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Looking at stats over the course of the season sort of masks what the Spurs can do on defense when they clamp down, and those exact things are what smallball cannot do. I think we all agree that the Spurs' defense has played in short bursts, but those bursts have been very, very good.
I'm worried that squeaking out a lucky win by jacking up a thousand threes against a lottery team validates running smallball in Pop's mind, and allows him to give an early hook to any of the centers when he should be gearing them up for the playoffs. There are certain guys that he punishes for mistakes and others that he punishes for lack of effort, claiming that he only does one but not the other. He used to have the rotation down by this point in the season and guys knew that they could play without looking over their shoulder any time something negative happened. He started doing this to Rasho and Nazr about this time last year, too. The fact that Elson is getting a hook three minutes into games doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. If the Spurs go to the small lineups in the playoffs, the key this year is going to have to be Bonner, because he adds energy, movement, rebounding and tenacity while having some size and some ability. Mainly for his hustle, though.
That said, the Spurs will go completely dead offensively against a playoff team with Bonner in a small lineup since it'll be Duncan in the post and four guys standing around the perimeter, just like last year against the Mavs.
