Blinebury: Bench No Place For Francis

I was surprised as ever. I am definitely a Rudy lover, but what the hell was he thinking?? How can you not put in your star player when it counts most.

 

Didn't Francis sit out the entire 4th quarter of another game this season because we were blowing them out? Was it the Milwaukee game?

 

Regardless of the outcome,

At least Rudy finally showed he has some balls after all. When was the last time he ever benched a star for poor shooting?

I am more shocked, then anything else?

 

That was a good article. Im not sure one way or the other if it was the right thing to do though.

Ming did look tired today though. I guess it was good that he got a rest today.

 

Those 5 earned the right to finish the game. The only thing I didn't like was when they stopped going to MoT. The Spurs weren't close to stopping that set. As far as the last shot goes, it wouldn't of been fair to Steve to bring him in for a last second 3pt shot after he had sat for a quarter.

I think Rudy made a good choice!!

 

I agree with barbourdg. Rudy showed some guts today. I wish Mobley had passed to T-Mo but I can't blame him for trying to make a shot. Francis is our best player and he will be back into the swing of things soon including the crucial minutes of a game.

 

I don't believe we would've won anyway, so I think last night was a brilliant job from Rudy T. It just takes one benching to humble Francis into not taking his minutes for granted.

I expect a win against Dallas. Posey, T-Mo, MoT and Cato are clicking on all cylinders, and Francis and Ming seem to LOVE to torch the Mavs.

As long as Griffin can keep a hand in Nowitzki's face, this game is ours. I can't see Finley and Nash outdoing Francis and Mobley, at least not enough to compensate for Yao Ming's game.

 

Benching star players to show some ball?
The 2nd unit did well, partly because the spurs was flat in the 4th. Then they bounced back, and hot headed Mobely failed to deliver. I thought that was the time to put both Francis and Ming in to clutch the game. Didnt we need a three? Where was Steve and Ming, that screen and shoot which worked many times? Rudy oh Rudy, try to be cute. How about some trust in your star player. Was that a statement? He'd better have some excuse.

 

I thought we would win if both Ming and Steve were in. At least T.D wouldnt have that 3pt play if Ming's there. Francis proved to be a big time player...
This bad loss is not good for Rox going into Dallas...

 

The first thing I want Steve to think about when he takes a seat on the bench, is getting his ass back to the scorer's table.

 

Interesting article from SAS's perspective.

Buck Harvey: No Francis, no Yao, no heat for Rudy

San Antonio Express-News

Web Posted : 01/21/2003 12:00 AM

Monday's matinee wasn't televised in Asia, and that's a good thing for Rudy Tomjanovich.
Given worldwide exposure, Rudy T. would have had to follow Shaq to the podium to issue his own apology.

After all, Tomjanovich opted for the global greatness that is Kelvin Cato, as well as a grown man named Moochie. Several cultures already wonder about Tomjanovich's decision today, including the Los Angeles one that wasn't as lucky last Friday.

But Tomjanovich will go to Dallas for the next game with only the usual amount of second guessing, continuing one of the league's longest coaching runs, protected by his personality and his image.

The contrast?

Imagine the reaction if Gregg Popovich had benched Tim Duncan for an entire fourth quarter.

Last season Popovich sat David Robinson and his stiff back, and he still hears about it. Monday was different. Tomjanovich benched his best players, and one who was making his regular-season debut in San Antonio.

Yao Ming didn't have the flu or a sore knee. He also wasn't tired. When a member of the media, searching for an answer, asked if he had a hangover from his Friday meeting with Shaquille O'Neal, Yao's expression didn't need the interpreter.

The look said it: Even rookies from another continent know that Friday nights do not carry over to Monday afternoons.

Yao didn't play with notable energy. But he grabbed his eighth rebound with about four minutes left in the third quarter, respectable for 24 minutes of play.

But then he sat down and didn't play another second. The reason? Cato threw in a few dunks while the Rockets rallied, and Tomjanovich felt the need to reward him.

Tomjanovich actually rewarded the Spurs. Tim Duncan twice went inside at the end, once sealing an undersized backup named Maurice Taylor the way highway crews do asphalt. A 7-foot-5 man, with just a spread of his arms, might have changed the angles.

"My gut told me," Tomjanovich said afterward, and that explains it. He should have listened to his brain.

Benching Steve Francis, also for all of the fourth quarter, made as little sense. Just the game before, against the Lakers, Francis went for a career-high 44 points, threw in the tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation and slipped in the game-winning pass in overtime.

Monday he was the one with a towel over his head. The last time he'd sat out a final period, he said, was "when I was 10 years old, and then there were rules on how long you could play."

There are unwritten rules in this league, too, and one of them is that coaches return to their stars for crunch time no matter how well the backups have played. Francis had gone 1 of 12 over the first three quarters, but Tony Parker wasn't doing much better. Popovich knew Parker gave him his best chance.

Besides, Tomjanovich has said out loud that Francis could become as good as anyone at his position. And here Tomjanovich was, giving up on his Magic and his Isiah.

"Sometimes it works," said Tomjanovich, "sometimes it doesn't."

Sometimes these games change the standings, too. A win against a junior varsity is still a win, and in the tight West, one game can mean the difference between the third seed and the sixth.

But Tomjanovich talked about the options afterward. Never became defensive. And acted as if, well, he could have been wrong. It's a posture that has served him well.

Tomjanovich doesn't just get by on personality. He's won championships, and he was respected enough by his peers to coach the Olympic team.

Still, there have been reasons to wonder about his strategies, and his Olympic moment in Sydney was one. His peers saw him, then, as not much more than a cheerleader.

Eventually Houston might have seen him the same way. Had Yao not arrived this season, creating a fresh start for everyone, wouldn't the Rockets and their fans have likely lost patience with Tomjanovich?

But that's just it. They didn't lose patience even while Tomjanovich was in the lottery three straight seasons with mindless, one-on-one teams, in front of a half-empty building. No one has ever wanted to go after Rudy T., an affable guy, a onetime player, a victim of "The Punch."

So when Tomjanovich guessed wrong, lost a game and continued on?

Popovich should learn how he does it.

 

<b>Still, there have been reasons to wonder about his strategies, and his Olympic moment in Sydney was one. His peers saw him, then, as not much more than a cheerleader.</b>

Just curious, which "peer" said this?

 

Very interesting article by SAS. I don't think Rudy T bench Francis and Yao to make a statement . I think he truly went with his gut feelings. And like anything else sometime it's right and sometime it's wrong. I don't think Yao did anything to warrant benching if Rudy sit him to make a statement. He collect 5 rebounds and 5 points in the third before he was pulled at 3:19 marks. He contribute in other ways out there. He is not the type of coach that will bench his stars player to make a statement. He was just want to ride the guys who he think is hot. So i guess it depend on what you like in a coach. The one who go strictly with the stats and analyze every situation to gain all possible advantage or the one that went with how he feel. Either way you are alway a genius when you win.

 

It is not like Yao, Francis and Posey were benched because of attitude and lack of hustle! If this were the case, you do leave them out of the entire game. They were sat to give someone else a chance to score. But, once SA grabbed hold of the game and MOT became out matched against Duncan (especially allowing Duncan to get 2 and the foul down the stretch with the ridiculous hands in the air shuffle against him), that is the time for a change. Bring in the starters to change the pace and flow. The shock troops did their jobs and now it was time for a change. It was so obvious that Duncan was grabbing control and dominating Mot that something should have changed to give SA a different look and also some fresh legs!


I am shocked as most. This was definitely a poor decision. But, let's remember how many times the players cost us games too and move on.

 

Bad decision period. Now let see how they do tonight. They need to make up this lost with a win tonight. I want to see how this decision plays with Steve's mind the next 5 games.

 

Bah. I don't care how well Cato/Moochie played (Mo is different, since I see him and Griffin as 1 and 1A). Expecting a hot streak to last for 15 minutes for two bench players is absurd. Letting them continue even after they're obviously cold is bizarre.

Rudy is a fantastic motivator, but on his best day has weird sub patterns (Rudy, you have two real stars... it's a good idea not to sit both of them for the first 5 minutes of most 2nd quarters)... but this was something special, even for him. Often, subs will bring a team back that's playing lethargically. It's happened before in other situations. But it's not like Francis had tanked it. He just wasn't playing well. And he was still more likely to win the game in the last 4 minutes than Mobley or Norris.

Incidentally, my wife (a jazz fan) tells me that Jerry Sloan has been known to do this, too. Ack. He's a good strategist... but says it's because he doesn't care about "winning games" before April. I'm not sure we need that attitude in the West this year, when one good team is going to get left out.

 

Seriously??? Ask your wife how many times Sloan has left Malone and Stockton sitting on the bench in the closing minutes of close games over the past 15 years. I'm guessing zero.

 

How many times do Stockton and Malonego 1 for 12,not run the right plays, and play stupid? My problem with Rudy T is not the substitutions, it's the X's and O's.