This Loss Is On Pop

[T Park]

Tex,

what adjustments would YOU do to the above things?

[texbumTHElife]

Tex,

what adjustments would YOU do to the above things?

If we are going to allow their guards to crash the boards then the rebounds we DO get should be turned up court immidiately and it should be lay up, dunk or foul. We CAN run on this team it is just going to take a conciouse effort. We ran on them fairly well in game 2.

Chauncey should be guarded by Bruce Bowen whenever Parker is on the bench and in the 4th quarter of a close game, period. Good team defense CAN limit Hamiltons points because they all come off of screens.

If we are going to make a conciouse effort to keep their guards off the boards then a good running game would definately slow that down. If we choose to go about it another way then the Spurs guards need to stay with there men after the shots go up and at least contest them from getting into the lane.

There is nothing you, I or Pop can do about the fact that Tim Duncan is just embarassing with the game on the line in this series. His first three quarters of game 5 were iconic. His 4th quarter of the last two games WILL define his career though if we do not win this le.

[gilmor]

there's always a game 7. BELIEVE!!

[spyder]

yea...believe...besides, the texas longhorns baseball team plays tommorrow...we can worry about this stuff on thursday, which the spurs will win...sorry...just had to say that..game 6 is over..ill wait till game 7....

[spyder]

i meant texas plays today...doooohhh

[ShoogarBear]

Why I am not surprised that in that entire diatribe Manu completely escaped blame for anything?

[duncan_21]

I agree with aggie. I couldn't believe bowen didn't guard billups in the 2nd half. As far as guarding the 3's, one of abc's reporters said pop was yellin for them to guard against the 3.

I agree that I would have liked to see brown out there mainly for his defense. However barry justified his playing time while he was out there.

WTF, why is beno getting any playing time?

It's sad to think that if td could just hit 70% of his fts the spurs probably would have won this game.

You also have to credit rip, billups, prince, and sheed for hitting some big shots some of them contested.

It also didn't help that horry was throwing up bricks for most of the game.

You could also blame manu for gambling and being reckless on both ends. And tp should be able to get a charge on billups.

[ginobme]

Tim Duncan. I know we play team ball but as far as I remember from playoffs past when its crunch time its Tim Duncan time. The guy is having "good" games this series but thats not going to win a championship.

Game 7 NBA Finals is when your star should say "hey guys i got this, climb on my back and i'll take us to the le" . I've been waiting the whole series for him to have one game like that. He is hesitant when he gets the ball in paint and he is missing his bank shot. I know he's gettin doubled but thats nothing new to him, every team they play doubles him and if he hasnt figured somthing out after 6 games.....Well this is where all the great ones lead their team to championships. Defining game for Duncan on thursday. [B]BELIEVE

[NameDropper]

I knew that there would be threads of blame tonight, all in the wrong areas. And Spurs fans really just need to and admit that the Pistons just outplayed the Spurs. It happens sometimes.

Game Seven is going to be sweet. It is what sports dreams are made of.

I totally agree. Rumor has it all the finger pointing is directed at the Spurs when the finger should be pointed at the Pistons with a "great game" attached to it!!!!!

[ManuTastic]

The single biggest problem is Detroit is killing us by forcing mismatches on pick-n-rolls. Every ing play, Tim winds up on Billups and Tony winds up on Sheed or Big Ben. Then we're at their mercy (I must say last night I was impressed by their stone-cold shooting balls). But mostly it's a switching problem. This has GOT to be figured out.
I've suggested a zone before, and I'll do it again. Despite last night, Detroit is not a heavy 3-pt shooting team. Mostly Billups and Hamilton get easy jumpers in the lane off of those pick-n-roll mismatches. A zone would easily negate that.
Any other ideas? Of course the best solution is for Tony to fight over/through the screen and have Tim STAY HOME, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen. I do like the Devin Brown idea, just because he would be a better defender on Bps/Hamilton than Tony is.

PS. If Spurs can figure this out they win game 7 with ease. Just a clue.

[td4mvp21]

I think all of our losses have been Pop's fault. He does NOT MAKE ADJUSTMENTS. What noticeable adjustments have we seen since Game 4? Game 5 was Robert Horry's. Game 6, what adjustments were there? Very little or none. Pop is too stubborn when it comes to this stuff. In Game 5, Parker was RUINING our chances with turnovers and forced shots, yet Pop kept him in the game. At half time at Game 4, instead of encouraging the team he told them how much they sucked and that it was the worst performance he's ever seen. He doesn't know how to use this team's abilities. He's always messing with the rotations, etc. I'm not just posting this because we lost, I honestly think we might need another coach, even if we win.

[ALVAREZ6]

I wish we still had the Duncan from the beginning of the season, It's clear that his ankles are slowing his ass down, making him less aggressive. He's playing like if he didn't want to risk an ankle injury, but that isn't acceptable. He's gotta risk it and just go all out on Detroit, hustle his ass off, and be explosive.

[ALVAREZ6]

I think we should tip off with a different player guarding Chauncy. If he gets hot, then we lose...I guarantee it. Once he's hot, he'll do what he wants all night. I don't care if that means Bruce on Chauncy, Manu on Rip, and Barry on Prince for the starters. Tony can come off the bench and destroy Hunter.

Chauncy is the 1 single player deciding this series, IMO. If we stop him, I think this game is ours.

[ManuTastic]

A good point from ESPN today:

Tim Duncan only had one more shot than Rasheed Wallace even though he played 41 minutes to Wallace's 23. Duncan is supposed to be the best player in the league, and for him to have only 14 shot attempts is ludicrous. You can't expect to win when your best player is not getting the ball.

It wasn't as though he was being faced with tremendous defensive pressure, because the guy who does the best job on him, Rasheed Wallace, was out for most of the game with foul trouble. In that situation Duncan is supposed to be fed the ball. He should have had 25-30 shots, not 14.

– Greg Anthony, from the SBC Center in San Antonio

[ALVAREZ6]

That's exactly right^^^

Duncan had Ben and Prince on him for half the game, he should have gotten the ball and shot every time.

[td4mvp21]

I think we should tip off with a different player guarding Chauncy. If he gets hot, then we lose...I guarantee it. Once he's hot, he'll do what he wants all night. I don't care if that means Bruce on Chauncy, Manu on Rip, and Barry on Prince for the starters. Tony can come off the bench and destroy Hunter.

Chauncy is the 1 single player deciding this series, IMO. If we stop him, I think this game is ours.

Thats what I was thinking. Start Barry, put Bowen on Chauncey, Barry on Prince(he guards him anyway), and Gino on Rip. Parker off the bench would provide a boost for the team. But I don't think Pop is going to do that. He could start Barry and bring Ginobili off the bench too, but that isn't as good as the first. SOME adjustments need to be made.

[NoMoneyDown]

Here's an interesting set of stats ...

Parker's Turnovers -> 4
Ginobilli's Turnovers -> 3

Pistons' TOTAL Turnovers -> 5

[ALVAREZ6]

Here's an interesting set of stats ...

Parker's Turnovers -> 4
Ginobilli's Turnovers -> 3

Pistons' TOTAL Turnovers -> 5

It's just natural...we don't take care of the ball.

[NoMoneyDown]

It's just natural...we don't take care of the ball.

Ture. And last night our defense didn't force many either.

[boutons]

The Pistons low-turnovers is sign of their ball care plus some softness by Spurs' defense, a softness also indicated by the Pistons getting significanlty more STL and BS.

[ObiwanGinobili]

Damn it AHF- I hate it when I agree with you.
you make some valid points.


and yes, we got outplayed by the pistons - but we also MADE MISTAKES, I think it's just fine ot discuss those.

[tonillo]

I think all of our losses have been Pop's fault. He does NOT MAKE ADJUSTMENTS. What noticeable adjustments have we seen since Game 4? Game 5 was Robert Horry's. Game 6, what adjustments were there? Very little or none. Pop is too stubborn when it comes to this stuff. In Game 5, Parker was RUINING our chances with turnovers and forced shots, yet Pop kept him in the game. At half time at Game 4, instead of encouraging the team he told them how much they sucked and that it was the worst performance he's ever seen. He doesn't know how to use this team's abilities. He's always messing with the rotations, etc. I'm not just posting this because we lost, I honestly think we might need another coach, even if we win.

[ALVAREZ6]

The Pistons low turnovers shows their focus, something that we NEED.

[tonillo]

I honestly think we might need another coach, even if we win.quoto
mismatch pop don't understand. sa small guys vs. det big guys always (brown tricks)
sheed foul trouble why don't call play for tim
billups vs. parker???? no answer
may be change rotation??? never
brown in philly play vs. lakers 2001 with five small guys and embarassed mr. zen
where is pop tricks??

[cherylsteele]

You are more than welcome to do that. The beers are still here. But please arrive at my house before 6pm on Thursday when I leave for the game because I don't want to worry about getting the key to you.

You're giving him your key?!?!?!