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Of course he doesnt try to lose.
Greg Pop is a strange man to me. On one hand he is an unquestioned championship caliber coach with all the hardware to back it up. On the other, he's a lunatic that will gravitate to the obviously wrong answer and stick with it no matter what.
I think what bothers me most is I don't understand where he's coming from a lot of the time. Examples: What was the point of bringing back Ime Udoka? Why did he sign Malik Rose to a big contract and then immediately resent Malik for it? Why does he continually play Matt Bonner when Bonner can do no right? Why did he do the same for Michael Finley?
I don't watch all the Spurs games but I do catch about 1 in 4. Just as a casual observer, the guy is either certifiably basketball insane or he tries to lose some games. This Clipper game, I think he really was trying to lose. A lot of the stuff he did made no sense to try but the kicker was when it didn't work, he let it be.
I can understand if the team just plays bad and they lose but that didn't look like the case. The Clippers are a horrible basketball team. There's a reason the Spurs always beat them and even if the Spurs were dead tired, they should have been able to sleep their way to victory.
I have no clue what Pop is all about but he is frustrating when you're pulling for SA to win. After watching Bonner continually get abused and then not even come close to making a shot, you'd think eventually he get yanked but it didn't happen.
Writing this post, I've got to think Phil Jackson loves to play against Pop because he's extremely predictable and even if something isn't working, he'll still keep to it.
That the Spurs are the best in the league is amazing when you consider that Bonner is a major part of their plans. Bonner wouldn't even make most teams rosters.
I give Pop a ton of credit for delivering on 4 championships and always fielding a winner. He obviously does a lot right. This Spurs team is way better than I thought it would be and whatever he said/did with RJ must have been revolutionary. I just can't help but think the Spurs would be even better if he would take out his stupid quirks and idiotic stubbornness.
How is it that he holds on to Finley for too long but not Bruce Bowen? How is it that he'll let go of Scola but he wants to lock up Bonner? Why can't he play youth with upside when nothing else has worked? Why give up Theo Ratliff for nothing when the Spurs were in desperate need of a presence in the middle?
Pop is a proven winner but he has done and continues to do a lot of stupid stuff. I didn't like his quote about being happy for the Clippers winning. Sometimes he's too eager to help out his fellow NBA brethren and apprentices.
Of course he doesnt try to lose.
But he do it just to piss you off.
+ - = neutral
Pop's philosophy
You can never be perfect, you always need a negative to succeed.
To some extent I love the way he coaches, he knows exactly whats hes doing and what results he will get by doing so whether good or bad. But he tries to use and force that negative(bonner) to turn into a positive somehwo.
I didn't see the game, but from the looks of reading the posts on here afterwards, he must have wanted to lose to the Clippers.
Spurs had many chances to close out this game, it was more about the execution...Spurs just went cold toward the end and could not hit shots...The looks/opportunites were there, they just did not take advantage of them.
Pop chose to keep the Big 3 off the floor for the 4th quarter, even when the Spurs subs got to within 5 points. Manu came in for the last minute and a half, but we were down 8 and the game was lost, even for a closer like Manu.
One could speculate that Pop simply doesn't want to coach the West All-Star team.
Or he simply knew that Parker and TD were off their game and couldn't contribute so he went to the bench to see what they could do against a so-so Clipper team.
I'm amazed that he didn't use Splitter more to get more game experience since it was a game he decided to let go.
The wat I'd put it is Popovich knows the regular season is different from the playoffs. The regular season is about (a) making the playoffs with a reasonable seed, but not burning yourself out to get a top seed, and (b) having the team and the athletes ready for the playoffs. Other than that he could care less about regular season records.
He knows that regular season records mean diddly squat. He could care less about winning streaks or other regular season pseudo achievements.
I would speculate that he is working on team dynamics. Manu led the team goal of having a fast start in Oct/Nov. Maybe he's showing them what it takes to win every game, by playing the core a lot of minutes vs. The Warriors on the first night of a back to back. I don't know this is speculation. Maybe he's trying to convince them to do it his way, by showing them what happens when they do it their way.
any excuse to get into the players asses
Whole post so true. In answer, i believe it's the "absolute power corrupts absolutely" syndrome. Rare is the person who is given much power and authority and does not misuse it. FF you will see on this board and in many a case of San Antoners that Popped will not be held to any kind of accountability. That's long since been established since he denutted the Spurs dynasty chances with his Finley affair and continuing with Bonbon.
Akin to this, my question is why does Timmy Dunks tolerate Pops crap? It's kept Dunks legacy from moving into Jordan type territory while allowing The Fraud aka Kobme with Sterns rigging to rob him of Championships.
If you think it's rigged, why do you think anything Duncan might want would change that?
I was wondering why Parker wasn't on the floor in the second half? He only played 18 minutes. Wasn't playing all that well, but he could have ignited a spurt.
Possibly, because it was in LA, and the Eva thing? Sean Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Lu ck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_Luck_The_Fakers_ and Bill were totally silent on his absence, which made me think it was a Spurs gag order.
Even when we got to within 5 pts. with 30 seconds left, as poor a free throw shooting team as the Clippers were that we at least tried to extend the game and hope for a lucky break. Instead, Pop allowed them to dribble out the clock. I guess he had dinner reservations waiting with a good bottle of wine!
His line-up selection was like he didn't care about a win in this game. Trying to match up Bonner and Blair with their big's is not an even matchup, instead of countering with our quick's like Parker, who has always played well against Baron Davis.
Sure sounds like you watch more than 1 in 4 games. Everything you said is spot on.
Except for Pop's call on Bonner/Splitter minutes (should be flipped) and Duncan/Dice playing on back-to-backs, I'm happy that his rotation is not as wacky as it was last year when there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for his lineups. I hope whatever he said or did to RJ over the summer sticks.
Why would Duncan want rigged reffing for Kobme/Lakers and collusion ie Gasol for Kwame Brown fixed?
Is yours a real question?
In my opinion Malik earned the big contract but once he got it.. he stopped playing like the malik who earned it.
And thats why you would ask such a dumb question.
So I need say nothing to retort and I still win.
Yes, that's why the Spurs have the best record in the NBA after 18 games.
jeez.
There is no evidence he thinks it is fixed.
Yes, and you didn't answer it.Is yours a real question?
Coward.
you know, i honestly don't think he cares if you understand him or not...I think what bothers me most is I don't understand where he's coming from a lot of the time.
as much of a shocker that might be, and as harsh as it might sound, i think that's pretty close to the truth.
Pop caring wasn't what I was getting at. My point is his some of his decisions have no logic or sound reasoning behind them.
Some of you guys try way to hard in the one upsmanship category. I'm just trying to discuss spurs, not get in a back and forth.
Im just going to say it was b2b road games ....but it also did seem like the spurs weren't playing to win...
I was trying to figure out the same thing too. If you were gonna give up on the game, didnt make much sense to keep playing timmy, but if youre playing timmy 30 mins, are you giving up on the game? I saw him on the sidelines, dont know if they showed it on tv, but he was yelling at his players late into the game so it looked like he was trying. I think he was either trying a different lineup, or forcing bonner and others to find it in themselves to will out a win, seeing how much neal could be counted on, etc. Thats my take, but i guess only pop knows what hes doing.
No. If Pop wanted to lose, he wouldn't have ordered a foul on poor-FT-shooting DeAndre Jordan with 2 minutes remaining in the game.
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