It's not over.

[mouse]

Snap out of it, TPark. Ask your mom to slap you.

(insert picture of T park with his Barney undies down to his knees)

after all the Smack talk you do in here 24/7 ? you turn out to be nothing but another Buddy Holly ? a Fraud?

I rather hang out with a new BandWagon Spur fan who still has faith in the Spurs ,than some fat bas who claims to be the Donald Trump on Spurs Jeseys just to see his Mrs Butter worth ass melt down and give up like you did.

Dam T park, your no better than wet backs you hire............

[Obstructed_View]

Exactly.

I don't know why people keep saying the Spurs did nothing to adjust from games three to four. They did adjust ... they did exactly what you said and got killed by the guards. Instead of Jerome James dunking on them, they had Ridnour put up a 15 point quarter. They'll need to adjust again. And they will.

No, the adjustment after game 3 would be to rotate quicker and more effectively defend the pass or to double the guy with the ball really hard to disrupt the rhythm. I would even accept just switching and force them to take advantage of the mismatch. The fact that the Spurs made the exact same mistake but the opposite direction does not cons ute an "adjustment". You have a choice with the pick and roll, and the design of the play is to take what the defense gives you. The fact that the Sonics did that AGAIN means the Spurs didn't adjust.

[nickbroken]

If there's a "we are done" post in here, I know I didn't post it. And just to clue you in, the Spurs have had two bad games in this series and they were in a row. The second one was a blowout loss and they were torched by a team that has two of their top three players out of the game, and that's as close to a scrub team as there is left in the playoffs. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili being afraid to drive to the basket is not small stuff.

The fact that the Spurs made the same mistakes for a second game in a row should set off alarms for anyone that watches. It doesn't mean I'm not hopeful that they'll turn it around, and it doesn't mean that I don't think absolutely that this series is the Spurs' to lose and that the Sonics can't possibly beat the Spurs if both teams play their best ball, but it does mean that it's starting to smell like 2004 in the WCS.

I was speaking about you bro, I'm speaking about others who swear we are finished and it's over and Pop sucks so bad and doesn't know what he's doing, I guess they should just take over for Pop since he sucks so bad and they are so well qualified to coach an pro basket ball team.

[Obstructed_View]

I was speaking about you bro, I'm speaking about others who swear we are finished and it's over and Pop sucks so bad and doesn't know what he's doing, I guess they should just take over for Pop since he sucks so bad and they are so well qualified to coach an pro basket ball team.

I have to agree with you there; I don't particuarly like the "woe is we" posts or the "I hate this team" posts.

Regarding Pop, I thought the change in the rotation and what I perceived to be "punishment" by sitting players in game 3 was a really bad decision, but ONLY because the game turned out to be so close, and that makes it a hindsignt observation, which isn't really fair. I got the feeling Pop was struggling to find someone that felt like helping Timmy out tonight, and just couldn't find anyone. I'm sure he knows that Manu and Tony were intimidated, and I'm sure he tried everything he could think of to get them to grow some balls, but they just didn't do it, so he tried to ride the MVP as long as he could hoping they would turn around. When they showed absolutely no sign of doing so, he pulled Timmy and made them deal with it. I can't see how that's not good coaching, especially when your team decides to hang their heads and cry for whistles instead of playing aggressively and being professionals.

[nickbroken]

Pop is just getting too much blame, you can adjust all the turnovers the team made, Pop can't make Manu and Tony stop being scared to drive the paint,Pop can't wave a magic wand to make Barry stop sucking (Granted anything short of selling his soul to Satan wont help him)

[Ridnour]

"figure out how to defend the pick-and-roll,"

when Pop said in the Pop Show "that's the toughest play in basketball", the fact was irrefutable, but Pop's fatalistic tone really hit me. As if "there's nothing to be done".

How long has the p'n'r existed? Why are the Spurs, with the NBA-best defense, still trying to "figure out how to defend it" ? Wasn't that the main task after Game3?

The Spurs just didn't seem well prepared today, not by Pop, not in their personal at udes.

As a Sonics fan I thought I'd add my 2 cents to the Spurs difficulty with the p'n'r. Ultimately, the Spurs are having trouble "figuring it out" because there's nothing to figure out. The Sonics don't really have set plays, so much as a general pattern of cuts and the ability to run a pick and roll with any two players on the court, (save Fortson, James and Evans with the b-ball). The "3 guard" rotations like the Spurs saw tonight really don't change the Sonics offense at all but create problems for the Spurs defensive match-ups. Pop tries real hard to diagram a defense to stop the p'n'r or Allen and can't. That's because the Sonics don't even know where their going with the ball during an offensive set-up play. How is Pop supposed to figure out where they're going with the ball?<p>
Secondly, the Supes have done a great job in games 3 and 4 of identifying the Spurs defensive strategy and exploiting it. Tonight the Spurs focused on keeping close on Allen and keeping the Sonics big men from getting to the basket. As a result, Ridnour, Daniels and Wilkins light it up. The Spurs didn't react to the Sonics guards all game and didn't adjust to Nate McMillan's decision to turn the guards lose. Pop's got to make adjustments in 2 minutes, so far he hasn't adjusted in two games. The Spurs are probably the better team, but McMillan's starting to run rings around Pop when it comes to quick adjustments. That inability of Pop to make quick adjustments is a problem for SA. The Sonics adjusted more from game 3 to 4 than the Spurs did. Now the question is, "Does Pop have any adjustments before game 5?" If he does then this'll continue to be a good series. If he doesn't adjust from game 4 . . . well . . . . we only need 1 win in San Antonio.

<p>Enjoy the rest of the series y'all.

[Ridnour]

Wow, I'm surprised to hear that too. It's not like they're defending Stockton and Malone or Nash and Dirk out there. , it's not even like it's Ray Allen out there very often. It's Nick Collison and Jerome James, or Luke Ridnour and Antonio Daniels. If you don't have the personnel to defend those guys there's something seriously wrong.

Nothings wrong. Remember that those are guys who've been in the league for 2-3 yrs, except Daniels. Collison's basically a rookie. You're just hearing these names for the first time, you'll here them again. Give Ridnour 2 years and then you'll hear his name a LOT.

[leemajors]

start ginobli please, experiment over. not working any more. we need him to be aggressive from the get go. if you bring barry in, let him run point and play parker as off guard to encourage ball movement.

[Obstructed_View]

Nothings wrong. Remember that those are guys who've been in the league for 2-3 yrs, except Daniels. Collison's basically a rookie. You're just hearing these names for the first time, you'll here them again. Give Ridnour 2 years and then you'll hear his name a LOT.

You just made my point. The Spurs should be ashamed that they made those guys look like world beaters.

[mattyc]

We are the Spurs. They are not.

Watch us win this series.

[Ginofan]

Come on guys this is the Seattle SuperSonics, not the 4HOF stacked Lakers. They did what they were supposed to do, they held their own on their own court. It's time for us to do the same. This isn't over until the road team wins, and I'll be damned if that happens on Tuesday.

[Shelly]

Thank you for that post, Kori.

It's hard to read this forum after a loss with all the doom and gloom going on. It's nice to see a positive post like yours...especially from someone who's basketball knowledge and opinion I believe in.

If you had said, "It's over!" I'd be on that cliff right next to TPark. :Lol

[SpursWoman]

I have to admit....I feel somewhat better now that the Dallas/Phoenix series is tied as well.

Now it's Best-of-3, with the Spurs having home court advantage. Bring it on.

[travis2]

You are one of the greatest homers of all time.

If he's abdicating, I would be honored to take up the crown!

Spurs big in Game 5. Bank on it.





Believer since 1973.

[T Park]

people just hate the truth...

[SpursWoman]

TPark, go take some ing Wellbutrin.

[Ginofan]

T Park get rid of Barry man! Infact, switch teams (ala mouse)...we don't need your negativity!

[beirmeistr]

If the Spurs' effort and the history of this team is any indication, there might be one team rolling into the WCF...

No fans were ing about the offense in games 1 and 2 because Parker and Ginobili went toward the basket and got easy scores, drew contact, drew double teams, opened up opportunities for their big men to get offensive boards and for their shooters to get wide open looks. No fans were ing about the offense in games 1 and 2 because open players took shots with confidence and hit them. No fans were ing about the offense in games 1 and 2 because their defense was active and got turnovers which turned into easy baskets on the other end.

I don't know about anyone else but I put a lot of value into a sucky game only when it follows a bad loss and shows a complete lack of heart on the part of every player in the game not wearing number 21, as well as showing a complete lack of preparation or adjustments by the team since they got completely torched by the same play two games in a row.

If the Spurs can't figure out the pick and roll with Jerome James, Danny Fortson, Luke Ridnour and Nick Collison there's no way they're going to be able to beat any of the other teams still in the playoffs. If they don't figure out a way to regain their aggression and stop looking to the refs to bail them out every trip down the court they won't beat Seattle again.

Good post. Magic said the Sonics were playing "crazy" basketball and confusing the Spurs. Maybe that was part of the problem in game 4. It pisses me off that the Spurs lacked the energy that is required in the playoffs. I think they'll win the series, but the fact that they followed a disappointing game 3 with this type of play is disturbing. Duncan tried but the team was uninspired. And they showed that they are still susceptible to the fear-of-the-Lakers syndrome.

[JustSpurs]

I gotta agree with Kori on this...it ain't over ladies and gents....yeah, they played lethargic the last couple of games and they stopped playing in-their-face D.but we're at home now and I think they are tired of losing. I expect a blow-out. Maybe I am a homer but I still love my Spurs.

[Obstructed_View]

Good post. Magic said the Sonics were playing "crazy" basketball and confusing the Spurs. Maybe that was part of the problem in game 4. It pisses me off that the Spurs lacked the energy that is required in the playoffs. I think they'll win the series, but the fact that they followed a disappointing game 3 with this type of play is disturbing. Duncan tried but the team was uninspired. And they showed that they are still susceptible to the fear-of-the-Lakers syndrome.

In games 1 and 2 the commentators mentioned that the Spurs were playing at a different speed than the Sonics. The reverse was true in games 3 and 4.

[Ishta]

Game 5 is ours.. The Spurs will come back after getting their asses kicked from seattle to SA by Pop on the plane.These guys will come in on TUESDAY and rip the Sonics apart.. Someone(don't care who) please wipe that smarty pants smile off of Ray Allens face for goodness sake! GO SPURS GO

BELIEVE

[blaze89]

Game 5 is ours.. The Spurs will come back after getting their asses kicked from seattle to SA by Pop on the plane.These guys will come in on Saturday and rip the Sonics apart.. Someone(don't care who) please wipe that smarty pants smile off of Ray Allens face for goodness sake! GO SPURS GO

BELIEVE

Saturday? Game 5 and 6 would have both been played by then.

[Ishta]

I fixed that ! I am sure you can understand i am a little off today!

[50 cent]

The Spurs need to get physical and start intimidating Barbie and the others. If not, we will continue to play right into their hands. I say start Massenburg and let him make his contribution by throwing a 'bo right in Ray Allen's grill in the first few minutes of the game. If Ridnour needs one next, then find somebody else at the end of the bench to do that as well.

[bonesinaz]

The Spurs will regroup and adjust.... it really was just one game. Seattle won't win another game in this series. The Spurs have some great vet players in Horry, GRob, TMass and yes, even Barry. Devin is seeing minutes now and I think that Pop will use him more.

Horry, Gino and TD will have to be the leaders in this fight. Each can motivate, each can instill confidence and can make the team play Spurs basketball.

I can hardly wait until Tues.