Should Rasho...

[zeleni]

I don't know.

Nazr is not a good center unless Duncan needs someone to be athletic around him. Duncan is in his top form and Rasho is hungry to win.

Spurs have Twin Towers and TP AND MANU. And Bowen

AND HORRY!!!!!!!

Why even thinking about Nazr? Make an argument to start Nazr the next game... He was hardly justified even when he played against Detroit with reconvalescent Rasho?!

[timvp]

Oh, gee, -1 to Nazr's -6.

-5 to -1 in the last two games.

And the moral of the story is the Spurs need more Robert Horry.

[ata]

Nazr was decent in the first two games. 18 points, 8 rebounds and three blocks in the first game and 9-for-10 from the field combined in both games. He just sucked in Game 3.

Here are your grades:
Game 1

Nazr Mohammed[/B]
Mohammed had an impressive stat line Saturday night. In his team-high 25 minutes, Mohammed scored 18 points, pulled down eight rebounds and had three blocks. He also went 6-for-6 from the field and 5-for-6 from the line. However, Mohammed didn’t play as well as the numbers indicate. He was a little slow rotating on defense and was in the way a lot on offense. Oh, and his late game three-pointer with ten seconds on the shot clock didn’t exactly indear him to Pop.
GRADE: B+

Game 2

Nazr Mohammed
Mohammed played half the game and had six points, six rebounds and three blocks. Those look like decent stats, but his defense was sub par. He needs to step it up in that area to earn more playing time.
GRADE: C+

Should I mentioned, that in both cases he was among worst graded Spurs, by you.

And I still don't when the Spurs reach the Finals. Rasho has sucked horribly versus the Pistons. He's too soft and too slow to deal with the Detroit bigs. As I said before the playoffs, Rasho will have a role as long as he can matchup. Against the Kings, he matches up pretty well because he can guard Miller, SARS and Thomas.

Wallaces and McDyess will be a different story. , so would the Suns for that matter.

So. In first six games of last year's final, Nazr impact was next to nothing. He bounced back in game 7 and showed that he can play. Rasho hardly played with exception of game 3 blowout, when played after all was decided.

In regular season 2005/2006 Rasho showed next to nothing against Detroit and Nazr played well in December and whole 2 minutes in January.

How can you claim, that Nazr will play better, after all poor performances both player had against Detroit?
I don't claim that Rasho will/would be better, however Nazr's chances are same.

[ploto]

Nazr is not a good center unless Duncan needs someone to be athletic around him. Duncan is in his top form and Rasho is hungry to win.

Interesting point-- if Tim is playing more dominant, does what Rasho bring compliment him better than what Nazr brings??

[ploto]

Great find!!

Nazr Mohammed
Mohammed had an impressive stat line Saturday night. In his team-high 25 minutes, Mohammed scored 18 points, pulled down eight rebounds and had three blocks. He also went 6-for-6 from the field and 5-for-6 from the line. However, Mohammed didn’t play as well as the numbers indicate. He was a little slow rotating on defense and was in the way a lot on offense. Oh, and his late game three-pointer with ten seconds on the shot clock didn’t exactly indear him to Pop.
GRADE: B+


Game 2
Nazr Mohammed
Mohammed played half the game and had six points, six rebounds and three blocks. Those look like decent stats, but his defense was sub par. He needs to step it up in that area to earn more playing time.
GRADE: C+

Compare to these:

Rasho Nesterovic
Nesterovic was a defensive monster Saturday. He defended the pick-and-rolls brilliantly and clogged the lane. Offensively, he had his best game in months. For the contest, the Slovenian center had ten points and seven rebounds, while shooting 4-for-6 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line.
GRADE: A

Game 2
Rasho Nesterovic
Nesterovic, although he didn’t play many minutes, had one of his best games as a Spur. He had four points and three blocked shots in only 13 minutes. His pick-and-roll defense has been impressive in the first two contests.
GRADE: A-

[timvp]

How can you claim, that Nazr will play better, after all poor performances both player had against Detroit?

Look how the Spurs got destroyed on the boards when Rasho was starting this season. Again, it's a matter of matchups.

[timvp]

Interesting point-- if Tim is playing more dominant, does what Rasho bring compliment him better than what Nazr brings??

Neither.

Robert Horry.

[timvp]

Great find!!

I've been saying all series that Rasho is playing well. That's no secret.

That doesn't mean that you run out and change the starting lineup and the minute distribution. Rasho is playing well off the bench. He's actually rebounding at a decent clip in that role. As a starter, he was rebounding like a small forward. As a reserve, he's actually holding his own.

It looks like Pop found a good role for him. You can't be satisfied with that?

[ata]

Look how the Spurs got destroyed on the boards when Rasho was starting this season. Again, it's a matter of matchups.

If boards are main reason, than is no brainer:
G1: Rasho 7 (23 min) - Nazr 8 (25)
G2: Rasho 2 (13) - Nazr 6 (24)
G3: Rasho 10 (17) - Nazr 0 (9)
---------------------------------
G1-3: Rasho 19 (53) - Nazr 14 (58)

BTW: I found interesting qoute from last year

Nazr's strengths are surpassed by the Wallaces, and his weaknesses are what they are best at exploiting. His strength is offensive rebounding ... which is hard to do either when you're up against arguably the best rebounder in the NBA. Ben Wallace is also the league's best shot blocker, which exploits Nazr's average-at-best finishing abilities.

It's not a matter of Nazr sucking... it's just a bad matchup for him. Same as Tony Parker. I'm not sure how much more you could reasonably expect from him.

From thread Bench Nazr

[SlovenianGuy]

-5 to -1 in the last two games.

And the moral of the story is the Spurs need more Robert Horry.

Timvp, I really don't know what you are trying to prove here.

Horry's +/- was -7.

[ploto]

Look how the Spurs got destroyed on the boards when Rasho was starting this season. Again, it's a matter of matchups.

Spurs got just as outrebounded with Nazr starting.

[T Park]

Timvp, I really don't know what you are trying to prove here.

That the Spurs need more Robert Horry.


If you think Rasho is more valuable than Horry.......


I have nothing to say if thats the case, cause that would be................................................ ................

[SlovenianGuy]

That the Spurs need more Robert Horry.


If you think Rasho is more valuable than Horry.......


I have nothing to say if thats the case, cause that would be................................................ ................

Timvp posted the +/- for Rasho and Nazr to demonstrate why it's not good start Rasho (or play him more minutes).

In the next sentence he wrote that Spurs need more Horry.

My point was that you can not compare players by their +/- numbers solely because if you do, the Spurs shouldn't play Horry at all. And I totally agree with you that Horry is more valuable than both of our centers.

[FloppinIsGreat]

we're gonna need both of them to win. Both need to step up on rebounding and on defense. If they do that the paint, game, and series will be ours.

[ploto]

Who is that I see in the starting line-up??

[Kori Ellis]

Good call.

Horrible rebounding.

--timvp

[gameFACE]

Rasho starting is making little difference right now. Spurs are getting outrebounded once again (22-13 per box score). Bonzi with 9 reb.

[zeleni]

We have weak rebounding guards. That's not right!?

[Pero]

I thinki starting Rasho wasn`t such a good idea. I know I didn`t watch the game, and it looks like the entire team sucked. But, he starts and the Spurs lose by 18???? I just wanted to give him more minutes, not start him...
And I think I agree with Zeleni. Spurs guards are weak rebounders. Though that`s no excuse for being outrebounded, Rasho just 2 rebounds? He`s grabbing more from the bench.
I wonder how the next game will go.

[Kori Ellis]

Rasho was playing really well from the bench. I would have just left it that way.

But Game 4, no one played well, so you can't really judge much.

[timvp]

Yeah, great job Pop. Rasho finally gets in a comfort zone where he's rebounding and playing well and Pop puts pressure back on him by starting him. Rasho respondied by playing horribly and getting negative rebounds for the game.

[alamo50]

I don't get it.
I just don't freakin' get it.
We need aggression in this series and Pop comes up with Rasho playing more minutes than Nazr?!?!?!

[leemajors]

I don't get it.
I just don't freakin' get it.
We need aggression in this series and Pop comes up with Rasho playing more minutes than Nazr?!?!?!

nazr passed worthless a few weeks ago.

[boutons_]

Nazr's reliable inclination to get more offensive RBs than defensive RBs doesn't make up for his horrible, soft defense.

He got 4 O RBs in the last 90 seconds last night, including missing and rebounding his own ing layup, typical for a horrible finisher.

Aggression from Nazr? GMAFB

Rasho's has much better feel for paint defense, takes tons more responsibility for rotating in good time, and on offense, does a much better job screening defenders for our drivers. Rasho is simply a better team player than Nazr.

[TDMVPDPOY]

win or lose, i blame rasho our franchise player.