how did the spurs lose 4 in a row to this team?

[214]

congratz MIA on winning the 2012 NBA championship

[lefty]

Refs TBH

[ace3g]

"regression to the mean"

[TimDunkem]

Shitty perimeter defense, bad coaching, poor play from most of the bench and our best player, refs, and bad luck.

But mostly shitty perimeter defense.

[Brutalis]

Coaching.

[Proxy]

You don't see a sudden transition to fouls being called on minor contact around the perimeter.

And Lebron playing like he's the best player in the world... by far

[SamoanTD]

Hot hands and defense

[Knoxxx]

Remember game 3 when OKC bigs, who are poor on offense overall, hit 22/25 shots with Ibaka hitting 11/11, mostly long jumpshots.

Harden was also hitting some pure garbage 3s in crunch time that were well defended.

The above were a team catching fire at the wrong time for us, though we were giving up those jumpshots to the OKC bigs by design at times.

[Agloco]

congratz MIA on winning the 2012 NBA championship

:lol @ anyone who believes that this is the same OKC team that we saw in the first three rounds.

[Agloco]

"regression to the mean"

And this for good measure......

[Oh, Gee!!]

Maybe we weren't that good?

[spursparker9]

No difference. The way Miami is playing right now, Spurs would lose even if they advance to the finals.

[Spur|n|Austin]

Maybe we weren't that good?

We were.

[Sean Cagney]

Shitty perimeter defense, bad coaching, poor play from most of the bench and our best player, refs, and bad luck.

But mostly shitty perimeter defense.

YEP! To those who just said Refs stop it! It was a wide range of things so stop pinning it all on refs. this above is truth.
No difference. The way Miami is playing right now, Spurs would lose even if they advance to the finals.

Oh yeah I am sure they would have lost. When Bosh came back they took it to another level, before that they were beatable IMO and not playing like they are today.

[Andthentherewas21]

Not to overshadow the Heat, because this has probably been their best series as a team. Roleplayers have stepped up especially hitting their threes, but also have had a big impact on the defensive end. But...

As Timvp showed, the Thunder shot ridiculously well against us, particularly in long 2s. Some of that was the Spurs D, some of it was luck. Those same shots have rattled out the entire Finals for OKC. Secondly, Harden has disappeared, to the level of playoff Matt Bonner, especially on his 3s which he was hitting from 3 feet behind the line with Leonard putting a hand in his face. There is also the refs which are no longer calling the touch fouls when they drive, but they are getting called against them on the other end. All of it culminates into what we've seen the past few games.

[spursparker9]

Somewhere, kobe is smiling.

[KaiRMD1]

I still can't believe this is the shitty team we lost to. At least the Grizzlies didn't regress

[Buddy Holly]

Bench play, defense and refs. That's how we lost.

[sananspursfan21]

Eh, mix of things: refs are actually letting the players decide the outcome, spurs role players didnt step up, thunder caught fire at the wrong time, manu barely showed, spurs played scared until game 6. I think game 1 we saw the thunder in the truest form. Game 2 we saw a weaker version and all the other games we just saw a ridiculously inflated team. I know theyre good but ive always thought they were just a little overrated. I can name atleast 20 finals teams throughout history that would have mopped the floor with these guys

[Keepin' it real]

I finally watched a replay of game 6. It's pretty obvious we would have been slaughtered by Miami. Do you really think the Spurs 7-man rotation from game 6 would have stood a chance against this Heat team? That's what Pop would have had to go with -- a 7-man roster -- because if everyone else shriveled in the WCF, imagine what would have happened in THE Finals ... their nutsacks would have turned into vulvas or something.

[Capt Bringdown]

Spurs are the ultimate Fool's Gold team. A sad combination of choke and incompetence.

[DieMrBond]

It saddens me that I now live in a world where LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Eddy Curry have NBA championships.

[SpurPadre]

Did the Heat defend Harden much better than we did or was it just Harden picking the worst time to slump?

[SouthTexasRancher]

We need to drastically improve on 'DEFENSE' bigtime! We need a big backup point guard. We need some height, length and athleticism in our 'bigs' department. Midgets like Blair are good for ankle biting competition but, not much help against giants in the basketball world. Pop is a great coach but, damn, he needs to stop being so damn hardheaded.

If only we had this years #1 pick and could trade Joseph, Bonner, Anderson and Blair to Miami for Lebron. :rollin

2007 was a long, long, long time ago! Time for us to get serious. It'll be harder next season because so many teams like Chicago, Miami, OKC, Indy and other young and athletic teams will be even harder to match up with, especially if we have to give TD a max contract. Hopefully, he'll do the right thing and take a cut in the salary dept. He had a very good season but....it was a short season and Pop sat him out of some games and reduced his minutes in most of those he played in. He can still be a big factor but, it is in his best interest for the Spurs to have the $$$$$$$$$$ to get a couple of athletic players who can help us get over the hump. We would have been skunked by Miami this year if we were in the Finals...!!!

We gott keep the faith.

[spursparker9]

Did the Heat defend Harden much better than we did or was it just Harden picking the worst time to slump?

Danny Green pass Harden his disappearing disease.

Guess they both can go for a drink and talk about how they lost millions for their upcoming contract

[dbreiden83080]

Tony had his mind on other things..

[SpurPadre]

Danny Green pass Harden his disappearing disease.

Guess they both can go for a drink and talk about how they lost millions for their upcoming contract

Yeah they sure did cost themselves some money. Harden has the bigger upside, though, MUCH bigger upside. It's frustrating the crazy ass shots he was hitting against us and NOW he decides to suck.

[BackHome]

Shitty perimeter defense, bad coaching, poor play from most of the bench and our best player, refs, and bad luck.

But mostly shitty perimeter defense.


+1 Still feeling the pain...:(

[JustinJDW]

OKC's roleplayers stepped up, and they stepped up in pretty much every facet of the game. Ours didn't.

Same thing that just happened in the Finals. Guys like Miller, Chalmers and Norris Cole stepping up, hitting 3's, taking charges and playing defense.

[thispego]

Refs TBH

/sterne

[therealtruth]

"regression to the mean"

What exactly is your mean? Not all shots are equal especially during the playoffs.

[ducks]

Tony had his mind on other things..

yeah blame tp
green,booner and neal all sucked
manu had 2 great playoff games and was finally healthy
timvp stats showed who sucked the worse of the big three this playoffs
his name was MANU NOT TP

[DarrinS]

I thought this was already covered by timvp.

OKC was shooting a statistical anomaly vs Spurs.

[therealtruth]

The Thunder stopped playing team ball and went back to individual ball.

[GrandeDavid]

Criminal officiating, rotten luck and stupid play at times. Mainly the first two reasons, though.

[Budkin]

They shot 80% and we gave the ball away every other possession.

[T Park]

when you step back now it really was a giant combination of things falling together at once.

1 thing that helped OKC big time is their resolve against SA. Big time.

Their shooting, plus the Spurs poor interior defense, plus the Spurs turning the ball over
plus their role players hitting ridiculous shots equaled them being better.

Against Miami, Harden made Danny Green look like Stephen Jackson.
Perkins looked like Bonner, and Ibaka came back to earth. That being said, when Rose went down, when healthy, no one was beating Miami. Throwing three clear cut super stars out there at once who realized how to play together, plus great role players in Battier, Haslem, Chalmers. It was a giant buzzsaw.

The Spurs were once again let down by what got them there. Depth. the Greens and Splitters regressed and the Battiers and Millers stepped up.

It can really be summed up quite easily into that.

[polandprzem]

http://newspaper.li/static/5204b606e30ce7b59ac2a1e28bfdb282.jpg

[polandprzem]

Some guys just disappeared

[smaka]

Every game one OKC player had a career night. Add the refs and there you go...

[Slippy]

Main reason would have to be defense. The Heats' main unit of 2 guards, 2 small fowards and 1 big stifled the Thunder. Ibaka and Perkins not having the same impact as they did against the Spurs. Has me wondering if pop should of gone more with the TP, Manu, Kawai, Jackson and Duncan combo. I remember the Spurs finishing with this combo often but other periods of the game not so much.

Secondly , Spurs don't have the player with the ability of a Lebron James. Superhuman efforts in scoring , rebounding and defense. So amazingly versatile in defending guards to being their defacto power forward. He made scoring king Durant work hard on offense, yet brought it on the other end - every game. WOW

Third, Heat's role players stepped up bigtime on both ends. They had a number of players hitting threes over and over again. There was a benchy called Cole, another in Miller or James Jones if you wish. Then count in Battier and Chalmers for starters. For the Spurs it really was only Kawai and Sjax. On defense they were scrambling everywhere, rotations prompt and help was always there. You had Haslem a bringing tougness on the interior, making team plays and playing hard. Both he and Battier gave the heat toughness, often putting the body on the line. How many spurs fit that description or atleast value defense as much? It be lopsided in favour of the heat.

Honourable mentions has to go out to Fisher and Harden who were no-shows. These two were hitting shots out of their asses against the Spurs but with the Heat, reality set in. On defense those crucial calls that went against the Spurs didn't eventuate against the heat. Flopping was really a non-factor and no calls won out. Same has to be said about Ibaka. Why didn't he continue to goaltend the ball? Refs have to get their due here. This how all play-offs should be called.

Miaimi surpised me and im sure whole lot of other people. Best team in the NBA hands down.

[Agloco]

when you step back now it really was a giant combination of things falling together at once.

1 thing that helped OKC big time is their resolve against SA. Big time.

Their shooting, plus the Spurs poor interior defense, plus the Spurs turning the ball over
plus their role players hitting ridiculous shots equaled them being better.

Against Miami, Harden made Danny Green look like Stephen Jackson.
Perkins looked like Bonner, and Ibaka came back to earth. That being said, when Rose went down, when healthy, no one was beating Miami. Throwing three clear cut super stars out there at once who realized how to play together, plus great role players in Battier, Haslem, Chalmers. It was a giant buzzsaw.

The Spurs were once again let down by what got them there. Depth. the Greens and Splitters regressed and the Battiers and Millers stepped up.

It can really be summed up quite easily into that.

/thread

[KaiRMD1]

At least Lebron won before his hair disappears

[urunobili]

9 lounge...

[ploto]

Miami plays better defense. Pretty simple.

[clambake]

the spurs had a magical evening, until the carriage turned back into a pumpkin.

[jag]

:lol people blaming the refs

The refs didn't force the Spurs into turning the ball over and being undisciplined on defense. Joey Crawford didn't guide the ball into the basket when Ibaka went 11/11. And Stern didn't make Tim Duncan 36 years old.

The Thunder got some bogus calls throughout the series, calls they didn't get against the Heat. But a few missed calls aren't what caused the Spurs to lose their edge. They didn't want it bad enough. The Spurs aren't as talented as the Thunder, and when it mattered most, they lacked the intangibles necessary to overcome that talent. The Celtics are a great example of a team that overachieves on sheer will and grit. The Celtics, Thunder, and ultimately the Heat, wanted it much more than the Spurs.

[hotsauce0987]

the refs cought on to james harden's floping. If you noticed they dident call the flops in the Miami series like they did in the Spurs series

[da_suns_fan]

The Spurs are old and ran out of gas.