Popovich sacrifices a win, says all teams do it

Pop is right.

even if they give all they have, its tough to beat the Blazers

QUOTE(#2):

Originally posted 08:31 AM ET  02.22 by JIGSAW

even if they give all they have, its tough to beat the Blazers

Spurs would have beaten them at full strength. Blazers are on downward spiral. They've been losing even at home.

QUOTE(#1):

Originally posted 08:17 AM ET  02.22 by Otis B. Driftwood

Pop is right.

As usual

Nice Way To Spin It, Bro.

In pop I trust.
but their health I fear

With an aging team in a short season it makes a lot of sense.

This compressed season has done older teams no favors.

QUOTE(#10):

Originally posted 09:57 AM ET  02.22 by jgb

In pop I trust.but their health I fear

I'll +1 that one. Which is one of the reasons I liked the decision last night. Tim has been playing way too many minutes. To a lesser degree Parker is a concern also. I'm beginning to think Gino is lost for the season and even though nobody thinks much of Splitter they are going to have to have him if they go up against someone with a big frontcourt.

This is pure BS. How many fans showed up and payed HUGE money to see the Spurs play. Not the Spurs D League team, THE SPURS. If you're going to throw a game please announce it so people don't just throw their money away. If I was there and this crap happened, someone would be paying me back. The worst thing is to then go ahead and admit that you actually made no effort whatsoever to win the ballgame. This is why pro sports is beginning to suck so badly. You throw games, you don't want guys blocking the plate, you can't tackle the quarterback, etc. etc. This is what you get when you pay grown ass men millions of dollars to play children's games. Nobody wants to get hurt and you will rarely, if ever, see a TEAM give 110%. Give me college sports all day long. The "millionaire mentality" isn't there... yet.

QUOTE(#12):

Originally posted 10:17 AM ET  02.22 by Pimpston23

This compressed season has done older teams no favors.

It's the older players that kept betchin at the CBA so Stern found a way to punish them... Look at the Celts... yikes.

QUOTE(#14):

Originally posted 10:42 AM ET  02.22 by sagasha

This is pure BS. How many fans showed up and payed HUGE money to see the Spurs play. Not the Spurs D League team, THE SPURS. If you're going to throw a game please announce it so people don't just throw their money away. If I was there and this crap happened, someone would be paying me back. The worst thing is to then go ahead and admit that you actually made no effort whatsoever to win the ballgame. This is why pro sports is beginning to suck so badly. You throw games, you don't want guys blocking the plate, you can't tackle the quarterback, etc. etc. This is what you get when you pay grown ass men millions of dollars to play children's games. Nobody wants to get hurt and you will rarely, if ever, see a TEAM give 110%. Give me college sports all day long. The "millionaire mentality" isn't there... yet.

yes-
but the fans will be much happier if they are healthy for the playoffs

QUOTE(#14):

Originally posted 10:42 AM ET  02.22 by sagasha

This is pure BS. How many fans showed up and payed HUGE money to see the Spurs play. Not the Spurs D League team, THE SPURS. If you're going to throw a game please announce it so people don't just throw their money away. If I was there and this crap happened, someone would be paying me back. The worst thing is to then go ahead and admit that you actually made no effort whatsoever to win the ballgame. This is why pro sports is beginning to suck so badly. You throw games, you don't want guys blocking the plate, you can't tackle the quarterback, etc. etc. This is what you get when you pay grown ass men millions of dollars to play children's games. Nobody wants to get hurt and you will rarely, if ever, see a TEAM give 110%. Give me college sports all day long. The "millionaire mentality" isn't there... yet.

Fans like successful teams. If you want teams like the Spurs to be a successful team then their older stars need a rest (especially in a shortened season). College seasons are much shorter than pro sports so the kids can play hard every single game (and much to your dismay a large number of them want to play in the pros one day). If you play your starters hard every single game (82 or 66 games) you won't have anything left for the post season if you even make it there.

Nobody is paying to see Duncan and Parker anymore. The media barely cares about this 11 game winning streak. Anyhow, those Portland fans got a great show with their starters clobbering the Spurs reserves. As a Spurs fan I actually enjoyed seeing Leonard, Dawson, Joseph playing extended minutes. Any basketball fan should know that it's not about appeasing the fans but trying to win championships. Pretty straight forward.

He did the right thing. That game will make no difference in the bigger scheme of things because the Blazers probably won't make the playoffs. Plus he gave other teams a chance to look at Anderson before we trade him. We need more size in the paint before the playoffs.