Even in the face of missing the playoffs Pop still rests his players. A loss tonight drops them to ninth. Maybe he thinks this will be an easy win for them regardless and they can just coast to victory with the third unit?
He's basically conceding this as loss because they play again tomorrow on the road against the Magic. I'm sure he's still coaching his young guys to win but he's thinking long term. Their old guys got to go hard after today for them to have a chance to make the playoffs.
I find the most ridiculous things being said by Stephen A now.. in making the argument that You are kidding right?? If he thinks we are as easy win, then senility has come a bit earlier
Look at their upcoming schedule for the rest of March: @HOU ORL NOP MIN GSW WAS UTH @mil @WAS OKC Tomorrow night vs the Magic is pretty much the only game that's a likely win even once Kawhi comes back. So it makes sense to rest key players tonight when they were likely to lose to the Rockets anyway and then secure that (supposedly)easy win over Orlando tomorrow.
maybe Pop is so confidant that he wants to get the 8 seed to face us in the playoff...i just hate the spurs, btw **** warriors and kerr
I think they make it by defult, SAS is tanking, DEN can't win on the road (8 of last 9 are on the road) and Minny has been underwhelming wiithout Jimmy, also the clippers have no star talent. I can see them collapsing towards the end of the season, but too many teams will collapse with them to force them out of the playoffs.
They will all be tough I think. The problem with the Clippers is that Jordan is a rebounding machine. Then I think about if and when teams get over the limit and start fouling Clint. Sure, we can do the same thing to them, but Adams is the only one with a worse free throw percentage than Clint to out of Utah, Clippers, Denver, and San Antonio where a tit for tat strategy would work. Jordan isn't much better at free throws, but his rebounding makes him a bigger threat. Gobert isn't good at free throws, but is still better than Clint and Jordan. Not only that, but, he's the best blocker of them all. With Jokic and Gasol both being so good at free throws they wouldn't even be a target to foul, which gives them an edge in that aspect. So, considering that aspect of the game I would almost rather face OKC than the others in the first round, because Nene isn't a whole lot better than Clint at free throws and Black is worse than any of them. Either way, no matter who we play should be challenging and fun to watch. I'm just bummed I won't be able to see most of the playoffs this year, since I'll be in Ireland and the time change makes it too hard.
One game at a time...will be watching the first half at 1am, let's not make it as close as last night's halftime score so i can go to bed
Indeed. The fellow is a Worrier. Anyone know the status of SA's 1st round pick this summer? Do they still have it? If they end up just missing the playoffs, how on earth is it worth it? It's very likely to be a very low lottery pick. Tanking doesn't sound like Pop to me, not how things stand now. Maybe if they were in the midst of an epic losing streak and had fallen far, far down in the standings. Then I wouldn't put tanking past him. It's weird.
Harden is out right? The Andersen on their team is more than good enough to lead their second or third units to a win against anyone taking them lightly.
