Did you see all six of them?

http://www.nba.com/hotspots/

If the last 6 weeks of the season are for gearing up, The Spurs are doing a bad job, having already lost 5 in March at mid-month (5-5 in their last 10). Only 3 of their 22 losses all season come to teams who aren’t in the playoffs (@Seattle, @Memphis, @Sacto), so it’s not like they “take games off” as often as we “apparently” do since we have 8 losses to current non-playoff teams. The reason I point that out, is because when SA goes up against the league’s better teams, they just get flat out beat, 19 times against playoff teams (10 for us). I’m thinking it might not be question of effort from the Spurs this year pre-playoffs, but in fact, a question of skill/execution. Maybe this year’s Spurs aren’t as dominant as Spurs teams in year’s past. Just my two (maybe three with the amount of length) cents.

“To me, their bench is the most impressive in the league,” Popovich said. “Those guys take pride in what they do when they step on the court. They’re very physical, very energetic.”

Take pride in what they do. Very physical, very energetic…as in you know things EVERY Backup NBA player should do when they step on the court… including HIS Backup NBA players who frankly haven’t been doing that much to help TD, Parker and The Human Foul this season.

pop is so stingy with his praise that at first i thought it was a trick. like he was trying to get us to overuse amir. no fear of that, until next season anyway.

After watching him play yesterday for about the 4 or so minutes he was in the Hornets game it occurred to me that the Pistons are pulling a Darko on him.

Actually I haven’t been able to stop laughing thinking about it. Why because I really feel sorry for him though it could work out in the long run.

What do I mean by a Darko?

I don’t mean that they aren’t playing him because that is not the case.

What I mean is what they are trying to do with his offensive game.

When I saw AJ play in the D league as well as with the Pistons before this year he was a wing player. He played facing the basket out at the elbow or thereabouts. From that spot he would either shoot a jumper (he had a good one. LOL) or he would pass or drive to the basket. The point is is that he could use his jumping ability along with his quickness and ball handling skills to be an effective scorer.

When he started playing this year, the Pistons initially changed that by having him play with his back to the basket at the high post. At that time they weren’t running any plays for him on offense. They they started running a couple of plays for him from there and he started to score a bit other than on put backs or fast breaks.

Now they have moved him into the low post with his back to the basket. I just can’t help but laugh, because if I didn’t laugh I would scream. Watching him try and back down guys 30 - 50 lbs more than him in the low post is like just plain ugly. His one shot yesterday, a hook shot didn’t hit anything. Because he just isn’t strong enough at this point it is just futile for him at this point to play on offense this way.

He actually had a great offensive game when he played on the wing facing the basket, but like Darko the Pistons are trying to convert AJ into a low post back to basket player.

I have not doubt that he can succeed at this if he can add a minimum of about 20 or 25 pounds of muscle in his legs and upper body but right now it is just so painful watching what used to be an excellent offensive player turned into a zero offensive player.

OT: The Spurs lost to the Sixers in Philly by 7 points and never led in quarters 2,3 & 4. That puts the Detroit (still bad) loss in a bit more context. The Sixers are playing very well right now.