This. If Duncan had played the last 20 seconds of game 6, there is no game 7. As great as Pops is, that move cost them the series.
Just looking at their roster in hindsight and you could make the argument that Pop didn't have enough firepower to outlast the Heat. Sure Green and Neal were shooting lights out but they cashed in their tickets way to early and came back down to earth. And the Spurs' bench? Pathetic. Other than Diaw and Neal no one on that bench could do anything including, most of all, Ginobili. Pop realized that after Game 2 and that's why we never saw much of Bonner and Joseph again. Now the one move I think Pop would want to do over again is keeping Stephen Jackson instead of letting him go. A 70% Jackson is still better than what the Spurs got out of their bench. He would have at least been able to spell Danny Green for a few minutes.
Pops sat Parker on the crucial play when Ginobody threw that aweful turnover trying to be Parker Yet another example of how stupid Spurs fans are. I was in a bar surrounded by them just talking to my buddy who bet on the spurs. I said: How can Parker not be on the court. Dude next to us in his first comment of the night said "because he's injured ... That's why Ginobody has been running the offense". Lols. Then Popovich immediately puts Parker back in the game. And the stupid spurs fan moves his sit away from me because he knew he was so wrong. So sad How can you sit Parker like that
I'd say Gino played a big role in that also would have made a difference if Leonard hit his free throw Splitter also was a big Negative the whole series
I think the reason Pops sat Parker was because all game Parker was being quite passive; Pops wanted the aggression that Ginobili had even if he, quite frankly, sucked.
The Spurs should fire Popovich and he should interview for the Clippers job. Just about everyone else has had dinner with Donald Sterling this week...why not.
You could be right. Popovich over thought the situation and sat his last minute miracle man so that the big 3 wouldn't be on the court together in two games in a row Wonder what Rudy has to say about that I think it begins with..."never underestimate" or sumpin like that
Pops went with his most trusted man down the stretch, Ginobili. But Manu is not the same guy he was in '03, '05, or '07. He's had too much wear and tear on his legs, because he also plays international ball in the offseason.
So you agree. Pops was stubborn And Parker is their last minute miracle man. Did you see game one. Are you another stupid spurs fan denying that
I don't think I've ever heard this ever happening to a HOFer in his prime in a Finals Game 7. So either you are making excuses or Popovich mismanaged his best player for the last minute Which is it
Ginobli lost game 7...dumb ass turnovers....playing scared..not being aggresive with a undersized Chalmers guarding him...SMH.....
Simple point is (as JayZ750 pointed out) is that Hakeem had little reason to care much in his 37 season...Pippen left, Barkley gets a devastating injury in early Dec, and Rudy tosses away the playoff attempt to develop the new rookie. But we all know Hakeem wasn't done, just pouting. But he proved in February of the next year when out of nowhere the sleeping giant awoke against the Knicks at home to register 7-9 shooting, 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 blocks what seemed like a span of 10 minutes. The Summit went ELECTRIC that night. I was there. He then went on a legendary, rejuvenated run that all of CF.net remembers that year, before leaving us in the summer. He did that to show Les and Rudy that they shouldn't treat him like an old man. Dude was is just as good of shape as Duncan is now. Make no mistake. Dude keeps his body up. If you don't think Hakeem still had it in him at age 37, just one year after his 1999 36 yr old season when he went 19 ppg and 9 rbg and 2.5 blocks on 51% shooting and a 23.1 PER, then JayZ750 and I simply are not going to agree with you.
Pop's a great coach. His body of work speaks for itself. Had Ginobili played games 6 and 7 like he played game 5, this thread would not exist. Pops screwed up by enduring Manu's turnovers, IMHO, even more than he did with his late-game substitutions-- I mean brain farts.
