Spurs win in spite of Pop's stupidity

[vander]

Doesn't losing a game on purpose hurt longterm strategy though?


Again, I don't see who in the playoffs he takes minutes from.

if Blair Duncan and McDyess and Bonner are all playing well, how does he step in front of em?

as in future years, so we can get an idea of what we have with him, and don't make decisions about him this off season blindly. maybe he could make McDyess expendable going into next year, or maybe he's hardly worth a roster spot, Spurs FO going to decide on that based on performance in practice?

we can't even give the guy one Game when Timmy is sitting it out and Bonner is injured and it isn't "After March" yet? bad move IMO

[benefactor]

I really don't understand any of you that think the rotations last night were a good idea...not counting TPark, of course(Jeff Green is a wing? ).

Playing a rotation like this in back to back games is not about chemistry. That is a Pop apologist cop out. The Thunder are an athletic team...and you have an athletic big on the bench that knows the system and played pretty well against another NBA rotation big just a couple of games ago. You also have another young, athletic player that is a good defender that knows the system very well. Oh, and there is that veteran big you signed because the team needed shot blocking(as TJastal pointed out, we gave up 54 points in the paint).

Would Mahinmi, Hairston or Ratliff made a difference? I think they could have. At the very least Hairston could play 10 minutes while Parker got a little bit more rest and Hill ran the point. Ratliff or Mahinmi could have given Blair a few extra minutes on the bench that might have kept him from picking up that extra foul so he could be in there at the end of the game. A better case scenario suggests that one of those two could have blocked a shot or two in the third quarter that led to a fast break and an easy bucket....or Hairston, who is very good at blocking jump shooters, could have made a great defensive play on Durant. Things like that tend to change momentum, so maybe the run the Thunder went on gets shortened and the Spurs don't have to worry about overtime.

Though these scenarios are hypothetical, they are all plausible. Would they have happened for sure? Maybe not. But in a game like this there is no good reason not to test them, as all three players have the potential to execute them.

[ElNono]

as in future years, so we can get an idea of what we have with him, and don't make decisions about him this off season blindly.

The Spurs already made a decision about Ian's future (or lack of future for that matter) with the Spurs when they decided not to extend his rookie deal a month or two ago.

[dbestpro]

I think Pop did a great job with the Xs and Os. I blame some of the problem on coach Bud. Does he have Pops ear like PJ or has he just become a yes man. A good assistant would have made sure Pop was seeing how tired the guys were once they built the big lead. They lost the lead because they were tired. They won the game because of fate as they were dead beat. Haislip and Ian should have seen minutes just because the players were dead tired. It has nothing to do with whether Ian sticks around or not. He is dressed in a uniform for a reason. The reason last night should have been to spell the big dogs and give them a blow. Coach Bud needs to make sure that Pop sees these things. That is unless coach Bud is just a yes man.

[HankChinaski]

The only thing I didn't like about last night game was the spurs pulling away from letting Blair and Hill score in the last five or four minutes of the fourth. They were our hot players and watching parker toss up eggs those last few minutes was getting me pissed at the guy until he finally hit that clutch jumper to help pull us into over time. And McDyess their a few times kept hesitating on taking the jumper and would try and penetrate and force something worse. It was annoying at times. Man was looking confident on his shot and started pulling away from it. He even had a great up fake and then instead of just taking the step forward and shooting he tries to go through two and a third defender closing in on the paint.

And the only reason I don't see Pop playing Mahinmi, Hairston, Haislip is mostly due they are probably not going to be in the playoff rotation at all so Pop wants to know what he has with the players he is already invested in playing. They are just precautionary backups if anything goes wrong.

Overall, it was a nerve racking enjoyable game. The team HAS been looking good all season, just never through an entire 48 minutes straight against those .500+ teams.

[ceperez]

Playing a rotation like this in back to back games is not about chemistry. That is a Pop apologist cop out. The Thunder are an athletic team...and you have an athletic big on the bench that knows the system and played pretty well against another NBA rotation big just a couple of games ago. You also have another young, athletic player that is a good defender that knows the system very well. Oh, and there is that veteran big you signed because the team needed shot blocking(as TJastal pointed out, we gave up 54 points in the paint).

Would Mahinmi, Hairston or Ratliff made a difference? I think they could have. At the very least Hairston could play 10 minutes while Parker got a little bit more rest and Hill ran the point. Ratliff or Mahinmi could have given Blair a few extra minutes on the bench that might have kept him from picking up that extra foul so he could be in there at the end of the game. A better case scenario suggests that one of those two could have blocked a shot or two in the third quarter that led to a fast break and an easy bucket....or Hairston, who is very good at blocking jump shooters, could have made a great defensive play on Durant. Things like that tend to change momentum, so maybe the run the Thunder went on gets shortened and the Spurs don't have to worry about overtime.

Though these scenarios are hypothetical, they are all plausible. Would they have happened for sure? Maybe not. But in a game like this there is no good reason not to test them, as all three players have the potential to execute them.

Finally, we are on the same page!!

For a minute there, I thought you were missing in action after Mahinmi big game against the Nets.

[Obstructed_View]

I don't really understand how a team that went way over the salary cap to gather what they think is a championship contender has two guys that can't get a single minute with two rotation players injured, a superstar resting, and the rest of the rotation gassed. If you don't trust them against Oklahoma City, how are they going to help you if someone gets hurt and they have to step in? And if you aren't going to get any use out of them, why are you still paying them? Why are you still suiting them up?

[benefactor]

I don't really understand how a team that went way over the salary cap to gather what they think is a championship contender has two guys that can't get a single minute with two rotation players injured, a superstar resting, and the rest of the rotation gassed. If you don't trust them against Oklahoma City, how are they going to help you if someone gets hurt and they have to step in? And if you aren't going to get any use out of them, why are you still paying them? Why are you still suiting them up?

Logic..it's what's for dinner.

[Obstructed_View]

Logic..it's what's for dinner.

The complete lack of which has turned me against Pop over the last five years.

[TJastal]

The complete lack of which has turned me against Pop over the last five years.

Yup, been there for awhile now myself.

[all_heart]

I think everybody here has valid points, but really what can we do other than to hope that Pop knows what he's doing and try to apply some sense to it. Everybody should really be questioning RJ, the guy is capable of so much more than what he shows out there, even Sean says those things if listen between the lines..

[elbamba]

I think everybody here has valid points, but really what can we do other than to hope that Pop knows what he's doing and try to apply some sense to it. Everybody should really be questioning RJ, the guy is capable of so much more than what he shows out there, even Sean says those things if listen between the lines..

On the RJ note. I think he is starting to get a feel for his role, however, he has at least 1-2 bone head passes a night. He needs to work on that. He is too tall to always get the ball picked off on his post passes to Tim.

[all_heart]

On the RJ note. I think he is starting to get a feel for his role, however, he has at least 1-2 bone head passes a night. He needs to work on that. He is too tall to always get the ball picked off on his post passes to Tim.

I suppose he is, his points are usually "quiet", (unless he throws it down). He needs to attack the basket more and work on free throws. Did you notice somebody (Dice maybe) had to almost push him to his proper defensive spot on the floor. He does have that lost look at times. But hopefully he'll come around soon.

[my2sons]

[QUOTE=HarlemHeat37;3994346]The lineups weren't fine at all..

At one point, there was a lineup consisting of Parker, Hill, Manu, Mason and Blair..Mason was ing guarding Jeff Green..luckily the Thunder didn't go to him..

Pop played an 8-man rotation, despite playing against an athletic team that always gives us problems and we were on a b2b..he didn't play an interior defender at all this game and the entire team was clearly dead by the 4th..he should have used the young guys and the bench more IMO..

Pop wasn't the main or only problem, but he coached a poor game tonight IMO..[/QUOTE




So your saying jeff green did nothing with this lineup, ya pop is a moron

[Manufan909]

There are two sides to this debate and they are very simple:
1. Pop is God and shall never be questioned, or,
2. There's a young guy over there who is quick, mobile, 7ft tall, loves to run the floor and block shots, had 15/9 the other night against a 3-34 team... he really should have gotten some run tonight. WTF, Pop???

I am in the 2 camp.

fify

[Obstructed_View]

So Jerry Sloan can call up a guy from D league who can step in and run the point in a game against the best team in the league, score nine points in nine minutes, and hit the game winner, but the Spurs can't get ten or twelve minutes against Oklahoma City from two guys with at least four years' experience in the Spurs system.