Read Between the Lines

by

Play-by-Play

Above is the play-by-play for the final ten seconds of last night’s game against the Indiana Pacers. Hidden inside this very standard and typically unhelpful form of score-keeping is a wealth of information about what has been going right and wrong for the Spurs this season.

The hero of this ten second stretch is Tim Duncan, who manages to haul down two defensive boards and slam home the game winner during this short period. His trustworthy but unacknowledged accomplice is the young George Hill, whose defensive pressure is partly responsible for T.J. Ford’s missed 14 and 16-footers. But what’s most interesting about these ten seconds are the substitutions made by Gregg Popovich during the two timeouts.

After the Spurs regained possession and called timeout, Coach Pop took Tony Parker out of the game and sent in Roger Mason, Jr. In other words, with one offensive possession left in the game Pop removed a two-time all star and former NBA Finals MVP and inserted an occassionaly brilliant but recently struggling journeyman.

Now, were the Spurs in need a of 3-pointer, the logic for replacing Parker with Mason is obvious. And given his history of clutch shots, making sure Mason is on the floor for the closing seconds of a tight game, even a one point game, seems like a sound decision. But, at moments, Parker has been instrumental in Mason’s late-game heroics. Why not send both out on the floor?

Let’s set that decision aside momentarily, and move on to the substitutions that take place during the final timeout. After the Spurs regain the lead, Indiana quickly calls a timeout. During the timeout Mason and Ginobili leave the game for Parker and Bogans. Bogans has played well defensively all season, and had a particularly impressive performance last night. There is not a question in my mind that he should have been on the floor for the final defensive possession. But why did Pop bring out Mason and Ginobili? Why not just Mason?

For years Ginobili, although a bit of a gambler, was an extremely effective perimeter defender (by some metrics, one of the best in the league). And as recently as last season his defensive craftiness was essential to some season-defining wins. But Pop seemed to think that Parker, Hill and Bogans could do a better job collectively covering the Pacers backcourt.

More simply put, all three of the big three are healthy and for the closing seconds of a one-possession game at least one was on the bench at any given moment.

What does this mean? It means the crisis of confidence this team is facing runs much deeper than we’ve acknowledged. Yes, we’ve had some difficulty integrating our new pieces but in the long run that may prove to be peripheral given the lack of faith Pop has shown in the core.

During last night’s post-game presser, Coach Pop re-emphasized that “during the entire season so far Tim Duncan has been our most consistent player.” He also noted the contributions of Hill, Jefferson, and Bogans. He made no references to either Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili.

  • Spurlady

    Hubby and I too were shocked when he put Parker back in for defense instead of leaving Ginobili on the court. What does that do to Ginobili’s psyche? And what does that mean for the Spurs getting back to a strong defensive capability?

  • Regan Rahardja

    Great observation. The thing is Parker and Gino hasn’t been consistent all year. Gino is still improving from injury and as long as he’s healthy, he’s going to be fine. Parker - been inconsistent, and is a a little more turnover prone this year as he’s seeking to make more plays. Him being left out on the offensive possession does raise some eyebrows but Parker hasn’t been playing that well as of late compared to his own standards (blown layups against GS for instance). RoMaJu is clutch and spreads the floor too.

  • Randall

    Well Mason Jr. has been nothing but consistently inconsistent, yet Pop has kept him in during moments of games that seem defining and crucial, yet Mason keeps letting us down. I’ve defended Pop’s decisions in these circumstances before for reasons of confidence, but if anyone on our team needs the pscyhe boost, it’s Manu — and he’s not getting it. I’m trying to figure out what Pop’s been up to and why he’s doing what he’s been doing, and there’s no doubting his abilities, but it just seems this year like he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing. It could just be the frustration speaking out or my mind struggling to find an explanation, but a lot of it points to Pop’s odd decisions or, as the case may be, lack thereof. But ultimately, I guess we’ll see the real truth of the matter in the postseason.

  • Hicksy

    Could this be the true pre-cursor to a bigtime trade? Could Pop be seeing if with both RMJ and Hill maybe TP’s tenure in SA could be coming to an end?

    Just asking??

  • DanielB

    I refuse to panic. These are still the San Antonio Spurs. The team everybody counts out, and then end up getting proved wrong. Every. Year.

  • DanielB

    And no, Tony Parker isn’t going to be traded. Making a dynamic decision like that 24 games into the season is completely idiotic.

  • Secretchord53

    Excellent post. I made the same notes while watching the game, but opted to leave it out of my recap. I can understand leaving Tony out and putting Mason, Jr. in, especially if the play was always designed for Duncan to attack and possibly kick out to a shooter if need be. Mason, Jr. is a clutch shooter with better range than Parker.

    The more baffling decision for me was having Tony on the floor for the last defensive possession. To me, our last possession defensive unit should be Duncan, Hill, Bogans, Jefferson, and then probably either McDyess, Ginobili, or maybe even Hairston or Ratliff. But with just 4 seconds left and only needing a stop, I don’t see why Parker would be on the floor at all, especially with Hill and Bogans both able to guard both guard spots.

    Great post as always.

  • Kurt

    Another thing I’ve noticed about Manu the last few games is that he doesn’t play very much at all in the fourth quarter or clutch time of the game until there’s only two minutes left and by then he’s cold or not in rhthym. I guess Pop has lost all confidence in him now to even do anything in the fourth now.

  • zack

    i too have been investigating pops decisions, first of all i think the reason why manu is not out on the floor atthis point is because if you think back pop was very adamant about manu resting in the fourth. I think its just to avoid injury and strain for at this point and is being extra careful with him. The one that baffles me is when hill helps everyone get touches and plays consistent D only to be taken out 7 min remaining in the fourth. not the case last night, but def. the case in phoenix. It is super super frustrating watching pop play parker and finley during these crucial points that require major defense. what in the world could parker stop? i know hes not 100 percent, but thats just a better reason not to play the guy!!theres just no logic in those decisions!! if finley was healthy i honestly believe he would be taking most of hills and bogans P.time!! he makes finley and parker guard some incredibly gifted scorers. when we have hill,bogans,hairston,ratliff,and shoot even haislip. i dont get why some one has to be hurt in order for these poor guys to play. i cant wait to see haislip

  • grego

    Parker - His offensive game was off even though he managed 15 points. He was 4-17 from FG and 7-12 from FT. He only had 1 turnover, but his shots looked short in this game.

    Mason’s night wasn’t great, but he seemed to hit some shots still and it’s good to see if they can get him into hitting those clutch shots again.

    Parker definitely is suffering from summer play. He looks a step slow on his drives and his shots more often than not.

    Manu - He shows flashes, but doesn’t look like he can bring it consistently still. If you look at Manu’s minutes since he’s been back, he played about 25 minutes. Obviously it’s only one play though.

    Could be a message to these two that they got to bring it better. Spurs game suffers when Duncan is out (which shouldn’t be as much the case with all the new talent).

    On the flipside, Pop looks like he’s rewarding guys for playing well (Bogans, Hill) and slightly improved (Mason). We always praise Pop for not playing favorites to his stars. Two of those stars are not bringing it with Duncan. So there’s a confidence boost for those two guys.

  • grego

    I’m also curious if Finley would have seen time (especially for the last plays) at the end if he were not injured. He’d probably be the guy in for some of Bonner’s minutes too.

  • SpurredOn

    I’m guessing there were some defensive breakdowns, either in rotations or being out of position, in this one game from these players and Pop went with the guys who had not made mistakes. Or were better matchups.

  • Krista

    This reminds me of David Robinson’s last 2 years. He would substitute Dave and Malik Rose at the end of games, but not like you’d expect. He have Dave in for offense and Malik in for defense. Regardless of the outcome of games, I never understood that.

  • http://www.kevincarroll.net Kevin

    Some good observations and speculations here. One other angle on these substitutions would be that these are more about the other team and less about the Spurs. Pop likes to throw the opposition slightly off balance. Opposing teams will be expecting certain matchups, but, with Pop it’s hard for teams to know what to expect. These subtle adjustments are enough to subversively alter outcomes of games. He’s always done this and it works a high percentage of the time.

  • fred

    It is finally time to count out the Spurs.

    Ginobili is done, his ankles will give out. He should have been traded when he had value, end of 2007 season.

    First round exit once again. Book it.

  • http://www.maxmktg.com Tom in Bakersfield, CA

    Ginobili may be physically close to 100% healthy, but he is far from being in top game shape. I think Pop will work him back up to his usual minutes. If you are not back up to game shape, it is hard to compete well at the end of games, and the fact is Hill and Mason are in much better game shape even if they are not as talented as Ginobili.

  • doggydogworld

    Wow, very interesting. The last play was “throw to Tim and get out of the way”, so Tony would have just been a decoy and, at 4-17, a pretty ineffective one. But subbing him in for Manu on defense? Holy cow! (I know Tony technically subbed in for Mason, but the net effect was to sub for Manu).

    Maybe Pop was rewarding Tony for blocking out/wrestling Hibbert on TJ Ford’s miss at 0:10.2? Or maybe he was punishing Manu for defensive lapses, such as the atrocious one at 1:40 which saw him guarding empty air out at the wing while his man, Brandon Rush, dunked the ball. It’s very hard to get newcomers to embrace defensive fundamentals if you reward old-timers who ignore defensive fundamentals.

  • bills

    I think Kevin has a point. Pop has often tried to do something unexpected at the end of games. Some examples.

    Switching Bowen to defend Billups and Parker to Hamilton in the 2005 championship game.

    Calling Duncans number to shoot the 3-pointer in the last seconds of the playoff game against Phoenix.

  • Stephen

    Don’t assume Pop has lost confidence in either Manu or TP. They both played in the last 10 seconds of the game, if not together. I don’t always agree with all of Pop’s calls, but have come to believe there is a method to his madness…. he is probably one of the greatest coaches the NBA has ever known, after all.

  • junierizzle

    That’s the tought thing about being a Spurs Fan.
    POP makes so many changes, that you can’t help but ask “what the hell is he doing”?
    I honestly don’t read that much into it. That’s what POP does. He’ll sit a player down after they go 3/4 , get a steal and two assists. (MANU anyone?)
    And that’s what’s frustrating. Do they sit KOBE after he goes 4/5. NO. Starters for other teams play heavy minutes. Not the SPURS. It’s easy to say leave the best players on the floor in a close game. BUt that aint POP’s style.

    YOu just have to roll with it. That’s why Im not gonna worry too much until the playoffs. Because that’s what POP is playing for.
    Ofcourse POP wanted to win against the PACERS but, do you really think he cares about a game in December??

  • BillHock

    I think we should also consider that this was still a game before midseason and Pop may have been experimenting, testing Mason, or giving a valuable experience to folks who need it more than the big 3. The fact that he didn’t replace Duncan might also mean that Pop doesn’t feel he has any viable options there… ie… down the stretch and in the playoffs we will have to depend on Duncan more than we want to have to.

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