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I've been saying this all series long too tbh. And even before that. Lock down the rest of them and let Kawhi handle Bron mano e mano.
That's my feeling too... but honestly, this isn't like they're not seeing the same thing as us. This isn't like Westbrook and Durant making dumb mistakes last year, this is the Spurs game plan. And I know we'd like to think we know better than Pop, but it's just not true.
I've been saying this all series long too tbh. And even before that. Lock down the rest of them and let Kawhi handle Bron mano e mano.
If Spurs lose game 3 and the Heat shooters don't cool off in first half of game 4, then ye, let Kawhi go one on one with Bron. But not before.
I don't like sending help on him when he's on the block. I like the shading of the defenders when he's coming off a pick or driving from the top of the key.
It's not like Miami's role players are Ryan Bowen, Eric Dampier, and Tony Allen. Chalmers, Allen, and Miller can all shoot if you leave them wide open.
Everytime a great team goes down, it's always the role players who are quiet. The Pistons did it to the Lakers in the 04 Finals, Spurs did it to the Suns in 05, and Lakers in 03. If the role players are quiet, they'll lose confidence and then it becomes 1 on 5. While Lebron has not been his usual self the first two games, you can't expect that to continue.
Like Pop said, 10 of 33 is 10 of 33.
They had something like 60 points midway through the third. Our D kept us in it
Defend Lebron and Wade straight up. Leonard (Green) is young - he can play as many minutes as Lebron (Wade). Stay home on the 3pt shooters. For god's sake, stop biting on Wade's pump fake (I'm talking to you, TD) - let him shoot. Let Lebron have his - he'll tire or choke at the end of the game, and the shooters will be out of rhythm. Pop needs to apply the PHX rule.
It appears most here are favoring the 2005 Amare approach. Yes, they only had 61 pts midway through the 3rd, but consistently allowing open shooters played a huge part in that 33-5 Miami run.
Kawhi is doing a good job defending Lebron straight up. Take away his passing options and make him into a jump shooter as much as possible. A very young Pacers team played him this way and took his team the distance (may have won the series if not for Vogel's stupid move in the last possession of game 1).
This and maybe have duncan play like a power forward and not a shooting guard smh.
In reality, using the Amare 2005 approach on LeBron would turn into the Hakeem 1995 approach. Even if you single-team LeBron, he's still a good enough passer to find open teammates -- just like Hakeem was still able to find teammates in 1995 even though he wasn't getting doubled. It worked on Amare because Amare doesn't know how to pass.
I know as Spurs fans we like to change everything after a playoff loss but after the defense worked really well in Game 1 and worked really well again for a vast majority of Game 2 ... and even that collapse in Game 2 was more due to the offense dying, IMO.
Stick to it again in Game 3. You can switch it up in the second half or the fourth quarter if the threes are still raining down but to go away from it for no really good reason would be a mistake, IMO.
If Duncan and Parker had even a decent night shooting the ball, this isn't even an issue.
The defense can't be relied on to hold a great team like Miami to peanuts while the offense is terrible.
Game 2 was more about turnovers and ty offense than it was about the Spurs defense.
EDIT> 19 points off 17 turnovers.
This. In the past, Pop has been prone to over react and make adjustments that cause us to try to play the opponents game. Starting Manu last season, etc. We can only hope that he has learned his lesson and that he sticks with what got them there in the first place.
Dance with the date you brought, Pop! Those other es are fools gold...
Or, how about changing up the defense on him just like they are doing with Parker? Change it up (single coverage with multiple different guys like KL, Diaw, Splitter, and some double teams) once or twice a quarter, go zone, even try hack a birdman once or twice just to mess with their shooters rhythms.
And go KL single coverage down the stretch to avoid leaving Ray Allen wide open.
Seriously... 10-33 from the big 3 and this was bound to happen.
Let bosh shoot all day, kawhi will hash it out with lebron and get his inside help from timmy and tiago. If Wade shows up then he shows up. DONT GIVE ALLEN OPEN 3s
At the beginning of game 3, I'd start with the same defensive strategy as in first two games. Imo there is a good chance their shooters are way less confident at taking (and making) 3's in away games. And another important thing - containing Wade in first half. If Spurs are able to do that, I like our chances even better, because he was visibly exhausted in both 2nd halves.
Two guys that must never be open are Ray Allen and Mike Miller. I don't mind daring Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, or Chris Bosh "The Bostrich" to take an open shot.
The Spurs should have 4-downed the out of Miami on offense when it was clear that Manu & Parker weren't going to bring it. Too much perimiter stuff. Got to feed Duncan more. It's a matchup the Spurs have to try and exploit as much as they can. The defense was fine for the most part. It was their turnovers and missed shots leading to easy buckets that translated to easy points for miami, not really their bad d.
sad thing is, they didn't and unable to do that in most part of game 2
But there is good reason to go away from it, as I explained in post #32.
I'll add: If the Spurs role players are going to be outplayed by the Heat's, then they've got no chance in this series. And the way they're defending them, they're giving their role players a good opportunity to do just that.
Huge stretch to end the third quarter
64-62 Miami,
- ginobili turns it over driving towards traffic
- Miami in transtion, open 3 to ray allen 67-62 Miami
- TD post fade away miss shot
- chalmers/james pick and roll, easy layup for james 69-62 Miami
- TD deep post catch, made 1 FT, spurs off rebound parker floater, 69-65 Miami
- Neal mistake overhelping, miller 3, 72-65 Miami
- TP contested pullup, missed wide open gary neal, team rebound
- TD passes the ball out of bounds
- Chalmer/James pnr, chalmers floater and 1, Miami 75-65
Basically this is when the game got away, spurs have to make some adjustment on chalmers/james pick n roll, take care of the ball and be more focus to dissect miami's over aggressive defense
Packing the paint was the right strategy cause they were down a shooter. Battier wasn't hitting all playoffs and Miller hadn't played so might as well pack the paint until they started hitting 3's. Next game they'll be playing Lebron straight up a lot more.
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