You Make the Call

[TJinTX]

I just think he wanted to shake the team up a bit. This game didn't mean much to the Spurs and they can pretty much wrap up the #1 seed in the conference with a win against Dallas tomorrow. Probably just resting his starters because they really weren't giving him much and he wanted to see if the bench could maybe give them a spark and bring them back.

I've never seen Pop do that before, and I've been watching the Spurs for much longer than he's been the coach. Surpised me.

As far as the game having any meaning, it sure didn't look like the players thought it did. I'm not taking anything away from your team, because they played an incredible game. My Spurs, though, had zero intensity, across the board. I'd wager a rather large sum of money that Coach Pop thought it meant something...I suspect it will NOT be a good day to be a Spurs player in practice today.

 

[Ryle]

I suspect it will NOT be a good day to be a Spurs player in practice today.

I agree with you on that!!!

 

[sloter]

Two things:
1) DIRTY DIRTY play by Bob should have been called a flagrant. Don't care about the intensity of the game - he did not go for the ball, and Bibby could have been injured on the play. I was very impressed how he kept his cool.
2) I was also impressed how Artest acts on the floor. Even when we got up by a dozen, his face did not change. No emotion, like he is expecting that to happen every time we play every time. I'm not sure if his reaction after the jump ball was a technical either... yes, he jumped, but it was more in surprise and if the ref looks at that replay, he'll know he made a bad mistake. But Ron did not push it any further after that. In my opinion, that will just earn him some credit with the refs.... about time.

 

[Alacron]

Two things:
1) DIRTY DIRTY play by Bob should have been called a flagrant. Don't care about the intensity of the game - he did not go for the ball, and Bibby could have been injured on the play. I was very impressed how he kept his cool.
2) I was also impressed how Artest acts on the floor. Even when we got up by a dozen, his face did not change. No emotion, like he is expecting that to happen every time we play every time. I'm not sure if his reaction after the jump ball was a technical either... yes, he jumped, but it was more in surprise and if the ref looks at that replay, he'll know he made a bad mistake. But Ron did not push it any further after that. In my opinion, that will just earn him some credit with the refs.... about time.

That was a cheap tech on Artest. Anyone else (xept maybe 'Sheed) gets away with that.

Game was poorly officiated overall, but it was going both ways.
~~

 

[G_M]

That foul was absoulutely a flagrant. Granted, I've seen worse but Horry did not appear to be "going" for the ball.

 

[Nazman]

Tell me... what NBA team, or ANY basketball team do you know that actually throws games away?

As far as i remember, when i used to play for my high school team. no matter how weak the team was, and no matter how good our record was, we would have to bring our best every game.

But why in the world would someone TOY WITH ANOTHER TEAM AND END UP LOSING.

hell if you were TOYING with a team you would make sure you come out with the win right?

since the team is that easy that you would toy with them, it should have been an easy win for the spurs.

You cant just say a team was toying with the kings and they end up losing. that makes no sense.

But the reason he pulled out the starters was to give the starters a lesson. As a wake-up call if you wanna call it that. I remember clearly in my high school games that if the starters were doing really bad, not running the plays right, not following what our coach told us to do, he would pull out all of us and pull in the reserves. no matter what time in the game it was. it only motivates you to work harder.

Hey NUFAN
thanks to a very constructive comment by Padrino i shifted from the initial point of view your commenting on about halfway through this thread. i got it. thanks. i now have a better idea of what Popovich did by pulling the starting five. it made perfect sense. my initial thoughts were likely just visceral and that is the beauty of this forum. with a little discussion things can get clearer and it was all very helpful.

 

[mcsluggo]

I'll never under stand this halo that people seem to put around Horry, like he is some sort of angel.

People confuse what is actually just usually laidback (to the point of down-right laziness) with a sweet disposition. Horry doesn't play hard in most games. Period. (or at least the first three quarters) He choses the games that are important to him, and plays hard for them. When he IS tuned in to a game, he becomes Dr. Hook from slapshot.

http://www.slapshotfan.com/for/cp3.jpg

horry is an a-hole.

 

[Nazman]

I'll never under stand this halo that people seem to put around Horry, like he is some sort of angel.

People confuse what is actually just usually laidback (to the point of down-right laziness) with a sweet disposition. Horry doesn't play hard in most games. Period. (or at least the first three quarters) He choses the games that are important to him, and plays hard for them. When he IS tuned in to a game, he becomes Dr. Hook from slapshot.

http://www.slapshotfan.com/for/cp3.jpg

horry is an a-hole.

Appreciate the comment. At the risk of beating a dead Spur i should say that i have, for some reason, the whole incident frozen in my mind. It's all over Horry's face, just what you are saying McSluggo. He was punishing Bibby. And then you could sense this reaction like, 'i didn't do anything.' Maybe that's the game in the lane. But i was feeling mighty protective of Bibby. He was clear cuttin that defense. That's what led to the incident.

 

[kingsfannPDX]

yes it was a flagrant foul. i'm proud of the way our guys handled it(by just whooping ***) but it would've been nice to see one of our guys stand up for bibby and get in the face of horry. but then again i doubt anyone wanted to get bit. horry bites.

 

[Folsom Al]

horry bites.

I completely forgot about that .... good one

 

[mcsluggo]

Horry bites, he eye-gauges, he undercuts. he is a filthy ahole- plain and simple

 

[LilMissDiva]

Buy the SPURS DO get away with everything. Because in our country they always show Spurs games. Nothin' to watch but the Spurs! I think almost 70% of their games are shown here. And you can see MANY questionable calls. I think NBA wants the Spurs to win the Championship because they are strengthening the Texas franchise to get the strong marketing again (to get same marketing strength as the past strongest franchise CHICAGO BULLS Jordan ERA). NBA became weak since the retirement of Jordan. That's why almost 70% of their games are shown here! (another marketing ploy by the NBA TV, showing almost 70% of the Spurs games here but Detroit turns out to be a better team without the REFS' help)

P.S. One more thing don't you guys notice the TOP 25 Jersey Sales. Whoever gets in the Top 25 gets the "special treatment" from the refs.

David Stern: OMG they're onto us! (just kidding)

If this were true, and I'm not saying it isnt - I would pick Dallas over SA simply because SA is the most boring team I've seen in a long time.

 

[Bricklayer]

Buy the SPURS DO get away with everything. Because in our country they always show Spurs games. Nothin' to watch but the Spurs! I think almost 70% of their games are shown here. And you can see MANY questionable calls. I think NBA wants the Spurs to win the Championship because they are strengthening the Texas franchise to get the strong marketing again (to get same marketing strength as the past strongest franchise CHICAGO BULLS Jordan ERA). NBA became weak since the retirement of Jordan. That's why almost 70% of their games are shown here! (another marketing ploy by the NBA TV, showing almost 70% of the Spurs games here but Detroit turns out to be a better team without the REFS' help)

P.S. One more thing don't you guys notice the TOP 25 Jersey Sales. Whoever gets in the Top 25 gets the "special treatment" from the refs.

David Stern: OMG they're onto us! (just kidding)

And yet, on the season Spurs opponents have shot MORE FTs than the Spurs have, and that's with the Spurs Big Three all guys who spend much of their time in the paint (Duncan in the post, Manu/Parker on the drive). Meanwhile Detroit is at +300 on the season, and we ourselves are at +220.

Of course everyone used to claim favoritism for the Lakers too. But that one at least made sense in a conspiracy sort of way -- big market, big stars. The traditional scuttlebutt on the Spurs however has always been that tehy were the LAST team the NBA would want to have winning -- small market, boring star, low TV ratings.

 

[N.U.F.A.N.]

Hey NUFAN
thanks to a very constructive comment by Padrino i shifted from the initial point of view your commenting on about halfway through this thread. i got it. thanks. i now have a better idea of what Popovich did by pulling the starting five. it made perfect sense. my initial thoughts were likely just visceral and that is the beauty of this forum. with a little discussion things can get clearer and it was all very helpful.

No problem man.


But the kings can always use what you said as a motivation to work harder

Claiming that he was toying with us can definitely give the kings that mind set.

 

[Fillmoe]

is it just me or do the spurs have all our enemies? horry, NVE, finley.....?

 

[N.U.F.A.N.]

is it just me or do the spurs have all our enemies? horry, NVE, finley.....?

whoa.. i just realized that.

 

[Warhawk]

And when we beat them down in the first round, will the curse be broken?

 

[Bricklayer]

And when we beat them down in the first round, will the curse be broken?

Uh...yeah. Sure.

 

[mcsluggo]

And yet, on the season Spurs opponents have shot MORE FTs than the Spurs have, and that's with the Spurs Big Three all guys who spend much of their time in the paint (Duncan in the post, Manu/Parker on the drive). Meanwhile Detroit is at +300 on the season, and we ourselves are at +220.

Of course everyone used to claim favoritism for the Lakers too. But that one at least made sense in a conspiracy sort of way -- big market, big stars. The traditional scuttlebutt on the Spurs however has always been that tehy were the LAST team the NBA would want to have winning -- small market, boring star, low TV ratings.

I would, however, say that teams (and players) that are "known" as tough defensive teams (or players) DO get away with more contact and grabbing.

The Spurs will hit and grab opposing playrs 10x as much as the opposing team... it is almost as if refs feel they can't just foul everyne out in the first five minutes, therefore they give them a little bit of leeway. Or alot. Other teams SHOULD shoot about 10x as many freethrows as the spurs, since they grab on every play, even if the opposing team only shoots twice as many, the spurs are getting away with alot.

Now the Kings have a player that is allowed extra leeway because of his rep as a hardnose defender. How this will affect my outlook on the situation remains to be determined...