Game Blog: Lakers @ Spurs - April 11- 7:30 PM CT

[SenorSpur]

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.

Pop still believe every team can be beaten with superior passing and 3-pt shooting.

[Mugen]

<--------- ....thanks

[Duncan2177]

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.

That's a sign of a bad coach.

[Ice009]

FFS, Ice, that is BS. I know you're frustrated, all fans who care about this team are right now, but check your head. Pop has taken a team we were talking about for the 7-8th spot before the season to the top of the WC, developed the out of Leonard, Green, Neal, etc, seamlessly integrated 3 new players at the deadline, and done it all with no trade assets and aging, injury-prone stars. He's one of the best ever to coach the NBA game.

Right now he's trying to figure out how the he can stop Bynum, and his CIA play is probably Tim-Splitter, but why would he unleash it now? Step off the ledge and see how he responds to this drubbing. I'd say the 3rd game in the series is the one where we'll see what he's going to do in the playoffs if we meet the Fakers.

I am frustrated because I've been watching Pop do exactly the opposite. Last season against the Grizzles he never went with Splitter and Tim.

Why would he do it now Ruff?

For all the great stuff Pop does, he pisses it all away with his stubbornness. Why would I expect him to do it.

He hasn't played that combination all season. Why would he do it in the playoffs?

You may be right though, but he's failed numerous times the last few seasons to make the correct playoff and rotation calls.

First it was overplaying Finley, overplaying Bonner in the playoffs, not playing George Hill in the playoffs, not playing Splitter until it was too late against the Grizz.

Do you see why I am skeptical? We'll see though.

Spurs are a lot better and have more depth and options so I still believe we have a chance to be better than at anytime in the last few seasons. We'll see if you're right and if Pop makes the adjustments that give the Spurs the best chance to win. I still believe we have a chance to win.

That is all I want. That's all it comes down to. I want Pop to make the right adjustments that give the Spurs the best chance to win.

I don't just don't want him to take the fitting a square peg in a round hole road again.

[Ice009]

Bynum was 7-20. (Doesn't he usually shoot around .550?)
Gasol was 9-24.
Ebanks was 0-4.

We can live with all of that. And we can live with giving up 98 points. But not when we get out-rebounded 60-33. And not when Tony, Manu, Kawhi, and Blair are a combined 6-22. And not when we only get 9 FT's because we aren't getting to the rim.

The Spurs are 13-10 when giving up 100 points, would have been 13-11 had the Lakers scored 100 tonight.

I don't think we can live with that at all IMO. Gotta try and keep teams down to the low 90s.

[Ice009]

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.

If he watched the Spurs win Championships then he'd know that is how the Spurs won.

Countless times I heard the other teams fans say it was a bad shooting night. It wasn't just a bad shooting night, the Spurs defense was a big part of that bad shooting night for the other team. Exactly why the Spurs shot poorly tonight. The Lakers defense was a big reason for that bad shooting.

[GSH]

Holy , the meltdown in the main part of the forum is out of control. It's like an exercise in writing thread les. How many different ways can you say the Spurs got their asses kicked?

I'm not even going to try and read any of that - my head will explode.

One of two things is going to happen tomorrow: the Griz are going to get their asses handed to them, or the Spurs are going to prepare us for another disappointing first round.

[Ice009]

Holy , the meltdown in the main part of the forum is out of control. It's like an exercise in writing thread les. How many different ways can you say the Spurs got their asses kicked?

I'm not even going to try and read any of that - my head will explode.

One of two things is going to happen tomorrow: the Griz are going to get their asses handed to them, or the Spurs are going to prepare us for another disappointing first round.

Why does everyone abandon the game thread after games and start re ed ones?

[mkurts]

Andrew Bynum beasts over the small three again - looks like the Spurs once again cannot deal with the Lakers psychologically and piss themselves.

I don't for one second think that the Lakers had better players (Kobe out) or a better system, not to mention their bench stinks, so its all in the mind, especially when you get crushed at home with the Fakers playing better defense on the road .....

[easy7]

Damn, I just got home and just heard about that ass whooping....

[Ice009]

Andrew Bynum beasts over the small three again - looks like the Spurs once again cannot deal with the Lakers psychologically and piss themselves.

I don't for one second think that the Lakers had better players (Kobe out) or a better system, not to mention their bench stinks, so its all in the mind, especially when you get crushed at home with the Fakers playing better defense on the road .....

The Lakers are a better team than people give them credit for. They suck in the regular season. It's not worth watching them in the regular season because they go through the motions a lot.

If their big three of Bynum, Gasol, Kobe are rested and healthy going into the playoffs then I think they will be very good.

Pau Gasol said the other day he's not worried about their defense and it would be there for the playoffs. Looks like they used this game to ramp it up.

The other crappy thing is that we've been waiting for this game all season to see how the Spurs do against size. It really stinks that Memphis hasn't had Randolph so we could see how the Spurs would have gone earlier in the year against a team with size, giving Pop more time to tweak the lineup, but unfortunately we've had to wait until late in the season, and yet again Pop has failed to play Tim with Tiago throughout the season to prepare for it.

[therealtruth]

The Simulator crew can't understand how being 7ft helps.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

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.

Evidence that Pop is doing this? He's not, he's doing what he honestly thinks is the best for his team to win.

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.

Last year he didn't play Splitter because he was banged up and frankly not quite ready for the NBA. This year Splitter is a totally different player.

And a horrible strategy.

Not really. Winning 7-game series is all about adjustments. The last thing Pop wants to do right now is give the Fakers 3 meaningless games to adjust to Tim-Splitter.

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.

Maybe he has, or maybe he knows something we don't.

I am frustrated because I've been watching Pop do exactly the opposite. Last season against the Grizzles he never went with Splitter and Tim.

Why would he do it now Ruff?

For all the great stuff Pop does, he pisses it all away with his stubbornness. Why would I expect him to do it.

He hasn't played that combination all season. Why would he do it in the playoffs?

You may be right though, but he's failed numerous times the last few seasons to make the correct playoff and rotation calls.

First it was overplaying Finley, overplaying Bonner in the playoffs, not playing George Hill in the playoffs, not playing Splitter until it was too late against the Grizz.

Do you see why I am skeptical? We'll see though.

Spurs are a lot better and have more depth and options so I still believe we have a chance to be better than at anytime in the last few seasons. We'll see if you're right and if Pop makes the adjustments that give the Spurs the best chance to win. I still believe we have a chance to win.

That is all I want. That's all it comes down to. I want Pop to make the right adjustments that give the Spurs the best chance to win.

I don't just don't want him to take the fitting a square peg in a round hole road again.

Last season was a different story, and Splitter wasn't yet ready for the NBA game (his offence was awful, foul rate off the charts - I doubt he would've swung the Grizz series even if he had played).

All the rest of what you say is entirely reasonable and I agree. But the reason he's saving Tim-Splitter is probably because he wants it to be fresh if he has to use it (and he'll only use it against the Fakers or Grizz methinks). Either that, or he truly has developed a blindspot. We'll know in about a month.

[Spurs da champs]

^ Big Time Pop Sucker!

[Johnny RIngo]

There's a lot of deluded users on this forum if you think SA can beat the Lakers by simply inserting Splitter next to TD. Fact is BOTH Laker bigs are much better than our two best frontcourt players. Their best defenders are better than our best defenders. The only advantage we have on them is at the point guard position and our point guard has played frightened against the Lakers since '04. The bench is irrelevant since rotations are shortened in playoff basketball. Lakers are simply a bad matchup.

Pop's move to rest the starters against Utah is going to bite him in the ass now after we lose to Memphis tomorrow night. Should have made sure to beat Utah away and rested our guys against the Kobe-less Laker team at home to come out at full strength against the Grizzlies. Now we're going to have a group tired/demoralized players going up against the squad that humiliated them last year. Genius move by Pop.

[TheSkeptic]

There's a lot of deluded users on this forum if you think SA can beat the Lakers by simply inserting Splitter next to TD. Fact is BOTH Laker bigs are much better than our two best frontcourt players. Their best defenders are better than our best defenders. The only advantage we have on them is at the point guard position and our point guard has played frightened against the Lakers since '04. The bench is irrelevant since rotations are shortened in playoff basketball.

Not sure how many times it needs to be said, but nobody's saying that.

What we're saying is that Splitter is our second best big and flat out not playing him in favour of Blair/Bonner against the LAL bigs is a disaster waiting to happen. Splitter was fine against Gasol and defended Bynum better than the other two combined. Sure they're both better players but at least it gives us a better chance than the other two.

It's about playing your best players and putting the team in a better position to succeed.

[Spurs da champs]

Not sure how many times it needs to be said, but nobody's saying that.

What we're saying is that Splitter is our second best big and flat out not playing him in favour of Blair/Bonner against the LAL bigs is a disaster waiting to happen. Splitter was fine against Gasol and defended Bynum better than the other two combined. Sure they're both better players but at least it gives us a better chance than the other two.

It's about playing your best players and putting the team in a better position to succeed.

Agreed.

When Bonner & Blair were on the floor with Tim there man(Gasol) was just playing volleyball which resulted in like 10 offensive rebounds for Bynum.
You can't go wrong with these two 7 footers against the Lakers/Grizz. You gotta match size with size.

[TheSkeptic]

Agreed.

When Bonner & Blair were on the floor with Tim there man(Gasol) was just playing volleyball which resulted in like 10 offensive rebounds for Bynum.
You can't go wrong with these two 7 footers against the Lakers/Grizz. You gotta match size with size.

Exactly. I have no idea why people are making it so complicated.

[Johnny RIngo]

Not sure how many times it needs to be said, but nobody's saying that.

What we're saying is that Splitter is our second best big and flat out not playing him in favour of Blair/Bonner against the LAL bigs is a disaster waiting to happen. Splitter was fine against Gasol and defended Bynum better than the other two combined. Sure they're both better players but at least it gives us a better chance than the other two.

It's about playing your best players and putting the team in a better position to succeed.

Splitter isn't good enough to make enough of a difference against LA's frontcourt. That's a sad fact we have to live with. And even if he IS good enough we have a point guard that plays like against this team time and time again.

[therealtruth]

Agreed.

When Bonner & Blair were on the floor with Tim there man(Gasol) was just playing volleyball which resulted in like 10 offensive rebounds for Bynum.
You can't go wrong with these two 7 footers against the Lakers/Grizz. You gotta match size with size.

Splitter would actually have a chance at getting Bynum in foul trouble.

[Venti Quattro]

Nice one

[TheSkeptic]

Splitter isn't good enough to make enough of a difference against LA's frontcourt. That's a sad fact we have to live with. And even if he IS good enough we have a point guard that plays like against this team time and time again.

We know he won't make a difference by himself.

The point is Splittter> Bonner/Blair vs. Gasol/Bynum (and in general). Even if we're still destined to lose, people just want to go down playing our best players and matching up as best we can since it's virtually guaranteed that small-ball will fail against LAL.

[Venti Quattro]

Anyone remember last year? We went into LA and smashed them by 20, then they did the same to us. Means very little at this point.

You never beat LA at Staples by 20 last year.

[therealtruth]

You never beat LA at Staples by 20 last year.

That was two years ago.

[Mugen]

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.

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 .

If RuffnReady and MexicanJunior had a kid, he/she would be the most even-keeled m'fer on the block, tbh.