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A lot of posters say it seemed like they gave up and maybe they did but I believe from frustration from what I will kindly call inconsistent officiating.
The spurs was not the better team. Coaching is part of the team and Pop just so happens to be a coach who makes zero adjustment. Has been the case since 08. Last year he didnt even give a . This year it was a case of too little to late.
He loves his "system"so much to make changes.
A lot of posters say it seemed like they gave up and maybe they did but I believe from frustration from what I will kindly call inconsistent officiating.
Spurs could have shot a lot better, such as their season average of 47%This these guys don't realize the Spurs just didn't matchup well with OKC size. There is nothing Pop could have done to mitigate this disadvantage.
Though what you say is somewhat true, coaching adjustments don't include timeout to scream at players or give a pep talk. When your alternatives are playing like dog , what are you going to tell them, just try harder? Act like you care? I want some nasty? No. They couldn't make a ing shot. No amount of yapping on the sideline is gong to fix that.
The counter I was thinking of was to play Tim whether he had four fouls or not. Boban also had the size and could score. He was no more of a defensive liability than Kanter in my mind. GSW will be going at Kanter. The calls at the end of Game 2 and Game 5 made it where the Spurs needed to win 6 out of 7. Hard to do- especially when our bench couldn't make a basket. We still outscored them. This series was seriously a bull series. Did Pop know something we didn't?
This is what concerns me more than anything.
This is the truth...The spurs were build to go big vs the warriors in an attempt to not play small ball with the best small ball team ever. Only problem was the thunder are the only team in the NBA with a BIGGER front line (though this may be just down to duncans decline). Not only are their bigs, BIG, they are young and mobile. So when we brought our smaller bench bigs (diaw and west) they were still faster AND taller than them so we were screwed both ways.
The annoying thing is the series was so close you look at things like pop playing parker on westbrook for large parts of the game, playing zones where patty mill and parker would be matched on Durant and not playing leonard/green more as well the glaring need to stagger aldridge and leonard for offense and leonard and green on defense. We really could have used joseph this season instead of mills, mill was suited more for our "beautiful game" offense and this defense minded grind out team is much more suited for joseph.
Spurs didn't seem too interested in winning, and not too upset about losing.
Do any of your posts not make mention of referees? Like ever?
How about the spurs got beat by the better and tougher team? Pop did not miss those shots, free throws, turn overs or played horrible d...players play...
I don't think Pop could have done anything to really counter Kanter/Adams. The Spurs personnel didn't matchup with those 2 bigs and Donovan took advantage. Pop could have made adjustments earlier in the series like playing Boban but I'm not sure if that makes much of a difference. Any possible key adjustments Pop could have made would have probably most likely failed. This series to me is completely different compared to the other series the spurs have lost where I felt Pop screwed up by not making adjustments ala going with small ball in '06 against the Mavs. I can't be upset at Pop in this series because I think nothing could work against the Thunders bigs. It was basically LMA vs Ibaka,Adams,Kanter for the whole entire series. Diaw is washed up,West is undersized, and Tim rapidly declined. Spurs had nothing to counter those guys.
I like Boban but he still wouldn't have been able to close the gap with their bigs and ours. I saw when he played in game 6 he couldn't stop Kanter or Adams from successfully getting cutters at the basket. Those two guys still got what they wanted with him on the floor. I also saw him get called for a bunch of lose ball fouls when trying to get rebounds against Kanter/Adams.
Yes but extremely small sample size and a high pressure situation to finally give Boban a chance. I'm just saying Spurs were clearly outsized, and the Spurs biggest player was kept on ice until it was too late.
I know a simpleton like me doesn't know as much as Pop, but it would be nice to hear an explanation as to why Boban was not given enough of a chance to counter OKC size.
I wasn't able to catch to whole series, but I don't believe the best team always wins.
I agree tho that OKC has historically underperformed, which is the reason they've gotten little respect relatively up until now. Even now I don't think they get the props they deserve.
OKC has been a damn good team the last 3-4 years but injuries & bad coaching have hurt them. I don't think there's that much separation b/w them and GS. I think it's going to go at least 6.
If they switched teams, Donovan would still walk away with the win.
Pop should've said the Spurs just met a better-coached team.
How bout the Spurs players won 5 championships? Pop did not make those shots, free throws, caused turnovers, or played great d...players play...
The officiating bias was evident to everyone.
And this has always been a recurring theme in many of the Spurs' playoff series. Many blamed it on the small market. But if the coach never had the balls to call this out publicly like many other coaches have, the team would not be so routinely disadvantaged to such blatant levels.
fail - You can't, and shouldn't get calls shooting fadeaways. I think you learn that in biddy league ball. OKC got to the rim, pounded the boards, got second chances and fts. Spurs did not, and did not. KL and LMA get some balls, then we can talk.
Did you even watch the games to see how Kawhi was clobbered attacking the rim without getting any foul calls? There's even a highlight video of a Kawhi dunk while clearly getting hit in the head by Westbrook without getting a foul call. If trips to the rim are low percentage shots due to the hammering without getting foul calls, don't you think that shooting jump shots may possibly be an adjustment just to get higher percentage shots?
I think people need to understand this. It took these 2 endings, plus Diaw, West, Mills, and TD essentially being useless. Yet there we were at the end of those 2 games and poor reffed 3rd quarters to beat us.
Just as recently as '14 we saw what a motivated Pop can do. Those guys never sniffed 67 wins.
If you're already undermanned why help the other team by playing your best players less minutes? It makes no sense. The Spurs lack a closer otherwise all those close games were winnable. Manu used to be that closer. I thnk Kawhi really has to become that. The Thunder have at least 2 closers in WB and KD.
Yes, it was that close.
A couple of tweaks may result in a very different ending.
Pop may never have the balls to call out the refs in order to level the playing field, but he could've adjusted to put his players in a better position to compete. Like stop hanging Parker out to dry by having him guard Westbrook for long stretches. The task of guarding Westbrook was clearly beyond Parker or any other point guard for that matter. This is why we have Kawhi and Danny on the team. Staggering the minutes of LMA and Tim to counter OKC's moustached lineup would've helped given Diaw's impotence on the boards. And playing static one-on-ones instead of running pick and rolls to attack OKC's weakness is just plain stupid.
This is like the argument against "survival of the fittest" by saying "he was in better shape but died anyhow". If the best team lost, that pretty much cancels out the concept of being best. Being "fittest" just means you have what you need to survive, whatever that may be. It's a hindsight view, just like "best team".
You can have the better team but coaching could have lost you the game/series.
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