Comments on: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Mid-Season Game

By: Finally, a Real Game Against the Spurs | Celtics Hub

Finally, a Real Game Against the Spurs | Celtics Hub — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:37:55 +0000

[...] so those three haven’t played since Monday. (By the way–that move by Pop is either a genius concession that February games don’t matter OR an admission that his team is far enough behind the Lakers that they will need everything to be [...]

By: meong

meong — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:55:49 +0000

I agree with Pop’s move. Back to back games are the stuffs that breaks them. Reminds me of the Hornets series which paved the way for the Lakeshow lost. I thought it was a good plan. Measure the depth of their bench and tweak their future line up.

By: Nate T

Nate T — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:00:19 +0000

Great read!
I enjoy the write ups on here. Very insightful and from a bit of a different angle.

I was interested in seeing what Spurs Nation thought of Pop’s move and now I know.

A bit sad to see Denver so easily dismissed if the two met in the playoffs, but such is life for a fan of a unproven team!

By: Timothy Varner

Timothy Varner — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:38:52 +0000

True.

By: Latin_D

Latin_D — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:37:18 +0000

Well, Tim, if we were trying to showcase Udoka, we failed anyway. Horribly. JV probably looks more attractive by now.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:24:11 +0000

It has also been suggested that Pop didn’t want to give the Nuggets any confidence that they can beat us in the playoffs. Not sure if there’s any truth to that strategy but I know that barely beating our JV team didn’t help the Nuggets in the confidence department.

Also, I just remembered that last year’s Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals was less than 24 hours after the finale of Game 7 against New Orleans. And that we had a lead until our legs gave out in the 2nd half. I hate back to backs…

By: Timothy Varner

Timothy Varner — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:00:40 +0000

I’m surprised there hasn’t been more “The Spurs were showcasing talk…” I guess that means no one sees Ime Udoka as an attractive trade piece.

By: Juan

Juan — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:44:19 +0000

Jimbo, I agree with Tim on this. Yes it would be great to have homecourt advantage against these teams but for the Spurs is championship or bust. That being said, it doesn’t make a difference for Pop to get homecourt against the Nuggets or playing the Lakers in the first or second round, they have to beat them to get the title and he thinks he has a better chance if they play these guys a little more.

By: Ruzer

Ruzer — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:38:49 +0000

When I first heard about this I was shocked, but then it made sense to me, something that has not been brought up yet. I think it was a ploy to “show off” our players that are not getting playing time. If you are not getting any playing time it is tough to show other teams what those players can do. By sitting the big three, you can show that those players, like Vaughn and Udoka, can still play at an elevated level, they just are not part of our rotation. It makes it easier to make a trade, which I believe the spurs are trying to do. Anyway, my two cents.

By: Rodrigo

Rodrigo — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:16:06 +0000

I really like what Malik did tonight and i hope Hill goes back to film session and learn from this game.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:18:17 +0000

I guess we just have to agree to disagree Tim! The only thing I will say is that I would rather face Denver or Portland in a series with home court than without and whatever rest our players get by not playing them in every game is not outweighed by the advantage of home court…

By: Mason

Mason — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:09:42 +0000

Hopefully the Spurs keep Hairston on the squad for the remainder of the season. That boy is fearless at getting to the rack and looks good on defense. His shot needs some work but it will come. As much as I want to rest our players and give lesser used players some confidence, we are not very far behind a Bynum-less Lakers team. It’s gonna be hard to steal a game in LA if they get home court. The Spurs don’t play til Sunday, they could have rested today.

By: Timothy Varner

Timothy Varner — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:06:27 +0000

Jimbo,

No one in the West can be beat the Spurs in a 7 game series, home or away, save the Lakers. The Spurs will have to play LA on the road, regardless. It doesn’t matter which round they meet LA in, the winner of that series will represent the Western Conference in the Finals. It’s all about that series, which means the Spurs must be healthy. That’s my take anyway.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:01:15 +0000

I completely disagree with your premise that “I like the idea of giving the Big 3 the O’Neal treatment on back to backs, perhaps sitting the players two and one to split the games.”

I’m not a fan of this move Popovich pulled, especially since it cost us the tie-breaker against a Western Conference rival. But doing this on a regular basis will mean that we can kiss a top seeding goodbye – in this super-competitive Western Conference, home court will count for much. And also, I don’t think we want to let go of the #2 seed and face the risk of facing the Lakers in the second round.

So yes, even if are stars are considerably fresher come playoff time, this “freshness” is not worth ensuring that we have an uphill battle in the playoffs.

By: Will

Will — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:26:03 +0000

Totally agree, as my comment to Graydon’s post indicates. I think it’s important to stress the fact that a back-to-back in California then Denver is stupid, especially when the first game goes to OT. It looked to me that Pop was sending a message to the league as much as to anybody else.