What was our most dominant team of the Duncan era in your opinion?

[N0 LyF3 ScRuB]

tbh it may be 06 even though we didn't win the title

[Mikeanaro]

Is not an easy question, dominant in regular season? playoffs? 2007 was good but it was Cleveland, 2005 was good but it took 7 games and so on...

[hitmantb]

Easy answer: near prime David Robinson in 1999, only time Duncan played with a top 50 of all time near his prime. The Laker/Blazer teams of that year were stacked to the max, yet Spurs swept them. DRob of that year > Parker + Ginobili. Duncan wasn't 2003 Duncan but still ahead of where he was in 2007 and beyond off the fountain of youth. Also had nasty role players like Mario Elie, Sean etc.

Only 2005 Spurs team comes close but that year, Duncan was very weak against Wallace brothers, I felt he already started his decline.

2003 Spurs was Duncan at his best but Parker/Ginobili were noobs.

2007 Spurs was Duncan on the way down, can barely keep up with Amare.

[Juggity]

Wasn't 2004 the best defensive spurs team? I seem to remember that

[Skull-1]

Tie between 1999 and 2003.

[313]

2014. We're gonna sweep the playoffs.

[hooperflash]

2014. We're gonna sweep the playoffs.

I like this, get it done RC . . .

[TheyCallMePro]

Controversial pick, but for me the 2010-2011 team. Listen, we had the best record in the West at 61-21, and we had 3 players we don't have now that truly made us better. They were: Antonio Mcdyess-- an even craftier big man than Diaw, George Hill-- a lock-down PG who could shoot and drive to the rim, and Richard Jefferson-- who shot lights out from 3 and still had a lot of athleticism and big play-making ability.

Now I know that we blew it in the playoffs losing to the Grizzlies in the 1st round. But if Manu hadn't broke his elbow in the last game of the regular season...that team definitely wins the Championship. If we get past Memphis we get a young OKC team that wasn't ready, then the Mavericks who we owned all season, and a Heat team that wasn't nearly as good as they are now.

And yet that great team will only be remember for 'choking.' Such a shame.

[elemento]

99 team with pre-injury Duncan and D-Rob still in great shape

[mute]

Unpopular opinion but I think the 2013, 2012, and 2011 (from order of best to worst) were slightly better than any of our title teams. I think we never know with 2011 since Manu went down and wasn't really himself (he was our best player that year). I think 2012 and 2013 specifically are the biggest we've been in the Duncan era and have 9-10 capable guys of contributing meaningful minutes. Not to mention the offensive power and long range shooting...

I think a match-up between 2013 v. 1999/2003/2005/2007 would be similar the 2013 series vs. Memphis. Memphis was a great defensive/grind it out type, but if you look up and down their roster, who's gonna score for them? They just can't score enough, and that's partly why I predicted a sweep or at worst 5 games. These past two years we've had a great mix of both offense and defense (and last year should have been a title, but then again MIA is a once in a generation type team anyways).

Parker has never looked better, Duncan with his resurgence (of course, he's not MVP level, but we don't need that). Manu is still a capable player... but all in all, I think the difference(s) are Green, Kawhi, Diaw, Mills, Marco, and Splitter.

[cd021]

Controversial pick, but for me the 2010-2011 team. Listen, we had the best record in the West at 61-21, and we had 3 players we don't have now that truly made us better. They were: Antonio Mcdyess-- an even craftier big man than Diaw, George Hill-- a lock-down PG who could shoot and drive to the rim, and Richard Jefferson-- who shot lights out from 3 and still had a lot of athleticism and big play-making ability.

Now I know that we blew it in the playoffs losing to the Grizzlies in the 1st round. But if Manu hadn't broke his elbow in the last game of the regular season...that team definitely wins the Championship. If we get past Memphis we get a young OKC team that wasn't ready, then the Mavericks who we owned all season, and a Heat team that wasn't nearly as good as they are now.

And yet that great team will only be remember for 'choking.' Such a shame.

i agree. 113 points per 100 possessions. We were slaughtering teams that season. At one point we were 40 -8. Injuries caught up to us. Duncan missed time and we lost 6 straight games. Manu broke his arm on the last night of the season. Lost to Memphis, but still a awesome team.

[spurraider21]

99 or 05... 05 had manu beasting and clutch as fuck horry tbh

[Sean Cagney]

Wasn't 2004 the best defensive spurs team? I seem to remember that

Yeah it was but we had HEDO and Rasho starting then so I can't put that as the best Spurs team.
Controversial pick, but for me the 2010-2011 team. Listen, we had the best record in the West at 61-21, and we had 3 players we don't have now that truly made us better. They were: Antonio Mcdyess-- an even craftier big man than Diaw, George Hill-- a lock-down PG who could shoot and drive to the rim, and Richard Jefferson-- who shot lights out from 3 and still had a lot of athleticism and big play-making ability.

Now I know that we blew it in the playoffs losing to the Grizzlies in the 1st round. But if Manu hadn't broke his elbow in the last game of the regular season...that team definitely wins the Championship. If we get past Memphis we get a young OKC team that wasn't ready, then the Mavericks who we owned all season, and a Heat team that wasn't nearly as good as they are now.

And yet that great team will only be remember for 'choking.' Such a shame.
That team was not playing D like the title teams or near it, can't put that near the top of any Spurs team. 012 Spurs were way better than the 011 late, last years team even better. Getting RID OF RJ is what got them back to the WCF and Finals IMO, great trade he sucked. 011 team with TIM not nearly as good as the last two years or so was not that great, they relied on threes to fall all game long to win and their record was fools Gold. They sucked on D as I mentioned as well.

[dbreiden83080]

I think 05 and 06 were the best teams overall and sadly 06 was the best Spurs team that didn't win it all..

[hitmantb]

2011-2013 is nowhere near as good as prime DRob/Duncan or prime GDP.

Depth get you through regular season but it is starting five that matters. Spurs has to play the current way because it does not have a single dominant one-on-one player left. The 2013 team is a lot worse than its record indicates because of Danny Green's finals MVP performance for the first five games and LeBron's mental hurdles at hitting jumpers.

LOL at comparison of 99 Spurs to 13 Grizzlies, I really suggest looking at some 99 tapes to see how dominant that twin tower combo was. The Lakers team of that year (the one swept by 99 Spurs) would have won title this year. The 99 twin tower was one of the few things that stopped prime Shaq/Kobe.

[Maddog]

99
The team finished the season 12-1 and then ripped through the playoffs at 15-2, basically finishing the season on a 27-3 run.
That stretch to end the season included 2 wins each over Utah and Portland.




after starting 6-8

[Barfunk]

2005 Spurs. Prime Duncan and Ginobili + a young Parker + a great supporting cast in Horry, Barry, Bowen, and Nazr. Won 59 games despite the big 3 missing games. That team could fly high with the high octane Phoenix Suns or grind it out with the defensive powerhouse Pistons. Easily the best team of the Duncan era.

[Skull-1]

2005 Spurs. Prime Duncan and Ginobili + a young Parker + a great supporting cast in Horry, Barry, Bowen, and Nazr. Won 59 games despite the big 3 missing games. That team could fly high with the high octane Phoenix Suns or grind it out with the defensive powerhouse Pistons. Easily the best team of the Duncan era.

Certainly a worthy argument.

[ElNono]

I would agree with 2005, but also the 2003 team was no slouch, beating the 3-peat defending champs...

[Prime Time]

I think the 2003 Team was the hardest to exploit. Fact is, NO ONE could have stopped Duncan that year. He was just too hungry after losing to LA twice. With Robinson as an anchor inside the paint and Jackson/Kerr clutch as hell.. There's only a handful of teams that could have beaten them. (Jordan's Bulls, Showtime Lakers would be two examples.)

But the best all-around team was 2005. Defeating those Pistons was an incredible feat. for Duncan's career, though Pistons were a little distracted due to Brown being an attention whore.. But no one likes a crying loser.

[TampaDude]

2005 Spurs. Prime Duncan and Ginobili + a young Parker + a great supporting cast in Horry, Barry, Bowen, and Nazr. Won 59 games despite the big 3 missing games. That team could fly high with the high octane Phoenix Suns or grind it out with the defensive powerhouse Pistons. Easily the best team of the Duncan era.

Yup...although the '99 team is right up there, too. Also, 2005 was the best Finals ever, IMHO.

[Robz4000]

The 2007 team was stacked as hell and never got pushed to go all out. Although they had the easiest Finals opponent out of all the championship teams, the road to get there was rough tbh. Melo and AI (overrated but still good), prolly the best ever Suns team, and a Jerry Sloan Jazz team with a prime Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, and fucking Derek Fisher; would've been fun if they met with the Mavs that year although the Spurs would've been underdogs.

[rmt]

2005. Deep and versatile. Lockdown defense (TD, Bowen), big men to play Shaq (Rasho, Nazr) or small ball vs Suns (Horry), excellent passing (Manu, Horry, Barry), 3pt shooting (Bowen, Barry, Horry, Manu). Duncan near his peak, Manu at his peak, Parker before his peak. Those saying post-2007, IMO, are nuts. This year (and last) the teams are deep, but Duncan is nowhere near the dominant, post player that he was so any team shutting down Parker (which is much easier to do than shutting down prime TD), puts Spurs' offense in trouble.

[Arcadian]

I say 2005, followed closely by 1999.

I can see the argument for 99, but you have to remember Robinson was already past his prime by then. He was still an excellent center, yet only half the player he once was.

In 05, Duncan's average stats/game went down in the regular season, but he was still a beast in the playoffs. Some people mistakenly think his prime ended in 03, but it actually extended to 07. His playoff stats/game remained equally high through 07 (and we all remember his epic performances, including 08 against Phoenix). Anyway, so 05 had Duncan and Manu in their primes, Parker nearing his prime, and a great supporting cast with Horry, Barry, Bowen, etc.

Also, 2005 was the hardest-earned championship because Detroit was the best team we beat in the Finals (would have been Miami, but alas), and they took us to 7 games.

I won't even consider teams that didn't win the championship, because it seems silly to call a team dominant that ultimately lost, but I do agree that many of those teams were badass and probably should have won titles (04, 06, 12, 13). The Spurs could have won up to 8 titles if everything went our way.

[Old School 44]

99. It wasn't the prettiest group to watch offensively, but the defense was crazy.
Too bad, a healthy DRob and Sean Elliott careers didn't overlap a few more years with a still developing TD.