So, did anyone else notice that tonight's game was lost during that stretch from about two minutes left in the third to the eight minute mark of the fourth?
Memphis went at Bonner on every single offensive possession for that stretch. They scored damn near every play, and Bonner racked up four fouls during that stretch and single-handedly put Memphis one foul short of the bonus for the rest of the fourth
And Pop just stood there watching Bonner get owned trip after ing trip without doing a damn thing about it, only taking that sorry piece of out of the game after he got his fifth foul.
I was thanking Christ when Boner picked up number 5! I thought he might play the rest of the god damn game!So, did anyone else notice that tonight's game was lost during that stretch from about two minutes left in the third to the eight minute mark of the fourth?
Memphis went at Bonner on every single offensive possession for that stretch. They scored damn near every play, and Bonner racked up four fouls during that stretch and single-handedly put Memphis one foul short of the bonus for the rest of the fourth
And Pop just stood there watching Bonner get owned trip after ing trip without doing a damn thing about it, only taking that sorry piece of out of the game after he got his fifth foul.
The rotting corpse that replaced him wasn't much better.So, did anyone else notice that tonight's game was lost during that stretch from about two minutes left in the third to the eight minute mark of the fourth?
Memphis went at Bonner on every single offensive possession for that stretch. They scored damn near every play, and Bonner racked up four fouls during that stretch and single-handedly put Memphis one foul short of the bonus for the rest of the fourth
And Pop just stood there watching Bonner get owned trip after ing trip without doing a damn thing about it, only taking that sorry piece of out of the game after he got his fifth foul.
McDyess did a uva lot better job at defending Zbo, IMO. At least made him take tough contested shots.
Problem was, by the time Zbo was done with Bonner, his confidence level was floating above the atmosphere and he was in a zone.
I'm not sure I agree. Dice was playing some great D, Zach was just in a freakin' zone after he got through owning Bonner's ass for six straight minutes.
This and not getting Splitter involved in the rotation. But can someone explain POp's logic for sitting them down against the lakers and then bringing them in for that last game? Any other coach and we'd be talking about getting a replacement.
that Duncan is never going to come back, but having a solid defender besides Tim would have helped the team.
You guys sitting here arguing over Splitter and all the little details are missing the big picture. Manny's the only one I see that gets it. The Spurs weren't just a tweak, flip, skip, hop, and a jump away from a championship. The Spurs were looking at a championship from the distance, the way you look into the downtown haze from the 410 and I-10 intersection.
Translation: They had no shot.
Pop was trying to make chicken salad out of chicken . Yeah he ed up on Splitter but that isn't what changed the series. The Spurs not having any prime talent changed the series.
The run and score gimmick was because he knew he was ed on the defensive end. What was he going to do, pretend that was an albino David Robinson with red hair back there?
Splitter looks like a decent backup big man, but he's not the answer. If the Spurs want to contend next season, the patchwork has got to stop and the Spurs have to acquire some serious talent and that just isn't very likely.
The Spurs are far, far, far away from a championship. It's going to take a lot more than 1-2 veteran role players. Like Manny said, Tim Duncan is no longer Tim. He's more like a HIGH IQ, decent big man that can only play limited minutes.
It's not really anybody's fault the Spurs are done. It happens - especially if you're a small market team. Pretty hard to be a true contender year in and year out.
And the justifications from the Pop suckers continue. Is TPark lurking? Suddenly a 61 win team is chicken , but nobody could have expected that you need size to counter size in the western conference.
Pop did a great job of managing the team's minutes all season, but two criticisms on that score:
1. The decision not to suit up Manu for Game 1 may have cost the series (it looks especially suspect when we saw how well Manu played the rest of the series).
2. Keeping players out of games completely toward the end of the season (rather than just limiting minutes) may have backfired.
Both Tim's ankle injury and Manu's arm injury came the next game back after sitting out a game. Maybe that's just coincidence, but it also may be that keeping older players loose and in rhythm (even for only 10-12 minutes/game) may be better than sitting them out completely and then bringing 'em back. Also, both Tim's and Manu's injuries came in the first couple of minutes of the return game after sitting the game before (as I recall).
Splitter wasn't the answer, either. Maybe this is KBP in a new troll disguise?And the justifications from the Pop suckers continue. Is TPark lurking? Suddenly a 61 win team is chicken , but nobody could have expected that you need size to counter size in the western conference.
Splitter came in with no minutes, no time with Duncan and no rhythm with the team and was great on both ends, yet Pop still refused to play him in the second half of games where the Spurs continued to lose due to an inability to stop Randolph or Gasol. Sorry, but if you're too stupid to do that math, then maybe you're KBP.
If there was an answer to get the Spurs past the Grizzlies, it was Splitter. If Pop developed Splitter over the season and put him in the starting lineup instead of Dice, the Spurs are playing game one against OKC today.
He better play Tiago more minutes next year......
Bad for the Spurs but great for the Argentina NT, Manu will be mad about this loss and will eat alive every team on the preolimpics.
Playing Splitter was a total act of desperation. It was too late in the season to all of a sudden throw him into the rotation. Bottom line: Tim is past his prime, George Hill never became Bruce Bowen ver 2.0, Dice is too old, and the rest of the team is undersized.
Is anyone really so shocked that we were beaten by Memphis? They just exposed this team for what it is, that's all.
Richard Jefferson was blanked for the second time in the last three games when he failed to score in the Spurs’ season-ending loss to Memphis Friday night.
He was also shut out in Game 4, notching two of his seven lowest scoring games of his career in his last three games.
Now we are stuck with him. I don't think he has any intrinsic trade value at all.
RJ was a bust for the Spurs. Just add him to the list of MANY busts for the Spurs.
-Pop & Co. should have gone after a big in the 2010 offseason or before the trade deadline.
-Splitter should have played more this season.
-James Anderson should have seen more minutes even after his injury.
-Blair/Bonner combo...yuck
In the final analysis, good big men beat good little men in basketball.
We have developed no interior components to offset the decline of Duncan. They got 62 of their points in the paint. We got 38. Dice tried but how much can you expect of him at this stage of his career?
It is a mystery why Pop took Tiago out of the few games where he played. He was doing OK on offense and playing decent defense--something that neither Bonner nor Jefferson nor Blair was able to accomplish.
Can you imagine Dwight Howard next to Duncan?
Oh well, that's never going to happen.
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