GT: Spurs vs. Kings

[Nolan]

When: 10:00 PM ET, April 18, 2012
Where: Power Balance Pavilion, Sacramento, CA



VS



Starting Lineups:

Spurs:
PG - Tony Parker
SG - Daniel Green
SF - Kawhi Leonard
PF - Tim Duncan
C - DeJuan Blair

Kings:
PG - Isaiah Thomas
SG - Marcus Thormton
SF - Tyreke Evans
PF - DeMarcus Cousins
C - Jason Thompson

Well tonights the last night of three in a row on the road so this could be an interesting one.

Go Spurs!!

[co_laper]

My guess, the big 3 get rested. I just hope we don't lose. With no big 3, there's no penetration and not enough post up games. We can't count on our defense to win it. If we win, good. But I have a hard time seeing a win if the big 3 is rested. Although, if one of them plays, I'd be expecting a win. I hope Parker or Manu plays.

[SinJackal]

Yeah, I hope Pop at least plays Tony tonight. Resting Ginobili makes some sense since he's apparently made of glass, though technically he needs a little more work to get back to 100% game shape so that poses a little bit of a situation. Manu didn't play many minutes against the Warriors either, so it's possible he'll be available. But he's old, so. . .we might just be looking at Tony if any.

Timmy played a ton of minutes last night to contain the Lakers' frontcourt as much as possible, so I expect him to be resting at minimum even if Pop doesn't rest the other two.

Anyway, I hope Pop doesn't tank this easily winnable game for rest, because winning today allows us to rest later and still get the top seed. If Thunder lose 0 more, we can lose 2 more and still get the #1 seed. So I'd rather not throw away yet another loss against a VERY beatable game. Again . . .if Pop didn't tank that Jazz game, we'd have three losses to throw away and still have the top seed, and would even be in better shape to have HCA on the Heat in a potential Finals matchup.

[aal04]

I would like to see them on for a bit. It just feels different for morale having them on court/suited up.

Give them 10-15 each. And I agree with having Ginobili in form for the finals. I think its worth the risk playing him a bit more.

[SinJackal]

Pop pretty much did what I figured would be most logical. Rest Duncan, play Tony, play Manu limited minutes.

Jackson though, damn, I wish he'd stop blowing so many consequtive plays in a row. Bad spacing one trip, loses the ball for a fast break score. Next trip, stupid pass by Jackson right into the defense, leads to an uncontested fast break score. Next trip, bad spacing again and he's calling for the ball when he's not even open, no score again because Splitter has to force up a shot in the middle of 3 dudes. Lets his man leave on on D' and he scores on us. Next trip, calls for the ball again, misses wide open shot. Doesn't try on that defensive possesion and lets Mills get scored on. Then on offense stands in the corner and does nothing (by design I'm assuming), Spurs get a basket out of the PG going one on five. We commit a foul on D next trip for FTAs. PG again goes one on five on the next play when we get the ball back because the offense is not producing at all, manages to get another basket and one.

Basically he sucked on both ends of the floor for 2 straight minutes, 2 turnovers which east led to fast break scores, a brick on a wide open shots, and 2 horrible defensive efforts in a row because he let his woes on offense effect his effort on D'.

I'm not only blaming Jackson for why we're only up 1 at the half and gave up 57 to the crappy Kings. . .but he has half our team's turnovers, only 1 assist and no rebounds despite leading the team in minutes played thus far. I hope he gets his **** together before the season ends. He plays so sloppy sometimes; almost carelessly.

[SinJackal]

Alright, just 5 games left. . .one vs Lakers which we may tank (probably won't matter), then 4 in 5 nights which I expect at least 1 tank job in. Possibly against the Suns to allow them to enter the playoffs so we get an easy first round sweep out of the deal.

I'd like to have that to play with by getting wins in 2 of the next 3 games leading up to that, resting there and tanking the game, then getting a practice in against the Warriors with the full squad going into the postseason.

[Frankie23]

We should lose against the Lakers, rest the big 3.
Two reasons: cause we can standing wise and for the Lakers to achieve the 3rd seed and avoid them.

Next 4 games should be a win for us, although if OKC lose a game (Clippers or Lakers), we can rest the big 3 and maybe lose.

Anyways, Pop is going to try to win against the Lakers.. Hope we can do it and rest our guy in the last game of the season.

[SinJackal]

Nah man. . if you look closely at our schedule and the standings, beating LA helps us far more than resting and losing. Playing and losing of course would really suck, but playing and winning helps a lot because it allows us to intentionally tank to the Suns later if it will put them into the playoffs so we can get an easy first round sweep (or 5 game victory at worst).

Tanking to the Suns also serves dual purpose since we can just rest that day as well. So we tank and rest at the same time, setting up an easy first round which we can (yes this sounds very cocky) basically halfway rest in too.

Then there's an outside shot we can finish with a better record than Miami by only losing 1 to the Suns out of our next 4 (assuming win tonight vs LA for argument's sake). Much better to win here. If we didnt' rest vs the Jazz and took that game instead of tanking it, then we could've rested tonight. But because we threw that game away for no reason, we can't lose here vs LA and still sneak the Suns into the playoffs at the same time.