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oh so now people want to watch the spurs play
This angle is mixed in other threads, please merge if it belongs somewhere else.
Did San Antonio do the fans a disservice last night?
By Austin Burton
Here’s how I ended up with 22 e-mails led “Re: This is Bull ” in my inbox last night…
Sometime before Tuesday’s Spurs/Nuggets game, “The Jed” sent out a news item to the rest of the Dime crew about Gregg Popovich giving Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili the night off. (Manu reportedly had a bruised hip, but he looked fine scoring 32 points in 34 minutes of Monday’s game in Oakland.)
Jed’s take on it: “Honestly, the league should fine the Spurs for this. I know they can’t and I get why they did it, but people pay a lot of money to go to an NBA game (ESPECIALLY with the economy the way it is), and you get to the game and the Spurs rest their three best players? That stinks. I think it’s fine to rest a guy for a day or two, but to do their three best players for the same game blows.”
Dime’s Pat Cassidy later added: “Watching the Spurs might be the equivalent of watching paint dry, but that’s still not right. There are probably lots of kids in Denver who for whatever reason love Tim Duncan and Tony Parker and their parents swallowed the $500 or so it costs to take a family to an NBA game and when they get there, Popovich decides he’s sitting all of his stars? Not cool. The NBA is an entertainment product. People pay exorbitant amounts of money to watch that product. Unless those guys are physically unable to perform, they have to play.”
Apparently I was the only one who didn’t seem to have a problem with Pop’s move. To be real, I think it’s just another case of Spurs-induced haterism, and if this was any other team, nobody would have made an issue of it. Here’s how I see it: When you buy a ticket you’re paying to see two teams, and while you obviously prefer to see the best talent, you’re not guaranteed to see certain players. No one seems to have a problem with Major League Baseball teams routinely giving stars nights off. In the NBA, no one complains when Phoenix gives Shaq a night off. I’m sure Rockets fans wouldn’t mind if T-Mac and Yao were given some nights off. And from what I recall, the Wizards occasionally rested Michael Jordan (or at least they wanted to, and Mike wouldn’t let them). Think about what the Spurs are looking at: Duncan is 32 years old, he’s got a ton of mileage on him, and before last night he’d played every single game this season while covering for Parker and Manu’s injuries. In fact, TD’s 35-plus minutes a night is the most he’s played since the ‘03-04 season. Why wouldn’t you give him a night off here and there? The West is close, but you don’t win any awards for playing all 82 games.
The argument went on like that all night. After a while, we decided to take it to DimeMag.com and get the readers’ opinion.
Do you think the Spurs did the fans a disservice by sitting Duncan, Parker and Ginobili last night?
oh so now people want to watch the spurs play
Last edited by ORION; 02-04-2009 at 09:23 PM.
ginobili had an excuse. i would be pretty pissed too if spurs came here to LA, played the clippers, benched the starters, and i already spent $50-60 on a ticket to watch them. it wouldn't be every day i see the spurs so this would be a special event for me, unlike those who has a chance to go to every spurs home game. spurs have fans everywhere, and you can tell from the cheering from last night that there were quite a few spurs fans there. how often do spurs fans living in denver get to see their team? not seeing duncan and parker must have been disappointing if they had waited all season long just to see this one spurs game live.
+1
Haters, the lot of ya!
I know right?
They did.
But BFD...
But I thought Duncan was boring. Pop did a service to the fans, made the game more interesting.
i can see how NBA fans are upset. But theyve got to remember that this is a team that looks at the big picture all the time. They could care less about putting on a show. They look down the road and see how this could benefit them.
But i do see why alot of fans are pissed off.
wow this guy is a dumb as they come.
First of all, he quotes an article from 1 year ago. Then he goes to say kids love Duncan and Parker for "whatever reason". Totally conflicting his article
Then he goes on to imply that a "poor" family that pays 500 for tickets, would have rather spent the money on food + utilities.
Asinine. Who for whatever reason? Really?
As for the nonsensical take that Popovich is somehow obligated to play his guys when healthy, I think the author of the piece is absolutely right in wondering where the cries of injustice are when the Suns sit Shaq on certain back-to-backs? Is Shaq somehow en led to that kind of coddling while Duncan isn't? According to Cassidy's "for whatever reason" nonsense, it would seem that more people are aggreived when Shaq sits -- after all, there's no "for whatever reason" attached to fan's love of Shaq, but some kids scrape the bottom of the barrel in admiring Duncan or Parker.
Popovich did the smart thing last night. As someone who routinely buys tickets for NBA games, I don't feel I've been done an injustice when a team's stars sit, no matter what the reason behind it. It happens. There are no guarantees when you buy tickets and if you are going to see stars and not the teams, I think you set yourself up for disappointment. Popovich's first obligation is to his team. He's done this before (he did it in a 2005 game at Phoenix, resting both Duncan and Ginobili after each had played long minutes in a home game against New Jersey the night before -- it resulted in Robert Sarver's "chicken" comments) and few cared then.
the 2 other writes are ing re s. the author seems to be the only one who gets it.
-Mars
what if you were a spurs fan living in denver? and you just spent $50 for a ticket to see them this one time during the season? suns rested shaq but they never rested shaq, stoudemire, and nash all at the same time.
as a coaching decision, i thought popovich made the correct call. seeing bynum, CP3, nelson, billups, and williams go down isn't a good sign. an injury right now to parker, duncan, and ginobili will screw up the chemistry needed for the playoffs.
The beautiful thing about what Pop did last nite is he could care less what fans, media and/or the Association thinks.
He made a decision and stuck to it...
First off the spurs played in Denver twice. Second if your a SPURS fan u go to see the team.
Suppose that instead of telling the media that he was just resting his guys, that Popovich announced that Parker and Duncan wouldn't play because each had broken some team rule and would serve a one-game suspension while in uniform. Would he be justified then?
Or suppose that Pop had started Duncan and Parker, but played each of them only for the first 30 seconds of the game before removing them and never putting them back? Would there still be ing about his decision?
I don't get this whole notion that Pop and the Spurs owe some obligation to the fans to send the stars out there every night. Fans who buy tickets for games in the expectation of seeing a particular player set themselves up for a very real chance at disappointment because of injuries, a need for rest, suspensions, foul troubles, or any number of other things. Thus, any fan who thinks that Pop owes an obligation to him to play his stars just because of the chance that someone in the arena bought tickets to see those stars is delusional. Yes, more often than not, it's not an issue; but there are plenty of times that those who want to see stars are disappointed and a coach cannot subjugate the needs of his team (or his obligations to his employers) to the unreasonable expectations of fans.
not really. People don't understand that going back to back on the road can be very tiring. The spurs were obviously tired and banged up (i think they arrived at 4:30 am), and this was a way for pop to rest the starters. If kids want to see tim duncan and co. play, they can watch the playoffs. Its the risk you take when you buy the ticket
But i can see where they were getting at though. if i bought a ticket for a lakers game, i expect to see kobe play.
I for one would like to thank Pop for letting me watch Scrubs and Leverage last night guilt free despite the game being on.
the fans and their kids can go suck it
I actually preferred watching our scrubs last night. I wanted to see more Hill and Hairston and this was the only way it was going to happen.
Haha... nobody says anything when the Kings and the Clippers do it every night.
The real crime was resting Finley.
Reading Pat Cassidy is about as interesting as listening to ice fishing on the radio.
From a basketball standpoint, I think one side effect of Pop's decision will be to revive the confidence of some of the role players, at least on the offensive end. While Denver wasn't at full strength, either, the Spurs' role players were nevertheless able to put up nearly 100 points against a quality club. Certainly, the Spurs don't need -- and won't get -- that kind of production out of the role players when the Big Three play. But if it helps Roger Mason, Jr. to feel that he can continue to be productive, it's a good thing. If it identifies that Malik Hairston can or can't play, it's a good thing. If it gives much-needed court work to Ime Udoka and Jacque Vaughn, it's a good thing.
there's no obligation but can you see how it would disappoint spurs fans in denver? or does wanting to see duncan and parker play not make someone a spurs fan? this isn't "every night," this is the only night (or two) spurs fans in denver get to watch the spurs play. you have the chance to watch the spurs play every home game, others don't. don't tell me you won't be disappointed or somewhat mad if the only spurs game you saw live didn't include duncan, ginobili, AND parker.
again, i understand ginobili sitting out but duncan and parker weren't suspended or injured, just tired. you can't compare this to a suspension or injury. people are complaining because they were pro athletes capable of playing. injury can happen anytime. to prevent injury to any spurs member, why not just call up the entire austin toros and hold an open audition against the nuggets so that the role players don't get hurt?
yes it is dissapointing. but a real fan would see the benefit to the team and be ok with it.
I heard that, after the game, Pop uttered these reasons for the DNP status of his Big Three:
Manu: "Injured hip and needed rest"
TP: "Just got nominated to the All-Star team and got the big head, so I'm sitting him out for one game to teach him a lesson"
TD: "Has been squawking about wanting to renegotiate his contract. Sitting him down for one game"
Priceless!
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