Blaming Pop Makes No Sense

[UZER]

I agree, the endgame subbing wasn't a big deal. Kawhi's free throw... sucked.

Diaw changing the way he defended LeBron was the worst thing that happened. LBJ was in his own head, until Diaw got him into his comfort zone. All of a sudden it seemed like no one could stop him (no one can, he can only stop himself, so let him). And that was what let Miami back in the game. Yet for all the narrative about how great LBJ played, he missed a lot and turned it over a lot there in the late fourth.

lebron was definitely in his own head. Once splitter got in, the lane opened and lebron started rollin. By the time diaw got back in, it was almost...almost to late, but diaw settled back in and lebron started pressing again.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I know Spurs fans have four ways of coping with defeat: 1) Blaming Bonner 2) Blaming the refs 3) Blaming small market bias 4) Blaming Pop

Since Bonner barely played, the refs were pretty damn fair and no other conspiracies make sense at this point, we're left to blame Pop as a coping mechanism. But I just don't see how it makes sense to blame him.

A) Subbing Duncan out when you're defending against three-pointers is something he's done for the last five years. And over that time, I'm willing to bet the Spurs have defended last second three-pointers better than any team in the league. It didn't work last night in the end but, damn, it took two cruel bounces (and friendly fire going for the rebounds) on the initial misses to break down the defense. This wasn't comparable to Vogel benching Hibbert because the Pacers weren't defending against three-pointers in that scenario. If the Spurs were up two points and Pop benched Duncan in that cir stance, I'd have my pitchfork in hand ........ but they weren't. You're up three, you put a lineup that can switch everything and you force a contested three-pointer. Everything worked other than the bounces off the misses.

B) Benching Parker late is something I disagreed with in real time, especially since the Spurs weren't calling timeouts to put him back in. However, after the game Parker said he was cramping up. If TP can't go, then yeah you have to take him out. Not much to complain about there.

C) You don't bench Manu Ginobili. How many times have we seen him suck for 95% of the game before coming up big at the end? He's done that so often that it's expected at this point. Manu is a player you want on your team when the going gets tough. Sure, he didn't play well last night (yeah, that's being kind) but you don't bench him. Only hindsight would tell you he should have been benched.

D) It's easy to say TD should have been force fed more in the second half. But this season, we've seen a lot of examples of 37-year-old Duncan only having the wherewithal to play great for half the game. This is far from the first time that has happened. It's possible he could have done more in the second half with more touches -- but far from assured. A more likely scenario is his historic first half used up everything he had to give -- on the offensive end especially.

Everything else is just nitpicking. If the Spurs hit one more free throw, got one good bounce, had one inch of difference anywhere in the last 25 seconds ... nobody would be blaming Pop for anything. We'd be the happiest fvcks on earth. But because of that flukishly terrible ending, a lot of us are looking to place blame. Pop, in this scenario especially, is the easiest target.

Speaking of which, I don't think blame should ride with any one person. This was a team collapse if I've ever seen a team collapse.

-Duncan didn't do much in the second half or overtime.

-Parker almost reached Kobe territory (6-for-23 is better than 6-for-24, thankfully).

-Ginobili didn't have the best game of his career.

-Leonard missed the free throw.

-Green didn't shoot straight.

-Diaw got too excited on D in the fourth and started playing LeBron too closely.

-Splitter is suddenly the word's tallest midget.

-Neal made Neal type mistakes.

-Pop could have done a better job coaching but his mistakes are on par with everyone else's.



Team loss. A Mufukn' team loss. Suck it up. Quit the whining. Dry the tears. Move on. Win Game 7.

That's all there is to do at this point.

Exactly. I tried to explain this to the muppets in the game thread but they wouldn't listen.

[baseline bum]

Pop was playing the odds.

Sometimes you make a great bet and lose.

Sometimes you make a dumb bet and win.

Over time, I'll trust Pop over any tinhorn (like me) that posts on a website.

This. You play the odds instead of going with your gut.

[pgardn]

Pop made a number of poor decisions imo.

But my god the number of things that happened on the court that had nothing to do with lineups was incredible.
Everyone wants to have their own moment when the game was lost because this is easy. Just forget the mul ude of good and bad events that got the game to that point.

I choose to look at the time period in the 4th when Lebron lost his headband and was killing us, the game was slipping away and what happened? A timeout. The Heat's rhythm was completely thrown off. It allowed us to come back. If it was not for this break we would have been blown out and never had a chance for missed FTs, Manu mistakes late, pops horrible decisions.

We got lucky to even be in the game. I choose this point as my most important of the game.

So all the IFs and BUTs. We should have lost at MY special pet moment. MY special prejudices.

[TDfan2007]

This would be a much better argument if TD and TP both didn't still look tired even after the extended break.

Duncan didn't look too tired. He simply didn't get the ball in good position ala games 2 and 4. The Spurs started going away from him immediately after halftime.

And please tell me why you would have a guy who is gassed running around and setting screens everywhere instead of staying on the block.

It's not Timmy's fault that Tony and Pop forgot that he was on the floor in the second half.

[100%duncan]

You take your best rebounder out of the game when the only thing separating you from a championship is 1 last defensive rebound? And let's not for get, he did it twice, and in those 2 times, 2 3's came from offensive rebounds.

Sure let's not blame Pop, it doesn't make sense.

[timvp]

You take your best rebounder out of the game when the only thing separating you from a championship is 1 last defensive rebound?

The focus was defending the three-point line since they were up three points, tbh.

[mingus]

tbh, I just can't stop remembering the 4th quarter starting and being in complete shock with the lineup... just cannot get over it. And after they cut it to 4, Pop calls a timeout and same lineup still out there? I was floored.

This to me was the biggest mistake. Pop needed to somehow manage his rotations so that Parker and Duncan weren't getting a rest at the same time. The lineup with Manu running the show has been consistently bad all series, it seems. I think had Popovich kept one of Duncan and Parker in we would have kept the lead.

The Spurs had control of the game up to that point and were basically going to route them.

I like our chances in game 7.

[100%duncan]

I know Spurs fans have four ways of coping with defeat: 1) Blaming Bonner 2) Blaming the refs 3) Blaming small market bias 4) Blaming Pop

Since Bonner barely played, the refs were pretty damn fair and no other conspiracies make sense at this point, we're left to blame Pop as a coping mechanism. But I just don't see how it makes sense to blame him.

A) Subbing Duncan out when you're defending against three-pointers is something he's done for the last five years. And over that time, I'm willing to bet the Spurs have defended last second three-pointers better than any team in the league. It didn't work last night in the end but, damn, it took two cruel bounces (and friendly fire going for the rebounds) on the initial misses to break down the defense. This wasn't comparable to Vogel benching Hibbert because the Pacers weren't defending against three-pointers in that scenario. If the Spurs were up two points and Pop benched Duncan in that cir stance, I'd have my pitchfork in hand ........ but they weren't. You're up three, you put a lineup that can switch everything and you force a contested three-pointer. Everything worked other than the bounces off the misses.

B) Benching Parker late is something I disagreed with in real time, especially since the Spurs weren't calling timeouts to put him back in. However, after the game Parker said he was cramping up. If TP can't go, then yeah you have to take him out. Not much to complain about there.

C) You don't bench Manu Ginobili. How many times have we seen him suck for 95% of the game before coming up big at the end? He's done that so often that it's expected at this point. Manu is a player you want on your team when the going gets tough. Sure, he didn't play well last night (yeah, that's being kind) but you don't bench him. Only hindsight would tell you he should have been benched.

D) It's easy to say TD should have been force fed more in the second half. But this season, we've seen a lot of examples of 37-year-old Duncan only having the wherewithal to play great for half the game. This is far from the first time that has happened. It's possible he could have done more in the second half with more touches -- but far from assured. A more likely scenario is his historic first half used up everything he had to give -- on the offensive end especially.

Everything else is just nitpicking. If the Spurs hit one more free throw, got one good bounce, had one inch of difference anywhere in the last 25 seconds ... nobody would be blaming Pop for anything. We'd be the happiest fvcks on earth. But because of that flukishly terrible ending, a lot of us are looking to place blame. Pop, in this scenario especially, is the easiest target.

Speaking of which, I don't think blame should ride with any one person. This was a team collapse if I've ever seen a team collapse.

-Duncan didn't do much in the second half or overtime.

-Parker almost reached Kobe territory (6-for-23 is better than 6-for-24, thankfully).

-Ginobili didn't have the best game of his career.

-Leonard missed the free throw.

-Green didn't shoot straight.

-Diaw got too excited on D in the fourth and started playing LeBron too closely.

-Splitter is suddenly the word's tallest midget.

-Neal made Neal type mistakes.

-Pop could have done a better job coaching but his mistakes are on par with everyone else's.



Team loss. A Mufukn' team loss. Suck it up. Quit the whining. Dry the tears. Move on. Win Game 7.

That's all there is to do at this point.

Every points on your bullets doesn't matter. The Spurs survived all those . THEY WERE UP 5 WITH 28 SECONDS LEFT. SO YEAH LETS NOT BLAME POP.

[TDfan2007]

I agree with everything else though. Players lost this game by playing soft and stupid in the fourth.

[100%duncan]

The focus was defending the three-point line since they were up three points, tbh.

So you forgot the possession before that? Up 5 28 seconds left, lebron misses, rebound, lebron hits 3.

Guess what LJ? A defensive isn't a stop until you get that defensive rebound.

[pgardn]

You take your best rebounder out of the game when the only thing separating you from a championship is 1 last defensive rebound? And let's not for get, he did it twice, and in those 2 times, 2 3's came from offensive rebounds.

Sure let's not blame Pop, it doesn't make sense.

So what about the first quarter? It came before the end of the regulation. How come we had not been blown out by then?
How did we even get ahead in the 4th? The rest of the game comes before the end in most worlds.

And I do Agee it was a bad decision, I was screaming along with my cousin when we saw who walked onto the floor.

[100%duncan]

So what about the first quarter? It came before the end of the regulation. How come we had not been blown out by then?
How did we even get ahead in the 4th? The rest of the game comes before the end in most worlds.

And I do Agee it was a bad decision, I was screaming along with my cousin when we saw who walked onto the floor.

Your first paragraph doesn't make sense, oh that's familiar! Yes! Like Pop's decision making!

[dbreiden83080]

So you forgot the possession before that? Up 5 28 seconds left, lebron misses, rebound, lebron hits 3.

Guess what LJ? A defensive isn't a stop until you get that defensive rebound.

This...

[mingus]

The three point shot is a low percentage shot. Chances are you miss more than you make them, especially in a clutch situation. And you can point to past instances where the Spurs usd that same strategy, but it wasnt against the Miami Heat and a championship wasn't on the line. Tim Duncan should have been out there.

[TrainOfThought5]

The order of Merit list for blaming is as follows:

1. Ginobili.

2. Ginobili.

3. Ginobili.

5. Popovich... if youre just intent on spreading the blame around.

[timvp]

So you forgot the possession before that? Up 5 28 seconds left, lebron misses, rebound, lebron hits 3.

The focus was still defending the three-point line.

[pgardn]

Your first paragraph doesn't make sense, oh that's familiar! Yes! Like Pop's decision making!

Did you watch the WHOLE game?

Oh , lets just make up a score and start with 28 seconds left.

Its all that matters... Fool.

[100%duncan]

Did you watch the WHOLE game?

Oh , lets just make up a score and start with 28 seconds left.

Its all that matters... Fool.

You're so stupid sorry. I won't reply to anymore. Ciao.

[100%duncan]

The focus was still defending the three-point line.

Let's play your game.

If you say that that was the focus, was the goal attained? No. Because no one was out there in the point to ing rebound.

[100%duncan]

The order of Merit list for blaming is as follows:

1. Ginobili.

2. Ginobili.

3. Ginobili.

5. Popovich... if youre just intent on spreading the blame around.

you.

[tlongII]

I dig TimVp's posts and am a huge fan of his classy wife.

That said, I disagree with this opinion for reasons I have detailed in other threads. Pop flat out overthought it and overcoached it, period. He completely botched the game and I just hope the team can dig deep and bail him out in Game 7.

It wasn't just one bad coaching decision, it was a series of them to the point where I think you could legitimately argue it was one of the worst coaching performances in NBA Finals history. And I am not saying that only in hindsight, I was saying it at the time....he blew the game when it was obvious the Spurs badly outplayed them.

He needs to just calm the down and make sensible decisions in Game 7, a good start would be enough with the endless "rest" periods for star players. Let the star players tell you if they need to come out, they have all ing summer to rest and this is for all the marbles. The TV timeouts alone are plenty of rest for most players, trust me on that.

If a guy needs to come out, let him signal you....don't have your two best players not on the floor in the last minute of regulation when you are up 5 with a le on the line....ASANINE.

I agree with Lanny. Popovich blew the game plain and simple. Even when they needed a 3 to tie it at the end he had both Duncan and Splitter in. WTF?!

[pgardn]

This is not the first time Pop has left Tim out to defend the perimeter.

I was PERSONALLY upset that this was against a team that is too athletic. But I understand pops reasoning.

[xtremesteven33]

The job of a coach is to put his team in a position to win. Spurs had a tremendous opportunity, and they couldnt do it. Its not supposed to be easy. Spurs know this. yea theyre dissapointed. All the "What ifs" enter your mind and could creep in doubt, but the Spurs know what compe ion is all about.

Blame the Heat.

[mercos]

I'm actually fine with Pop taking Duncan out on those last plays in regulation for the reasons stated in the OP. It took a lucky bounce and a lucky shot to force OT. happens. Where I disagree is on Pop leaving Ginobili in. If we are talking prime Manu, of course you leave him in to figure things out. I'd live or die with prime Manu all day. However, prime Manu wasn't left in, 35 year old Manu was left in. The guy didn't have it from the opening tip. I'm not saying he should have been benched, but he shouldn't have played so much in the fourth quarter. Others were playing better.

I was also bothered by a strategic blunder: switching on the pick and roll. I'm not sure why we stopped going under on the pick and roll and instead started switching and allowing Parker to guard James. It allowed Lebron to get going, which is a big mistake. When you've got the King bottled up, it is best to keep him that way.