http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/c...ling_leak.html
Popovich's gas tank a telling leak
Buck Harvey - DALLAS Saturday wasn't in the back of Gregg Popovich's mind.
It was in the front. He hated this schedule as soon as he saw it, and he said that publicly. That bled into Thursday night. When the Spurs took the floor in the second half, down by 16 points, they followed their coach's lead.
Sure, they would compete but for how long?
So Popovich can be questioned for leading his team toward a quick surrender, all over the difference of four and a half hours. But his strategy mostly reveals what he thinks of his team.
He always managed minutes, and he's always known better than anyone how much gas is left in the Spurs' tank. Now, then, is he working with fumes?
Popovich showed none of that concern after the game. He joked before he went to the podium for the postgame press conference, and, once there, he pushed the stat sheets off the table and onto the floor.
It's bad enough, he said, kidding, and you're going to make me look at the stats? Good Lord. Have some mercy, will ya?
He might as well have asked mercy from Rick Carlisle, too. The Mavericks sped by the Spurs with such force that Joey Crawford was never a factor.
By the third quarter, Erick Dampier couldn't knock Tony Parker onto his back. Parker's back was already leaning against a folding chair.
Tim Duncan sat next to him. It's a short turnaround for us, Popovich said, repeating his front-of-his-mind concern. I didn't see where we were going to get back in that one.
With Dallas' lead growing, and with the Spurs heading toward statistical lows, Popovich was right. The Spurs were looking like the stock market: 16 points in the first quarter, 14 in the second, 12 in the third. He chose to sell.
Still, playing a game 44 hours after starting another is not exactly a triathlon. There have been times in this era when the most glamorous playoff teams went back-to-back on the weekend; TV would want them on Saturday-Sunday.
Given that, Popovich comes across as obsessed because a 3 p.m. start will follow a 7:30. Given that, this should really concern him: The Spurs had two days off and a 45-minute flight, and they were overmatched in Game 3.
This goes back to the gas tank theory, and why Popovich relaxes on the pedal. Over the last few years he's rationed energy as if it's a vanishing resource, because it is.
He's also overseen a lot of playoff disasters. Last season, for example, the Spurs lost in New Orleans by 19, 18 and 22 points.
Duncan was similarly down then, too. Then, in the first game in New Orleans, he scored five points. He would never score less in his playoff career until Thursday night.
But the Spurs won Game 7, on the road, as if they had to sacrifice some of those losses to set up the eventual win. It's always about what's next for Popovich.
The players have come to understand Popovich's rhythms, and this goes on throughout the season. Sometimes they sit in Denver in a kind of
spirited forfeit, and sometimes they sit after just a few possessions of the second half.
And when the worst comes, as it did Thursday, they also seem to understand the nuances. He pulls us and puts on the bench, Duncan said, and lets us sit there and simmer.
Popovich doesn't coach this way because he wants to. He has no other choice. He's working with aging knees and without Manu Ginobili, trying to find a way with an unathletic roster that needs the point guard to score at least 30 points to have a chance.
For him, with this team, four and a half hours matter.
This may have been the most effective part of Pop benching the starters.And when the worst comes, as it did Thursday, they also seem to understand the nuances. “He pulls us and puts on the bench,” Duncan said, “and lets us sit there and simmer.”
Duncan is better than 4 points, and he knows it.
Well he has the choice to develop younger and most athletic players.
This team needs youth.
I think Pop brought some of this upon himself. He had more than a chance to develop some younger more athletic players over the years, but instead he chose to be cautious and go with older less athletic but proven players.
This notion made sense two or three years ago when our core players (Duncan, Manu, Tony, and Bowen) still had youth and health on their side. They were enough to carry this team to three championships. But now that time and poor health has caught up to our stars the role players play like they should--old and unathletic.
Yep! Youth with lots of athleticism! We are old and slooooooooooooooow!!!
It's sad that someone with Duncan's resume needs that in the playoffs. Odds are about 50/50 he puts up another stinker like that before the Spurs are done.
This season has really taken it's toll on you, huh?
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