Did anyone come up witha plausible reason for Pop holding

Post #1 » by **wizardg** » Mon Feb 9, 2009 3:33 am

Out the big three againt denver?

coyotes_geek · Post #2 » by **coyotes_geek** » Mon Feb 9, 2009 3:49 am

I hadn't realized it until now, but January was an incredibly busy month for the Spurs. Between Jan 2 and Feb 2 the Spurs played 17 games in 31 nights. Perhaps Pop really was giving us the whole truth when he said he just wanted to give the guys a night off.

Donald Kaufman · Post #3 » by **Donald Kaufman** » Mon Feb 9, 2009 6:59 am

My best guess:

He saw that there was a big gap between the Nuggets game and the game in Boston, and he probably figured that we were playing a pretty decent Nuggets team on their court and foresaw a loss even with TP, TD and Gino and took a gamble.

The way we played in Boston indicates to me that the 5 day rest was a good thing (esp. TD and Manu).

I think it was a good strategic move, I also think it's been given way more attention than it deserves.

Buckeye-NBAFan · Post #4 » by **Buckeye-NBAFan** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:13 am

There isn't one.

If you ranked the teams according to which games are most important for the Spurs, the Nuggets would be #1, because they are the team fighting the Spurs for the #2 seed and home court.

That means every Nuggets game isn't worth just a win to the Spurs, its also a loss for the only team near them in the standings.

He was trying to be smart, but it was a foolish move. If the Nuggets win the 2 seed by 1 game and hold serve in the playoffs to win in 7 games. That regular season loss would have had a direct result on the Spurs early playoff exit.

Donald Kaufman · Post #5 » by **Donald Kaufman** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 12:50 pm

The Spurs haven't been eliminated in the 1st round in the Duncan era (with TD available).

The Nuggets haven't made it to the 2nd round since Mutombo was their best player.

We'll be fine. We don't need homecourt to win a playoff series.

SMRattler · Post #6 » by **SMRattler** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:23 pm

The last thing anyone in SA should worry about is a team led by Karl to eliminate a Pop team.

He wanted to rest a couple of guys. Then probably decided to challenge the rest of the guys by removing TD and TP. If it works, they gain confidence. If they get close (which they did) they still gain confidence. It also put the Nuggets in a lose-lose situation.

Patterns · Post #7 » by **Patterns** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:37 am

SMRattler wrote:The last thing anyone in SA should worry about is a team led by Karl to eliminate a Pop team.

He wanted to rest a couple of guys. Then probably decided to challenge the rest of the guys by removing TD and TP. If it works, they gain confidence. If they get close (which they did) they still gain confidence. It also put the Nuggets in a lose-lose situation.

Not sure how giving the Nuggets a free win is a lose lose situation for them. :roll: