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Start Bruce!
Popovich reacts as always, by guessing
Buck Harvey
CLEVELAND — Gregg Popovich emerged from the locker room Sunday with Post-Game Speech No. 7.
(No. 7 is when he jokes about how awful the opponent is before praising the opponent.)
That's Popovich. He changes the mood depending upon what he thinks is necessary. He does this with his players, too, and they say he was as relaxed with them after losing by 20 points to the Cavaliers.
This kind of calculating behavior has been effective over the years. That, and his four les, helps create the perception that Popovich always knows what he is doing and why.
When he's guessing.
Popovich likely felt anything but relaxed when he went into the locker room Sunday. Manu Ginobili's leg was still sore from Friday's game, and the Cavaliers were coming off their worst loss of the season.
Given that LeBron James would be pepped up at home for ABC, the Spurs would have been pressed to stay close. When they were within a point after the first quarter, a television sideline reporter asked Popovich what the Spurs had to do next.
“We have to be as good as the Lakers,” Popovich said, “and we're not.”
Popovich was determined not to turn Cleveland into a defining moment. He didn't want his guys to get too down, especially since losing to a team that is now 37-1 at home is not shocking.
Mike Brown always loved this about Popovich. When working for him, Brown saw the changing emotions and how Popovich seemed to know what his team needed.
That's why Brown believes, still, in these Spurs. “You can tell they are still figuring a few things out,” he said of them. “But I think they're going to be fine.”
But Brown is a Popovich loyalist, and he also remembers the championships. He's not as aware of the cracks now.
Brown doesn't see the changing lineups and current shooting slump. He doesn't know about Ginobili's leg, or the extent of the pain in Tim Duncan's knees. He also doesn't know how turning away from Bruce Bowen has changed the nature of the Spurs.
Popovich sees it all, and he did two years ago when the Cavaliers also swept the Spurs in the regular season. Then, too, there was clearly a better team in the West. Then it was Dallas.
So he reacts as he did then, when the Spurs won their last le. He huddles with his staff and he guesses.
One experiment has been especially baffling. Exactly why did Popovich bench George Hill for Jacque Vaughn?
The difference, this time, is that the shuffling is still going on as the season comes to an end. Several veterans said it Sunday; the Spurs had never had such flux so late.
The other day Popovich was asked about his rotations, and he shook his head. “I'm still all over the map,” he said, and he laughed.
So do you have a timetable?
“If I do, I better gear it up pretty quick. We don't have many games left. We are going to do it by the seat of our pants this year. We will try to see if we can have it the way we want it by the time the first-round game comes.”
Sunday offered yet another possible path. When Drew Gooden was the Spurs' second-leading scorer, effective in 27 minutes, does that mean he deserves more time in the playoffs?
Popovich and his assistants will talk about this, and they will come up with a direction. But Popovich won't know what he is doing, exactly, or even why. It will be because it seems right at that moment.
The next moment will be Tuesday. And if the Spurs lose to the Thunder again, Popovich will emerge with Post-Game Speech No. 2.
(No. 2 is not as nice as No. 7.)
Start Bruce!
What's this thing about Ginobili's leg? I just read a post by Manu after the game and he didn't say anything about that.
popovich should be lighting a fire under the spurs' collective asses.
Buck Harvey with his patented SpursTalk recap.
Manu Ginobili's leg was still sore from Friday's game
Popovich likely felt anything but relaxed when he went into the locker room Sunday. Manu Ginobili's leg was still sore from Friday's game, and the Cavaliers were coming off their worst loss of the season.
Weeelllll ! I sort of backed away and took a few deep breaths after that last loss to OKC, so I hadn't heard about this. If Manu is in enough pain to have it discussed in an article like this, we're probably ed for the post-season.
Whatever happens for the rest of this season, I hope he takes rest seriously this off-season, and can come back strong like he was right before the All-Star break this year.
Simple....
Starters: TP, Mason, Bowen, TD, Thomas.
Bench: Manu, Finley, Hill, Gooden.
That makes a rotation of 9 players. If you wanna add 1 more big its either shooter Matt Bonner or defensive big-man Fab. At this point I would go with Fab because Bonner has completely dissapeared.
wait, ginobili's leg is sore? wtf is he playing?
I said this in the game thread. I kept asking if Manu was hurt. Pop was not playing him and it was odd.
Buck Harvey with his patented SpursTalk recap.
Buck Harvey always seems to put little things in articles to e them up a bit though. If Manu was seriously hurting we wouldve heard a post-game quote from him and Pop about it.
I don't get it. If Pop knew the leg was sore Friday why play him for 36 minutes, or play him at all today? Sure as his leg had nothing to do with chucking treys, but I digress...
Soreness is fine, if it starts hurting him to a point where he cant do anything then we'd be in trouble. Like I said, if it was extremely serious we would of heard something from Manu and or Pop about it in the post-game comments.
I don't like any of it.
Manu Ginobili's leg was still sore from Friday's game...
...the extent of the pain in Tim Duncan's knees.
Man thats one of the more obvious ST remixes from Havey of all time. And Manu is ALWAYS hurt. Why is anyone suprised? I'm serious - ALWAYS.
It is noteable when Manu is healthy, not when he's hurt.
Why is his leg sore, I thought it was his ankle that kept him out the last time?
That was pretty depressing to read though, I don't know if Timmy will be able to step it up with his sore knees come PO time.
People are reading too much into it I think. It's not like he said Manu's ankle that sidelined him for a long time is hurting. He just said his leg is sore. If it was anything MAJOR, him and Pop wouldve said something about it.
what wonder what number is his first round exit speech
This is what Manu posted after today's game:
"Ouch! Linda paliza. Hoy por hoy estan mejor que nosotros, espero que más adelante no. Noche inspirada de los Cavs y opaca para nosotros. Hay que cambiar el rumbo... Hasta más e."
(Ouch! What a beatdown! Today they're better than us, I hope later down the road they're not. The Cavs had an inspired game and our gameplay was dull.We need to right the ship...Later)
This is what he posted after Friday's game:
"Ufff! Menos mal! En un momento se complicó pero al final la remamos y terminamos bien. Partido interesante. Al terminar, nos fuimos de nuevo con Rasho, Fabri y otro amigo a comer y a tomar algo tranqui para ponernos al día. Hacía mucho rato que no lo veíamos. Mañana al mediodía salimos para Cleveland."
(Ufff! Good thing we won! For a moment there it got complicated but at the end of the game we pulled together and finished well. Interesting game. When it ended, we went out again with Rasho, Fabricio and another friend for food and drinks so we could catch up a bit. It's been a long while since we've seen eachtoher. We're leaving for Cleveland tomorrow noon.)
Well I don't have any knowledge when it come to Manu's injury but isn't it a bad thing if he is still sore? Or is that just because he is still getting back in game shape.
The stress reaction was about two inches above the ankle. So technically it wasn't really an ankle injury.
Oh ok I was unaware of that, thank you for clearing that up.
I actually agree 100% with the above statements. This article is like classic, Spurstalk chatter. And I can't remember the last time Manu was 100% healthy, or even 90%....which is kind of sad now that I think about it.
Answers my question. If Manu was really hurting to a serious point...he would put something like "Not feeling healthy after today, or my leg is very sore but I'll be fine" or something along those lines.
Well hopefully you are right.
Beat me to it!
That article is basically a summary of the last month on ST.
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