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4 games too late
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/0...s=iref:nbahpt1SAN ANTONIO – Before Game 2 of the Spurs-Grizzlies series, a reporter asked San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich if rookie Tiago Splitter could get some playing time.
“Yeah,” cracked Popovich. “You could get some playing time, too.”
Maybe the members of the media should arrive for Game 5 on Wednesday with their ankles taped and their high-tops laced up.
With Antonio McDyess saddled with three personal fouls, Popovich went with Splitter at center to start the third quarter of Game 4 and he produced one of the few bright spots of the second half for the Spurs, getting 10 points and nine rebounds.
“I thought he was wonderful,” Popovich said. “I thought he did some good things out there.
“Antonio had three fouls and you need him at the end of the game to guard Zach (Randolph). We didn’t want to start Antonio for that reason.”
The 26-year-old Brazilian had seen mostly spot duty in 60 games during the regular season after he missed almost all of training camp and the preseason with a strained right plantaris muscle and never seemed to find his rhythm or a place in the rotation. But he’s excelled in the Euroleague and played in major international compe ions with the Brazilian national team.
San Antonio fans had been clamoring for Splitter to get onto the floor ever since the Grizzlies’ big-man combination of Randolph and Marc Gasol had pushed the Spurs around in the series opener.
“As the series goes on, teams start making adjustments,” said Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins. “And sure enough, he comes out and is playing. I talked about him before what his game was and he played pretty decent for them. They decided to go with him and go bigger than (DeJuan) Blair.”
Trailing 3-1 in the series, the Spurs are desperate and Popovich is likely to try anything. So since Splitter wasn’t afraid to mix it up inside with the Grizzlies, maybe he’s a lifeline on the road back.
At this point, what could it hurt?
4 games too late
a lot more than that.
someone dropped the ball
one season too late. what a waste.
thanks pop, what a horse's ass.
Pop needs a season to get over himself.
Tiago, the new rookie Hill from the playoffs when it was too late...
If he had played in game 1 this series would be even 2/2.
Its never too late. In fact, there's a game tonight.
What pissed me off is that f'ing Reggie Miller and McHale were praising Pop for putting him in the other night. Making it seem like Pop was a genius.
sarcasm ^
true that but they shied away from criticizing him ^
09 debacle - Hill doesn't play serious minutes until Game 3 or 4 of that series against a team we needed perimeter scoring desperately.
11 debacle (maybe?) - Splitter doesn't play til Game 4 against a team that we desperately needed interior defense and size.
Pop is looking foolish right now, and I can't help but think he has been - at least in these two cases.
Don't forget playing Manu in Game 82...cost them Game 1 of this series.
Four straight years of considerable playoff injuries for Manu. Four straight years. I can't blame Pop for Manu being a playoff china doll or just having bad luck, however you want to rationalize it.
I have the bad feeling Pop will go back to Blair/Bonner in Game 5. Hopefully not, but Tiago/Duncan does not seem to work, therefore I like to see Duncan/Dice and Bonner/Splitter on the floor ...
The Splitter/Duncan frontcourt combo may have not even played a combined 48 minutes over the first 82 games of this season.
Unfortunately, it may be our only chance at salvaging the season - which means Pop must deal with some mistakes and chemistry trouble without overreacting in his subs ution patterns.
We cannot expect to find this chemistry now ... it will be interesting to see what happens tonight.
I think I read somewhere they had around 20-some-odd minutes together, total, for the whole season. Pop lost his freaking mind, and everyone knew it but him all season long. I'm also disappointed in the other players and assistant coaches for not slapping him for his stupidity all year long.
I blame Pop for the decision to play the starters. If he wanted to rest the starters, he should have rested them for both games. If he wanted HCA, he should have played them both games. I can even see playing them vs LA and resting for PHX if SA lost, but resting for LA and playing PHX makes no sense.
I wish Pop was held more accountable. That reporter who asked about playing Tiago should have done so after game 3 too. Pop's smartassness (is there such a word?) is coming back to bite him. What a waste of a year - all that run and gun fun/#1 seed instead of preparing for the real season. It's one thing not to have the personnel but it's reprehensible to have Tiago sitting on the bench all year and then turn to him when desperate. What a position to put him in.
Dont forget about sticking with Horry a year too long.
Sticking with Finley a year too long.
Sticking with Bonner 3 years too long.
And Bonner played 1432 minutes of which 98% were odd.
Pop's a fking moron
He played well in the first half.
Not in the second -- but the excuse is built in.
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