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Hope Barry doesn't lose his stroke with the layoff. Should have a few games in the end to get the conditioning back and the shot well before the PO
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...s.36e0f2d.html
Spurs' small unit offers versatility
Web Posted: 04/06/2007 11:00 PM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News
Bruce Bowen stands 6-foot-7 and allegedly weighs as much as 200 pounds, which, of course, may qualify him as a hulking power forward when the Spurs play host to the Golden State Warriors tonight.
Warriors coach and small-ball pioneer Don Nelson has no qualms about subs uting speed for size, and, of late, that's meant starting 6-9 Al Harrington — who is considered undersized as a power forward — at center.
"That's Nellie," said Spurs guard Michael Finley, who played under Nelson for eight seasons in Dallas. "For them, that lineup has been successful. He's the kind of coach that's going to stick with it and more or less have teams prepare for him than him have to prepare for them.
"That's been his philosophy for years now."
The Spurs, in the words of coach Gregg Popovich, are "fairly committed to trying to stay big" this season. That was evidenced Thursday when Popovich often kept either Francisco Elson or Fabricio Oberto on the floor next to Tim Duncan in the team's 92-85 victory over Phoenix.
But in the past few weeks the Spurs also have successfully employed their own small lineup, using it on those nights when Elson encounters foul trouble, the team needs an extra shooter to erase a deficit, or — as might be the case tonight — the matchups simply make it too difficult to stay big.
"The small lineup is out there to make shots," Popovich said. "They have to make shots. We have good ball movement and more people on the court who can score with that group.
"We have to get good at it. At some point come playoff time teams go small more."
The Spurs used their small lineup to rally past Portland last month, then did the same thing against New Orleans on March 28. Andris Biedrins, who stands 6-11, started at center when the Warriors played the Spurs on March 25, but the Spurs still played small for stretches of their 126-89 victory.
"On those nights when we do go small and we're scoring 120 points it kind of reminds us we are capable of putting points on the board when we need to," Brent Barry said. "It's still about stopping teams, but we can score and get down the court when we let our guys loose a little bit."
Said Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, "I know when they went small with us two years ago (in the conference finals) in Phoenix they killed us with it."
The Spurs experimented with their small lineup during training camp, something they didn't do last season, to get the players familiar with it. When the Spurs do go small, Finley or Bowen usually moves to power forward. Popovich also has sometimes paired Jacque Vaughn in the backcourt with Tony Parker.
"We're still an old-fashioned team as far as starting your regular lineup and making them adjust to you," Bowen said. "But when you have guys like Fin and myself (who can defend) multiple positions, you can do other things on the defensive end, like fronting someone.
"With us going small, it gives us more athleticism and we're quicker, so if we do double-team we can scramble."
Popovich doesn't think the Spurs give up much defensively by playing small, but "against some teams rebounding-wise we have to be a little bit more cautious."
"There were times last year when the small lineup got us," Popovich said, "and (Dallas' Dirk) Nowitzki got some boards."
As a result, the Spurs prioritized finding an athletic center in the offseason. Elson's length and quickness have improved the team's defense. But he also is sometimes prone to foul trouble, which can limit his minutes.
Nelson even started Harrington against 7-6 center Yao Ming on Wednesday in Golden State's victory in Houston. Harrington fronted Yao and the Warriors gave him help. Afterward, Yao admitted to being frustrated.
The Spurs hope Duncan can avoid the same problems.
"This year we're trying to play big against small teams a little bit more than last year," Manu Ginobili said. "It depends on what Pop sees, what he wants. But I think we are comfortable with both."
Notebook: Ginobili said his back was more sore than his left shoulder after he hit the court hard following a drive to the basket Thursday night. He received treatment at practice Friday, but expects to play tonight. "My back is a little tight," Ginobili said. "I was trying to loosen it up with the trainer, but no big deal. I'm all bone. The bones hit the floor pretty hard." ... Popovich said Barry had another MRI, which showed his back is improving. Barry is still expected to miss another game or two.
Hope Barry doesn't lose his stroke with the layoff. Should have a few games in the end to get the conditioning back and the shot well before the PO
"We have to get good at it. At some point come playoff time teams go small more."
Oh no. Small ball is going to be death in the playoffs. It might work against the Suns, but that's about it."We have to get good at it. At some point come playoff time teams go small more."
Nellie invented small ball, but even he'd blush at the midget ball lineup of Vaughn, Parker, Manu, Finley and Duncan that Pop has been using. Having two point guards and two shooting guards on the court at the same time is something I've never seen in an NBA game ... until Pop started trotting out that lineup.
If the Spurs even make it to the Mavs, it'd be shame to go down in flames all because of small ball.
Understatement of the millennium"There were times last year when the small lineup got us," Popovich said, "and (Dallas' Dirk) Nowitzki got some boards."
The Mavs have outrebounded the Spurs in 14 straight games. Fourteen. The problem is a lot deeper than "Dirk got some boards".
If the Spurs don't stay big enough against the Mavs to rebound the ball, they can't win the series. It'd be impossible.
But those thoughts are premature because if small ball is going to be played in the first two rounds of the playoffs, I'm not sure the Spurs even make it to the Mavs.
I agree with Timvp completely
If anything, after last nights win, I thought Pop would be moving AWAY from small ball and sticking to his bread and butter (playing with 2 bigs, not one)
.
Small ball works with the right personnel. Running it with point guards and shooting guards and Duncan isn't the optimal way.
I just don't understand why all of a sudden Pop goes with small ball against the Mavs. Just as recently as 2004-05, the Spurs would stay big against the Mavs and punish Dallas on the boards. And this was Dallas with the same core of Dirk, JHo, Terry, Harris, Dampier, Stack, etc.
That year in the two games in the SBC Center, the Spurs outrebounded the Mavs a combined 96 to 77. Not surprisingly, the Spurs won both games. And not surprisingly, small ball wasn't part of the equation.
Even last year in the regular season against the Mavs, the Spurs won both games they didn't use small ball at all and lost both games they played small ball. In the loses, they played small ball for 16 minutes in one game and 30 minutes in the other.
How much more plain can it be? If the Spurs play small against the Mavs, they get outrebounded and lose. If the Spurs stay big, they usually win.
WTF
Small ball works in some situations, but POP made it the modus operandi of the Spurs offense playing Dallas and they just didn't have the personnel to compete for the whole series. Fourth quarter of every game in the series should have been the Spurs bigs dominating. That series loss was on POP.
I don't get why people think Spurs will go small against Mavs.
Spurs have played 3 times agaisnt Mavs this year :
First game : 0 min of small ball
Second game : 0 min of small ball
Third game : 13 min of small ball
Spurs have played small ball only one time against Mavs this year : Elson was out for this game and Spurs have mainly played small ball when Mavs were small with Dirk at C, George/Howard at PF and AJ shouting "double" on Duncan.
Bottomline is that Spurs have gone small mainly when the opposite team goes small and creates matchup problems or when Spurs try to do an unlikely comeback by scoring a lot of points. Smallball has been wisely used this year. The Pacers game is maybe the only example of a bad use of smallball.
BTW, Hasn't Pop said something like that he likes how Spurs bigs match up with Mavs big, in one of his Pop show ?
When the chips are down, Pop goes small this year. He went big the first couple games against the Mavs, but since then he's lost confidence in Oberto and Horry has been hobbled.
Dirk will get Elson in foul trouble in the first minute of games ... and then what? Pop will go to small ball.
Not true. There have been many games where the Spurs go small as part of the normal rotations. If it was to only match down to opponents or if the Spurs need a comeback, I wouldn't have a problem with it.
But that's not the case.
You are probably the one Spurs fan who thinks that.
The 2nd game I throw out the window, Manu got injured half way through. The 3rd game we just blew. Pop stupidly started Horry instead of Fab and didn't play Oberto nearly enough in the 2nd half even though he was having a good night. It was a tie game half way through the 4th and Pop stupidly switched to smallball and we lost the game.
I don't see why we should ever go small against the Mavs. When we're big we can rebound and take away their lay-ups. When we're small we can't. It's that simple. Pop talks about us being a defensive team first and if that's the case we should stay big.
Spurs doesn't go more small than last year while small ball is more and more used in the nba. He has maybe overused small ball lately with Horry out but nothing more.
Oberto has been really bad in the middle of the year, he seem to be back at a less horible level now. "Oberto sucks" was maybe the most written sentence in February on ST (tied with "Udrih sucks").
Horry has been injured lately and is FG% is 20% in March.
I don't know how you can blame Pop to use them less than at the start of teh season when they were quite good.
It's well known that Spurs fans are rational about small ball. It's not like people create a "small ball sucks" thread even when Spurs won a game because of it.
You are probably the one Spurs fan who thinks that.
And you don't throw the 3rd game when Elson was injured.
That's not what happened.
Spurs lost this game mainly because of Duncan stupidity and not Pop one. Mavs have played without someone able to defend on Duncan and without doubling him in the post. And Duncan hasn't scored because of AJ trick.
Stay big, play zones or at least SOME zones.
Curious, for you more knowledgeable BB fans. How come Spurs hardly employ zone defense?
I noticed how Miami used the 2-3 Zone in the Finals.
I saw Pop change it up once a couple months ago and had the Spurs trying out their zone against, whoever. I forget but I noticed it was out of the ordinary. (I may be mistaken on this query however.)
Well, one bad thing about zones is that they open up the offensive glass. You don't have a "man" to put a body on and block out. That's why you stay big.
I can recall one...even though the NBA had fewer 7-footers in the early 1970s. The NY Knicks beat Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West for the NBA le with Walt Frazier and Earl the Pearl in the backcourt (2 lead guards) and Dave DeBusschere (6'5") and Bill Bradley (6"6") in the front court with Willis Reed (Phil Jackson off the bench) in the post.
go solid d
MANU needs to sit out and get ing healthy
I could've sworn I read somewhere that Pop finds zone defense "cheap" and a bit of a cop out considering how much of a defensive purist he is. I wish I could remember the article, but I remember him saying something along the lines of him not being comfortable using zone often as zone defense was something teams who didn't know how to defend would use a lot.
I think he has too much pride for it.
And people wonder why I criticize Pop's stubbornness.
If he can't see that small ball is a failure against the Mavs, he's being blinded by his own ego and arrogance. Oh well, looks like the season ends in May again.
Actually, June. They won't meet in the WC semifinals this year.
Problem is DeBusschere was closer to 6-foot-7 and averaged like 12 boards per game. If Finley, Barry or Bowen averaged 12 boards per game, I'd be all for small ball. But they don't average half of that combined.
Plus Walt Frazier was one of the best rebounding point guards of all-time.
Close though, but I'd list DeBusschere more as more of a small forward who could steal minutes at power forward due to his rebounding.
oh no. this idiot still hasn't learned.
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