Did Pop set up the Warriors?

[RD2191]

Tbh I still have faith in Timmy. ain't no punk like LMA. He'll throw in a few vintage performances to get us past the dubs. Imo.

[Cowboys_Wear_Spurs]

I seriously thought Pop would try to win this game, but it was obvious he didn't give a . Didn't yell at anyone, didn't yell at the refs. Just sat in his chair and spectated most of the night. And its not CIA Pop. This is Pop letting the other team show their sets, show their rotation on D and show him what lineups matched up well or not so well against GS. Its like that game against the Clips 3 years ago when they blew the Spurs out. Spurs went into the playoffs and proceeded to hand the Clips their ass. Warriors as much more talented. But still, a blowout loss doesn't mean in the regular season.

Pop figure the Spurs were going to probably lose anyways and just wanted to get the game film on the Warriors. Seriously, the Spurs have a lot of film on the Warriors after this game. Pop definitely got what he wanted out of this game.

[RD2191]

Pop got his ing ass handed to him. No need to make excuses to make yourself feel better. It was a ing ass kicking of epic proportions and a real wake up call.

[SpursNW]

Spurs got beat - no question. But that has happened before and they have responded. Will definitely have to change the game plan during the playoffs.

I like: Ginobli (PG) starting on Klay, Kawhi/Green rotating on Curry, Green/Kawhi rotating on Draymond. Parker off the bench. More Boban - force 2nd team to deal with height in the paint.

Don't give up the ship.

[RD2191]

Curry is too quick for Kawhi imo. Also Kawhi isn't all that great getting around screens. Pop s arou d too much with defensive rotations. Keep Danny on Curry at all times. DG doesn't do much of anything else so he should have no problem sticking with Curry for an entire game.

[boutons_deux]

Rope-a-dope?

[skulls138]

I know this will sound crazy, but did Pop throw that game to get the Warriors over confident? The Warriors got lucky last year, everyone knows it, LeBron was right, they got really lucky. This year they're just simply on fire and they're getting carried away sometimes with their showboating and yelling. There was a moment tonight that I think spoke volumes and that's when Curry beat Simmons and yelled at him, flat out yelled at him. This is coming from an MVP champion? From a regular season game in the middle of the season? It's like they haven't been there yet but they have, these guys are immature, really immature, and they've yet to be forced to play real defense because of a weak schedule and well, more luck. That was not the San Antonio Spurs tonight. Yes we always see bad games from them, games where they turn the ball over, look lazy and confused, and get out hustled. But when they do that, you can see and feel the frustration. Tonight it looked as if nobody cared. The yelling at the refs were minimal, sure there were times of frustration, but the facial reactions of the players really didn't show much. They just let the Warriors beat up on them and showboat in their faces. That's not the Spurs I know, they always at least show a little bit of "just wait". The Spurs don't think they can't take the Warrios, who takes Pop seriously? I don't. He got the Warriors right where he wants them. He got the Warriors y and unafraid, like he did to the Cavs in 07. Pop knows that come time for the WCF, if they meet they won run lame iso ball, there were a few very telling possessions for SA when they scored with ease and there was no organization, and every time they went inside and got an easy dunk, because shocker, the Warriors suck at interior defense. I think it was Ginobili or Parker that talked about Pop always has a few tricks up his sleeves for the playoffs, coincidence it was right before this game? I really believe that Pop to a certain extent threw the game to let the Warriors get right where he wants them, and I strongly believe it'll catch GS By surprise come playoffs when the Spurs team that shows up is unbelievably good compared to the regular season Spurs team. I still have strongly believe 6 will be achieved this year!

I dont think Pops purposely threw the game, just think he didnt put alot of coaching into it. He wanted to see where they were at and what they were made of.

[TheDoctor]

NO.

[daledondale]

We needed an ass kicking like this.

Absolutely. This will help us looking to the future.

[BillMc]

Tbh I still have faith in Timmy. ain't no punk like LMA. He'll throw in a few vintage performances to get us past the dubs. Imo.

Agree with this. Timmy is the Rock of Gibraltar. Just worried about those knees...

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

We needed an ass kicking like this.

I agree. I don't think Pop intentionally threw the game, but I don't think he put forth the type of coaching effort and preparation he would for a playoff game. David West tipped the Spurs' hand the other day when he said the team spends about three minutes before each game preparing for the other team and the rest of the time focused on themselves. You can do that against 90% of the league this year and still win if you're San Antonio, but there are still a handful of teams that require some strategy and effort to beat.

There was zero preparation for what the Warriors threw at them. Pop allowed his guys to try to beat the Warriors by playing their game, and I think it drove home the point to everyone on the Spurs that the path to the championship will go through Golden State and that they'll need a supreme effort to beat the Warriors.

Not the worst loss in the world.

[daslicer]

Its going to be uphill battle against this Warriors team to take them out but it's better to get blown out now then later on the playoffs. I still remember in '01 when the Lakers came out nowhere and surprised the Spurs by the level of intensity they were playing at during the playoffs. The Spurs during the regular season when they played the Lakers only saw a Lakers team coasting and in a disarray. It's because of that I believe the Spurs went into the WCF with a mentality that it wouldn't be hard to take out the Lakers but were in for a rude awakening when the Lakers turned up their play by 10 notches. Granted the spurs can still lose to the Warriors in the playoffs but I think they will be better prepared to deal with them because of this game.

[littlecoyotecoin]

Yeah, people really go overboard with the "CIA Pop" sometimes.

How's it goin', Pop.

[Proxy]

Had to stop reading after the first sentence. This kind of notion is pretty much conspiracy theory. Lots of cringe.

[Leetonidas]

Tbh I still have faith in Timmy. ain't no punk like LMA. He'll throw in a few vintage performances to get us past the dubs. Imo.

this. Duncan carried the Spurs last season when everyone was ting the bed. He may be old as but imo this game really proved how valuable he is to the Spurs. they looked lost without the old wise sage to guide them as Pop wasn't doing much coaching

[SilverSpur]

I found it odd that SA made all those bad passes. It look almost fake like they made too many and this from a team that is considered the best passing team in the NBA.
Also I saw SA leaving their man unguarded several times. Kawahi three times walked away from his man right under the basket which from the DPOY and one if the best defensive teams in the NBA seems strange to me.
Maybe Pop did sacrifice this game to make GS be over confident because to be honest I did not Recognize this team.

[Fireball]

you can throw all your CIA Pop stuff out of the window ... Timmy is hurt ... and we will not beat a healthy Warriors team in a seven game series ... you have to be perfect to defeat them and thats not gonna happen 4 out of 7 times. In the end, only Curry was great and got help from Livingston and Rush. But in another game Klay scores 30 in a quarter, in the next Iggy finds his offense and so on ... right now the Warriors are the better version of the Spurs

[MultiTroll]

PPoppers

And then there was the time Pop set up the Warriors.
Pop sure showed em.

[polandprzem]

Pop did not set Warriors up BUT he played the Spurs the classic way just to see how GS plays their best.
he tested many rotations and defensive schemes which caused havoc in which GS feels best.
All in all Pop wanted to win this game but he got the 2nd best thing - a blowout loss plus a HUGE amount of basketball well Golden State data.

We can only hope for Golden to start losing so we can get no1 seed somehow overall though we are not the favorites and Pop did not set Warriors up- Kerr knows every game in basketball there is