Sadly, this is the truth.
I prefer having Tiago come off the Bench to match up with Gortat.
Whoever is guarding Howard has to be willing to take elbows, throw downs, and baby Karl Malone kind of ...seems like a job better suited for the vets in Duncan and McDyess. Wouldn't mind seeing Tiago try to guard him for a few mins though, Tiago seems to have a knack for taking fouls and there'll be plenty against Dwight Howard.
Howards improved his post up game quite a bit from last year. He probably never will be in Duncan's class, as far as footwork, but Howard's workouts this past Summer with Olajuwan appear to be paying off so far.
Serious question. Has anyone ever had their eye knocked out by a elbow in a basketball game?
If it never happened during Karl Malone's career, then it's not physically possible.
I would be surprised if Tiago is all of a sudden put in the starting lineup. He's just as likely to not get off the bench. But hopefully his minutes begin to climb.
Olajuwan and Zeke Thomas both had there orbital(eye socket) bones broken in the late 80's I believe. As var as an eye coming out of the head............I dont think so.
If Tiago becomes Tim's back-up at 20 minutes per game, then Tim will be playing 28 minutes a game, which would be a great scenario. The goal should be to save Tim and Dice, and play the other 3 as much as possible, and still win games.
I'm sure people will debate whatever happens, but that's why we have a message board.
Excellent point. There's not really a bad scenario if he's getting minutes. Either he's contributing to a dominating defense or he's spelling Duncan. It's a whole lot better than the days when Pops Mensah-Bonsu looked like an attractive addition to the frontline.
Spurs slowly acclimating Tiago Splitter
by Andrew A. McNeill
48 Minutes of
AT&T CENTER — By now you’ve probably seen the numbers for Tiago Splitter. 18 points on 7 of 10 from the field. Five rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks in 26 minutes of action. After not playing in the previous two games, Splitter entered the game with 8:12 left still left in the first quarter.
As much as I’d like to write about something other than Tiago Splitter’s performance on Saturday night, it was the story of the game. The Spurs beat a bad Cleveland Cavaliers team in convincing fashion.
Keep reading →
thank you Mrs.Duncan3g
Don't expect much
Splitter will get a DNP - for the next two games.
I expect Tiago to play quite a bit. I think his defensive capabilities should really help us limit Lewis. I dont see any other big on our team doing good enough of a job without getting some help from double teams. Tiago might give Dwight some problems as well with his quickness and tenacity for taking charges. In terms of match ups I dont really see a better option for matching up against the Magics front court. Even when Bass comes in, Tiago should be able to stay with him on the perimeter while being crafty enough to defend him well in the post.
Nah, the Timberwolves game is a no brainer for him to play extended minutes. But I agree, I don't think he plays against the Magic, barring foul trouble to either Duncan or McDyess or the game turning into a blowout.
I expect Blair to struggle guarding Lewis and give way to Bonner playing extended minutes. McDyess will probably play a lot too, because he sat out last night and he could sit out the following game.
I would run Dice, Splitter, Blair, Bonner,and Duncan at Howard at make him shoot 30-35 foul shots.
Probably not many minutes, howard will try to muscle him up, and tiago is more finesse than power right now.
I want Tiago to go against Howard just to let him get some experience in defending him. No point worrying about getting fouls - Tiago has to learn a lot on how to defend a big like Howard without fouling. It is imperative that he learns now than later.
I am not saying he should guard Howard every minute on court but give him some time on Howard and see what can he do.
I would highly doubt it, considering it's never happened in boxing.
Now getting blinded from having your eye socket caved in, that can happen.
I don't know if that's ever happened in professional basketball though. Saw it happen in high school however-scrawny little white guy tells big black dude he's a dumb ###### in class. Black guy turns around punches him, collapses the eye socket, blinds him in that eye. Whoops.
It's unfortunate that it takes one of the bigs ( dice or bonner) to not play DNP for Splitter to get any PT. C'mon Pop we all know were not beating LA unless Splitter is in the mix. As much as we want to win these early games we have to look at the bigger picture. I don't care if Splitter commits heaps of mistakes , but if thats what is going to take for him to get upto speed so be it. At the end of the day the Spurs play to be good in June, not November
I can see Tiago get plents of minutes vs. Magic.
and don't focus exclusively on the match up with Howard.
two aspects:
Howard will put at least two of our frontcourt players into foul trouble (or the coaches, who currently all go with the hack a shaq on Howard, however we want to call it), so the bench players will get their minutes by default. (Howard currently leads the league by a prime time Shaq FTA number of 12.3 per game)
and there are other frontcourt players and IMO Tiago will be a good (the better?) option to guard either Lewis and Anderson. (or Gortat)
btw. Howard can't be stopped by our frontcourt players anyhow, but I'm pretty curious if Blair could give him some weary infighting. at least the coaches should let him study some Perkins videos.
I can see the benefits of Pop giving Splitter time early to "see what the kids made of" and depending on how he performs cutting losses or taking it one step at a time to build his confidence. Howard is the kind of center that ppl talked about when they said how he could transition against the NBA bigs.
Coming off a performance like that against Cleveland to the brick wall of Howard, may prove to be too stiff a contrast.
I wonder whats Pop thinkin, you never really know with that guy... I think the latter of which will occur. Splitter 10-12 minutes.
tiago over tim? wth
Racking up fouls on Howard isn't necessarily bad. If you remember last year Pop went to the Hack-a-Dwight to frustrate Howard. Howard is shooting 58% from the floor this year and 53% from the line. Let the games begin...
I'd rather see Tiago against Howard then Gortat
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