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Yeah, I thought his play on both ends was solid tonight. But, expecting him to match-up with Dirk throughout the 4th is asking too much, IMO. Hopefully, Dice can remove his head from his ass long enough to defend Dirk better or just in' play better.
This. It's absolutely embarrassing that the NBA and the networks did such a 180 on what still might be the best rivalry in the league.
Yeah, I thought his play on both ends was solid tonight. But, expecting him to match-up with Dirk throughout the 4th is asking too much, IMO. Hopefully, Dice can remove his head from his ass long enough to defend Dirk better or just in' play better.
I wouldn't go that far, Kurt Thomas was so very bad, but it's clear that Dice is another very old player who loves to shoot jumpers. I think the Spurs are guilty of magical thinking again.
Wow...not sure I buy that. Even if he isn't young, McDyess is still a far better athlete than Kurt Thomas ever was. His J is as automatic, if not moreso than Kurt's, and he is still finding his role on the team.
He's probably not the low-post defender that Thomas was, but I think he can still be effective.
Having said all that, Spurs may be kicking themselves for even partially guaranteeing the third year of that deal.
I've come around to Obstructed's View in that the "small ball" was mostly by choice down the stretch. Spurs had Blair on the bench who brings a big frame and long arms to defend and to grab boards. Even if Bonner were available, I'm pretty sure he'd have been riding the pine like the other bigs were.
That decision is on the staff...along with the one to sit Hill.
ing about small ball is such a go-to move for fans of every team (well, at least the ones who potentially have the personnel to play "big ball"). Mavs fans do it, Spurs fan, Lakers fans. It's kind of interesting.
Small ball can be used effectively when you're dictating the pace of the game, have a good compliment of penetrators and shooters, and most importantly...have "smalls" that can crash the boards.
Spurs gave up some O-boards that came back to bite them big-time...none bigger than those down the stretch in the fourth quarter. I understand it's used alot, but in this case it's not a cop-out.
Look at the rebounds : Tim 12 and then Ginobili 5 Bogans 4 RJ 3 TP Hill Dice 2...
Not gonna win game like that. It reminds me the first round exit of last year when our second best rebounder was TP.
i haven't read all the posts.
It happend I was able to watch more then 50% of the game. Streams these days are horrible nvm
Again and again hight p&r are demolish spurs D. we cannot handle two shooters who can also drive to the basket {dirk and terry}. And I think this 4th Q was mostly on dallas play, they just started to execute the plays.
With Bud making a strange subs and not using timeouts properly, Tony seems to be lost and losing the concept of the offense, spurs folded once again.
there is realy no excuse for this loss. spurs at home should take the W.
I haven't seen Pops being ejected but like timvp said. Pop should stay on the bench. There is no time for CIA or anything - we play mavs on the last game of a season. So you can go CIA on that last game.
btw. you play to win the game, youdon't play just to play it
im sorry but these refs are ridiculous!!! i didnt get to watch the 4th, because i was playing a gig, but i am outraged at who they appointed to be the ref on such a critical game, and what do you know! pop gets ejected during a time out????? this makes no sense whatsoever and you are a coward for not speaking the truth, this is horrible officiating, and im freakin sick of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pop got ejected in a timeout cause he had gone crazy and needed people to hold him back. That made a lot of sense.
All I read in your recap is the team created a lot of fouls. I don't normally use the ref argument, but they were calling this game like the Mavs were untouchable. Pop called out the ref making the bad calls, Zach Zarba, and got tossed. Zarba allowed the Mavs to come back and keep it close. Call this game normally and the Spurs walk away with a good win.
Yes, Dirk and Terry got hot at the right time. That is NBA luck, but with a fair game, they would not have had the chance.
I still think this team will get better as the season moves along. People seem to forget how choreographed the Spurs scheme is and somehow expect this team to be able to beat everyone on every single night. Granted, we've struggled against good and bad compe ion, but if you've noticed, the team has shown progress over the last couple of weeks. I say we give it a little more time and see how this team stands after the halfway mark of the season.
Maybe, but the Spurs/Mavs games have been almost scripted since 06. Either Spurs get down big, come back and steal a win or they have a double digit lead and blow it down the stretch. Aside from Mavs blowouts, there are few deviations.
McDyess' poor play cause many to question whether his signing was a good idea or whether the Spurs would've been better off re-signing Drew Gooden.
Based upon the comparison to date for their respective teams, an old McDyess isn't producing the results of a mid-career Gooden.
I hold out hope that Dice will come around consistently, but this short sample and most recent outing doesn't create much confidence. Meanwhile, it's tough watching Gooden put up double-doubles for your rival.
I will say that everytime I thought "where the did that call come from," it was the same young ref that Pop was yelling at. However, Spurs lost this game because of their lack of intensity down the stretch and much of what you have already stated.I'm really disappointed in Pop. The Mavs are by far the most difficult team for the Spurs to scheme against and Pop picks this game to get ejected? The games against the Mavs are where Pop has to do by far the most coaching -- especially in the regular season.
Weak by Pop, even if Zack Zebra is making horrible calls both ways
Spurs problem over the past 5 years, since out first lost to the Mavs at least, is that they spend too much time worrying about the refs. Let Dirk whine and let Tim whine, the rest need to get back and play ball regardless of any BS call.
I must admit that it was frustrating watching Manu get hit at least four times on the elbow with no whistle, resulting in badly missed shots, while one of the Spurs (I think Dice) got called for having his foot stepped on by the Mavs player (I think Dirk). Again.
And the Spurs are pussies for refusing to have Duncan defend Dirk. That myth that Dirk would foul him out in ten minutes is as lame as it's always been.
The reasoning for this may very well be because Dirk hangs out on the perimeter way too much. Take out Duncan from the paint and the mavs are running a layup drill to the basket.
I don't think he's fleet enough afoot to guard him. If dice hadn't gotten into early foul trouble it's most likely a different game. Jefferson IN SPOTS does a good jump on Dirk however. Not for full quarters...
Bottom Line: The most overrated person associated with the NBA is Gregg Popovich.
I was shocked to see pop get thrown out for that call. That call is easy to NOT see, it's a judgement and happens all of the time, the defender gets as close as possible to the shooters arm/elbow.
I would MUCH rather see the refs call what they explicitly see rather than make crap up that they "think" they see.
Its easy to say when your player gets the benefit of the calls where the refs "think" they see contact. I never understand how Dirk gets officiated from the outside like most centers and pf get officiated on the inside. Most big men draw contact on just about every post play. Tim Duncan has forever, but Dirk gets the contact calls on 15 foot fadaways like no other.
Not that it really matters, Dallas won that game because they outplayed the Spurs, not because of a couple of missed no-calls.
Will the day ever come that Pop just has Tim cover Dirk and lets the chips fall where they may?
Doubtful, but he will guard him when it matters in the playoffs if it comes down to it I would imagine.
Size. Dampier and Gooden kept getting to the offensive boards, and we relied on Jefferson and Bogans to gaurd Nowitski and they did well, but you had to know it wouldn't last. IMo the refs took both Blair and McDyess out of the game. It seems strange that niether one of these guys can use their best asset their strength to defend Dirk when a guy like Varejao can come in and literally mug people on the defensive end. I really like Hill's game today and I know Manu lost his legs late in the game but damn he's a prefessional athlete who is supposed to be doing this for a living, he can't put in 40 minutes of hard play, every other night, this is by far Manu's main weakness, his stamina. Stars have a way to kick it up a notch, in my book Manu is up there but his constant battle with fatigue is becoming an issue with me.
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