When Pop benched Nazr and Rasho in 2006 against the Mavs, when Duncan and Horry both got into foul trouble (which they did a lot), Pop went to Oberto. Tell me that man can't hold a grudge.
When asked if Splitter would get PT in game 2, Pop said "I don't know, I haven't thought about it." He's the only person on the planet that didn't.
Yeah, the team was probably better off just leaving Blair as a starter. He played better as a starter, and Dice played better off the bench. But Pop was already locked into whatever plan he devised back in September. Ugh. So much for being great at making adjustments like all the analysts seem to think.
Gasol played out of his ing mind today. I'm willing to bet that idiot doesnt go 9-10 from the field again the entire series....
How is it an excellent point to say the spurs lost because they shot 3s late, but also because their opponents used the sound strategy of shooting 3s late.
I know I'm kind of quoting the wrong post, but I didn't feel like hunting it down.
It probably doesn't matter who starts next to Duncan in this series. All of them have their own individual flaws. It was awfully surprising how pitiful Dice looked. Blair showed great energy on defense and rebounding, but was awful on putbacks. Bonner tries hard, but couldn't defend my 88 year-old grandmother.
Pop just needs to give time to whomever is playing well. Of course, the one big who could probably make a difference (Splitter) is the one guy he will not play.
Since that LA game I was pointing?
This is what's you get when the team is not sharp and has not been in real grind game for a long time.
TD didn't get the ball and get enough shots in the second half.
Memphis D was great on our perimeter players. They made it all but impossible for our 3 pt shooters to get set and get the ball off. Props to them and their coach for a good game plan.
If by production you mean offense, then allow me to enlighten you: You can't score without the ball. It's inexplicable that, with Ginobili sidelined, Parker struggling mightily AND Duncan playing well, they wouldn't pound it into Duncan relentlessly coming down the stretch. I partially blame Duncan, because he should have demanded it, but it's another example of poor coaching.
I know it'll never happen, but if this coach had half a brain, he'd insert Splitter into the starting lineup, which would free up Duncan to cover Randolph, without Gasol having a massive mismatch.
It's incredible that a team with championship aspirations has to win in spite of their coach, but that's precisely the predicament they find themselves in. I knew he thought he'd be clever and sit Ginobili today and I'm not the least bit surprised it cost the team. Worst of all, even though he had planned for days to not play him, he waits until the day of the game (when it's an early start, no less) to not only tell Ginobili, but the team. It was clear from their comments yesterday that they were expecting him to play. When they found out he wasn't, it probably took the wind out of their sails.
The reality is, they were going to have a tough enough time beating this team with Ginobili. Not only that, but they needed to take the Grizzlies confidence down a level. Now, it's probably through the roof. Stupid coaches think they're clever; smart coaches use logic.
I wasn't comparing this team to those teams at all. This team is completely different. I was comparing the first games of the playoffs for the Spurs in recent years, and there is a solid trend there.
By mentioning the Championship years, I'm also not suggesting we'll win it all this year - this team has to prove its playoff mettle before I'll start getting excited.
I was merely noting a pattern, and if it proves to be a predictable omen we should come out like tigers and rip the Grizz to shreads in game 2. If we aren't able to do that, time to start nervously glancing at the Panic Button.
The Spurs need to come out next game and put a smackdown on the Grizz, i'm talking Spurs vs Heat type of beatdown. Make a statement that they're not gonna around anymore.
I'm scared Pop will decide to overuse Tim...playing him 40 minutes and more a game.
If he decides for this way, well, at this point I should agree with the ones of you that say he lost his brain.
Fact is that if he behaves this way, maybe we can win this series, but we're gonna lose all energies for continuing our race to the le (and the race is gonne be a real one, considering the Lakers showed they're more than beatable, at least by other teams).
That said, all year our main weakness has been defense, and expecially interior defense...despite, imho, having in the roster a player that can eliminate a big part of this weakness without sacrifice a lot of our strenghts.
Players like Bonner, Dice and Blair cannot be considered, in any possible way and all things considered, better players than Splitter...and no one of them can give the team what the team actually lack.
On the contrary, all of these players can play a very good amount of minutes coming from the bench...to adjust match ups and rest who should be the two bigs of our starting line-up (Tim-Split) both needing, for different reasons (Tim : age, Split : conditioning), a lot of minutes for resting every game.
So, imo, first step for going in a better direction, could be to finally decide to start Splitter...axpecially agaist a team that use a lot of interior plays on offense (both gasol and Randolph hhave that as their main strenght).
Obviously, also Manu coming back should be a lot beneficial to the team...
The good thing is the Grizz played their best possible game and the Spurs down a superstar scorer, on a bad shooting day, with bad D, and bad calls from refs.......and still we were in it. 4 GAMEZ wins it guys GO SPURS!
Pop needs en get his sandwich out of his ass and play Splitter more.
Also ING GARY NEAL INSTEAD OF GEORGE HILL Ffs in crunch time.
The thing is about this mental breakdown is that spurs did it this year half an effort.
I mean - limit minutes and get easy buckets. That's why they had colapses cause they just did not went full power.
Now it's uncommon to them going for the kill at the end when basicaly all season long at the end spurs where trying to save some minutes for our leading guys.
Also WTF now go and feed Timmy?
All of sudden they are changing what they were doing all year long even touh Pop said they are not gonna change the way they play.
Dyess got to get going.
I'm not worried about TP he will come back stronger next game. He does not like long layoffs.
The facts are on your side.
The Spurs' playoff record since 2006 is 29-18 with Ginobili and 1-5 without him.
Spurs' fans better pray that Manu plays on Wednesday.
Try playing someone next to Duncan who is over 6 foot 9? Bonner does not count here.What adjustments can the Spurs make against the Randolph/Gasol frontline? Try to get them in foul trouble by continuing to attack the rim?
Nice to see initial reactions back
Two things ...
Defense with the same players will not get better, because it looked as if they really tried hard and play intensely (exception is Dice who sleepwalked through the game) but just could not succeed. Inserting Splitter would help but it will not happen.
And the Spurs were favored by the refs in this game. Some ticky-tack fouls against Tim, but the Spurs had a huge FT advantage. Without that they would have lost by 10+
The guards were aggressively drawing fouls, but Duncan got some calls against him, and seemed to allow it to take him out of the game. I agree with those who suggest that he should have demanded the ball. Duncan is more than capable of imposing his will on anyone in the organization.
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angele...n-5-110417west5-on-5: Wild West weekend
Let's explore five questions in the West after the opening weekend of the NBA playoffs
ESPN.com
3. What's the biggest problem for San Antonio in the MEM-SAS series?
Jeremy Wagner, Roundball Mining Company: Hope. Twice I have seen the Denver Nuggets go to San Antonio and win Game 1 (in 2005 and 2007), only to lose in five games each time. The Spurs have to squelch the Grizzlies' hope and confidence by winning Games 2 and 3. That's what they did to the Nuggets on those previous occasions.
Marc Stein, ESPN.com: Manu's elbow. Followed closely by the same theoretical problem they would have if they last long enough to see the Lakers in the playoffs: not enough size next to Tim Duncan to deal with multiple quality bigs. Duncan was the third-best big on the floor in Game 1. That's not to say that Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol can both be that good every night, but Antonio McDyess was a non-factor … and both McDyess and DeJuan Blair were plagued with foul trouble … and Gregg Popovich didn't even trust Tiago Splitter to play him for a single second.
Ryan Schwan, Hornets 247: That Memphis perimeter defense is smothering. The Memphis big men aren't going to score again like they did Sunday night, but the Spurs guards aren't likely to continue to get the foul shots they got in that game, either. If they can't figure out how to get and hit shots, the Spurs will struggle mightily.
Rob Mahoney, The Two Man Game: Frontcourt defense. Tim Duncan can defend only one highly productive big man at a time, which means that either Zach Randolph or Marc Gasol gets to work against DeJuan Blair, Matt Bonner, or Antonio McDyess. In addition to their own particular defensive limitations, they share in the inability to match up successfully against either of Memphis' bigs.
Graydon Gordian, 48 Minutes of : San Antonio will struggle to shut down Gasol consistently, and may be utterly incapable of stopping Randolph. It doesn't mean the Spurs will lose this series, but because of the Grizzlies' imposing front line, all of San Antonio's wins will come by much narrower margins than the Spurs' faithful are comfortable with.
Considering there was not another game until Wednesday, I concur.
Initial Reaction:
I seriously believe he does this on purpose just because he is questioned. Stubborn sob.When Pop benched Nazr and Rasho in 2006 against the Mavs, when Duncan and Horry both got into foul trouble (which they did a lot), Pop went to Oberto. Tell me that man can't hold a grudge.
When asked if Splitter would get PT in game 2, Pop said "I don't know, I haven't thought about it." He's the only person on the planet that didn't.
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