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Sorry, wasn't you. My bad.That never happened. Check again.
EEEEEEHH. Wrong. Sorry, but that just didn't happen. The Spurs went under screens in game one, there were a few double-teams in game 2, but they weren't from anyone covering Allen or Prince. They were from Parker and Neal (people in the game thread ed about it the second it started). I think Bayless hit a couple of threes. They didn't do it again. Splitter covered him one on one in game 3, and even with questionable reffing, he was held to 11 points.
Sorry, wasn't you. My bad.
As it pertains to the Grizzlies, it's tough to make a case, even though the three spot was way better in 2013. I'm not sure what games you were watching, but Gasol, Randolph and Arthur abused Dice, Blair and Bonner. The roles were completely reversed when they played in 2013. Z-bo was +14 in game 6 in 2011 and was -28 for game 1 in 2013. Bonner was still coming off the bench, it's just Splitter and Diaw next to Duncan in place of Dice and Blair.
I would have to watch it again but I'm pretty sure the plan wasn't to leave Mike Conley or Marc Gasol open.
Checking past articles:
http://www.sbnation.com/2013/5/22/43...incy-pondexter
The Bayless/Pondexter combination doesn't start for Memphis, of course, because Lionel Hollins prefers the defense of the Tony Allen/Tayshaun Prince duo. But the problem is that the Spurs are cheating off those two players (more so Prince than Allen) to prevent the Grizzlies from running their patented post offense. It's the same formula San Antonio used against the Lakers, and it had been working the same way.
http://www.espnsa.com/Why-the-Spurs-...577?pid=325729
-The Grizzlies can’t shoot. We know Memphis struggles to score, and the Spurs excellent defense so far has compounded this problem. San Antonio held the Grizz to just 34% shooting in game two. Zach Randolph has made just 7 of 26 field goal attempts through two games, while Memphis starters Tayshaun Prince and Tony Allen don’t look like they have a clue offensively right now. Those two have been so bad that the Spurs barely even bother to guard them, instead using their defender to help muck things up in the lane and double the post.
You're right. I found this as well...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/sp...lies.html?_r=0
No problem
Back to the point, spurs used Kawhi and Danny to front or / and double team ZBO and that's the main difference between 2011 and 2013
But Splitter has been really great on D in many other series especially vs LMA this year. The dude was Dirk on steroid in the first round and he was well controlled by Splitter
Yeah it's called Topix, Memphis edition. You can check scores or score crack cocaine.
We may just have to agree to disagree on this. Fronting and face guarding is great, but it works because of the personnel on the floor. You can't run that strategy when Bonner is on Randolph. With Splitter, Duncan is not having to play out of position, doesn't have to help, doesn't have to try to cover the entire painted area and can focus on defending the other big, which is huge for the team. With Splitter, the Spurs went from having to scramble to cover for teammates that were getting destroyed to being able to pick and choose who to leave and when to do it. The Spurs were double teaming for strategic advantage when it suited them, not to try to keep Randolph from going off. It's a great strategy, but it doesn't hold Randolph to 2 points in a playoff game if you don't have a primary defender capable of at least staying with him and frustrating his shots.No problem
Back to the point, spurs used Kawhi and Danny to front or / and double team ZBO and that's the main difference between 2011 and 2013
But Splitter has been really great on D in many other series especially vs LMA this year. The dude was Dirk on steroid in the first round and he was well controlled by Splitter
it also didnt hurt that parker made a point to kill the grizz in 2013, after getting outplayed by conley in 2011 (ok not quite outplayed, but parker underperformed badly)
the 09-11 spurs were horribly constructed, the frontcourt was completely dysfunctional and it was grinding duncan down to the point that half this board was ready to stick a fork in him, and even the backcourt despite prime tony and some of the most productive years of manu (aside from 09 which he barely played and 11 which he got injured at the worst possible moment) after that, the rest of the wings were a joke:
11- jefferson/hill/neal
10- jefferson/hill/bogans/mason
09- mason/finley/bowen (37 years old, 6th most minutes on the team for the season)/hill
we went from dice and blair, to splitter and diaw (who is IMO equally or even more important than tiago).
from jefferson hill bogans mason, to mills green leonard belinelli.
Congrats to pop and RC for figuring it out, criticism is childish now that they just won, but it was a rough road getting here, the 2010 and 11 playoffs were painful. i dont think splitter would have necessarily been THE difference but it certainly would have helped if pop integrated him sooner and played him instead of dice and blair sooner, it was painfully obvious they werent good enough and dont get me started on jefferson.
I'll give that response a 9.3/10
You don't think it's a pretty big jump to assume that winning a first round series would translate to you guys winning the next 3 rounds.... That seems like quite a big jump for me
If you've ever tried to walk around the Peabody hotel area, you've been offered drugs a dozen times in one night.
I'll give that response a 9.3/10
That's a good point, and normally I'd agree with you. Keep in mind that it's just my opinion, anyway, but I'll explain my thinking:
There are two times in memory where the 8 seed matched up very well with the 1 seed, so much so that they positioned themselves to get there. 2006 Golden State against Dallas, and 2011 Memphis against San Antonio. The Grizzlies got an extra bonus when Manu got hurt in the last game of the season. There were no dominant teams in the league that year. Miami was vulnerable. Splitter has proven to be a major upgrade to the front line. Just like Mavs fans likely think their team missed a golden championship opportunity in 2007, I think the Spurs missed out in 2011. At the time, I actually thought it was the last sliver of open window for the Spurs. Thank the basketball gods for dropping Kawhi in our lap.
That 011 team was a team relying on three balls to fall and ran a fluke offense IMO, was not a fan at all and the started to unfold as the season went on and showing major cracks even before the playoffs.
The 012 team when they started running the newer offense they use today with the ball movement was far better and equipped to win a le, it got better in 013 and in 2014 but I disagree on the 011 team being a lock for a le if they passed the first round. I agree on Manu being out in game one and they probably do beat Memphis if he is healthy that game and end that one in 5 or 6 games, losing that game one was really bad.
Dallas caught fire in the playoffs in 2011, 3-1 vs. them or not (I thought we were 2-2?) that means nothing when a team catches fire in the playoffs and that they did and their shots were falling, not so sure we just blow by them in the playoffs by any means, it would be TOUGH. I disagree fully on 011, not my fave Spurs team by any stretch of the means. Kawhi was not there yet either, they got ALOT better when he joined the team and you see the result so I am glad you mention him at the end as he and Danny Green were that difference we needed which was missing.
I still dont buy the whole “tiago" was injured bull . Pop was just being his stubborn old self per par, playing his dumb little mind games. He's doing the same to baynes fwiw.
Well Kawhi is awesome. You'll find no bigger fan of him than me. He extended the Spurs window for sure, but he didn't do it all by himself. Warts and all, Splitter is the best Spurs center since Robinson retired, and I don't think it's even close.
I don't know that it would have been a cakewalk under any cir stances in 2011, but the Grizzlies were the single team that matched up really favorably against the 2011 Spurs, and it's all because the Spurs didn't have size or defense on their front line. Notice that the Mavericks with Tyson Chandler suddenly did what the Spurs could not.
The offense has developed because they have great screen and roll players, and that starts with good screens.
True, but I was not a fan of Neal getting mins out there and Bonner getting alot of mins, that part hurt the offense at times bigtime (Neal was not a passer lets face it). Like you said it was a few things, one being Splitter getting minutes and that matched us up WELL with Memphis and that shows now. Kawhi getting drafted and Danny Greens role, those three things were huge the next few years for the Spurs and key to the last two or three runs they had.
I did not like who was getting mins on the 011 alot of times from old Dice, Bonner (He was not used right then) and Neal etc. The last few years the team was way better and fully equipped for a run and look what happened! I just thought the 011 team was smoke and mirrors at times and broke down the last month of the year, that is just my opinion though.
I wasn't really a fan of Hill, tbh. He showed flashes of being a defender, but he regressed toward Parker and didn't have the offense, shooting or passing ability to make up for it like Parker does. Bonner as a rotation guy is a disaster, but he's all right as a change of pace. I don't think 2011 was a lock like 2006 was, but the Spurs were the best team in the league for the season, so they at least had a chance if they could have gotten past that one team that just had the tools to beat them as they were configured.
Agreed on all accounts man, we are on the same page.
But then why would you assume they get past the Mavs in 2011 who were a better team than this Mavs this years (who took a better spurs team to 7)? The Spurs dominanted the Mavs in the regular season this year, yet the playoffs were a completly different story. If Carsile was able to come up with schemes to disrupt the Spurs offense and defense when it was significantly better this year, why would you think he couldn't on a much weaker 2011 spurs team? Not to mention 2011 Dirk was significantly better than the Dirk you guys faced this yea, whiles 2011 was the worse season of Duncan's career along with Manu's injury
Last edited by Purch; 10-25-2014 at 05:57 PM.
That 2011 team ran out of gas way before the Ginobili injury and got an inflated record by going balls out the first 3 months of the season. They were a little better version of the 2013-14 Pacers and Dallas would have mopped the floor with them.
Actually now that I think about it there was very little chance of that spurs team getting past that Mavs team
them...They lost, deal with it.
Yes, that Mavs team was unstoppable. Worked Miami to the bone in the Finals.
Sorry, bud, but I simply disagree. The Spurs didn't show up in 2014 because they completely overmatched the Mavericks. Vince Carter had the playoff series of his life (Gee, you'd think it was a contract year for him), and Dejuan Blair played with the fire we know so well, that only comes from personal motivation. They still got run out of the series by the Spurs once they decided to play.
You're en led to your opinion, but I don't agree with it. The Spurs matched up poorly with the Grizzlies, who played out of their minds from top to bottom, and the Spurs lost in six games with Manu playing with one arm and no Splitter in the rotation. Credit to the Mavs for winning a le, but they took advantage of a weak NBA and a Spurs team that the bed from a personnel standpoint, IMHO.
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