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Tim played 34:24 tonight. With a back-to-back looming tomorrow against the Kings, wouldn't you expect him to sit out tomorrow's game and have Splitter start in his place?
I think he was more being sarcastic with that. IT has usualy been the go to excuse for the Pop fans when Pop would not play certain players.
Tim played 34:24 tonight. With a back-to-back looming tomorrow against the Kings, wouldn't you expect him to sit out tomorrow's game and have Splitter start in his place?
It's one thing to simply dislike the fact that a player you like on the Spurs is getting limited minutes. It's an entire other thing to completely bash and criticize that coach's strategy and vision, and call the man a stubborn fool. Especially when that man has four ing championships to his name.
I hope some of you spoiled bipolar fans realize that.
I thought this was 2011? I guess we can allways be stuck in 2008 though.
It also sucks that they could be using Splitter to lessen the wear and tear on McDyess, tbh..Dice is an old-ass man, relying on him to play 30+ minutes in the playoffs is foolish..
Couldn't agree more.
IMO Dyess will make the most contribution if his minutes are limited to 20 tops. He doesn't have it in him to be as effective playing nearly 30 minutes a night come playoff time. (When extra effort (energy) is needed just about every possession.)
Pop's trying to "break" Splitter. Why, I don't know?
He always seems to play these mental games with players, especially new ones. It started with Tony, Manu and Jacks. Since it was somewhat successful with these three, he ran with this formula for almost all his players going forward. Some make it through the hazing, others just get "broke"...see Jefferson, a potential 15-18pt slasher/scorer, reduced to a spot up three point shooter.
Since that stubborn fool cost the Spurs a fifth ing ring in 2006 because he decided to bench the center rotation on a 63 win team and refused to play the starting center for the 2007 championship team for no other reason than he was a (31 year old) rookie, the fans have every right to criticize when he does the exact same goddamn thing years later.
At least the "spoiled" fans realize that wasting opportunities as Tim Duncan's career winds down is ing insanity.
Blair continues to toggle with Tiago in a reserve role
ATLANTA — One game after not playing at all in the first half, DeJuan Blair was back as the Spurs’ second-unit center in Tuesday’s 97-90 victory over Atlanta.
Rookie Tiago Splitter was back to taking a DNP-CD.
Blair responded with a performance that was solid, but not spectacular, logging seven points and five rebounds in 13:06.
“My role is just to be ready at all times,” Blair said. “Because you never know.”
Blair admits not knowing hasn’t been easy over the past month, after he went from starting the first 53 games of the season to earning sporadic minutes off the bench.
“With the change in the lineup, I go back to thinking again — what do I do?” Blair said. “I’ve got to get that out of my head, somehow.”
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-reserve-role/
JMcDonald_SAEN Jeff McDonald
For like the 1,000th time: Matt Bonner is not taking any of Splitter's pt. Pop has decided on Blair over Splitter. THAT'S the compe ion.
This is such a cliched Pop homer post.
I have to agree with McDonald on this. I think Blair needs to be the odd man out in the bigs rotation. We all know Pop will never cut Bonner's minutes, but he needs to do it with Blair in favor of Splitter.
I call BS on McDonald for like the 1,000th time. In Pop's lineups, Blair's playing center and Splitter's playing power forward. If the above were true Splitter would have gotten some time with Duncan.
I would love to see a blair/splitter combination off the bench. Sick.
I just find it odd that Pop can't figure out a rotation using all of them:
Duncan/Dice
Splitter/Bonner
Dice/Blair
Duncan/Bonner
The key is that Blair and Bonner can never be on the court at the same time and always with either Duncan, Dice, or Splitter.
Exactly.
Splitter would be a starter on many if not most NBA teams. Serviceable 7-footers are extremely hard to come by.
Yet for Pop, Splitter is an asset that we can afford to squander, to leave rotting on the bench.
the proof that Pop has lost his ability to make sane decisions will be in the pudding in the playoffs. Memphis will just absolutely abuse, abuse, the Bonner-Blair frontline just as they have in the regular season. fortunately for Pop is incompetency in that regard will masked by all the talent he's got to work with. they meet LA and Bonner-Blair will not be masked, and Pop's dumb ass decision to not develope Splitter in the reg. season will be exposed. and i've been sayin that since the Spurs won the first game against LA by 20. small ball doesn't work and it won't work this year.
you have a guy in Splitter that held one of the best pfs in Aldridge to one of his worst games this season (14 & 9). yet Pop doesn't find that kind of defensive ability of any use agains the best frontline in the league. it pisses me off to know that Duncan won't have ample help in what may be his last year (never know), when it's been there the whole year. un ing believable. Splitter is literally the dude we've been waiting for for the last 4 years. it's the dude Duncan's been waiting for.
let's put things into prespective though. Popovich has lost his mind. and he lost it before the Splitter fiasco. the last few years he's simply made bad decisions and said very re ed things. let's go through them:
1. virtually not playing Bowen and Hill against the Mavs in '08 until the series was lost. instead he put all his faith in defensless Finley and old as Jacque Vaugh.
2. remember when he said that RJ was Stephen Jackson without all the drama? who the in their right mind would make that statement? anyone who can rationalize that themselves is out to lunch.
3. calling Bogans the centerpiece
Poop has just lost it.
I think Tiago will be fine.. Pop is the master and he has a master plan
Blair is starting to sound really butthurt about being relegated. He needs to be quiet or just leave it at 'Im ready to play when my number gets called'. Splitter kept his mouth shut all season and said the right things while sitting on the bench behind Matt Bonner and DeJuan Blair.
Blair is obviously a great kid and has contributed well this season.. but he needs to realise he has no business starting on a championship contender.
I agree with this, it's not so much using Bonner but it is using him with Blair, however let me qualify this , playing Bonner 20 min especially when he is not clicking and 10 minutes stretches is just way to long , and it exposes us significantly. I totally understand putting in a speicalist shooter for short stretches but last I heard using one dimentional specialist like Steve Kerr , were never used consistently over 10 min stetches game after game as bonner is used.
Exactly how I feel.
Any hope that Pop is going to use Splitter for any extended minutes in the playoffs went down the drain last night. If he won't use him until the last 5 mins. on a back-to-back playing SAC what are the chances he plays him against LA when it really counts.
I think he's really lost his mind. Playing Blair/Bonner puts the team in a hole that TP/Manu/TD have to expend wasted energy to pull them out of. That's not going to cut it in the playoffs where every possession counts. Spurs' margin for error is already razor-thin - all the pins have to line up and they have to get lucky to win it all. Pop's stubbornness is going to be their downfall if he's expecting to get by on mistake-free execution on offense and Blair/Bonner combo. What a shame.
Well put, but like I mentioned in another thread, we've collectively beaten this to death now. The Spurs are going to go into the playoffs with last night's rotation. They've wrapped up home court against the Lakers, which is really all that matters. Time to just put on our fan hats and root for them, IMO.
Fixed:
Save for Neal, what's the diff? Bonnerball doesn't work -Pop had a chance to turn the page, but chose to turn his back on the fundamental basketball.
"All that really matters" is putting the best possible team on the floor, not HCA.
HCA won't make Bonnerball work in the playoffs.
Despite the histrionics, supporting the Spurs is a given. Who appointed you gatekeeper? Folks will talk about what they want to talk about.
I love that you're lecturing me about smallball, Splitter, Bonner or Popovich. I've certainly never heard any of this before.
Yeah, you're the prime example of rehashing the same useless arguments over and over again. BTW, when have you supported the Spurs? You've been talking up the Lakers most of the year, then you suddenly jumped on the Splitter-doesn't-play-enough bandwagon six months late and have continued to use it to announce this season a failure and the outcome of the playoffs a foregone conclusion
With your track record, attempting to brand me a forum cop for telling you guys to let it ing go and start rooting for the team to do well is doubly laughable.
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