Spurs Strategy

Last night the Spurs got blown out by 40 at the Rose Garden. If you don't look at the box-score, that looks like an incredibly impressive win for the Blazers, especially considering they are experimenting with Jamal Crawford as their PG given the fact that Ray Felton has been faltering as of late.

When you look at the box-score (or if you watched the game), you would realize that the Spurs didn't have Manu (injured again) and rested both Duncan and Parker. The DNP on the box-score? Rest. Whether or not you love the move, you have to respect what Pop is doing. He realizes that he's got aging stars and resting sacrificing wins to preserve them. A lot of people questioned how many minutes Parker got the night before last given the big Portland game, but those questions were answered last night. I'm sure he (along with some beat writers) will spin it as Pop giving his rookies a chance to play while resting his stars, but make no mistake, he gave the win away and was perfectly fine doing so.

One thing you cannot deny, though, is that when the Spurs are playing well, they are an extremely dangerous team. The fact that they had won 11-straight leading into this game is part of what allowed them to do this. It was an interesting move and for the record, I'm totally on board with it.

Side note: Ray Felton was notably displeased with his move to the bench in favor of Jamal Crawford, however Jamal out-played him as the starter making the same number of FG's in less attempts and more 3's in less attempts. Each had only 1 turnover, but Jamal played 9 more minutes than Ray. Crawford also pitched in 8 assists and 4 rebounds. I don't think this game will solidify Crawford in the starting role given the Spurs handed the Blazers the win, but it certainly doesn't hurt.