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give him a glass of water, he's choking on his words!
link: http://www.denverpost.com/kiszla/ci_5781656
Popovich gets best of Karl
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 04/30/2007 12:45:08 AM MDT
This is not why the Nuggets pay coach George Karl the big bucks.
Why is Denver trailing San Antonio 2-1 in a best-of-seven NBA playoff series? The answer can be found on the bench.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich is proving why he has won three championship rings.
Karl is proving 829 regular-season career victories are highly overrated if you can't get it done in the playoffs.
Popovich has dictated the style of basketball in this series, forcing Denver to win the way San Antonio likes to play.
Karl has established he can get a technical foul for failure to stay in the coaching box.
This is not how Karl earns an annual salary of $3 million.
San Antonio is limiting the Nuggets to 91 points per game, 14 fewer than their regular-season average. Is any team in the league as good as imposing its will on a game as the squad coached by Popovich?
"Hmm," Karl replied Sunday. "I think Phoenix is pretty good at it. But when I see Phoenix and San Antonio play, it seems like San Antonio dictates."
Popovich is ordering the adjustments Karl must make on the court. Sound familiar? Since Denver lost to San Antonio in the 2005 playoffs, the Nuggets are better and the Spurs are older.
But the coaches remain the same.
The beauty of the NBA, a major reason why everybody from Jack Nicholson to Rocky the mascot loves this game, is because talent usually wins in the end. With his back to a wall outside the visitors' locker room in San Antonio, Karl recently suggested coaches usually cancel each other out in the playoffs.
A coach gets maybe one psychological gambit a series. Karl blew his by declaring Game 3 was a must-win for the Nuggets.
A coach is guaranteed precious few chances to make a crucial subs ution in a series. Karl botched one huge opportunity as the Nuggets came unraveled late in the third quarter of Game 3, allowing the ugly implosion of 21-year-old J.R. Smith, an excitable guy who at any given minute is capable of swishing a sweet 3-pointer or rubbing the Sunday pot roast all over his chest.
An NBA coach who makes a difference would have removed Smith from the court immediately after one boneheaded pass and calmly told the young player to sit down and take three deep breaths.
Karl was not hired in Denver to get bounced from the opening round of the playoffs three straight years.
After watching Robert Horry drop Denver in a big hole by drilling big jump shots that dropped the hearts of Nuggets fans to their stomachs, Karl explained away the 96-91 loss in Game 3 by suggesting the Spurs had tricked his team.
Excuse me? Nobody pays me $3 million a year for my basketball knowledge, but every American household that owns a TV has witnessed Horry make himself a household name during the NBA playoffs. And the coach of the Nuggets acts as if he doesn't know the difference between Big Shot Rob and SpongeBob SquarePants?
This was not why the Nuggets picked up the option on Karl's contract, committing to him through 2010.
Despite the gray in their beards, the Spurs are a lot of good things. Poised. Smart. Tougher than barbed wire. But tricky they ain't.
Karl was asked point-blank if seven games would be long enough to figure out all the tricks by his counterpart on the San Antonio bench.
"I think we're one for three in tricks," replied Karl, wanting credit for not being outsmarted in Denver's lone victory against the Spurs.
OK. We'll give Karl one gold star and an oatmeal cookie as a reward.
Get outsmarted two nights out of three in the playoffs, and it's a surefire formula for Karl seeing his team eliminated in six games.
This series is a reminder of a crazy basketball notion I have been espousing for years: The best coach in the NBA is not Phil Jackson or Pat Riley or Don Nelson. It's Popovich.
Carmelo Anthony, averaging a spectacular 28 points and 10 rebounds against the Spurs, is proving he can compete with Tim Duncan.
But Karl has yet to prove he can handle Popovich.
After kicking away home-court advantage, the Nuggets were defiant. Smith was asked to evaluate the series.
He replied: "We're losing games we should win."
You can analyze those words 1,000 ways. But here's the bottom line: A team that loses games it should win is the definition of poor coaching.
========================================
^ Denver media exploding on their own team?
give him a glass of water, he's choking on his words!
So now he's throwing his coach under the bus.
ing asshole.
ummm... because san antonio is a better team?Why is Denver trailing San Antonio 2-1 in a best-of-seven NBA playoff series?
Kizla's trying the ol reverse karma thing.
And the coach of the Nuggets acts as if he doesn't know the difference between Big Shot Rob and SpongeBob SquarePants?
That was pretty funny, but he's still a jackass.
"forcing Denver to win the way San Antonio likes to play."
force Denver to win? WTF? Didn't he mean to say:
"forcing Denver to play the way San Antonio likes to win."
it happens when you don't mean what you say."forcing Denver to win the way San Antonio likes to play."
force Denver to win? WTF? Didn't he mean to say:
"forcing Denver to play the way San Antonio likes to win."
Reminds me of some guys on am 1300 the zone here in Austin. This morning they try to get off the mavs jock and come running to the Spurs. And like I say to them I will say to kiszla YOU GO DOWN WITH THE SHIP YOU PICKED!!!
I notice a slight change of tone in this idiot's article when compared to the first two.
Because San Antonio is a three seed? Because Denver isn't better than they were in 2005?
WTF? Is this some sort of inside joke or cutting edge pop reference I just don't get? Or is this guy insane?
And if this gets Karl feeling like he's in the crosshairs he'll be working overtime to crank out the excuses. Or is it CIA Karl? Did he and Smith conspire to create the impression of an imploding team to lull the Spurs into complacency?
Yeah definately a wtf statement.
If you read closely, Karl picks us to beat the Suns in round 2. Waving the white flag already.
What is it with Denver throwing people under the bus? First, the entire city of Denver, the players, the coaches, the ball boy, the guy who scrapes gum out from under the seats, and the popcorn cranker blame JR Smith.
Now their resident standard-bearer of journalism blames Karl (as if anyone who ever watched a game coached by this guy is shocked).
Could it be something so simple (yet obviously so inconceivable for them): from top to bottom...wait for it...waaaaait for it...the Spurs are possibly better? *gasp*
Mark Kiszlamyass
Complete 180 degree turn. No more of his macho, smack talks.
I hate Coach Karl. He reminds of the clown from spawn. I'll cyberblow anyone who photoshops that.
He talks like the Spurs were the underdogs in this series. this man is delusional.
I'll give the Denver folks who were around here earlier in the series credit for this -- they were absolutely correct in predicting that Kiszla would turn on the Nuggets at the first signs of adversity. He's obviously unwilling to blame most of the players, choosing instead to lay blame at Karl's feet.
Could it be that he's "greasing himself up"?
Only thing I could think of. It's like he was trying to think of a metaphor, ran out of time, and just thought to himself, "..... That one!"
If you throw enough on the wall, it'll eventually stick.
Kisla's writing is a lot like that.
Wait am I suppose to gather from this article this idiot thought his buttnuggs actually had a chance?
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