I have never seen Elson chase the ball around the perimeter like they are playing keep away from him, running over his teammates in the process and just ignoring his assignment. He's NEVER been allowed to stay in the game that long when he's ing up. Ever. Pop has pulled his ass for rotating too slowly. Last night he was getting caught at the top of the key with nobody within ten feet of him. It was pathetic, and it was not representative of anything I've seen him do this postseason. Not even close.
Looked like the same Elson I've watched all year. Only difference is that his man was Marshall (a three-pointer shooter) and he was running to cover Gibson and D. Jones (two more three-point shooters). His rotations are usually bad but it usually isn't as noticeable because he's not near the three point line.
The fact that he had to guard Marshall just brought it out more into the open so it was easier to notice.
I couldn't watch the game ... what happened to Beno?
If he'd played that way all year Butler'd be suiting up for playoff games.
I agree with it 100%.
Bruce did allow James a lot more in scoring but he was on the bench when it happened. I noticed James was one time a little bit rattled when Bruce was around
ButHorry is the man on defense in game 2. He deserves an A+
Yeah, actually, didn't James' big run happen when Bruce was on the bench, getting his rest? Then I saw that once James started rolling, Pop put Bruce right back in there.
Plus I just think all the subs utions were pretty bad. And Manu wasn't even getting the ball or any plays during that time. All I saw was Brent shooting his 3 3s and missing ALL of them! Not even passing the ball to Manu or any other player for that matter...There was no ball movement. Just careless shots by Barry. Here is to hoping that Pop won't give Brent such big minutes in Cleveland!
Fin might not be doing so well, at all...but at least he isn't selfishly shooting the ball when it's just not coming...you know.
Also gotta give both Tony and Manu big props. That was a huge play by Manu right at the end, after the Cavs made their run. The 4 point play made it a 12 point difference...there was still time left on the clock. So that was an enormous play by Manu. And also, Tony is just playing the best game of his career, literally!
Last edited by greenleo; 06-11-2007 at 03:39 PM.
Manu and Tony had plenty of rotten plays and ill advised shots during the run. Don't put it all on Barry.
The two worst 5-combinations with a +/- of -10 were:
Barry, Bowen, Duncan, Elson, Parker
Bowen, Vaughn, Elson, Ginobili, Oberto
It's weird that Bowen and Elson were the common factors.
Whats your game 3 take?
yeah...if we win by 41 instead of 11, so ing what??? Crush the Cavs...see them driven before you...hear the lamentations of their fans...
I'm not blaming everything on Brent at all...I'm simply pointing out that he missed like 3 consecutive 3s...some of those were airballs...lol. That was during which time the Cavs got their big run...
Um, as for Tony, what kind a rotten play did he pull? Just wondering...Cuz to me, it seemed, like he was the best player out there...
And as for Manu, the dude had 25 points, plus that huge 4 point play...so one turnover is nothing compared to that.
Just want to know what "rotten plays and ill advised shots" did Manu and Tony pull?
Anyone else hate it when the Spurs are up 20+ points and they're still cranking up 3's?
Hasn't Barry made some really nice passes this series for us?... and he decides to show up
Yup...when you're up by 20+ in the 4th quarter, you need to do just one thing...RUN...OUT...THE... ING...CLOCK!!! There should be no more than 5 or 6 seconds on the shot clock each time you take a shot.
Great grades
Agreed, and those were horrible. The whole point of having him on the team is for his basketball IQ. If he doesn't have that, Beno might as well be out there increasing his trade value.
He probably was, but that ain't saying much. He lazily went under a screen and gave Gibson an uncontested jumper at the foul line to drop the lead to 14. He spotted up behind the three point line, got the pass with 4 on the clock and passed up the uncontested shot to dribble into the defender and force a 20 footer that got blocked and turned into Lebron's three point play on the other end. He threw a bad pass to Duncan that was almost stolen, he almost lost his dribble at the top of the key and then he got away with a travel on that huge layup off the glass. That said, Parker should have probably had three extra assists for those shots that rimmed out on Duncan.
Duncan and Parker had plenty of things they did right, and what they did wrong almost cost them the game. There's not much solace to be taken in playing well and losing.
Manu tried a quick three at the beginning of the run, committed the turnover right before Lebron's missed layup and shot a contested fadeaway from 20 feet before Lebron's big turnover. He then hit the three and got fouled. Just because the Cavs weren't able to capitalize off the mistakes doesn't make them excusable.
There is no adjustment for the Cavs to make. If they play their best game, hit ridiculous shots and the Spurs can't hit the broad side of a barn, the Spurs still have a chance to win. I predict Pop shortens the rotation like he did against Utah and, barring injury or failure to show up, the Spurs roll again. Nobody gets any rest in the 4th quarter unless they are up by 40 and he's worried about someone getting mugged.
Yeah, I also do not understand how Spurs KEEP loosing those big leads in every series they have played in thus far!
However, I think there were a few of coaching errors by Pop in the fourth quarter. He EVEN admitted that he had some poor subs utions and some bad defensive tactics there...So I'd say that I don't think he'd let Brent play that many minutes in the next game. Also, during the run, Bruce was on the bench, so Lebron went a bit wild there.
Obviously, there were mistakes from everyone. But as for Manu, it seemed like there weren't any plays for him in that fourth quarter. He didn't even have the ball in his hands at that time, all I saw was Brent shooting and shooting. Brent didn't even take his TIME to make the shot. And in a situation such as a big lead, you've gotta waste the time on the clock, the full 24 seconds...not shooting within 5 seconds in a hurry.
Yeah, I also saw Tim miss a few shots at the end, too. And I'm not saying Tony and Manu and Tim were perfect. They obviously had some errors. But their mistakes just did not seem to be that HUGE, you know...Plus they fixed their issues at the end, there.
The Spurs played bad defense through the entire second half. The Cavs only scored one more point in the fourth than they did in the third. Their problem in the fourth was that they stopped playing on offense, too. My guess is that Pop was admitting that he should have had Elson escorted from the building after the first time out in the fourth quarter.
Bowen came out for a rest when the lead was at ten. He was there the entire run.
Manu was initiating the offense when he was in the game, as he typically does in the fourth quarter. The ball WAS in his hands, and he wasn't doing anything with it. He's as much to blame for not getting good shots as anyone. At least he burned more clock than Barry did and played some defense. The Spurs won that game with their rebounding during that run.
Glad they did it, but that's their job. They did just enough to win. If they do that in Cleveland they lose the game. Hopefully they learned their lesson.
I read that "Pop just said he made bad decisions in the 4th quarter".
Put Elson in=bad decisions in this 4th quarter.
Elson has played well at times in these playoffs, especially after he lost his starting job; his energy level went way up. Game 2 was not one of those times. Putting him in is forgivable, leaving him in is not.
I would HOPE that they learned something...but the problem is that they constantly loose their big leads, no matter who they're playing against. Before it was Jazz, and now Cleveland. And the interesting thing is that they all know what their problem is, they talk about it in the postgame interviews. Yet, it still happens. It's like they know the issue, yet they just do not seem to fix it.
And that surprises me because Pop is the coach, and I'm sure he keeps reminding them NOT to loose the big lead...
Cuz even now as I had watched the big lead in the first half in Game 2, I just KNEW they'd loose the lead in the fourth quarter somehow.
I think the ONLY time they had kept the lead was in Game 5 against Jazz. But that time, it seemed the Jazz players had completely given up.
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