Made some critical mistakes late in this game.

Parker & Duncan sitting to start the 4th.
Duncan sitting for the final defensive possession.
Allowing Manu to have the ball in his hands in so many late game possessions.

Completely agree.

Also was clearly obsessed with the 'two for one' possession angle at the end of the overtime, leading to Parker throwing up a 20 foot jump shot that was a very low percentage play.

Way too much Tony Parker standing still with the ball in OT in general.

has a crater face

How the hell does he not call a timeout with 10 seconds left in ot? He just let Manu keep the ball and eventually F it all up

Manu freaking sucks right now

Take your pick:

1.Playing Manu AT ALL in the 4th quarter after having 5 turnovers (eventually 8) and providing virtually no lift in points,rebounds, assists or defense.

2. Three Spurs trying to corral the same rebound, knocking it loose for a 3 ptr. Would have been up 5, with the ball, with 20 seconds left.

3. Leonard missing a free throw that would have put them up 4.

4. Sitting Duncan on that last possession.

5. Ref swallowing whistle with Genobili obvious foul on drive to win the game with 2 seconds left.

6. Ref again swallowing whistle on REALLY OBVIOUS 3 pt foul.

geez, this was just ridiculous to watch.

[This message has been edited by AnalogyAg (edited 6/18/2013 11:38p).]

Pop attended Frank Vogel's coaching clinic on how to lose to the Heat by sitting the best player on your team to end regulation.

I will take Greg Popovich over any coach in the NBA right now.

Gladly.

When a close game is lost, every decision gets put under the microscope. Players win and lose games, in the end. Pop was genius for starting Manu in Game 5 but an idiot for playing him in Game 6? Essentially, it is incumbent on Manu not to suck (8 turnovers) and we aren't having this discussion. Tony is on the verge of tearing a hammy. He can't be played for 45 minutes a game. He has to sit. Manu is the best other option to run the point.

I didn't like Pop sitting Tim defensively late in regulation (in order to "switch all screens" more effectively) IN RETROSPECT, but that's a luxury that you, me, and pundits have... the ability to sit back and second guess those who shoulder responsibility in real time.

The players believe in Pop. So do I. Win or lose Game 7. He, along with Tim Duncan, is the best thing to happen to Spurs Basketball. We will damned sure miss him when he's gone.

[This message has been edited by Adam87inSA (edited 6/19/2013 7:09a).]

Yup. This game isn't on Pop. He did the right things to put the Spurs in position to win the game.

We missed free throws, gave up offensive rebound and turned the ball over. That's why we lost. Not Pop.

Game 6 loss sits firmly on Pop. You cannot run out splitter, Neal, Manu, Diaw to start the 4th up 10 in a Finals close out when the opposition is going to throw everything it has at you. You cannot have Parker on tgr bench for 5 mins in the 4th. You cannot stick with Manu after 6-7 turnovers. You cannot bench Duncan with Bosh on the floor for the last defensive play - best thing that could happen is Bodh takes the shot. You cannot fail to call a timeout to, at a minimum, get Parker in the game.

Not to mention playing hero ball down the stretch instead of passing to open guys.

Of all that, I think the worst decision he made was trotting out Tiago ****ing Splitter on the last play. At least have a someone who can shoot the three pointer for crying out loud. Tiago can barely dunk the damn ball...

That said, it is easy to question him after the fact...part of the reason Miami missed those two threes that turned into offensive rebounds was because of the defense, which was why Duncan was on the bench.

quote:

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6. Ref again swallowing whistle on REALLY OBVIOUS 3 pt foul.

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Yeah. That was really not obvious. 'All ball' fouls don't usually get called anything other than good blocks.

ddp

[This message has been edited by VikingNik (edited 6/19/2013 10:48a).]

It wasn't the block of the ball it was Bosh running into Green after the fact. ****ing Allen has had 3 4 point plays in this series from guys running into him AFTER the shot is up. If those were fouls (which they were), then so was last night. They've consistently called that all series for Ray Allen at least, so why not at the end of the 4th? Oh yeah, because bball reffing is shat and seriously lessens the game. Only in basketball can you have refs calling it one way all series and then suddenly decide not to because of "the situation". It's a joke, it always has been, and lessens the entire sport.

[This message has been edited by Syd_X_Barrett (edited 6/19/2013 10:02a).]

Bosh body checked Green and it wasn't even ticky tacky. The refs were clearly dead set on swallowing the whistle at the end. I don't know if Green would have made 3 FTs but that was brutal.

I wouldn't trade Pop for any coach either but most of his moves backfired last night. Taking Duncan out on defense at the end of regulation had me yelling. Sure enough, two straight offensive rebounds followed by open 3s. One rebound there and it's ring #5. Sickening.

The only reason I can see for having Manu out there over Parker was Parker's hamstring.

Parker had the 5-point stretch of hitting a three in LeBron's eye, then stealing and having a floater.

Outside of that, in the 4th and OT, he shot 0-6 and went 1-2 from the line. He was blocked twice.

no mention of duncan completely disappearing on the offensive end in 4th and OT? I realize he sat the first part of the 4th, but still . . . 0 points in the 4th quarter and OT? You spurs fans would've been on here crucifying Dirk for such a late game performance

btw, pop is the greatest coach in the league right now and it's not even close. for there to be a thread blaming him for the loss is beyond ridiculous.

I don't think its really all on Pop but the offense got very stagnant and predictable at the end. There's only so many Duncan/Parker high post pick and rolls you can run. There was no movement, but I don't fault Pop for sitting Parker/Duncan at the beginning of the 4th being up by 10. You play the odds and rest them until the other team goes on a run. You do that because you want them to have fresher legs at the end of the game in case you need them.

Its feast or famine with Ginobili, so you have to take the bad with the good with him. He's a tremendous competitor and he just had a bad game. He knows it and I don't foresee him making similar mistakes in Game 7.

Do you foul up by 3 with little time left in the game clock? You can, but it could come back to haunt you because if it goes wrong, you could lose. However, if you don't foul, the worst thing that could happen is that the game is tied. Pop doesn't like to gamble this way and I don't blame him.

Duncan on the bench at the end of the game is puzzling, but its hardly the reason why they lost the game. The Spurs just lost the momentum that they had and couldn't close out the Heat at the end.

Ben, it has been mentioned several times. He didn't score in the last 20 minutes. A lot had to do with Miami fronting him and immediately double teaming, so he kicked it back out. They were playing him straight up for the first three quarters and he was getting pretty easy buckets. In the 4th, Miami switched to Bron on Parker and fronting/doubling Duncan to make everyone else beat them. It was very effective.

I also think Duncan was pretty gassed. That was the most minuts he has played since Dec 27th, 2008