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It wasn't 5 on 8.
It was us making the little mistakes in the end that cost us the games, just like the little mistakes that nearly cost us the game tonight.
Seriously though, once we get a lead going, throw in the bigs and play lockdown, suffocating D like the Pistons of last year, where we cradle each possession like a baby.
It wasn't 5 on 8.
It was us making the little mistakes in the end that cost us the games, just like the little mistakes that nearly cost us the game tonight.
It's really kind of depressing. When faced with a little adversity, the Mavs went back to what they do best. When faced with a little adversity, the Spurs abandoned what they do best in order to try to beat their opponent at the opponent's game. You don't stand in the middle of the ring and try to slug it out with a puncher, especially if you are the best boxer around.
We can argue about it forever. The bottom line is scoring fewer points than the opponent cost them the games, and playing defense and getting stops is better than getting baskets because it also erodes the opponent's confidence at the end of a game. If a guy flies past you all night and knows you can't guard him, he's going to have a load of confidence and energy at the end of a game. If a guy has to fight and scratch for every single point he's gotten, has been repeatedly denied at the rim and knows he not only has to get past you, but he has to get past the guy behind you, it's a completely different story.
Yes, and do you know what got us to score less than ouf opponent?
The unforced turnovers, the silly shots, the bad defense.
Neither do I (in Small Ball)
Did you actually read any of my posts? Have I once said that the Spurs need more offense?
The turnovers and FG% in this series are virtually identical to the regular season, so it all comes down to number three. You need shot blocking, you need rebounding, and you need size in the paint. If nothing else, you are going to need a freaking center later in the playoffs.
The truth hurts. Excellent post. Hoping the Spurs win and KNOWING they can are two completely different things. For the most part, you are not going to out-Dallas Dallas. I am happy they won last night's game, but a victory in that fashion should not give anyone supreme confidence. Dallas has played this way for a long time, and the Spurs have always done well against them playing good old fashioned Spurs lockdown defense basketball- why is Pop scrapping the system now? I can't believe Pop WON'T EVEN TRY try to let the Spurs impose their will against this smallball crap-a zone, anything that let's the Spurs have some semblance of the defense that won three championships. Win or lose, Popovich is apparently going to do this Avery Johnson's way. It sucks.
I was actually a bit miffed that Pop didn't try to insert a big (Rasho, Nazr) in the lineup when they were up by 10 just to see if that would spread the score even more. For whatever reason, tho, he has decided to stick with the small lineup. In the end, I think it will cost him. Yes, the Spurs have played Dallas tough in Dallas, and, yes, the Spurs won G5 (barely), but this is going back to Dallas where we won't have the luxary of the calls again, and, more importantly, where the Spurs have yet to win in this series. Tough chore ahead of them.
Obstructed View, NBAdan, you speak the truth and you enunciate it clearly. I unreservedly agree. Playing small ball against the Mavs is like slow-playing pocket AAs - you are just asking for the draw to beat you because you are playing his game! Sometimes you luck out, but you also lose more often than you should - see games 3 and 4 in Dallas.
Pop, please play SPURS BASKETBALL in game 6. Make them shoot the lights out to beat us, but cream them whenever they come inside and dominate the boards. Use Dirk's ankle against him, have the smalls run their arses off hassling Terry and Harris and funnelling them into our bigs, just like we've done for years.
With small ball we may win game 6, but it's a coin toss when it should be a power play.
GO SPURS GO!!!
Peace.
Small ball or not, game over. We don't need to play small ball if we can't play "OUR" game. Our game is "DEFENSE".I will say, "Boy, it's a good thing the Spurs played some defense and got all those rebounds."
You will forgive me if I don't give up just yet.
CIA Pop pulls one out of the hat in Game 6.
Poor mavericks.
I certainly hope you're right. People were all over my ass for predicting a VERY narrow Spurs victory in G5 (<5pt win, or loss), and that's just what happened. G5 was THE game for them to come out with vigor and a sense of domination. Instead, they had to rely on a Dirk miscue in the last 2 secs for a victory. They HAD to when this game by 10, 15, 20+ pts to help them mentally prepare for G6. And while I'm going to root for them in G6 like I've done for 10+ years before, I almost have to feel they are in a very tough position now.CIA Pop pulls one out of the hat in Game 6.
Poor mavericks.
From what I can tell, the lines haven't surfaced yet for the game, but I'm thinking Vegas will be on Dallas' jock for G6.
Game 6 likely will go down to the wire again.
But ask yourselves -- in a series like this, where winning has more to do with offensive execution than with defense, who's in better shape in a close game? Who is likelier to make that last shot?
I will be rooting for the Spurs in game 6 but I completely agree with ObstructedView. If we continue to play small-ball, we will lose for all the reasons stated.
I don't think Manu can play through the four quarters without being fouled out. Those ref in Dallas are Cuban's tools. If SPURS can't build a 15 pt lead, they will not win. Come on, in today's game, did everyone see how quickly the 10pt lead vanished. The SPURS players are great but small ball makes the team suffer from defense. However, it will be too late to switch back to big ball.
I won't go as far as to say we can't win with small ball, but it's definitely taking years off my life watching the Spurs' inep ude at keeping the Mavericks out of the paint. The easiest play in basketball is against a team with only one big man on the floor... Make that big switch onto someone who will pull him out of the paint, shoot the ball and crash the boards for the easy putback. It's worked almost every time for the Mavericks, and fortunately one of the only times it didn't work was on the last play of Game 5.
You've gone way past the mark, here. If the Spurs allow what you describe above, it means they aren't using the defense that won them three les and 63 games to win, which means they aren't putting themselves in the best position to win. In a series where winning has more to do with offensive execution, the Spurs have already flown the white flag.
The two games the Spurs won, they won because of good individual defensive plays, not last shots. That should tell you something. The Spurs should be sitting at home waiting for the Clippers right now. Instead they are trying to prove they can beat the Mavericks with their seven footers tied behind their back. Even AJ isn't stupid enough to do the same.
In other words, the great game from Timmy and Tony wasn't enough without heroics from Manu, yet the Spurs still only managed to win by one point at home with a 12 free throw advantage and had to make three incredible defensive plays right at the end just to win the game because Jason Terry and Dirk happened to miss two shots in the last second of the game. If the Spurs play the way they did in the fourth quarter for the whole game, numerically they lose by 8. At home. The Spurs are playing Phoenix Suns "no lead is safe" basketball. It's terrible to watch, and I'm sure ESPN thinks it's great. As a Spurs fan, it sucks. Pop has been so completely outcoached my wife wondered aloud if he owes AJ a favor.
I didn't go way past the mark. I was agreeing with you. Pop has resigned himself to playing this way. Maybe he's wrong. Or maybe Rasho and Nazr simply suck too bad to get on the floor, and Horry has played so much to compensate for the combined craptasticness of Nazrovic that he's all worn out a la 2002-03, and Pop has no choice but to play the only other guys he has.
Regardless, these types of games favor Dallas. They can put five guys on the floor who can create their own shot, or break down what little is left of the Spurs' defense, and they can do it quickly. The Spurs have three guys who can do that.
I agree that SPurs need to "dance with the one that brung um" to the dance.... defense. However, i am not writing them off due to this change in tactics. I am baffled as to why Pop made this change, but he is paid millions to coach the NBA champs and has 3 champ rings....
... and we armchair quarterback in forums.
Most of us drinking a few beers during the game as well.
Not for me, I gave up drinking...
...sobriety, it's a different world.
http://www.pe iononline.com/pb2510/pe ion.html
Pe ion to Stop Small Ball...Sign it
Wow, an online pe ion...those never fail!
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