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I can understand the league being upset and if it became common then it would really damage the league.
Spurs sit, and NBA lies down
Buck Harvey
They talked about Gregg Popovich and his JV team in the league office on Wednesday, and they cracked a few jokes.
“Pop is the leading candidate,” kidded one, “for employer of the month.”
NBA execs left it at that. They didn't call the Spurs on Wednesday to protest, and they didn't consider a fine, because there was nothing to say.
After all, how can the NBA lecture Popovich about hurting the product — when the league hurts it more?
The NBA can't fine a franchise for not playing certain players, especially after an inactive list replaced a system that once encouraged teams to invent phantom injuries. The league had even less leverage this time; the Spurs almost won with an Oberto-Hairston frontline combo.
The remaining Spurs worked their system, and they were within four points late. Then George Karl looked as if he, not Popovich, was the one who had arrived at his hotel at 4 a.m.
“I don't think I had anything on my mind except anger,” Karl told reporters afterward.
So the issue became nothing more on Wednesday than a part of the usual ESPN debate shows, albeit with a twist. Usually everyone complains when they have to watch the Spurs play. This time, they complained when they had to watch them sit.
They wanted to know if Popovich had done a disservice to the Nuggets fan who paid $90 to see a showdown of divisional leaders, and the answer is clear. Yes. The NBA should hope others don't copy this, and so should Spurs fans.
For example: The Cavaliers play in San Antonio later this month, after a game the night before in Houston, and maybe Cleveland thinks LeBron James should rest on the only night he's in San Antonio.
But the league is probably safe from such a future. Popovich is one of the few coaches who so casually trades a loss in February for the promise of more.
This time, he may have traded a head-to-head edge that could affect playoff position. Kenyon Martin was out with the flu, and Chauncey Billups left with a sprained ankle, and the Spurs still had a lineup made for October.
Popovich could have rested his older players. But Tony Parker? And without another game until Sunday in Boston, Popovich could have simply started the usual lineup and adjusted as the game went along.
The Spurs were tired, sure, but that's the history of the game. In 1972, when the Lakers were putting together their historic 33-game winning streak, they flew commercial — and twice in that stretch, they played three games in a row.
But none of it matters to Popovich. Not history, not business, not the standings. He manages the energy of his team with a sense of the physical and emotional.
Tuesday, instead of pushing his guys, he chose to push them into chairs. During all of it, Popovich looked more relaxed than he has in months. By giving the Big Three the night off, he had given himself the night off, too.
There was also something else going on. Coming off an overtime win in Oakland, losing an hour in the air, landing in an airport that is an hour from downtown Denver, Popovich saw the madness.
In mid-December, the Spurs faced the same. They played in New Orleans on ESPN, and the game started an hour later than usual. The next night, they played in Orlando, on TNT, and this time, it was an early tip.
There were only 211/2 hours from start to start — and in between, there was a game and a flight. This is what the league chose to sell on national television.
The unfairness is usually spread around when cramming 82 games into six months. Though not always. A year ago, the Cavaliers, for example, were matched against nine teams who were playing the second of a back-to-back. Some other teams had nearly 30.
There are also specific moments when the schedule is more than a nuisance. It's a blockade. And somewhere after OT in Oakland and before the tip in Denver, the employer of the month made a decision.
Why not bench the core of his team? The league, in effect, already had.
I can understand the league being upset and if it became common then it would really damage the league.
I honestly had no idea
I turned on the game as I got home and saw us down 5-6 late in the 4th and I saw some dude named Hairston playing and I thought I was in drunk or something and was watching the D-league equivilent of the Spurs.
The NBA Schedule is a bit crazy, Why do they have to schedule back to backs anyway. Why not make it a rule to have a day in between and then schedule the rest of the teams in a way where there's alway's a game on everyday.
usual ESPN debate shows, albeit with a twist. Usually everyone complains when they have to watch the Spurs play. This time, they complained when they had to watch them sit.
if Pop used the same strategy during the 1st face off vs the Lakers WC finals in LA it would have more hilariousThere were only 211/2 hours from start to start — and in between, there was a game and a flight. This is what the league chose to sell on national television.
And there was a reason for that bec they were forced to leave NO just hrs before tip off and there was no hotel available.
holt needs to fine and suspend pop for tanking a game!
these guys are professional athletes who get paid millions...40 mins of basketball in back to back nights WILL NOT KILL THEM. i'd bet tim and tony were perfectly fine, ready and willing to play... they were probably stunned when pop benched them.
it was a re ed move by pop. everyone on espn yesterday was talking about how dumb it was.
THERE WAS NO REASON AT ALL TO SIT TIM AND TONY THE WHOLE GAME.
it really hurt some spurs fans, but I see no sign it will hurt the league.
every teams knows what kind of team spurs is and they would have also won their championships if they had followed the spurs' steps. They feel it shameful to do that.
Dude it's one ing game in February. You dropped your Post-2005 Spurs Bandwagoner Club card on the way in. Pick it back up on your way out. The Nuggets aren't a threat to the Spurs. I'm sure if we draw them in the playoffs, we'll beat them 4-1 for the third straight time. Be mad if he does this against LA, Boston, or someone worth a damn. And quit going into every thread saying this. We heard you the first time. Now shut the up and go to sleep, it's past your bedtime.
what exactly are they resting FOR? the next game isn't until sunday.
this is just pop ing about the league scheduling back 2 backs, and also giving the bench some playtime
Man I don’t give a . Pop can have Tim, Tony and Manu selling freaking popcorn in the stands. For all I care. Whatever Pop wants he gets . And Pop damn well deserves it. In the beginning of my military career that started in the early nineties, when I would talk some basketball smack use to take a lot of from other fans of other N.B.A. teams such as; spurs suck, soft, weak, small town and my personal favorite “regular season champs”. And the sad thing is as a spurs fan you knew it was true. But when Duncan meet Pop, all the bull ended. We are witnessing one of the greatest dynasties in N.B.A. history. And the funny thing is, it is recognized throughout our country. (Just not on B.S.P.N. can’t tell you of the nightmares being stationed outside of S.A. and you’re trying to get highlights, thank god for the internet.) You can talk basketball smack with some other teams fan’s and at the end of the smack talk the spurs are acknowledge as basketball perfection. So you wanna question pop, go right ahead, but remember we are witnessing something that probably won’t come are way again. A freaking N.B.A. dynasty. Who knows, ten years from now the AT&T center could be that place that use to host the spurs but now is home to the stock show and rodeo and crappy concerts.
Right now, Paul, Bynum, Nelson, G.Wallace, Redd, Bogut, Chandler, Arenas are injured... that could really damage the league.
Last edited by mathbzh; 02-05-2009 at 05:21 AM.
Awesome post! I remember the 90s very well still, I remember how many times I got my heart broken by a team which was similar to today's Suns ( for a lack of better comparison ). I remember losing by 50 points to the Bulls and remember our starting lineup with 3 centers. I remember all the Rodman bull against Houston, I remember hating the freaking Jazz and thinking we'd never get past them.
Gone are those times and I love this team now, it's everything I've ever dreamt of and more. If someone can't acknowledge and appreciate it, they surely will after 2012.
Butt-hurt much?
I will ask again...will you please change the avatar you stole? I am tired of getting you mixed up with someone who has a brain.
It's a good thing the league didn't take any action on this. IBesides, if the NBA really wants to focus on what's hurting their product, they should crackdown on all this deliberate free agent talk in 2010. All the speculation about LeBron going to NY, Wade dreaming of joining him and Bosh bolting Toronto. This blantant type of speculation is media-driven, but the players do nothing to deflect it. All of which, undermines the current teams that these stars play for. Coaches aren't allowed to engage in such talk because of tampering rules, but it's OK for players.
Meanwhile, you've got teams literally dumping salary and players in anticipation of this event, while virtually sacrificing the next 1 1/2 seasons. What about their obligations to the fans of said teams?
Is all this as serious as a coach sitting his best players for one freaking game?
Bingo!Meanwhile, you've got teams literally dumping salary and players in anticipation of this event, while virtually sacrificing the next 1 1/2 seasons. What about their obligations to the fans of said teams?
Haters gonna hate.
I love how Pop simply doesn't give a about the outside whispers.
some thoughts: what about the shaq situation? he is sitting some games too!
second: it doesnt make sense to say: "they could have played fewer minutes"...everybody doing sports knows, that it does make much of a difference if you play one game and sit another or if you play 20 minutes twice...you still have the full warmup, cooldown, sweating and mental concentration, which is tiring you!...sometimes its even harder to play 20 minutes compared to 35, coz if you get cold on the bench its very hard to make the body work!
last: I love Pop for doing that stuff...hacking shaq on the first play of the season...making hilarrious comments...pulling his players...and I bet he would be pleased to take a penalty coz it would make the disussion about the schedules even bigger
For all of you talking bad about that still, I bet when the Spurs was down by 2 in the 4th you wasnt talking down then!!! I'll put my nuggets on that. All of you was doing the same thang I was doing. Saying to myself, "Hey we still could win this". That was until Mason missed that layup right under the basket. If theyu won you'll wouldve been happy the big 3 got rest an still got the win so please shut up with it already.
What better way to draw attention to the NBA scheduling of games on back-to-back days into an earlier time zone? Hold all your marquee players out on NBAtv "Fan Night", the fans' choice game.
Second games of a B2B in Denver have never been a good prospect for the Spurs, no matter how good a team they have had. I thought the Spurs had about a 25% chance of winning the game at full strength.
To me, Pop accomplished 3 positive things with the decision to play his "role-players-only" team.
1) Galvanize his team by giving major minutes and full responsibility to his bench against a very good club. Experiential team-building. Dad let his son/daughter drive the nail in all the way, all by him/herself.
2) Showcase a few tradeable assets.
3) Draw attention to the scheduling into earlier time zones on consecutive nights. MLB schedules day games on get-away days...to provide some time cushion in these situations. NBA can't do day games very often but they can probably assign some better scheduling guidlines.
When it all adds up, it was just one loss. A loss we more than likely would've seen anyways. It's not the first, and it's not gonna be the last.
For the amount of attention it's getting from the media, the rest it afforded our stars, and the experience it gave our bench....I'd say the loss was well worth it. And how often can you say that?
, our scrubs even got to throw a scare at Denver to bo0t. They had marked this game as a measuring stick, then struggle to dispose of our scrubs? I'm sure that does wonders for their collective psyches.
well who told the Spurs and Pop to take the weak warriors to OT???
they should have disposed of them in regulation. then Pop would not have sat the big 3 down?
No, he would have just come up with a different excuse. He was gonna sit 'em no matter what.
Agreed. Like Solid D said, the Spurs in Denver on the second night of a back-to-back is never a good thing. Since Tim Duncan arrived in San Antonio, the Spurs have played in Denver on the 2nd night of a back-to-back on 9 occasions and are now 4-5 in those games. But since the Nuggets made the leap in 2003-04 with Carmelo's arrival, the Spurs arrived in Denver having gone 1-3 in that situation, and that win came in a game in which Carmelo Anthony didn't play:
3/7/08 -- LOSS 109-96 (won previous night at home v. IND, 108-97)
1/10/07 -- WIN 92-83 (won previous night at home v. PRT, 98-84)
3/22/06 -- LOSS 104-92 (won previous night at home v. GST, 107-96)
10/29/03 -- LOSS 80-72 (won previous night at home v. PNX, 83-82)
(The Spurs got 3 of their 4 wins in Denver on the 2nd night against some pretty bad pre-Carmelo Nuggets teams: in February of '03 against a 12-37 Nuggets team; they got a win in February of 2000 against 21-26 Nuggets team; and they got a win in March of 1999 against a 5-13 Nuggets team).
At best, the Spurs were looking at a minimal chance of winning that game.
I think that Manu was going to be a no-go for that game no matter what. The fall in Oakland was a bit scary and with the chance to steal an extra recovery day for him, I don't think there was any cir stance that would have pushed Pop to play Manu.
So, the Spurs are going into a difficult place to win anyway, in a cir stance that has been a major struggle for them, on the night after pushing through an OT game played at a fairly high pace. And now they're doing it without one of their major pieces. At that point, the chances of winning an already-difficult-to-win game go down considerably. Why send out your 2 most vital pieces for that game to just have them slog through another 30-35 minutes that aren't likely to get them anywhere? Why not steal the extra day of rest for them (particularly since each now has to go to the All-Star game as well)?
I am trying to find the rule that states when and how long you have to play players.
If this is in the best interest of the team, then that is all Pop has to worry about.
End of story.
+1
The thing about Pop I like most is that he's gonna do what's best for his team, not the league, not the Denver fans or anyone else. His approach has netted four les. he has a track record of having his team ready when they have to be ready the most (playoff time). He's shown that he has a sense of what his team needs most and at which time within the season.
So to with the talking heads who hate the Spurs anyway, and to with the whiny fans in Denver (if want to really whine, whine about your lardass coach and ball hog franchise player Mello). Denver fans are just pissed because SA's JV almost punked them on their home court.
p.s. anyone give any thought to the idea that Pop might have used the game to evaluate talent on the bench prior to trade deadline? He can't say that publicly, but maybe ....
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