Pop adjustments...

[DPG21920]

I did not check spurstalk since yesterday.. seeing the first page I could have swore we lost game 4 which does not compute since we won...

holy spurs fans.... what a mess

In fairness, in a must win game against a clearly inferior opponent not only did the Spurs come out flat, but they lost 3 of 4 quarters..

[jag]

We're getting burned by the same plays all the time... we've played 4 games already...

- Kawhi on Monta hasn't worked
- Beli isn't showing up... keep a short leash and play Danny for some D at least
- hide Tony on Marion or somebody not named Calderon

This is incredibly oversimplifying things. Monta shot 6-20. I'm not sure if people are paying attention to the way Dallas is using Monta and what, if any, changes actually need to be made.

Of Monta's 20 FGA, Kawhi only defended on 6. Monta made two of those shots. Manu defended Monta more than anyone else - Ellis had 8 shots while defended by Manu and made 2.

Kawhi only made one legitimately poor play while defending Monta in the half-court set. He took a bad angle, anticipating a PnR and allowed Monta an open lane to the basket. There were two plays where Monta got wide open in transition as a result of miscommunication by Green/Kawhi. That's just something the Spurs need to clean up.

In the half-court set, the Mavs are running Monta off a screen every time he has the ball. He's not going 1on1 with anyone. If Splitter and Diaw are in the game, they can both do a good job of hedging or making the switch to contest a jumper. When Duncan is in the game, the Spurs are at the mercy of the jumpshooters because Tim isn't going to step out on the PnR.

The only adjustment that needs to be made with Monta is to make sure that Splitter/Duncan/Diaw step up to contest Ellis on the PnR if he decides to drive into the paint - If Dalembert is the screener, and Monta decides to drive, then Duncan/Splitter need to force Monta to pass to Dalembert as the roll man. If Dirk is the screener then it's a little more complicated and it the defensive rotations depend on who else in on the floor. Ultimately they need to keep Ellis out of the paint on the PnR.

With Calderon, Parker just needs to keep going over the screen and bothering Calderon from behind, forcing him to drive. Basically the opposite of Ellis. I watched it again and Parker wasn't as bad as I initially thought. He's doing a decent job fighting through the screens. Where he sometimes messes up is missing a rotation or giving to much space to Calderon off the ball. I still think Green is a better option for Calderon, and even though they would still run him off screens, I think Green's length would bother him.

[jag]

For the most part, other than giving Green all of Beli's minutes, I'm not sure what adjustments Pop can/needs to make.

[ElNono]

This is incredibly oversimplifying things. Monta shot 6-20. I'm not sure if people are paying attention to the way Dallas is using Monta and what, if any, changes actually need to be made.

Of Monta's 20 FGA, Kawhi only defended on 6. Monta made two of those shots. Manu defended Monta more than anyone else - Ellis had 8 shots while defended by Manu and made 2.

Kawhi only made one legitimately poor play while defending Monta in the half-court set. He took a bad angle, anticipating a PnR and allowed Monta an open lane to the basket. There were two plays where Monta got wide open in transition as a result of miscommunication by Green/Kawhi. That's just something the Spurs need to clean up.

In the half-court set, the Mavs are running Monta off a screen every time he has the ball. He's not going 1on1 with anyone. If Splitter and Diaw are in the game, they can both do a good job of hedging or making the switch to contest a jumper. When Duncan is in the game, the Spurs are at the mercy of the jumpshooters because Tim isn't going to step out on the PnR.

The only adjustment that needs to be made with Monta is to make sure that Splitter/Duncan/Diaw step up to contest Ellis on the PnR if he decides to drive into the paint - If Dalembert is the screener, and Monta decides to drive, then Duncan/Splitter need to force Monta to pass to Dalembert as the roll man. If Dirk is the screener then it's a little more complicated and it the defensive rotations depend on who else in on the floor. Ultimately they need to keep Ellis out of the paint on the PnR.

With Calderon, Parker just needs to keep going over the screen and bothering Calderon from behind, forcing him to drive. Basically the opposite of Ellis. I watched it again and Parker wasn't as bad as I initially thought. He's doing a decent job fighting through the screens. Where he sometimes messes up is missing a rotation or giving to much space to Calderon off the ball. I still think Green is a better option for Calderon, and even though they would still run him off screens, I think Green's length would bother him.

I actually agree with all that, and I think that's actually why Kawhi (or anybody else) isn't really working on Monta... he's doing the biggest damage from handoffs off a screen, and the job there isn't on his defender, but the big covering the screener.
My comment had nothing to do with knocking on Kawhi, but the fact that I rather have Kawhi helping Tim secure rebounds (something he's been struggling with when Dalembert is out there), and disrupting passing lanes.

The Calderon thing at this point I think has more to do with Calderon feeling extremely confident that he can shoot whenever Tony is covering him than anything else. Sometimes, you have to change the looks. I thought Patty hustled a lot when guarding him but didn't really do anything that much different than Tony does.

[Brazil]

In fairness, in a must win game against a clearly inferior opponent not only did the Spurs come out flat, but they lost 3 of 4 quarters..

I don't disagree with that but the cliff jumping threads are off the chart and most of them are ing stupid

The silver lining of a Spurs potential loss on round 1 would be Spurs fans cleaning... this fanbase is becoming one of the worst of the entire nba... that speaks volume

[vander]

I don't disagree with that but the cliff jumping threads are off the chart and most of them are ing stupid

The silver lining of a Spurs potential loss on round 1 would be Spurs fans cleaning... this fanbase is becoming one of the worst of the entire nba... that speaks volume

no, fans of winning > fans of 'whatever' > fans of manu

[Expert]

Tony already won the MVP. He doesn't get why he's still out there. Beli doesn't become effective until he's left alone beyond the arc, and cannot get into the passing game with Manu unless Dallas allows it. Spurs were right to go inside a few times, but Splitter went one on one too many times and Dallas hit some flukey, heavily contested shots. It happens, but Spurs won and no one will remember why by the middle of the playoffs.

[Expert]

no, fans of winning > fans of 'whatever' > fans of manu

Then those fans of winning will just move with the buffalo... cheering whomever wins. I'm a fan of the game. I just want good basketball, and though I have my favorites, I'd rather see a good series than just watch slop ball for 4 quarters against a low level Jazz type team or an injured Lakers or Clippers team.

[ElNono]

"fans of winning"... just call it by it's name: frontrunners...

[DPG21920]

I don't disagree with that but the cliff jumping threads are off the chart and most of them are ing stupid

The silver lining of a Spurs potential loss on round 1 would be Spurs fans cleaning... this fanbase is becoming one of the worst of the entire nba... that speaks volume

You must not frequent any other NBA arenas, cities or fan boards. Spurs fans are no where near the worst.

[poeticism707]

Only problem I had with Pop tonight was Belinelli playing too much and having him guard Vince Carter again, he's been getting destroyed all series..

LOL, Beli guarding VC!

Beli is years younger, and still couldn't guard VC's shadow.

[poeticism707]

i love pop but i wasn't this mad at his coaching since the gooden-udoka age

Talk about Spurs dark age...

[Brazil]

You must not frequent any other NBA arenas, cities or fan boards. Spurs fans are no where near the worst.

Based on ST sample ya that's becoming the worst

[DPG21920]

Based on ST sample ya that's becoming the worst

Go to any other board. Your opinion will change.

[Brazil]

Go to any other board. Your opinion will change.

Maybe you are right. I don't have a wide American experience but this fan base is becoming worst and worst. I'm starting to getting tired to read so many dumb posts...

[Brazil]

If you don't like it, Frenchy, you KEN GITTTT OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Look at this little er... stop the nazi trolls

[gilmor]

I'd hope I am wrong but I think Spurs will lose Game 5..

[peacemaker885]

I'd hope I am wrong but I think Spurs will lose Game 5..

We all hope you are wrong.

[heyheymymy]

Listening to SA sports radio yesterday I think 1250 someone made a good point that for the last couple of years the Spurs have gotten used to using the first round as a tuneup but are finding that they have an actual opponent this year that is not letting them do that.

but i think a tough first round can be a better tune up than a hapless jazz or lakers team, provided the opportunity is used to improve. mavs may've ended up doing SA a favor if spurs are lucky enough to advance and don't get blindsided by a ready POR or HOU team. maybe we struggled in the 12 and 13 playoffs because UTH and LAC were swept cupcakes so OKC caught us off guard and the struggles in the GSW semis series in 13 may have been because spurs never fully awoke from the LAL sweep.

suffice it to say, if the spurs advance, they will have been tested early and often from this mavs series, and it may benefit them greatly.

[Budkin]

but i think a tough first round can be a better tune up than a hapless jazz or lakers team, provided the opportunity is used to improve. mavs may've ended up doing SA a favor if spurs are lucky enough to advance and don't get blindsided by a ready POR or HOU team. maybe we struggled in the 12 and 13 playoffs because UTH and LAC were swept cupcakes so OKC caught us off guard and the struggles in the GSW semis series in 13 may have been because spurs never fully awoke from the LAL sweep.

suffice it to say, if the spurs advance, they will have been tested early and often from this mavs series, and it may benefit them greatly.

Feel the same. Let's just hope that we can get by the Mavs (never thought I'd be saying that).

[Brazil]

sorry my country didn't open the bedroom doors and let the nazis in to impregnate our women with their superior aryan seed

great come back tbh

pinked
stop the trolls
hemmann
irony if you don't like it, leave
still a lot of nazi trolls and you are still here

[Spur|n|Austin]

I'd hope I am wrong but I think Spurs will lose Game 5..

Just a hunch?

[look_at_g_shred]

Green on Ellis. Please. Even if there's no adjustment made, we need to make the mavs a one a done team. Cleaning up the glass is probably the single most important aspect of securing a win against the mavs. We're gonna make shots; they're gonna make shots. We just have to get them out of their comfort zones and rebound.