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As much as you want to believe it, Nazr is not David Robinson or Hakeem Olajuwon.
Would have been a short series with Nazr or Frankenstein in there. Trust me.
As much as you want to believe it, Nazr is not David Robinson or Hakeem Olajuwon.
A real coach could have shut Dirk down with the decaying remains of Greg Ostertag.
A real coach could have shut Dirk down with the decaying remains of Greg Ostertag.
Sean Marks would have owned Dirk. LOL.
We got "ousted"? When I think of "ousted" I think of games 3 & 4 of the 2001 Western Conference Finals.If "compe ive suicide" is getting ousted in the second round of the playoffs then I think we succeeded.
With the exception of game 2 - where fatigue truly sat in - none of the games were blowouts, 2 OT games and games in which they went to the final minute - everyone is thinking the games were blowouts. The Spurs came back from double-digit deficits, came back from 3-1 to force a game 7 and in game 7 came back from 20 points down. Where was Rasho and Nazr during that time?
As far as Spurs not playing "Spurs bball", what do Rasho and Nazr do in playing against Dallas' small lineup? Stop pentration and only to have the ball passed to an outside threat? If Dallas didn't have outside threats, it might have worked. Who do Rasho and Nazr guard? Diop or Dampier so that puts Duncan on Howard - who was around the perimeter, away from the basket when I saw him or on Nowitski in which Duncan would have 3 fouls by the end of the 1st quarter.
Dallas has four (especially with Jason Terry creating space for Harris) players who can score in this series (not the regular season) against the Spurs three scorers - Bowen rarely provides offense and we've never seen Rasho or Nazr carry the offensive load.
As far as experimenting, I truly think it would have blown up in the Spurs faces had they tried to experiement, Dallas would have just gotten smaller, as they had done later in the series. By going smaller and forcing the Spurs bigs out of the rotation, bench production dipped cause Finley became a starter and Horry was out of his element.
I think Pop has thought, "what if" when it comes to playing two bigs. I am not saying he regrets it, but sure he wonders.
I'm sure he thought about prior to the series, talked about the idea and so on. It probably didn't look pretty.
I don't know. A reported asked him this very question early in the series, and Pop was pretty caustic in his reply, basically saying, "Oh, thanks for suggesting that. Leave us your card, if we have an opening, we'll call you."
How about proving small ball wouls have won this series?
Can't can you?
We were woefully outrebounded especially and you are telling having Rasho in there would never have helped?
How do you know he would not have help in the rebounding....getting defensive rebounds is a huge part of our defense.
The Mavs were getting to the rim almost at will with our small ball...at least try to have another big in there to at least give the Mavs something to think about when they drove the lane.
Pop neede dto make AJ adjust to us....not the other way aound....if Pop needed to adjust...do it during a game.
Sure I can. It won game 5 and 6 and gave us a three point lead with 30 seconds, and the last possession of the game with a chance to win.
I'll take a guaranteed shot at winning versus a 20 point loss any day of the week.
Or, do you think Nasr would have won game 7 for us? Really?
Rasho would have definitely helped all those "nothing but net" shots the Mavs were making at an almost 80% clip.
Who would have Rasho guarded? Diop/Dampier that would have put Duncan against Howard or Nowitski whom both were out in the perimeter.
If the Mavs were hesitant to drive the lane, they have the outside shooting in Terry, Nowitski and Stackhouse to spread the defense.
It's going to be a long summer...
this thread could pass the quattro eventually...
I think the Spurs were in these games "in-spite" of some of the rotations.
We made the 20 point comeback thanks primarily to Tim and Manu putting the team on their back in the second half, not because we were playing small ball.
I could argue that the Mavs wouldn't have shot 69% from the floor that first half if we weren't playing small. I could argue that we'd of had more than 9 first half rebounds if we weren't playing small. I could argue there would have never been a need for a second half comeback if we weren't playing small.
We could look at this thing forever, but the truth is that we'll never know the answer because we never tried playing big.
For those who say we lost game two because we played our bigs. . .is that why we won game 1 by 30 against Sacramento? That was the last game that Nazr really saw the floor. I could argue we'd of won every playoff game by 30 points using that logic.
True...but I am positive if you shut down the middle....those shots don't fall as readily. Those outside shots has a better chance of going in because the guards had to back off because the help down wasn't there like it had been the last several seasons. They made way too many layups.Rasho would have definitely helped all those "nothing but net" shots the Mavs were making at an almost 80% clip.
You shut down the lane and they become more of a Milwaukee bucks type of offense....more jump shots than layups.
You live by the 3....you die by the 3.
Fine, damnit. Suggest a lineup that hasn't already been shown to be insufficient.
We'll wait.
That would have been great but Terry and Nowitski, especially Nowitski, were hitting everything they put up. The Mavs were not afraid of jump shots.
You too. Go ahead. Post a lineup that hasn't already been shot down.
This is one of those arguments that will never be settled because there's no real basis for comparison in the series. The game 2 blowout was more about the team being exhausted and taking the night off than the rotations. We never saw a center after that.
The Mavs fully exposed the Spurs need to get more athletic in the front-court so now we'll see what moves are made this off season.
Yeah. Me too.
Same lineup as last year, only with Finley instead of GRob
And who do they guard? And don't give me that crap about Duncan taking Howard. I already shot that down (which you didn't even read, evidently).
I already did, my friend. And again, there's no real basis to judge whether it could/would/should have worked because we never did juggle the lineup enough. So, in essence there's nothing concrete to shoot down.
I can't get shot down by someone's opinion. . .had the Spurs seriously changed looks at all during the series there'd be lots of opportunity to debate what worked and what didn't.
What we do know is that small ball didn't work.
Had the Spurs played big and lost in 5 games without trying to play small I'd be in here saying why the heck didn't Pop try a small lineup.
It's not that I care that we went small, it's that AJ toyed with his lineup and won the series. He went on the offensive and took it to us and won. The Spurs played outside their comfort zone and lost. Were it not for the heroics of Tim and Manu we'd of likely lost this one in five games, and that's what was disappointing.
And at the time when the first of them came in (Nazr), the Spurs were already down 16. Kind of a weak metric, don't you think?The ONE game in this series that Nazr and Rasho played any significant time was game 2. Well, you know the rest....
Let me rephrase this for you. We had the same seven footer starting that 'could play' last time we won a le (Nazr) as we did at the end of this season. Which is it? You say we lost the last two where our starting center sucked, but won the last two where he was decent. Well, Nazr won it last year (which is clearly one of the last two we won), but you're trying to say he sucked this year.Let me rephrase this for you: Pop won the last two les when he had 2 7-footers that could actually play. He lost the last two when our starting center sucked.
Clearly, that's poor coaching.
Clearly, you're a ing idiot.
Duncan could have done what he did with Amare last year - let the guy get 40, stay out of his way and don't foul when he's in the lane, and the Spurs win the series going away.And who do they guard? And don't give me that crap about Duncan taking Howard. I already shot that down (which you didn't even read, evidently).
You remember that series right? The one where we played Nazr and Tim vs. small ball and won going away? Evidently you didn't even watch that one.
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