Online Pe ion To Stop Small Ball
I'll try to get to guys to promote it on air....
nice try but... I don't thing traditional Spurs ball will work either. Truth is I don't know and I don't think anyone knows what will work.
At least we're not getting beat by 20 like in game 2.... We really need to get lucky and catch a few more breaks to win this series.
Free Nazr
Free Rasho
Free Beno!!!
Where's KIWI!!!!!
I'm just asking to try it out.
If you play their type of ball, it a close matchup. Why not give it a shot?
I agree with most in this thread.
I will be rooting for them to win, and I'll be very happy if they comeback in the series and eliminate Dallas. I have not given up, and I think there is still a chance.
However, this no defense crap has to stop.
Winning or losing, there is one thing quite clear: Pop has been outcoached so far in the series.
The most ridicule thing is that the Spurs are not able to impose their pace and their style in the game. They must force Dallas to adjust to them, not the other way around.
Spurs were always able to get 4 consecutive stops when they needed it at critical parts of the game, and shutdown the opponent. The current Spurs' defense is a sponge... holes everywhere.
If we win this series, I can see the Pop's homers in this board saying Pop was great, his adjustment were increadible, small ball rules, and continue hanging on his balls. If games 6 and 7 go down the wire and the Spurs are not able to produce stops, in my book Pop has been outcoached, win or lose. If Pop presents a team with two real frontcourt players guarding the paint and the Spurs start playing hard-nodes D, then I'll change my tune.
These are sad times for those that like hard-nosed defense, box out, rebounding and defensive intensity.
Go Spurs Go.
it's tooo late.... elimination game. I say Pop play it safe again, at least at the end of the game we'll have a chance, since they all been close games.
Had games 3 and 4 been Mavs blowouts with this strategy, I'm certain there would have been change. Thing is, the games have been close, going down to the wire and really - the little things, execution, key Spurs players fouling out (and some questionable calls) have been the difference.
He should have freed Rasho with 5 minutes to go in the game and shifted Duncan on Dirk.... Duncan only had three fouls at that point... At least then Dallas would have thought twice about going to the lane... and we would have seen what sort of impact Rasho, another 'big', wouuld have on the game.
It's funny that any Spurs fan would refer to starting a four guard lineup as "playing it safe". Fortunately you don't need either 5 for offense, so it's not actually too late to just drop them in and watch everything start to work again. I think this time Pop's actually as clueless as he acts at the press conferences.
In the 2 regular season games that the Spurs won agaisnt Dallas, we played either Rasho or Nazr. In each game, we had more rebounds and the Mavs shot barely over 40%.
Coincidence?
Memo to Pop: Just say NO to Nick Van Excel.
After hearing Tim and the other Postgame comments....Timmy and the guys feel this is the favorable matchup against Dallas. with small ball against Dirk Nowitzki, and they finally succeeded with it last night...I really don't know. It comes down to just playing....I can't see, from their professional perspective, the risk that they see if they don't take the small-ball strategy...Who knows. I'll just give them the benefit of the doubt. And hope we get a lot of luck coming our way...That's mostly what's been winning these games.
In two the Spurs wins during the regular season, Harris played little or didn't play at all. This isn't the regular season, plus the Mavs did not go with Terry and Harris in the same line up as they are in the playoffs.
Pop has to stick with the lineups he's been trotting out for the past 2 games. When the games come down to the wire like they have, a couple of lucky bounces and this series could have a different outcome. But it seems as though SA has just been squeaking by and seem fortunate to have done so. It's not their style, but the patchwork lineups seem to be effective at stretches. At some point (and I'm looking at Game 6), something has to give. The game has historically been played from the inside-out and there's a reason why small-ball teams rarely win the whole thing.
By playing safe I meant changing complete strategies in an elimination game is NOT PLAYING IT SAFE. Pop will stick to his strategy PERIOD
Um, we're down 3-2 people, playing AJs style, that is NOT EFFECTIVE.
Play them big, protect the key and boards at all costs, and make them beat us on jumpers. I would not even be unhappy if we got beaten playing our way, sad, but not unhappy. Right now we're playing into their hands and that's why we're down.
I'm pretty sure if you get enough posters Pop will be forced to give up small ball.
Harris did not start one game and was out with an injury in the other.
Harris didn't play much in the regular season, Harris was inserted into the rotation after game 1.
There was a cool stat at during the game last night about FG %
When opponents shoot under 45%
Going big would have forced more contested shots. Less layups.
If they beat us with outside shooting, then best of luck in the conference finals.
It will be the reason why we lose game 6
Someone spam Pop with this a million times.
Add this to the pe ion.
If we go big, all the Mavs have to do is take Dampier or Diop out and force the Spurs into small, insert another athletic guard. Have Howard go away from the basket to draw Duncan out.
If Rasho was more athletic - not super feet - but a bit more athletic, or if Terry and Harris were shooting terrible from the outside (Terry going right is driving me nuts), OK. Athleticism to me is the problem.
It seems like everyone thinks the small line-up is blowing us out by 15-20 points.
But the Spurs would be going back to the strategy they used all year long, the one that they've won 3 championships with, the one they eat and breathe and could play in their sleep. It's not like they'd be going into completely unfamiliar territory.
No one's asking Pop to play the whole game with two bigs. Just to use it periodically to throw the Mavs off their rhythm and force them to adjust to us.
And, just out of curiosity, has there ever been an NBA coach who has asked his team to play a diametrically opposed style of ball in the playoffs against a 60+ opponent? Considering these obstacles, the Spurs are playing pretty damn well.
I have to say, though, that at this point I would rather see Finley than Horry.
The Spurs didn't play these current Dallas Mavericks in every game. I'm sure Popovich would love to go back to that style, it's his philosophy, but I'm certain he has seen something or many things that has him convinced this is the way to go.
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