#2 Battle of the Coaches
For a coach without his prize possession in the form of Kawhi Leonard, Gregg Popovich seemed very calm throughout the game. He was on the touchline motivating his players to put in strong performances. The most notable was the pep talk with Patty Mills after which he put on a strong offensive display. The introduction of Rudy Gay along with the veterans was the best way to keep the Rockets on their feet. He mainly brought in Rudy Gay to shut down James Harden, who although scored 25 points did not affect the outcome of the game. Greg Popovich came with all the answers to the game and left no stone unturned proving he had a tactical edge over his counterpart.
Mike D'Antoni had nothing going his way tonight. He was frustrated by the collective defending the Spurs are famous for. His tactical awareness in terms of transitional turnovers was excellent, but the double team on Aldridge was not effective as the All-Star still got his way. His animated behavior was one to forget when Rudy Gay blocked the ball going in. He felt a goaltending violation was to be called and jumped to call a timeout to argue with the referee when Houston got the ball.
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Nothing went his way on Easter Sunday.
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