True, it wouldn't be fair to the team
I remember White's defensive coming out party in a loss to Houston earlier in the year, and he was killing harden on defense. Instead of matching minutes Pop went with the usual clowns and of course they lose.
Barring foul trouble White shouldn't play a single minute less than Murray
Also I'm still of the view that having underwhelming assistants with zero personalty isn't helping things..
Spurs having no clear heir apparent to Pop is telling in a way.
Pop sucks. Far too mechanical - not recognizing that Gay FN SUCKED and opting to continue to play him was atrocious. Not realizing that Derozan and White needed stay in the game towards the end of the 3rd was unforgivable. He’s too old and too stubborn to do anything to stem the tide. This loss is bad.
Spurs would have been a 20-win team without Pop this season, tbh.. tonight was one of the worst performances of his coaching career, though, can't lie..
In 2016 OKC killed us on the glass. I said throughout the whole series that Duncan and Aldridge's minutes should have been staggered. One of them should have been on the floor at all times. Pop kept playing Diaw and West together despite the size disadvantage. Another thing that works against Pop is his prejudice towards rookies. OKC had more big bodies than us, but we had the biggest body out there in Boban and Pop didn't even give him a chance.
Malone coached poorly, as well, which helped the Spurs..sticking with Will Barton for so long was painful to watch, even cheering against them..
Real grades wouldn't be fair to Pop
Pop never rides the hot hand, a Spur can score 18 points unanswered and Pop will sub them out for 10 minutes. He is a cooler. LMA top scorer in game at end of first quarter doesn't get back in til 7 minutes left in half and isn't the focal point. Pop kills momentum for his own team with subs utions as much as he does for opposing teams with timeouts.
Yeah bro, we read your post the first time.
never change Harlem, never change!
Sadly he's done this for years. I remember we lost the the Clippers in the playoffs when we were hot bc Pop randomly went to hack a Jordan. Season ends bc of that stupid bs
Great post. First time I've ever read it. Tbh
That’s a bit of hyperbole (the 20 wins) but absolutely. Pop did an incredible job this year. The criticism from this 2nd half has nothing to do with that. It’s a one game evaluation. He lost the game for SA.
Pop is an excellent coach. He out coached Malone in the first 2 and half quarters. Going with the iso Gay with 3 shooters has worked in the pass. Gay unable to go one on one with Plumlee. Nuggets go going in transition and Forbes/Beli/Mills are poor transition defenders. Pop riding his two stars and white is all he could have done better here. Really, Gay should be torching Plumlee.
Pop needs to adjust rotations for playoffs too many times scrubs on the court at the same time
how many times when out coach the other teams coach, yet nobody on here calls him out when he t ried to outcoach himself doing stupid to prove everyone wrong?
I think the hyperbole you're looking for is being a 20 win team with the mess of a roster he created. He's the best of the worst of the deadheads on the bench but to think another coach can't come in here and coach this team to 20-30+ wins is being quite shortsighted.
What great coach wasn’t great without their star players?
2013 , 2015 , 2016 .
Three of the last four seasons of Tim Duncan .
Playoffs were masterpieces of maestro Gregg Popovich .
That's how a catch-22 works. You're not considered great unless you win and you can't win unless you have great players. Phil had his chance in New York to instill his triangle offense with the Knicks and it backfired immensely. Coach Pop is a master motivator but from an X's and O's standpoint, he's subpar.
Last edited by Hoops Czar; 04-16-2019 at 11:44 PM.
He screwed up in '13 and '15. I agree with you on that one. '16 Duncan was washed once the playoffs started. That's what really killed the Spurs chances of winning.
Doug Moe was a great coach. Had the 1979 team in the finals if the refs didn't screw the Spurs.
OKC made one adjustment by putting Adams on LMA and the series was a wash. Re-watch game 6 again and tell me with a straight face how that game was a masterpeice by Pop.
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