1) Dallas is hyped up with nothing to lose, backs against the wall
2) Crowd is desperate and ready to explode at any sign of life
3) Spurs contributors are beaten up and banged around from a hard fought series
4) Mentally, a hard-fought 48 minute loss would be disheartening (at the least) for the Spurs, and give the Mavs tons of momentum
5) Since game #3, the "big 3" really haven't played all that well

Result?

MINUTES PLAYED:
George Hill 29
Roger Mason 28
Tony Parker 25
Duncan/Jefferson 24
Bonner 22
Ginobili 18
Dice 14

In contrast:
Butler 37
Kidd 32
Haywood/Dirk 31
Marion 26

I have a hard time believing anyone "mailed" anything in, but as somebody stated earlier, when you trot Roger Mason out onto the floor with Matt Bonner and Dejuan Blair in the 1st quarter, something is up. As a fan, I'm pissed about game 5. But from a player's perspective, you basically got the night off, you have some motivation, and you are going home to your home court.

Was this a calculated move by Pop? It would seem to be the opposite of everything I thought about him to suggest he would concede a game, but freakin' Ian Mahinmi was on the court in the 3rd quarter.

Yea or Nay. Calculated, or not?

Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

If Ian had played seen the floor before the game was a blow out you'd have something resembling a leg to stand on. Duncan played the vast majority of the first half and wasn't pulled in the second half until the Spurs were down by 17.

It wasn't a ninja move, it was an early blow out.

Not calculated.

Bonner has been heavy minutes guy for entire season. He's also stunk for entire season. Nothing changed in game five.

Spurs were losing by twenty points in second half. Who did you expect to see on the court?

Mass-

Did you see any of our players not named Dejuan Blair breaking a sweat last night? I didn't...Timmy looked like he was going at 3/4 speed and Manu appeared to have no drive...

Did you see Pop throw a fit about any of players' performances last night? I didn't...in fact, pop sat on the bench almost the entire game with an expressionless face...

My opinion is that he sent his team out on the floor last night and had a checklist of things that he would observe in the first 5-min from the Mavs to determine how he would play it...he got his answer, and then made 'unorthodox' line up moves for the rest of the game. I mean, look at the Blair move alone. Wouldn't you agree that Blair has played a significant role off the bench for SA in their 3-wins of this series? So, if he was important to winning, why would Pop leave him out there with 2 fouls in the first half, and then three, only removing him when he got #4? Does that really make sense if Pop thought they had a snowball's chance last night?

Like I said, I think Pop went into last night with certain criteria in mind that would help him quickly decide whether or not it expending the effort to try to end it in 5, knowing you go home for game 6, was really worth it...call it a 'calculated risk'...

FireAg makes a much better argument.

why would Pop risk losing momentum and having the Mavs start a roll. Doesn't happen.

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Duncan played the vast majority of the first half and wasn't pulled in the second half until the Spurs were down by 17.

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Duncan played 18 first half minutes

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It wasn't a ninja move, it was an early blow out.

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It's obvious that Pop was going to limit the minutes of Tim/Manu from the get-go. Just as I said in the prediction thread, if the spares had kept the Spurs in the game, Pop would have let the boys go for it down the stretch.

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Not calculated.

Bonner has been heavy minutes guy for entire season.

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Bonner has actually played good defense on Dirk. If Dirk settles for the 2" vert fadeaway jumpshot, Bonner is a good defender on him.

But, Pop obviously had this game calculated with Mason seeing heavy first half minutes. He averaged 2.3min/game in the Spurs' 3 wins.


You'll see the Spurs team from Game 2-4 in Game 6. Mason won't get many, if any, minutes. I doubt very seriously that you will see Mason, Bonner, Blair on the court at the same time.

Meh. Stupid to mail in any game in the NBA playoffs, if that's the case. Popovich is probably safe because the Mavs will have trouble winning 3 in a row, but this may prove to be his big mistake.

Carlisle should have followed suit as Dirk could have got just as much rest as Duncan.

Well, Carlisle is not a very good coach.

No argument there.

if pop really did "throw" this game, then the spurs should handily win in SA.

guess pop hasnt heard of momentum as well.

aka....no, this game wasn't thrown. and if it was, and san antonio loses at home in game 6, then dallas will be laughing all the way to the 2nd round.

[This message has been edited by Simplebay (edited 4/28/2010 9:37a).]

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Meh. Stupid to mail in any game in the NBA playoffs, if that's the case

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The Lakers have done this for at least the past 2 years.

I am not saying the Spurs completely mailed this in, but there is definitely some strategy involved in expelling the max energy only when you have to.

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if pop really did "throw" this game, then the spurs should handily win in SA.

guess pop hasnt heard of momentum as well.

aka....no, this game wasn't thrown. and if it was, and san antonio loses at home in game 6, then dallas will be laughing all the way to the 2nd round.

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Once again, you have no clue what you are talking about. Lakers did just that last year vs the Rockets, and you watched them do it in OKC.

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FireAg makes a much better argument

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He is basically just better at articulating himself. He said what I meant.

I didn't mean to say that Pop's attitude was "let's lose this thing". Pop's attitude was more like "let's not kill ourselves trying to win this thing".

I don't know. I really don't. It is surprising and a bit disappointing if so. Either way, a blowout loss in a closeout game is disappointing. I'm just looking for the bright side.

Spurs were down 7 at half...very similar to Game 4. Start of the 3rd quarter was the key. Key to game 4 was crowd+refs+physical play knocking the Mavs off their focus. None of that had an effect this game.

If Kidd defies the odds and has another great game on Thursday, then I'll point to his limited minutes in game 5 as the key.

Kidd and Butler are the 2 X-factors - the Mavs have won both games where they played well.

I don't think they mailed it in. They worked hard and brought a 17 point lead down to 7 just before half. I think once the Mavs went on their big run to start the 2nd, Pop realized they were most likely going to lose and at that point he decided to begin working toward game 6 and rested his guys.

Pop has won four championships playing similar games from time to time, and they have paid off in the long run...

Is it a risk? Absolutely, but it is calculated. Pop just doesn't do things on a whim. This could backfire, no doubt, but I think it's laughable to assume that Pop thought some of the line ups he threw out there, even in the first half, were considered to be "I think we can really compete with this rotation on the floor tonight"...

Do you seriously think that Pop, in the first half, would give a Bonner, Blair, Mason Jr. rotation serious minutes in the first half of say a game 7? Seriously??? He has his ace in the hole - a game 6 closeout at home...that's what he's betting on.

[This message has been edited by FireAg (edited 4/28/2010 9:50a).]

clay....the lakers were clearly favored over the rockets. and it was more of a david vs goliath thing. the lakers underestimated them, and got hit in the mouth a couple of times. that is much different than THROWING a game to a higher seed in order to get back home (is that what's in question here?)

the spurs are the LOWER SEED in this instance. who was favored in this series?

once again clay, you are drawing retarded conclusions.

the spurs got outplayed, the mavs finally played as they should (caron butler, how nice to see you).

oh, and +1 for what keithd03 said.

resting your players when the game is out of hand in the 2nd half? yes.

throwing a game intentionally, possibly costing momentum and definitely costing days rest for your older players who clearly need it....retarded. all so you can make one final push at home, even though you'll have played more games? this is what homers think happen when they can't admit their team got outplayed. (see: fireag's posts)

so, ultimately, if the spurs lose game 6 at home (the "ace in the hole" ), both Pop and FireAg should just go take a flaming leap off a bridge, because this "plan all along" probably cost them the series.

[This message has been edited by Simplebay (edited 4/28/2010 9:54a).]

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They worked hard and brought a 17 point lead down to 7 just before half.

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Did they really work all that 'hard' to close the gap, or did the Mavs (Dirk specifically) turn it over 3 times in a row, and then stop playing defense down the stretch in the first half?

Frankly, I think Pop was surprised that they were within 7...San Antonio cut the deficit because the Mavs got sloppy...not because they all of a sudden started playing balls out to end the half...

[This message has been edited by FireAg (edited 4/28/2010 9:55a).]

I'm not even going to mess with you. It's pointless. You have close to zero common sense.

im not the one making excuses for my team's play by assuming i can read the mind of my coach and saying he's employing a gameplan with a huge logical fallacy just because i can't admit my team got outplayed.

that's you.

hth.

I think Fire is correct. Not saying that was Plan A, but if they didn't look sharp, then I think Pop's Plan B was to rest the starters and he wasted no time in making that decision.

That being said, I do think the Mavs played great and Bulter was on fire. All the more reason in Pop's mind not to waste too much effort.

It was very obvious that they weren't going to try very hard to win this game. In the third quarter when Dallas got a pretty decent lead, Pop threw in the towel. At least a couple times this series the Spurs have won after having a big deficit in the third so it's not like they were intimidated.

Mahinmi had 18 minutes, which means that he played more minutes than there are in the 4th quarter. That alone should tell you the Spurs weren't trying.

As an added bonus, this way the Spurs lose a game they likely would have lost anyway, but on their terms. Because of that they didn't surrender momentum. Sure, you have a bunch of moron fans crowing about how they blew out the Spurs, but the actual Mavs players/coaches know what happened.

Now, instead of trying to win a game on the road against a team desperate to salvage some pride, the Spurs get to play at home against a team that knows they probably won't win the series but has still avoided the embarrassment of dropping four straight. It's a much more advantageous time to exert all their effort.

Both the Popovich Spurs and the Jackson Lakers have used this strategy. They know it's a 7 game series.

No one said Pop throw the game intentionally. Fireag stated it very well. Spurs did get outplayed from the get go, for whatever reason it was, they seemed completely disinterested in the game. Is this a precarious position to be in? Of course, if the Mavs win game 6, they have to be favored to win at home and take the series. But this isn't the first time the Spurs have been completely outplayed in a playoff game.

Pop is the coach of four NBA Championship teams for a reason. What ever his reasoning for the lackluster lineups and not really looking like he gave a damn are totally on him. He gets paid millions of dollars to coach his team, and he has taken them to top. Calling him retarded is pretty dumb, considering we are just a bunch of internet posters, and he is possibly one of the best NBA coaches ever.

"First in Sight, Ready to Fight"

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They worked hard and brought a 17 point lead down to 7 just before half.

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Just look at the last 2:38 of the 2nd Q...Mavs committed 3 turnovers on bad passes (all by Dirk), and had one flagrant foul (on Najera).

Further in that last 2:38, they made only ONE shot from the field...

The Mavs dominated SA last night, but in the last 2:38 of the 2nd Q, when SA cut the lead to 7, Mavs got sloppy...it wasn't anything that SA did...

[This message has been edited by FireAg (edited 4/28/2010 10:01a).]

the game turned in the 3rd quarter because duncan stunk it up, and caron butler finally stepped up. Duncan is NOT playing well, and that's bad news for the spurs.

not because the spurs decided not to win.

this is why some spurs fans are idiots.

i'm sure pop is just posturing though, he PROBABLY DOESNT MEAN THIS....

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It's the playoffs. You gotta win on the road anytime you have an opportunity to do that. We did that in game 2. And we had a wonderful opportunity tonight and we gave it away

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also, the Mavs demeanor seems to be turned around a lot from the sullen mood after the last game. this is obviously a positive effect pop was planning on when he decided to give up this game.

you guys are ridiculous.

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Both the Popovich Spurs and the Jackson Lakers have used this strategy. They know it's a 7 game series.

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Exactly.

^^Bingo. Again, I don't think the Spurs planned to lose, or wanted to lose, but as soon as it looked iffy Pop went for the "losing on their own terms." Pop knows these guys and knows how their minds work.

This does NOT make it an easy task to win the series, but I believe it was his calculated decision AFTER he analyzed the first half.

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Duncan played 18 first half minutes

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Please forgive me. Duncan played 75% of the first half and wasn’t pulled until the Spurs were down by 17. Is that better?

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It's obvious that Pop was going to limit the minutes of Tim/Manu from the get-go. Just as I said in the prediction thread, if the spares had kept the Spurs in the game, Pop would have let the boys go for it down the stretch.

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The run at the start of the second half is what knocked the Spurs out of the game. They were down by 7 going in and out of the game mid-way through it.

During the 20-7 run to start the half the Spurs consisted of Manu, Tony Parker/George Hill, Richard Jefferson, Tim Duncan, and Bonner/McDyess. Manu wasn’t taken out until he picked up his third foul. Duncan was taken out when the spurs were down 17. Jefferson was taken out when the Spurs were down 20.

When did the spares even have an opportunity to keep the Spurs in the game?

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He is basically just better at articulating himself. He said what I meant.

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You posted misleading statistics that ignored the reason Duncan didn’t play for most of the second half.

You commented on Ian Mahinmi playing in the 3rd quarter as if it happened just out of the blue. H didn’t come in until end of the run where Dallas curb stomped the Spurs starters to seal the game mid-way through the quarter.

Ian's minutes also had a lot to do with Blair being in major foul trouble early.

I've never seen someone take coachspeak so seriously. You do realize that you could combine everything ever said by every coach ever during post-game interviews and it would come out to about a paragraph, right?

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Just look at the last 2:38 of the 2nd Q...Mavs committed 3 turnovers on bad passes (all by Dirk), and had one flagrant foul (on Najera).

Further in that last 2:38, they made only ONE shot from the field...

The Mavs dominated SA last night, but in the last 2:38 of the 2nd Q, when SA cut the lead to 7, Mavs got sloppy...it wasn't anything that SA did...

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You could say the same thing about games 3 and 4 when the Spurs made 3rd/4th quarter runs to get back in the game. Did the Mavs play sloppy in game 4 3rd quarter or did the Spurs have a good run of defense?

The key in game 5 was the 3rd quarter, and the game was not conceded until Mahinmi subbed in.

Were you even watching the game? Butler was playing well WAY before the 3rd quarter, and Duncan wasn't playing well at all the whole game. The biggest reason we cut the lead was because we had a 5 point play, and the Mavs finally missed a couple of shots. Never at any point in the little run we had before half time did I get the feeling that we were going to win the game, they just didn't have it last night.





"First in Sight, Ready to Fight"

aero...if that's the case, and the spurs come out and handle the mavs easily (due to being disinterested in this game, and therefore earning rest), then ill say pop was a genius. he got duncan rest, and it was a good move to "not care" about this game. and way to coach speak.

so...we'll see.