Can we talk about the line-up of "Suicide":

[Kawhitstorm]

Even Billy Donovan adjusted and took a scrub in Cameron Payne out of the rotation. Can't believe Kyle with his -12 self is getting playing time this late in the playoffs

I've been impressed by Donovan, he has no issues taking any of the scrubs out of the rotation unlike Scott Brooks who started Porkins in every game of the Finals. (It's probably has to do w/ the fact he's a rookie so he doesn't play the "loyalty" card)

[UZER]

Edit: wrong thread

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Pop apparently thinks it's 2006 & was calling crunch time plays for Porker.

He didn't though, Parker's shot came as a result of failing to execute a play they've run for 15 years.

[resistanze]

Pop is ing senile.

The day he gets called out for his stupid over-coaching will be the first.

[TheGreatYacht]

I've been impressed by Donovan, he has no issues taking any of the scrubs out of the rotation unlike Scott Brooks who started Porkins in every game of the Finals. (It's probably has to do w/ the fact he's a rookie so he doesn't play the "loyalty" card)

Controlling Pop like a puppet. He knows about the turd tower line-up and matches it with Kanter-Adams. He knows about the switching, and just calls for a regular pick to get Westbrook/KD a mismatch. They're letting Tony take the mid range shot as long as he doesn't go to the paint. Staying home on the shooters like Carlisle did. Completely leaves Duncan by himself on offense. Etc etc

Doesn't take much to out coach Poop nowadays, but he's surpassed my expectations, unfortunately.

[siraulo23]

Pop

Kyle Anderson, why is this dude getting minutes in the POs

[siraulo23]

The eye test and the stats says it all, this lineup smh

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Pop is ing senile.

The day he gets called out for his stupid over-coaching will be the first.

What has he overcoached in this particular series? He's barely coached, let alone overcoached...

[Kawhitstorm]

He didn't though, Parker's shot came as a result of failing to execute a play they've run for 15 years.

You're talking about the postup to Kawhi that WestBrick denied thus they resorted to the Tim/Porker PnR.

[Kawhitstorm]

Controlling Pop like a puppet. He knows about the turd tower line-up and matches it with Kanter-Adams. He knows about the switching, and just calls for a regular pick to get Westbrook/KD a mismatch. They're letting Tony take the mid range shot as long as he doesn't go to the paint. Staying home on the shooters like Carlisle did. Completely leaves Duncan by himself on offense. Etc etc

Doesn't take much to out coach Poop nowadays, but he's surpassed my expectations, unfortunately.

The only POSITIVE adjustments Pop made was trapping KD on the KD/Adams PnR instead of switching (Adams isn't a playmaker so that stalled their offense), along w/ sagging in the paint on the WB/Adams PnR to prevent the Adams roll (Too bad WestBrick made every heroshot while Porker failed miserably including at the FT line).

[SAGirl]

I think this series has one more twist and the Spurs can and will win game 6, like Clippers did last year after losing game 5 at home, however, it's true that Pop has done no adjustments and even tweaks throughout the series, which is not his usual self. He's been much more prone to overcoaching and overreacting, chaning starting line-ups, etc. when things don't go well, but not sure what he's been up to this time, perhaps he was overconfident. The only difference I saw was that he used Parker and Patty more on Westboork, supposedly to save Kawhi some energy but it didn't work.

He doesn't owe playing time to West for taking a paycut and neither does he owe playing time to 2016 playoffs Duncan. He should put Duncan on the bench and start Diaw, he should completely abandon the West-Diaw combo, he should try Kyle or Kawhi at the 4, even Boban for a stretch to see what he can do against their bench bigs. He should try Manu at point and Martin to stretch the floor when they have Robertson or Foye on. Not sure why he's doing little.

The Spurs are the better team and they've surely messed it up and it's their fault but the refs have really helped OKC in pivotal moments in these 2 road wins though. At one point the Thunder had 20 FT's to Spur's 5 or so when the Spurs had scored twice as many points in the paint, that's ridiculous. I'm pretty sure they'll make it up for the Spurs in OKC if the game is close.

The lack of foul drawing has been a consistent theme through the season.
All these guys you suggest sound like good ideas but if he didn't use them earlier in the series, it's risky to use them in a close out game on the road. That is not the game to throw Boban.
The only subs ution I could see is Martin bc he's a veteran and it will still be short minutes. The bench is not producing much and maybe Martin can help, or just sink them lower. At this point Pop is relying on the guys that brought him here.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

The lack of foul drawing has been a consistent theme through the season.
All these guys you suggest sound like good ideas but if he didn't use them earlier in the series, it's risky to use them in a close out game on the road. That is not the game to throw Boban.

I agree, I wasn't talking specifically about game 6, but about the whole series, he should have tried things. Donovan saw benching Ibaka works despite of his shooting and sticked with it. There have been things Pop could have done but never bothered to.

At this point Pop is relying on the guys that brought him here.

Indeed - brought him to 2-3 and the brink of elimination.

[SAGirl]

He didn't though, Parker's shot came as a result of failing to execute a play they've run for 15 years.

^^^^ thanks for pointing it out. Plays were not run for Tony. Rather he ended up with the ball and no time to have to put up his own shot.

[SAGirl]

I agree, I wasn't talking specifically about game 6, but about the whole series, he should have tried things. Donovan saw benching Ibaka works despite of his shooting and sticked with it. There have been things Pop could have done but never bothered to.

I agree he could have tried more but over the course of the series he played all guys (Kmart and Miller in garbage time game 1, as well as Bogan. They were not very good TBH).

He tried Boban in game 2 and he didn't like what he saw apparently. It was too short to see much but there was bad PNR defense with two at the rim dunks by Adams and Boban can't handle switches just by his sheer size. It all comes back to defense, but offensively he could help the bench. Sometimes good offense is the best defense. He deserved a second look but Boban did get a look with LMA and Kawhi there with good defenders and a good line-up, not even with the ty line-up, and he didn't make the cut.

It seems to me he cut Kyle's minutes as much as he could only giving him more this game to spare Kawhi's energy. Even in game 4 when Kyle was a +4 in 5 minutes in the first half, and had 3 steals (on Durant no less) and didn't play in the second half, the bench as a whole was awful (specially the bench bigs), but this time Kawhi reached the 4th Q with no energy and they folded in the 4th.

Pop tweaked things to give Kawhi a chance. The bench has played with Danny and Kawhi at times and they still don't do very well. The 4th wing won't save them, they have problems as a group bc their bench bigs completely dominate our own, as well as Dion Waiters running all over Manu (Manu fans won't mention that). You can put Kmart with them and he won't be better than any of the guys Pop has tried as the 4th wing and he will likely be worse bc the 4th wing is assigned to guard Durant who plays with the bench. The issue is the bigs. Patty hasn't been making shots either but he hasn't shot well against OKC in general this season.

I don't think there is much Pop could do TBH save completely eliminating Kyle's minutes and maybe he will do that, but that will not change the situation much for everyone else and will tire Kawhi out more.

[therealtruth]

At least use Kmart to draw fouls.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

I agree he could have tried more but over the course of the series he played all guys (Kmart and Miller in garbage time game 1, as well as Bogan. They were not very good TBH).

He tried Boban in game 2 and he didn't like what he saw apparently. It was too short to see much but there was bad PNR defense with two at the rim dunks by Adams and Boban can't handle switches just by his sheer size. It all comes back to defense, but offensively he could help the bench. Sometimes good offense is the best defense. He deserved a second look but Boban did get a look with LMA and Kawhi there with good defenders and a good line-up, not even with the ty line-up, and he didn't make the cut.

It seems to me he cut Kyle's minutes as much as he could only giving him more this game to spare Kawhi's energy. Even in game 4 when Kyle was a +4 in 5 minutes in the first half, and had 3 steals (on Durant no less) and didn't play in the second half, the bench as a whole was awful (specially the bench bigs), but this time Kawhi reached the 4th Q with no energy and they folded in the 4th.

Pop tweaked things to give Kawhi a chance. The bench has played with Danny and Kawhi at times and they still don't do very well. The 4th wing won't save them, they have problems as a group bc their bench bigs completely dominate our own, as well as Dion Waiters running all over Manu (Manu fans won't mention that). You can put Kmart with them and he won't be better than any of the guys Pop has tried as the 4th wing and he will likely be worse bc the 4th wing is assigned to guard Durant who plays with the bench. The issue is the bigs. Patty hasn't been making shots either but he hasn't shot well against OKC in general this season.

I don't think there is much Pop could do TBH save completely eliminating Kyle's minutes and maybe he will do that, but that will not change the situation much for everyone else and will tire Kawhi out more.

I think there are a lot of things Pop should have done and could still do in game 6. He's made 1 or 2 adjustments the whole series.

The Spurs problem hasn't been defense, but offense. Despite all of Thunder's offensive boards and Durant/Westbrook, they've been able to hold them to relatively low scoring, but have failed to execute on the offensive end due to a lack of a consistent 3rd scorer, bad ball movement, Duncan scoring as much as Robertson and because he's utilized line-ups with no Kawhi and no Aldridge. This could have worked with a 2014 Manu, but 2016 Manu has lost his playmaking ability and the 2nd unit fails to create much when there's no focal point. He should take a note from OKC and keep one of Leonard and Aldridge on the floor at all times, because they're great iso guys and can help a stalled offense that fails to excute and move the ball.

[SAGirl]

I think there are a lot of things Pop should have done and could still do in game 6. He's made 1 or 2 adjustments the whole series.

The Spurs problem hasn't been defense, but offense. Despite all of Thunder's offensive boards and Durant/Westbrook, they've been able to hold them to relatively low scoring, but have failed to execute on the offensive end due to a lack of a consistent 3rd scorer, bad ball movement, Duncan scoring as much as Robertson and because he's utilized line-ups with no Kawhi and no Aldridge. This could have worked with a 2014 Manu, but 2016 Manu has lost his playmaking ability and the 2nd unit fails to create much when there's no focal point. He should take a note from OKC and keep one of Leonard and Aldridge on the floor at all times, because they're great iso guys and can help a stalled offense that fails to excute and move the ball.

I agree with you an the lack of a third scorer has been there all season, same as the lack of a focal point in the bench. That is the one benefit I saw in Boban he will score or get fouled and might draw help if he's mismatched. I think he could be more impactful than Kmart.

Anyways I have derailed the thread which was Danny having a terrific game that we wasted. Ultimately the bench and Pop get the blame here but the SL and our stars could have closed this out. It was. Close game until the end and they folded. If you ask a true star they will assume responsibility for the team and not blame roleplayers in a close game. Yea if you are blown the F out you say you got no help but if you reach the 4th with a slight edge it's in you as the team star to bring us home.

[Dro210]

Lineup of Suicide is exactly right.

[marinoman]

Kawhi and Aldridge should NEVER be out of the game at the same time, but unfortunately pop will do that

[SPURt]

These have been the worst rotations I can remember from Pop in relationship to the overall team talent. He hasn't even tried to adjust for rebounding. Tim is trying but when he is forced to help against the driver (happens a lot) he doesn't have the quickness to help on the d boards. The Spurs didn't get a defensive rebound the final six minutes last night.

Then Danny Green is hitting shots and only plays 29 minutes. There is no reason for that to happen last night. Throw in the cold shooting from mid range (9-32) it becomes obvious the only reason the Spurs were in it at all was due to the horrible TO problem OKC had last night. Going back to the Tim Duncan post up offense featuring LMA goes to show how special Tim was to win championships.

[look_at_g_shred]

They made shots

[kobexxx]

Kawhi playing hero ball again and again

[Clipper Nation]

Pop doing Pop things.

He just loves those haphazard lineups that make little sense.

Pop Rivers

[Kawhitstorm]

...let me bask in this glory now that Poop has been exposed as a senile old man