Pop Pulling the Plug against the Knicks

[dbestpro]

Usually I have no problem when Pop waves the white flag early but down ten with 3:15 to go against these Knicks. There are a ton of possessions left. Heck, in the next minute a few threes go down and the Spurs are right there.

I understand the back-to-back against the Celtics is looming but WTF. Another 1:30 wouldn't hurt anything and at this pace, that could be another five possessions.

Weird end to a crazy game.

Pop loved this game. He pulled the plug with 3 minutes because he did not want the Spurs to mess up his defense message by winning.

[Brazil]

let's be prepared for the Pop soft card, it will happen tonight

[DMC]

I called this when he did it against Orlando. In that game, at least the game seemed out of reach. It's really bull . He can send all the messages he wants in the film session tomorrow. Or when we get blown out next time.

If he really want to rest the big 3 in the big picture, the bottom line is we need to win games. Winning means not quitting games where you still have a chance.

What message is he going to send? We didn't play D? You don't think vets with 10+ years of experience don't know? It's bull .

It's not about sending messages to the team. It's about risk vs reward.

The Spurs really needed this game. They need to get their ass kicked now and then. Otherwise young guys get smug.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

I'm fine with it. We were not going to win this game. Ginobili flopping on fadeaway jumpers with 6 mins to go only down 8?

Blasphemy.

Parker had 20 points in the 1st half and 6 points the rest of the way.

George Hill had 3 or 4 shots from 3 feet away and he made an unnecessary extra pass.

Knicks had over 20 points off turnovers

And to add to all that, they were genuinely hot tonight. Felton, Amare, and Chandler were all sizzling hot.

We were going to lose. Let Pop bruise their ego even more like Manny says and get these ers fired up and remembering how to win basketball games.

[ChuckD]

Knicks hit everything. You have to to beat a team that scores 62 in the paint.

Pop will light them up, and they will respond.

[ElNono]

Pop also needs to understand that when you get to 29-4, teams will get complacent. It's just human nature. Quitting won't make a difference.

[spurtech09]

Can't win them all...damn spurs fans are spoiled....get over it

[Sense]

If they tried to play defense in the first place he wouldn't of had to try it.

That's all he played all game and it never worked... why would he stick to it?

That's what killed the Spurs today, teams that can score know their way around a zone defense. Open jumper after open jumper, Pop stuck to it and that was the downfall.. everything after the second quarter was pretty much deja vu

[Warlord23]

The good news is there's a lot of games left to fix the D.

The bad news is that it's badly broken right now, especially the zone. A rec league team could run a better zone.

[timvp]

You should know better, LJ. He's had maybe the Clippers game as an opportunity to lay into them after a loss and thats about it. This has nothing to do with being tired or tomorrow nights game and everything to do with Pop seeing an opportunity to remind his team that they actually have to show up and play defense if they want a chance to win.

Yeah, that was my thought at the time. But damn, 3:15 against D'Antoni is like a quarter against a regular team. One missed Stoudemire jumper and a D'Antonimeltdown could have commenced.

Ah well.

[ElNono]

It's not about sending messages to the team. It's about risk vs reward.

The Spurs really needed this game. They need to get their ass kicked now and then. Otherwise young guys get smug.

The guys that sat down were vets... tell me what does Tim Duncan doesn't know about stuff like this... I bet he's wondering if Pop is going to pull the soft card already

[polandprzem]

Pop also needs to understand that when you get to 29-4, teams will get complacent. It's just human nature. Quitting won't make a difference.

Who quit?

[Muser]

Let's be honest here though, are you really worried? Yeah the Spurs sucked donkey tonight but this won't be the norm.

[Sense]

I sure hope every single player watches tape on this game and realized how ing pathetic they looked out there...

You can only learn from this now... and feel disgusted.

[ElNono]

Who quit?

Read the OP.

[xmas1997]

To win this game they had to play defense.
They didn't, for whatever reason.
Thus, no win!
This is what worries me this year about the Spurs, no consistent lock down D.

[Sean Cagney]

shoulda pulled the plug earlier tbh.

I agree, they were not going to start missing obviously and the Spurs were not going to hit threes to get back into it (They were 6-23 or so). This game was not going to be won tonight.

[ElNono]

I'm frankly glad I didn't drop $800 for seats to the game... to think I even thought about it. Dodged a bullet.

[Dex]

Too early to pull the plug. These Spurs have made more miraculous comebacks than that this very season. More importantly, it does nothing to reinforce the "never say die" at ude that this team has otherwise displayed prominently.

I guess with only 4 losses, Pop figures he can't go on a tirade and get in player's faces (and have them take him seriously) if they don't face a few more. Generally speaking, I'd say that's just wasting the player's effort to make a point.

After that lackluster effort though, that team deserved the L through and through. And they deserve whatever reaming is coming to them right now in the locker room.

Season Ws are great, but only going to supplement the disappointment if that is what we can expect come playoff time.

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

It's Pop........he does this sometimes.

[ElNono]

There's no question that the effort on D was not there, and they deserved the L... but why help it? Let them play and lose, then get in their faces.

[ChuckD]

I called this when he did it against Orlando. In that game, at least the game seemed out of reach. It's really bull . He can send all the messages he wants in the film session tomorrow. Or when we get blown out next time.

If he really want to rest the big 3 in the big picture, the bottom line is we need to win games. Winning means not quitting games where you still have a chance.

What message is he going to send? We didn't play D? You don't think vets with 10+ years of experience don't know? It's bull .

??? The Spurs had no chance in this game at the point he pulled the plug

[timvp]

I thought the effort was there on defense. The problems were more related to strategy and execution. I lost count how many wrong rotations there were. It seemed like the Spurs spent more time running into each other rather than getting in the way of a Knick.

[polandprzem]

What chance in those 3 mins spurs had?

They were outmatched badly all night long. All of sudden they would flip the switch?


All night long with no real result in success - Pop got pissed

[Dex]

I thought the effort was there on defense. The problems were more related to strategy and execution. I lost count how many wrong rotations there were. It seemed like the Spurs spent more time running into each other rather than getting in the way of a Knick.

That one play where the two Spurs literally tumbled over each other while a Knick (Chandler?) waltzed down the lane for a layup seriously called for Three Stooges music.