Interesting theory by Spurs blogger about the final play

[Chris]

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.

Here's the thing.  If Popovic was as good as everyone says he is (even though the hype is quiet, it is strong), he would have won a championship in the last 4 years.

At some point, I think it needs to be acknowledged that he won those championships with the best player in the game, and probably the best PF in the history of the league in the absolute prime of his career, and one of the most complete supporting casts we have seen in the last 20 years...yet he has not done anything with them since Duncan has started to go downhill.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying Popovic is not a great coach, but at some point, the genius tag needs to be supported by current evidence.

Also, I want to point out, that the Spurs are a great example of how drastically limiting minutes of your stars does nothing to keep them off the injured list at critical times. 

[Dr 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.

Didn't Doc say postgame that they should've switched on the PnR? I know for a fact Doc said that he was hoping and praying that Ginobili didn't see the wide open McDyess rolling into the lane..but I'm hazy on if he said if Pierce and Marquis should've switched.

Aside from that, if this is true I would totally believe it..but I'm not sure if it's true or not(and no one will know). IMO the Spurs should be thinking about getting through the Lakers first before worrying about showing inbounds plays to a potential NBA finals opponent, the Boston Celtics.

[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.

Here's the thing.  If Popovic was as good as everyone says he is (even though the hype is quiet, it is strong), he would have won a championship in the last 4 years.

At some point, I think it needs to be acknowledged that he won those championships with the best player in the game, and probably the best PF in the history of the league in the absolute prime of his career, and one of the most complete supporting casts we have seen in the last 20 years...yet he has not done anything with them since Duncan has started to go downhill.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying Popovic is not a great coach, but at some point, the genius tag needs to be supported by current evidence.

If Greg Popovich heard you say that he'd say "Ouch though!" and walk away. He would secretly be holding back a murderous one liner in case he met you again 5 months later.

[Redz]

He's also saving the real "come from 9 behind in 30 seconds strategy" for the Finals.  Last night's was just a smokescreen.

[GranTur]

Wow, Chris. I couldn't have said any of that better myself.

Pop is definitely a top level coach, but I wouldn't call him elite or one of the GOAT.

As far as that theory...LOL is all I have to say.

[BballTim]

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.

  Worse for them was the play before. Parker got Baby on him on a switch and dribbled to the right and gave the ball to RJ with PP on him and the play ended with a charge on BBD. During the entire sequence TD was near the hoop with Rondo covering him. Oops!.

[Fafnir]

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.

Here's the thing.  If Popovic was as good as everyone says he is (even though the hype is quiet, it is strong), he would have won a championship in the last 4 years.

At some point, I think it needs to be acknowledged that he won those championships with the best player in the game, and probably the best PF in the history of the league in the absolute prime of his career, and one of the most complete supporting casts we have seen in the last 20 years...yet he has not done anything with them since Duncan has started to go downhill.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying Popovic is not a great coach, but at some point, the genius tag needs to be supported by current evidence.

Also, I want to point out, that the Spurs are a great example of how drastically limiting minutes of your stars does nothing to keep them off the injured list at critical times. 

I don't know if any coach could win a title with his second/third best players constantly hurt. Tony Parker/Manu's injuries have killed their chances year after year.

[BballTim]

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.

  What's funny is that he somewhat implies that Pop has great inbounds plays but he won't use them "tonight" or "against a team they might meet in the finals" as if, somehow, he could use those plays against other teams and Doc wouldn't find out about it. Like Doc somehow has fewer resources available to him than my son who would no doubt see such a play 4-5 times between sportscenter and nba gametime.

[Chris]

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.

Here's the thing.  If Popovic was as good as everyone says he is (even though the hype is quiet, it is strong), he would have won a championship in the last 4 years.

At some point, I think it needs to be acknowledged that he won those championships with the best player in the game, and probably the best PF in the history of the league in the absolute prime of his career, and one of the most complete supporting casts we have seen in the last 20 years...yet he has not done anything with them since Duncan has started to go downhill.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying Popovic is not a great coach, but at some point, the genius tag needs to be supported by current evidence.

Also, I want to point out, that the Spurs are a great example of how drastically limiting minutes of your stars does nothing to keep them off the injured list at critical times. 

I don't know if any coach could win a title with his second/third best players constantly hurt. Tony Parker/Manu's injuries have killed their chances year after year.

I agree.  I am just saying that pointing to the Spurs as an example of why Ray Allen or Paul Pierce should not be playing 36 minutes per game doesn't hold all that much water anymore.  

Limiting the minutes worked for Popovic in 2006, when his players were still in the absolute prime of their careers...but whose to say they couldn't have played 38 minutes per game and not still won the championship.  

Since 2006, the limiting of minutes has done nothing, since guys still got hurt, and they didn't even have a chance to use that extra energy deep in the playoffs.

[RAcker]

He's also saving the real "come from 9 behind in 30 seconds strategy" for the Finals.  Last night's was just a smokescreen.

Yeah, and Doc was just playing a mind trick on Popovich by not covering McDyess in case of this "potential" Finals matchup so that Popovich will think it's going to be open next time only to have KG intercept the pass.

Ah, brilliant!   

[Lucky17]

CIA Pop would have preferred to win the game . . .

CIA Pop wouldn't want to do more than he did to win this game . . .

CIA Pop? Is this a persona he adopts for certain games? Does he come out as FBI Pop some nights? If it's a home game, is he SAPD Pop?

[BballTim]

CIA Pop would have preferred to win the game . . .

CIA Pop wouldn't want to do more than he did to win this game . . .

CIA Pop? Is this a persona he adopts for certain games? Does he come out as FBI Pop some nights? If it's a home game, is he SAPD Pop?

  With that team he mainly has to avoid being ICE Pop...

[Rondo9dunx]

Go back a week or two they won a game on a game winning shot by manu using that exact same play.

The only difference between the game winner and this shot was paul pierce. On the play where san antonio won thier SF was past the top of the key, out of position. Pierce was in the right spot. He had a hesitation that made manu decide not to throw an alley oop. Then he covered for marquis because he knew he'd stopped the pass and manu was going to shoot. Then be blocked the shot.

The guy who wrote this article is just an angry homer... must be a former laker fan that moved to san antonio or something.

Celtics should have won that game by 6-10 points, but the refs needed to make sure the spurs covered on points so what can you do?

[Edgar]

 

[JerseyKid.]

Gotta love the fans, thats some serious team loyalty to devise something like that to let them feel at rest with that loss.

So i say, go ahead guys, keep thinking coachs hold back because they are unveiling magical plays for the playoffs.  

Im curious to see what they had to say about taking the starters out with 3 minutes left for the knicks the night before. ROFL.