So which one came closest to popping a blood vessel in your brain ...

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Also, why not try calling a simple play for Leonard at the end, rather than tony Parker continuing to brick shots. He's youngest and most athletic guy which means when everyone else was standing around and looked dead tired, he probably has more energy than most people on the court. How is it so damn hard to integrate a post up play, a pin down screen at the free throw line, or any other simple bball play? Instead, lets have him sit for the corner and wait for the pass that tony parker is never going to feed him when he's in hero mode. Even when Tony gets it to guys in hero mode, they usually miss because they're completely out of rhythm in the offense.

I was thinking absolutely the same thing - when everyone else looks tired, go to Kawhi in the post or off a screen at the elbow!

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Pop would have been pretty mad going into games 3 and 4 on the back of two blowout wins. He had to screw something up

[SouthernFried]

Also, why not try calling a simple play for Leonard at the end, rather than tony Parker continuing to brick shots. He's youngest and most athletic guy which means when everyone else was standing around and looked dead tired, he probably has more energy than most people on the court. How is it so damn hard to integrate a post up play, a pin down screen at the free throw line, or any other simple bball play? Instead, lets have him sit for the corner and wait for the pass that tony parker is never going to feed him when he's in hero mode. Even when Tony gets it to guys in hero mode, they usually miss because they're completely out of rhythm in the offense.

This.

It was obvious TP was exhausted. If we could see it, POP shoulda too. This is what I think done the Warriors in. Their coach ran Curry almost the whole first game...and he was never the same after that. Oh well, even coaches have bad games.

[Sean Cagney]

Duncan's botched tip after Parker blew the layup was the most frustrating moment of the game for me.

Yep, when that happened I said hereeeeeeee we go, three on the other end! Well not a three but an and one instead and it happens. Bonner shoves him in the damn back after he has the damn shot already and gives him one more lol! Glad we won but that sequence right there just about did it for me. I was LIVID! That MISS BY TONY and Tim point blank wide open spelled trouble, period.

[Sean Cagney]

A couple things really irked me.

1) Kawhi being out for long stretches of the game. He missed some shots, but was otherwise very productive while on the floor. And Neal did practically nothing with his minutes.

2) Bonner missing his wide open 3's. My god I mean that's the only reason he's in the game...gotta knock those down.

3) Tony Parker once again forcing it in the 4th quarter when he was clearly exhausted. Just move the ball and trust the offense Tony! Like you did in the first 3 quarters.

4) Ginobli's foul. A flagrant is when you don't make a play on the ball and he didn't. Just let him have the goddamn layup and were up by 2 with 22 seconds to go and they have to foul and we'd be up 4 again. Instead, the flagrant, 2 free throws, the ball and a tie game. Bad Manu bad!

I love Manu for his play and his big shots but man he does some stupid at times out of trying too hard! I love the way he tries and approaches the game, but man at times just think man! Let him have the two we are up 4, go out there and get fouled like you said instead of turning this into nightmare! I agree with you fully. He needs to calm down at times and think, I know thats not in his DNA and thats what makes him special BUT MY GOD!

[HI-FI]

a lot to take in. glad i'm not the only one calling this a sickening win. it really should have not come down to this, but tbh, i'm both happy and surprised we were able to pull out the win, because it felt like the league wanted to make this series more complicated than it need be.

as for Spurs, things that pissed me off the most was

-Parker going into heroball in the 4th after playing so great early on

-Bonner ting the bed after playing so good in the first half

-Neal

I popped several blood vessels when the Spurs had 4 fouls called against them in roughly a minute in the fourth quarter. That possession completely changed the game. It took the Spurs completely out of rhythm offensively, and put Memphis in the bonus with half the quarter left to go. The Spurs essentially couldn't play defense for the second half of the fourth quarter, allowing Memphis to come back.

this is probably what bothered me the most tbh.

[SA210]

but I thought the Grizz were the overwhelming favorites??

[Hemotivo]

You forgot to mention Duncan trying a difficult tip-in with the Spurs up seven and less than a minute left rather than grabbing the ball and running clock/forcing a foul.

this

[SA210]

Pop and his stupid lineups. Bonner ball.

[DesignatedT]

Foul trouble screwed the rotation. Refs called two completely different halves which can be hard to adjust to. Tony got tired.

Much needed 3 day break for the Spurs. The Spurs have been playing every other day since the start of GS and are starting to get gassed. It's understandable. These two wins are still extremely impressive by SA. Now three days off.

[therealtruth]

Pop should get an F--. His minute management was horrible. Green should have played 30+ minutes. Bonner shouldn't have played more than 10-12 minutes. Parker shouldn't have been gassed at the end.

[letmk]

With Timmy in foul trouble and Diaw inefficient, I can understand Bonner gets more minutes than usual. Plus, IIRC Bonner started the game 2-2 before bricking the last three 3-pointers.

But I definitely don't understand why Green only played 27 minutes including OT. He was obviously better than Neal and Manu, on BOTH ends. When Pop finanlly played Green again, Grizzlies already got the momentum and Green couldn't find open shots either.

[Das Texan]

Spurs jacking up 3 after 3 after 3 after 3 after 3 after 3 in the fourth quarter was wildly entertaining too.

[skulls138]

I never came close to popping a blood vessel and felt confident in overtime.

[GSH]

There was a play in the first half where Kawhi dribbled away an entire possession, and then jacked up a contested shot with the clock running out. It's a good thing that one didn't happen in the second half, or I really would have popped a blood vessel. It's bad enough when Tony or Manu play hero ball... but Kawhi? WTF was he thinking?

[SenorSpur]

Definitely 1 & 3. Of course, Bonner gave up his customary "and-1" and was outmuscled for key defensive rebounds during that stretch because he was out of position. I don't care about him spreading the floor, this guy is a spaz, who usually takes away more than he gives.

[Budkin]

The ing refs bailing them out in the 3rd, and Pop's awful 4th quarter rotations. But who gives a now... we won't be talking about this one for years. We won. 2-0.

[Budkin]

Pop should get an F--. His minute management was horrible. Green should have played 30+ minutes. Bonner shouldn't have played more than 10-12 minutes. Parker shouldn't have been gassed at the end.

This.

[DJR210]

HANDS ING DOWN.

4. Ginobili deferring until he gifted the Grizzlies a four-point play single-handedly.

[Kidd K]

Out of the stuff you listed OP, #5 by far. I kept thinking, sometimes a game can be won or lost BEFORE the final couple minutes or 9th inning of a game. Sometimes it's better to bring in your best pitcher when the bases are loaded and no one's out, and not to leave out your worst guys instead.

I can't help but think if Pop just manned up and played Timmy with 7 1/2 minutes left, or even 5 minutes left. . .and not waited until what was it, less than 3 mins left?. . .that it absolutely would not have gone to overtime. In the end we won, but that was Pop's biggest mistake of the game imo.

Though not on the list, I think the 3 fouls on one possession made me furious, and the AWFUL flagrant call made me blow a gasket. That was one of the worst calls I've ever seen. They literally tried to hand that game to Memphis with that call. It's like they looked at the score, saw that they could directly alter the outcome of that game with an awful call, then did it.

Tony Allen only fell like that because he tried to keep his hands on the ball. If he let his arm go lax he doesn't even move. Manu didn't horsecollar him, he just grabbed his forearm. How the is that a flagrant now? Stupid, terrible call.

[polandprzem]

The last play at the reg was a 5 sec violation. I was counting that cause I knew it might be and error on our side.
And I was WTF, why no timeout?

So many things went wrong for the spurs it's insaine. Tired is not an excuse cause Miami will eat everybody that is close to tired. So will Memphis if the spurs keep acting like this.


btw. Gino went for a foul. It was not flagrant and Allen one second away from great acting.

[polandprzem]

Ahh yea, the worst was Parker in hero-mode. I know when he will miss b4 he knows. It just so odd and off the rythm ...


foooook

[therealtruth]

Definitely 1 & 3. Of course, Bonner gave up his customary "and-1" and was outmuscled for key defensive rebounds during that stretch because he was out of position. I don't care about him spreading the floor, this guy is a spaz, who usually takes away more than he gives.

Bonner/Neal are fine in limited minutes. The problem is Pop overplayed them.

[Obstructed_View]

I have zero problem with that foul. Ginobili has been fouled that hard probably two dozen times and it's never been called a flagrant because he gets up and walks to the line. Never did I think that was going to be a flagrant. I was so relieved that Jeff Van Gundy pointed out that his head never hit the ground, because I was yelling that at the TV from the time he was rolling on the ground. There is no ing way Allen's reaction wasn't a factor in that call, and it's shameful. Worst flagrant I've seen since the one where Joe Johnson's hand slipped off the rim and they called a flagrant on Jerry Stackhouse who did nothing other than block the shot. (Google "Stackhouse flagrant Joe Johnson" to see that one)

Bonner tossed the ball to Manu with the shot clock winding down and did a big gy olé! move which caused the turnover. I blame Bonner before I blame Manu, and I blame the guy who had Bonner in the game far more than I blame Bonner.

Why do the Spurs think changing their lineup and suddenly settling for jumpers is the way to close out a game? One shot in the paint in the 4th quarter. AGAIN. This is the second time this postseason that Splitter was the only guy to score in the paint in the 4th quarter of a game, if memory serves.

[Obstructed_View]

Bonner/Neal are fine in limited minutes. The problem is Pop overplayed them.

I missed where Neal has been fine at any point in this series, let alone this game. He's aggressively rebounding. Good for him, he's almost as good at that as Cory Joseph.