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Yawn...
Up until the last half-minute of the fourth quarter in Miami’s 103-100 overtime win in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday, Popovich had thoroughly outcoached Spoelstra in ways that not even a monster quarter by LeBron James could overcome. Despite building a 10-point lead after three quarters, the Spurs were tight and fatigued, and it was only due the defensive scheme masterfully crafted by Popovich and the heroic shot-making of Tony Parker that the Spurs were still protecting a five-point edge with less than 30 seconds to play. The Spurs snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in stunning fashion, and while any San Antonio player getting one more defensive rebound would have rendered it all moot, Popovich’s decision to bench Tim Duncan on two crucial defensive possessions deserves as much blame as any Spurs player warrants for not boxing out.
In a sense, sitting Duncan with the Spurs clinging to a five-point with 28 seconds left and then a three-point lead with 19 seconds left was the right move. The Heat needed to take 3-pointers in those situations, and inserting a more mobile defender made sense, by the book, compared to sticking a 37-year-old 7-footer on the perimeter to try to defend a shooter. The problem was, taking Duncan off the floor also removed the Spurs’ best rebounder, not to mention the greatest player in franchise history and a four-time champ. Duncan has shown in this series that he can guard wing and backcourt players in brief situations, even elite ones like James or Dwyane Wade. What’s more, Duncan has been there before. Somehow, he would have found a way not to make a fool of himself, and he sure would have helped on the glass when James missed a three at the beginning of each of those possessions. “Well, Duncan’s past performance may matter to you and I,” you might counter, “but Popovich doesn’t deal in sentiment. Pop calls the number of the player who is best able to do the job at that moment. He trusts whichever player is capable of the task in that situation, regardless of sentiment.”
That might be a worthy argument, if Popovich had not spent the entire game — if not the entire series — giving exactly that kind of leash to Manu Ginobili. Honestly, take Ginobili — please. (Be sure to tip your waitress.)
He was awful on Tuesday, far worse than he had been in the first four games before his breakout fluke in Game 5. He committed eight turnovers, three more than all of his teammates combined. The game effectively ended, unsurprisingly, with Ginobili driving into a gaggle of defenders in the lane with two seconds left in overtime. After Ginobili had jogged his way into an uncalled traveling violation and turned the ball over anyway, he had the gall to complain about getting fouled, conveniently forgetting that he had taken approximately 17 steps before any contact occurred. Through it all, Popovich stuck with Ginobili, even though Neal was playing at least as well (or at least not as terribly) and Boris Diaw had proven he could play alongside Duncan while still allowing the Spurs to protect the perimeter. There was no explanation for Ginobili’s persistent presence in the game besides Popovich’s attachment to him and the trust Ginobili has instilled in his coach in winning three rings. In a way, it was understandable. Popovich is not the first coach to stubbornly stick with his fading star even when reason suggests he should do otherwise. But in this case, Popovich chose the wrong legend to trust and the wrong legend to bench. The Spurs did hold a nearly insurmountable lead with 28 seconds left in regulation, so playing Ginobili did not necessarily cost the Spurs the win in Game 6. But not playing Duncan in the clutch may have just cost the Spurs a championship.
Read more at: http://nesn.com/2013/06/gregg-popovi...-championship/
Yawn...
we're going to be thinking this one over for a long time. ultimately both sides made their share of mistakes, Parker went into heroball too much (per par), but I think Pop and Manu the bed the most at key moments. Just hope we can learn from this and get better.
Last edited by HI-FI; 06-24-2013 at 05:55 PM.
I can't argue against the points of the OP.
How original. Another Pop hating thread. Gee I haven't seen any of these before!
Ok
What course of action do you recommend tbh?
This will haunt me for a lifetime. I kid you not. I will never get over or agree with the choice to put Duncan on the bench in the waning seconds of a le game. I don't give a what the situation is. Leave your best player in the game. For all of you who say Parker is the best player on this team.....whatever. I'm not going to touch that. Timmy should have been in, he is our best Defensive player, and best rebounder. Sounds exactly like the wrong guy to bench in a time when you need Defense, and a rebound. Pop ed up. We all know it. It's over now. The pain isn't, and the pain will be ever present if Timmy and the Spurs don't get another ring. The front office better be smart as this is the most money they have had to play with in a long long time. We need to get a real big man over here to put next to Timmy. If we don't do that, we sure as better get Andre Iguodala over here. Those are the only 2 scenarios I see the Spurs getting back to the finals. Getting A.I., or getting a real big. Be it Jefferson, Howard, Josh Smith, Aldridge, whoever. Get one of these dudes over here. I don't care how unlikely it is, the Spurs front office needs to work some magic and get us a difference maker. Someone wants to shed salary, someone is a FA. MAKE IT HAPPEN SAN ANTONIO!
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I knew you were a Manu lover. Now I see why you hate me so much.
Hater, I love the way you think. Thanks a lot for this thread. Keep it up.
Problem is, Tim wouldntve been chasin perimiter guys! Bosh was down low so thats where Tim woulda been!!!
Instead pop puts Boris Diaw in, WTF!?
We win as a team and lose as a team.
And come on OP its been 4 days since. Get over it already. Move on. Nothing is gonna change the past got.
by Ben WatanabeHater, I love the way you think. Thanks a lot for this thread. Keep it up.
http://nesn.com/2013/06/gregg-popovi...-championship/
this is a guy that was literally a shot/rebound/freebie away to write a piece on Pop's greatness and legacy...
that's why Pop doesn't pay attention to these buffoons...
Yes, I am a Manu lover. Shame on me for being a fan of one of the Spurs' all-time greats!
Seriously what kind of a fan wishes injury on one of their star players. You have such irrational hate.
And the OP of this thread is a buffoon. If that lineup did what it was planned to do by Pop (which HAS worked very well before), I would love to see the OP write a Pop hate thread!
Fvcking idiot.
I am right here with you on the Manu love!!! I will always love him. He messed up, had a bad series. He is getting old, and I will miss him when he is gone. But he played with fire and intensity, he wanted it badly and that may have been his downfall. I love the passion. He can't carry the load, part of that is on him for trying to do to much, party is on the FO for not seeing it earlier and doing something about it.
Hater is irrelevant on this site. Same guy who told us Duncan was finished in 2011 and had RJ as his favorite player in Spurs history. Who cares what his takes are. No need to take this thread seriously.
While everyone's whining about "this thread again", the fact remains that OP is bang on accurate.
Popovich does not coach Ginobili the same way he does everyone else. He is given preferential treatment no matter how bad he's playing. And no, this is not hindsight, because mid-game you could tell Manu didn't have it. I was thinking Pop needed to bench him for the remainder of the 1st half with about 5-7 minutes to go. THAT early I was wanting Manu benched. And this is despite how good he played in game 5.
Not a knee jerk reaction either. From watching how bad and inconsistent he's been not only throughout the playoffs but to close the season, those of us that have really paid attention knew that Manu doesn't "get it back" once he "doesn't have it" on a particular night. 2 years ago, Manu would get it back. This year? Not very often. When he starts bad, he usually ends bad. I also don't care if he occaisionally hits a shot late in a game after he just bricked 7/8 before that and had 3 turnovers. The one make doesn't make up for all the ups even if we win. It'd be his fault we didn't win comfortably instead of need the last shot.
The decisions at the end of game 6 still bum me the out whenever I think about it. Everything about it just seemed wrong. Why take out Duncan? Why have Leonard (bad FT shooter in the postseason) in the game and catching the ball to shoot free throws when we needed BOTH? Why take Duncan out a SECOND TIME when it clearly didn't work the first time? Why ride Manu in OT when he was ting the bed all night?
in jesus. Mistake after mistake. And that doesn't even touch on the terrible lineup he started the 4th with.
I rarely blame Pop for anything, but good lord did he up game 6 after the first 3 quarters. Almost every real decision he made didn't work, and as soon as he made them I was questioning them on the spot as being dumb (something I also rarely do since I feel Pop usually makes the right call or at least a logical one). But that game. . .Pop seemed to just throw logic and good coaching out the window and went on emotion and nostalgia.
Lol thread.
Just repeating what everyone knows. It's true, Bill Russell said before game 6 that Duncan was the MVP of the team, and his dominant performance in game 6 proved it. Duncan carried the team that game, like hd carried the team to 4 championships. I don't care the situation, in the final seconds of a closeout game of the NBA Finals, ALWAYS stick with Tim Duncan over a player like Boris Diaw.
Pop won't admit he held out TIm to have higher percentage freethrow shooters on the floor. He out-coached himself
Great post and great article.
It's in over. Done. Fin. Move on.
stop reading here
stupid take
preferential treatment
pop played manu off the bench his whole career that's a preferential treatment
If Pop let Manu in the game it's because Manu career is a load of ty or so so games saved by late heroics helping his team winning crucial games or even rings. Of course one day this was meant to not happen anymore but when ? If I'm Pop I also let Manu in the game because dude is the incarnation of willingness to win. Sure it was a mistake but if the Spurs loose with Manu on the bench the board would have been pearl harbor.
Good Lord let this thread die. OP is an idiot and should never be taken seriously.
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