Can the "Beautiful Game" work with the starters?

[Neurosis]

I think in yesterday´s game it was pretty obvious that having Duncan and Aldridge share court is not great for our offense.

Ball kept moving a lot with other combinations, like Aldridge/West (and Boris) and the starters and Duncan/West with the Subs. Also Aldridge/Boris did very well with the subs.

Playing Patty a lot with the starting five also seemed to help a lot when the team broke things open. We started the 4th 72-69 and after 9 minutes we were 100-80, that´s a 28-11 run right there. During that time the players on court were:

Mills - Ginobili - Leonard - West - Diaw from 72-69 to 86-78 (14-9 run)

Then Manu and West were replaced for Green and Aldridge. 86-78 to 96-80 (10-2 run)

West replaced Bobo for the last four minutes, and shared 1.10 minutes with the same core Mills - Green - Leonard and Aldridge. (4-0 in those possesions)

Then the scrubs got in.

Tim and Tony didn´t play in the fourth.

Nice post.

I actually have no problem with relegating Tim and Tony to a 15 minutes/game role, where they don't take court alongside Aldridge and Kawhi as much. TP is pushing 40 and still solid, the more longevity we can give him the better. Tony has declined and doesn't fit on the floor when we have Kawhaldrige and like you said TD isn't quite as smooth in this offence.

That said I think TD can play alongside Aldridge so long as there's still 3PT shooters on the floor. If you swap Mills with Parker in the SL, starters do fine for offense and probably have better D.

Both Tim and Tony were stars, but they're 3rd-4th options at best now and I'd rather see a Mills 3pter in the offence than a TD post-up or Tony PnR at this stage of their careers. We just can't run that against elite defensive teams. We have all the pieces to ring again if we play our personnel to their strengths.

[wildbill2u]

The beautiful game required motion. LMA and Duncan don't have that as part of their skill set. Kawhi seems to be taking the advice he's been given to be more aggressive with the ball so he's doing ISOs. Green doesn't move well without the ball and his skill on 3s is from a set position, not on the move a la Bellinelli or Patty. I still think Parker can do some driving, but with nobody else on the starters moving, the beautiful game is probably a beautiful memory.

At least until the second unit comes in.

[Solid D]

Almost any top 10 rotation players combined with Manu, Bobo and Patty running the Boston Weave is going to offensively master their opposition...particularly in the last 12-16 minutes of games.

[DarrinS]

Almost any top 10 rotation players combined with Manu, Bobo and Patty running the Boston Weave is going to offensively master their opposition...particularly in the last 12-16 minutes of games.

Yep, those 3 in particular.

[wildbill2u]

Many posters here downplayed his significance (because of his putrid defense) but Beli was a huge part of what the Spurs did during the regular season. The rotation tightens up in the postseason, and Green and Patty took turns getting hot in '13 and '14, so marco's importance was diminished. But you miss a guy like that during the first 82 games. His play-making and passing were very underrated.

Good point. I was reminded watching the game of how much motion Bellinelli gave to the offense. Never stops moving around the perimeter then back through the lane and out the other side---very much like Reggie Miller. It gives the defense fits and often creates either a mismatch or a mistake in switching on the part of the defense.. And of course, Belli could come off the curl and hit the 3.

[gambit1990]

All the more reason to start MVPatty tbh.