Charles Barkley at halftime: “You gotta take De’Aaron Fox out of the game…”
Mitch is in a tough spot. Fox is a good ball facilitator but he has been so bad this series. I highly doubt Mitch benches him for Harper
they are barely running sets for him too. Castle and Harper bring the ball up so Fox just runs to the corner.
At this point, its an ego thing for both of them, just refusing to see their mistakes.
Edit : Him and fox are selling again in the fourth, here we go.
hallmark of a bad coach
Kenny Atkinson and Harden 2.0
Analytically, the cavs are leading this series
Analytically and for essentially 90% of the entire series, the Spurs were winning
Right, They were leading pretty much the whole series except for at the end of the games.
They’ve won the analytics trophy
Congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs for winning the Kenny Atkinson Analytics Ernuh Trophy!
ROTFL!
On the plaque is a picture of Shaq saying “Ringz, Ernuh”
You can disparage Harden for his foul baiting and unethical bullshit, but not for his ego.
Just like Pop eventually playing Speedy Claxton more than Tony that year against the Nets. Gotta do something different to try and win
Ah yes that year Tony Parker was still only 20 yrs old and just a little too inexperienced to go up against prime Kidd.
I like Mitch but I think it’s going to be a long time before we see a coach with instincts like Pop.
I don’t think we’ll ever see a coach quite like Pop.
I know thats not exactly what you said I’m not arguing just expanding.
He really is 1 of 1
Pop is 1 of 1. You’d have to probably look at NCAA ball to find a coach that comes close to the character he had. And even then nobody would anyway.
i agree, I think spurs fans in general are accustomed to pops coaching for so long that it is finally hitting us that pop is gone :(
There are levels to coaching too and people forget that. Just because you were an assistant to Pop doesn’t guarantee that you will coach just as well as him.
Both coaches in this series worked under Pop funny enough.
Yeah but Mike Brown has been a head coach since 2005. Experience matters a lot in the NBA.
Except when he was an assistant to Steve Kerr
Except to the Sacramento Kings.
Pop lost the Spurs a championship by benching Duncan at the end of a game six.
if i’m not mistaken the Spurs had like a 10+ lead at the start of the 4th in that game and he rested Duncan/Parker/Ginobli at the same time and the Heat immediately tied it in their absence, so he was wildin’ in general late in that game with his subbing choices
Ride the hot hand is what you gotta do as HC
It really is a catch 22. The biggest frustration is just that hes making so much damn money to make such boneheaded plays sometimes.
I’m sick of hearing about the money. This is the finals, play the better player rn.
Finals who cares what players earn. he playing awful cant shoot
Fox is not a good facilitator lol.
I really dont get where the narrative started that Fox is a good facilitator. He’s never been a good. Sabonis was the primary facilitator during the very short-lived Beam Team Era.
I think the Spurs saw Fox as less turnover and were just banking on him to start hitting his usual shots. He was creating some drive-and-kick chances in the first half but the Spurs shooters were missing most of them. But agreed, Fox is really not a facilitator, he’s a slasher and a score-first guard.
He is, he gets the defense to collapse on him. He’s the reason vassel and champagnie gets open 3s. He has bad shooting splits and gets targeted on defense. Also makes bone head plays for a vet
Mitch is a young coach, Fox is a vet All-Star PG they traded and gave a max to. Mitch literally told everybody the other day he is not benching Fox.
The only way he does is if Pop comes down and tells him to.
stupid coach they should of hired experienced coach. Harper is the best offensive spurs player
Yea and he showed this series he’s ready to ball.
Because Mitch is a bad coach
He’s getting the Ben Simmons treatment from the defense. He cratered their offense and didn’t do shit on defense
Isn’t the point of having young coach that he’ll have balls to go against the grain?
Fking disaster that he kept playing Fox
Fox won them the OKC series, but Mitch has made numerous bad calls in every series including the Thunder. First person to blame for the Finals loss is Mitch who made numerous mistakes with Fox and blew the largest lead in NBA playoff HISTORY. Blowing a lead that big is on the coach, period. You have people out here blaming a 22 year old Wemby but letting Mitch skate because he was on Pop’s coaching staff. Please. Doc Rivers would have won a ring with this team, just an outright terrible coaching job from Mitch. The best part is he did this against Mike Brown who is a great coach but not some all time great like Phil Jackson/Pat Riley.
Harper HAS to play over him
Harper needs to polish his ball handling this off season.
Considering he’s just a rookie. I think he’ll have plenty of time to do that and more. Bright future for that kid especially after everyone seeing him this season, playoffs, and finals.
Dillion Harper has elite ball handling I’ve seen the tape
wait thats not how you spell … googles .. oh.
It’s beyond that. This off-season the Spurs will jettison Fox. The SAS need to maximize what they can get for him. Otherwise opposing teams will wait for Fox to hit FA, while the Spurs will have to limit their supporting cast around Wemby. The Spurs hope to get something for Fox. They had to play Fox once it was obvious that the NYK were tough to beat this year, it became about the Spurs going forward. Harper is better, sooner, than expected. So keep Fox’s value high for the off-season.
lol, they’re gonna lose picks to trade fox.
Honestly, it’s worth giving up a pick or even two if they’re able to move Fox for a legit power forward. Not having anyone bigger than Champagnie around Wemby really puts too much pressure on him.
Preach.
Yeah, not max contract Fox. You’ll have to find someone else’s max contract headache if you want to actually get something back.
kings will pay to take him back, we got nothing else to look forward to, might as well give it another go with our toxic ex
Yeah if you include 3 first round picks for him.
Absolutely nothing I saw from Fox in this series did anything positive to his value.
Gonna have to give up a pick to get rid of Fox tbh
Just one? Sold.
He could have been ROY on a bad team. His game is so great to watch with him being only a rookie.
Been yelling this at my tv for the last two hours
The 4 year $230 million hasn’t even kicked in yet. He might have a worse contract than Jakob Poeltl
ok now you’re going too far
imagine Jakob gets traded back in a Spurs Raptors trade for the 3rd time
Fox son or Poeltl daughter
Depends which one is shipping and which one is power scaling
Lmfao
Nah Jak is top 10 at his position when healthy he’s alright
Fox’s ceiling is just inefficient 20ppg
Ok so if everybody is fully healthy:
Wembanyama Jokic Embiid Anthony Davis KAT Chet Sabonis Sengun Gobert Bam Zubac Porzingis Hartenstein
In no particular order, which 3 of those guys would you really take Poeltl over? And that’s just 13 that come to mind, plenty of other guys in the mix for that 15-20 ish range
Healthy Poetl better than Sabonis & Sengun easily I guess he’s 11th then
ok you enjoy that
Sorry about him he escaped containment in the team sub
He is not better than Sengun lol
Honestly man you’re wrong as hell but I absolutely love your big Poeltl energy
Maybe 2 years ago. Not anymore
If Jak is healthy again? Yes. Hard to predict that, though.
Man Poeltl actually plays winning basketball though lmao. Fox just out here putting up stats on a lottery team.
Not being a San Antonio fan, this is the first time I’m actually watching a few Spurs game. I gave Fox waaaaay too much credit. The guys basketball IQ is none
Been this way even when he was scoring 30+ in Sacramento. Not a high IQ player. We still loved him… until we didn’t… but we don’t have much to cheer for in Sacramento.
Hali and Luka man….
And remember when he got called out by mike brown for mental lapses on defensive assignments and he wasnt happy about that which led to the firing of mike brown? Yep that tells you alot about him as a player and its fitting mike brown is on the knicks now lol
Yeah he’s got all the physical tools but he makes some really head-scratching decisions with the ball. The way he just dribbles into traffic sometimes drives me nuts.
Same buddy, I saw the stat sheets, I thought he was fine. He is so dumb and actually thinks he’s “that guy” on this team. Can’t make bunnies or mid ranges, it’s insane.
Fox and Mitch johnson are so lucky KAT’s back in foul trouble, or else johnson would have to pull the trigger
Man Mitch Johnson still looks like he’s trying to figure out which button does what on a controller. KAT staying in foul trouble is the only thing keeping that offense from completely stalling.
Based. But yeah investigation IS NEEDED ON FOX FOR GAMBLING ON SPURS GAMES
I wasn’t sure if I should say it but yeah it appears this way when viewing his performance.
He is literally smiling after every dumb turnover/brick
Some guys just have bad games, I didn’t see anything to suggest it was on purpose.
Early shot-clock deep mid range jumpers brick after brick after brick
Are you kidding me he’s making 200+ million dollars
Narrator: they have not
Who yall taking, FVV or dearon Fox ?
can i take or
Hey man, FVV wouldn’t shit the bed that bad 👀👀
Fuck it gamble with FVV, at least the guys has grit
Yea Van Fleet hustles and does the little things. Goes for loose balls. Fox legit just stands there
fvv would make his free throws
If we’re factoring contracts, then FVV all day
Or if they can trade for schroder, that guy is way better than fox
And gritty old knees
Probably fox FVv plays too much hero ball and undersized as well
Idk, Fred can be pretty useful, he can pass the ball well and shoots decently at a high volume. He’s also a decent defender too shiiiiii
Nah Fred never passed tbh
Well that was his tenure with the raptors ngl, I heard about how he did the young guys dirty and did a lot of selfish shit, but I promise he changed on the rockets!
Fair haven’t seen him much on the rockets
lol no he didn’t, he’ll be like 2⁄12 on the night and still shoot a 28’ 3 with 20 seconds on the shot clock
Hey man, he saved our asses from being embarrassed in the playoffs last year by legit carrying
Why do yall pretend games 1-3 didn’t happen 😭 yes he turned it around after that but he was literally shooting away games 1-3
Well I mean Jalen and alpi surely didn’t help
FVV shot like 37% from the field this year man lol
Spurs would be champs with FVV’s play making
Oh FVV one thousand times, especially with this team
He’s meant to be their calming presence as a vet, but he’s just been abysmal this series. Needs to be benched.
Welcome to the situation Pistons fans were in watching Jalen Duren all playoffs. Spoiler alert: Nothing changes.
Don’t remind me… please
Kornet bad too
At least he’s made a few clutch plays this post season.
It honestly looks like Kornet might have been coming down with something. Dude was gaunt and looked gassed immediately.
They mentioned he was ill.
Big Mitch already said “ Fox will have the ball in his hands at the end if the game”
This aged well lol
Fox turning into Kemba Walker after bubble COVID season
Why take him out? He’s the perfect 6th man for the Knicks
This reminds me of when they said you had to be ready to pull Kyle lowery in the lowery / derozen era when he was playing awful
shouldve listened to him
He was right. Fox built a house with bricks like the third little pig in the 4th Q
They won’t, but yeah they should
I’ve been saying it all series. He needs to play 12-14 minutes because he clearly isn’t right.
He doesn’t look that bad moving, he’s just forcing everything. Can’t understand he isn’t him, right now
Charles being the oracle here as always
Aged like wine
And he turned out to be 100% correct
AND CHARLES IS RIGHT AGAIN
I come from the future: this take aged like fine wine.
Let’s keep Fox in so he can chuck another 3.
Fox 3 from 15 castle 1 from 10 and plays more than Harper who is 10 from 19. Crazy coach
This take aged like fine wine. Dynasty starts after Fox
how does he have +13 then, incredible
LVP GOES TO FOX LMAOOO
Yes
I see we’re going to ignore Castles stat line two games in a row. 2 assist, 3 to, 3 fouls, 0-7. Who are they putting in for Fox, McLaughlin? I’ll take a bad game from Fox over whatever tf Castle is doing and any other backup.
Castle is 21 years old. The Spurs got Fox so he could be the stabilizing force for their insanely young team. Instead he’s brick city and doesn’t look anymore composed than the guys barely old enough to drink. He’s not worth the money.
Okay, but the bad contract isn’t relevant today when you need 1 win and Castle was out there going 0-9 the first 47 minutes of the game while Champagnie is sitting shooting 50 percent from 3.
But Castle hasn’t been awful all series long. He was bad offensively today but he’s always giving 100% on defense. And again, he’s 21. Even if Castle put up 5 straight stinkers the dude went from playing on one of the worst team’s in the league to winning the west in one year. Fox has been in the league far too long to have the same expectations as a 21 year old.
He’s getting paid 250M and was brought to the Spurs for the sole purpose of being the clutch player and veteran presence.
Castle was 2-7 last game and 1-10 this game. You can’t make an excuse for the age when you’re about to be eliminated. Fox played like shit, Castle was shittier and the coach made no changes. I didn’t say anything about Fox having the same expectations. I’m only implying Castle should have been on the bench for someone hitting shots like Champagnie. You can’t advocate they needed his defense whe Brunson literally had half his teams points anyways and he fouled a 3 point shooter while up 2 at the end of the game.
Castle is the spurs best perimeter defender.
Not in a game where Brunson is already dropping 45 and he fouls a 3 point shooter when they’re up 2 at the end of a game. If you’re not stopping the only guy you need to stop as a team and you’re 0-9 to start the game, coach might want to put in the guy that’s already hit 4 3’s
Castle has better defense. Watch the games.
I am watching the game. He’s turning the ball over and missing literally every shot. Harper is playing better than him.
Sounds just like fox. Harper is playing better than fox too. What’s your point?
There’s like 15 posts calling for Fox to sit when Castle is playing worse and should be the 1 sitting. Just fouled a 3 point shooter btw and Brunson already has over 30.
Fox is worse. Get over it.
Okay weirdo
Castles defensive is one of the reasons they beat OKC and had a chance against Knicks. Don’t be delusional just because you like fox
They both played like trash. I’m not saying anyone is wrong about Fox, I’m saying Castle was much worse. I don’t care how good his defense is against the last team, it’s game 5 against a new team and you’re going 0-9 and the guy you’re guarding got 45, youre turning the ball over, you’re up 2 fouling 3 point shooters and Champagnie on the bench with 4 3s made that game.
“I love De’Aaron Fox”
lol no you don’t Chuck, you were just trying to soften the blow 😄
He super sucks tonight
two ten pack of ass
I don’t think yall realize the ownership sometimes has a say in who plays because of the size of their contract. Lots of former players talk about playing better than someone who makes more doesn’t always mean you gonna play over them. It’s like “we are paying you this much money and you’re gonna earn it by being out there regardless of how shit you are” Fox is officially ass tho lol.
Spurs should trade Fox and 2 future first round picks for Holiday and Grant
How prescient.
Coach Johnson (and his staff) has to take the blame for this terrible Finals loss. They handed the Knicks their 4 wins and the title. Knicks didn’t take it. Brunson’s huge game 5 was a great performance but a tough defensive team beats him down and takes ball out of his hands. And the Spurs led almost the entire game (again). The game 4 collapse was dumb basketball and were in position to win every game. Coach Johnson has to take the blame he didn’t prevent the team on the floor imploding in each of the 4 losses. That was a historic giveaway
Somehow Castle was even worse in Game 5 ngl
Castle was ass too.
He was so brave for this
I disagree