Kawhi out, still possible if lamarcus and Danny step up. I expect us to put up a good fight

This afternoon, Pop said any competitor wants to play, but it is up to the coaches and trainers to do what is best for the team and what is best for the player.

So, not having Kwahi is certainly not ideal.

But you never know how this could play out.

Someone might step up and have a huge night...

yawny06 said:

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So, not having Kwahi is certainly not ideal.

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Not having a top-5 player in the league available (on top of no Tony Parker), and by far the top player on the team, is a bit more than 'not ideal'. It means about 99% chance Rockets win tonight and Game 7 it is. Spurs are conceding game 6.

GatorAg03 said:

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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.

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While all of those things contribute to the advantage of playing two bigs not being as significant as expected, for the Spurs the problem IMO is more that neither of our bigs have much of a post-up game. You're not getting the offensive rebounds you expect because they're setting up further from the basket, and you're not able to punish the smaller defenders because their post-up games aren't reliable enough.

I think the two big lineup would work much better of one of the bigs had a true post-up game.

Guitarsoup said:

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Any word on if LaMarcus is still out?

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Still out with the sexual reassignment surgery I believe. J/k LaMarcus, don't get upset get nasty.

Pumpkinhead said:

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yawny06 said:

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So, not having Kwahi is certainly not ideal.

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Not having a top-5 player in the league available (on top of no Tony Parker), and by far the top player on the team, is a bit more than 'not ideal'. It means about 99% chance Rockets win tonight and Game 7 it is. Spurs are conceding game 6.

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You are right...it is much worse than not ideal.

That being said...I have watched enough playoff basketball to know anything can happen.

I think the only hope the Spurs have is going big. We need Gasol and LA to step up. And we have to hit the three balls.

Spurs have several players that can step up tonight and show that they have some stones to make it a close game and perhaps truly steal a win. On the other hand, it could be over at the half. Go Spurs Go!!!

T-20 til tipoff , hope we pull out of this with a win

Go Spurs go!

I think unless Kawhi was magically 80-100%, this was the only move Pop could make.

This was going to be a challenge even with a healthy Kawhi. You can't risk him getting hurt worse and not being available for what was a very likely game 7 regardless.

It sucks, and I'm disappointed, but this was the right thing to do if Kawhi wasn't close to 100%.

This just makes you realize how fortunate the Spurs have been with the lack of injuries in the postseason for the last 20 years, especially with the amount of games they have played. It just sucks that they are coming all at once now.

I feel a big game for Simmons tonight

Guitarsoup said:

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Kawhi wanted to play. Pop made the call.

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Facts don't matter to rockets fans

Wildman15 said:

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Aggie_3 said:

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How embarrassing is this crowd for them

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where is everyone?

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The announcers blamed it on an early start

Solid start tonight.

Toyota center is only maybe half full

This feels like a regular season game

Aggie_3 said:

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Wildman15 said:

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Aggie_3 said:

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How embarrassing is this crowd for them

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where is everyone?

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The announcers blamed it on an early start

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bandwagoners must still be stuck in line at walmart

Great great start tonight

We're starting to lose it

Wildman15 said:

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azulAg said:

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We're starting to lose it

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you're starting to sound like the baseball threads

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explain

It's halfway through the first quarter

azulAg said:

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Wildman15 said:

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azulAg said:

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We're starting to lose it

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you're starting to sound like the baseball threads

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explain

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still the first quarter and sounding like we're down 20 points in the 4th