Reply With Quote
Bench's decline is a bit worrying. But otherwise no big deal this loss and as others have said, Pop can use it to his advantage.
I would definitely be interested in Lee for the MLE.
Bench's decline is a bit worrying. But otherwise no big deal this loss and as others have said, Pop can use it to his advantage.
Really if we want to sour ourselves, this loss was a chokejob and the loss against the Pacers was a magnificent come back from behind with a lot if grit, that fell short. Both game on the road to playoff teams that had been playing very well. Both featured SF with length that gave Kawhi all night.I don't know if I'll be happy or sad if the Dubs lose to the T-Wolves. Happy they lost, pissed that we blew the chance to close the gap. Might feel better if Dubs win so I don't feel we blew the opportunity.
Both games the bench didn't give much, Manu played 20+ mins but didn't give much offensively bc he is not 100% and nobody else stepped up. The Pacers game Messina played it very conservative, here Pop was full mad scientist mode. Early season Manu would have nabbed both IMO. That is probably the most critical lesson here. Without 100% Manu we are not whole.
And the Dubs just unofficially clinched homecourt. I hope the team is happy about that.
Spurs were never gonna catch the Dubs anyway, not a team trying to beat 72 wins. At this point, they care more about preparing for the playoffs than chasing the 1st seed.
I know Pop probably is. The Spurs weren't catching the Dubs regardless of tonight's outcome tbh.
They felt the same way last season too and look what happened. Game 7 at home is a huge deal for the Dubs. It will be the biggest challenge in NBA history to beat them in a 7 game series now.
Spurs win if Patty and Danny hit 3 out of the 13 open 3s they had. Just missed some shots
All your points are valid, and we need 2014 Manu not 2013 Finals Manu to dethrone the champs in a series. That said, a loss like this was coming after the week we had with OKC, Clips, Portland and Dubs. Blowing the big lead made it sting more, of course.
If you really want to be a cliff jumper we could start posting "IT'S 2011 ALL OVER AGAIN! IT'S 2011 ALL OVER AGAIN!"
I guess time to sit TD and Manu for the rest of the season...
I would give several players several games to rest for the rest of the season tbh.
All your points are valid, and we need 2014 Manu not 2013 Finals Manu to dethrone the champs in a series. That said, a loss like this was coming after the week we had with OKC, Clips, Portland and Dubs. Blowing the big lead made it sting more, of course.
If you really want to be a cliff jumper we could start posting "IT'S 2011 ALL OVER AGAIN! IT'S 2011 ALL OVER AGAIN!"
Frankly as much of a fan of Anderson as I am, I want us to win and if that means he's benched, perfectly ok with that. I thought him going back to the dleague early in the season would have helped his aggressiveness but Pop thought no apparently. He's just at that point that needs this experience...
But really the barometer is that he's not ready to replace what Manu brings and frankly they are very different. I think Kmart is more likely to give you at least the scoring Manu does, but not everything else. I thought the lineup with Patty/Tony/Kmart was terrible although Kmart scored they were still a negative bc they can't defend. Maybe it was a Pop experiment for Kmart?
Except last season, the Spurs were a 6th seed. This year, they're the 2nd seed. They got homecourt this time in two rounds and in the Finals (if they get that far). Of course it will be a big challenge to beat a team like these Dubs, but whats the point in forcing our older, more mileage players to catch up to a team full of players in their prime and play their starters majority of the minutes? It's not the Spurs or Pop's way of doing things.
Despite the loss tonight and the usual cliff jumping (even from certain really good posters, not ripping on you either Padre), we still showed things against the Dubs that gives us a chance in a series so we may not have homecourt, but the Spurs will compete hard.
It was quite obvious that this game was going to slip away, one way, shape, or form. Major melt down, plus the Warriors squeaked by the T'Wolves. 4 games back now. Race over.
I'm guessing our final record, with the resting and experimenting, will now be about 66-16.
Looking at the remaining games, OKC, @GS, @Den (b2b after the Dubs game, Denver has been better than their record lately), vs GS are all the remaining games I see the Spurs struggling in. I'm fully expecting Pop to tank that @Oracle game and just play everyone against Denver, so I could see us ending the season 68-14 imo.
Yeah, we got no choice now. Now I just hope the Clips stay at #4 and get Blake back to give the Dubs everything they've got.
I disagree. Both Tim and (obviously) Manu have had time off. Maybe a DNP or two - but no more. Both need to get their rhythm going into the playoffs. The only silver lining I saw tonight was Tim's hustle and generally good play. However even Tim was not as mentally sharp as he needs to be. On one play during the Hornets' comeback, Tim was ball watching and failed to move to the right side of the basket. He lost the board to Kaminsky and promptly gave up a third look when he failed to box out Kaminsky on the second shot. Maybe some of our guys could do with a little less in-game playing time, but all of our guys need to get enough court time to get their rhythm and sharpen their focus.
The team they needed homecourt advantage against was OKC b/c of the ThundeRefs factor & that has been locked up. The Worriers don't get to the line & Kawhi doesn't even get calls at home so it shouldn't REALLY be that much of a factor.
If a team is begging for homecourt b/c "role players don't play well on the road" then good luck winning a series when you lose Gm 1 on your homecourt.
Still the Dubs home winning streak is longer than ours. It matters against them. They take their game to another level at the Oracle and their point differential at home is better than the Spurs' home differential.The team they needed homecourt advantage against was OKC b/c of the ThundeRefs factor & that has been locked up. The Worriers don't get to the line & Kawhi doesn't even get calls at home so it shouldn't REALLY be that much of a factor.
If a team is begging for homecourt b/c "role players don't play well on the road" then good luck winning a series when you lose Gm 1 on your homecourt.
Just finished watching the game a minute a go. I cannot believe we lost after having a 23 point lead. What a horrid performance. Game felt like the Pelicans game to end last season. It kind of feels like the team choked away another golden opportunity to push the Warriors a little more. I know that we weren't likely to get the number one seed, but pushing the Warriors a little more may have pushed them harder, and who knows, they may have picked up an injury trying to keep ahead of us. Now they can probably start resting players if they want to.
Kawhi just doesn't have it in crunch time. He doesn't have a dribble drive game to get to the rim and he has no confidence in his 3 point shot. ing atrocious, always passing up open 3s to take a couple of dribbles in for a long two. I'm a shooter, and if I was able to shoot 47% in the NBA from 3, I sure as would be taking every open 3 point shot that I got with a massive smile on my face. If I could dribble (I can't), I'd either shoot the 3 or take it to the rack if I could see a pathway there. I don't understand his reluctance to take the open shot. Either shoot the 3 or try and dribble in deep and get to the rim. I don't understand why he always has to take those long 2s. I'm not a fan of that.
That's b/c punks meltdown at the Roracle Arena like college players during March Madness.
The Spurs have performed well in all the recent elimination games on the road when they didn't have homecourt advantage:
-2013 Finals: Gm 6/7
-2015 1st rd: Gm 7
The Spurs have also lost their hard earned HCA plenty of times during the first 2 games of a series including recently against the '13 Worriers, '14 Mavs/Heat.
If the Spurs are going to take down the Worriers, it is most likely going to be in 6 (go up 3-2 & finish 'em at home ala 2007 Suns).
Last edited by Kawhitstorm; 03-21-2016 at 10:42 PM.
We lost all 3 games you mentioned but I get your point.That's b/c punks meltdown at the Roracle Arena like college players during March Madness.
The Spurs have performed well in all the recent elimination games on the road when they didn't have homecourt advantage:
-2013 Finals: Gm 6/7
-2015 1st rd: Gm 7
The Spurs have also lost PLENTY their hard earned HCA during the first 2 games of a series including recently against the '13 Worriers, '14 Mavs/Heat.
Lost all 3 b/c Porker/Turnobili were either injured or playing like shyt while carrying a good chunk of the offensive burden. This season you have two guy in their PRIMES (LMA/Kawhi) to do the heavy lifting.
LOL...what a crap game for the Spurs...blowing a 23-point lead...at least Pop will have plenty to about.
In the big picture, it means nothing. We weren't gonna catch GS, and OKC isn't catching us. We're locked into the #2 seed. Other than keeping the home win streak alive, the Spurs don't have much left to play for in the regular season.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions