This is really it. NO took out a BILLBOARD before the series started saying they were going to shut down the lane to stop Tim and Tony inside. OK, so in game 1 they did that, and Bruce and Manu were raining 3s. And then Pop has a giant brain fart and forgets that this is actually what he WANTS, and this is what the team was BUILT FOR. So everyone runs around and cries and plays like ass because they're clogging the paint. I mean, WTF?
I really think the Spurs problems are all mental right now. Like, they think they're 'settling' for 3s when they should be slobbering over them. And Pop doesn't have these guys thinking about the game properly. If they were expecting and wanting to take those outside shots, I think they'd be going down better. Right now it's like they don't want to take them.
Also I don't know what sort of weird voodoo curse is on Manu, but he looks like a rookie.
Offense is definitely the problem right now. Just got to recognize the lane is going to be clogged, the outside shots will be there, it's time for our veteran shooters to shine. Got damn it.
It also involved alot of fast-break points and penetration layups by CP3. And that's WITH Bowen guarding him.
Peja has his threes, but it's a product of him being left open because the Spurs defense is forced to collapse on CP3 when he gets to the paint. If Bowen can't stop him, Parker surely couldn't.
Did the Spurs try a zone last night? The Spurs have played it before in the postseason and a zone might be the perfect solution to the CP3/West show.
Or maybe a box and 1 with Bowen on Peja (sounds crazy, but I think the Spurs need to mix up their defensive looks and take the initiative on that end of the floor).
Spurs playing zone is a bad sign.
If they start game 3 with Finley on Peja again I don't know how I'm going to be able toget thru it. I really don't.
The spurs should study how Battier defended Peja. I believe Peja shot about 30% against the rockets in their 4 games this season.
I nearly threw my tv out the window with that bull in game 2.
Let's just go with what we know works. Peja will be a non factor once Pop gets it through his thick skull to put Bowen on him. Paul is gonna score, nothing you can do about that, just put the underrated defender Tony on him and lets just see what happens. Kurt can handle West, he did a decent enough job in game 2, he should have been playing more anyway.
Got damnit Pop stop coaching like you are a ing rookie.
The Spurs don't need to study about Peja, they just need for Pop to pull his head out of his ass and put Bowen on him.
The greater irony here is that Pop's decision to put Bowen on Paul (and the three mismatches it has created) has resulted in Paul, Peterson, and Peja all scoring above their season averages so far in this series.
Isn't it supposed to go the other way, Popo ?
We tried zone in the fourth, Paul clowned us.
I would give a damn who was assigned the task of defending Peja if anyone was actually guarding him.
On every one of his 3's last night, the image in my head was that of some Spur sprinting to get over and contest the shot.
Pop could put the lovechild of Bill Russell and Michael Jordan "on" Peja and it won't matter if that guy doesn't stay home and deny good looks to Peja.
But that's just it. Finley hasn't defended anyone in a month, yet right now in Pop's looney bin defense we're asking him to check Peja.
Maybe Pop can move him over to Paul next...
, if Pop doesn't look at the stat sheet and notices that Stojakovic only averages 12.9 points against the Spurs for his career, then we deserve to lose this series. It's as simple as that. Not locking Peja down with Bruce is dumb.
I agree with timvp. It's not the offense, it's the defense. Udoka did a nice job on Bonzi but as soon as Wells leaves the game, take out Ime. His playoff IQ and shooting isn't ready for this level.
Eerily, I am not worried even though our season comes down to game three on Thursday. Every great team has been tested to it's limits at one point or another. This is an opportunity for the Spurs to exorcise past ghosts and demons forever. Spurs have never come back from an 0-2 deficit and they have never repeated as champions.
We might as well do both in bringing home number five.
See, I'd be less worried if Finley had actually been in the picture on those shots. At least there would have been a chance for the Spurs to get a hand in Peja's face. Instead, the defense seems to be collapsing on Paul's penetration, leaving it for guys like Parker to rotate to Peja, which is a defensive strategy that works only if you're lucky and Peja misses.But that's just it. Finley hasn't defended anyone in a month, yet right now in Pop's looney bin defense we're asking him to check Peja.
Maybe Pop can move him over to Paul next...
I suppose it's the theme of the thread, but I think the Spurs are beyond having a means to stop Paul in this series. I think their best bet is to devote a great deal of attention to the "other" guys and take their chances with Paul in one-on-one situations. I actually thought that was what Pop would do entering the series and I was shocked to see Bowen on Paul to open Game 1. Make Paul a one-dimensional guy who scores and you have a chance; allow him to be a scorer (he's going to do that anyway) and a distributor (he's shredding the Spurs by forcing the defense to account so significantly for his penetration that his teammates are getting gimme looks at the rim) and you're dead.
I think on the last three pointer Peja hit, he was open for about ten seconds while Manu was under the basket double teaming Tyson Chandler. I think Bowen on Peja is a good call at this point, but if we're going to be leaving another Hornet wide open all game then he's going to kill us like Peja did.
Stop chasing CP through pic-n-rolls and go underneath. Make him a shooter. If he makes 3's all over the place, I can live with that. IF CP and West are the only scorers on that team, we have a chance.
Leaving Peja alone while he brews up a cup of tea in the corner is unforgivable.
Exactly. By not putting Bowen on Predrag and putting Tony on Peterson you're putting yourself behind the 8 ball defensively from the start.
I would think by now Pop should be satisfied that his initial defensive strategy will not work.
What's interesting is that Manu looks like a defensive liability in this game and his offense and other "intangibles" isn't balancing it out. He can't guard Peja, he can't guard Paul, and he can't guard Bonzi Wells.
Exactly. The last time the Spurs beat the Hornets this season, Bowen was on Predrag. Not sure how Pop managed to talk himself out of that.
Maybe leaving Morris Peterson wide open will hurt but even he isn't as automatic as Peja Stojakovic.
He can guard Peterson. I think you start Manu and then bring Barry off the bench. Maybe Finley can turn it around in SA, but I'm not seeing it.
Good point and that's another reason to start Manu. You want Manu to be able to hide against Peterson. You don't want to bring Manu off the bench and then match him up with Bonzi. The more Manu can be on the court against Peterson, the better.
I can't agree with this thread le more and if Pop doesn't adopt it in Game 3, I love him but, he needs to step down.
I realize that some still blame him for it, but Pop did show a willingness to morph his use of the roster to meet the demands imposed by a particular opponent in 2006 and I think it is time for him to revisit that openness now.
Here's my take. The Spurs age is finally showing up. They're designed to take out the toughest team which the probably thought was Phoenix/Lakers. They seem to get by in the first half of games, then get blown out. A huge difference I notice from round 1 is NO's defense is about 100 times better than the Suns. I lost count of how many layups parker got in round one and can count the layups he got in this series on one hand.
The Spurs tried to hustle, but they don't have the endurance to hustle at NO's level for 4 quarters. They may be better experience and strategy wise, but age is finally catching up to them this time around.
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