Spurs looked like they were losing tonight on purpose

[Kindergarten Cop]

Warriors haven't won a game in San Antonio in 19 years.

[nickdakoolkat]

I think the biggest difference tonight was curry and clay realizing they don't have to beat every team with nothing but 3s. The only other team even close to defending the 3 as well as the spurs is the warriors. But as you could see last night curry was able to penetrate almost at will, now he didn't score 35, but he had a much more efficient game last night than the previous meeting. IMO that will be the key to the warriors beating SA in the playoffs is not forcing a ton of contested 3s, make SA pay for over contesting and get to the hoop!

[sexinthatsx]

Chinook summed it up perfectly. Pop didn't want to lose this game on purpose at all but the team lacked the intensity they need to win in Oakland. I noted some things:

1) Pop basically wanted to play his team pretty good minutes. I guess for conditioning. LMA dislocated his finger and still played 30mins.
2) More than anything, Pop wanted to dial in the defensive rotations. Hence the fastest time-out ever after Spurs lost Klay for a three.

If HBarnes goes off and decide to have the game of his life draining shots in front of Kawhi you can't do much about it, tip your hat, but at least communicate and play good team defense.

Simply put, just look at the way the Spurs defended during their March win against the Dubs and their effort on Thursday night. It was night and day, and Pop was basically letting Harrison Barnes go off.

[naico]

Looked like Patty was trying to lose on purpose. Has been bad these last couple of games. Hope he steps it up soon.

[TheDoctor]

Simply put, just look at the way the Spurs defended during their March win against the Dubs and their effort on Thursday night. It was night and day, and Pop was basically letting Harrison Barnes go off.

Sure, letting HBarnes and Raymond have their mid-range/3pointers was by design.

[Kidd K]

Some guys doing some positive analysis.

Almost the entire ST saying or implying we need some sucker punch trick to have some chance vs the Warriors.

For me the they are the new villains. Some times I even forget how much I "hate" Lebron.

That isn't the point. Hiding matchups or plans does not effect an entire series, only a game or two. It's a good tactic when you want to steal a road game in a series against a difficult opponent. Pop has done it multiple times in the past and it's been effective. The seeding is already locked up, so why would you show your entire hand in a meaningless game? Pop knows exactly what the Warriors want to do, they don't know all of what SA can do. It's a nice edge.

I don't view the Warriors as some villain. Their arrogance is annoying but that's about it. The only reason to want to see them lose is to make fun of their Lakers bandwagon fans.

[NameLess Scrub]

That isn't the point. Hiding matchups or plans does not effect an entire series, only a game or two. It's a good tactic when you want to steal a road game in a series against a difficult opponent. Pop has done it multiple times in the past and it's been effective. The seeding is already locked up, so why would you show your entire hand in a meaningless game? Pop knows exactly what the Warriors want to do, they don't know all of what SA can do. It's a nice edge.

I don't view the Warriors as some villain. Their arrogance is annoying but that's about it. The only reason to want to see them lose is to make fun of their Lakers bandwagon fans.

Thanks. I understand the point. I'm ok with them taking it easier.

I just have doubts about if there's an actual hand Pop hasn't shown. It seems like the margin of error gets smaller and the dependency on luck is more.

Can't wait for the playoffs.

[Obstructed_View]

Yep, when a good team skull s you they make it look pretty effortless. So much for that great defense and the beautiful game offense.

[kaji157]

I think it was pretty evident that the Spurs avoided to play to their strengths other than the first quarter.

Whether it was by design or because the Warriors forced us out of our comfort zone that isa thing of perspective, particularly I think that sets like the 4 down we are now playing with aldridge is a set that if you want to execute it there are few things opposing team can do to take that away from you, then is a matter of how they defend it.

I tend to think that after the first quarter and given the fact LMA got injured, Pop stopped that and went test mode the whole game, he has done this in the past against OKC for example. After being beaten by then in 2012 we always had a lot of trouble beating them during the regular season, yet during the playoffs Pop did have a plan that worked and we ended clinching at their home

Something similar happened in the 2007 finals against Cleveland, yet no one believed it, Cleveland dominated the Spurs in both regular season games and it looked as the Spurs had no answer for LeBron, yet the media speculated a lot more than today about pop not wanting to win those games, something it was debatable considering the swep in the Finals.