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if you want to play the nitpick game, I could pinpoint every championship they won and say this and that was watered down. Just because you say it does not make it true.
It's a collective effort from all the players, the coaches, the FO and also one of the most watered down era's in NBA History.
Saying its ALL Pop makes you look like a ing moron.. tbh..
if you want to play the nitpick game, I could pinpoint every championship they won and say this and that was watered down. Just because you say it does not make it true.
Don't forget, game 1 against LA, up by 20 half way in the third, Bowen locking Kobe down all game ... Picks up only his third foul, and gets taken out for Udoka who proceeds to get slaughtered and Kobe just explodes the rest of the game. Spurs lose.
Thereafter Pop has it in for Bowen in what I can only presume as a defense mechanism to blame Bowen for his own mistake, ultimately making sure to go to the media and malign Bowen's voluntary retirement. And of course making sure to boast to the media about how scrub ass Bogans was "The Centerpiece" of the Spurs defense.
But Pop
Clips had at least one of their stars injured all games. And they still beat us 3-1 in the regular season.
But one thing the Clips didnt have to make the difference over others teams? That Kawhi Leonard thing.
Rivers didnt have a #3 top player to win games...Remember? Kawhi was 5-10 in last 5''. Clutch af this year. Spurs could have lost many more games but he was a beast
Concur with the above ^^..
Despite him being a total non-factor on O, Dedmon still best defensive big on the team..Aldridge/Pau/Lee are all terrible space defenders..They are toast when taken off their feet with a dribble..
The Spurs have collapsed defensively in the series since the second half of Game2..
A LOT of criticism.
Since this is a thread about his playoffs coaching not regular season
I get it, the players are underachieving or suffering from cold streaks but Pop doesn't make matters easier when he's pulling all these cute moves like sitting every starter or refusing to make adjustments like it has been the case the last three playoff runs. Just give your team the best chance to win. Stop with the mind games and stop wasting Kawhi's prime days. I don't care if he's en led because of the 5 rings. If he's not gonna coach at the level that hes capable of, why should he not be criticized? It's just selfish, ego stroking bull . And the people that eat it up are ing stupid.
It's a shame.
I was upset at the Patty/Tony duo.. and sure enough memphis capitalized.
One thing Memphis doesn't get credit for: They are a veteran team. they executed whatever they wanted.
I am depressed with these Popism. I admire Pop a lot, in fact used to do that blindly. Still admire many things about him... but yes in game adjustments are not his strength and he can be too set in his ways to play guys that are young (yes dijon, yes I thought Davis needed to play even more than he did... Spurs only made a run to get back in the game when he played)... anyways, he's fallen in love with Patty and that is that. He trusted him to execute whatever they planned on defense...
It seems like he cost us more than just this game. I'd say.... game 3 AND 4.
Harrison/Ennis/ Daniels and Vince are outplaying Green/Manu/Mills/ Anderson/Simmons. It's pretty sad.
I don't think Anderson or Simmons were placed in situations offensively they can do well in. I don't recall Simmons passing up opportunities more than he simply didn't get any shot opportunities... If I recall correctly, he played with kawhi in God mode so he was fine with what he did for the most part when he played and they were guarding him, which is what Pop wanted to open things up for Kawhi. I think he accomplished his mission for a few minutes. Kyle just got the one bad shot. B4 this game both were scoring efficiently. I think Pop is probably to blame for not getting more out of them.. which is a coaching choice.
When they play with the regular rotation, Patty and Manu make the decisions with the ball, take more shots and in Manu's case directs the passes. They could get more out of both if they were more involved like the were in game 3. Even Bertans only got a few shots and he's very easy to set up for a shot. Pop is just not using his bench properly. And I do agree with you on Murray, his quickness creates so much scrambling, Kyle and Simmons had open shots for 3 and they take forever to decide to shoot but they shot well in game 3. Pop has guys that can for sure produce more than Harrison/Ennis/Daniels... but he's not playing them right.
Manu is done, Danny has ever been the streaky shooter and Mills is also a streaky dude. One could argue shot distribution in the bench is probably not fine moving forward.
I suspect ... or at least I'd like to see Simmons more involved if he's Pop's choice and have no problem with him... if he plays Manu again I think he is throwing in the towel.
No Duncan, no ring.
There are obvious things he could've done differently, but we can't be sure they would be a positive change.
If some of our open shots went in, we wouldn't be having this thread.
Pop literally doesn't give a anymore. His got ass would rather spread commie propaganda than coach the team.
TBH. Duncan made pop
It's about what Pop can and can't control. He can control changing the defensive personnel to give his team its BEST chance to get a stop -- since there was a deadball or a timeout. He had three opportunities to do so, and he did not. Instead, he kept the two weakest perimeter defenders on the roster on the floor in crucial moments and the Grizzlies capitalized every time.
greens lazy bee-boppin ass cost the spurs. he can't make a shot, and he gave Conley a wide open layup to start ot. green has no compe ive spirit. only wants to dance
You can't control makes or misses. You just shoot and hope for the best. Pop can control who he puts on the floor in certain situations.
Pop going with Parker/ Mills together for a defensive possession, is like Pop going with a Danny Iso in center court for an offensive possession.
Control what you can to put your team in the best possession to execute and win. Pop didn't do that last night late in the game. He made the job a lot harder for Kawhi and his players.
And I thing is...if we can see it...so can the players...and thats unhealthy for trust and chemistry... And definitely scary because u dont want kawhi to lose trust and bolt
I'm pretty sure you were ting on dedmon before game 4, got.
Pop is a Larry Brown disciple. I remember the biggest knock on Larry Brown was his inability to play and develop young players. Larry always would favor old washed up vets over promising young players. Look how he handled the situation with Darko in Detroit granted Darko turned out to be a bust but I get the feeling Brown was a huge reason for it. Pop tends to be very similar to Brown when it comes to favoring vets over young players but there is a little bit of difference. I have noticed Pop will reluctantly play the young guys over the vets once it becomes clear the vets are getting their asses kicked. It happened in '02 after the Spurs lost to the Lakers again. The next season Pop puts Stephen Jackson in the starting line up and sends Steve Smith to the bench granted this move happened once Smith got injured. Pop also started relying on young guys in Manu,Claxton,Parker over the proven vets in Smith,Kerr,Ferry. This cycle tends to be consistent in the Pop era which is Spurs get their asses kicked in the playoffs due to vets being over the hill and Pop then reloads and starts playing the young guys the next year.
A lot of truth being spoken in this thread.
I'm not at all excusing Pop, but I will say, close and late offense/defense, as well as blatant subs ution pattern and general matchup ones, are shockingly common. These should generally be the easiest decisions coaches make and yet I've seen so many at least play a role in costing their team over the years. It's like these guys get so wrapped up in repeatedly barking cliché that they lose track of the most important things.
As an aside, the ATO's, especially close and late, have been vanilla for the last 2 years. I understand the personnel is different and most teams aren't all that different, but what used to make the Spurs so tough and unique in these situations, was you couldn't just sit on a few things. Now, it's: Leonard ISO or spread pick-and-roll, Green floppy/single double and Mills elevator doors. They've tried the late game DPG classic a few times too, last night being one, only to botch it.
It was not just about this observation. The bigger and more egregious mistake that keeps happening is Pop not keeping his best players on the floor and staggering their rest.
MEM pretty much always has at least 2 of Conley, Gasol or Zbo on the floor. The only time MEM did not have 2 on the floor was in the 4th quarter and SA went on a 9-0 run. Pop keeps taking Kawhi/TP/LMA out at the same time. It's killing the Spurs. Sure, Pop is "buying" rest but it's not paying off.
Just stagger the damn lineups so at least 2 of Kawhi/TP/LMA are on the floor together at all times.
Our 3 point shooting is more to blame. I guess in that regard Bertans could've seen more time.
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