http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194756&page=39 http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228474 Funny how that top thread was dormant basically from 11/30 when McHale stood in front of Duncan on the free throw line. They determined that Popovich was out-coached both that game and this game as well. Some of the more interesting things: - Our version of "Popovich only fans" is "Popsuckers" on their forum. - The thread title ("Any Popsuckers gonna do damage control?") is laughably close to what we have seen recently on our forum - Fan bumps top thread and complains about rotations being awful after saying he only watched the game "out of curiousity"... seems they have an equal level of devotion to the team in their hater crowd - Their hatred is fanned out on a few different threads, but generally it all revolves around rotations being absolutely horrible, not being able to beat "elite" teams, and using injuries as a crutch when it happens to everyone... Hmmm, sound familiar? Is it just the nature of the fan now-a-days to be cynical and pessimistic? I don't understand why they (and us for that matter) have so many negative people who call themselves fans on their forum. Their record is about as good as anyone would have hoped for, but they have lost 2 games and it seems that some of the fans are getting restless (I swear that's happened somewhere around here recently...). Why do their threads almost mirror our own, and the most vocal portion of the fan base is willing to heap credit on to the opposing coach while regarding their own as an utter failure? Given each team's injuries, I don't really know why there exists an expectation that either should be better record-wise. Is a 24/7 media cycle on sports destroying the fan's ability to think of a long-term plan for winning instead of instant gratification every time their team plays? I mean no team is ever going to win 80 games...
I noticed that. I don't watch a lot of Spurs games, but do they normally do that? Post up Diaw every time down in the 4th like that? Granted, he was getting a lot of offensive boards off of his misses and some of them were put back in for 2 points, but that seemed like an odd call.
Spurs are 33-12, BFD, and are proven contenders, hoping Rockets will get out of the 1st round of playoffs.
Pop is definitely the smarter coach here, there is no way McHale can think 2 or 3 plays ahead of the next guy. Pop will rest players if he thinks that a game is not worth playing hard for, McHale will run his players to the ground (or forget to sub his players) just to get a win. The "Hack-a-Shaq" ploy achieves a few things: - it slows the game down when the other team is getting hot, and gives the team time to recuperate - it affects the fouled player mentally And the most obvious, it gives the team back the ball. That may not seem significant but this tactic disrupts the other team's offense because they never got the chance to play it out. When Shaq got fouled his own team no longer saw him as a viable offensive option and was forced to consider other option. It's the same with Howard. That said, the Spurs were already playing hurt and is about to lose Ginobilli. We were lucky to have won.
That is human nature and the introduction of technology basically. Who knows? If we had twitter or facebook in the 90s, maybe we'd have some Bull's fans crying over 10 losses when they had the 72-10 record. It's just human nature. There are knee-jerk reactions of course, and there are some criticisms with valid points.
Definite need a "did not" option. We fought hard and won but it was all heart from the players and the fact that we have the Spurs number.
The Spurs were playing hurt? What a coincidence, the Rockets were missing their best player and best bench player. The Rockets were not "lucky" to have won, they were ahead virtually the entire second half and are 3-0 against the Spurs this year.
Outcoached Pop? Hell no, Pop is a much better coach than McHale. How many rings, one, two, three, four and ...
People need to know, whoever the jockey is, he has to have the horses. Spurs can get this far n high using players like cory joseph, aaron baynes n jeff ayres is purely by implementing a good system. If Pop has the same players as the rockets, his spurs shall be at least number 2 in the wild wild west. There is no way mchale is a better coach, unless you are mchales relatives, or close friends. Only shallow persons n people who just know basketball on the surface.
The Spurs record is interesting. 32-1 or whatever the number against non elite team (their lone loss against the Knick). Against elite-like team, they have won only 1 single game (against the Paul- less Clipper). I haven't follow their injuries and that might explain some of it, but that kind of tell me they aren't that great but they almost always play to their highest potential. If we almost always plays to our highest potential, I think we would have 7-9 more wins. I wouldn't complain about their coaching if I were their fan.
BTW, let's not forget that once upon a time, Pop was the GM of the Spurs. And aside from handing Rodman(and 3 more titles) over to the Bulls for Will Perdue, he did a pretty damn good job in that capacity as well. Especially compared to McHale's tenure with the T'Wolves.
