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I think it was the death of Finley on the Spurs roster that brought this about.
Isn't it great that we've barely seen any small ball for the Spurs since the All-Star Game? There's been some sprinkled in here and there, but it's nothing like what we had early in the season with small ball lineups constantly.
I'm not sure what made Pop change his mind to abandon small ball, but it seems to have worked as the Spurs are playing better lately.
And we can still have four shooters out there without playing small ball with Bonner out there.
I think it was the death of Finley on the Spurs roster that brought this about.
Concur. Finley never had a better moment or contributed more to this franchise than the day he asked for his release. God bless him for that.
Realization that RJ can't play the 4?
Don't jinx this . Not now, please!!!!
Some mod please lock, delete and bury this thread ASAP!!!!
I hate when the Mavs go small but still,
Mavs small ball>>>> Spurs small ball
Agreed.
Don't underestimate how important Finley leaving was to this season. I would rank it as the biggest reason why the Spurs turned things around.
I wouldn't be shocked to see Duncan rj Manu hill and Parker out there...
finley ed our rotation bigtime now that hes gone pop doesnt have to worry about playing him at all .... finley shud be MVP if we go all the way this year
CIA POP. Saving it for playoffs.
Any lineup with Bonner is still small ball. No post play and soft D equals small ball.
i'd rather have Finley any day of the week over RMJ. RMJ at this point can't even spread the floor, which is what he's getting paid to do. i think Fin is a little better on defense, more leadership. the Spurs should have kept him and bought out Mason.
Disagree. Bonner's D is underrated (He's no Mutumbo, but still serviceable) and he's never the only big on the floor.
Good point; however, because of Fin's "corporate knowledge", veteran presence, and size advantage over Mason jr., he presents a temptation too difficult to resist for Coach Pop. We'll never (knock on wood) see small ball with RMJ guarding the likes of Durant or Nowitzki, but we might see it if we still had Fin.
I agree that RMJ at this point is almost dead weight, but keeping him over Fin is addition by subtraction. Although, I don't think it was ever an "either/or" dilemma.
You are really willing to post this the day before a play-off series begins with Dallas??!!
This is my main worry, Mavs can go small with Marion at the 4 and it won't hurt them. Just gotta hope this doesn't make Pop put RJ at the 4...
Small ball's not dead. It's just in a coma right now.
Small ball will be back as soon as Pop see Barea, Kidd, Terry, Butler and Dirk playing at the same time.
Imo Small ball was used because Pop didn't trust Ian (and he had a tendency to foul quickly) and wanted to give McDyess and Duncan rest. That leaves Bonner and Blair...can't really do much else but play small ball.
But its great to see how the team does when it plays with compe ive size out there....even though Blair is bad ass when it comes to small ball (all star game where he grabbed rebounds over 7 footers, against the Mavs and Haywood, etc).
small ball is for teams with small balls
Bump!
..
Oops! I must have jinxed us, LOL!
You knew the re coach couldn't help himself. It's like he likes to embarrass his team on national TV. He actually had a lineup where Blair was his center and Bogans his power forward in a playoff game, against a team that has three near seven footers. I'm so sick of this team being undersized and getting posted up by so many teams. Teams just flat out take advantage of them because they haven't made acquiring size a priority in a long time.
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