Well this is about where the Spurs went to last year. I guess we'll know in the next 2-3 games whether this team really is different.
What part of the entire team being outrebounded by one guy did you fail to understand? Funny how often teams have "bad shooting nights" against a good defense.
Well this is about where the Spurs went to last year. I guess we'll know in the next 2-3 games whether this team really is different.
Don't worry.
Next game Matt Bonner will impose his will on the Lakers.
Perfect. No waiting for this one to sink in.
We have better options this year, but again like last season Pop has no used Splitter with Duncan at all.
That's why I am so disappointed. It's LATE YET AGAIN to be making a change like that.
Pop isn't the one behind that Manu_Forever greek fake?
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After all the praise I gave Pop the other day...he coached like a ing idiot tonight. His insistence on starting a 6'5 fat midget in Dejuan Blair against a starting lineup of Bynum and Gasol is nothing short of mental re ation. Bynum had 30 effing rebounds and it looked like a dad playing against a bunch of 5 year olds all game watching Blair and Bonner try to box him out. Lakers didn't even have Kobe tonight and they managed to still take a spur shaped P at midcourt.
It would be one thing if he didn't have any other options but he has a perfectly good 7 footer rotting away on the pine as the Blair-Bonner combo drop a dead fetus on the court anytime they face a big frontline. If he doesn't start Splitter and Duncan together and have them playing 30+ minutes a game by the playoffs, we are likely getting swept against either the Lakers, Grizz or Thunder. Maybe we will get lucky and someone else will knock out those obviously superior teams for us but HIGHLY unlikely.
My problem with Pop is that he has evolved his coaching philosophy away from the inside game. He now prefers the spread-the-court, open court, early offense. He claims that he's evolved to keep up with the trends of the league. Has he forgotten that he won 2 championships using a twin towers strategy?
Well, this game is indicative of the fact that SIZE STILL MATTERS. Three-point shooting will come and go. However, if you cannot defend the rim, get rebounds and generate some offense around the rim, it's tough to win.
My other issue with Pop is that he and RC have ignored the size issue on this team - this is even after getting ass-raped by the Grizzlies last spring.
YOu have been weighed ...
You have been measured ...
and you have been found wanting ...
Great line from a silly movie ...![]()
With the latest additions of Mills, Jackson and Diaw, Pop has been quick to start experimenting with lineups and tinkering with matchups. This game would've been a perfect opportunity to have thrown out a "twin towers" lineup to counter the Fakers. After all, they didn't have to worry about Bryant. Of course, Artest ate them up from the outside, so I guess it didn't matter.
TP is such a spotty shooter. He's like Lebron with his jumpshot.
When the going gets really tough he has no confidence in his jumper.
That's pretty much it with TP I think. If TP had Gary Neal's jumper he'd be one of the best players on the planet.
He's a mental weakling like Lebron when the going gets tough and he loses confidence in his jumper.
It was about 3,000 years old when they used it in that movie. But, yeah, it still works.
Agreed...now think of this from LAL Fan's standpoint. With Bynum playing this good, then shouldn't he get the ball 1st when Bean comes back?
NO, he's Bean....YES, Bynum is the new Shaq. Well...we know how Bean treated Shaq, he'll do the same thing to Bynum.
That Ball movement led to some good shots(okay...many of them were lucky) and the Spurs lackadaisical ball hog play today( 1 pass, 1 shot where was the motion we saw in the streak). That stuff goes away. Also...while the LAL has used the tower effect to great success in the past, there is no longer THAT Lamar Odom playing for them. Let them enjoy the gift the Spurs gave them.
Think of it this way, Pop still has Duncan-Splitter and it's so obvious a choice, so again...why employ it at this time? you don't. Using a Ghostbuster reference, You don't cross the streams unless...YOU NEED TO CROSS THE STREAMS .
why we should have beat the Jazz and stop throwing games away
What movie? That's from the Bible. A disembodied hand (God) wrote that on the wall at Babylon. Mene Mene Tekel Parish. Daniel translated it as "Behold, Belshazzar, you have been weighed in the scales of God and have been found wanting. Therefore your kingdom shall be divided among the Medes and the Persians, and you Belshazzar shall die."
Why throw that at them now and give them two regular season games to get used to it? I bet Pop uses Duncan-Splitter a lot in the 3rd game to give himself a taste while not giving the Fakers practice games to adjust to it. CIA .
Well theres a couple of things we learned tonight:
1. Blair has GOT to get his ass glued to the bench. If this game doesnt open Pop's eyes up, nothing will.
2. More Splitter and Diaw, less Blair and Bonner. I'd even prefer Bonner out there over Blair at this point.
3. S-Jax brings toughness and D to this team. He deserves more minutes.
4. Same with Danny Green, he brings hustle and toughness to the team every night.
5. TP needs to get his head out of his ass if this team is going to take it far...
I said this in a thread the other day when people said he should be benched after the Utah loss.
Danny Green may have turned our season around earlier in the year.
That game early in the year against Goldenstate where Monte Ellis was torching us, Spurs had nothing left to go to, but Green came out and game us everything he had. Played his heart out that game and has been doing it ever since.
He's not always consistent so it does get frustrating, but I won't forget what Green did in that game against Goldenstate and what he's been doing all season for the Spurs. He's been consistent when it comes to playing with heart. I can't actually say the same about TP though. As good as TP has been he hasn't played with heart all season like Green has.
Not so sure about the Mavs.
Well forget the Kobeless thing. A lot of people knew that the Lakers would probably be better if Kobe deferred the ball to Bynum and Gasol. Kobe just wouldn't sit out any games though.
If Kobe has any brains then the Spurs might have shown Kobe how dangerous LA could be if they play an inside out game.
Hate that Pop let them do this by playing small to start. He may have jump started the Lakers, although I knew they'd be better than most people were giving them credit for. I've basically stopped bothering to watch regular season Lakers games because they don't really start playing their best until the playoffs. If Kobe, Bynum and Gasol are healthy Lakers will be good come playoff time.
Look. I don't care if Tiago is a jerk behind the scenes or the coach has a special bond with Blair/Bonner to the point where he wants them to succeed.
You coach to win games in the postseason and to do that you need to play your best players. Period. Address personnel issues in the offseason if you have to.
A coach that's putting grudges and personal issues ahead of the team's success needs a sabbatical. And I'm saying that as someone who really admires what Pop has managed to accomplish over the years.
I used to think that's what CIA Pop was doing with Ian.
Last year, I thought he was doing that with Splitter.
I'd like to believe that this year, but I'm starting to have doubts.
And a horrible strategy.
If Pop doesn't figure out a way to counter the Laker's size, like a heavy dose of Splitter-n-Duncan, maybe Pop has gone of the deep end.
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