Are we going to blame Kawhi if we lose in the first round?

[dabom]

I wanna know why.

[loveforthegame]

Yes and this is why.

It's Timmy's team until he retires.
MVParker is the head of the snake. We go as far as he takes us.

But Leonard is the best player and should be doing everything. He's had the reigns for a couple months and should have mastered what the big 3 have done for over a decade.

He has the mismatch.
He has to play team basketball.
He has to demand the ball and take over.
If he's not getting steals he's not playing good enough defense.
He should be shutting Paul down while also chasing Red around multiple screens.
When he's switched on Griffin he should be stuffing him. No way should Blske be able to back him down like he has.
He should be making up for what Splitter, Green, Parker, and others are not giving.
He should be running the timeouts because he knows more than Pop.
It's his first experience with double teams and he's the only player in history to have struggled with that new attention.
He missed fts.
He didn't rebound enough.
No assists.
Not enough playmaking.
Too many turnovers.
No blocks.
Missed rotations.
Too scared.
Forcing the issue.
Only player missing shots.
Too hesitant.
Bad transition defense.
Complaining to the refs.
Mental midget.

I'm probably missing a lot more reasons.

Legacy on the line. At 23 he should think about retiring before he embarrasses himself further.

[hater]

Depends. If he lays an egg in game 7. Sure why not?

If he doesn't and we still lose. No. No way

[MultiTroll]

I wanna know why.

Kwas O, like a lot of NBA players depends in good part in where he gets the ball and if other players are moving.
CIA Popped has employed a version of 4 Dumb, whereupon often when Kwa is doubled the other 4 are standing around.
Kwa Haters seize on this to squak "he's not doing enough".
It's bull .

With the playoffs most suck ass point guard by far it's no wonder Kwas O has suffered.

[AFBlue]

No. Kid had one bad game in the last half season. Did it come at a bad time? Yes. But, I just think you can't put too much on him when two other starters and major contributors aren't at full strength.

[Clipper Nation]

Because even though got Riquesuckers spent the entire year throwing Kawhi under the bus and calling him a role player, now that the Spurs have a chance of getting bounced in the first round, suddenly the agenda dictates that Kawhi is the team leader after all and it's all his fault. Meanwhile, Enrique can suck ass the entire postseason and they still won't give him any blame.

[DarrinS]

No. Just tip your hat to the Clips and appreciate the embarrassment of riches that has been Spurs fandom for for almost two decades.

[wildchild]

No.
Before blame a 23 years old player...I want to know what did Pop to facilitate his offensive game this season?

1-Why the most plays called for him were isos in the post? After four seasons that's the only way to involve him offensively?

2-Why Pop thinks Kawhi'd have space to operate in the post playing with two bigs like Tiago/Baynes and Tim?

3-Why when he has favorable matchups he should beg for the ball instead of the obvious looking for him?

4-Why Pop didn' try to involve Kawhi and Tony in two-man plays to build some chemistry between them as offensive tandem?

5-Why we never sawe some 1-3 pick and roll this season?

6-Why Kawhi highly increased his usage rate and FGA in this series but not in same way during the regular season?
Why he had only 10/12 attempts per game in the regular season which is the young players' time to experiment and learn?

When I can get six reasonable answers I may reconsider my decision about who deserves the most blame.

[ducks]

When was the last time he got a steal ran down dunked it

[Horse]

no it's on pop no matter what happens

[sook]

prolly

[daslicer]

I would say first of all the starters get the blame for losing this series because they all sucked except for Duncan granted he had some bad games but I don't hold it against him due to his age. This series has been a microcosm of Kawhi's season considering that the first 3 -4 games of this series he looked like a superstar but the last two games he has been terrible. Kawhi deserves some criticism because he's demanding the max and is not a max type of player yet. I know he's going to get the max due to the way the market is set up today and unfortunately giving the max no longer means the player is a superstar. With that being said if he plays a great game today and the spurs lose I would give him a free pass but if he sucks today he deserves a good share of the blame for losing this series.

[PingPong]

If Aldridge comes to SA, Kawhi will be the new Lollard.

[EIC]

I love Kawhi and have been a fan of his since his SDSU days. (I attended virtually every one of his home games at SDSU.) But he is not a dominant "featured" player like a Harden, Westbrook/Durant, Rose, LeBron, etc. He is at most a Pippen-esque "Robin" to someone else's Batman. It's not so much his physical abilities/talent, but his mindset. The same humble mindset that makes him lovable, coachable, and fit the Spurs mold also prevents him from dominating the game and putting things on his shoulders.

Kawhi is an important piece of the puzzle but the team cannot depend on him to do it alone. The Spurs will not be a contender with Kawhi as the feature player. We will need to bring in another max-type player to pair with him. Surround that pairing with some serviceable players (e.g., Mills, Green (when not going full suck), Diaw) and you might have something.

[Kool Bob Love]

He's playing for the max tonight.

[Kool Bob Love]

If he comes out with his usual

"I'm afraid of the moment so I'll brick the game winning free throw"

Spurs better ship his ass out this summer.

[K...]

If Aldridge comes to SA, Kawhi will be the new Lollard.

and no. Lillard is a streaky no def undersized pg. We had one already and will get a new one soon but Leonard is at worst a defensive beast. Like Danny Green. Of course we expect better.


Heres my answer to wildchild:

1) Leonard isn't ready torun a full featured offense. You saw him react to double teams. You cna only have him grow so much every year

2) This is a cop put. Space? He has an ouside shot. Just work on wapring the defnesive and taking his shots. He's been passive and let the clippers dictate his offense. If this team had two or more stars that'd fine. But he's the star! He's got to make offense when tim and parker can't

3) we expected him to abuse Barnes but the clips brought the double which threw Kawhi's game off. Now Kawhi can't dominate either side of the ball like he's accustomed to. I have no explanation.

4) both K and P were injured half the year, there wasn't time. THa'll happen next year

5)IDK probably the same as 4) not enough time to implement new offense and 1) only so much we can teach K

6) injury, coasting, etc

[K...]

I love Kawhi and have been a fan of his since his SDSU days. (I attended virtually every one of his home games at SDSU.) But he is not a dominant "featured" player like a Harden, Westbrook/Durant, Rose, LeBron, etc. He is at most a Pippen-esque "Robin" to someone else's Batman. It's not so much his physical abilities/talent, but his mindset. The same humble mindset that makes him lovable, coachable, and fit the Spurs mold also prevents him from dominating the game and putting things on his shoulders.

Kawhi is an important piece of the puzzle but the team cannot depend on him to do it alone. The Spurs will not be a contender with Kawhi as the feature player. We will need to bring in another max-type player to pair with him. Surround that pairing with some serviceable players (e.g., Mills, Green (when not going full suck), Diaw) and you might have something.

2 months ago you'd be crucified for saying this.

[RD2191]

If he comes out with his usual

"I'm afraid of the moment so I'll brick the game winning free throw"

Spurs better ship his ass out this summer.

Yeah, the Spurs are going to ship out the DPOY and Finals MVP.

[kaji157]

I wanna know why.

While most of the blame could be in Tony´s or Danny´s hands, neither Ginobili or Duncan disappointed during their prime, Leonard happen to have 2 of his worst games in one of the most important playoffs series.

Last year it was different, the team was playing well, and Duncan and Ginobii carried us all the way to the finals, Leonard only had to succeed there, now the focus is on him and so far he has not delivered anything spectacular.

Again. he IS playing well, but he is playing Tony Parker well in the playoffs, not Duncan playoffs.

[Dingle Barry]

Yes, because he played like a the last two games. He's supposed to be the "big 1," but the big 3 showed us otherwise tonight.

[TheGreatYacht]

If he comes out with his usual

"I'm afraid of the moment so I'll brick the game winning free throw"

Spurs better ship his ass out this summer.

didn't want the free throws, so he KawhISO'd a brick ffs