I personally think that Pop is doing a mistake by trying to play small ball against the Heat. In the series against Golden State, Pop kept trying to play small ball and it almost cost us the first two games. Pop then decided to enforce his will on the Warriors and went big the rest of the series. That is when the series took a turn.
Pop should try to enforce the Spurs' size on the Heat. I would like to see Dejuan Blair get some minutes on this series. I actually think that Blair is a better fit for this series. Blair can take up Matt Bonner's minutes because nobody is going to leave Matt Bonner open. Bonner was ineffective against Golden State so the same can be expected for this series.
The Spurs rotation on bigs should be Splitter, Diaw, and Blair. Duncan and one of the mentioned bigs should be on the floor together for most of the game. On defense, the second big that plays along Duncan should guard Mike Miller. This sounds crazy but all they have to do is stick to their man. Instead of one of the bigs helping out on Lebron when he gets in the paint, the help defender can be Parker or CoJo which will dare Chalmers or Norris Cole to take shots. I think that Blair and Diaw can also guard Lebron at times when Leonard or Green need to get a breather or get in foul trouble.
On offense, this is where our bigs can pay off. Our bigs should post up the Heat's power forward (similar to what David West did with Shane Battier) which will probably be Lebron James and get to the rim. This will tire out Lebron. I think Blair and Diaw are cabable of posting up Lebron and making him work on defense. If the Spurs succeed in their big lineup and impose their size, this might force the Heat to play with the traditional two bigs in the lineup which will favor our style of play.
That is my take. What do you'll think about this strategy? As long as Dejuan Blair plays defense, gets rebounds, and boxes out his man, I think that Blair will be fine.
Last edited by TheGreatYacht; 06-10-2013 at 10:56 AM.
We have to take advantage of size mismatches. If Duncan Splitter and Diaw even have just solid games (not great but SOLID) we can dominate the paint and control the entire game. Unfortunately, I don't think the team has done that yet, which is a real shame.
I said before - that I hoped Pop was paying attention to the Pacers strategy. They stayed big - AT ALL COSTS -
Last night towards the end of the 3rd qtr Miami went smaller--then hit a shot - and Pop went small and....
Hopefully this isn't the strategy the rest of the series.
You want the second big to guard Mike Miller on the perimeter?
The better question is, does Miami want Mike miller guarding one of our bigs in the post?You want the second big to guard Mike Miller on the perimeter?
Our second big can guard Miller or James. If our bigs are successful on offense, then this would force Spoelstra to play a second big or bring in Shane Battier. I prefer a second big or Shane Battier to play instead of Mike Miller.You want the second big to guard Mike Miller on the perimeter?
James will defend him, crossmatches.
Too bad our second bigs are Splitter who is Charmin' Soft, and Diaw who apparently doesn't know how to shoot the ball. The chances of them being successful enough on offense to force Spo to go big are not very good.
The chances of the shooting close to 0% and the Heat players shooting 100% is very low, too.
We have to finish when we are fouled because the foul call ain't coming. As a result we just are going to have to play more nasty and maybe even get hit with a few flagrant fouls to get the NBA to keep this game on a level playing field.
Yeah the bigs should rely on hook shots or foot work to get to the rim and not on tough fade away shots like Tim Duncan was doing last night.
The Spurs are way too classy to play that way. I've been wishing my whole life that the Spurs would play a little more dirtier or physical. I think being too classy is part of the reason why the Spurs were never able to repeat. I wish that Pop and the players would complain harder to the officials similar to the way Kobe does when he swings his arms at the officials and gets away with it.
Time to bring back the greatest play in Spurs history...4-down, 4-down, 4-down.
I agree
Then Miami takes the chance of Lebron being in foul trouble.
Pacers - stayed big at all costs - but threw away a game.
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