I thought Pop did an excellent job in the Dallas series, but not really this one, that's just me. Of course it wasn't nearly all of his fault, but the Spurs still put up a lot of points in every game. Somehow someway, they put points on the board, but the defensive scheme was a complete failure. I think that had a much bigger effect than scoring slightly less than what the Spurs would have say if Hill showed up one or two games. Not every player plays well in the same game, not during the Mavs series either. It just can't always happen.
The Spurs shot 45.8%, 50.6%, and 50% in games 1, 2, and 3 respectively. And they lost all three of them. What's particularly interesting is that in game 2, this is what happened:
Spurs shot 50.6%, Suns shot 42.4%..quite a big difference, and still lost by 8 points. Spurs even turned the ball over less times, only 12 in that game. Free Throws and the 3-Ball baby! They ed us.