Reply With Quote
Classic midseason Pop tbh. After the 2Q he had no intention of winning that game.
Remember 2014? Chill.
Classic midseason Pop tbh. After the 2Q he had no intention of winning that game.
This. Problem is there are other teams not far behind with half the season remaining.
Even if the Spurs got past the Warriors, Cavs are only 4 games behind. OKC is abot 4-5 too.
Cavs looked like jerks firing Blatt. But if Lue can get Love going like yesterday they'll get even better, even more for teams that can't make him pay on defense. So Lebron can get his precious superteam to make him look good again.
Also, Lebron felt like a free bird, driving freely.. probably because of no Timmy, which makes one question if Kawhi is actually that capable of a defender against Lebron.
I'm almost completely convinced at this point this team doesn't have what it takes to win a le. The big 3 is too old, not enough 3pt shooting, Aldridge cannot get into monster mode vs good teams, Leonard is not a play maker, etc. But if they have a chance it's gonna be getting at least 2nd seed all NBA, by blowing out lesser teams to get wins and rest for the old guys on which they still depend on.
This.
2 losses in the whole month. (And to good compe ion on the road with one of our most key players out). Nothing to panic about. I could see this Cavs loss coming frankly as motivated at they were to prove they had made the right coaching decision. It was a measuring stick game for them, and meant nothing to us (and we played like it).
This is the key problem.
I've been saying this since the beginning of the season. The 3pt shooting is absent. LMA can't play like an all-star against stiff compe ion, Leonard can't make plays.
The record is fools gold indeed! Spurs have been using their bench to create separation, but with good compe ion, you don't see that happening and you see the starters consistently getting blown away.
It is no mirage that Spurs have so many slow starts. It is both the defense and offense that's just not working.
Duncan is out, with his numbers down people have been downplaying his impact. LA is playing terribly and needs to get his ass in gear..
What's worse is the Spurs haven't groomed a pg to take Parker's spot, do they really expect him to play as a starter til he is 39? Duncan is irreplaceable but what exactly is their plan when he leaves because Aldridge is clearly not a rim protector. Spurs backcourt cannot compete with the elite. I think Pop should bench Parker and experiment with the starting lineup, maybe start Simmons and McCallum. They are younger, more athletic and can defend better than Parker. Green can find his shot with the second unit, he's not getting the best opportunities with Parker, LMA and Kawhi.
Green is not shooting because he's never ever sees the opportunity. In the old days, Splitter and Duncan would help him out with good screens, but you just don't see that anymore.
The problem though is the guard defense and the rim protection. Simmons and Green I think are good, but Parker and Mills are real liabilities. Though the rim protection without Duncan is a major problem.
LMA despite having the height just doesn't have the speed and lift. He's 30 years old but he moves like a 40 year old.
Lack of ball movement and as a result, weak 3 point shooting is the biggest problem.
Defense, if Duncan comes back healthy, will take care of itself. Of course if Duncan can not play, they are not going anywhere so it is moot point. Leonard's defense also went down a bit when he has to conserve energy for the other end. There is a reason why it is extremely rare for MVP/scoring champions to also win DPOY. Two way play requires an enormous amount of energy. You usually have to compromise at least a little bit somewhere.
Offense, huge regression from Green/Mills, mostly because of lack of ball movement and open shots. Spurs has the weakest 1-2 punch of the top five teams. Kevin Love is doing a lot better under Lue, I hope Pop figures out something with LMA before it is too late.
Green needs to play 30 minutes a game and get 8-10 shots a game, at Manu's expense, for this team to stand a chance. He is a top 3D player, the Leonard/LMA post-ups really took away his open shots. He needs plays called for him, Mills too.
Green can't get an open look unless he gets the ball when he's open. That requires a screener and a good pass.
Mills can't get separation if nobody is screening for him.
How is it that even GSW uses screens to get Curry free, meanwhile the Spurs rarely ever set screens?
All of these things.
Like mentioned weeks ago, this team has an iden y crisis. It went from playing both motion and iso ball, to just trash one on one. It's clear that members of the team are not happy with the new direction and are not playing hard because of this fact. The motivation has carried over into the defensive end where guys aren't helping each other, players aren't hustling and holding ground in the transition.
We started the season concentrating on our defense, and it is what created better transition game and ball movement due to improved teamwork and communication. The team looks lost out there the last 3 weeks, it was before Duncan was out.
Exactly. And that is why the Spurs will struggle competing with GS, OKC and clippers in a 7-game series. Pop experimented a lot with the lineup in 2014. Why can't he use McCallum? He is being wasted in the d-league, give him some reps now. I just think Parker should play with the second unit. LMA and Kawhi need to dominate to start games, get in a rhythm and have their presence felt. At one point in the game RJ was guarding Kawhi, I don't understand why they didn't post him up more in that matchup. Also Parker is frustrating to watch because even on fast breaks, he doesn't do it right.
I've seen many times where the Spurs put a player in D-league to get him in shape right before inserting them into the lineup so they don't fall flat on their face when inserted into a game after a long time....which seems to imply to me that McCallum is about to get some playing time.
39-8.
McCallum doesn't have the length and doesn't orchestrate an offense well. I think he should be waived or traded.
Nothing is going on with the Spurs. We lost road games to teams that are trying to defend home court, were in the spotlight, and had more pressure to win these games. The Spurs arent going to jump ahead of the Warriors and wont fall behind the Thunder. Im not worried, we will be fine.
Lets not overreact! If the refs hadnt sucked so bad against LMA this wouldve been a different story. He was making some swift, powerful moves to the bucket and was starting to give Thompson a taste of his own medicine before he had to sit. Add to this the surprising play of Love, something probably helped by the new coach and we lose. And because of this new coach they had the advantage of surprise. They had the momentum before the game even started. Great Yacht was right, this was a trap game.
In a playoff series they would not have the advantage of surprise and we could figure it out.
As for our D. Again, advantage of surprise. To be good at D we need familiarity so we can game plan against it. But also the worry of not having the Kawhi, Lamarcus thing ironed out on offense can make the defense suffer. Thats the challenge, to not let the D suffer because of the O
No Duncan is kind of a big deal. Take out the second best player on the Warriors (Green) or Cavs (Love yesterday) and those outcomes are very different too. On the defensive way, help is coming and leaving guys wide open at rim. Can't fault Boban too much as a rookie, but that's proof he isn't playable except in spurts come April.
Also, both games on road where the Spurs should lose, though hung in there despite outlier shooting (Livingston and Rush? going 11 for 12, Love not missing).
Pop also playing "fake" lineups as Zach Lowe calls them (Parker, Simmons, Anderson, Kawhi, Boban!) but getting guys valuable playing time. Having Simmons develop as someone they can use in the postseason when Green is bricking is essential.
Yes, the losses aren't a great omen but it's not like the Spurs just got eliminated.
Duncan missing hurts. GSW/Cavs are 2 of 3 best teams in the league. Duncan out hurts us..while he may not be the difference in winning those games...him not playing hurts your chances. Period.
Duncan really hurt last night..
Plus the fact that we had already beaten them two weeks ago.
I don't think Ray Mc is the answer. If he was, he would have overplayed Anderson and Simmons and he hasn't. In fact, I would not take the ball out from Anderson/Simms hands to give it to Ray. He can play IMO, he's just not better than these two. The real problem with him is like ceperez said, he doesn't orchestrate the offense well. Our best PG of the young guys is Anderson. Simms is great as a SG. You give him the ball and let him go to work. Anderson makes smart plays. He got guys open 3s. A few of the open 3s we got last night (that guys missed) were created by Anderson.
Our SL has been terrible all season, even with Timmy, too much iso ball. But at least with Timmy they were a defensive monster. Without Timmy, they suck. It has always been the bench coming to the rescue, most of the season. Here they could not do it, and I fear against elite compe ion they won't be able to do it bc of Manu. He tends to heroball in a bad way when things get out of hand. He's a catalist but in the games against GSW and Cavs, he was a catalist for the other team. At this point, Anderson is more heady making plays than Manu and Simms is better driving and finishing.
However, even with all of this, the biggest concern is Boban. He needs to provide some minutes without Timmy. It just has to happen. So hopefully they look at film and continue to get him reps when possible.
they ain't winning without Tim and even with him they have a pretty small chance to win it all... so nothing is going on, they are just not the best team in the NBA.
Still undefeated at home
Still 39-8
Not worried.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
