at shooting guard and using that momentum to score off of pick-and-rolls when it was his time to play point guard. So what does Pop do in the second half? He brings Mason off the bench. He runs almost no plays for him in the second half and when it's time for Parker to rest, he puts Vaughn on the court instead of playing Mason at point. Oh, but come the fourth quarter, he suddenly expects Mason to be able to run the show to begin the stanza.
2) The Spurs are rolling late with Duncan and Thomas beating up the Warriors. Instead of doing something silly like try to win the game, he puts Finley in for Thomas. Not surprisingly, the Warriors then go on a 6-0 run to take the lead with under a half a minute remaining.
3) All year Pop has been begging Hill to be aggressive. He even stated that he's fine with Hill making mistakes as long as he's aggressive. Hill enters the game and plays aggressive basketball. After a few mistakes, the rookie is sent to the bench, never to be seen again.
4) If you are going to go with Vaughn as the backup point guard in the second half, just go ahead and follow through with that plan. Pop putting in Vaughn for two minutes and then seemingly changing his mind made little sense.
5) I actually liked the strategy of sitting Duncan all but five minutes in the first half. Pop was obviously trying to see if he could get an easy win while keeping Duncan in his back pocket. But to actually succeed in that plan, Pop has to use a rotation that would actually allow his team to gain some sort of cohesion and try to build a lead. For some reason, Pop was trying to win easily to rest Duncan but at the same time he junked his rotation. The result was Duncan being forced to come back into the game in the fourth and put even more wear and tear on his body.
Bottomline is that Pop obviously doesn't care much if the Spurs win. The Spurs winning or losing is secondary to his tinkering at the moment. Hopefully he knows what he's doing and the experimenting is about to come to an end because right now it is maddening to watch.
Rant Over.
Eeking out a slim victory versus a lottery-bound team, on your home court? Very unimpressive.
If Pop is truly coaching as if he doesn't care about these regular season games, he's sending a terrible message to his troops, especially to the young players. Obviously, the preservation of health is always a concern and that's one thing, but any appearances that he doesn't care about these games is quite another. Again, the team needs to be tuning up and steadily gaining momentum. They're not doing that at all. It seems as though Pop is expecting his team to "flip the switch" come April. I don't like this "Robert Horry" approach to the regular season. By now, he should know it can't work that way.
