It was a poor decision that left the team and Duncan himself out of rhythm..
Duncan had a bad game..
it happens, bad loss, get over it..doesn't mean anything in the overall outlook..
The high percentage of FTs that Tim has been shooting this season, including 5 of 6 in this game outside of the those 3 misses in crunch time, tells me that Tim just choked.
iow, expectations were that he'd make them.
If he were 2 of 6, then missed 3 in crunch time, no expectations, so no choke.
+1
and with all that being said, if we shoot a decent ft% we probably win the game anyway.
Pop is taking this "resting" thing too far. Just like the Colts "resting" Peyton Manning but still playing him an entire half.
In the end you end up not resting them and totally destroying team morale.
Phil Jackson doesn't rest Kobe because playing him boosts his morale which is what you need first mentally before performing well physically.
If we want to rest him then sit him all the game.
We need TD to win most of the games.Tonight we were down by 12 when he cames in.
So it's stupid put him on the court if you are trying to limit his minutes when you are in that situation.
It was a very bad decision.If you put him when the game is pretty difficult for us he will have to made a bigger effort while if the game is easy for us he doesn't have to play.Do what you do it's a mistake if he plays off the bench when you are trying to limit his minutes.Sit him all the game.
Not sure why Pop did this. He said he would rest the older guys on b2b nights. Maybe with Bonner out he didn't feel they could win with just Blair, Ratliff, and McDyess up front? Not saying Bonner would have won the game for us by any means but it would allow Pop not to be tempted to throw Duncan out there.
Also disappointing is that Hairston couldn't get some minutes with Ginobli not feeling well.
Fabbs is looking at this thread, masturbating furiously.
Tim did choke, you could see it in his face. He had a terrible game for his standards from the field, and he was out of rhythm. Doesn't change the fact that him and tony are the only ones that actually tried doing anything tonight. Last two games havn't been great basketball, I'm looking for the spurs to pick up the pieces with this time off, and come back strong against the Pistons.
Let's see what happens
This. And that's not on Pop. Make some ing free throws Timmy.
you will have ups and downs on offense, wasn't timmy's best game but that is not the overall problem. the big thing is "THE TWIN TOWERS". you have rj and timmy gaurding two 7 footers!....defense is key and this just won't due. imagine if we play the lakers. you think rj and timmy can match pau and bynum. highly unlikely
It would be alright if this team had shown some consistency in it's game, but it really hasn't. And this past week they were finally showing some signs of life and really coming together. Guys just didn't play right, from the get go, and McDyess just looked like he didn't want to be out there. They got jerked around by the coach. Go figure.
I'm not one to usually question Pop's moves, but...
Duncan off the bench = EPIC FAIL
I've never seen Timmy so out of rhythm.
First shot...air ball...
Second shot... short off front of rim...
Can't hit his free throws (like the Timmy of the last 3-4 years)
He comes in down 12 and they immediately go to him in the low block, ice cold. Talk about having the pressure of carrying the team out of a huge hole? Sheesh, Pop!
I'm pretty sure Holt ain't paying the luxury tax so that Pop can try and lose games.
He has clearly reached a point in his career where he is overrating his own ability.
Definitely not one of Pop's finer moments..
The limiting of minutes or even holding out of Tim on the second night of a back-to-back, at the end of a six-game-in-nine-day stretch, is completely understandable. Deciding to have him come off the bench after 30+min.'s of real time had elapsed and throwing him into the fire with the team down 12, when everyone else on the court was warm and up to speed, was just mind-boggling: You're going to throw Tim in cold and expect him, at this age, to just go about business as usual? Really? Yeah, you're going to get an air-balled jump hook, the turning down of shots that kill the flow of an offense, and a guy like Bosh (whose balls usually retreat up into his lower intestine in Tim's presence) going at him immediately to take advantage of him when the cir stance is favorable; I can't remember ever seeing Bosh being so eager to get a shot up on Tim. Fortunately, as usual, it didn't last long.
If Pop would have decided to bring Tim in at the start of the third, after a good halftime warm-up where all the players would be on pretty equal footing, I wouldn't have had as much a problem with the decision. You could play Tim 18-22 of the 24min.'s left in the game and it would've allowed Tim and the team to find a better flow; you at least wouldn't have Tim trying to get up to speed and find his rhythm by forcing the action and not having the game come to him; I wouldn't be shocked if the missed free-throws were partially due to him just being a little thrown off and out of sorts from the position Pop put him in.
This one's on Pop.
(Oh, and 's officially frozen over; at least it must have after Bosh actually scored a meaningful bucket on Tim..)
It's not about who starts it's about who finishes. Isn't that what many of you have said anyway? =P
What's the point of Pop bringing Tim off the bench to play 30 minutes? That was dumb. If you're going to rest Tim, let him rest. Instead he sticks him in the game to play catch-up.
Agreed.
I didn't like the move either. Pop tried to have his cake and eat it too, when really he should have decided one way or the other beforehand. Either don't play Duncan at all regardless of how the game is going, or start him but don't under any cir stance play him more than 30 minutes. As it is, he played 29, but he looked dead-legged and weary throughout, missing chippies (or bunnies, whichever you prefer), which is always a sign that Duncan is fatigued. As always, he played his heart out, but alas it wasn't enough.
McDyess has to start playing more minutes. The Spurs can't be this reliant on Duncan + smalls to win every game; they need more from the front line. Bonner is out, Blair is performing and Haislip and Mahinmi don't play, so it comes down to McDyess and Ratliff. A game like this, McDyess should have played roughly 25 minutes and Ratliff roughly 15-20.
I could write ten pages on this subject, but it all equals this...
Pop. Moron.
I'll go a point further if you remember game 2 of the 2003 WCSF series Spurs Vs Lakers Bruce Bowen outplayed Kobe and was dropping threes from all over the court and had shut down Kobe and outscored him, but with the Lakers down 30 Phil had Kobe out there to save face and he scored some more in the end to finish with a better game that if Phil would have sat him.
Pop the last two seasons has become the master of destroying his team's morale.
He took it a step further last season with the outright quitting on games. I've never seen the Spurs make any decent comeback wins in the last season and a half.
btw I just finished watching the game 10 minutes ago and was wondering what is going on when TD was not starting. Really stupid stuff from Pop.
+1
And a look at the schedule shows the nets coming up in a week. At home no less. You wanna rest someone Pop? There's your rest game, moron.
Popalogist Agloco to the rescue!
He should also be pissed about missing a number of easy shots in the lane as well. Pop could have limited is minutes, as though Tim was in foul trouble or something, that would not have messed with the chemistry, even then the Spurs had plenty of chances.
Yep, pretty bad move to put TD in after a long stretch.
I'd rather the Spurs get blown out and learn a lesson in humility and appreciation for TD. Instead TD was sent in to salvage the game, which he did but was clearly frustrated.
I'm at home watching the game and I hated watching TD like that especially near the end during the freethrows. Imagine how bad that must be to be in the same locker room as him. You can't really say anything.
Merry Christmas Toronto.....
We would have won if Duncan had played his normal starting minutes...His coming off the bench messed up the whole flow; really showed in the last couple of minutes with the mistakes we made; was a very winnable game.
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