C’mon.

Yes, it is bad for business and the fans may not like it. But is Popovich’s job to worry about business and satisfy the fans, or do what is best for his team?

So will Mike Scioscia be cheating the baseball world when he sits Albert on a Thursday afternoon getaway game at Fenway in August? As we saw in last year that single game margin in baseball can be just as precious as in the NBA. Combine that with a playoff field half the size, it can be argued that the game in baseball can a have more lasting effect than in the NBA.

Cheers!

You might be right. But ask Sam Presti if you think Pop cares one whit. As Coach, he is responsible for putting the team in position to win it all. If that means the STARS rest a game, then so be it. He didn’t forfeit. And the guys that played gave 100%. That said, if you want to continue with the Holier than Thou routine, by all means. Just don’t expect Coaches and GMs to take you seriously. Or for that matter, fans who see the big picture.

Quit whining. Gregg Popovich’s only responsibility it to the San Antonio Spurs and their fans. Not fans in Portland. And certainly not a bunch of TV fans who don’t like the Spurs to begin with. Fans hate the Spurs because they’re boring, or considered boring. So just quit whining

Incredible that you think Popovich should be concerned about fans, television audience and the plight of other teams and their push for the playoffs.

You said yourself he had justifiable reasons for resting Parker and Duncan. You explained it all but then discount all that for the sake of ‘money’s worth’? Really, what nonsense.

So if the Spurs played Parker and Duncan for 35 minutes tonight, lost, then progressively got worse for the remainder of the season, I suppose it should be Portland, Denver and Utah who should be thanking Popovich and sending him a bottle of wine. Popovich is a wine connoisseur but not so much as to run his players ragged.

So Pop is supposed to make coaching decisions based on what network the game is being broadcast on?

Nonsensical blog. Poppovich didn’t tank a game, but rather David Stern and the owners tanked a credible season of NBA basketball when they crafted this absurd schedule. Poppovich’s responsibility is to coach his team and make sure they have something left in the tank come April. Combine this crazy schdeule with the fact San Antonio was ousted abruptly by the Grizzlies in last year’s first round and what you have is a coach with older players trying to survive this season. San Antonio has literally been on the road since they defeated OKC in San Antonio. Plus…none of us know what specific wear and tear Parker and Duncan are working through night in and night out.

cry baby

Berry Tramel doesn’t know his corn-hole from a pothole. Popovich is in the business of WINNING, not pleasing columnists. He would cheat the NBA and Spurs fans more by flogging his starters, possibly risking injury and undue fatigue (see what happened to one of portlands guards in the 4th Q). The Spurs are sitting on a record they’ve earned by working hard and exceptional coaching and management. Does this moron think the same when teams are “tanking” games at the end of the season to preserve their starters for playoffs?? Don’t ever say that pop doesn’t compete, because he gripes at his bench players the same way he gripes at his starters…but his 3rd and 4th string players weren’t good enough to win this game on the road…heck one of them was a D-League player in his 1st NBA game! Popovich is big picture…and wants his starters rested and fresh so that he can “give the NBA and their fans their money’s worth.” How can you get your money’s worth with hurt or players so fatigued that they’re ineffective?? Wake up Berry Tramel…your team and coach in OKC could learn a few things from the Coach Pop and the Spurs.

Sir,

you are denigrating the Spurs which comes as no surprise. When Durant and Brooks have won 4 plus championships, then this specious argument might hold water.

If Brooks wants to play his starters greater than 35 plus minutes/night, so be it. That’s not smart decision making on Brooks’part.

Shouldn’t you be concerned with the Thunder? After all they are supposed to be facing Miami for the Championship.

Please confine your remarks to the Thunder. You sound so jealous of the Spurs success. And really what has the Thunder achieved?

i don’t know about you all but here in San Antonio, winning 70% of your games and 4 titles over the better part of a decade isn’t BORING to us. Portland should worry abut surrendering 97pts to our 2nd squad and a couple of players that could be in the D-League right now (i.e. Joseph, James, Dawson)

We should revisit this blog 10-12 years down the line when Scott Brooks rests his STARS Durant, Westbrook and Harden. Seeing how Sam Presti molded his current team after his FORMER employer! The Spurs Organization is STILL the BLUEPRINT and a MODEL FRANCHISE from top to bottom!

Berry Tramel, I hope you ask for your money and OKC’s TV networks, when Brooks pulls his starters to rest them at the end of year. It’s pretty much clear to ALL NBA fan’s including the experts on the networks, that it was the right move.
POP gave up a 7 game road, 11 game overall winning streak. If anything you should have wrote an blog about thanking him for that! There’s a reason why all the power ranking have the spurs over OKC……THE COACH! We understand that you want POP to play his guys into the ground, so that when it comes time for the Spurs to play OKC, you’ve got a better chance to win. Keep your day job and let POP do his!

Pop is the paid coach of the San Antonio Spurs. His responsibility is to the Spurs only. Not to the Jazz, the Blazers, the Nuggets or anyone else. He made a decision that he felt was right for his team. Period. End of story.

Shut your mouth Berry and just worry about OKC. You are clearly in over your head trying to tell Pop what to and not to do. His resume speaks for itself.

wow. I was going to post a comment about the absolute nonsense in this blog, buy it appears i was beat to the punch. BY EVERYONE! feeling a little less smart now, berry?

Well Barry, I guess everyone basically told you how “The cow ate the cabbage” Please re-read all of these posts and try to keep an open mind…I know everyone is entitled to their opinions…but..in this case …”YOU ARE WRONG”. Stick to writing about Sports..not trying to diagnose them !!!

Hey Berry. Why don’t you try getting a job as a coach and do it your way… Oh wait all you can do is write about it and complain.

Berry is probably one of the idiot reporters who Popovich has yelled at in the past for asking STUPID QUESTIONS. I hope your goal in this article was just to elicit controversy and thus gain readership because by your logic the U.S. should also invade and bomb not only Iran but Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia just to be ‘fair to Iran’.

This was Popovich’s season plan from the beginning and this game, probably not the first of its kind for this team this season, was inevitable. By chance it came against Portland. If it came against Charlotte, a game without playoff implications, would this column have been written? Further, even in a shortened season, to suggest that one game could be the difference in playoff seeding (or appearance) is true, but also absurd. Portland will no doubt blow a game this season, whether they do so on purpose or not, and then a column must then be written about that game as the one that let the season get away.

Popovich just wants to make sure none of his players pull a Greg Oden. I’m sure Portland fans understand that plenty alright. My suggestion to you, Berry, is find a way to retrieve your head back from your arse and when you do, focus on Oklahoma sports, and Oklahoma ONLY.

Your premise is stupid for three reasons:
1. The Blazer fans should pay to see the Blazers play.
2. If NBA TV was worried about who guys played, they wouldn’t schedule teams to broadcast at the end of long road trips.
3. If we want to put asterisks by wins of division competitors due to who played or did not, you’ll be a very busy man. That’s the nature of sport.

Are you just launching a preemptive strike for the playoffs – when the Spurs spank your Thunder? Will it be Pop’s fault for “cheating” in February while Coach Brooks “played by the rules” by wearing out his best players?

The idea is to provoke comment,it did!!!

Good job Berry,this is happening all over NBA this year because of Lock-out and shortened season.
You people need a reality check.

Ehh, Yeah Good Job Berry. Good For POP.

Funny that none of the criticism comes from Memphis, who defeated the worn out and injured Spurs in the first round last year. In fact, it seems that none of the criticism comes from a city that has won an NBA championship. The fact is Popovich owes no duty to the ticket buyers of Portland, the national fans who tune the Spurs out when they are in the playoffs,the ‘networks’ who are profiteering from a blighted season shortened not just by games but by injuries to every team, or to ‘the Blazers chief competitors,’ whoever that group might be. He owes it to the Spurs.

I suggest Pop “cheat” and rest his stars against OKC next! =)

And funny how no one talked about the Spurs 11 Game Win Streak on a “Road Trip” no other team can even come close to taking…but one “tanking” and the Spurs are the bad ones! Well…think what you may want Mr. Berry! Just know that one team stands in OKC’s way to a Title…one Coach stands in the way and I know who I’m pulling for!

Back in January, the Spurs trailed the Mavs by 18 points in the third quarter. The Spurs bench brought the team back and took the lead. Popovich stayed with the bench through the entire fourth quarter and overtime (Kawhi Leonard, a rookie starter, was substituted in during a free throw, but came right back out). The Spurs ended up losing by one in overtime. Mr Tramel, by your reasoning, because Pop rested his starters, I guess he should get a second bottle of wine if the Mavs get a higher playoff seed (by one game) than, say, the Lakers.

As a Spurs fan who lives in Portland, and who paid for first level tickets to watch that game, I think that the criticism of the author is a little unbalanced. My brother, who grew up in Oregon, but not Portland has never had the chance to see Duncan play live. After a decade of wanting to watch him, he paid a good price for great seats and made a four hour round trip, only to watch, as he put it, “The Austin Toros” play. It is easy for you to criticize the author for thinking that throw away game wasn’t fair to paying fans if you weren’t a paying fan. However, with the Spurs visiting my home state only twice a year, you can imagine that it has been only a few times in my 20 years as a fan that I have been able to actually go to those games. When I get to for the first time in a few years and have to sit through what I did, I am sorry, but I wanted my money back.

Dude, did you see how many points the put up?! We were not going to win that game even with Tim and Tony. We had won 11 in a row before that, give me a break, back away from the ledge.

[...] had some interesting comments Wednesday on his blog when he ripped Gregg Popovich’s starters in the Spurs’ loss Tuesday night at [...]

[...] Slumping Jazz fall to San Antonio Spurs, 106-102Salt Lake TribuneGregg Popovich: Cheating the NBANewsOK.com (blog)Boston Herald -Boston.comall 1,355 news [...]

Blazers fan should be happy they got the win, they pay to see them winning no matter who they played.
Daniel, in 12 years you had more than 20 chances to see Duncan play. And seeing a younger Duncan would have made more sense. Any person with half a brain would have realized Pop was going to sit Duncan 100%, and there was about 80% chance he was going to sit Parker too. Pop actually said he was thinking of giving Parker limited minutes but decided to sit him completely.
And there were even more signs pointing to this. They had just beat the Clippers, so they put some distance between them, Dallas and Lakers were at 12 or 13 losses. They could afford to give one away. It was a no brainer.
Anyway, it’s just typical. Spurs reel of an 11-game win streak with most games on the road against tough opponents and nobody gives us any attention, and then we loose one game and everyone starts throwing in their opinion. Just pathetic.

Wow, this may be the first time I’ve seen a comment section this unified in condemning the writer of an article. Just a laughable premise that Gregg Popovich owes anything to networks or fans. That ain’t how he earns his paycheck, and after 4 titles, I think he’s earned the right to coach how he sees fit.

In short, STFU Berry Tramel.

Pop did not cheat anyone. The NBA shouldn’t be about putting on a good show and having superstar players in the spotlight. When it comes to professional sports, it’s really sad that all people careabout is having good entertainment and flashy plays instead of smart plays. People don’t recognize the talents that the San Antonio Spurs have when they are a hell of good team. Also, this article is invalid since it is written by a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunders. Also, just wanted to get the information out that OKC is good is because Seattle drafted your superstar players.

such a laughable article, smh.

hey, Berry, I think the Spurs read your
article took it to heart and beat Denver
Thursday night 114-99.

If thats all you can write about, I feel for sorry you dude. If you want a real story heres one great idea for one of your articles if you can handle it. LOOK no farther than the Memphis Griz they started throwing games away since the very beginning of the season and are just trying to mirror us and yet no one has question that? It’s obvious like they did last year throw games away for their best possible playoff matchups. Now the Spurs wont and never will back down from a challenge, and I can bet we can take them out on the first round this season, if it comes down to it again. Now there is something to write about a great story, and I wont even take credit for it.

What do you expect? Spurs are known for underhanded loophole bs play instead of actual basketball play. Why do you think that they are SOOOOOO good at home and SOOOOOOO bad on road? Because they can’t just play ball. Winning 4 championships hasn’t gotten anyone on their bandwagon other than idiots in San Antonio because nobody respects their game. They try to hurt real players, they flop and whine, and the refs consistently blow calls in their favor ON THEIR HOME COURT ONLY. F the Spurs, they disgrace real basketball and should be ashamed.

@XrayKimono:

Come again, please. Spurs have one of the best road records in the league, you dolt.

derp derp @ u

sir, do you even know what you are talking/writing about??? you’re a joke!

@XrayKimono whatever your name is..
Your talking nonsense rant at all bro. Say something factual or with sense at least. Your just typing random words out of your childish frustrations. Get wise dude! You a child or something?

Spurs win they will always WIN! They have been winning for a VERY LONG TIME! That is a fact! They have early playoff exits yeah. They went deep in the playoffs yeah! Heck they even failed to go to the playoffs. But then again, the “BORING” Spurs won 4 championships. I saw it all. They are not boring at all. It is just the fans of the DEFEATED teams who call them boring. Phew! (SCOFFS) 4 rings aren’t boring. Criticize all you want, it will only fall on deaf ears and blind eyes(WE DON’T GIVE A FLYING F).

I would have thought the Blazers would be happy to guarantee a win for the home crowd. I’m sure they could have given away something to the home crowd and everybody would have been happy. GO SPURS!!!!