Random Thoughts

[MaNu4Tres]

They aren't doing too good actually.. but I don't want to even mention it... bc I don't want to jinx this.

Rockets volume from 3 has decreased 20-30% since game 1.

Game 2, Pop went small more and it helped our perimeter D to close out to shooters better and contain the closeout penetration optimally.

Game 3, Pop utizilzed small ball and big the Simmons - Green - Kawhi back court which locked down the perimeter.

Another adjustment that has helped is going under & through the screen in PnR has allowed the weakside to stay closer to their man, instead of having to rotate to impede Hardens penetration.

LA and Pau arent getting singled out on an island on perimeter as much bc they arent switching like they did game 1, Kawhi, Green, Simmons are going undetr and through the PnR.

LA and Pau have still been very poor in post up 4 down opportunities. And they should only use it when its last desperate option late on clock. Pop made a great wrinkle tonight getting Pau flashing to elbow when they trap Kawhi in PnR and finding LA once he establishes position . LA got most of his buckets tonight by putting in work to estsblish great position on weak side block btw his man and the hoop or right under the basket.

Best coached playoff games by Pop since Miami 14'...tbh

[SAGirl]

Rockets volume from 3 has decreased 20-30% since game 1.

Game 2, Pop went small more and it helped our perimeter D to close out to shooters better and contain the closeout penetration optimally.

Game 3, Pop utizilzed small ball and big the Simmons - Green - Kawhi back court which locked down the perimeter.

Going under & through the screen in PnR has allowed the weakside to stay closer to their man, instead of having to rotate to impede Hsrdens penetration.

LA and Pau arent getting singled out on an island on perimeter as much bc they arent switching like they did game 1, Kawhi, Green, Simmons are going undet and through the PnR.

LA and Pau have still bern very poor in post up 4 down opportunities. And they should only use it when its last desperate option late on clock. Pop made a grest wrinkle tonight getting Pau flashing to elbow when they trap Kawhi in PnR and finding LA once he established position . LA got most of his buckets tonight by estsblishing position on weak side block btw his man and the hoop or right under the basket.

Best coached playoff games by Pop since Miami 14'...tbh

Thanks for the updated takes..
Appreciated.

[MaNu4Tres]

Also, one big positive Spurs have with Parker being out is they have one less liability on D. Spurs are a better defensive team without him. Parker had to be the playoff parker on O for him to be a slight net positive.

[SAGirl]

Also, one big positive Spurs have with Parker being out is they have one less liability on D. Spurs are a better defensive team without him. Parker had to be the playoff parker on O for him to be a slight net positive.

That he was, but he had been an engine offensively. Now, they are saddled with Mills and I do know your opinion about him from you takes in the offseason thread. I saw the same things you do. It's refreshing bc I don't remember Pop throwing adjustments last postseason or the one b4

[Robz4000]

Rockets volume from 3 has decreased 20-30% since game 1.

Game 2, Pop went small more and it helped our perimeter D to close out to shooters better and contain the closeout penetration optimally.

Game 3, Pop utizilzed small ball and big the Simmons - Green - Kawhi back court which locked down the perimeter.

Another adjustment that has helped is going under & through the screen in PnR has allowed the weakside to stay closer to their man, instead of having to rotate to impede Hardens penetration.

LA and Pau arent getting singled out on an island on perimeter as much bc they arent switching like they did game 1, Kawhi, Green, Simmons are going undetr and through the PnR.

LA and Pau have still been very poor in post up 4 down opportunities. And they should only use it when its last desperate option late on clock. Pop made a great wrinkle tonight getting Pau flashing to elbow when they trap Kawhi in PnR and finding LA once he establishes position . LA got most of his buckets tonight by putting in work to estsblish great position on weak side block btw his man and the hoop or right under the basket.

Best coached playoff games by Pop since Miami 14'...tbh

Agreed, Pop coached his ass off tonight. Was a treat to see.

[MaNu4Tres]

That he was, but he had been an engine offensively. Now, they are saddled with Mills and I do know your opinion about him from you takes in the offseason thread. I saw the same things you do. It's refreshing bc I don't remember Pop throwing adjustments last postseason or the one b4

I think the " engine" is overstated. This team has been Kawhis on O. Kawhi has been the engine. Parker had a great post-season but theres a reason Kawhi had more assists this playoffs even with TP doing well. I thought Tony did a great job getting 6-8 in semi transition points a game taking advantage of a bent defense w/ out the D being back and also hitting open shots off a Kawhi assist or a Kawhi hockey assist. TP was so damn efficient w/ his spot up shooting. For as efficient as he was hitting shots during and at the end of games, he wasnt the play making engine.

[szkorhetz]

Agreed, Pop coached his ass off tonight. Was a treat to see.

+1. Pop responded. Hopefully the Parker injury made him kick it into an even higher gear.

[Arcadian]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Rockets are still gots

[SAGirl]

I think the " engine" is overstated. This team has been Kawhis on O. Kawhi has been the engine. Parker had a great post-season but theres a reason Kawhi had more assists this playoffs even with TP doing well. I thought Tony did a great job getting 6-8 in semi transition points a game taking advantage of a bent defense w/ out the D being back and also hitting open shots off a Kawhi assist or a Kawhi hockey assist. TP was so damn efficient w/ his spot up shooting. For as efficient as he was hitting shots during and at the end of games, he wasnt the play making engine.

He was very efficient on the 3 and a great release valve for Kawhi. I meant an engine bc he was on... and on attack mode on any kick outs.

[Yuixafun]

Spurs need to slow it down.

They ed up running poor offense, which led to easy transition and scrambling defense.

We need to play to our strengths, control the time of possession, and bang on these flighty mother ers.

Think of it as a combination of a power run game in football, and an ugly Bernard Hopkins heavyweight fight.

By utilizing each possession to get a good shot, like when we used to play the beautiful game, it will drain their energy, and also help our defense.

And if we keep pounding them eventually it willl take their legs.

No legs, no lift on all those 3 balls.

Spurs still can win, but they have to be disciplined and methodical. And nasty. Make Harden drive and mug him lol.

It was obvious during the game 1 blowout, the main reason we lost was because the Spurs simply weren't ready for the Houston attack and got sucked into a shootout.

These past 2 games are more indicative of the 2 teams iden ies.

Just because of play style, logically in my head I wasn't worried.

The feeling I left with during game one, wasn't of doom and gloom, but acceptance of why it went the way it did.

[TD 21]

any updated random thoughts, tbh?? not kidding...

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/show...56#post8997556

TD21 is one of the best posters I almost always disagree with. Most Spurs fans on here fail to look at the long game. It's hard to fault him for doing the same.

If nothing else, I'm a big picture guy.

[ElNono]

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/show...56#post8997556

[Splits]

Since I'm far too important to have my thoughts scattered about and buried under the storm that has ensued here in the past 20 or so hours . . .

- I said 6, but I already think a '10 Suns style embarrassment is upcoming and whether they eke out a game or not, either way this is going to be short and one sided

- I'm surprised by the lack of cliché, vanilla, blind faith "it's only 1 game" takes as a scroll through some of this, but it isn't: I can't remember a series where the team with home court got shredded and looked so defeatist in game 1 and recovered to win the series

- You could see it on both teams faces from the jump, like they both knew the Spurs had no foundational or strategic answer for defending them, no lineup suited to do so either, nor the firepower to keep up

- Pop compounded matters by panicking and frantically searching for a lineup that would work, including lineups that almost never play together . . . nothing sends a message to both teams that your team is in trouble like conceding immediately and conforming to the opposition

- Unfortunately, as usual he'll come out of this largely unscathed in the aftermath, while the media mostly focuses on Aldridge, Parker and Ginobili

- Aldridge has definitely regressed some, but more importantly, he's clearly lost all confidence and can't take the pressure of playing for a franchise of this stature and with this expectation and being expected to partially carry the load

- The first two of those three things go for Green as well and that combined with his clear distaste for the way they've changed post '14, has probably led to him not looking the same

- I called all of this in the off season, early in the season and periodically throughout, so I'm not surprised, but this team is definitely done in a general sense and like anyone else seriously interested in attempting to contend for a championship, will need to conform to Warriors/Cavaliers/Rockets ball in order to stand a chance going forward

- I don't even think they can pull another fools gold regular season out of their ass if they bring the majority of this back: I'd expect this group to regress closer to 50 wins and a mid seed

- Leonard is obviously untouchable; otherwise, Murray and Bertans should be kept (unless, of course, like 99% of athletes, they're blown away) and they should look to re-sign Dedmon or failing that Reed for the MLE, but everyone else should be shopped hard - in play

Jesus .

Have you washed your pussy today?

my random cries

Go see a shrink, you're emotionally disabled.

lol got

[Hoops Czar]

Also, one big positive Spurs have with Parker being out is they have one less liability on D. Spurs are a better defensive team without him. Parker had to be the playoff parker on O for him to be a slight net positive.

Mills is a liability defensively every time he takes the floor and Murray is hardly an upgrade over Parker either. Most of that is happenstance and Houston regressing to the mean rather than suggesting the team is better defensively without Parker and then realizing who's replacements him. In before someone tells me that Pau is An elite defender after game three.

[MaNu4Tres]

Mills is a liability defensively every time he takes the floor and Murray is hardly an upgrade over Parker either. Most of that is happenstance and Houston regressing to the mean rather than suggesting the team is better defensively without Parker and then realizing who's replacements him. In before someone tells me that Pau is An elite defender after game three.

Even if its not for a long stint, Spurs get to utilize big guard lineups like they did in the 4th with Kawhi - Simmons - Green in the back court -- which is an upgrade from Parker/Mills getting all 48 plus some minutes playing together which Pop had started doing. That aspect in itself improves the defense instantly.

As for Patty, he's just as bad. I agree there.. the sample size, eye test and defensive metrics back that up

As for Murray, is he better defensively than Parker? That's subjective and the jury is still out because of lack of sample size and lack of enough playing time to get a good assessment or eye test. The general assumption is he's a rookie, so he's dumb and gets lost all the time. But I didn't find that to be the case much in his first year whenever he got a lot of time. Did he make some mistakes his first year? Sure he did, just like any other makes mistakes, but I thought he used his size and length to his advantage and I didn't ever see him get exploited -- even by Kyrie. I actually thought he was solid defensively game 3. But that's my opinion.

[jermaine]

Why isn't Dedmon not playing?

[SAGirl]

It's coming down to the variance in 3 pt shooting from the Rockets. They get a ton of looks every game. Some nights the shot is falling and they run away with the game. When they don't Spurs win. They also apparently can't make comebacks bc they can't get stops. It's very possible that's a result of today's NBA, not the Spurs specifically.

[polandprzem]

Why isn't Dedmon not playing?

Because he isn't not

[Amuseddaysleeper]

It's coming down to the variance in 3 pt shooting from the Rockets. They get a ton of looks every game. Some nights the shot is falling and they run away with the game. When they don't Spurs win. They also apparently can't make comebacks bc they can't get stops. It's very possible that's a result of today's NBA, not the Spurs specifically.

The biggest difference wasn't just Houston hitting from outside but how many shots they were allowed to attempt from outside. In game 3 they only had 22 attempts, in Game 4 they had 40+. It's disgusting how the Spurs did such a great job with their gameplan in Game 3 went completely out the window in Game 4.

Spurs still struggle for consistent offense outside of Kawhi, and our bigs are too soft to do enough damage inside for most of the game. The entire series hnges on Game 5, imo.

[MaNu4Tres]

It's coming down to the variance in 3 pt shooting from the Rockets. They get a ton of looks every game. Some nights the shot is falling and they run away with the game. When they don't Spurs win. They also apparently can't make comebacks bc they can't get stops. It's very possible that's a result of today's NBA, not the Spurs specifically.

Not really.

Its coming down to Spurs transition D and having the right personnel in the game to close out on shooters effectively. Game 2 Spurs played small for 24 minutes. Game 3, Spurs played amazing transition/and half court defense. Games 1 and 4, Spurs offense looked out of wack and terrible which fed HOU transition opportunities, plus Spurs didn't play too much small ball ( we saw too much Lee/Gasol, Lee/LA) -- so they couldn't close out well or contain penetration off close outs.

Game 1: 50 3PA
Game 2: 34 3PA
Game 3: 39 3PA
Game 4: 44 3PA.


Limit HOU 3 point attempts by getting back in transition, closing out effectively on shooters will minimize their opportunities.

They've got great looks in games 1 and 4... not so much games 2 and 3.

[SAGirl]

Not really.

Its coming down to Spurs transition D and having the right personnel in the game to close out on shooters effectively. Game 2 Spurs played small for 24 minutes. Game 3, Spurs played amazing transition/and half court offense. Games 1 and 4, Spurs offense looked out of wack and terrible which fed HOU transition opportunities, plus Spurs didn't play too much small ball ( we saw too much Lee/Gasol, Lee/LA).

Game 1: 50 3PA
Game 2: 34 3PA
Game 3: 39 3PA
Game 4: 44 3PA.


Limit HOU 3 point attempts by getting back in transition, closing out effectively on shooters will minimize their opportunities.

They've got great looks in games 1 and 4... not so much games 2 and 3.

You are right about the transition baskets. I forgot about that. There were a lot of mistakes in this game by several guys, you can't single one or two bc on different occasions it was someone different. Evidently bad transition defense augments possessions, thus more shots, sometimes it's a kick out 3 etc. But Rockets also made some well contested 3s and that is what I was referring to. In addition, they get clean looks every game, some nights they just don't fall. When they don't they are in trouble. '

Like you Pop mentioned transition D.

[apalisoc_9]

They should give the ball to Leonard in the Post and have Aldridge popping with the rest of the 3 perimeter players Green, Mills, Simmons, Manu getting ready to run in Transition defense.

Aldridge is so ty in the Post...You want to slow the game down, you can't because he's inefficient and will opt for a fadeaway jumper...

Kawhi will probably be a bigger man and will most likely take it to the houston defense if Anderson is playing at the 5.

Also, please..No more Long Stretches of ALdridge ball....Some of the worst shots I can possibly think off. Why o Why do we have to baby this lazy fatass.

[SAGirl]

also It was a 14 pt game at exactly 8:29 in the 4th Q:
103 to 89. It may have been an unlikely come back considering at that point several guys had made some contested 3s, and the Spurs also had no issue scoring (this lead wasn't surrendered by the bench, but created with the starters in the 3rd Q). Several Rockets got hot.
It was a judgment call by Pop to surrender the game at that point, but it wasn't a terrible blowout, nor impossible to win.

[sasaint]

also It was a 14 pt game at exactly 8:29 in the 4th Q:
103 to 89. It may have been an unlikely come back considering at that point several guys had made some contested 3s, and the Spurs also had no issue scoring (this lead wasn't surrendered by the bench, but created with the starters in the 4th Q). Several Rockets got hot.
It was a judgment call by Pop to surrender the game at that point, but it wasn't a terrible blowout, nor impossible to win.

Friend, you were watching the game through rose-colored glasses. We had climbed the mountain on several occasions to slide back down when the Rockettes stomped on our hand-holds. Not one, but several of their players were en fuego! we were toast last night.

[DMC]

TD21 is one of the best posters I almost always disagree with. Most Spurs fans on here fail to look at the long game. It's hard to fault him for doing the same.

I've got a long game you can look at.