Thoughts on game 2, tbh..

[apalisoc_9]

31.

[mercos]

Nice write up. The bench play is very disturbing. The Spurs performed so well this season thanks to their depth. If the bench is a no show in the playoffs, I just don't think the starters have enough in them for a deep run. Hopefully the Foreign Legion wakes up over the next few games and starts playing well again.

Pounding the ball down low is a must as well. Would love to see Splitter get the ball down low. Good things seem to happen when the Spurs go to him. Leonard should also get post touches when Dallas throws smaller defenders on him.

[BatManu20]

Elaborate breakdown. Solid stuff, HH

[RD2191]

Seriously though, I've been calling the bench collapse all season. I called the offensive collape all season. We've seen this before.

[Darius McCrary]

No analysis is legitimate if it does not mention the pure unadulterated level of sh!t that Kawhi put out on the floor in game 2.

[Spur|n|Austin]

Harlem w/ ze goods

[chrhawk]

And I don't think Pop has been outcoached, tbh, he hasn't needed to make an adjustment, yet..

Carlisle has coached a great series, so far, and it's Pop that will need to counter in game 3, making changes for the first time in months..

Just curious what site do you get your numbers from?

[Slippy]

Patty needs to reign in the scrambling d he's known for. Too often looking off-balance and out of place in chasing Harris. His one and done offense isn't helping either. Freezing out his teammates and not making dallas work hard enough on D.

The bench issue pretty much starts and finishes with his play so far.

[Malik Hairston]

I don't have a problem with Patty's offense, tbh, he's doing what he's done all season..

Looking back at the game, and also in game 1, virtually every shot he has attempted has been a good look, the same type of shots he's been making all season..he's just missing, tbh..the Mavs aren't doing anything to stop him, nor is the playoffs style affecting his offense, he has simply gone cold..

I wouldn't give up on him after the success he's had this season, but he's going to need to make an adjustment on defense, obviously..

[spurraider21]

ridiculous insight by HH tbh . when he talks basketball he's the best poster on the site

- Green only playing 22 and 23 minutes in these two games is really odd. he's the best person on the roster to defend Ellis, and he could probably defend Harris if it got that bad. Marco played 29 minutes in the loss. unacceptable

- The post touches are an obvious concern. Duncan had his way with the Mavs in game 1, and its a huge reason why we came away with the win.

- Parker needs to be more aggressive scoring. Parker being aggressive early in game 1 is what put us ahead early in game 1, and he hit a couple of big shots to help close it out too. Much like OKC, Dallas' defense is out there trying to prevent the pocket passes on the PnR which has been effective for us all year. They are basically daring Parker to score instead of allowing him to get Splitter, Green, Diaw involved. Parker needs to go in there with the mentality to make them pay if they are willing to let him score.

- Belinelli should be out there only if there is a player he can hide on, like Jae Crowder. Thats about it in this series. If Crowder is on the bench, Belinelli should follow suit. Having him out there against Carter, Ellis, Marion, or even Calderon is a mistake.

- I know its been beaten like a dead horse, but I don't get why Pop feels urged to give Ayres minutes. Ayre's took Blair's rotation spot, and I don't recall Blair getting any serious burn in last year's postseason. Ayres minutes should be like Blair's last season, if at all. I'm still in the Baynes camp because it means not Ayres. I can't think of a single thing Ayres does well for our team. His defense is always trying to draw charges and giving up layups. He's not a good rebounder, and has no offensive game. He can dunk well, but he has Kwame Brown hands, so its rare that he can even capitalize and get into position to dunk it.

[Robz4000]

Great write up

[objective]

Never thought Patty's defense would work in the playoffs. He has short arms, no strength, and no heft. He just bounces off of people and can be shrugged off with ease. How's he supposed to fight through picks? He can't. Full court 'patty-pestering' is fine for the regular season and that's all.

Ayres is the kiss of death. There is no better sign, no more obvious symptom of Pop being out coached than Ayres getting minutes in a game that isn't decided. In the big picture, it's not the biggest problem, not even close. Obviously, there were much bigger issues. But Ayres is the canary in the mine. And a bad, bad sign.

[Proxy]

great writeup

[Malik Hairston]

Never thought Patty's defense would work in the playoffs. He has short arms, no strength, and no heft. He just bounces off of people and can be shrugged off with ease. How's he supposed to fight through picks? He can't. Full court 'patty-pestering' is fine for the regular season and that's all.

Ayres is the kiss of death. There is no better sign, no more obvious symptom of Pop being out coached than Ayres getting minutes in a game that isn't decided. In the big picture, it's not the biggest problem, not even close. Obviously, there were much bigger issues. But Ayres is the canary in the mine. And a bad, bad sign.

the kiss of death was Ayres fumbling the ball out of bounds when he tried to grab a rebound against his own teammate to end the 1st quarter, tbh..luckily, it didn't lead to anything, but it was still a bad sign..

[spurraider21]

Ayres playing in the 1st quarter

[said7]

Problem is when a team can't catch up everyone tries to "step up". This breaks any and all offenses. Pretty obvious in the 3rd.

[TE]

Good write up bro.


In the game thread my first post was something along the lines of taking what Dallas was giving them and the Spurs never did that. They forced a bunch which inevitably resulted in turnovers.


Also, to add to your point about the pnr defense...having Beli as a pick and roll defender is like asking for death imo. Green and Leonard should be getting those assignments. They should be on the floor together involved in those defensive assignments. If Manu happens to be in the game, hide him on other players (like spurraider said).

Pop essentially coached the Spurs as if it were still the regular season. That can't and won't cut it vs a very well coached veteran Maverick ball-club.

[Malik Hairston]

As freetiago said earlier, Parker is actually being too passive, despite the perception that he's hurting ball movement..

TP was aggressive and welcomed the switching defenders in the 1st, but became way too conservative the rest of the game..he over-dribbled and over-penetrated trying to get others involved and passing up shots..Shawn Marion isn't Lebron, he's well past his prime, Tony can get space against him all night, tbh..

The Mavs objective against Parker has been to keep him out of the paint, as even Carlisle alluded to, and they've done a good job at executing their goal..Tony is going to have to shoot the J or pass it to Duncan/Splitter on the switch..the Spurs actually did this on Duncan's 1st post-up play in game 2..

The Mavs switched, Marion covered Duncan, Parker passed it into Timmy in the post, Dirk doubled, Duncan found Splitter for the easy layup..

[Malik Hairston]

And ya, Kawhi averaged 40 MPG and Danny Green averaged 36 MPG in that Warriors series last year..

I really hope Pop makes the same adjustment in game 3..unfortunately, I'm not sure he has the same confidence in Green as he did last year, and he seems to be in love with the idea of Belinelli getting large minutes..

Relying on Belinelli to cover a perimeter-oriented team with viable bench options is suicide..

[Baam]

No analysis is legitimate if it does not mention the pure unadulterated level of sh!t that Kawhi put out on the floor in game 2.

Mills Beli is foolsgold dog too and some of us said it a long time ago...

Also gotta lol at people asking for TP heroball when Pop asked him to distribute instead... Pop looks like a dumbass, 2012 flashbacks, he doesn't know how to answer this kind of defense...

The key is obviously Boris playing better, fixes pretty much everything, but he has been fading for a while, hopefully it's not physical cause if it is we ed...

Even with Splitter playing decent D on an injured Dirk it's obvious he's bringing the team down with his lack of post game or jumper but that was known as well...

[TE]

Also something that hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet. Dallas was able to get 14 offensive rebounds, too high of a stat for a team that ranked 22nd in the league in that stat. Much of those offensive rebounds came off of the defensive scrambling and being out of position because the individual defense on the perimeter was nonexistent as whoever was out on the perimeter was getting blown past. Defensively it all starts with what we are doing out on the perimeter individually. We need capable defenders out on the perimeter to bother and stifle the Mavericks guards who have grown too comfortable. We are allowing them to get comfortable thus leading to our entire defense as a unit to fail due to being out of position to finish a possession defensively.

[Oh, Gee!!]

We need sjax

[Baam]

We need sjax

SJax + Neal >>>>>> Australian Nate Robinson + Beli-no-D

I like RC Buford but this off season was so bad it's almost hilarious... Thinking they don't need a backup SF and being arrogant assholes when asked about it only to be ed when Kiwi is in foul trouble... alcoholics of the FO going full re ...

The bench is like the 2011 Spurs, all offense zero D, awesome for regular season and useless in the POs while the starters suck ball offensively because of the 10M vagina...

[Trill Clinton]

thanks for the write up, harlem.

i'm in agreeance that kawhi needs more minutes. there is no excuse not to play him more. i know a lot of ST hates cojo but i still fux with him. i wouldn't mind matching him up on castillo/harris/ellis to see what he can do.

[Expert]

HH across the top rope with the analysis to hesh up the idiots, per par etc...