Reply With Quote
start manu put finley on the bench and see what happens
WHEN WILL WE KNOW THE STARTING LINE UP FOR GAME 3????????????????
timvp said he did not intend that lineup to be the starting lineup, just one to throw at the Suns during the game.
start manu put finley on the bench and see what happens
WHEN WILL WE KNOW THE STARTING LINE UP FOR GAME 3????????????????
well the spurs never cut barnes.Why the does Pop cut guys like he and Barnes?
also, buford wanted Derrick Dial over Bell. Pop wanted Bell over Derrick Dial.
So just get it straight slappy
As I mentioned before, the Spurs have had success going small against PHX in the past. When the Spurs go small, they really need to move the ball around (and with it, the defenders). More ball reversals were needed Tuesday night. The screen/rolls with anyone besides Duncan were ineffective because PHX showed hard to the ball with great length and active hands. They didn't respect Horry, Oberto or Elson on the roll/pop. A couple of times, the Suns knocked the ball out of the ball-handler's hands off the screen (Ex. Ginobili, Horry) which led to a fast break opportunity.
The passes need to be quicker out of pressure and crisper. There needs to be better movement without the ball. When the Suns hold and push the Spurs out of their cuts, which will happen more and more each game, the Spurs need to help the officials by drawing the call. There was way too much dribbling to the middle and slow reaction passing to get out of trouble rather than quick recognition to hit the open man out of the collapsing D. The Suns aren't patient enough defensively to withstand lots of ball movement in a possession...so the formula should be fairly successful.
Small ball or no small ball...spreading the floor and watching Timmy go one-on-one with Kurt Thomas can only go so far. It breeds inactivity as well as more fast break ops.
there is no need to make major adjustments. Only thing, Tony and Manu have to step up or else we're ed.
oh I forgot, no super-small-ball lineups to start the 4th. please!
LJ, I can live with that. I'd just like to see more of Tim, Tony and Manu together on the floor and I like the idea of drawing Amare out more. I also would like to see some strong collective effort out of everyone.
i agree with sitting bowen this series to combat PHX's adjustment. first, bowen's defense hasn't really made much of a difference this series. and if he ain't contributing lock down d, his value on the court diminishes. with a team like PHX that is not a strong defensive team, we need players on the court that can fill the basket. our defensive scheme never changes so i think that works to our advantage. constant pressure on the suns d by having a floor full of scorers would tire their legs out on offense later in the game. it's worth a shot.
Damn straight! It's all about the effort. I don't know why people are so worried. This is not game 2 against Dallas from last year, this was a poor EFFORT. I'll only start worrying if we are still terrible by the end of the first half on Saturday. But it won't even take that long. You'll see a different team out there from the get go, but it will be the same players as game 2... playing SPURSBALL.
I seriously hope you're joking. Bowen's D on Nash wash crucial for game 1 W.
it might not be obvious to many fans but Bowen prevents nash from dishing the ball. he let's him handle it, yes. he let's him dribble it everywhere, yes. But watch carefully and you will see Bowen's strategy, to prevent nash from passing.
Pop should be playing Matt Bonner instead of Barry. I don't know why he doesn't see it. Bonner is a slightly better defender than barry, but more importantly, he's an energy/hustle player which the Spurs needed in game 2 to get them into the game. Add to it, his rebounding and it makes better sense than Barry.
And why dont you use Melvin Ely to counter thomas?
Thomas isn't being counted on as a serious offensive threat. Other than giving Duncan a breather, why would Ely make a difference?
Solid D, why must you attack everything with your relentless logic!?
i noticed last game that duncan got caught on nash during the pick and roll switches. how do we minimize that this game? nash torched him, and then they started to do that every possession
Great question. Timmy will just have to defend him out to the arc, contest his shot and trust his help when Nash blows by him...I guess.
I agree with this and think it is probably the most crucial adjustment for the Spurs in Game 3. The Suns defense was good in Game 2, but I'd argue that the Spurs didn't really make it work too much. Pop seemed to take the approach that he could force D'Antoni out of the Thomas adjustment by pounding the rock into Timmy and having Timmy cut Thomas to shreds. Tim did a pretty good job of holding up his end of that notion, but two things happened: (1) the Spurs of 2007 became the Spurs of 2002, standing around watching Tim and not moving or sharing the basketball; and (2) the Suns never budged and didn't bring doubles to help Thomas, which I think Pop was hoping to force.
The Spurs have to share the basketball. The Suns defense can be very good if you give them stationary targets to defend and don't challenge their lack of a team defensive mindset; penetration, even if it doesn't lead to layups, should create ball movement opportunities that will force the Suns to do something more than just man-up. They'll have to switch and rotate, and I'm not sure it's in their team DNA at this point to do those things particularly well over 48 playoff minutes. If the Spurs attack the rim and move the ball, they should be able to create opportunities to find easy baskets, whether those be at the rim or beyond the arc.
This may sound stupid, but I would start Bonner instead of Barry. He could pull his man out of the lane with the treat of a 3-pointer, and if his man doesn't follow him, Bonner can burn them. This could also open up the lane for Timmy, along with tony and Manu to frive the lane and create havoc. Plus on top of that he would give us something we lacked in game 2....hustle.
He provides better offense than Elson/Oberto....forcing amare to guard someone on the other end....give him a phyical defender. Elson/oberto are neither...
I know the spurs philosophy is to switch defenders, but when they are using timmy's man to pick for nash, whoever's on nash (hopefully parker on sat) should make it a point to go over the top of EVERY pick. that would give nash an open lane to pass to the cutter, but it would save tim a foul... i'd hope.
I think Pop would, if he had his druthers, play Parker over the top of the screen on all pick and rolls (unless dealing with a poor shooting PG) and avoid switches as much as possible. In fact, when Pop had Avery and Terry Porter, the Spurs tried to go over every screen. I still recall that in 2001, Flip Saunders was using two screeners on pick and rolls early in the first round series, just to deter the Spurs from going over the top and denying Brandon anything when he came off the screen. Of course, when AJ couldn't get over the top, the Spurs had a guy in David Robinson who was probably the best big man in the history of the game at playing the ball on a switch and forcing it out of the point guard's hands.
Unfortunately, Parker has proven over the last 5 years that he isn't physically strong enough to fight over the screen. Because Parker can't do that consistently, Pop's approach has changed, particularly in the playoffs, to a view that favors switching almost everything. I think Pop has to do that for defensive continuity -- while I suspect that Jacque Vaughn is capable of fighting over screens, the defense would have too many variables in its structure. It's a pragmatic move by Pop and the Spurs have generally found ways to compensate for the switching problem. I fear, though, that the Suns are one team that might be able to find the weakness in the defense and really exploit it with the many pick and roll combinations that they can employ during the course of a game.
Pop has two counters in the playoffs.
1) Put Manu on the bench (done already in the regular season)
2) Start Horry
Pop used to switch the Nash/Nowitzki pick and roll all the time, whether it was AJ or Parker playing the point. I remember one playoff game in 2001 Nowitzki dropped like 41 on the Spurs because they switched every single pick and roll (The Spurs still won pretty comfortably).
It's not that simple with Nash. Sometimes Timmy gets stuck with Nash when Steve dribbles and weaves through the defense, baseline included and then comes back out the other side - Timmy being the closest defender. It's not a simple matter of going over or under a screen. It's sometimes a matter of Nash's primary defender getting hung up in all the trees.
That's why Timmy has to defend out on the floor sometimes and trust his help...that's the Spurs' system. 5 men, team D.
Otherwise, the Spurs would have to run something like a matchup zone that they have employed a few times.
You're thinking of Game 5 of that series. Dirk was 14-24 from the floor and 14-18 from the line.
Pop used to switch the Nash/Nowitzki pick and roll all the time, whether it was AJ or Parker playing the point. I remember one playoff game in 2001 Nowitzki dropped like 41 on the Spurs because they switched every single pick and roll (The Spurs still won pretty comfortably).
I'm not saying that Pop ALWAYS switched pick and rolls pre-Parker, just that he preferred to do that and often could because AJ could get over the top.
Here's an adjustment, don't shoot like dog .
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
