This is the last time I am going to have to say this, this NBA season (thank god)
Quit trying to call Popavich a bad coach. You are the only person on the planet who thinks hes a horrible coach. You compare him to a guy who's never won a championship in the sport he coaches in and Pop almost has enough to fill up one entire hand. Seriously this needs to stop. If you don't like him, fine, Skandery does not like him either but at least he can respect that he gets the job done.
You have one of two options here Reality... you either:
1) Realize that this is not a rookie playoff team, this is the Spurs not the Hornets. The players know how to handle these situations, they know what they need to do, and they did not execute according to the game plan. You need to place blame at the players feet FIRST before it goes anywhere else for blowing big leads. Popavich, if I am not mistaken, was not suited up in game 1 or game 5. I also believe it was Pop's adjustments for game 5 that opened up the big lead in the first place. They started running different plays, ones a little faster then normal, and they made the Lakers pay dearly. The players started to not knock down shots while at the same time not keeping the Lakers from scoring. Pretty sure Popavich's was not yelling for them to miss shots and turn the ball over.
2) Give the Lakers the props for being the better team. Right now this Laker squad is better then this Spurs squad in this season. They had more weapons, they had more legs, they played with more heart, and they executed when it mattered the most. To me it just wasn't the Spurs year. Regardless of what Greg Popavich wanted to do the squad had a tough task ahead of them with the match ups. How do you blame Popavich for that? How does that all the sudden make him a crappy coach? Did anyone think that Phil Jackson was a crappy coach when the Suns bounced the Lakers when the Suns had more talent? Was it Phil's fault that Smush Parker couldn't guard Steve Nash? No. Why is this any different?
Right now you only have 2 choices. Blaming Popavich is not an option. Since I know you rather run on a land mine then give the Lakers props then you need to select option 1.
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