Free Claver?

Have the feeling our D will be key in this series. Turnovers have killed us and so has the defense or lack thereof in our second unit. What say you?

 

We'll need Freeland and possibly Leonard to win this series, unless we want to let their bench run right to the hoop. Claver matches up well but whose minutes do you give him?

 

You can put in Victor and Joel only so long as Pop has Duncan on the bench. This should allow us to rest Robin and LA at times......

HOWEVER, the greatest chance I think we have for gaining/sustaining a lead against the Spurs is when its our starters against their bench. Pop will still go to his rotation...guys will play 32-36 minutes. We will push 40+ on most of our starters. If the bench is given a chance in this series...T-Rob, Joel, Victor or even Will...I think offensive production and PASSABLE defense will be key. Wright and Mo will get their time for sure, but they arn't a dynamic offense most times. Mo penetrates with no dish too often and our 2nd unit stands a lot and watched. Everyone needs to play AS IF THEY WERE STARTERS....rotations, switches, face up D, quick feet and at least 3 guys on the floor committing to the rebounds every shot.

 

if we need Leonard to "win this series" it is already lost! Gimme a break

 

Claver plays with more energy than the others (even Batum), but coaches haven't taught him tough NBA defense. Maybe he needs to put on the proverbial 15 pounds of solid muscle.

So he'd be ineffective in the playoffs.

 

I really like Claver and IMO he has been under utilized, but given he has had no play at all IMO it would be difficult to expect any important contribution

 

I sort of doubt that throwing a guy out there who hasn't played all year is going to bear much fruit against a great team like the Spurs.

At this point, barring injury, you have to "dance with the girl what brung ya' "

 

probably matches up well with diaw and would be about a wash on offense. but who's minutes as has been asked before.

 

Not unless there is a problem. The more we can go with a 5 man rotation, the better

 

Yep, in Stotts I trust. He played the bench limited minutes in the first round - JUST enough not to cost us any games. I expect more in the 2nd round. Our main guys are MUCH younger than the Spurs main guys. There are no back-to-back games in the playoffs, no 3 games in 4 night, or 5 games in 7 night road trips. There is always at least one day off, sometimes 2 days off, between games in the playoffs. Aldridge, Lillard, Batum and Matthews are all used to plying big minutes over an 82 game schedule. No reason not to play them even bigger minutes over the course of a 7 game series with more time off between games and an easier travel schedule.

Dance with who brung you. No need to change the rotation now - unless Stotts sees a huge mismatch in our favor. He knows what he's doing, and I don't need a poll to tell me that.

BNM

 

I've said it for months - more Claver, less Wright.

 

This is the playoffs. I vote for less of both.

BNM

 

I completely agree, although if one has to play, I vote Claver over Wright as well.

 

I feel ya, but the girl we brung is bow legged and we wanna dance!

So, yeah, I voted Claver over Wright.

 

I voted no and I am a big Claver fan. I just think Stotts will be riding our starters for most this series. Our bench just doesn't have the firepower offensively to keep up with their high scoring bench.

 

I wasn't referring to Wright, and neither is the poll question.

The girl we brung is our starters. Shorten the rotation, play the starters big minutes and only go to the bench when absolutely necessary. If I was coaching and foul trouble wasn't an issue, all five of our starters would average 44 MPG in this series.

BNM

 

THIS

 

This should not happen, and it won't. The starters will average more like 40 mpg, even with the extra TV timeouts. Starters will get into foul trouble, reserves will play - Mo for sure. So the question is who else? I'm hoping for TRob and Claver - yes I am nervous about that.

 

Exactly.

Their Bench >>>>>>>>>>>> Our bench

Our Starters >>>>>>>>>>>> Their Bench

Don't let the benches decide this series. If we do, we lose. Our starters are at least as good as their starters, and our main guys are much younger than their main guys. Don't let Pop dictate the match-ups. If you do, we lose. Play our starters BIG minutes and force him either to ride Duncan, Ginobili and Parker more than their old bones can take, our play his bench significant minutes against our starters. In either case, WE win those match-ups.

BNM

 

Just for reference: Our starters average 40.3 mpg. However, Rolo only averaged 33.0.
bench players played 38.5 mpg.