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Great article and hes exactly right about Mohammed and Nesterovic.
Buck Harvey: In defense of Popovich: adjustments
Web Posted: 05/15/2006 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...s.d40d0ab.html
DALLAS — This isn't a second guess. This guess came when Tim Duncan fouled out and the Spurs stayed small. Then, it appeared the Spurs needed someone to rebound if the Mavericks were to miss or, even more unlikely, weren't fouled.
This was a first guess.
Gregg Popovich chose to go in another direction, opting instead for Robert Horry to be his designated big man. Then Jerry Stackhouse missed — and Dirk Nowitzki rebounded.
But that's about it, outside of the curious benching of Tony Parker at the end of Saturday. Popovich made moves that went against his instincts — that went directly against the very defensive concepts that Avery Johnson stole — because he had to. He pulled odd levers, went with tiny lineups and subbed one Argentine before the other for the first time.
And given another bounce or one less whistle? Popovich would be celebrated for that today.
As it is, his celebrations come elsewhere. Popovich walked off the floor after practice Sunday talking about something else entirely in an animated, playful tone.
"Page 91," he said loudly. "I'm a star."
Those who subscribe to a magazine called "Wine Spectator" will see Popovich featured there. On Page 91. "This is bigger than Sports Illustrated," Popovich kidded.
He's a wine enthusiast, and Popovich likely appreciates his hobby more than ever today. After all, the world of wine only involves the soils, sub soils and substrata, and how the earth meshes with climate, and how the grapes themselves react to cool and warm air, and what type of production techniques are applied by the enologist.
Basketball clearly is more confusing than that.
It is for the Spurs in this series. They've slotted a center-like player next to Duncan through most of this era, and they've prided themselves on defending the rim first.
Devin Harris, in the old days, would have stopped short when he saw the long left arm of David Robinson.
Now the Spurs look more like the Suns in a pickup game. After the Mavericks outrebounded the Spurs again, this is a fair question: How could Nazr Mohammed and Rasho Nesterovic earn a combined $12million this season and just one minute Saturday?
They are being paid as if on retainer. If a traditional team had been a playoff opponent — Clippers, Grizzlies, etc. — they would have split a lot of minutes. Against Dallas, with Nowitzki skewing all schemes, Popovich and his staff have had to find another way.
This isn't like last season, when the Spurs went small to run with Phoenix. The Mavericks often stick with their 7-footers. This is uncomfortable and painful for the coaching staff; they grimace, too, when Harris gets to the basket.
They debate what to do all the time, and they said they likely would again Sunday night. Then, Popovich was to sit down to dinner with his assistants, and, by the time the first cork was sniffed for proper fragrance, they would weigh in again.
Another first guess: They will stay with what they did Saturday.
After all, only Nowitzki's ankle can change this matchup problem for the Spurs. Mohammed and Nesterovic can't defend him, and Duncan could for 20 minutes — before fouling out.
That's why the Spurs' lineup at the end Saturday actually made sense. With Nowitzki the only Dallas big man on the floor, who else could have replaced Duncan when he fouled out? Horry was the best option.
Mohammed or Nesterovic might have rebounded the miss, but neither can take advantage of Dallas. Neither is flexible enough, and Mohammed's one minute signaled that. A turnover and foul are no way to earn more time.
Horry and the Game3 surprise, Fabricio Oberto, fit better. And fitting best of all, getting most of the time now, is the pairing of Duncan with four smaller Spurs.
That's especially clear on the other end of the floor. Then, without a center clogging the lane, Duncan works against 7-footers who have no chance against him. When the other Spurs space and cut to the basket, as they did Saturday, then AJ's defense is rendered as useless as Popovich's.
The Spurs came within a play of winning this way. And had they?
No one would have second-guessed Popovich, nor first-guessed him.
Great article and hes exactly right about Mohammed and Nesterovic.
sign and trade mohammed for chris mihm
I don't see how you can throw Nazr and Rasho into the same discussion this time. Nazr has been given his chance the last 2 games and has been bad. Rasho hasn't even been given the chance. In game 2 he played the last 3 1/2 minutes of garbage time and did not even get to play in game 3. This is a team that is SUPPOSED to be a good match-up for Nazr- he is the one who is supposed to play against guys like Diop and Dampier. As for Rasho, he played in game 1, especially in the third quarter, when the Spurs played 2 bigs the entire quarter. It was one of the best quarters of the whole Dallas series. Again, I say, use Rasho when Tim comes out, just like against Sacramento.
And for the record, I thought when Duncan fouled out that Oberto should have gone in. Horry had played a bad game and had been sitting on the bench the whole fourth quarter.
Yeah, right. Pop's small-ball has really been paying big dividends. Brilliant game-plan. And if we lose the next game, that'll be even more proof of how smart Pop is.
The Spurs need a center. Plain and simple. Tim Duncan cannot be asked to be the only big man in the paint for the Spurs all night long. He'll get into foul trouble and we'll get beat on the boards. And we'll lose. WIth all due respect, this is not rocket science.
The problems are simple, and they're named Harris and Howard (and Daniels and Terry). They're just too dam quick for us right now. Are the Spurs finally showing their 'age' (have to put that in quotes because of Tony's youth, but Bowen's over 30 and Manu doesn't have the wild crazy young legs this year)?
Whatever the problem is, it's resulted in Harris and Howard getting to the rim to mad effect. What to do?
I'm almost tempted to try playing Nazr with Tim so they can have shot-blockers at the rim. Effect? While Dallas's 'bigs' aren't spry enough to make us pay too much by sliding over for easy shots when they get uncovered, D's other players are more than able to shoot the gaps and clean up. Or simply spot up outside and bomb us into submission.
Any other ideas? Box-and-one to clog up the middle while keeping a hand in Dirk's face?
Spurs are in desperate need of a better quality big to go along with Duncan next year. Add that to a better backup PG and a long 3. (stating the obvious)
nazr is not a shot blocker.
Good article, I think AJ has POP's book in his head ... I don't think MAV's roster is bether than ours; but for some reason they are doing better than us... we took our time to rest, went and lose an important game.
What if we think in the same direction that AJ is doing ... let Dirk do sth, but close all the street to the rest!??
In Defense I think Rasho>NAZR>Oberto ... in Ofense we only need them to attract people since the trio could do their job.
To be honest I didn't like to see TP on the bench at the end ... no ask me why but he's necessary at the end ....
Hubie Brown said it best before game three, in reference to Avery Johnson's smallball tactics. Paraphrasing, he said the Spurs "should not change what they are doing, because you should not be reacting to another teams adjustment, you always want to be the one causing the reaction". I couldn't agree more. Maybe doing what won you 63 games over the course of a season and held opponents to 88 points per game might be the way to go. 113 and 104 in the last two? Pop has panicked in this series. Go back to playing Spurs basketball, the kind that has a center and shuts down the paint. Changing personnel and defensive rotations-especially for perimeter players who know if they force their man a certain way a shotblocker will be there to greet them, creates more confusion than solves problems. F smallball.
If that's the case, then you would probably want to play zone. Horry and Duncan on Dirk = 3 fouls a piece in the first 15 minutes.
If Dirk truly is slowed by that ankle Pop will have a couple of more options, like possibly playing a big on him if he's not able to get by people.
The Spurs defense has been turned upside-down in this series. They have always used their perimeter defense to funnel guys into their bigs waiting in the paint. Small ball doesn't allow for that and I still don't think I agree with the Spurs implementing it. But the Spurs should have won game three, and I liked our spacing and what Tim was able to do on offense.
I suspect that Dirk will be just fine.
I agree, though, that the reaction to small ball is a curious one, given all of the principles that have defined the Spurs defense for years. It may be that Pop doesn't have enough confidence in Rasho and Nazr to defend the paint without creating a procession of and-1's without really deterring anything. It may be that Pop doesn't think the Spurs can actually get stops consistently against the Mavs and has decided that the best way to deal with the reality is to play better offensive players as much as possible, which would exclude Nazr and Rasho from any significant minutes. Oberto doesn't fit that mold, really, but he's more athletic and certainly more tenacious on the glass than either Rasho or Nazr.
I'm curious to see whether Game 4 plays out more like the 1st Half of Game 3 or more like the 2nd Half of Game 3. If it's the former, the Spurs have big problems. If it's the latter, the Spurs will have found some answers and should be in pretty good shape.
I agree with that to a degree. But our biggest problems are named rebounding and free throws. If we would just frickin' TRY to rebound on occasion, the odds are that we are going to get one every now and then. And, there is no excuse for our free-throw deficiency. The only reason we don't have more misses than the regulation season is that Dallas is not getting half the fouls they commit called. The biggest thing is serious lack of rebounding, though, both O and D. No way you can get an offensive rebound if everyone is already waiting at the other end of the court by the time the ball falls outside the basket. o? Someone needs to follow through (designate someone if need be, geez, this is not first grade). Play heads-up, ass-kicking basketball for a change...see how it feels to win decisively. Quit letting Dallas beat the out of you unchallenged. Shut Avery's big mouth.
Apparently Nazr is not anything. He is playing like a stump right now. We don't have time for that.
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