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I almost forgot about that timeout where Pop told em to pass the ball more. I guess it wasn't competely unstructured basketball.
Only thing I saw out on the court was that the blazers' coaching staff taking complete advantage of the gifted game donated to them courtesy Pop & co by teaching their youngsters how to play good fundamentally sound basketball with their regular rotation guys while Pop instead just allowed his youngsters to wing it alone, where they learned the value of how to play no structured one on one basketball with no discipline whatsoever.Talk about hyperbole. These guys just won 11 in a row, 8 on the road??
This is gonna pass, and do way more good than harm.
And for Portland, this has to be an empty win, despite the blowout and seeding implications.
I didn't want to see the streak come to an end either, and in such an emphatic fasion, but don't get it twisted.
The risk for injury increases dramatically under conditions of fatigue and we don't know the inner secrets of the team. While I'm guessing morale is sky high, you have to understand for older players, they take longer to recover, especially when you play at a high level.
So playing them 20 more minutes, in a succeptible state, on fumes, against an angry, more rested, team at home... while giving us a chance to do better, ultimately would not have led to a win, just a less of an ass spanking.
I'd rather lose by 40, then possibly incurring a dramatic injury, for the sake of pride of a streak.
The Spurs were in prime position to sneak in a rest day for it's stars, while giving their youth a full game to put under their belt.
Maybe TP has some nagging minor injuries? If he goes down here, we're ed. As evidenced lol....
This one game loss, in my opinion, will not ruin the psyche of this Spurs team in the least, and it was putting money in the bank.
It strikes me very similar to when he left his 2nd unit against Dallas, simultaneously instilling faith in them, and sending a message to the starters, that they can't just sleep walk, they need to play hungry and enthusiastically, and fight!
This move does the same thing, understanding that your players are human and do get tired in such a condensed schedule, while maybe showing players who were starting to get big headed.... not so fast.
Our 2nd/3rd stringers lost by 40 to their pissed off starters that got embarrassed the night before.
So now all our younglings understand and have experienced the pressure of a playoff caliber team playing with a chip on it's shoulder
Also it might have humbled anybody that was starting to think they were too big for their britches.
This to me was another sublime move by Pop, low risk, high reward, when it comes to developing a team and understanding your personnel. It's a smart, wise, move filled with foresight, just like the move he made against the Mav's.
Overall a great learning experience. For the blazers, that is.
I almost forgot about that timeout where Pop told em to pass the ball more. I guess it wasn't competely unstructured basketball.
Blown way out of proportion.
To Popo apologist: What say you if the Spurs lose the #1 seed in the West by a game?
1st seed didn't do any good with a roster that didn't peak at the right time and an injured Ginobili last year. We can win on the road but we can't win if Tim and Tony are not 100%.
So this 1 game is the magical game to sit them out? This 1 magical game prevented serious injury by one of them? Give me a break.
This whole idiotic argument that there is some magical "peak" to be attained once a season if only the team does this or that at just the right time is a crock of , most teams ride good and bad spells all year long, but the teams that win the championship can will themselves to their "peak" when necessary.
I'll trust the guy who has inside knowledge.
We're driving on 2 tires instead of 4 and you want to maintain max speed. Recipe for disaster.
How does it end up "biting us in the ass"... Did it in 2003 when Manu logged two DNP CD's http://www.nba.com/playerfile/emanuel_ginobili/bio.html Or in 2007 when pop sat the big 3? http://www.covers.com/articles/artic...?theArt=136341
The only way this bites them in the ass is if they tank the rest of the season and finish the year at 34-32 (which would put them in a tie with Portland for the last playoff spot in the west). Then you could argue in retrospect that Pop made a blunder. But the Spurs would need to finish 11-22 for that to happen... in which case, I'd say we have bigger issues to this season than last nights game.... On another note...
How did they take complete advantage? By keeping key members of their on the court during the 4rth quarter of a 40 pt blow out loss? "Wesley Matthews, who finished with 11 points, left the game early in the fourth quarter with a mild left ankle sprain." Great strategy, I'd love to see pop do that one with Manu.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=320221022
This "one" game loss isn't/wouldn't be an indication to how bad or good the team might be when playoffs do start.
It was a rest factor. Giving all the starters a chance to get extended time to rejuvenate prior to the second half of a long, grueling, condensed, b2b laden schedule prior to the playoffs beginning.
That...and a game to see which of the newbies/2nd year players would respond to handling themselves without playing next to starters in order to start getting an idea who best to use in finalizing a rotation pattern for the second half of the season.
Already locked into the Western Conference's No. 3 seed, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said before the game they would not play against the Grizzlies, the NBA's worst team
owned
So what makes it ok to sit them THEN and not NOW???
This could be just as meaningless a game as that Grizz game. Does this loss change anything in the west?
Is OKC still in the first seed? Is San Antonio still the 2nd seed? Is Dallas still the 3rd seed? Is Portland still a non playoff team? What changes with this loss to Portland? The fact that we might have to face a "must win" for home court later on?
Like I've said before. even if we finish the season with a 17W - 16L record, it'd be good enough to give us home court in the first round. (23w10L + 17w16L= 40-26, good for a 60% win percentage, good enough for a fourth seed in today's standings).
I don't have to tell you that there aren't any top seeds out there who are guaranteed a free pass out of the first round. If an upset happens, San Antonio could end up getting home-court in the second round too under this scenario. So what are you really trying to say here. You think San An needs to catch and pass OKC, Miami and Chicago as a top seed in order to have a real chance at this years le??? Because that worked out so well for them last year.
And it's not like an 8th seed never made the finals in a lock out year before ... and it's not like San An never won a le in which they had to close out a series on the road right???
Seriously people....
rofl thinking we would have won by playing Tim and Tony another 40 mins on the back end of a back to back.
Can you definitively say otherwise? Unless you can, there's not much point in beating a dead horse tbh.
Not to mention Portland was just emasculated the night before against the Lakers.
They were ready for blood from the get go.
And as we'd seen earlier in the season, sometimes that Spurs starting line-up starts off slow. Coupled with the fact they've been ridden extremely hard the past week, last two games especially for Tim and Tony.
So add up all the factors and, some people wanted to go all in with a pocket pair of 9's and the flop already reading Queen, King, Ace.
Gotta know when to fold them.
Pop wasn't resting them to prevent injury. If he was that concerned, he should have sent them out with pads and helmets.
Great analogy
What exactly does TJ own. A computer. A keyboard? If he truly OWNED anything why doesn't he own up to the simple question I posed and provide a viable answer?.
Question being;
I'm just curious, because I've personally seen this sort of thing before, where it did nothing to bite us in the ass.How does it end up "biting us in the ass"
Likewise, look what happens when you choose NOT to rest your players when you have the chance to. Nate could have rested his starters the entire second half and still coasted to a 20 point win. Instead, he keeps a key guy like Matthews on the floor and loses him in the fourth.
Anyway. all I'm asking is one simple question;
What makes this ONE GAME in Portland so detrimental if we lose it? Give me a reason. I hear so much b!tch!ng and complaining, but no one wants to say WHY. I mean, actually give a reason. (Keep in mind, an opinion is not a reason).
Avery Johnson coaches the Nets assbag
OMG the idiocy in this thread is amazing...
Pop is the only reason this team is successful. Spurs play the best TEAM basketball in the league. THATS ALL COACHING! The OP and anyone who agrees with him knows JACK about basketball. Pop always has his teams prepared. He's like darth vader with his knowledge of other teams and what to do.
I havent checked in on this forum in a very long time and to see this thread at the top sickens me. You all should feel grateful Pop is still around and hasn't left to retire or go to a more glamorous team.
Yeah, I'm sure the players have nothing to do with the Spurs success
I'll give you 5 reasons:
1. Tim and Tony didn't really need the rest, this is just Pop needing to tinker with things just because he likes to tinker with things. Besides, every player in the nba will have a week off in 3 days, might as well take advantage of that instead of playing "mad scientist" and trying to avoid an unlikely injury.
2. You blow a nice winning streak to . You risk losing the confidence of your players. Also the chemistry of said players. Like others have mentioned, there really was nothing to be gained from throwing 5 inexperienced guys out on the court to wing it with no help; they would have learned just as much playing pick up games at the YMCA. In contrast the blazers' youth got some nice quality work in with the starters and actually learned some good disciplined structured basketball.
3. You lose a game in the standings. Could be critical later on. As well the games you will now lose because of the possibility of lost confidence. These games will likely matter as well.
4. You basically tell the world (and in particular your own team) that you don't think they had a chance to win the game. That's always great for team morale btw. Especially great if you also end up meeting said team in the playoffs.
5. You punk yourself in front of a national tv network and also piss off all the fans who paid to see the game in person. That's always a smart thing to do.
Happy now? You got 5 solid reasons why I think it was the wrong thing to do.
You don't know if they needed it or not.
No need to read any further, tbh.
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