I dont like Mills as a PG. hes more of a pocket SG. Id rather have manu or cojo distributing.
Mills killer shoot instinct goes against the PG position
He was quick to pull Splitter after one rotation and it saved the game. We were giving up 27+ points in the first three quarters. I saw Bellinelli, Manu, Parker and Patty failing on Paul pnr over and again and the refs were allowing Jordan, Davis and Griffin to turn and stick their hip into defenders. That would ragdoll our smaller guys. Green Bellinelli and Manu kept on getting stuck. They were handsy after contact. Paul is the best pnr player in the NBA and once he was past the big he was masterful moving to the open spot and forcing rotations, dishing, and scoring.
For most of the game Pop gives 8 minute rotations with his guards. He gave the bench time at around the 4 minute mark of the 1st and 3rd quarters. That is what he normally does. I can see Patty getting another 8 minutes and splitting time evenly but Patty has been inconsistent with his confidence so Pop as usual is conservative. It does make sense. Parker has a foot problem and Patty is coming on. Could be helpful for both.
I dont like Mills as a PG. hes more of a pocket SG. Id rather have manu or cojo distributing.
Mills killer shoot instinct goes against the PG position
I think the defensive lineup worked. The Clippers were scoring despite our best defenders. Not having our best defenders in there would have been suicide. Also DG did get that crucial offensive rebound of his miss.
Um, what? Green was pretty clutch yesterday outside bricking that 3. His D on CP3 was great and he was attacking the glass often. Agree about Enrique tho.
Mills is not perfect but when he is hot he is HOT. He was the highest scorer at the last Olympics. Pop helped him get to NBA prominence calling him fat. Mills would be eternally grateful for that and the ring he wears. Mills owes Pop and will cop his role playing use by Pop on the nose and not bellyache about it. But Mills can handle a stronger role and should be given a go.
Pop (and Rivers) have done a lot of foolish things in this series, but the specific ones mentioned, I actually agreed with.
- I'd have stuck with Mills longer, but once Parker returned, he should have finished. Instead of trying to manage his injuries, he was playing balls to the wall in the 4th. He still struggled, but his sheer aggression and ability to run the offense were crucial
- Ginobili, despite the impressive stat line, again struggled mightily and was killing the team with atrocious, costly turnovers. He's officially back in '13 playoffs mode, playing with zero confidence (only this time, he's healthy) and questionable focus
- Even if Ginobili were playing well, this is a series where they're best off closing with Green, who's not only their best Paul defender, but he allows Leonard to guard Re , who's their best Re defender.
Overall, some of the mistakes from these two have been glaring, though . . .
Pop:
- Inexplicably having key players rack up intentional fouls in short order
- Not figuring out that the instant Griffin rests, Diaw needs to, too. He's their only non-Duncan competent big at the moment and they can't have him wasting minutes against Davis. That's the time to play Bonner.
- Continuing to play Baynes, clearly shaken from game 1 and intellectually in over his head in this series. At this point, I'd rather give Ayres a cameo, should they be forced to go three deep at C again.
- Not milking Leonard in the post vs Crawford/Rivers nearly enough.
Rivers:
- Inexplicably resting Griffin and Paul simultaneously. How hard is it to sit one the final 3-4 minutes of the 1st/3rd and the other the first 3-4 minutes of the 2nd/4th?
- Or, if they don't want to chance even going that long without one, get them 1-2 minutes leading into or bracketing a TV timeout 2 times per half
- Not giving Hawes a chance early in the series (particularly next to Griffin when Duncan is in). Sure, he's been brutal all season, but had he awoken, he'd have boosted the upside of their bench.
Missed 3, missed FT. Paul didn't miss a shot in the 4th.
green's defense on paul this series is nothing to brag about. has been horrible. He sees a screen coming and just accepts it and still doesn't recover to guard the screening man when someone picks up paul. I don't know what the is wrong with him this series
He also made up for the missed FT by ensuring Paul didn't get the rebound. Paul was limited to 19 points, and he only got the better of Green guarding him once.
Agree. Green was decent this mast game. Not sure whst OPs agenda is?
I'm only talking about the 4th. Paul did whatever he wanted on the 4th. If Paul is doing whaever he wants to Green's defense and on top of that Danny isn't on a good day shooting the basketball what's the point of having him to end the game?
My agenda is seeing the Spurs not ing up games they should win more comfortably.
100% this
Unfortunately this isn't a good series for Manu just because Spurs have to get all the defensive matchups precisely right or the Clippers offense become unstoppable. But I don't think he looks bad out there at all. Not too dissimilar to last year playoffs, it just won't seriously manifest itself against this team.
We will see him score and make plays penetrating if the Spurs go through IMO.
Some turnovers are bad but some also blown out of proportion. He is doing playmaking which is needed against defenses so tight and when he succeeds it's=baskets.
And like others have said, Patty needs a ballhandler/playmaker and obv playing him with Parker is unthinkable cause our defense would die a horrible death. He needs Manu and Manu is complicated in this series ^^^^
But I would absolutely love for Cojo to get some of Tony's minutes.
In other potential series the small lineups with Kawhi at the 4 and both Danny and Manu on the floor will also destroy people.
With no healthy Splitter it could get more relevant.
Waiting 'till 1 minute left to insert Patty and Beli for Tony and Danny.
Special kudos to that hack a Jordan when we were rolling and the Clippers were already thinking about their vacations. Just an all around very solid coached series.![]()
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and just to prove how smart he is, he's gonna do the hack in game 7 too
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