I remember this catching my attention as I was fighting through yet another gushing Spurs orgy column after game 2

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8:06 — "We're Fine With Letting Danny Green Beat Us," by Oklahoma City. He just missed an open 3. If San Antonio is going to seriously consider running the table in the playoffs, they'll need Green, Neal and/or Leonard to sink a couple of monster shots along the way. There's just no other way. You wouldn't call it their Achilles' heel, just the reality of the situation. And by the way? I think they can go 12-0 heading into the Finals. I really do. They're that good.

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Those 3 combined for 6 points last night. My biggest issues with Spurs the last 2 seasons have been defense and too much youth in the role players. You can't just assume that young players will continue to play consistent deep into the playoffs.

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You can't just assume that young players will continue to play consistent deep into the playoffs.

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i'd qualify that statement, seeing that the thunder are made up of young players all around. It's hard to rely on no name young role players, like the spurs are trying to do

Both posters act as if the Spurs have a choice. Spurs have been so good for so long that they have not had any early draft picks. They had to trade up to get there 1 mid 1st rounder, Leonard.

Being an elite team for almost 15 years means they have only 1 lottery pick on the whole team, Tim Duncan.

The Thunder could still blow this series or lose in the Finals with their youth hurting them. If not then they'll be recognized as one of these once in a generation young dynasty potential teams like the 77 Blazers, 91 Bulls or 00 Lakers

From Luddens column:

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Popovich has often called this his deepest team ever, and yet the box score hardly showed that. Danny Green, the Spurs' usual starting shooting guard, was benched in deference to Ginobili and played less than four minutes. Gary Neal, the Spurs' sharpshooter, missed each of his six shots. Matt Bonner left the bench for all of 50 seconds. Looking for a spark, Popovich called on DeJuan Blair early in the first half, but never went back to him.

As Popovich looked down his bench, he suddenly had to wonder: Who could he trust with the Spurs' season? His 10-man rotation, which helped buoy the Spurs through their winning streak, was essentially chopped to seven.

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Its better to have a reliable 8 man rotation in the playoffs than a deep bench with guys who see their role completely change game to game. The deep bench wins you a lot of regular season games.

It's easy to praise when it's going well and then pick it all apart when it fails.

They are still the same Spurs team, but they just aren't shooting the ball well at all. The same guys that were responsible for making them so deep and good are the same guys that are failing them right now. It happens!

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It's easy to praise when it's going well and then pick it all apart when it fails.

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this X eleventy.

internetfan02 is one of the most biased posters on this board. the venom you spew about the spurs rivals that of simpledumb. are you physically capable of having a rationale conversation that doesn't involve your bias?

The old Spurs had a set rotation in the clutch - Big 3 / Bowen / Horry. Now it's Big 3 / 2 of 9 guys, with half of them being very young. Varies game to game. I prefer the old model. The Spurs may still win on the other model.

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It's easy to praise when it's going well and then pick it all apart when it fails.

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Thats the theme of life as a Mavs fan except for one miraculous odds defying title run

[This message has been edited by Internetfan02 (edited 6/5/2012 10:20a).]

Kevin Pelton: starting Ginobili is good for Ginobili, good for Harden, bad for Spurs bench:

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http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2334

I totally understand why Gregg Popovich moved Manu Ginobili into the starting lineup, an adjustment I've mentioned in the possibility after each of the last two games. To the extent that starting Ginobili allowed Popovich to extend his minutes, it was a complete success. Ginobili saw 38 minutes of action--14 more than Game 4--and was often the best player on the court, scoring a game-high 34 points on 25 shooting possessions.

Yet starting Ginobili failed to address the San Antonio Spurs' biggest problem in this series: bench production. In fact, to the extent it limited Ginobili's minutes with the second unit, starting him actually exacerbated the issue. Depth was the Spurs' strength throughout the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs, but the reserves have failed Popovich at the most urgent time. As San Antonio's coach noted afterward, Game 4 was lost in the second quarter, when the Thunder pulled away. In a similar fashion, the Spurs lost Game 5 during the late first and third quarters, when their second unit was badly outplayed by the Oklahoma City Thunder's reserves.

The difference between the two teams was most apparent when Sixth Man Award winner James Harden played and Ginobili rested. During those nine minutes and seven seconds on the clock, Oklahoma City outscored San Antonio by 16 points, which explains how both Harden (+24) and Ginobili (+13) could have substantially positive plus-minus figures in a game decided by just five points.

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[This message has been edited by Internetfan02 (edited 6/5/2012 11:29a).]

Popovich essentially went with a 7 man rotation for game 6. Blair/Splitter played 1 minute each, and Green was one FGA short of a 4 trillion