Interesting theory by Spurs blogger about the final play

[Roy H.]

Over on the Spurs SBN blog, one of their authors writes:

OK, guys, here's my take on the final play of last night's showdown between the Boston Celtics and your San Antonio Spurs. CIA Pop would have preferred to win the game, but when it comes down to the LAST possession against a team that (should the Spurs make it that far) they could possibly meet in the Finals, he's absolutely NOT going to give them even a PEEK at one of our good inbounds plays.

. . .

Now, we can have a discussion about WHY IN THE WORLD, CIA Pop wouldn't want to do more than he did to win this game, but I think it's completely obvious that he was holding back his best plays for later in the season when there's more on the line. If Manu wins it, fine. But he wasn't going to show the Celtics more than he wanted to. He has a precious supply of amazing, game-changing, series-winning inbounds plays, and he didn't want to use one of them tonight. End of story.

Link.

That's certainly a novel theory.  Would any coach actually do this?  I'm got to think not.  Coaches coach to win games, and Pop isn't going to be so paranoid about a potential Finals matchup that he's going to give his team a lesser shot at winning a game like this one.

[Redz]

That sounds like way more of an NFL type of paranoia

[StartOrien]

I'll give the guy this, if you presented this as fact and had me guess what coach would do this I'd answer Poppovich in a heart beat.

[pearljammer10]

Interesting theory, however if a coach is a great coach, he has more than one great inbounds play to win the game. I dont buy the theory. You coach to win, if you use a great play to win the game then tweak it later in the season to make it better or use a different one that is equally effective.

[Kwhit10]

Well then let's thank the almighty Coach Pop for handing us the win on that last play 

[Bankshot]

Whatever.  I don't believe it one bit.  He lost the game because he didn't want to show a winning play? 

[CelticsWhat35]

Doc Rivers has come up with some pretty darn good inbounds plays, both in the regular season and in the playoffs.  Also, even if a defense knows a play is coming, it can still work if executed properly.

This is just an excuse by a fan upset about his team coming up just short of an improbable comeback.  I didn't notice it, but in reading the Daily Dime on espn.com, McDyess was apparently wide open rolling to the basket and Ginobili missed him.  So for all we know, that could've been one of Pop's best plays, but it just wasn't executed properly.

[Birdbrain]

Spurs were lucky to be in that game.  So if Pop was holding back it must have been on defense.  60%? A healthy C's team would have beaten them by 20 last night.

[Chris]

Popovic is a good coach, but the praise for him has gone way overboard.  

[Snakehead]

Well then let's thank the almighty Coach Pop for handing us the win on that last play 

Lol.  You have to love that.  If he was so good at drawing up inbounds plays he could come up with more than 1.  I think Doc is the current master of the inbounds/last shot play and notice he is never afraid to bust one out.  In fact, he often plays around with opposing teams by playing on what they expect to happen from previous plays.  It's like a talented offensive player in the post, you have a go to move or two and then counters when the opposition overplays those moves.

Perfect example is last night when they went to Pierce and they doubled him, Pierce takes the time.  Then they go to Pierce again and they think he is isoing for the shot, and when focus is on him they bring Ray off the baseline screen for a three.  Just beautiful and unexpected.

Not a chance this is what Pop did.  And it's not like they couldn't get the ball in or something, there was just very good defense on the shot and the fact is that while we have two players who hit daggers and clutch shots with regularity (Pierce and Allen) they only really have one (in Manu) and the Celtics know that.  That's why they threw Quis and Pierce at him and shut him down.

[Roy H.]

I didn't notice it, but in reading the Daily Dime on espn.com, McDyess was apparently wide open rolling to the basket and Ginobili missed him.  

Yep.  He was wide open on the Manu double-team.   That looked like a mistake on the Celtics part, on a failed switch; the Celts dodged a bit of a bullet there, because there was nobody to stop him.

[Fafnir]

Yeah it was a good play, they put out a lot of bigs to roll to the hoop and then got the ball to their best passer. Ginobli just didn't make it happen.

[indeedproceed]

Well there is one important point here:

The legend of Greg Popovich has risen to such a level that for a minute you have to take this seriously.

Anyone who doubts that Greg Pop is the best coach in the NBA, think about that. Would we even consider for a second that Doc Rivers would withold an inbounds play that is a potential game winner against a western conference opponent in January because of the off chance that you'll see them in the finals? No freakin way. Phil Jackson wouldn't do that, Jerry Sloan wouldn't do that, heck Pat Riley wouldn't do that...but Greg Popovich might.

[Greenbean]

HAHA!

Pretty funny theory.

Although if everything were reversed  and this was posted on Celticsblog about Doc after losing a game like last night I could probably be talked into buying this!

[CelticsWhat35]

I didn't notice it, but in reading the Daily Dime on espn.com, McDyess was apparently wide open rolling to the basket and Ginobili missed him.  

Yep.  He was wide open on the Manu double-team.   That looked like a mistake on the Celtics part, on a failed switch; the Celts dodged a bit of a bullet there, because there was nobody to stop him.

Yeah, I guess it must've been Q's fault on the pick (unless Doc ordered the players not to switch on picks).  Pierce switched, and Q fought threw the pick and then made another mistake of jumping on Ginobili's upfake.

The thing that amazed me is that Ginobili, the king of flops and drawing fouls, didn't jump into Q to draw the foul.  My only thought would be that Ginobili wanted to go for the win (which he couldn't have done cuz he stepped on the line anyway) and he knew jumping into Q would've involved stepping over the line, and only 2 FT shots.