Fewer games in the regular season. Each game will mean more, and will have less wear and tear on the stars.

I’m just surprised he didn’t go on to complain that people in Miami wear “those baggy jeans” that are ruining society.

Adorable. Just adorable.

Pop did the mental math, we can all pretty much do it:
1) They won 5 straight
2) They were coming off the end of a tough schedule
3) They were facing one of the best teams in the East, who were rested

What would be the point? If the Wizards had been the last team for them to play I’m willing to bet Pop would have rested them too, like he did against Portlands. They were throwaway games that the Spurs could afford.

The game was in Miami… where “fans” don’t care about basketball, they only care about being seen in their fake tans, untucked collared shirts and jewel studded jeans.

In baseball, players are allowed to miss games solely for the purpose of rest. Bobby Cox was known for sitting most if not all of his 8 primary starters every Sunday. In football, each team gets a bye week. Stern either needs to space these games out better and more fairly or he needs to accept that players need to miss games solely just to recover. The fact that players have microfracture surgery in their early 20s demonstrates that. And given the way playoff games are spaced out does not reflect the regular season schedule indicates that either Stern is aware that players need rest to perform at their best or he is spacing the games out for money. Given that he is upset because it was on TNT it is probably the latter.

Also, this game is going to pay dividends for the Spurs in terms of bench play down the stretch and in the playoffs.

For ex. the fans got to see a good game against two contending teams that went down to wire and were able to watch three future HOFs play, but instead because of the marketing approach the media, tv execs and a few fans (I have a hard time believing the majority of fans in attendance in Miami were there to only see Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu play live) are complaining they didn’t get to see four future HOFs play and two other potential HOFs play.

What do you suppose the “pundits” would have written had they seen those three players sitting on the bench in suits? “Are they all hurt?” “Did they piss the coach off?” “Did Popovich bet against his team and is insuring they lose?” Etc, etc., ad nauseum.

One of the reasons Popovich’s players perform for him is that what you see is what you get. He doesn’t have time for politically-correct bullshit, which seems to rub a politically-correct bullshitter like Stern the wrong way. Too bad Popovich is such a successful coach, because the NBA could sure use someone like him to succeed that preening moron Stern.

Tired players stand a better chance of being hurt. Stern is going to decide that having the league take that risk is good business, except having a few fans upset in November is unquestionably a better situation than the Spurs having a player out with injury for weeks/months/the rest of the season.

Micro-managing your business is almost never good policy. Stern and his cronies stepped in to neutralize the New Orleans Hornets’ trade decisions, supposedly to keep them from hurting themselves. They are currently 4-10 and entering a tough stretch of the schedule. Now Stern wants to tell another team how to manage its players. Stern acts like the NBA is a fantasy league and he’s the GM/head coach of every franchise. For someone on their way out, he sure seems determined to set bad precedents for his successor.

At any rate, I don’t think I am the only one who watched the game because of that possibility. Otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered.

Plus, I like how Pop indirectly calls the Comish a snivelling crybaby who has to have everything he wants.