Prior to the season, I said Houston would be the most difficult matchup for the Spurs, and these first 2 games have given me no indication that my original thought was wrong, tbh..
These matchup problems have been exacerbated by Pop's strategy IMO..
Some questions I have for anybody that has the answers:
- Why is Leonard guarding Harden instead of Parsons?..Harden is a top 10 player in the league, he's going to get his points regardless, what's the point of wasting Leonard on him?..also, if Pop is confident in Leonard's ability to guard Harden, why is the strategy still demanding that the Spurs load the paint against Harden's drives and leaving shooters open?..
What's the point of having Leonard on Harden AND loading the paint?..
Why are you allowing Parsons to play against unathletic, 6'6 defenders in Manu and Beli?..he dominated the first game and set tone for the game, and he has done the same tonight..the Spurs had a similar problem against the Warriors in last year's series until Pop finally realized to put Kawhi on Thompson and eliminate him from the series..
- Why load the paint against Harden and Howard?..let them get their numbers, don't let Houston get hot..
- Why can't they call a post-up play for Leonard against Harden, which is the only clear mismatch for the Spurs?..Leonard is not a good shooter, stop forcing him to be strictly a spot-up shooter..we just saw him dominate an elite defender in Iguodala just last week, but he can't get a post play against one of the worst defensive players in the league?..
3. I don't know man...I think Pop is just stubborn as brick. He'll make the right adjustments in the playoffs, he's just refuses to do it in the RS...It's very frustrating because part of kawhi's inability to turn into a solid third option is Pop himself...maybe a slight blame goes to Parker
Harden has dominated Leonard in both games, he's a ing elite player, he's going to score against any defender..
Chandler Parsons isn't a great player, he can easily be limited by good defenders, it just doesn't make any sense, tbh..
pop's defensive strategy is dumb. like you said, he should take away the threes and let harden and dwight beat you. harden will get tired, instead of going god mode in the 4th like he's doing now. pop in up.
I'm starting to believe the 'Spurs can't beat elite teams' hype. Spurs system being exposed by Duncan and Parker's regression.
Thankfully this isn't a playoff series. If Pop was smart, he would save the strategy for the playoffs and make the adjustments then.
Harden will always go off. Parsons won't. It's that easy. Parsons struggles tonight and the Spurs win easily.
I wonder how Pop hmself would answer those questions. If we could peer inside the mind of Pop, what would we find? Would we be humbled or horrified?
He would scoff at the questions and make a smart-ass remark, tbh, and the mainstream media would laugh at Pop's silliness..
We have to make harden work on defense. Every time leonard seems to be getting in an offensive rhythm we pull him or our ball dominant guard system takes him back out of it.
True. We rely heavily on Parker and Duncan and now they are unable to deliver when it matters
you know, we have a good, deep team, and we should be able to beat the rockets with it because they're not that good. more than the players being old, i'm starting to think pop is too old. he doesn't play the better players, doesn't make the right play calls, doesn't fully utilize the talent we have, and plays teams wrong defensively. it's like he's trying to make every game as hard as possible with the decisions he makes. it's truly baffling to me.
Two phucking touches for the guy that got you back in the third ing quarter !! And no manu ginobili..Wow
Belli has no business playing heavy minutes against the Rockets tbh...
Rockets are built to destroy us.
no, this Houston team represents everything the Spurs struggle with on top of being a top team in the West. They'll be even better once they trade Asik.
I don't think we'll see this personnel matchup on a potential playoffs series. The Rockets do have the shooters to make it difficult on us though.
Rockets minutes in mid 30s to low 40s. Spurs filling in a lot of scrub minutes. Whatever
The thing is that it is not only a Rockets size issue that the Spurs would have to fix, going forward. There seems to be something wrong with the defense and there are too many drop-offs from personnel to personnel in offense.
1) Spurs' perimeter defense, despite Kawhi & Green, has been rather bad. Particularly against good teams. PGs in particular have been poor, even if Mills does try. Parker has been very bad.
2) Tiago & Ayres' rugged and erratic offense. When the Spurs do get stops when they are around, it almost gets to 4 on 5 basketball on offense, at the same time. Tiago's soft touch & hard finishes are missing while Ayres has just been awful.
3) Spurs *clearly* need a 3 & D player. Preferably who can play small ball PF - a point that has been made ad nauseum in this forum over the year. A Kirilenko-type is a must. Bonner is redundant and is practically useless now for the team. His $4 million salary is burning a unnecessary hole in the squad. The only reason he is there is possibly because Ayres has been very very bad.
Paper Tigers at the moment.
They are a much younger team. you can't expect Timmy/Manu playing 35-40 a game
Not a huge concern. Kawhi will play that role in the playoffs...
+1 Spurs will eventually adjust if they do play play them in the playoffs.
They have it all.
Not in the regular season, which is why I say whatever. In the playoffs, Tony and Kawhi at the very least can go for at least as many minutes as Dwight. Harden can play over 40 because he really only plays 20 and zero on D.
So many guys in a slump right now but will still worry until we have a marquee win (GS game doesn't really count to me)
The problems are abundant, but the most obvious problem with the Spurs at the moment is that their 4 best defensive players are Duncan, Splitter, Kawhi and Green..unfortunately for the Spurs, Splitter's offense has completely regressed, Kawhi's shot is broken and he can't play with Parker, and Green is just lost at the moment..
This forces the Spurs to play Manu(old, can't give you consistent defense) and Beli(horrible defender)..
Last year, the Spurs were getting solid offensive production from Green, Splitter and Leonard, which allowed the team to play high-level ball on both ends of the floor..
The people that claim the Spurs are losing because they can't stick with athletic teams are the typical morons, tbh..if the Spurs were getting the same production on offense from last year's role players, they would be winning the same games they were winning last season..
Yup. I agree. Pop needs to stick with the TP, Green, Leonard, Splitter, Duncan lineup though. And must insist that TP involves Kawhi more and more in that lineup. Splitter simply has to get back his rhythm in practice. His defense has been fantastic all season. And all that TP coasting thing.. at the least he should focus on defense. Allowing the likes of Lin to burn him is just embarrassing.
Manu, Beli & Mills can continue to provide the spark from the bench and maybe over the season they get that complement who could take the weight off Kawhi & Green.
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