Pop trying to show up the Heat?

[LabelMeAnOutlaw]

I'm here watching pre-game to the Heat vs Spurs game on TNT, thinking I'm about to watch a good game. Come to find out Popovich sent home Duncan/Ginobili/Parker. I know they're old but really? They play everyone else on their road trip but bitch out on the Heat? Stern is actually considering fining the Spurs for this bitch move. I'd be one pissed off fan if I was at that game.

Thoughts?

[H.O.V.A.]

Dumb move, it especially sucks for the fans since it's an east/west matchup and those are pretty rare.

[LabelMeAnOutlaw]

I hate when the Heat play with no effort because of an opponent they don't respect. They should've blown this bench warmer team out but in the end a win is a win. Heat always get the opponent's best efforts (they almost lost to cleveland minus kyrie irving last week at home), many close games that Lebron & Ray are bailing them out of. It's like their defense has disappeared this season. Offensive production is up, defense is way down. Whatever, the game was better than I thought it'd be. Damn Spurs and their effort. lol

[Makaveli5458]

bad move he usually does this at a road game at the bobcats but the heat that's not right

[soldier4death]

Update:

MIAMI (AP) -- The San Antonio Spurs will be punished by the NBA for their decision to send four top players home and not make them available to play in Miami against the Heat on Thursday night.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said the decision to rest Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green - the core of the Spurs - was in the team's best interest. The league wasn't happy about it, and Commissioner David Stern promised that San Antonio would be penalized.
''I apologize to all NBA fans,'' Stern said. ''This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming.''
Stern's statement was released roughly the same time as tip-off in Miami for a nationally televised game.
Before the game, Popovich said he decided to sit his core when he saw how challenging this particular part of the schedule was for his team. Thursday's matchup ended a six-games-in-nine-nights swing for the Spurs, who won their first five on the trip.
''Everybody has to make decisions about their schedule, about players playing and back-to-backs and trips and that sort of thing,'' Popovich said before the game. ''In our case, this month we've had 11 away games, after tonight. We've had an eight-day trip and a 10-day trip, and we're ending it with four (games) in five nights here. I think it'd be unwise to be playing our guys in that kind of a situation, given their history.''
It's not unlike other moves Popovich has made before; in fact, not only did he give Duncan, Parker and Ginobili time off together toward the end of last season, which was condensed by a lockout, he actually flew home to San Antonio with them and took a two-game, pre-playoff sabbatical.
This time, when Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and Green flew home - reportedly on a Southwest Airlines flight on Thursday from Orlando, where the team played one night earlier - Popovich stayed with the Spurs for the trip to Miami.
Duncan is in his 16th NBA season, Parker his 12th and Ginobili his 11th. Green is a kid compared to those guys - 25 years old and a veteran of only 110 NBA games - but Popovich said he chose to rest him as well because Green has played a lot.
Green leads the Spurs with 496 minutes played this season, which was 44th-most in the NBA entering Thursday's games. The Spurs aren't expected to practice Friday, then they face Memphis on Saturday in San Antonio.
''Perhaps it'll give us an opportunity to stay on the court with Memphis on Saturday night,'' Popovich said. ''Historically, when you're on a long road trip, that first game when you come home is really tough. And Memphis is one of the best teams in the league. They're of much more concern to us than playing four games in five nights. It's pretty logical.''
Given Stern's statement, it's also logical to think that the Spurs could know their penalty by Saturday as well.
Popovich also said facing the Heat had nothing to do with his decision.
''I've gotten letters from those people before when I've done it and I understand their perspective totally,'' Popovich said. ''If I was taking my 6-year-old son or daughter to the game, I'd want him or her to see everybody. And if they weren't there, I'd be disappointed. So I understand that perspective. Hopefully, people in that position will understand my perspective, what my priority is - the basketball team and what's best for it.''
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Popovich's move didn't affect Miami's preparation.
''Each organization has a big-picture view of what they are trying to get accomplished and I think the league respects that,'' Spoelstra said.
Popovich had Boris Diaw, Matt Bonner, Tiago Splitter, Nando De Colo and Patty Mills in his starting lineup. Besides the four players sent home, Stephen Jackson and Kawhi Leonard are injured, meaning the Spurs had only four substitutes available.
''Obviously,'' Bonner said, ''we're a little short-handed.''
The Heat had one lineup move as well. With Shane Battier out with a sprained right knee, Spoelstra moved Rashard Lewis into Miami's starting lineup alongside LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Mario Chalmers.


Opinion:

Wow. The league shouldn't have a say in who plays. If the spurs coach, Popovich, felt like it was better for his team to rest during their road trip, it's up to him. I understand the league is upset about it being a nationally televised game, but that's on them, not Popovich. Fuck stern can't wait to his punk ass leaves.

[LabelMeAnOutlaw]

The reason Stern (I hate this asshole too, adam silver will be his puppet for the future unfortunately) is getting into his dictator mode is because Popovich is fucking with his money. You rest your stars against the Bobcats, Kings, Cavaliers, etc. Not in a marquee matchup against the defending champs on national tv. Pop knew what he was doing, as much as he wants to pretend that he didn't. I don't think they should be fined though, a warning would be enough as I believe this is the first time he's done this. There's no rules against what he did, more of a trust and understanding ("spirit of the game") that coaches don't pull that shit on a nationally televised game. I really don't understand why they had 4 games in 5 nights though. Pretty stupid when this is a regular 82-game schedule. With that said, Pop should've rested them against one or two of the scrub squads in this road trip and had them ready to go against the Heat. Even if he believes he wasn't doing it, it looks like he was showing up the Heat.

[LabelMeAnOutlaw]

Damn, the NBA is fining the Spurs $250,000 for sending home their top players. Wow.

Gregg Popovich sent his best players home, deciding they reached the end of the road before the trip was finished.

For that, and for keeping it a secret, the San Antonio Spurs were fined $250,000 by the NBA on Friday.

Commissioner David Stern said the Spurs "did a disservice to the league and our fans" when they didn't bring Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili or Danny Green to Miami for the final game of the six-game trip.

"The result here is dictated by the totality of the facts in this case," Stern said in a statement. "The Spurs decided to make four of their top players unavailable for an early-season game that was the team's only regular-season visit to Miami. The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way. Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans."

Teams are required to report as soon as they know a player will not travel because of injury.

The league's statement said the Spurs were in violation of league policy reviewed with the board of governors in April 2010 against resting players in a manner "contrary to the best interests of the NBA."

The Spurs didn't comment on the penalty.

The issue of resting healthy players has been debated before, though usually at the end of the season, not a month into it. And the Spurs have been right at the center of it, Popovich using the rest strategy for an aging team that could use more time off than the NBA schedule often allows.

They even made a joke out of it last season, the box score listing "OLD" next to the 36-year-old Duncan's name as the reason he didn't play.

Stern wasn't laughing Thursday.

He has a nearly $5 billion a year industry to protect and can't like it when teams aren't willing to put their best product on display in a marquee game televised by national TV partner TNT. Fans and viewers were excited about seeing the Spurs try to complete an unbeaten road trip against LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the NBA champions, so there was an understandable letdown when they learned of the absences.

But there's never a guarantee that any players are going to play, and Stern himself has previously made it clear he wasn't going to impose rules to change that.

The Cleveland Cavaliers rested a healthy James for four straight games at the end of the 2009-10 regular season. Owners discussed the issue later that week at a meeting in New York, and Stern reported that there was "no conclusion reached, other than a number of teams thought it should be at the sole discretion of the team, the coach, the general manager, and I think it's fair to say I agree with that, unless that discretion is abused."

In the NFL, the Indianapolis Colts rested a healthy Peyton Manning even with an undefeated record late in the 2009 season, and the league eventually started trying to schedule as many division matchups as possible for the final two weeks of the season in an effort to make late-season games matter.

Popovich doesn't wait until the end of the season to start resting players.

He was both praised and ripped for the way he navigated the lockout schedule last season, twice surrendering 11-game winning streaks by playing without his Big Three. Even those who didn't like it conceded that a coach who had won four championships with what's long been considered the NBA's model organization probably knew what he was doing, and more defense came Thursday night.

"Popovich has done this before and he knows what's best for his team," former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal said on TNT. "It's his job to manage his players and do whatever he'd like. He's thinking about the big picture."

Another former player turned TNT analyst, Steve Kerr -- who played for Popovich -- also defended the franchise's actions.

"If the NBA punishes the Spurs for sitting players, it opens up a huge can of worms," he wrote on Twitter. "This is a serious legal challenge for the league."

Celtics coach Doc Rivers didn't think the penalty would keep teams from resting players.

"I don't like it," he said. "It's a tough one. You've got to coach your team to win in the long run and you have to do whatever you need to do. If that's sitting players, you sit players."

That San Antonio -- largely unloved in its championship days but suddenly a plucky underdog cheered by those who felt Stern overstepped his bounds -- nearly won the game before the Heat rallied for a 105-100 victory didn't sway the commissioner.

The league has an expectation that fans paying hundreds of dollars should get what they paid for. On Friday, the Phoenix Suns announced a "satisfaction guaranteed night" next Thursday against Dallas, offering fans a rebate if they didn't enjoy their experience in what the team called a first-of-its-kind promotion in the league.

But nobody buying a ticket can be assured of seeing his/her favorite players. The Heat occasionally sat their superstars late last season for what the organization termed a "maintenance program," and a late-season matchup against the Celtics included the following DNPs: James, Wade, Bosh and Boston's Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo.

Then there are the neutral-site preseason games the league stages in markets where fans rarely get to see the NBA live. Signs outside the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y., before a Celtics-Knicks matchup in October featured pictures of Paul Pierce and Carmelo Anthony, although neither played despite being healthy.

With Stern reaching in now, does he reach that far? Or are there be a separate set of guidelines depending on the calendar?

The league wouldn't clear that up, not commenting beyond its statement. The Spurs were unavailable Friday after the long trip.

They were resting.