Matt Bonner is not the problem and Tiago Splitter is not the solution.
Well, not by himself he's not, anyway. While the two of them have different strengths and weaknesses, they're really not far apart at all as far as the value they bring to the team. They're both assets, neither are stars.
The problem, all along, has been DeJuan Blair. Remove him from the rotation and we've got a much better chance of winning it all.
Not to put all the blame on Blair. But his two best qualities are offensive rebounding and energy in blah games, and those are the two least important things you need in the playoffs. Defensive rebounding is far more vital than offensive rebounding and everyone gets up to play for playoff games, so the juice he brings is irrelevant.
That's not to say Blair has no value. I liken him to an inning-eating 4.50 ERA 4th or 5th starter on a baseball team. Sure, he's not very good, but somebody has to pitch those innings to keep the good starting pitchers from getting overworked and breaking down. Once the postseason starts, the 4th and 5th starter doesn't play.
Blair keeps the other bigs from having to play too many minutes during the regular season and we get by because the rest of the team is so good. He also takes advantage in the 1st quarter of games when neither team is too into the game and the crowd is dead and nobody really wants to be playing because it's the 4th game in six nights or whatever. Against ty teams, he's a great weapon to have, because he brings it.
But now it's big boy basketball time and Blair has to sit once the playoffs start. He's just too short and he compounds his weakness by A) not being smart either and B) being an awful shooter. Start Diaw and away we go.
Tbh, I thought starting Tiago Splitter next to Tim Duncan was the solution to stop the Lakers from playing volleyball above the rim and at least force them to play the same sport.
But, yeah, dropping Blair out of the rotation makes sense in many matchups in the playoffs. I wouldn't say all because he does surprisingly well against Blake Griffin and against OKC for some reason ... but a vast majority.
I told you guys last week that they were sandbagging that game.
Eh, other than the Lakers and Memphis, I don't know of another team that he does HORRIBLE against.
No. Hopefully this DNP is a taste of what's to come for Blair (no pun intended).
Timvp with the goods tbh.
Agree, Blair should be designated for DNP (5th big) status for any future matchups against the Fakers and Grizzlies.
As others have stated, there are some teams, for which his early contributions, along with his undersized stature, are viable.
Well yeah. Like OKC would be one I'd say. But rather than yanking him in and out of the starting line-up (while compromising our defense), why not leave him to come off the bench? Start Tiago against the taller teams and if Pop wants he can also start Diaw for most match-ups. It's a win-win situation for everybody.
- Rebound on defense.
- Attack the basket consistently on offense.
Those are the only two things I ask for come Playoff time. Those are my two wishes. We did that tonight. If we do that, we can seriously win a Championship. Pop can do whatever he wants with the rotation. I just want these two things done, because when we do this, we win games.
I agree. Pop should play the matchup game. Whe going up against teams, with the bigger frontlines (Grizzlies, Fakers) start Tiago. Against the rest, play Blair. It's simply the most logical option. After all, Pop likes to tinker with the lineups as it is.
And screw all this saving secrets for the playoffs. There ARE no secrets in this game, at this level. Every team knows the oppositions strengths and weaknesses.
See...that last game at ATT was a WarGame.
For this Wargame, Pop employed The Brazilian Occupation and then followed it up with The French Flank Strike.
Pop knows that this plan will work best should the LAL try to be Bynum Centric. Pop also knows that his regular plan should be good enough to beat a team that is Bean Centric.
"A military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective."
-Sun Tzu
That's the beauty of being so deep we can mix and match our opponents. Now let's just hope we don't get fat heads again, so we can pound em again on friday.
Definitely attack the basket against slow teams. Against OKC, I like our ability to change pace and frustrate them. The Laker game last night was a lesson that smart speed kills slow large teams.
The wild attacking that leads to turnovers and easy buckets is worrisome. But in general a very nice concise observation imo.
Agreed. If nothing else, the size of Duncan and Splitter kept the Lakers' offense honest when in the half-court set. When Bynum is on his game there isn't a player in the league who can slow him down, much less stop him. Tiago's job was to make Bynum/Pau actually work for their numbers while also allowing Tim to focus on his assignment without having to constantly keep an eye on both opposing bigs. That was a huge problem against Memphis. Duncan was constantly trying to defend both Gasol and Randolph due to Blair's defensive worthlessness.
In the second half the Spurs defense really got into a rhythm and started swarming Bynum and Pau from all angles. The defense needs to keep that intensity when Splitter is defending Bynum. They can't relax just because Splitter isn't 6'5", or Matt Bonner.
Your right. He just plays badly against the rest of them.
However happy I am to finally see the Splitter/Duncan frontline it's just mindboggling how Pop waited this long to start breaking in Tiago to the starting lineup. Can anyone give an explanation for why Pop waited to NOW.. the last damn week of the season?
Seriously, it's just too late in the game at this point. Tiago just looked way out of his comfort zone last night. I wonder if he even knew he was starting until the last second before tipoff. Talk about mentally unprepared. That wouldn't surprise me at all Pop pulled that . For a guy that thrives knowing what his role is going to be game by game and also the consistency of his minutes, he has done incredibly well under Pop IMHO, despite the and inconsistencies, "fake" injuries, mind games, and all around lunacy.
As far as Blair is concerned I think it's gotta be one or the other (him and Bonner). Play whichever one is performing the best. They're both too big of liabilities on defense to have both playing major roles.
And right now I give Matt Bonner the edge. There is a more physical aspect to his play lately I haven't seen in previous years. He's playing smart and confident out there as well. I hope the years of taunting and ridicule by the fans here finally caused him to man up and start playing like he is capable.
I won't be surprised if Tiago goes back to the bench. Pop has done enough f'ed up things to make me feel that way. I hope he doesn't though.
No, the lesson is that some of us were calling for this for two seasons now....and all the rest of you just could not believe that Pop didn't know what the he was doing.
Apparently, the rest of you were as smart as Pop. Thanks for catching up.
Splitter proved to be not ready for a major role as a starter. He is overrated on this site and is just a role player quality backup.
No.
Splitter started one game. If Splitter starts as many games next to Timmy as Blair did, then you will know what Splitter can do.
Just the fact that the Spurs and Lakers started the game with no team having a clear advantage gave the Lakers some pause and the Spurs some confidence...
The last game was Bynum/Gasol playing volleyball at the rim to start the game...
Exactly if a 7ft Splitter still needs occasional help on Bynum Blair has no chance.
Meh, Whataburger has gross bacon anyway.
ZZZZING!!
Pulling out a chumpdumper classic and using it against hordes... Priceless.
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