Game 4: Agree with Pop pulling the plug midway throught the 3rd quarter?

[baseline bum]

When do we get to pull Pop? He's getting worked by Scott freakin' Brooks.

He's not getting worked by Brooks. Brooks made obvious adjustments and now doesn't need to have Durant guarding Duncan with Ibaka back.

[weebo]

Instead he puts mills and green in. Mills promptly airballed a shot. It's hard to say one guy would be better than another but why not put a guy in who can act as a facilitator in Manu? Mills isn't really capable of that. Neither is Green.

I agree. Mills and Green contributed to the horrible play and deserved to stay on the bench. Manu could've helped run the offense once Cojo went out and Leonard is our best young player.

I don't buy all this 'send a message to the starters' BS, because these are grown men (as Pop himself would put it) and they know what's at stake. It's the PO's and every game is important and you have to try and win every game.

[rjv]

i loved it. pop basically stating to the starters: if you're going to get pushed around and play soft i'll start coaching up the next generation. starters had to sit there and let that soak in while the bench competed so much harder and looked so much less intimidated.

[peacemaker885]

Just setting yourself up for a heartbreak and possibly injury. We are not winning anything in OKC. This is where HCA comes into play.

[MannyIsGod]

Pretty surprised that anyone wants to put blame on Pop. Last night was one of the worst Duncan games I've ever seen. He was obviously frustrated and let Perkins get in his head a bit. The starters in general took really poor care of the ball. I mean Westbrook is a good player but they made him seem god like last night.

The Starters just need to man up and play smart. I don't mind when Tony has a few possessions where he dominates the ball but otherwise this team should be moving the ball well and that isn't happening. Credit the thunder a bit but for the most part the Spurs just need to play better. You probably also can't play Splitter much in this series unless he develops a jumpshot over night. Not with Ibaka out there anyway.

[sexinthatsx]

Thunder scouts figured Parker out, and is countering his every move. What the scouts didn't do though, is scout the last player on the bench tbh...

[Duncan21MVP]

It's like we're seeing the 2003 version of Tony Parker, when Pop gave Speedy Claxton some big minutes to close out the Nets. Maybe start CoJo just to mess with Brooks' head a little bit and get TP in the game midway through the 1st qtr. Using the same pieces just isn't working -- I think that's why the bench players fared so well against OKC's starters. We've heard all year about what a great bench we have and how that will pose a problem for our opponents; let's start using it.

[hitmanyr2k]

Like I said last night, it was stupid to keep the starters on the bench when the lead was cut to 12-14 with a whole quarter to be played. Popovich could have put just ONE scorer out there with the bench rather than Ayres. Ginobili hadn't played the entire 2nd half. Kawhi doesn't need rest. He needs experience. This is the WCF, not some stupid regular season game. We've seen so much crazy happen in NBA history that not giving your team a chance with that much time left this late in the playoffs was idiotic to me. 12-14 point leads have been erased in minutes even when held by the best teams. What if the Mavs coach just decided to bench the starters when they went down by 15 to the cackling Heat midway through the 4th in Game 2 of the 2011 Finals? If Carlisle had Popovich's mindset he would have been like "Gee, Lebron, Wade and Bosh are just too athletic and good. My team is old and are getting run out of the gym. There's no way we can come back from 15 down with 6 minutes left in the game. Dirk is off. Jason Terry is MIA. Jason Kidd can't make anything. May as well give up and yank these guys. It's just one game right? Can't make that much of a difference "

Think Dallas would have a le today with that mindset if they go down 0-2 to Miami in the Finals and gave the Heat a ton of confidence going into Game 3?

[silverblk mystix]

Like I said last night, it was stupid to keep the starters on the bench when the lead was cut to 12-14 with a whole quarter to be played. Popovich could have put just ONE scorer out there with the bench rather than Ayres. Ginobili hadn't played the entire 2nd half. Kawhi doesn't need rest. He needs experience. This is the WCF, not some stupid regular season game. We've seen so much crazy happen in NBA history that not giving your team a chance with that much time left this late in the playoffs was idiotic to me. 12-14 point leads have been erased in minutes even when held by the best teams. What if the Mavs coach just decided to bench the starters when they went down by 15 to the cackling Heat midway through the 4th in Game 2 of the 2011 Finals? If Carlisle had Popovich's mindset he would have been like "Gee, Lebron, Wade and Bosh are just too athletic and good. My team is old and are getting run out of the gym. There's no way we can come back from 15 down with 6 minutes left in the game. Dirk is off. Jason Terry is MIA. Jason Kidd can't make anything. May as well give up and yank these guys. It's just one game right? Can't make that much of a difference "

Think Dallas would have a le today with that mindset if they go down 0-2 to Miami in the Finals and gave the Heat a ton of confidence going into Game 3?

Don't you know anything?

This is Lord Pop you are talking about - wtf is wrong with you - you ungrateful bas !

[florige]

Frankly, I think that could have been a series (or even playoffs) defining moment for the Spurs. In the span of a couple minutes in the third quarter, Duncan let his frustration show and seemed the be arguing with Pop, then Pop sat the starters for the duration, and then the bench came in and balled (the most stunning example being the Cojo dunk on Ibaka). Either the Spurs go on a tear beginning with the next game, or they fold.

Great take!

[kobexxx]

dejavu.. cant finish off .. OKC vs Heat will be better for the gates thats why .. wait for next year again

[ceperez]

Like I said last night, it was stupid to keep the starters on the bench when the lead was cut to 12-14 with a whole quarter to be played. Popovich could have put just ONE scorer out there with the bench rather than Ayres. Ginobili hadn't played the entire 2nd half. Kawhi doesn't need rest. He needs experience. This is the WCF, not some stupid regular season game. We've seen so much crazy happen in NBA history that not giving your team a chance with that much time left this late in the playoffs was idiotic to me. 12-14 point leads have been erased in minutes even when held by the best teams. What if the Mavs coach just decided to bench the starters when they went down by 15 to the cackling Heat midway through the 4th in Game 2 of the 2011 Finals? If Carlisle had Popovich's mindset he would have been like "Gee, Lebron, Wade and Bosh are just too athletic and good. My team is old and are getting run out of the gym. There's no way we can come back from 15 down with 6 minutes left in the game. Dirk is off. Jason Terry is MIA. Jason Kidd can't make anything. May as well give up and yank these guys. It's just one game right? Can't make that much of a difference "

Think Dallas would have a le today with that mindset if they go down 0-2 to Miami in the Finals and gave the Heat a ton of confidence going into Game 3?

+1

Ayres shouldn't have been on the court. There should have been an additional 3 point shooter. You never know when you can jack up 2-3 3's quickly. Look what happened in the game against the Mavs. In less than one minute a 10 point lead was cut down to two.