Think Pop made some nice changes that helped last night. For one, Beno Udrih is the 23 yo replacement for Parker that can't handle Detroit's pressure so he benched him for the entire game and let Manu handle the pressure when Parker was on the bench. Manu wasn't electric last night but played a smart, controlled game. He paired up with Barry quite a bit last night which I haven't seen them do much at all this yr. One more thing about Manu, seems in my opinion his thigh was still bothering him though you've got to give credit to Detroit who has determined to keep him out of the lane at any costs.
Pop also switched Bowen to Billups toward the end. Billups (as I see it) likes to take the shots at the end more than Rip and tho he scored like 34 pts, he made virtually nothing down the stretch on Bowen. Bowen is having a pretty darn good series defensively on Rip and in my opinion has been the overlooked key in Spurs success.
Horry until the fourth quarter last night was like Barry in that he hadn't done anything on Detroit's home court. C. Barkley has said I think accurately that role players play crappy on away courts which is often why home teams win. Horry is the rare role player who plays with tons of poise.
Detroit starting five continues to impress me, give them credit that without hardly any bench team last night (McDyess played pretty good but where's Arroyo and Hunter?) they still almost pulled it out. If I were picking the seven or eight best players on these two teams collectively, five would be Detroit and it amazes me they can play so many minutes.
On Duncan, he's never been able to hit free throws, but he's a helluva lot more dependable than Shaq at the line (nobody ever gives Shaq grief when he misses four or five in a row which is like every game he's ever played because it's just expected that he'll miss). SA's achilles heel has always been free throws, look at Bowen and Mohammeds percentage, they all suck at the line really except Manu. Problem is Detroit can't hack a shaq Tim because they don't have the bench players to foul him.
Pop also switched Bowen to Billups toward the end. Billups (as I see it) likes to take the shots at the end more than Rip and tho he scored like 34 pts, he made virtually nothing down the stretch on Bowen. Bowen is having a pretty darn good series defensively on Rip and in my opinion has been the overlooked key in Spurs success.
Horry until the fourth quarter last night was like Barry in that he hadn't done anything on Detroit's home court. C. Barkley has said I think accurately that role players play crappy on away courts which is often why home teams win. Horry is the rare role player who plays with tons of poise.
Detroit starting five continues to impress me, give them credit that without hardly any bench team last night (McDyess played pretty good but where's Arroyo and Hunter?) they still almost pulled it out. If I were picking the seven or eight best players on these two teams collectively, five would be Detroit and it amazes me they can play so many minutes.
On Duncan, he's never been able to hit free throws, but he's a helluva lot more dependable than Shaq at the line (nobody ever gives Shaq grief when he misses four or five in a row which is like every game he's ever played because it's just expected that he'll miss). SA's achilles heel has always been free throws, look at Bowen and Mohammeds percentage, they all suck at the line really except Manu. Problem is Detroit can't hack a shaq Tim because they don't have the bench players to foul him.
