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Agree.
Win tonight, rest tomorrow.
The Spurs will be playing their 4th game in 6 days by the time they travel to OKC for a nationally televised game on Thursday night against the Thunder. Thursday's game will be the second game of a back-to-back, on the road against their most likely Western Conference Finals opponent.
With Golden State having to travel to San Antonio the day after an emotional 122-120 overtime victory over Dallas, I would suspect that their shooters legs will be a little heavy, and that the Warriors will be susceptible to a letdown. We'll probably see Steph Curry and company shoot very well to start the game and then cool off as the exhaustion factor starts to set in.
If I'm Pop, I'm going to play my full roster tonight and treat it like a playoff game. Golden State is trying to hold off Memphis for the 6 seed, but I believe tonight's game is the Spurs to win, and so I'm going to try to dismantle the Warriors in similar fashion to the previous 18 games.
Thursday night's game is a different story. On Thursday the Spurs will potentially be the team with tired legs against an OKC team that will have had 3 days to rest and prepare. Having lost 7 of our last 9 against OKC, and both meetings this season, I know the Spurs would love to get a statement win. Truth is, I don't know how important that is. There's not a lot to gain from a win on Thursday. If the Spurs win tonight they'll have a 4 game lead on OKC with 7 to play. The Spurs won't relinquish the top seed in that situation, regardless of the outcome tomorrow. Would a win in OKC be a nice confidence booster? Maybe, but this Spurs team is so professional in their approach that I don't think the outcome will impact them much either way once the real season starts in a few short weeks.
If I'm Pop, I'm sitting Parker, Leonard, Duncan and Ginobili tomorrow night. I might not even put them on the plane. Miami Heat regular season road game Part II. If I'm the FO I'll have my $250,000 penalty check ready to stick in the mail. Why risk injury when your team is tired from a busy week's schedule? Pop should just stay in San Antonio, too, and let the assistants work that game. I wonder how much that would increase their fine?
The flip side of that argument is that this team has been playing so well lately that the Spurs should just test that mettle against the other top team in the West. A second game of a back-to-back this late in the season against your well-rested top compe ion will give the team a chance to operate under game 6 or 7 gut-check conditions. If the Spurs beat the Warriors by double-digits and then can fly to OKC and do the same thing, it sends a message to the Thunder and the rest of the league that this Spurs team, and their current run of invulnerability or no fluke and that the rest of the league doesn't stand a chance in the post season.
Of course, I think that last strategy is too overt for Pop...not CIA enough, and ultimately not the smart move. As it is, I think Pop shudders a bit about the attention the current winning streak is giving to his team. My guess is that he'll rest at least 2 of the big 3 tomorrow, and hopefully Leonard. Leonard is this team's X-Factor during this winning streak. His game has evolved as of late, and if I'm trying to be CIA with the Thunder, and not let the Thunder practice against the Spurs' complete capabilities, and the impact Kawhi is having on this team, I'm certainly sitting him tomorrow night. My predication is that OKC will get challenged by our reserves but ultimately will win by 15. After the game the Thunder players will grumble, and won't know how to feel about themselves.
A 19 game winning streak is pretty darn good. Seeing the Spurs play zone D for 38 minutes will be stupendous. Watching Cory Joseph dribble the ball 22,000 times will be stupendulous. Watching Austin Daye and Jeff Ayres each play 45 minutes tomorrow night will be stupendulicious. Denying ESPN the opportunity to break the game down into all the reasons the Thunder are better than the streaking Spurs will be stupenduliciousexpialidocious. I can't wait.
Last edited by Ed Helicopter Jones; 04-02-2014 at 12:56 PM.
Agree.
Win tonight, rest tomorrow.
thanks for the wrap up tbh
jk good post Ed
Oh i didnt know Golden St. Had Seth Curry. Haha but i think Spurs go hard vs the Warriors. Then Pop welcomes Mr. Silver to his personal kiss my ass club and rests the big 3 and Kawhi vs OKC.
jk good post Ed
Too much caffeine I think.
Agreed with basically everything. 2 points though:
1) It's Steph Curry, not Seth
2) We got fined because we didn't notify the league in advance of the players not traveling. The league can't fine teams for resting players (regardless of the reason) as long as the teams give a notice in advance.
Yeah, I realized the Steph typo. I'll also be paying attention to how well Paul George plays for the Clippers tonight against the Suns.
I don't want Pop to notify anyone. Send 6 roster players to the gym and hope no one gets in foul trouble.
It would be hilarious to beat the Warriors while shorthanded for the 3rd straight meeting.
The FO won't get fined provided they give enough notice to the league. Silver certainly won't like it, being a nationally televised potential WCF preview, but the Spurs will operate within the bounds of the league rules this time.
A part of me wants the Spurs to trot out the B-team tonight and go at OKC hard tomorrow. I know there's nothing to be gained by doing so, but the Warriors have offered little more than cannon fodder for the Spurs this season and adding in the fact that they're coming off an exhausting win the previous night tells me a Patty Mills-helmed bench squad would probably run rampant over them. Then you could send the big guns to Oklahoma City and put the West race to bed while running the streak to 20.
But in reality, Pop will hope for a quick, decisive victory, one in which he can leave the starters out in the fourth quarter, and will maybe take one of the Big 4 to OKC tomorrow night. OKC shaving a game off the Spurs' 4 game lead won't be that damaging. The important game leading up to this was Indy, and they won it.
no bogut, no lee, b2b, Spurs should win tonight with low minutes for the rotation, then go all out Thu night (on TNT of course)
Stupenduliciousexpialidociously written! I'm sure it's not just the Spurs, but having marquee teams play on national TV after one has a potentially tough game on a back-to-back is just plain dumb. It's even dumber when it's the Spurs, knowing Pop will probably pull the plug on the matchup by sitting key players.
The schedule makers should fix this in the future, and while they're at it, remove ALL Laker games from national TV broadcasts.
Didn't read. We can rest after the west is locked up. Go after okc
My reasoning of "hoping" for a OKC loss is that if we beat them as well, Spurs would become clear favorite for the le all over the place. And that would be too good to my comfort. I just feel some sorts of adversities (of course, no injuries please) would be a better omen.
Heard Bill Shoening on 104.9 in Austin today basically saying that players will be resting tomorrow.
I'd go full power on that b2b
If we can beat Wariors with no sweat then I would play full roster to win the game vs OKC. It all depends on health issues the players do have. Maybe Pop will rest 1 or 2 key players vs GS and then the other 1 or 2 vs OKC.
Normally Pop rather with 1st game of the b2b to give rest in the 2nd.
I'm just here for the comments.
I think tonight will ultimately dictate what happens tomorrow.
If the Spurs are able to dismantle Golden State like they have everybody else recently and the starters are able to play ~28 minutes or less, then I say you go big for a win tomorrow. However, GSW is probably too good of a team to allow for this, even if they are flat on the second night of a B2B.
If the Spurs have to go high intensity for a win tonight, then I agree...rest the starters against OKC, let them have the W, and don't risk giving them any more confidence against an exhausted Spurs squad.
If the Spurs lose tonight...I think you have to go for that game in OKC regardless. As nice as that 4 game lead looks, the Spurs have a tougher schedule remaining than the Thunders, and it's hard to give away that chance at two magic numbers against them.
Thanks Ed... while I do think Pop might want to rest the players against OKC, I also think the players might want to raise to the challenge and play tomorrow.
Worth noting is that the Spurs can avoid the fine by notifying the league early about the players not playing, or having the players make the trip and not play.
Interesting takes. I say go full throttle and win both.
Winning VS OKC is a great confidence boost going to the playoffs so I say let the team lose to the dubs then win vs OKC then take the rest before the playoffs start..
If these were two road games, Pop would surely rest players tonight. But he rarely rests players at home, so I think TNT will not be amused tomorrow night ...
disagree. No way Pop deliberately throws OKC game. In the event OKC gets home court in the West by margin of 1/2 or 1 game, tomorrows game would have been a shot in the foot.
you are forgetting tomorrows game vs. OKC counts as a FULL game not 1/2 a game. It has double value.
Home court is important, don't let Pop fool you. I also don't see Duncan/Manu/Parker agreeing to sit tomorrow out unless they are banged up. Again, throwing tomorrow's game would come back to bite us.
If I'm wrong Pop is one stubborn mother er(which he is) but I am sticking to Spurs plan is to try to win next 4 games and then shut down.
Last edited by hater; 04-02-2014 at 03:23 PM.
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