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Come PO's Pop and the Spurs can't afford to BS.
Bowen Duncan Manu Parker all need to start.
Duncan to be the defensive anchor and fascilitator on offense. With his injury, that's the most you can ask him to do and be effective.
I'm not sure how much pain he's playing with, but it must be signficant, enough that it takes away from his focus to make bunnies (easy baskets), especially on the move. So don't make him do that.
Let him use everything he has on defense around the paint.
Bowen will set the tone and not allow the opposing # 1 or 2 scorer to get into a flow. Yes he's 37, but he hasn't logged many minutes at all this season. I figure he has a vast store of energy to use on defense, to go all out for 16-24 games.
Parker and Manu to push the tempo, score and draw fouls. Enough said.
I think KT or Fab for center, for their vertan grit, experience and screen setting. They can score around the basket on putbacks or short jumpers. They also need to go all out on rebounding, to eliminate second chance opporunities.
Manu has been with these guys for years so they is no 'gelling' time needed. This eliminates or mitigates problems that might arise with having Manu playing with the 2nd unit, with players that will defer to him or be uncomfortable.
Mason needs to come off the bench. It's not a demotion, but he's not a starter. I believe all this time he's gotten was so he could learn the system as quickly as possible through experience.. to be a stronger player on the 2nd unit. To be Manu lite. The offense will run through him, against 2nd tier compe ion and he can dominate the ball and shoot as much as he pleases.
Fin needs to take a Kerr role, Bonner an Horry role, and Drew Gooden to sub in for Duncan post work. Hill can come in for Parker for a dozen minutes to keep the attack energy up, probably more on the defensive side.
And Ime subs in for Bowen, to keep the defensive intensity amped. Let Ime put a physical pounding on the opposing scorers after Bowen has already pestered and taxed them with his gnatty defense. Tire them out, and then hit them in the mouth. That's a good combination.
Once Manu gets up to speed let him log the most minutes. He's a rhythm player and needs those minutes to find his groove. Also he should be the healthiest player on the team at that point and freshest. This will ease the burden on Parker.
Parker is starting to lose some steam, due to fatigue, he just needs to be stay at a high level while Manu reacclimates. Of all the players to be winded at this point in the season, Parker is the one. He's young and can recover the most between games. So with limited time during the earlier rounds, he might be back to near full strength come the WCF.
As pieces I still think this roster can win although small margin for error, so the Spurs need to come out with their best for 48 minutes.
They can't get 'let games get away' and have series baloon up to 6 or 7 games.
or that against Lakers ) anyhow he is not ready to run this team when the game is on the line period.
