I want to send out a sincere thanks to Gregg Popovich for not playing Davis Bertans as much as he deserved. I don’t agree with the decision to not play him more than the 23 minutes he did get, but it really benefited the Bucks and led to their victory tonight.
Bertans’ first stint in the game was the reason the Spurs were even in it. His smooth-as-silk triples cut off the Bucks’ run and eventually resulted in an even first quarter. The plus-minus tells the whole story: Bertans was +17 in 23 minutes, whereas DeMar DeRozan was -32 in 35 minutes. The splits for the bench (led by BESTans) and the starters (led by DeFROZEN) were similar to those two players.
I was sure this was going to be a Bucks loss at the hands of the Latvian Laser. It wasn’t, but that wasn’t his fault. Sometimes, Pop, you have to trust your bench and not the midrange chuckers that comprise your starters.