I Lost my Voice Screaming, "COME ON, POP!"

Without Manu Ginobili to mask mistakes, coaching errors are amplified. Below are my top ten What the F's from Game 1 on Saturday.

1.) Why is George Hill riding the pine?
With about a month remaining in the season, I was listening to WOAI’s ‘Ask the Coach’ segment and the question posed was, “Why is George Hill no longer playing backup point guard?” The answer was that historically speaking, rookie point guards never produce in the playoffs. The coaching staff wanted to use George Hill in the playoffs, so they thought that moving him to the 2 guard position would be best. Clearly, this was a horrible mistake. Hill is a point guard, not a shooting guard. Hill has a mediocre to poor outside shot. He is most effective when the ball is in his hands and he has the option to drive and create. By moving him to the 2 guard, the coaching staff took away his strength and amplified his poor shooting ability. In addition, Roger Mason is not a point guard, he is a shooting guard. He is most effective when someone creates for him and he can get an open look. The coaching staff did Mason a disservice by moving him to the backup point guard position. George Hill should be reinstated as the backup point guard and Roger Mason should play his natural shooting guard position.

2.) Why is Matt Bonner not riding the pine?
Matt Bonner is a terrible defender. Watching him attempt to play post defense is reminiscent of a big brother backing down his little brother in the back yard. Bonner is clearly the little brother. The Mavs smartly fed the ball to whomever Bonner was guarding, and they beat him like a red-headed step child. When Bonner is making his outside shot, he negates some of his defensive mistakes. However, when he is missing, he has a huge negative impact on the Spurs. Please bench him.

3.) Why does Popovich refuse to start Gooden?
If we bench Bonner, that opens up a starting position. Gooden should be our starter. Granted, Gooden makes a lot of dumb mistakes on the defensive end, but he commands attention on the offensive end clearing the lane for Tim and Tony. Gooden is a better rebounder, a better defender, quicker and more athletic than Bonner. He should be our starter.

4.) Why does Popovich not play Gooden with Duncan more?
Elaborating a little more on WTF #3, Duncan and Gooden play great with each other. In Game 1 against the Mavs, we got a look at their chemistry on the court together. The Spurs built their biggest lead of 13 when Tim and Drew were playing together. For some reason, this lineup was short lived and Popovich chose not to play them together for the rest of the game. But the production was there when they were in. Drew’s ability to post up is huge. If we play Drew and Tim together, then we could post up which ever player had the weaker defender. If the weaker defender is Dirk, we could get him in foul trouble and it could be the difference in the game.

5.) Why in God’s name is Mason guarding Dirk during crunch time?
This was one of the reasons I lost my voice at the Spurs game Saturday night. Is Popovich trying to lose? I just do not understand the logic. Mason is one of the weakest defenders on the Spurs’ roster. Why would we ask a weak defender to guard the Mav’s best player during crunch time? Thomas, Bonner, Udoka, Bowen, Hill, Duncan, and Finley all are better defenders than Mason. I just don’t get it.

6.) How is it possible that a hobbit single-handedly took Game 1 from us?
That little troll, also known as Barea, epitomizes what is wrong with NBA officiating. This little hobbit mauls everyone in his vicinity and never gets called for a foul because he is missing a chromosome. Not only do the refs not call fouls on him, but they give him the call every time he flops. And these are not offensive fouls that could go either way, these are EGREGIOUS flops. Someone needs to knock the hell out of him. If I were coaching, I’d let Thomas know that the first time Barea took it to the rim I wanted him laid out. All it takes is one good hit and that little troll will think twice before driving recklessly to the basket.

7.) Why do we not post Tim Duncan every possession?
Tim looked great in Game 1, unfortunately he did not get enough touches. If Tim is in the game, he should touch the ball every offensive possession. There is no reason for Bonner or Udoka to take a shot early in the shot clock when Tim is on the floor. We should force feed him the ball on the block. I promise, good things will happen.

8.) Why doesn’t Popovich yell at the officials?
The second time that little troll made an egregious flop, I looked over at our bench expecting to see Popovich enraged and saw no passion. It was as if he did not see it happen. Popovich needs to YELL. He needs to get in people’s faces. He needs to turn red and lose his voice. If the momentum starts to shift, Pop needs to stop it. It’s like he doesn’t care anymore.

9.) Why does our starting lineup not consist of Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen, Roger Mason, and Drew Gooden?
Here is the problem with our current starting lineup; Finley and Bonner are horrible defenders. Using horrible defenders in the starting lineup guarantees that your opposition is going to get off to a good offensive start. In addition, if Finley and Bonner are missing, it guarantees that the Spurs will be down after the first quarter. How many times have you thought, “Wow, the Spurs really crushed that team in the first quarter.” Once, never? This is because our starting lineup cannot get stops. If we are lucky, Finley or Bonner will hit a few threes and we will keep pace with the other team. However, most of the time we will be down a few points when our subs come into the game. By inserting Bowen and Gooden into the starting lineup, suddenly our guys can get stops. Furthermore, bringing Finley and Bonner in off the bench means that they will be matched up against other bench players. Their poor defense will not be as obvious against the second unit of a team. With a defensive starting lineup, suddenly it’s not about outscoring the opposition, it’s about shutting them down. Isn’t that the philosophy that won the Spurs four championships? Why did we stray from it?

10.) Why do we not make defensive adjustments during a game when it is clear that our schemes are not effective?
Back to the little troll who is missing a chromosome, the only reason he was effective was because our defensive scheme was flawed. He consistently drove into the paint because our pick and roll defense allowed him to. Normally when guarding a pick and roll, the big man shows on the pick to pause the guard so that his guard can recover and play defense. For some reason, when Barea ran the pick and roll, our big guy did not show so he had an open path to the basket. I assume the thought was that we wanted our big guy to stay close to the guy setting the pick, because it was normally Dirk, but allowing Barea to reach the rim causes a plethora of problems. It puts our help defenders in a bad spot. If they help, Barea can kick the ball out for a three, and if they do not he has a layup. In addition, if our big guy shows late, it frees up Dampier for the offensive board. I believe this same thing happened three times, resulting in three easy put backs for Dampier. The way to prevent this is to simply have our big guy show hard on the pick, and have our guard recover. Why did this adjustment never take place during the game? I have no idea.