Harden: I'd like to be like Mike Manu

That's why I sometimes call him Black Manu

Definitely a stronger, more durable version with a little weaker shot. Similar looking games for sure.

And less defense.

As Manu: The Original, demonstrated last night.

Much, much less defense. Could you imagine what would happen if Pop saw Manu let a defender walk right by him or if he didn't even attempt to help on a drive. We'd never find his body.

David was freaking ripped back then

Guitarsoup said:

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Manu probably wouldn't laugh at the one. That's a lot of painful shots.

That was actually one of the few games I photographed in the Phone Booth.

Last two minute report.

That push off offensive foul on Harden: League ruled it was the correct call.

http://official.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/05/L2M-HOU-SAS-05-09-17.pdf

Should pop hold kawhi out tomorrow? We need him 100% for GS.

I think they should rest Kawhi and make sure he's healthy for game 7 and the rest of the playoffs even if that means playing Golden State two days after game 7 if we win. More than likely he will play with his minutes carefully monitored tomorrow. If Pop sees he's not right, he will get pulled immediately.

Guitarsoup said:

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Pop keeps finding defensive pieces

I think Simmons needs to be more aggressive b/c his athleticism is way up there. Couple times he should have driven harder to the basket last night and not been so timid.

Austin Spurs hold an open tryout every year before the season. $150 bucks to get a look.

He's looking at a relatively fat contract soon. I know he has several kids. I hope he has good guidance to make his money last.

maybe my new favorite player

Quote:

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Three years later, Simmons is a 26-year-old NBA rookie for the Spurs. He heard a chant from the crowd in Milwaukee during a January game:
"Who Are You? Who Are You?"
Simmons responded with a career-high 18 points.

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http://www.nba.com/spurs/improbable-path/

Kahwi is a game time decision

Guitarsoup said:

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Kahwi is a game time decision

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Just saw that he was at shoot around without a brace or a limp

To continue the Simmons discussion...

For those of you who don't venture to r/NBA on Reddit, a poster made a thread discussing his experience trying out for the Toros back about 3 years ago. He said there was only 1 D1 player there and he said this about that player "That dude was around 6'5 and a guard. No one could stop him." turns out it was Simmons. He also posted this video where it looks like you can see Simmons in the background (#18) dominating his man on defense.




https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1tm78p/my_experience_when_trying_out_for_the_nba_dleague/ce9c1rv/

A stat geek talking about the Rockets going small vs the Spurs going big.

https://cleaningtheglass.com/size-matters/

I bet the Spurs laced Kawhi's breakfast with ghost peppers in order to sabotage every other team's evaluation.

Guitarsoup said:

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I'll never not enjoy the Suns screwing up.

The Suns took Markieff Morris two spots before Kawhi.

The Suns traded Markieff Morris for DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries, then waived them both.

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That's awesome.

Guitarsoup said:

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A stat geek talking about the Rockets going small vs the Spurs going big.

https://cleaningtheglass.com/size-matters/

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Pretty good little article. I really want to see the Spurs get more data on this by playing the Warriors. My perception is that the Spurs aren't truly the big team the Spurs envisioned in the offseason. Neither Pau and especially LMA are able to dominate down low like you think that they should vs smaller offenders. It is maddening watching LMA settle for fadeaways over smaller players. Kawhi is the saving grace that made this thing tick along despite the "going big" experiment never fully materializing.

The Spurs will always value defense over offense but that doesn't always mean you have to go big. I think the beautiful game team was the perfect blend of offense and defense and was as good of basketball as the world has ever seen. I bet Pop goes back to that over staying big in future years.

If you think Capela, Ryan Anderson and James Harden guarding LMAo is frustrating, I can't wait to see Draymond Green guarding him.

GatorAg03 said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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A stat geek talking about the Rockets going small vs the Spurs going big.

https://cleaningtheglass.com/size-matters/

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Pretty good little article. I really want to see the Spurs get more data on this by playing the Warriors. My perception is that the Spurs aren't truly the big team the Spurs envisioned in the offseason. Neither Pau and especially LMA are able to dominate down low like you think that they should vs smaller offenders. It is maddening watching LMA settle for fadeaways over smaller players. Kawhi is the saving grace that made this thing tick along despite the "going big" experiment never fully materializing.

The Spurs will always value defense over offense but that doesn't always mean you have to go big. I think the beautiful game team was the perfect blend of offense and defense and was as good of basketball as the world has ever seen. I bet Pop goes back to that over staying big in future years.

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I like the way the Spurs were thinking about this problem. Essentially saying you can't play small ball better than the Warriors so the only way to beat them is to do something different. You can do some damage by having good post up players. But I think the bigger advantage is on the offensive glass. That's where both Cleveland and OKC killed GSW last year. If you can post up different guys, get to the foul line and get offensive boards it slows the game down and gets you more possessions.

Where the Spurs might've screwed up is getting bigs that simply can't guard on the perimeter. Cleveland has Tristan Thompson who is great at it. That being said, its understandable after last season where it was OKC's size that knocked them out. Its not just the Warriors you have to beat to win the title.

There always seems to be problems with using bigs to rebound against three point small ball teams. The big team usually wins the rebounding edge overall but is often left in bad position so the disparity often isn't what one would assume it should be and isn't always consistent game to game.

For example with the increased spacing guarding a 3 pt shooter with a big man good luck having a big block out a smaller faster player. It also pulls that big away from the basket and the prime rebounding area. Then you have the higher number of long rebounds from all the long 3 pointers. It makes it more of a spacing vs height issue for many rebound and gives the small ball players a good chance. Lastly, if you tell the bigs to hit the offensive boards then you are exposing yourself to transition defense problems against the speedy small ball squads.

On paper it makes perfect sense to go big, win the rebound edge, shooting percentage and shots taken (to overcome all the 3 balls), but often you look at the box scores vs these small ball teams and you don't see the consistent advantage like one would think in these key areas.

Kawhi officially out. Going to be tough (impossible?) To finish them tonight.