Popobitch

I thought that last night we were supposed to see a key Western Conference match-up between San Antonio and Denver. Both teams are well behind the Lakers for the #1 seed in the West, however going into the game San Antonio was just 2 games ahead of Denver for the #2 seed, with the season series between the two teams even at 1 game a piece. The stage was set for both teams to compete being as healthy as they have been all season. The stakes were high, especially with the news that the Lakers could be caught in the West, having lost Andrew Bynum 8-12 weeks with a torn MCL.

Shortly before tip word spread that San Antonio Head Coach Greg Popovich would sit out his 4 best players. Thats right....Manu, Timmy, Tony Parker and Michael Finley were all benched for the game. The only player with even an excuse to miss the the game was Manu, who was banged up with a hip contusion, however all the others were good to go.

I can't completely bash "Pop" for doing this because the man does have 4 NBA titles, but it just made no sense. It was like he was trying to prove a point that the Spurs could beat the Nuggets on their home court with their bench players. San Antonio is currently on their rodeo roadtrip and were coming off a long game the night before in a win against the Warriors, but that is still not an excuse. Popovich knew the schedule before-hand and I'm sure he has looked at the Western Conference standings. The Nuggets played one of their worst games all season and still beat the Spurs. The Nuggets were without a key player in Kenyon Martin because of strep-throat. Martin is a huge presence in the match-up for defensive purposes and his ability to slash through the paint on offense. Guess what? The Nuggets still beat the Spurs. The Nuggets lost their All-Star Chauncey Billups for the game in the 2nd quarter with a sprained ankle and yep, the Nuggets still beat the Spurs.

I don't know exactly what was going on last night, but I do know Greg Popovich was trying to make a point. What the point was? I really don't know. Did he want to give his bench confidence? Did he really think his big 4 were that burned out? Well, that can't be because the Spurs have 4 days off in a row now. The only logical explanation is Popovich was trying to show the Nuggets up by doing this and it didn't work. Not only did the Spurs lose the game, but they lost to a Nuggets team that was shorthanded 2 of their better players and a Nuggets team that played absolutely terrible. San Antonio also lost a game in the West standings and guaranteed themselves at best a split against the Nuggets in the season series, which could end up being used against them in a tiebreaker situation. Finally, San Antonio lost momentum because the loss snapped a 4 game winning streak. I know Greg Popovich is the best Head Coach in the NBA but his ego got in the way last night and that cost his team a lot. If he plays his big 4 or even 2 of them, San Antonio blows out Denver last night with the way the Nuggets played. Instead, Denver now leads the season series 2-1 and are only 1 game back of San Antonio in the West. It will be interesting to see how the Spurs bounce back, especially their big 4 who know they could have won that game last night and that their Head Coach cost them that opportunity

I have just been writing about how "Pop" screwed his team but the best Head Coach in the league also made a lot of people very unhappy. Lets start with Vegas, the game opened with Denver being a 4 point favorite and when Vegas got the info about the benchings, the point spread moved to Denver -13, a 9 point increase. Sportsbooks are much lighter in the register because of Popovich. If you bet the game 2 hours prior to tip you would have won and late betters wouldn't have touched that game with a 9 point jump. "Pop" also angered NBA-TV. It was fan night and the fans' voted to see San Antonio at Denver, so NBA-TV put that game on its network last night. Most importantley, "Pop" angered the true fans of the game that deserved to see a key West match-up with both teams at full stregnth. "Pop" didn't care about that though, he wanted it his way and I lost a lot of respect for him because of it. In this bad economy, I wonder how many people went out of their way last night to get tickets for the game? I hope it wasn't many because they would have wasted their money. People and players wanted to see San Antonio at Denver last night, not the Austin Torros of the D-League at the Denver Nuggets.

The picks.......I picked nothing last night....I had a feeling things were going to be strange....so I stayed away so the record ATS remains at 24-16....Tonight the board is a little better for picks.

NBA

@Minnesota +1 Atlanta
@Dallas -3 1/2 Portland

NCAAM

@Syracuse -1 1/2 West Virginia
Duke - 3 1/2 @ Clemson