Adjustments For Game 2 - Tactical Discussions

You need a little bit of luck to win a championship, and LeBron cramping up, unable to play in the 4th was a huge break. It would be extremely difficult to win this series had we lost game 1. Pop needs to make adjustments, otherwise we may be seeing Thunder vs Heat in 2012 here. A shaky win followed by 4 losses.

Duncan/Splitter should not play together again. Duncan 33 minutes a game, Splitter takes the other 15. Twin towers only work if you have a stretch four who can hit medium range jumpers. Add Bonner to the rotation to stretch floors, he will have no problem guarding Lewis. We gave the Heat two 8-0 runs when we had both Duncan and Splitter on the floor. Spurs 2014 can not beat elite teams with defense, spacing is premium, beat them with offense. Defense will kick in once fatigue sets in on the other team from defending the Spurs passing game.

Kawhi does not need to take a lot of shots if he is guarded by LeBron, but he or anyone else for that matter must move non-stop without the ball to drain LeBron. You see in order to play small ball, LeBron bulked up quite a bit to guard power forwards and until he loses weight like Duncan did to save his knees, as he is getting older and getting more seasons on his belt, fatigue is a real issue for him. Same way we beat a much leaner Durant, we need to work LeBron both side of the floor. We have no real answer for their big three early in the game, we need to make sure they are running low on gas in the fourth quarter. When Duncan is not in the game, we need to play up-tempo to put more fatigue into LeBron. When Duncan is in the game, avoid 1v1 post-up's until extremely late in the game to keep Duncan fresh, feed Duncan with easy baskets off penetrations, he will get his via tap in's as well.

Parker/Manu/Diaw/Kwahi must relentlessly attack the basket once Spurs spreads the floor. Heat exterior defense is way stronger than their interior defense. Ibaka is not here! Green needs to stick to what he is good at and stop doing dribble penetration disasters, move without the ball, get open 3's and occasional fast breaks. It is perfectly OK if Wade chooses to lock him down early in the game, move without the ball, late in the game he won't be able to keep up. Belinelli should be used sparingly with either Green or Kwahi on the floor. Parker minutes should be hold to low 30's, give some extra minutes to Mills or even Joseph if Manu/Diaw are on the floor. Biggest improvement this year is Manu/Diaw can run the offense when Parker is not on the floor.

Reduce turn overs, play the passing game, tire them out, and take game 2! Ultimately it is all about the Spurs passing game. If we get it running smoothly with high assists, low turnovers, it doesn't matter what their big three does on the offensive end, we will tire them out and win eventually.

Finally, it is perfectly OK to yield points to LeBron/Wade on 1v1 plays as long as we make them work both ends of the floor. They will run out of gas if they try to go for 40 point plus games for a whole series. We survived Durant/Westbrook and in term of 1v1 ISO's, these were way stronger pure scorers. We need to lock down everyone else!

Allen also got open 3 after open 3, we were just lucky he missed...

It wasn't a shaky win. Spurs still win with Lebron in the game. Momentum had already shifted at that point. Maybe they don't win by 15 cuz Lebron would have hit a few to make it interesting but as nobody was stopping Danny Green those last 5-6 minutes, give our guys some credit

Nice read.
:toast

I do agree however that much of the game was a sloppy mess that could be improved on, but those last five minutes was will to win imho

Pretty much hit on everything. I think their shooters will play better at home, so we need to make sure we're not leaving them open. We had a lot of good closeouts that resulted in misses, but we need to make sure we contest EVERY three, if someone isllis close. Can't just stand there and let them square up the basket

Limit the turnovers to less than 14, Spurs win this series easily

Just a slight difference of opinion. THe Heat defend the interior a tad differently from the Thunder. They just pack the paint and make it very difficult for the non-PF/C to shoot from up-close. Unlike the Thunder who rely upon their shot blocker to do the needful while defending the perimeter, the Heat send their PG/PF to blitz screens at the top of the key and if the guard gets into the paint, pack it. Defenders are athletic enough to close out if need be as well.

All this suggests that the Spurs have got to involve Duncan/ Splitter a lot more as there is no way the Heat can answer height even while packing the paint. Which is what Manu and Diaw did very well, passing to the big man efficiently and quickly at close to the basket getting Duncan easy looks there. Trouble was that Kawhi/Green/TP on the other hand were getting stolen/ causing turnovers aplenty when they tried the same strategy...and Splitter's passing wasn't good enough to confuse the Heat defense within the paint when Duncan played alongside.

The Spurs have got to play Diaw more along with Duncan/Splitter and expect Leonard to handle James well on his own.

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Originally Posted by Jimcs50

Limit the turnovers to less than 14, Spurs win this series easily

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Pretty much.

Agreed. Good point on the part that they need to make Bron and Wade work on the D. That is going to be big. Although you missed one thing, they should really give Timmy the ball every time he is on the floor. Whether he's going to shoot it or not, no one can guard him the don't have a good post defender.

the best line-up the spurs had for ball movement was the Duncan-Diaw-Ginobili-Parker-and either Green or Leonard, depending on how many fouls Leonard had on him at one time.

The Spurs need Leonard on the floor more than he was, and I don't know what they do to get him some help, but the second-team all NBA defensive SF was unable to guard James without being called for a foul. He can be such a big part of our offense that we need to figure out something about that, because you can count on James coming into the second game 'running and gunning' because of the grief he is being given for cramping out in last night's game.

If Splitter is on the floor, Ginobili needs to be on the floor with him, because Ginobili is so much better than anyone else at getting the ball to Splitter in a position to score.

Ginobili was a monster at the beginning of the game, but clearly wore down in the heat and fatigue of the second half. It seems to me that we may just have to live with that contribution from him. If he can give us one stellar half, we may just have to let him be a ball distributor in the second half and be thrilled to get it.

Even though we had some bone-headed turnovers, a lot of our turnovers were caused by the Heat playing our passing lanes, which is exactly what they should have done. They are very disciplined on defense and it showed. I don't expect them to stop doing either of those things - playing our passing lanes OR being very disciplined on defense. Bottom line - we need to move the ball faster and earlier in each possession. Too often last night we brought the ball up and took too long to decide what to do, and then when a pass was actually completed, the pass recipient didn't move or pass fast enough to beat the Heat's defensive rotations. The line-up I described above was the best one all night to combat the Heat's aggression in the passing lanes.

Defensively, we really were NOT disciplined in staying on their three point shooters. We were terrible, in fact, and Bellinelli was worse than anyone else at it. It seems as though our guards are told to help rebound, and when they do, they are out of position if the Heat get the offensive rebound. That may be a trade-off the coaches have decided on purposely, (we out-rebounded them by 10) but it sure leaves their guys open if we DON'T get the rebound. It also slows down our own game getting back in transition.

I was pretty disappointed all game that we brought the ball up as slowly as we did so often. That is on Parker, I think, who we have to accept is not going to be a huge factor in these games. He is not playing badly, but he is not playing all that well, either.

These Finals seem to be owned by Duncan and Ginobili and for their sake, I hope they can bring it home.

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Originally Posted by hitmantb

You need a little bit of luck to win a championship, and LeBron cramping up, unable to play in the 4th was a huge break. It would be extremely difficult to win this series had we lost game 1. Pop needs to make adjustments, otherwise we may be seeing Thunder vs Heat in 2012 here. A shaky win followed by 4 losses.

Duncan/Splitter should not play together again. Duncan 33 minutes a game, Splitter takes the other 15. Twin towers only work if you have a stretch four who can hit medium range jumpers. Add Bonner to the rotation to stretch floors, he will have no problem guarding Lewis. We gave the Heat two 8-0 runs when we had both Duncan and Splitter on the floor. Spurs 2014 can not beat elite teams with defense, spacing is premium, beat them with offense. Defense will kick in once fatigue sets in on the other team from defending the Spurs passing game.

Kawhi does not need to take a lot of shots if he is guarded by LeBron, but he or anyone else for that matter must move non-stop without the ball to drain LeBron. You see in order to play small ball, LeBron bulked up quite a bit to guard power forwards and until he loses weight like Duncan did to save his knees, as he is getting older and getting more seasons on his belt, fatigue is a real issue for him. Same way we beat a much leaner Durant, we need to work LeBron both side of the floor. We have no real answer for their big three early in the game, we need to make sure they are running low on gas in the fourth quarter. When Duncan is not in the game, we need to play up-tempo to put more fatigue into LeBron. When Duncan is in the game, avoid 1v1 post-up's until extremely late in the game to keep Duncan fresh, feed Duncan with easy baskets off penetrations, he will get his via tap in's as well.

Parker/Manu/Diaw/Kwahi must relentlessly attack the basket once Spurs spreads the floor. Heat exterior defense is way stronger than their interior defense. Ibaka is not here! Green needs to stick to what he is good at and stop doing dribble penetration disasters, move without the ball, get open 3's and occasional fast breaks. It is perfectly OK if Wade chooses to lock him down early in the game, move without the ball, late in the game he won't be able to keep up. Belinelli should be used sparingly with either Green or Kwahi on the floor. Parker minutes should be hold to low 30's, give some extra minutes to Mills or even Joseph if Manu/Diaw are on the floor. Biggest improvement this year is Manu/Diaw can run the offense when Parker is not on the floor.

Reduce turn overs, play the passing game, tire them out, and take game 2! Ultimately it is all about the Spurs passing game. If we get it running smoothly with high assists, low turnovers, it doesn't matter what their big three does on the offensive end, we will tire them out and win eventually.

Finally, it is perfectly OK to yield points to LeBron/Wade on 1v1 plays as long as we make them work both ends of the floor. They will run out of gas if they try to go for 40 point plus games for a whole series. We survived Durant/Westbrook and in term of 1v1 ISO's, these were way stronger pure scorers. We need to lock down everyone else!

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Good take. The only thing i disagree with is giving Duncan 33 min a game. I would like to see Duncan get more like 28-30 min and have soft serve take the rest. Even though Splitter has NEVER converted a 3 point play, the guy was money when we needed him

If green starts off the game the he finished, there is no way they can beat us tbh...

Plus the turnovers killed us which gave them extra possessions and helped them with that lead in the fourth. If we take care of the ball, we are unbeatable. It would help too if KL comes out strong in the beginning of the game. He looked a little shook.

Cut turnovers down by 12 and the Spurs win game 2 by 15 points.

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Originally Posted by Spursfanfromafar

Just a slight difference of opinion. THe Heat defend the interior a tad differently from the Thunder. They just pack the paint and make it very difficult for the non-PF/C to shoot from up-close. Unlike the Thunder who rely upon their shot blocker to do the needful while defending the perimeter, the Heat send their PG/PF to blitz screens at the top of the key and if the guard gets into the paint, pack it. Defenders are athletic enough to close out if need be as well.

All this suggests that the Spurs have got to involve Duncan/ Splitter a lot more as there is no way the Heat can answer height even while packing the paint. Which is what Manu and Diaw did very well, passing to the big man efficiently and quickly at close to the basket getting Duncan easy looks there. Trouble was that Kawhi/Green/TP on the other hand were getting stolen/ causing turnovers aplenty when they tried the same strategy...and Splitter's passing wasn't good enough to confuse the Heat defense within the paint when Duncan played alongside.

The Spurs have got to play Diaw more along with Duncan/Splitter and expect Leonard to handle James well on his own.

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Turnovers:

Leonard - 4
Duncan - 5
Splitter - 4
Parker - 4

Ginobili -2
Diaw -1
Green -1
Bellinelli -1

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Originally Posted by EVAY

Turnovers:

Leonard - 4
Duncan - 5
Splitter - 4
Parker - 4

Ginobili -2
Diaw -1
Green -1
Bellinelli -1

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Here's a suggestion, don't jump then pass the ball! Why do the Spurs players, specifically Manu, some of Diaw, and Parker love to jump over the double-team/trap and then pass the ball? Every Heat player is then telegraphed where the ball will be going or we throw it out of bounds! It's unbelievable how we turn into the jump-passing team!

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Originally Posted by scramby eggs

Good take. The only thing i disagree with is giving Duncan 33 min a game. I would like to see Duncan get more like 28-30 min and have soft serve take the rest. Even though Splitter has NEVER converted a 3 point play, the guy was money when we needed him

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On games with a two day break ahead I think it's okay to give Duncan the extra minutes. Fortunately that happens two more times. And ditto on the cutting down on the turnovers talk.

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Originally Posted by EVAY

If Splitter is on the floor, Ginobili needs to be on the floor with him, because Ginobili is so much better than anyone else at getting the ball to Splitter in a position to score.

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This is very true....PnR Manu/Splitter is eye candy. I'm a Splitter fan but wouldn't mind Diaw start because of this.

Just dont be a bunch of turnobili's, dare lebron to shoot more but dont let him get used to it (if that makes any sense)

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Originally Posted by look_at_g_shred

If green starts off the game the he finished, there is no way they can beat us tbh...

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I had a friend over who likes bball, likes the Rockets, and he was trashing Danny all night, saying the Spurs need get him out of the game. I kept telling him that he is a shooter and his shots will fall, that Pop wants him to keep shooting if he has an open look. When he scored 8 straight points, I told him I told you so, that I know my Spurs players. I knew Danny would start hitting them given the opportunity. He has a great shooters stroke, just as Ray Allen, and you do not want them to get looks at basket, even if they have missed 3-4 straight prior.

Green wont be left open in game 2...IIRC this happened last year when green hit 3's in one game and the next game he wasnt left open....

Do not fix the A/C.

Will LeBron come to friend Danny's Championship victory party?

- Involving Kawhi early. I'm not as high on Kawhi's offensive ceiling as most around these parts, but the Spurs need to get him involved down low otherwise he becomes a bit of a ghost out there. The added bonus is it makes LeBron play some defense and you never know, maybe he will pick up a couple of early fouls which is always a positive.

- The ball handler on the PnR will need to adjust. A couple of ball fakes at the big man rolling/flashing into the middle combined with some weakside action to free up shooters as the defense overcompensates to the middle should help. Either way, the decision has to be crisp and fast by the ballhandler. Much, much easier to say than do though.

- I know Pop wants to keep the Heat moving and doesn't want to allow the defense to dig in and get the Spurs into late shotclock situations, but the Spurs simply have to get the ball to Duncan down. Not often, but more than they did. They really, really have no one to guard him.

- Fight through off the ball picks that Miami sets for Allen. They have to trail him and force him to shoot off the dribble. Spurs got extremely lucky a couple of times with Allen, he won't miss that many open shots again. To be honest, I can't believe this even happened.. just fucking stay with him.

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Originally Posted by tdunk21

Green wont be left open in game 2...IIRC this happened last year when green hit 3's in one game and the next game he wasnt left open....

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Danny set a finals record (in 5 games), b4 miami did anything about it. He'll get open looks, until miami is a game or 2 away from elimination..

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Originally Posted by Spursfanfromafar

Just a slight difference of opinion. THe Heat defend the interior a tad differently from the Thunder. They just pack the paint and make it very difficult for the non-PF/C to shoot from up-close. Unlike the Thunder who rely upon their shot blocker to do the needful while defending the perimeter, the Heat send their PG/PF to blitz screens at the top of the key and if the guard gets into the paint, pack it. Defenders are athletic enough to close out if need be as well.

All this suggests that the Spurs have got to involve Duncan/ Splitter a lot more as there is no way the Heat can answer height even while packing the paint. Which is what Manu and Diaw did very well, passing to the big man efficiently and quickly at close to the basket getting Duncan easy looks there. Trouble was that Kawhi/Green/TP on the other hand were getting stolen/ causing turnovers aplenty when they tried the same strategy...and Splitter's passing wasn't good enough to confuse the Heat defense within the paint when Duncan played alongside.

The Spurs have got to play Diaw more along with Duncan/Splitter and expect Leonard to handle James well on his own.

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Agree on Heat's defensive prowess, but dribble penetration still creates spacing for shooters and easy passes to Duncan/Splitter for scoring.

Leonard only had 3 fouls last night and he should avoid fouling at all costs. As long as he makes LeBron take contested shots, that is all it matters. If LeBron drops 40 points on us with 50% shooting percentage, he is not getting teammate involved and as long as Spurs gets its offense going, we are still OK.

Don't be afraid to give up 1v1 ISO points to LeBron/Wade/Bosh, they can not do any better than Durant/Westbrook, their shooters is their killing blow. LeBron/Wade/Bosh just gives them a base 60-70 points a game, they can not beat us with big three alone if we play our offensive game.

The more I watch the Spurs, the more I think they are like Spain of basketball. A position where Duncan gets an ISO play and scores 2 points, LeBron is standing there doing nothing, saving energy. I firmly believe Duncan is way better playing Dwight Howard style offense. Get offensive tip-in's and easy passes at the rim. He needs to save his ISO plays at the end like OKC OT. Duncan scoring 1v1 is exactly what the Heat want. He will tire out and be slower on defense and his shooting % will be lower and lower as the game progresses.

A position where everyone touches the ball and LeBron's cover runs all over the court, that is going to reduce LeBron's shooting percentage down the road for sure. Pass pass pass to tire them out with our depth! You can never shut down great shooters like Green and Allen because they move so well without the ball. Green needs to be patient and understand even if he is not getting open looks, he is tiring out Allen/Wade's knees with his youth. He can have a huge impact on the game scoring 0 points for 3 quarters and get his when they finally fail to keep up. We don't need his dribble penetrations, cut to the basket is fine, force Wade to chase him.

A big reason players like Jordan can score 40-50 a game in the 90's is the ISO play. Everybody stand around and watch 1v1's. Spurs motion defense with patient passing will tire out the opposing stars if we get it going with low turnovers.

-Diaw should have started like I originally thought.
-Pop's rotations were weird throughout the night, but that was to be expected w the A/C factor.
-Bosh will be an issue all series long, much more than Wade IMO
-Our defense on Ray Allen was some of the worst I've seen all postseason until the 4th

Going forward, I start Diaw and make sure Beli only guards Shane Battier. The turnovers will take care of themselves tbh.

I was fine with Splitter starting to see how it would go. Now we know for sure that Diaw needs to start and Tiago come of the bench with Manu and kill them with that pick and roll.

everything else seemed fine.

Barring injury or flat sloppiness, I just don't see how the Spurs lose this series.

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Originally Posted by Spursfanfromafar

Just a slight difference of opinion. THe Heat defend the interior a tad differently from the Thunder. They just pack the paint and make it very difficult for the non-PF/C to shoot from up-close. Unlike the Thunder who rely upon their shot blocker to do the needful while defending the perimeter, the Heat send their PG/PF to blitz screens at the top of the key and if the guard gets into the paint, pack it. Defenders are athletic enough to close out if need be as well.

All this suggests that the Spurs have got to involve Duncan/ Splitter a lot more as there is no way the Heat can answer height even while packing the paint. Which is what Manu and Diaw did very well, passing to the big man efficiently and quickly at close to the basket getting Duncan easy looks there. Trouble was that Kawhi/Green/TP on the other hand were getting stolen/ causing turnovers aplenty when they tried the same strategy...and Splitter's passing wasn't good enough to confuse the Heat defense within the paint when Duncan played alongside.

The Spurs have got to play Diaw more along with Duncan/Splitter and expect Leonard to handle James well on his own.

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I'm impressed by how Miami can close on 3-point shooters yet get so many bodies to pack the lane on drives. Some of the Spurs' sets were working on pulling that apart, and we should see more of the same. One bonus would be running the Heat players all over the place to wear them out.

Diaw is key to the entire series.

I think parker will be better
first game back after injury he was tentative at first but got it going did end up with 8 assist not bad considering manu had 11 and diaw had 6

We had about 7-8 dumb turnovers (unforced). Take better care of the ball.

Defensively, need to do a better job staying on the shooters.

Get Duncan the ball more on the block, play Manu and Splitter together.

Turnovers are honestly the biggest thing. Allen and Wade played great, Spurs had 23 turnovers, Green didn't hit a shot until the fourth quarter, and we still won by 15. Spurs will fix some things and get better. The Heat have to continue to pray for 30 turnovers a night and some help from the stripes.

This was the last game we see Duncan and Splitter together. I thought it would be a problem for our defensive match up, but it's obvious they are too crowded without an outside shooter at the 4.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Body

I'm impressed by how Miami can close on 3-point shooters yet get so many bodies to pack the lane on drives. Some of the Spurs' sets were working on pulling that apart, and we should see more of the same. One bonus would be running the Heat players all over the place to wear them out.

Diaw is key to the entire series.

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They are only capable of doing this a few minutes a quarter, and cost is their shooting % down the road.

The key is to be able to get off contested shots, no turnover, AFTER multiple passes, and crash the offensive glass. If they play a perfect defensive sequence, hats off to them, get a contested jumper at end of the clock from Manu, Kwahi or Parker. We can wear them down as long as we don't turn it over and give up easy baskets.

Cleaning up the turnovers will be nice, but, if anything, Game 1 confirmed that this series is gonna be a dogfight tbh.

The Spurs played sloppy but the Heat didn't play their best game either. They had 18 turnovers and missed A LOT of wide open shots. The way they move the ball and get open shots is second only to San Antonio and they showed that they can have stretches of dominant defensive basketball.

Even w/ all the TOs, last night confirmed that these are the two elite teams in the NBA and it's really a great matchup for people who love the game. Anybody saying that if the Spurs clean up their play, they win easily is crazy IMO. It's gonna be a very, very difficult series but I think the Spurs can rise up to the challenge......

-Start Boris.
-Don't play Tim and Tiago toghether.
-Bonner has no place on this series. It should be a 3 bigmen rotation of Tim-Tiago-Boris and smallball.
-Limit turnovers.
-Don't put Manu on Allen ever again. Manu on Wade and Green on Ray is cool. If Patty is in put Manu on the Heat PG and Mills on Allen.
-I don't like Duncan on Lewis/Battier either. Just let him guard Bosh, who is a worse 3 pt shooter than Rashard and isn't always standing on the 3pt line.
-Don't overplay Belli on detriment of Green and Kawhi's minutes.

I expect the defending champs to put up a fight, but they probably won't adjust because they were doing fine most of the game. For them it will be about staying the course for 48 minutes. For the Spurs, it needs to be about protecting the ball and pushing the tempo. Spurs cannot win if Tony walks the ball up the floor and dribbles for 15 seconds while calling for screens. The defense has to be moved from side to side to get shooters open, and when the Heat are tired of being killed from outside, they will expand their defense and Splitter can enter and get paint points with Diaw and Tim. That will work if and only if they protect the ball. Teams don't feel pressure to expand the defense if they are getting easy fast break opportunities and have a lead.

I like the last two points. Attack the basket, reduce turnovers. Also add grab more defensive boards. Can't afford to give them extra possessions (which means box out better).

I don't think pairing up Tim and Tiago is a problem right now. But if they play separately, gotta keep Boris in there with one of them. Spurs have to do a better job a staying with Ray Allen. That dude got loose quite a few times and if he had knocked a couple of those wide opens, it could've changed things substantially. Take care of the ball, stay focused, high intensity defense. I don't really think that many adjustments need to be made if any. I would like to see Cojo a little bit. Also I think Spurs should take it right to Anderson. Refs love calling fouls on that guy.

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Originally Posted by hitmantb

Agree on Heat's defensive prowess, but dribble penetration still creates spacing for shooters and easy passes to Duncan/Splitter for scoring.

Leonard only had 3 fouls last night and he should avoid fouling at all costs. As long as he makes LeBron take contested shots, that is all it matters. If LeBron drops 40 points on us with 50% shooting percentage, he is not getting teammate involved and as long as Spurs gets its offense going, we are still OK.

Don't be afraid to give up 1v1 ISO points to LeBron/Wade/Bosh, they can not do any better than Durant/Westbrook, their shooters is their killing blow. LeBron/Wade/Bosh just gives them a base 60-70 points a game, they can not beat us with big three alone if we play our offensive game.

The more I watch the Spurs, the more I think they are like Spain of basketball. A position where Duncan gets an ISO play and scores 2 points, LeBron is standing there doing nothing, saving energy. I firmly believe Duncan is way better playing Dwight Howard style offense. Get offensive tip-in's and easy passes at the rim. He needs to save his ISO plays at the end like OKC OT. Duncan scoring 1v1 is exactly what the Heat want. He will tire out and be slower on defense and his shooting % will be lower and lower as the game progresses.

A position where everyone touches the ball and LeBron's cover runs all over the court, that is going to reduce LeBron's shooting percentage down the road for sure. Pass pass pass to tire them out with our depth! You can never shut down great shooters like Green and Allen because they move so well without the ball. Green needs to be patient and understand even if he is not getting open looks, he is tiring out Allen/Wade's knees with his youth. He can have a huge impact on the game scoring 0 points for 3 quarters and get his when they finally fail to keep up. We don't need his dribble penetrations, cut to the basket is fine, force Wade to chase him.

A big reason players like Jordan can score 40-50 a game in the 90's is the ISO play. Everybody stand around and watch 1v1's. Spurs motion defense with patient passing will tire out the opposing stars if we get it going with low turnovers.

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Great Post.

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Originally Posted by superbigtime

I don't think pairing up Tim and Tiago is a problem right now. But if they play separately, gotta keep Boris in there with one of them. Spurs have to do a better job a staying with Ray Allen. That dude got loose quite a few times and if he had knocked a couple of those wide opens, it could've changed things substantially. Take care of the ball, stay focused, high intensity defense. I don't really think that many adjustments need to be made if any. I would like to see Cojo a little bit. Also I think Spurs should take it right to Anderson. Refs love calling fouls on that guy.

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that pairing is a problem, especially offensively. There's zero reason for Tim & Tiago to play together when Bosh is out there with Lewis or another shooter.

Bosh is different from Aldridge & Dirk as he rarely gets his touches on the block so I don't think Tiago can defend him any better than Boris or Duncan tbh.

TD & Splitter can't play together in this series, it just kills spacing and thats when turnovers pile up.

You can't play Diaw for 48 minutes. While it is always a trick up Pop's sleeve to start Diaw I'm fine with Tiago for now. Giving Tim and Tiago the first 5 minutes makes our rotations much smoother IMO. If you start Diaw then you probably have to go super small with Tim/Tiago and 4 wings for a large chunk of the 2nd.

Plus Boris seems to be our 2nd Lebron defender behind Kawhi. If Lebron/Wade drive to the hoop early and he picks up two fouls we're scrambling. They did well against the TnT frontcourt cause they were hitting jumpshots, but if we start out smaller with Diaw they are driving to the hoop from the first whistle.

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Originally Posted by Spursfanfromafar

Just a slight difference of opinion. THe Heat defend the interior a tad differently from the Thunder. They just pack the paint and make it very difficult for the non-PF/C to shoot from up-close. Unlike the Thunder who rely upon their shot blocker to do the needful while defending the perimeter, the Heat send their PG/PF to blitz screens at the top of the key and if the guard gets into the paint, pack it. Defenders are athletic enough to close out if need be as well.

All this suggests that the Spurs have got to involve Duncan/ Splitter a lot more as there is no way the Heat can answer height even while packing the paint. Which is what Manu and Diaw did very well, passing to the big man efficiently and quickly at close to the basket getting Duncan easy looks there. Trouble was that Kawhi/Green/TP on the other hand were getting stolen/ causing turnovers aplenty when they tried the same strategy...and Splitter's passing wasn't good enough to confuse the Heat defense within the paint when Duncan played alongside.

The Spurs have got to play Diaw more along with Duncan/Splitter and expect Leonard to handle James well on his own.

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Zach Lowe brilliantly writes up what I was talking about the Heat's defensive schemes:

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nb...f-the-matchup/

I think Pop will still start Splitter and Duncan together. No need to tinker with Splitter's confidence. The key is to punish the Heat down low more than the Heat can punish the Spurs bigs on the perimeter. And then it will be a game of who blinks first. A Splitter and Duncan pairing is still the best chance of stopping Lebron from dominating in the paint.

Pop has never liked putting the best lineup together in the starting 5. He's only done so in desperate situations. He likes to risk getting role players going first and then have Ginobili step in to deliver a boost.

Miami sets much better screens than OKC.

We lost Allen too often or got caught in mismatches and had to chase because the heat move the ball so much better. We need to do a better job on screens.

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Originally Posted by Aggie Hoopsfan

We had about 7-8 dumb turnovers (unforced). Take better care of the ball.

Defensively, need to do a better job staying on the shooters.

Get Duncan the ball more on the block, play Manu and Splitter together.

Turnovers are honestly the biggest thing. Allen and Wade played great, Spurs had 23 turnovers, Green didn't hit a shot until the fourth quarter, and we still won by 15. Spurs will fix some things and get better. The Heat have to continue to pray for 30 turnovers a night and some help from the stripes.

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Turnovers:

Duncan - 5
Splitter 4
Leonard - 4
Parker -4

Ginobili - 2
Green - 1
Diaw - 1

Im not a Manu hater like half this forum but manu cant guard wade, put green, leonard, boris, wtvr on wade
And bellinelli was good on O but couldnt guard Allen on screens and running around. Fix that
Also Duncan/Splitter should never be on the floor together, bonner or diaw with one or the other

I don't expect Pop's adjustments in game 2, maybe the changes'll come in the next road games.

The Spurs should attack the paint as they did but not only with Tim/Tiago, the Heat don't have great rim protection, don't have some Ibaka guy to help and prevent the penetration, so the Spurs need Tony -he seems healthy now- /Manu/Kawhi get into the paint and collapse the defense.

I don't feel good with this "Leonard, when asked if he tries to focus on both offense & defense: I just focus on defense".
Leonard being a non factor in offense and Pop thinking Kawhi can't score on Lebron, is a bad sign. The Spurs will need more scoring options when Tony doesn't have a great night or Danny 3's aren't falling, and they need try and force James to exhaust himself defending the kid and Diaw.
Just put Leonard in a position to succeed -not only keep him in the 3's line like a shooter-. Use his athleticism? maybe throwing him a lob against the Heat wouldn't hurt us.

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Originally Posted by DMC

For the Spurs, it needs to be about protecting the ball and pushing the tempo. Spurs cannot win if Tony walks the ball up the floor and dribbles for 15 seconds while calling for screens.

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Agree. Carlisle said something like that in his 2014 Finals Espn analysis "NBA defenses are so sophisticated now. You don't want to give them a chance to get fully established."