he should have played Oberto more...
Bowen did a great job on Kobe. Watch the game again with open eyes.
he should have played Oberto more...
My reading comprehension is fine.
Bruce Bowen, 37 years old, has averaged 28.6 minutes per game in the playoffs. Played 35 minutes last night.
Spurs go 3 for 21 in the fourth.
Reason for loss: Pop didn't play Bowen more.
Yeah that makes sense.
Kobe was going to get off even with Bowen still out there. However, that's no excuse not to put Bowen right back in there when it became clear to everyone but Pop that Kobe was going to take over the game by himself. Who knows if putting in Bowen would have helped but it was the obvious move to make yet we waited way too long.
I think Pop figured they would make a run and wanted to save Bowen for the 4th, however by the time Bowen came back the Spurs had already collapsed.
And yeah, Finley on Odom makes a strong case for his retirement at the end of the season.
Having said all that, I still think NO was a worse matchup for us. We can still recover. If we had won the first game we would have blown the second game. No way we win both. Now we have to win the second.
The problem is, for 8 very critical minutes in the third and start of the fourth, Bowen wasn't out there. And if he would have been, LA never makes it comeback, Phil pulls his starters with a couple of minutes to go down 18-20 still, and Bowen gets that time to rest as well.
And now you're up 1-0 having played one game on your opponent's floor.
Your assuming that Kobe wouldn't have been able to score on Bowen. I don't buy that at all.
What is not an assumption is that if someone, anyone would have stepped up and made just a few shots the game would have been won. I don't see how it's Pops fault. Shoot 14% in the 4th and we'll lose everytime.
By your logic, if the Spurs lose and Pop didn't play Bowen 48 minutes then it's mistake by Pop. Let me ask you when is a better time to try and give a 37 year old guy some rest? Up by 20 seems like a good time to me.
I should also add that yeah the loss sucked but I really wasn't too upset about it. If the Spurs can keep the games at that pace the Lakers are finished. I don't care what the national media guys try to say. They jump at any opportunity to suck Laker .
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