BY MARK POTASH Twitter: @MarkPotash April 10, 2012 11:52AM
Spurs coach Greg Popovich is a master at juggling his lineup and resting his players during this lockout-shortened season. | AP
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Updated: April 10, 2012 11:56AM
Is Gregg Popovich outsmarting the rest of the NBA?
While the Bulls' Tom Thibodeau and most of the league are struggling to negotiate a rigorous post-lockout schedule, Popovich seems to be playing the condensed season like a fiddle. Is he the only coach in the league willing to lose games today in exchange for a better chance to win them in the playoffs?
He did it again Monday night. One day after his San Antonio Spurs beat the Utah Jazz to win their 11th consecutive game to take over the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, Popovich rested Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili against the Jazz in Salt Lake City — and lost 91-84 to fall back into second place in the West.
Popovich picks his spots well. Monday night's game was on the road and the second of back-to-back games. And it also gave the Jazz a boost in their bid for one of the final two playoff spots in the West — increasing the possibility that Popovich could face a team he knows he can beat in the first round of the playoffs. The Spurs had won the previous six games against the Jazz and were 3-0 against them this season, including a wire-to-wire 114-104 victory in San Antonio on Sunday. That's when Popovich rested DeJaun Blair — his 22-year-old starting center, lest anyone think he's only catering to his veterans.
With 66 games compressed into a 124-day schedule after the lockout ended, this season has been one big obstacle course for NBA teams and uncharted territory for many coaches. Adjustments have been made. ''If you watch the NBA, certain guys that would never come out of the game are coming out of the game,'' Bulls veteran Richard Hamilton said when asked in January about being cautious after missing eight games because of an injury. ''I think all teams are trying that.''
But is it possible to just take a game off, like a manager resting his starting catcher in a day game following a night game?
''It's totally different [than baseball],'' Hamilton said. ''That's why I said, 'You've got to be careful.' ''
As this season has clearly proven, being careful isn't enough. Give Thibodeau credit for adjusting on the fly. At the beginning of the year he was letting players decide if they're healthy enough to play, whether it was Hamilton, Derrick Rose or C.J. Watson. His mantra was, ''If you're healthy enough to play, you play.'' Not so anymore. When Hamilton felt ready to play against the Pistons on March 30, Thibodeau held him out anyway as a precaution. ''We're playing it safe,'' he said.
Hamilton missed the next game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and returned against the Houston Rockets on April 2. Rose could have played against the Celtics last week but didn't return until Sunday against the Knicks. As driven as he is, Thibodeau can still see reality.
But Popovich has been doing it all season. He rested Duncan against the Rockets and lost. With the Spurs on an 11-game winning streak in February, he rested Duncan and Parker against the Trailblazers and took a 137-97 beating.
It remains to be seen if it will pay off in the postseason. But Popovich at least has given his team the best chance to succeed. The hard-driving teams are fading. The Bulls have lost three of their last four games and have been low on gas for the past two weeks. The Sixers, once 20-9, have lost 10 of their last 14 and are 29-27. The Thunder fades almost every time their challenged in the fourth quarter.
And the Spurs keep on keepin' on. They're 28-6 after a 12-9 start — 27-3 with Duncan in the lineup.
You can't discount the genius of Popovich. The pride of Merrillville High School is a guy who knows how to put himself in the best position to win. As the Spurs' GM, he fired Bob Hill after a 3-15 start in 1996-97 and named himself as Hill's replacement (his only previous head coaching experience was at Cal-Poly Pomona) — just as perennial All-Star David Robinson was returning from an injury.
When Robinson suffered a broken foot in his sixth game back in December of 1996, he was expected to miss between 6-12 weeks. Robinson ended up missing the rest of the season as the injury-riddled Spurs lost 42 of their last 53 games to finish 20-62 — and in position to overcome reasonable odds to win the No. 1 pick in the draft. With Tim Duncan, Popovich has won four NBA titles. Without him, he lost in the first round to Scott Skiles' Phoenix Suns.
There always has been a method to Popovich's madness. The Spurs dominated the last NBA season abbreviated by a lockout, in 1998-99. They tied Utah for the best record in the league (37-13) and went 15-2 in the playoffs to win their first title. He doesn't have the team now that he had then. But he still has his team in position to win the games that count the most.
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