I will never forgive Pop for this

[Spurs21Fan4Ever]

We should be celebrating a championship right now, but Pop taking Duncan out was the biggest mistake of his career. This stands out to me more than his 4 championships.

[dbreiden83080]

This is the most devastating loss in franchise history.. Pop threw it all away.. He threw it all away..

[Stabula]

Agreed. Pop should never be forgiven by any fan for this and this will forever be a giant stain on his career until the day he retires.

[SouthernFried]

It wasn't just POP taking Duncan out.

Manu was having the worst game of his career, everyone knew it. 4 or 5 turnovers in like the first quarter. You knew Manu was going to have a bad game...I knew Manu was going to have a bad game. Pop gave him more minutes...and the turnovers continued. I don't blame this on Manu...I blame POP for keeping him in there.

Leaving the 2nd string in against LeBron and the first string. This is when MIAMI came back. You saw it, I saw it...POP kept 'em in there.

Timmy barely touched the ball in the 2nd half. Seemed like most possessions was Parker playing Hero Ball. Set some plays for Timmy, POP. If they don't work the first time....KEEP SETTING UP PLAYS FOR TIMMY TILL IT DOES! I blame POP for this...but, Parker some too. Timmy was open on some of those rolls.

Not to mention taking DUNCAN out and losing those 2 rebounds that both ended up being threes.

This loss is totally on POP. Still love the guy, but...where the f'k was his head tonight?

[sventhedog]

can't really blame the coach for this one. duncan was tired, parker and green or neal not shooting well so he had no choice but to ride ginobilli.

[james evans]

i 100% blame popovich. where do we fukin start?1. taking duncan out allowing mami to go on a run2. leaving that sorry azz ginobli in the game3. HAVING LEONARD IN THE GAME TO SHOOT FREETHROWS KNOWING HE'S NOT A GREAT SHOOTER!!!!what the fuk is wrong with him. fuk him and manu. fuk em both. i hate 'em.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

1. Going everywhere else but Tim in the second half after one of the Finals greatest first halves ever.

2. Junk lineup to start the fourth. This isn't the regular season, Pop. Tim and Tony on the bench. Thought you learned in game 5 when you got them back in early, but you didn't tonight.

3. Last minute of regulation. No Tim. Heat get two offensive boards, which lead to five points in final 28 seconds and OT. Guess he didn't watch any of the Indy/Hibbert film.

4. Tony sits out last minute of regulation.

5. Manu plays all of OT. Going into it with what, six, seven turnovers? Were you expecting anything else from him? Every time you put him in a pick and roll, he jumped to try to make the pass over the double team / trap. Every time, he got stripped. EVERY TIME.

Pop played this like some regular season game against Charlotte. If the Spurs don't win Thursday, I will never forgive that pucker face piece of .

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

1. Going everywhere else but Tim in the second half after one of the Finals greatest first halves ever.

2. Junk lineup to start the fourth. This isn't the regular season, Pop. Tim and Tony on the bench. Thought you learned in game 5 when you got them back in early, but you didn't tonight.

3. Last minute of regulation. No Tim. Heat get two offensive boards, which lead to five points in final 28 seconds and OT. Guess he didn't watch any of the Indy/Hibbert film.

4. Tony sits out last minute of regulation.

5. Manu plays all of OT. Going into it with what, six, seven turnovers? Were you expecting anything else from him? Every time you put him in a pick and roll, he jumped to try to make the pass over the double team / trap. Every time, he got stripped. EVERY TIME.

Pop played this like some regular season game against Charlotte. If the Spurs don't win Thursday, I will never forgive that pucker face piece of .

[3 Legged Dog]

Even w Duncan out, just tackle any heat player. He gets 2 FTs and then it becomes a FT contest. Pop choked. Manu choked. Danny choked. But Joey Crawford sure showed up.

[james evans]

man fuk that tired . we playing for a lte with a minute left. be tired tommorow. fuk dat

[Baam]

How do you sit Duncan and keep Turnobili in the game no matter what, it's plain re ed, Pop got exposed for the dumb he really is.

[superjames1992]

5. Manu plays all of OT. Going into it with what, six, seven turnovers? Were you expecting anything else from him? Every time you put him in a pick and roll, he jumped to try to make the pass over the double team / trap. Every time, he got stripped. EVERY TIME.

Manu sat out around half of the OT period. He only came back in with under 2 minutes left after the Spurs had already lost the lead.

[SA210]

1. Going everywhere else but Tim in the second half after one of the Finals greatest first halves ever.

2. Junk lineup to start the fourth. This isn't the regular season, Pop. Tim and Tony on the bench. Thought you learned in game 5 when you got them back in early, but you didn't tonight.

3. Last minute of regulation. No Tim. Heat get two offensive boards, which lead to five points in final 28 seconds and OT. Guess he didn't watch any of the Indy/Hibbert film.

4. Tony sits out last minute of regulation.

5. Manu plays all of OT. Going into it with what, six, seven turnovers? Were you expecting anything else from him? Every time you put him in a pick and roll, he jumped to try to make the pass over the double team / trap. Every time, he got stripped. EVERY TIME.

Pop played this like some regular season game against Charlotte. If the Spurs don't win Thursday, I will never forgive that pucker face piece of .

Agree almost 100%

Pop

[Twisted_Dawg]

Even w Duncan out, just tackle any heat player. He gets 2 FTs and then it becomes a FT contest. Pop choked. Manu choked. Danny choked. But Joey Crawford sure showed up.

On Miami's last possession in the 4th after Leonard's FT, Miami is behind by three and inbounds with 19 seconds left. They dribble down and LeBron attempts a 3 point shot with 7 seconds left and misses, Heat rebounds and Allen hits a 3 to tie.

WHY DIDN'T POP ORDER A FOUL ON LEBRON BEFORE HE SHOT SENDING HIM TO THE FT LINE FOR 2 SHOTS?? Had we fouled him at the 10 second mark, he is shooting FT's and at worst we are up by 1 with the ball and 10 seconds to play and they have to foul us. I'll take our chances on a FT shooting contest rather than give those shooters a shot a 3.

[dbreiden83080]

Tim said in the post game they switch everything there and that is always the play for him to sit on the bench.. Can the Basketball experts help me out here??? Tim is the best defender on the team and the best rebounder..

Why??????????

[dbreiden83080]

Tim said in the post game they switch everything there and that is always the play for him to sit on the bench.. Can the Basketball experts help me out here??? Tim is the best defender on the team and the best rebounder..

Why??????????

[concan1]

Pop lost this game by taking Duncan out no doubt about it.
Lineup to start 4th qtr. was a joke!!!
Pop was severely out coached tonight!!
The Spurs are done don't be surprised if they lose by more than 20 on Thursday. It's over!!!!!!!

[dg7md]

It was also on the players who didn't make their free throws or jumping for any rebounds.

Pop handled things pretty well tonight except the Duncan subs ution.

[BatManu20]

Wtf was Pop doing?? No seriously, what the was he doing this game...? Worst coaching performance in his entire life. And he almost got away with it.

[#2!]

bump

[Splits]

Manu with 8 turnovers and missing a ing free throw to clinch lost this ring. Nothing more. Manu is the sole reason we will be runners-up. Manu ed us

[dbreiden83080]

I won't either. Nobody seems to think it was a good move, not the media, none of the fans only Pop thinks Tim should have been sitting down..

Tim and Manu defended him at the postgame but still...

GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheGreatYacht]

Countless terrible coaching decisions.
Not the least of them is playing Manu way too many ing minutes. We were up by at least 10 when Manu came in and pissed it away. It was so obvious that Miami was licking their chops when Manu was in and trapping him so that he would make a ridiculous pass that they could pick off. What's that, Pop? Parker was tired? WHO GIVES A FLYING !!! There is no tomorrow; it's a must win game! YOU HAVE LESS THAN A 1% CHANCE OF WINNING A GAME 7 IN MIAMI, you dumb POS.
Don't even get me started on pulling Duncan not once, but twice in critical situations. You know they are going to get one good look at the shot. You know this because, if you are half a coach, you will have told your guys NOT TO ING FOUL. Your best hope is that they brick the shot and you get the rebound. , if only we had a consensus first ing ballot Hall of Famer at power forward on our team who's, like, really ing good at rebounds. Oh, wait! We do, and his ing name is Tim Duncan. Too bad he's RIDING THE ING PINE with the game on the line.
The Spurs were killing it with Parker, Green, Leonard, Diaw, and Duncan, and Pop blows up the lineup down the stretch to put in Turnobili, Tiago "Stone Hand, Pussy Feet" Splitter, and Gary Neal. What the !!! Ride your goddamn ponies into the ground. THERE IS NO ING GAME 7 YOU STUPID PIECE OF !!!
My only solace is that Pop will regret his bull coaching for the remainder of his life. And he deserves to.

Is there anyone in here, that DIDN'T know that MANU was going to have a game after his first 3 or 4 or 5 turnovers? It's only been his MO all season...1 good game, 2 bad games, etc.
Manu had his good game in game 5. He came out like in this game, and everyone knew how it would go.
Yet POP gave him even MORE minutes this game. IMHO, it's not even that close without Manu's turnovers. And that is totally on POP, for increasing his minutes in perhaps the worst game of MANU's career.

Manu TO's: 8 Rest of Spurs TO's: 5.

I was texting my buddy, Manu would come in and kill the lead. I was yelling at the TV for Timmy to come in and rebound, before Lebron's 3. Pop, you were a ing moron tonight. And no ,that is not second guessing or any of that . Pop ed up royally tonight. kkk.

Manu doesn't just play bad. He gives the other teams too many points with his turnovers. Then...after all the turnover , he STILL hasn't learned his lesson and gives Bosh and and1.

Look at the lineup that was out there, who was going to score? Certainly not weak ass splitter and certainly not Turnover happy Manu. I don't think Tim went to Pop and said, "Pop it's game 6, the trophy is waiting for us but I need to rest", You're running on adrenaline if not just hyped for the moment. Tony resting even though he didn't carry the load for the first half? That's just ty coaching.. You have a 10 point lead and you go for the throat you don't ease off and hope to maintain a lead.. , you call a time out as if that was going to help and you keep the same ty players out there who had no momentum, no play called or anything to get them going.. nothing for Green or Neal?
Being 37 has nothing to do with being in the moment, 1 game and up by 10 and the crowd not into it..

Pop is just too damn hardheaded for his own good. AndI'm getting damn tired of his childish, bull interviews where he tries to be cute. Get over yourself, Pop. Tonight was his worst coaching game I can remember. Some can say Manu cost us the game tonight but, Pop should have yanked his ass when all of us saw Manu no longer had it. He gave all he had in game 5 and at his age and with all his ailments it didn't take an Einstein to see he just didn't have it tonight.
Every NBA player alive wanted us to kick Lebron's ass and instead he kicked Pop in the balls. Maybe Pop got into a bad batch of Jamaican Rum thinking it was wine. He stunk the place up tonight.

Why no TO 20 secs before the end of OT?Amateur coaching by Pop.

8 second chance points for Heat in 44 minutes of Tim on the floor.
6 second chance points in last 30 seconds of regulation with Tim spectating from the bench.

Riding Manu too long and not having Duncan out there to rebound on the Ray Allen 3 were big time fails. Keeping Duncan on the bench was perhaps the biggest fail, as Indiana made the same mistake with Hibbert in the ECF. Teams just keep letting Miami off the hook.

[SenorSpur]

can't really blame the coach for this one. duncan was tired, parker and green or neal not shooting well so he had no choice but to ride ginobilli.

I don't buy that totally. Neal and Green didn't get enough touches because Parker was consumed with playing hero ball. Ginobili was horrible from start to finish - yet he refused to dial back the high-risk decisions.

[sventhedog]

Tim said in the post game they switch everything there and that is always the play for him to sit on the bench.. Can the Basketball experts help me out here??? Tim is the best defender on the team and the best rebounder..

Why??????????

the basic idea is switching splitter for duncan. splitter is more mobile than duncan and can recover faster in pick and rolls or switches (rotating defenders to prevent a player getting open). tim is a great defender but he is older and slower to recover during switches, screens or pick and rolls.