Pop's Minute Management & Adjustment Won This Game

[heyheymymy]

It makes me think that Pop started to win game 5 during the 3rd quarter of game 4. Genius moves.

great point, was going to post something to this effect too. started to figure out game 5 in the middle of a tossed game 4.

[G-Dawgg]

If Duncan's mid-range jumper was as good this year as it was last year, then we could get away with playing Duncan and Splitter. Unfortunately Duncan's jumper has all but fallen off the planet. The Diaw/Ibaka matchup is going to be the key to series for us. So far Diaw has taken the challenge and done well

[LakerHater]

He wanted sum JUICE!

[z0sa]

Pop's coaching in this one was nothing short of legendary. He stayed on tony's ass and it paid huge dividends. His rotation and defensive switch ups thoroughly confused Brooks and the Thunder players. Ultimately its up to the players on the court but he did everything right and then some on the sidelines tonight. Bravo, sir.

[Raven]

i knew pop would step up too, and he didn't disappoint, it's just frustrating that both against dallas and okc, he just needed so much time to start being serious. Oh and i don't think the minutes management in game 4 played any role.

[Solid D]

For everyone complaining about him throwing up the white flag early in game 3 and 4, this is exactly why. At this stage of GDP's career their cooldown is much longer and Pop really needs to protect their minutes at all cost. Playing them for an extra 10 minutes for a 5% chance to make a comeback is simply not worth it unless it is a do-or-die game. Keep in mind the 30-40th minute is way more stressful than 0-10 and Spurs bench at this point usually can outplay fatigued Spurs starters. All three members of the GDP core when fresh can still take over a quarter with high % field goal, they just don't have the stamina to score 30 point games anymore. I am actually perfect OK with GDP getting 30-35 minutes rest of the playoffs, quality over quan y and use the bench. We are not going to beat Heat/Thunder with star power. We have to play the fatigue game.

Spurs was also very lucky Brooks was an idiot to play Durant for 40 minutes, Westbrook for 46 minutes in a blow out game. They clearly didn't have the defensive energy today. They played high efficiency offense for one half, but offense does not beat this Spurs team if it get the passing game going with low turnovers. The ultra intense defense they played in games 3 and 4 can not be sustained with only one day between games.

Duncan/Splitter probably shouldn't play together again rest of the playoffs. Duncan at this point is no longer capable of threatening any team with 1v1 post-up's (Heat has Duncan post-up killer in Birdman, Bosh can most likely also hold this year's Duncan to low post up %) or middle range jumpers. He is however an excellent catch and finish around the rim, sets great screens, moves great without ball, just stop calling ISO's for him.

Having a stretch four, even as bad as Bonner creates way more spacing for Spurs passing game. When Splitter comes in he can use all of his energy on defense and play the same clean-up around the basket offense. Duncan + Splitter is very redundant on offense and kills our spacing. Great adjustment and huge balls to starter Bonner!

There is an excellent chance for Spurs to win game 6 if Ibaka/Jackson start to run out of gas from their injuries. Crossing my fingers but time to give Pop his due!

Excellent post and observations, hitmantb. It was, indeed, GDP + Diaw and Leonard who initiated the separation (double digit) midway through the 2nd quarter. They got to the rim & scored a little better, also. Splitter paired with Diaw had some positive results.

[superbigtime]

It's easy to criticize and difficult sometimes to complement. Masterful coaching from Pop. I'm really pleased to see Pop outcoach that dork OKC coach. him and his free throw shooting team.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

The perfect move for game six is going to be to start Diaw. We throttled the Thunder in the third last night with him in the first five. Talk up the effect Bonner had on the starting unit between now and game six. Brooks will gameplan to make Bonner beat them, having Ibaka and Perkins sag off of him due to his lack of ability to hit a damn thing when it matters in a playoff game (and because they have no other move at this point).

Come out with Boris, and they'll be in panic mode right out of the gate. Then you can get Tiago in later in the rotations when they bring Adams in, he matches up fine with him.

[EVAY]

Pop coached one of his best games in years, tbh..

The stretch 4 also allowed Leonard more driving lanes(which worked, since he finished at the rim and got to the free throw line several times), along with giving Duncan more room to position himself for catches/finishes..

He also kept Belinelli on the bench until the Spurs were up by 17, and even Mills only played 5 minutes in the 1st half..perfect rotation, kept it shorter than usual until the Spurs had a nice cushion.

He also mixed coverages on Westbrook/Durant with Leonard and Green, unlike past games..

Excellent observations, imo. Thanks.

Starting Bonner was a surprise to most of us, I think, but when Bonner went out there most of us also figured that he wouldn't be there for very long and that Diaw was the one Pop would rely on. I was actually surprised that Pop left Bonner out there as long as he did. Lots of folks assumed that Diaw would start, but since Diaw's game allows for both stretch and post-up moves, I eventually figured Pop wanted to start Bonner to remind everyone, plus the Spurs themselves, that the four was to play a stretch position that night. Since Bonner's release is so slow, and since he wasn't hitting any shots, his presence there had the (probably unintended) result that the Thunder defense started sagging off or ignoring that position, which was terrific when Diaw got hold of it.

More of what I thought was great about Pop's coaching last night was that he was actually coaching a lot during the game, including timely time-outs and talking to his individual players lots more than normal.

I alos noticed how long it took for Bellinelli to get into the game and was thrilled by it.

[4down]

I gotta admit I wasn't sold on giving up 3 and 4 so early but I understood part of the logic. 2 hat I now also see is that I think Pop figured out a few things that would work by analyzing what happened when the third team was in. At least that is my su ion. Along with the confidence boost and anger they had to have after watching the 3rd unit play well. He was a bit of a stubborn SOB refusing to go small for a while, but you gotta to take the bad with the good and I t j ink out odds are better trusting Pop though I wish he'd be a 'by the gut' coach a bit more