Monroe: Spurs feel OK after fluky loss to Celtics

[SenorSpur]

The Spurs poor shooting and careless turnovers hardly qualify as a fluke.

[TJastal]

The celtics played great defense but at least HALF the spurs' turnovers were just careless idiotic mistakes not caused by anything the celtics were doing.

Examples

Parker's pass to Bogans that sailed out of bounds because Bogans cut to the basket.. miscommunication.
Ginobili taking his eye off the pass and it bounces out of bounds.

[NZ Spurs]

I didn't know there were so many doctors familiar with Manu's injury posting on this board!!!!

[ffadicted]

I agree with Pop completely. It was a great game. If not for the FTs and TOs, we would've had a solid win

[raspsa]

I think the article should give an insight into Pop's thought process which should come as no surprise to any student of Spurs BB. He summed up the Boston game pretty well. He's very conservative when it comes to players recovering from injuries. That's his nature and he's set in his ways so try to understand what he does what he does. Fans can complain if it makes them feel good. Pop just sticks tio a proven system that has netted the Spurs 4 les.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I think the article should give an insight into Pop's thought process which should come as no surprise to any student of Spurs BB. He summed up the Boston game pretty well. He's very conservative when it comes to players recovering from injuries. That's his nature and he's set in his ways so try to understand what he does what he does. Fans can complain if it makes them feel good. Pop just sticks tio a proven system that has netted the Spurs 4 les.

He's so conservative with players coming back from injuries that Mason, coming off an injury, played almost the whole fourth quarter while Manu played three seconds.

Yep, good call.

[SenorSpur]

The celtics played great defense but at least HALF the spurs' turnovers were just careless idiotic mistakes not caused by anything the celtics were doing.

Examples

Parker's pass to Bogans that sailed out of bounds because Bogans cut to the basket.. miscommunication.
Ginobili taking his eye off the pass and it bounces out of bounds.

Great points.

Let's give the C's some credit. They are an extraordinarily, elite-level defensive team. They will force any team to commit a fair share of turnovers.

Of course, the Spurs compounded their plight by committing several unforced turnovers with poor decisions and careless passes and ballhandling. The C's made them pay for those mistakes at practically every juncture.

[z0sa]

He's so conservative with players coming back from injuries that Mason, coming off an injury, played almost the whole fourth quarter while Manu played three seconds.

Yep, good call.

Mason does not have the age, playing style or injury history Manu does.

And if Manu goes down, we're ed. Agreed?


Does that mean I agree with Pop holding him out? I don't. Yet I fail to see your logic here.

[raspsa]

He's so conservative with players coming back from injuries that Mason, coming off an injury, played almost the whole fourth quarter while Manu played three seconds.

Yep, good call.

Did you even read the article?
Popovich said his decision to sit Manu Ginobili for all but three seconds of the fourth quarter of Thursday's game was a combination of limiting the minutes of a player coming off an injury and a game decision.

“We just chose to go with other people,” he said. “You usually make decisions about who is on the court, but with Manu, one of the factors at this point is always making sure we don't overplay him when he's coming back from injury.

“It takes a little bit longer to come back from injury than people realize because it's such a dynamic game. You can, even though you're getting better, still tweak something and have a little setback and not be injured and hold you back for a while.”

Apparently in Pop's judgment Mason's injury wasn't that big a deal and he was fit enough to get the minutes he did. Mason provesd that in drills days leading into the game.Manu's historyof injury is something very different and worthy of more caution.

[rayray2k8]

Not having Manu on the floor in the last minutes of the 4th quarter of the game against the Celtics was a bit of a head scratchier. But after hearing what Pop said, it makes sense...