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I think I'd rather see Ryan Richards with both arms strapped to his body like a mummy to protect his recovering shoulders try to guard Griffin than Bonner.
It would seem that the Spurs simply have no match for an athletic talent like Griffin. Dice is probably the best option on the roster. While he can't play the entire game, it's absolute unintelligent coaching to put Bonner anywhere near Griffin. Pop is a smart guy and obviously a brilliant coach. However as a coach who appreciates and streses defense, I cannot undertand his thought process on Bonner and more importantly, why he would overexpose him in such an overwhelmening mismatch situation versus a player like Griffin?
I think I'd rather see Ryan Richards with both arms strapped to his body like a mummy to protect his recovering shoulders try to guard Griffin than Bonner.
Splitter should be starting to benefit from Manu and Tony.
And then Blair can have an easier time against back-up bigs.
And Bonner can enjoy DNPs.
man, what a wonderful dream . . .
He improvised pretty well the other night in NO. If hes this bad of a coach, why doesn't he get fired? You make him sound like hes Mike Dunleavy SR.You're probably right. I'm not a Bonner booster at all. Read my posts. I am speaking on the reality of the game. What happened? Bonner played 30 minutes. Tiago played 7 . . . he might have been awesome, he might have fouled out in 15 . . . point is, we don't know.
Pop just coached an awful game tonight. He is the worst improviser in the NBA. He cannot deal with a wrench in the works. Just horrible in game decisions. Can you give him a lower score than an F?
I like Splitter as a defender, but Splitter would of had a rough night guarding Griffin. No one on the Spurs roster can guard Griffin IMO. Hes a matchup nightmare. There might be a few, maybe less, in the league, that can deal with Griffin's combination of size/strength and quickness. To defend Griffin you need team defense.
Anyone think Griffin's eyes didn't light up when he saw Bonner was matched up defensively against him? I'm sure his eyes light up because he attacked him on consecutive possessions as though he wasn't even there.
In all Pop's coaching brilliance, he should be called out for even putting Bonner on the same court as Griffin. Frankly, this is a game that Bonner shouldn't even see the court.
Blake Griffin's a beast. He's just a freak and one of a player and I don't want to take anything away from the guy. But the Spurs have been known to give up the individual numbers from time to time (*cough* Amar'e *cough*). It's about limiting everyone else and doing what you do best.
The Clips scored 90 tonight. Had they used Splitter the way he should have been used, maybe he prevents a bucket or two or puts some fouls on Griffin or helps to secure some of those early defensive boards the Spurs failed to grab. Maybe, just maybe, the Spurs find a way to grind one out when their 3-point shot isn't falling and their slashers legs are gone.
Tim shouldn't have even played tonight, IMO. This should have been one of those games where you throw Blair and Splitter to the wolves, with a healthy dose of Dyess since he played sparingly against GS, and live with the result.
In all honesty, in recent years, the Spurs play much better being without Duncan then they usually do with a dead-legged Duncan. With him they don't have the same sense of urgency they do when he's gone. People step up in his absence and kind of go about business as usual when he's there -- think Blair's near 30-30 last year.
I just don't understand Pop's rationale. Tim's still the same aging big man with knee problems. He's still the same guy that needs to have his defensive burden in the frontcourt lessened because of those issues. Nothing's changed; and they're still the team that's failed to capture another le because of a decline in their defense. I- -you-not.
Crazy talk, I know. But that's me, 'Jack, everyone's favorite crazy son .
+1. Bonner should of never been on Griffin. That was stupid of Pop. I actually like how Blair plays Griffin, but a guy I forgot to mention, Eric Gordon, was killing the Spurs as well. IMO, the Spurs as a whole looked a step slow tonight.
On contrare'. This is absolutely NOT crazy talk, it's the freaking truth.
Watching how both Griffin and Jordan dismantled the Spurs frontline reminded me, yet again, just how flawed the frontline really is. As I said in another thread, we all know there has been a decline in Duncan's overall game. The offensive load that he used to carry has been absorbed by TP, Manu, RJ and others.
It's on the defensive end, where the dropoff hasn't been mitigated. Bonner has size, no athleticism and only the ability to shoot long distance. Blair has heart, is a fierce rebounder, but is undersized and cannot shoot well. Dice is a good rebounder, midrange shooter, but is no longer a post presence. The Spurs simply do not have a big(s), who can provide a decent combination of all the requisite skills (scorer, shotblocking, rebounding) needed to make the contributions (protecting the paint, pick and roll defense) that Duncan has provided over the past decade and a half.
I know Splitter is supposed to be a partial antidote and solid defensive contributor, but he hardly plays. Duncan's decline and Bowen's departure are the two biggest reasons for the decline in the Spurs overall team defense, and for now, there is nothing and no one, to help offset that decline.
Me too. For one, he's competed against him before and certainly isn't afraid. Blair also doesn't mind going out on the floor with him and making attempts to knock the ball loose from Griff, before he gets into his drive. So yes, Blair, while not a sound defender, is a far better matchup against Griff than Bonner.
It was an off-day, don't worry.
Clipps did not played a great basketball, but they were effective, and unfortunately mostly because of the spurs lacking defense.
They seemed to be tired. TP has lost his speed - I wonder what's the reason?
Spurs were slow to rotate. LAC ball movement was not fast but still spurs were late. When they tried to double griffin it was deadly obvious it was not going to end up good.
Then spurs tried too many threepointers, and you could see their legs gave out. Pop was not even mad.
Every time we had a chance to reduce the lead to 2 or three point by a 3 point play we failed and the clipps were answering with a 3 point action themselves.
It was frustrating to watch it.
I even said it - I'm not watching it damn !!!
All in all. Hopefully Pop will give a day off because we play Minny on Friday and Hornets on Sunday.
Not gonna be easy at all - I said the same before the Clipps game giving the reasons.
cheers - I'm gonna go to bed now it's 10:38 am
The guys were in San Fran the night before. Too many options -Jazz, wine, butthole pleasures etc. will shut you down the day after. I'll chalk up this loss to that.
Eh, they sucked. It happens.
First ty loss of the year, nothing really alarming.
Real concerns are for me: Tim one day superstar the other day tired and on the decline, TP is in a bad trend Idk if it is just fatigue or something else, Pop is loving his matty.
great post.
The only point is in Pop situation not playing Tim is a tough decision to make, we were surfing on an impressive record. Hard no to try what was working.
Seems pretty obvious what happened:
-Dead legs on a b2b
-No one on this squad can guard Griffin one on one anyway
-Shots weren't falling (see "dead legs" above)
This will happen sometimes to a team that relies on O more than D, as the Spurs do this year (esp jump-shot O). Some nights shots don't fall. Spurs were never going to win every game, and that's life in the NBA.
I'm sure Chump will have several raspberry cookies earmarked for you at the next Popper meeting for your glowing remarks.
And that's all.
It was a back to a back,our FG% was 34% and our starting PG who is the second best player of the team wasn't in the game.
Sorry if everybody thought we were going to go 79-2. Just ain’t happening
Yes,TD isn't young but we are 15-3 and we are the best team of the league.Yes,our defense isn't the same but we aren't the same team.We are not the same Spurs.And it works.
Go back and watch the game, if you dare. Griffin went off on everyone the Spurs put on him except for Splitter, who played a whopping 7 minutes! I'm not saying Bonner wasn't ty . . . he was absolutely ty, but so was everybody else who tried to guard Griffin. Isolating Bonner for his defense on Griffin is like throwing a rope into a bottomless pit.
Nice job misinterpreting, again. You never fail me, numbnuts.
So, you like what Pop did last night?
That was my point. Exactly. No one on the Spurs defended Griffin well. Isolating Bonner is just dumb.
Last edited by ohmwrecker; 12-02-2010 at 09:27 AM.
Good that I feel asleep while watching the Lakers game.
Trying to cir scribe Bonner's defensive woes only to Griffin is really a cop-out.
He had his full repertoire of pathetic D on display last night.
Including the now classic backwards walking, arms raised, and1 giving 'defense'.
Slow rotations or lack of rotations entirely. Poor box-outs.
He actually does this on a nightly basis, but normally it gets glossed over because he made some shots. When he's not hitting though, all you're left with is the sandwich.
Bonner F- ... that's too much..... Z-
I'm biased as , but I can't help feeling very frustrated with Splitter's minutes. He wasn't great this game but I think he made a difference on his few minutes. I'm just hoping it doesn't breaks his confidence.
The fact that the Clippers game was indeed a "winnable" one, makes all this even worse. I mean this wasn't a loss to one of the league's top contenders. The Clippers are, once again, one of the worse franchises in the NBA. Meanwhile, Bonner is in his usual midseason "choking" form, and the coach continues to force-feed him minutes, to the detriment of everything and everyone else.
It's strange how Pop will bench anyone, Bonner included, for bad transition defense, but will stubbornly leave him on the court, when matched up against perhaps the most explosive, young PF in the NBA. It's almost like Pop takes some sort of sick pleasure is watching his readheaded, boy-toy, get repeatedly ass-raped by the opposition's frontline players.
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