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things that need to change in this thread
1. The le change to reflect game 5, not 4
Here are a few things that I feel needs to be done differently in game 5 in order for the Spurs to win. They are in no particular order but I believe they are all instrumental in getting the much needed win on tuesday.
1. Kawhi Leonard needs to calm down. He is thinking too much out there. A young player with a shaken confidence does not bode well in the playoffs. He is not contributing in the offensive flow of the game with all of his points coming off of rebounds near the basket. It is great that he is finding a way to contribute with his shot being off, but he has to knock down the open shots.
2. Boris Diaw needs to show some level of intensity out there. He looks bored. This is my main problem with him. He is way too wishy-washy. There are games that he actually looks to score and there are games like today where he inexplicably takes a dribble on a wide open three then takes the shot a couple seconds later only when a guy begins to run at him.
3. Tim Duncan needs to have a better gauge on what is left in his tank. Bogut was manhandling him down in the low block during the final minutes of regulation, yet Duncan continued to shoot fade away after fade away only to see the ball hit the front of the rim. He was hurting his team. Also, it was a welcome sight to see him shoot very well at the charity stripe this season (82%), but 5-9 is not going to cut it. Take the same advice you gave to Kawhi in game 3 and use it on yourself Duncan.
4. Popovich needs to utilize Splitter much better. This is a player that will very well get over an 8 million dollar a year contract during the offseason. He simply can't play just 19 minutes in a very important playoff game. I saw glimpses of the regular season glory days when he was running the pick and roll early on in the fourth only to be subbed immediately after by Pop. Our offense (especially the second unit's) is predicated on the pick and roll. Mr. Argentina and Mr. Brazil looked to finally have their timing together and Pop needlessly subbed him and put Duncan back in with too much time remaining.
5. It is sad to see that we are in the middle of May and we don't have a designated back-up point guard. Every other team in the playoffs has one and it is integral to any championship team's winning formula. I know Pop does not have much to work with, but in hindsight he made a crucial mistake during the regular season. He seemed to cater to De Colo by favoring him over the other guards during long stretches of the season. Now De Colo is on the bench and not contributing one bit. There is no reason for Gary Neal to play double the minutes that Cory Joseph is playing. In Cory Joseph's time on the court, he has shown that he is very capable of playing decent defense without fouling (something Neal has a problem with). Neal is in the same mold of Bonner. If his shot is not falling he shouldn't be out there. Period. Pop needs to recognize this and play Cory more.
6. One of the big 3 needs to take over and man the team. Taking turns is cute during the regular season, but now is the time for Tony to step up. At this point in his career, he is the best out of the big 3. I understand he was hurt tonight, but I want to see more aggression out of him in game 4. He needs to shoot at least 22 shots and get to the line at least 8 times. Parker needs to show why he was in the MVP discussion for most of the season. Let's see another game 3 performance in game 5.
Last edited by SpursRock20; 05-13-2013 at 12:09 PM.
things that need to change in this thread
1. The le change to reflect game 5, not 4
Yeah, I know. Too late now.
The most disappointing this about todays game is the missed opportunities. We lost this game, GS battled back but it's as if we served it up on a silver platter.. I blame Pop for the small ball crap, we had there bigs in foul trouble and we didn't exploit it. Boris Diaw needs to be coached up, wide open 3's and he dribbles into more difficult shots and then they don't try to post him in the block.
There was lack of ball movement today, sure Parker was banged up but attack and kick and get open shots
Way too much Neal on the court, the size game killed with small ball but effectively we didn't have offense on the court. We were settling for jump shots and that took us out of the game in the 2nd half. We couldn't rebound with no size and no blocking out.
Couldn't you have posted this 4 hours ago?
But Pop needs to just play Splitter and deal with his crappy play. Sure maybe the Spurs can't win with his crappy play, but the Spurs can't win without him. Pop just needs to take a risk with Splitter and play him. I also think he should take a risk with Leonard and give him the green light. Fact is, we can't get it done with Ginobili, Parker, and Duncan, they're too tired.
I meant game 5.Couldn't you have posted this 4 hours ago?
But Pop needs to just play Splitter and deal with his crappy play. Sure maybe the Spurs can't win with his crappy play, but the Spurs can't win without him. Pop just needs to take a risk with Splitter and play him. I also think he should take a risk with Leonard and give him the green light. Fact is, we can't get it done with Ginobili, Parker, and Duncan, they're too tired.
Manu had a great game but Parker looked like that leg affected him and Duncan looked slow in the 4th.. No ball movement killed them, lack of rebounding and missed FTs. We need to stay big in order to win, Pop panicked again and went small for the 4th
tighten the rotation
bigs: tim, tiago, boris as bigs (at least 2 on the floor at all times)
guards: tony, manu, kawhi, danny, cojo (no more than 3 on the floor at any time)
no bonner, no neal, nobody else
I know I was messing with you.
Another thing I don't understand, is why the ball movement has been bad so much. I'm really tired of the hero ball from the big three. Hero ball from the big three weren't what made the Spurs so great earlier in the season, it was great ball movement, and they've gone away from that a lot.
I agree with everything except 1. It's out of leonard Power to do more than what the system allows him..
Spurs fan needs to accept that for at least another 2 years assuming Kawhi intends to stay or decides that he's better of on a team that would give him the chance.
I'm not saying that Leonard should do more than what the system requires him to do. I am saying that he needs to fulfill his role in the system: Hit open jump shots. He's not and the Spurs are paying the price.
I know. It seemed like so long ago when the Spurs offense looked like a machine. It seems as if the ball movement is being stagnated because Manu has been neutralized on the pick and roll. The pick and roll is not paying as much dividends for the Spurs as it has in the past.
He went with who was playing the best. Panick bull .
He's averaging 14-10 and 21-40 from the field. Want him to go shoot like Curry?
He's confidence offensively is not there alongside with Splitter but that has more to do with him knowing the only thing he can do offensively on this system to score is put backs and cuts.
Stop asking so much from a guy who is by design a role player. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind if kawhi is utilized offensively a lot better he'd be averaging 18-10 in this series. Those shots his missing are out of rythem shots. He's not expecting them. Because guess what, this team still wants to win with TP-MANU-TIM 2005 style.
Tiago Splitter. The Spurs need production from others not named the big three. Splitter is going backwards. His offensive rating was 118 during the regular season and 97 in the postseason.
I like his 14-10 games. But he is shooting 25% from 3 point land in the series and they have all been open shots. I'd like to have seen at least 1 three pointer made by him today. And his 3's are coming in the flow of the system. Penetrators are finding him wide open behind the 3 point line and he is not knocking them down. Not asking him to become an all star over night like some other posters on this board.
Splitter had a bucket and two assists in three plays, and was benched for the rest of the game. Please explain.
Small ball bro, guards don't set screens/they just stand in the corner.
Bigs move without the ball/set screens(also our bigs can pass).
Gary Neal did nothing to deserve to be in that game, Kawhi Leonard offered nothing all game long except for defense so I can give him a pass but he needs to hit his shots and FTs its just inexcusable to miss all those from the line.
Kawhi needs to stay in front of his man & not EXPECT help!
I agree. However, he was 3-4 behind the line. Duncan, on the other hand
Duncan looked slow in the 4th but we didn't put another big out there to help out.. We went small and that didn't help anything, we were getting punished on the glass all night and there was no effort to go for loose balls just standing around waiting for GS to rebound. Pop up to his old schtick in the 2nd half. Glad we didn't see Bonner but god no Diaw or Tiago.
Well, I'm going to say it: Free Nando!
^^^ is he even on the team anymore?
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