Interesting theory by Spurs blogger about the final play

[indeedproceed]

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?

I didn't get that either. Is he like an action figure? Does he also come in "ninja", "party", "cowboy", and "malibu" Pop?

[CelticG1]

I tend to think that most plays are about execution. The timing has to be right, the picks have to be right, runnning/flaring off the picks have to be right, the passing everything. I think you can run a lot of great plays multiple times and if you execute it correctly there is no real way of stopping it.

Maybe there are "trick" plays but i think they are few and far between.

Even that sixers game with the KG oop. I think that is more about execution, I don't think it's necessarily something that you can't use again. And if thats the case there are plenty of ways to alter it

[Vermont Green]

OK, now I understand why Ray missed those two foul shots on purpose.  It was so SA would have a chance to win and we would get to see their secret last second shot.  We thought we were outsmarting POP but he didn't fall for it.

[Roy H.]

OK, now I understand why Ray missed those two foul shots on purpose.  It was so SA would have a chance to win and we would get to see their secret last second shot.  We thought we were outsmarting POP but he didn't fall for it.

The dude is in the CIA, what did you expect?  Clearly, CIA > Doc.

[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?

I didn't get that either. Is he like an action figure? Does he also come in "ninja", "party", "cowboy", and "malibu" Pop?

Awesome.

It's the same action figure, except for the accessories.

Ninja = mask
Party = party hat
Cowboy = cowboy hat
Malibu = fake spray-on tan

[Edgar]

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?

I didn't get that either. Is he like an action figure? Does he also come in "ninja", "party", "cowboy", and "malibu" Pop?

Awesome.

It's the same action figure, except for the accessories.

Ninja = mask
Party = party hat
Cowboy = cowboy hat
Malibu = fake spray-on tan

pst Lucky you have an interesting tradde proposal on the H2H league
I think you cannot reject that one

[Snakehead]

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?

I didn't get that either. Is he like an action figure? Does he also come in "ninja", "party", "cowboy", and "malibu" Pop?

TP for Malibu Pop.  He wears a crappy hawaiian shirt and has daquiri drinking action.

OK, now I understand why Ray missed those two foul shots on purpose.  It was so SA would have a chance to win and we would get to see their secret last second shot.  We thought we were outsmarting POP but he didn't fall for it.

LOL it's like we are all playing basketball and they are playing chess 

[youcanthandlethetruth113]

Sounds like sour grapes/excuses to me

To quote Michael Jordan, maybe Popovich didn't want to reveal his jaw-dropping inbounds play which would have guaranteed him victory, "or maybe you're just making excuses".

[Edgar]

Someone SHOULD send this thread to the blogger
I am laughing like a Madman here



p.s. love crappy hawaian tshirts I get the love in the original place MAUI .
I buy 2 and never used them again in my entire life
AND i live in a tropical country...lol
even here thos are cheesy..lol lol lol

[Fan from VT]

If Pop is so forward thinking to worry about showing the celtics a great inbounds play for fear of not using that play in the finals, a play so good it would guarantee victory...wouldn't he be MORE worried about something like home court advantage, with is
a. far more important than one set play in a 7 game series
b. far more likely to actually occur
c. potentially directly affected by winning/losing this game due to the two teams' very good records.

Point being, I don't think Pop would say "oh, we could easily win this one but i wan to save my play for the .001% chance we are down two to the celtics in the finals." I think he'd say "oh, we should easily win this game for the 5% chance that it makes the difference in home court for the finals, and i'll draw a new play sometime in the next few months."


In other words...BALONEY

[barefacedmonk]

He is smoking something...besides pounding the rock.

[dasani]

Sounds like sour grapes/excuses to me

To quote Michael Jordan, maybe Popovich didn't want to reveal his jaw-dropping inbounds play which would have guaranteed him victory, "or maybe you're just making excuses".

Lol I agree with "just making excuses." nice little theory though to make you feel good.

[footey]

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.

As if we don't have their great out of bounds plays on tape? This is preposterous.

[mgent]

So what has Pops used in previous Finals?  I thought he was incapable of coming up with more than one play.

[Eddie20]

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.

By that notion, then why didn't he bench his guys down 9 with less than a minute left? Or why intentional foul? Or why call a timeout after the rebounded Allen FT miss?