ambchang
09-23-2009, 11:33 AM
A month and a half after my recap of the 05 Finals, I finally got my lazy butt on the couch and watched the 07 Finals.
This was an ugly ugly series in that Spurs actually won the series this convincingly because of the mistakes of the young Cavs, and there were plenty of those.
The Cavs were a very talented team, they got all the way to the Finals because of LeBron James and a bunch of players who know their roles. However, the Spurs had great preparation and designed their defense specifically around James, and totally messed up the Cavs offense.
Commentators
Jeff Van Gundy was hilarious, very knowledgable about the game, and he was upright and frank about his assessment of the game. He's not as much a teacher as Hubie Brown was, but he has great insights in the game, and is not afraid to let us know.
Mark Jackson, OTOH, was just terrible. I am surprised one of the assists leaders in NBA history know so little about the game. He made terribly homer comments, and has absolutely no idea what was going on most of the time.
Mike Breen tried to be neutral, but you can't help but tell that he is secretly pulling for the Cavs.
Referees
Not great, not bad, just did their jobs. A few instances where you go WTH? But they balanced the call out quite well overall. Most definitely not as atrocious as the low low levels they have set for the fans during the rest of the playoffs.
Cavs
The team was young, and made loads of mistakes, over and over again. I blame this on Mike Brown. While he has a good defensive philosophies, his team clearly didn't practice to a level where everything was instinctual. There were many instances in the game where the Cavs didn't know what to do in crucial situations (end of Game 3, last 3 minutes of so of Game 4). Didn't help that he had largely unintelligent players like Varejao, Jones, and Gooden.
In the first two games, the Cavs were so horrible the series looked like Dream Team vs. Angola, the Spurs were cutting up the Cavs defense like Jack the Ripper. Mike Brown made great adjustments in Game 3 and 4, crowding Duncan and using the team's athleticism and length to it's advantage. The result is two bad statistical games from Duncan.
Lebron James
This guy is just unreal, he definitely got slowed down by the Spurs defense, but he still managed to adjust and had a few reasonables games later on. Too bad his teammates sucked so much and couldn't make any shots, or the Cavs may possibly have won a couple of games. People kept talking about how James should improve his outside shot, which he should, but he should work on his post game. The Cavs have shooting big men in Gooden and Ilgauskas, James can overpower/outquick anybody down there, and forces the defense to collapse on him. Get him some people who can actually make an outside shot, and the Cavs would be unstoppable.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Z's a little slow, but he can score, and he uses his size very well. His length bothered Duncan to some degree, but he is best used as the secondary defender, coming at Duncan when he roles to the basket. He also rebounds very well. At the end of game 4, with him and Gooden out, the Spurs got 3 or 4 offensive rebounds in one possession, neutralizing the Cavs defense.
Drew Gooden
Gooden can finish well, but he just isn't all that smart. He commit stupid fouls, defends out of position, and really doesn't do too much other than score and rebound, but he gives away as much as he gives.
Daniel Gibson
Can shoot, that's pretty much about it. He must have gave up 6 to 8 points to Parker just because he didn't get back on transition defense. You get burned by Parker once, and he should learn, but never did.
Anderson Varjao
Very energetic, but he doesn't know his role, or he doesn't accept it. He is an energy guy, who should go out and crash his body around, defend, and grab rebounds. He shouldn't shoot anything that is not a wide open layup, but he does that all the time. His defense on Duncan was effective to say the least. With him houdning Duncan and help collapsing, Duncan was held to subpar offensive games in 3 and 4.
Sasha Pavlovic
He really wasn't that bad during the series, and looked like a geniune 4th option on a championship level team. He made stupid mistakes as well (like letting Ginobili get away to shave precious seconds off the clock at the end of Game 4), but he actually created shots once in a while, and played decent defense. He missed wide open shots when it counts, but at least he gave something, he wasn't that much worse than Finley.
Donyell Marshall
I could never figure Marshall out. He's got range, size, long arms, relatively quick, but he just sucked most of his career. He could have been a Rasheed Wallace kind of player, but ... you know the rest.
Eric Snow
Extremely smart player, love watching him play. He takes what the defense gives him, and is a great leader.
Spurs
Just put on a defensive clinic on the Cavs. Pop prepared his team well throughout the season, and it showed during the series. On offense, the Spurs could use a little more creativity. With Parker, Ginobili, and Duncan, surrounded by smart players like Oberto, and shooters like Barry, Bowen, Finley, and Horry, the Spurs should be able to avoid those terrible scoring droughts.
Tim Duncan
He attracted the whole Cavs defense, and read the situation well. He obviously got affected by Varejao and Z's defense, but he passes the ball out of double teams, and kept his TO low for most of the series. His defense was once again dominant, and his rebounding was crucial for the Spurs. Parker won the MVP, but Duncan was the engine that drove the Spurs. He was no longer as dominant as he was in 03, but he was still better than 99% of the league, and play as the centerpiece of a championship team.
Tony Parker
Parker was sensational throughout the series. The Cavs couldn't stop him. A lot of it has to do with matchups, because going around Gibson and Hughes is much easier than going through Billups and Hunter, but the way he finished around the basket was just absolutely amazing. He ran the break on his own, and finished around 2 or 3 defenders. He was also nailing outside shots whenever open, putting in a few 3-pters for good measure. Absolutely deserved the MVP.
Manu Ginobili
This guy is as clutch as they come. He sucked in Game 3, wasn't absolutely fantastic in the first 3 quarters of Game 4, but when the game was close, Pop put the ball in Manu's hand and he delivered. He scored 13 points in the first 3 quarter, and 14 in the 4th alone. He nailed 3 pters, jumpers, layups FTs, whatever it is, and kept the Cavs from winning their lone winnable game.
His defense was a little iffy though, letting someone as bad as Sasha drive past you on a few occasions is not good at all.
Bruce Bowen
The Spurs are most definitely a big 4 team. Bowen was sensational in the series. Yes, the whole Spurs defense was geared towards stopping LeBron, but that would have been impossible without Bowen. He not only made life difficult for LeBron on the perimeter, he made it tough for him downlow in the paint as well, fighting nonstop for position and denying him the ball. The few times Lebron was not guarded by Bowen, he scored, and scored rather easily.
On offense, he once again nailed all his open shots. But another aspect people rarely talk about is how effective his entry passes to Duncan are. Thos are simple passes, but he passes it to the correct spot at the correct time every time. The Spurs will miss Bowen a lot more than the numbers say.
One thing I could never figure out though, is how Bowen could have been an offensive star in college. Fullerton must have been really really bad.
Fabricio Oberto
Extremely smart player, seems to be at the right place at the right time most of the time. Despite the fact that he probably can't jump over a can of beans after eating a can of beans, he just get his shares of tips and open baskets. He is a perfect fit in the Spurs system, I am not sure how he would fit in with the Wiz.
Michael Finley
He doesn't suck as much as he does later on (say in 08 and 09), but he was far from his all-star self in the early part of the century. His driving game was gone, and his defense was generally horrible (maybe one reason Sasha actually looked like an NBA player was because Finley was guarding him most of the time), he can still nail down his open jumpers. And that was all he had to do.
Robert Horry
This guy is a basketball genius. He crashes the boards by great positioning and timing, he shoots and makes open jumpers, he plays great positional defense, and he make smart passes. Even the screens he set were crisper than most others.
Francisco Elson
Great athlete, but just doesn't get it. He would miss assignments throughout the series, why Pop let him in on the court for that long spoke to how thin the Spurs frontline really is. He has his flashes of brilliance, but he could be easily neutralized with any amount of defensive attention. He is also a relatively weak rebounder for a player his size.
Brent Barry
Nails down 3 pters whenever the Spurs needs one. And his passes were simple and effective. Brent Barry was really good in Game 3, and without his timely shots, the Spurs may have even have lost that game.
Jacque Vaughn
Low error type of player, he provides what is necessary during his time on the floor. You will never see Vaughn do something he is not supposed to do.
Beno Udrih
Living proof that the world is not fair. How can this guy have two rings?
After watching the series, I feel the Spurs big 3 can still deliver with the right cast around them. The problem with the 08 and 09 team are not just declines in the big 3, in fact, I thought Parker and GInobili actually played better in the later two years, but the decline in production of the supporting casts.
With Jefferson, Blair, and whole bunch of youngins, let's see if the spurs can recapture that magic in 10.
This was an ugly ugly series in that Spurs actually won the series this convincingly because of the mistakes of the young Cavs, and there were plenty of those.
The Cavs were a very talented team, they got all the way to the Finals because of LeBron James and a bunch of players who know their roles. However, the Spurs had great preparation and designed their defense specifically around James, and totally messed up the Cavs offense.
Commentators
Jeff Van Gundy was hilarious, very knowledgable about the game, and he was upright and frank about his assessment of the game. He's not as much a teacher as Hubie Brown was, but he has great insights in the game, and is not afraid to let us know.
Mark Jackson, OTOH, was just terrible. I am surprised one of the assists leaders in NBA history know so little about the game. He made terribly homer comments, and has absolutely no idea what was going on most of the time.
Mike Breen tried to be neutral, but you can't help but tell that he is secretly pulling for the Cavs.
Referees
Not great, not bad, just did their jobs. A few instances where you go WTH? But they balanced the call out quite well overall. Most definitely not as atrocious as the low low levels they have set for the fans during the rest of the playoffs.
Cavs
The team was young, and made loads of mistakes, over and over again. I blame this on Mike Brown. While he has a good defensive philosophies, his team clearly didn't practice to a level where everything was instinctual. There were many instances in the game where the Cavs didn't know what to do in crucial situations (end of Game 3, last 3 minutes of so of Game 4). Didn't help that he had largely unintelligent players like Varejao, Jones, and Gooden.
In the first two games, the Cavs were so horrible the series looked like Dream Team vs. Angola, the Spurs were cutting up the Cavs defense like Jack the Ripper. Mike Brown made great adjustments in Game 3 and 4, crowding Duncan and using the team's athleticism and length to it's advantage. The result is two bad statistical games from Duncan.
Lebron James
This guy is just unreal, he definitely got slowed down by the Spurs defense, but he still managed to adjust and had a few reasonables games later on. Too bad his teammates sucked so much and couldn't make any shots, or the Cavs may possibly have won a couple of games. People kept talking about how James should improve his outside shot, which he should, but he should work on his post game. The Cavs have shooting big men in Gooden and Ilgauskas, James can overpower/outquick anybody down there, and forces the defense to collapse on him. Get him some people who can actually make an outside shot, and the Cavs would be unstoppable.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Z's a little slow, but he can score, and he uses his size very well. His length bothered Duncan to some degree, but he is best used as the secondary defender, coming at Duncan when he roles to the basket. He also rebounds very well. At the end of game 4, with him and Gooden out, the Spurs got 3 or 4 offensive rebounds in one possession, neutralizing the Cavs defense.
Drew Gooden
Gooden can finish well, but he just isn't all that smart. He commit stupid fouls, defends out of position, and really doesn't do too much other than score and rebound, but he gives away as much as he gives.
Daniel Gibson
Can shoot, that's pretty much about it. He must have gave up 6 to 8 points to Parker just because he didn't get back on transition defense. You get burned by Parker once, and he should learn, but never did.
Anderson Varjao
Very energetic, but he doesn't know his role, or he doesn't accept it. He is an energy guy, who should go out and crash his body around, defend, and grab rebounds. He shouldn't shoot anything that is not a wide open layup, but he does that all the time. His defense on Duncan was effective to say the least. With him houdning Duncan and help collapsing, Duncan was held to subpar offensive games in 3 and 4.
Sasha Pavlovic
He really wasn't that bad during the series, and looked like a geniune 4th option on a championship level team. He made stupid mistakes as well (like letting Ginobili get away to shave precious seconds off the clock at the end of Game 4), but he actually created shots once in a while, and played decent defense. He missed wide open shots when it counts, but at least he gave something, he wasn't that much worse than Finley.
Donyell Marshall
I could never figure Marshall out. He's got range, size, long arms, relatively quick, but he just sucked most of his career. He could have been a Rasheed Wallace kind of player, but ... you know the rest.
Eric Snow
Extremely smart player, love watching him play. He takes what the defense gives him, and is a great leader.
Spurs
Just put on a defensive clinic on the Cavs. Pop prepared his team well throughout the season, and it showed during the series. On offense, the Spurs could use a little more creativity. With Parker, Ginobili, and Duncan, surrounded by smart players like Oberto, and shooters like Barry, Bowen, Finley, and Horry, the Spurs should be able to avoid those terrible scoring droughts.
Tim Duncan
He attracted the whole Cavs defense, and read the situation well. He obviously got affected by Varejao and Z's defense, but he passes the ball out of double teams, and kept his TO low for most of the series. His defense was once again dominant, and his rebounding was crucial for the Spurs. Parker won the MVP, but Duncan was the engine that drove the Spurs. He was no longer as dominant as he was in 03, but he was still better than 99% of the league, and play as the centerpiece of a championship team.
Tony Parker
Parker was sensational throughout the series. The Cavs couldn't stop him. A lot of it has to do with matchups, because going around Gibson and Hughes is much easier than going through Billups and Hunter, but the way he finished around the basket was just absolutely amazing. He ran the break on his own, and finished around 2 or 3 defenders. He was also nailing outside shots whenever open, putting in a few 3-pters for good measure. Absolutely deserved the MVP.
Manu Ginobili
This guy is as clutch as they come. He sucked in Game 3, wasn't absolutely fantastic in the first 3 quarters of Game 4, but when the game was close, Pop put the ball in Manu's hand and he delivered. He scored 13 points in the first 3 quarter, and 14 in the 4th alone. He nailed 3 pters, jumpers, layups FTs, whatever it is, and kept the Cavs from winning their lone winnable game.
His defense was a little iffy though, letting someone as bad as Sasha drive past you on a few occasions is not good at all.
Bruce Bowen
The Spurs are most definitely a big 4 team. Bowen was sensational in the series. Yes, the whole Spurs defense was geared towards stopping LeBron, but that would have been impossible without Bowen. He not only made life difficult for LeBron on the perimeter, he made it tough for him downlow in the paint as well, fighting nonstop for position and denying him the ball. The few times Lebron was not guarded by Bowen, he scored, and scored rather easily.
On offense, he once again nailed all his open shots. But another aspect people rarely talk about is how effective his entry passes to Duncan are. Thos are simple passes, but he passes it to the correct spot at the correct time every time. The Spurs will miss Bowen a lot more than the numbers say.
One thing I could never figure out though, is how Bowen could have been an offensive star in college. Fullerton must have been really really bad.
Fabricio Oberto
Extremely smart player, seems to be at the right place at the right time most of the time. Despite the fact that he probably can't jump over a can of beans after eating a can of beans, he just get his shares of tips and open baskets. He is a perfect fit in the Spurs system, I am not sure how he would fit in with the Wiz.
Michael Finley
He doesn't suck as much as he does later on (say in 08 and 09), but he was far from his all-star self in the early part of the century. His driving game was gone, and his defense was generally horrible (maybe one reason Sasha actually looked like an NBA player was because Finley was guarding him most of the time), he can still nail down his open jumpers. And that was all he had to do.
Robert Horry
This guy is a basketball genius. He crashes the boards by great positioning and timing, he shoots and makes open jumpers, he plays great positional defense, and he make smart passes. Even the screens he set were crisper than most others.
Francisco Elson
Great athlete, but just doesn't get it. He would miss assignments throughout the series, why Pop let him in on the court for that long spoke to how thin the Spurs frontline really is. He has his flashes of brilliance, but he could be easily neutralized with any amount of defensive attention. He is also a relatively weak rebounder for a player his size.
Brent Barry
Nails down 3 pters whenever the Spurs needs one. And his passes were simple and effective. Brent Barry was really good in Game 3, and without his timely shots, the Spurs may have even have lost that game.
Jacque Vaughn
Low error type of player, he provides what is necessary during his time on the floor. You will never see Vaughn do something he is not supposed to do.
Beno Udrih
Living proof that the world is not fair. How can this guy have two rings?
After watching the series, I feel the Spurs big 3 can still deliver with the right cast around them. The problem with the 08 and 09 team are not just declines in the big 3, in fact, I thought Parker and GInobili actually played better in the later two years, but the decline in production of the supporting casts.
With Jefferson, Blair, and whole bunch of youngins, let's see if the spurs can recapture that magic in 10.