Are the spurs under pressure to win title?

[LakerGod]

It's ironic, the spursies entered the 2004-05 season as the favorites to win it all because of big changes to other teams in the NBA.


No Lakers, No Timberwolves, No Kings to worry about, these powerhouses are not even a factor this year and I still think the spurs don't have what it takes to win it all, not making it to the big dance would be a big embarrassment for the spurs organization.

It's really sad that teams that didn't even make the playoffs last year (Phoenix, Seattle) have better chances of winning the title then the spurs.

It's Ironic... isn't it?

[smeagol]

Seattle?

You are such an idiot!

[gilmor]

please don't reply to this thread

[LakerGod]

Seattle?

You are such an idiot!Seattle if healthy has a chance of winning the WC.

Seattle plays better defense then Phoenix.

At this point the Western Conference is wide open. No Favorites, Sorry spurs fans.

[duncan2k5]

lottery team thread

[LakerGod]

^ wow, spurs fans are runnung out of ideas

[duncan2k5]

so is your coach. if i was him i would suit up and put myself on the roster. hell, he cant be no worse than tierre brown

[HawkBat]

:lol
so is your coach. if i was him i would suit up and put myself on the roster. hell, he cant be no worse than tierre brown
:lol :lol :lol :lol

[san antonio spurs]

so is your coach. if i was him i would suit up and put myself on the roster. hell, he cant be no worse than tierre brown
:lmao :lmao :lmao
I'm in tears.
________
Park Royal 3 Condo (http://pattayaluxurycondos.com)

[spursfan05]

y is a laker fan here?

[PM5K]

Should we even bother with this guy? I mean I could respond with what everone here and every NBA analyst knows, but at the same time I assume that because the things he is saying are just so stupid that he knows they are stupid and makes these posts just to irritate people and basically be a troll, in which case a well thought out response would be a waste of time....

Short Bus Version:

Spurs beat Phoenix by twenty, again in overtime when Manu scored almost fifty, and lost by five points on the road without Manu or Tim, enough said about that.

While Seattle has played well against us we did split the season series if I am correct, and everyone that knows anything about basketball knows the Sonics won't beat the Spurs in a seven game series, they rely too heavily on outside shooting and do not have the defense necessary to win in the playoffs, much the same can be said about Phoenix but they have a better chance against the Spurs than the Sonics....

Lastly the Spurs have been the favorites all year and as long as Tim Duncan gets healthy they will continue to be.

[Kori Ellis]

There's actually some merit to this thread. If Duncan is healthy, the Spurs are definitely under some pressure to win the title this season.

They were the frontrunner for winning the championship all season. They had the best odds in Vegas of winning a title in quite some time. They used their cap space over the past few summers to re-sign their core in Duncan, Ginobili, Parker and Bowen, while adding key roles players around them. They will be capped out now for quite some time.

They made a move in trading Malik Rose late in the season that was maybe necessary monetarily, but definitely had some risk.

They are of course under pressure to win a title this season. Everyone has repeated over and over all season long that Phoenix can't just outscore teams and will fall off pace. And that hasn't happened. Everyone expects the Spurs (with a healthy Duncan) to win the Championship.

[spursfan05]

spurs will win it all with or without duncan

[Kori Ellis]

spurs will win it all with or without duncan

:lol

They haven't even been able to win one game on the road without him.

[Tek_XX]

Will the rash of injuries take some of the pressure off? Alot of analysts are looking at other teams to win now, Miami or Phoenix. The fact that it's not such a sure thing now may give the Spurs a challenge

[Mr. Body]

Put simply, it would be a major disappointment if the Spurs did not win the title this year, injuries or not. They simply were by far the best team.

Any other team wins this year, that's a big accomplishment, even for Detroit to repeat.

But for the Spurs to not get it... it was theirs to lose.

[whottt]

The Spurs are always under pressure to win the title...at the same time...they don't have as much external pressure as teams like the Knicks, Lakers and Celtics do....

As for this season...We were the clear favorites along with Detroit...but I don't think we are the clear cut favorites any longer...not only because of falling out of HCA due to injuries...but also because we haven't been a very good road team this year...even with Duncan healthy.

I still think we will win it, but I am not as certain as I once was...I do think the Robinson signing will help if he can get court time...I think it will help a lot...but Miami looks pretty strong...Seattle, Houston and Detroit match up well with us, Phoenix has the best starting 5 in the NBA and will have HCA backing them up.

But any team that has Duncan and Manu on offense, and Bowen shutting down the other teams best scorer, and Parker being unguardable one on one, they are going to be tough to beat and so far Phil Jackson has been the only guy smart enough to figure out how to do it...

and he's not around this year...:)

[boutons]

"They haven't even been able to win one game on the road without him."

They were already mediocre all season on the road with Tim.

[Kori Ellis]

They were already mediocre all season on the road with Tim.

They were 19-11 on the road with him. And they are 0-5 on the road without him.

[timvp]

Are the spurs under pressure to win title?

Yes.

If they lose, it might even be a bigger dissapointment than '95 and '03.

[slayermin]

Yeah, there's pressure. I don't even know if the guys have gotten over the 0.52 BS yet. I know I haven't. Only another championship will make that sour taste go away.

But I believe in Tim. Like a friend told me once, it took four HOFers and a luck shot to beat Tim Duncan.

And it's true. Last years Laker team has to be considered one of the greatest teams ever assembled. A team created to beat Tim Duncan and the Spurs.

[adidas11]

That's 95 and 04, TimVP. Minor correction. :)

[Spurminator]

I don't know that 2004 could be considered a monumental disappointment... The Lakers stacked their team with four Hall of Famers, and people were talking about that team breaking the regular season wins record. Who knows what their record would have looked like if Malone had been healthy all year.

Though it's certainly a disappointment to those of us who know they COULD have beaten that Lakers team last year, I don't think the expectations around the country were as high for the Spurs as they are this year. I'd even say 2001 was a bigger disappointment than 2004.

But this year is probably the year that the highest expectations have ever been placed on the Spurs. It's the first year where the national consensus seems to be that the Spurs will win it all with very little difficulty. And that does worry me a bit.

[whottt]

I think we were like the first team in history to lose 4 straight after winning the first 2 games of a series...

[SPURS-SPURS-SPURS]

It's ironic, the spursies entered the 2004-05 season as the favorites to win it all because of big changes to other teams in the NBA.


No Lakers, No Timberwolves, No Kings to worry about, these powerhouses are not even a factor this year and I still think the spurs don't have what it takes to win it all, not making it to the big dance would be a big embarrassment for the spurs organization.

It's really sad that teams that didn't even make the playoffs last year (Phoenix, Seattle) have better chances of winning the title then the spurs.

It's Ironic... isn't it?

No lakers threat for the next 10+years :lol so go ahead and jump on some other team bandwagon loser :lol :lol

[TDfan2007]

I think we were like the first team in history to lose 4 straight after winning the first 2 games of a series...


change the only to one of the very few and you've got it

[PM5K]

There's actually some merit to this thread.

I have to totally disagree with you on that one. If you took LakerGods thread title and put your post in place of his then this thread would have merit.

I actually thought this would be a good post, every NBA analyst has had either San Antonio or Detroit as their choice as NBA Champions all season, San Antonio is finally starting to get the praise we've probably deserved for some time so there is pressure to win, but LakerGod didn't say any of those things, he posted a good thread title and then filled his thread with utter crap.....

[SPURS-SPURS-SPURS]

:lol

They haven't even been able to win one game on the road without him.

The Bobcats win on the road does'nt count :drunk

[waly.mg]

Yes, the same presion of All the teams

[Extra Stout]

If Duncan were healthy in the playoffs, there would be great pressure on the Spurs to win the title. With a full healthy Duncan in the first 48 games, the Spurs were playing like one of the best teams in NBA history.

However, Duncan will not be fully healthy for the playoffs. Even though I think he's going to play in whatever condition he is in, barring reinjury, I figure he'll be 80% tops.

So it's hard to claim that the Spurs are some overwhelming favorite at this point, or that there is great pressure on them to win. Given how they played before Tim first got hurt @LA, there might be a strong sentiment of "what might have been" a la the 1977-78 Blazers, but it would hard to call them a choke or whatever.

Now if we're talking about a disappointment, the fall of the Lakers from contention into a lottery team with an uncertain future, a star they they've chosen to build around who most players in the league hate, and no real plan for rebuilding, now that's a major development in the history of the NBA. This is the worst shape that franchise has been in since they moved to LA. At least in the Sedale Threatt years they had Jerry West with a plan.

[mookie2001]

yes

[wildbill2u]

There's actually some merit to this thread. If Duncan is healthy, the Spurs are definitely under some pressure to win the title this season. They were the frontrunner for winning the championship all season. They had the best odds in Vegas of winning a title in quite some time. They used their cap space over the past few summers to re-sign their core in Duncan, Ginobili, Parker and Bowen, while adding key roles players around them. They will be capped out now for quite some time.

They are of course under pressure to win a title this season... Everyone expects the Spurs (with a healthy Duncan) to win the Championship.

Pressure usually implies that something will happen at the direction of management if they don't win--like a shakeup of the team, front office or coaching staff. I don't see that happening with this team, even if Duncan were healthy because the management is so stable and won't panic. The core team and coaches will be back next year.

Besides, with the injuries we've had, we aren't the same team that we were a month or so ago when everyone said we were the best. Duncan may not be able to come back at full speed and could be reinjured at any time. Ankles are like that.

To put it simply, we no longer are the odds on favorite. If Duncan can't play to his maximum, we're no better than 8-1 shots. Those who say we can win it without him are crazy homers. We'd better be prepared to have this season go down as another one of our biggest disappointments--but that takes off the pressure-- except for pressure put on themselves by the players who'll want to give their best.

[Kori Ellis]

Just as a sidenote, Vegas odds for the Spurs to win the title are 1:1 right now. Before Duncan's injury, they were 5:6.

[Rick Von Braun]

Just as a sidenote, Vegas odds for the Spurs to win the title are 1:1 right now. Before Duncan's injury, they were 5:6. They were below 1!!!

Holy cow! http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smielephant.gif

Jimcs et al., is this the first time that happened in the history of the NBA? I wonder what were the odds for the 72-wins Bulls? http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smismokin.gif

[td4mvp21]

I'm glad we are not the favorites anymore. Being the underdog might actually give the Spurs some extra motivation to prove everyone wrong. Well just have to wait and see.

[Rick Von Braun]

I'm glad we are not the favorites anymore. Being the underdog might actually give the Spurs some extra motivation to prove everyone wrong. Well just have to wait and see.
Well, Vegas still has the Spurs as favorites for a wide margin

[sa_butta]

I think not making the playoffs at all is an even bigger emabarrassment
to the Lakers and their fans.