open letter to pop

[spur4life]

pop

it would be a huge mistake on your part if parker is allowed to guard billups for most of the game 7....if this happens, billups will probably have another mvp-type game...as a spurs fan, i hope this will not be allowed to happen....for God's sake, put bowen on billups cos he is the pistons' engine room! (i remember it was bowen who used is initiative to suggest to you that you allow him guard billups in the later part of game 5). find a way cut of billups game & take away hamilton's jumpshots. i know this is not easy but it can be done...

also, can you please make your team show up with a very tight defence for once in this series? make the pistons shoot under 40% as a team. play zone if you have to, i don't care...play t-mass after nazr does the tip-off (that seems to be all he does this days). tell parker & manu to give the ball to timmy...both guards have to play spurs basketball for us to win game 7.

your team needs to be sound fundamentally to win this game: cut off turnovers, force turnovers, rebound, play hard, play smart, put pistons big men in foul trouble (flop wisely!), use the crowd, pump up the players, tell your player not to complainn to officials during the game...they should just focus on the game (a point in hand was in game 6 when timmy was complaining to the ref about billups & while he was doing this billups hit a 3-pointer!).

timmy cannot play alone against detroit's frontline, so call out your other big men!

for us to win this game, someone, & i don't know who, has to give us robert horry -type performance of game 5....someone has to come up huge.

lastly, you will have to rest your players very wisely in order to prevent the pistons from going on avoidable runs & i expect you to be on your feet backing out orders to your players once the 4th quarter starts. the outcome of the game depends on your overall performance, not just that of your players!!

[DarrinS]

pop

it would be a huge mistake on your part if parker is allowed to guard billups for most of the game 7....if this happens, billups will probably have another mvp-type game...as a spurs fan, i hope this will not be allowed to happen....for God's sake, put bowen on billups cos he is the pistons' engine room! (i remember it was bowen who used is initiative to suggest to you that you allow him guard billups in the later part of game 5). find a way cut of billups game & take away hamilton's jumpshots. i know this is not easy but it can be done...

also, can you please make your team show up with a very tight defence for once in this series? make the pistons shoot under 40% as a team. play zone if you have to, i don't care...play t-mass after nazr does the tip-off (that seems to be all he does this days). tell parker & manu to give the ball to timmy...both guards have to play spurs basketball for us to win game 7.

timmy cannot play alone against detroit's frontline, so call out your other big men!

I don't think Parker has been horrible. He just needs to fight through the pick better. It's not like Chauncey has been posting up Tony or doing a lot of driving on him.

The Pistons have been content to shoot the jump shot and they have been hitting a very high percentage (not very characteristic of them). You live by the jump shot you die by the jump shot. That said, SA defense should play better perimeter D and try to force them into the paint more, where Tim and Nazr will be waiting.

There's not ONE defender that can really handle Timmy. But he can't do it if he doesn't GET THE BALL. He only got 14 attempts in game 6. I think the 2 time MVP and two-time finals MVP needs more touches than that.

[Pistons_In_7]

who will guard Hamilton? Manu? Then who will guard prince?

[JamStone]

Coming up with a different gameplan in game 7 of the NBA Finals is just asking for disaster. Play Tony Massenburg??? Put Tony Parker on Rip Hamilton or Tayshaun Prince???

And, if those changes don't work, every Spurs fans from St. Croix to Timbuktu would be all over Pop for making those changes.

Play the way that got you to this point. Play your best possible game. Then, live with the outcome.

[easjer]

Manu on Hamilton and Barry or Devin Brown on Prince - he's been a non factor, so unless he goes off, leave him be.

Start things off and them switch them up. If you continue to throw different defenders at them, then they will continue to have to adjust. Chauncey will adjust to Bowen, and when he does, throw Parker back out there. If he adjusts, then switch. He'll be thrown off his rhythm.

[DarrinS]

Why not goat Chauncey into a selfish game? Give him his. Whenever Chauncey really puts up big numbers and doesn't have a lot of assists, the Pistons seem to lose. I seem to recall Chauncey had 35 or so points in game 5. In the Suns series, we pretty much let Amare have whatever he wanted and we focused our defense on other players. Unfortunately, I think Chauncey is too smart for this.

[peskypesky]

I don't think Parker has been horrible. He just needs to fight through the pick better. It's not like Chauncey has been posting up Tony or doing a lot of driving on him.

The Pistons have been content to shoot the jump shot and they have been hitting a very high percentage (not very characteristic of them). You live by the jump shot you die by the jump shot. That said, SA defense should play better perimeter D and try to force them into the paint more, where Tim and Nazr will be waiting.

There's not ONE defender that can really handle Timmy. But he can't do it if he doesn't GET THE BALL. He only got 14 attempts in game 6. I think the 2 time MVP and two-time finals MVP needs more touches than that.

I agree. Duncan HAS to get the ball or it is a lost cause.

[samikeyp]

and this is why none of us are coaching.

well....except for Kori...Spurs would have won in 5 then.

[DarrinS]

Coming up with a different gameplan in game 7 of the NBA Finals is just asking for disaster. Play Tony Massenburg??? Put Tony Parker on Rip Hamilton or Tayshaun Prince???

And, if those changes don't work, every Spurs fans from St. Croix to Timbuktu would be all over Pop for making those changes.

Play the way that got you to this point. Play your best possible game. Then, live with the outcome.

I have to agree with you. This is not the time to get experimental. That said, I wouldn't mind seeing Devin get a few minutes in the middle of the game.

[JamStone]

There's not ONE defender that can really handle Timmy.

Rasheed has handled Tim pretty well, for most of the series. I haven't seen any 40 point games, or even 30 point games by Tim.

Tim has rebounded very well this series, but I think that's more of an indictment of the deficiency of rebounding of his frontcourt teammates. If Rasheed, Dice, and Tayshaun weren't good complimentary rebounders, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ben average 20 rebounds a game. Nazr and Horry haven't been exactly racking up the boards. In fact, Manu is the only one helping in the rebound department for the Spurs.

At any rate, foul trouble can be a problem, but RASHEED WALLACE is ONE DEFENDER that can really handle Timmy. Not stop him, not completely shut him down ... but just HANDLE him.

[easjer]

I am not fully advocating just going wild. . . but Chauncey can't be allowed to hit three's. Hamilton was getting his point in spite of Bowen, so I don't see what harm it could do to put the premier perimeter defender in the league on the hot guy when there are other options to guard the open men.

Clearly, we won't be sitting Tony, so it's not as if this is a game long strategy. And while many Spurs fans would hit on this if they lose, it's game 7 of the finals, why not shake it up a little?

[DarrinS]

Rasheed has handled Tim pretty well, for most of the series. I haven't seen any 40 point games, or even 30 point games by Tim.

Rasheed has played adequately. It has been the presense of BOTH Rasheed AND Ben that have somewhat limited Tim. I don't think anyone expects Tim to put up 40, especially against the Pistons. Tim hasn't had to be that kind of scoring machine since Manu and Parker have been scoring more. From what I saw in game 6, Tim can pretty much have his way if he's agressive enough and makes a quicker move in the post.