name a series the spurs won in the duncan era...

[Floyd Pacquiao]

While trailing 2-1... go

[dallasmaverickslose]

Hornets 2008

[Ibleedslvrnblk]

Dallas 2014

[Budkin]

Not only that we won Game 7 on the road in that one.

[3 Legged Dog]

So wtf is your point?

[Floyd Pacquiao]

Hornets 2008 it can be done again..believe

[timtonymanu]

The series is still winnable for sure.

The Mavs have an elite coach though and we are getting outplayed a lot so far.

[rmt]

Hornets 2008

Duncan was sick like a dog the first 2 games of that series and had poor games. Once he recovered, his game got better. Hornets were young and inexperienced. Mavs are full of seasoned veterans. Pop is resting them too much. Put Parker and Duncan out there. Carlisle has Ellis and Dirk (even though he was dog tired) out there.

[dallasmaverickslose]

My bad, Spurs were down 2-0.

Well, I guess that means they were down 2-1 at one point because they didn't go down 0-3.

[Expert]

Good thing you guys don't play. You'd have reneged on your contracts and quit after the 1st game.

[DD]

It means this core historically doesn't respond well to adversity. It's part of the reason they never had the mental toughness to repeat as champs. Great frontrunners--they'll crush an opponent's will in this position but any resistance and they fold like lawn chairs

[KaiRMD1]

Dallas 2014

[DD]

It means this core historically doesn't respond well to adversity. It's part of the reason they never had the mental toughness to repeat as champs. Great frontrunners--they'll crush an opponent's will in this position but any resistance and they fold like lawn chairs

Actually kinda reminds me of Tiger Woods (although he's repeated before)...if he ain't the leader going into Sunday then you know he's not winning.

[King Emmanuel]

It means this core historically doesn't respond well to adversity. It's part of the reason they never had the mental toughness to repeat as champs. Great frontrunners--they'll crush an opponent's will in this position but any resistance and they fold like lawn chairs
Too much truth in this

[TD 21]

Just goes to show you what a mentally fragile team this has been throughout the years. You go back, even the years they one, they were extremely close to choking it away.

Like the epic collapse in game 5 in '03 against the Lakers, where they blew a massive lead to a dead tired team (because of their three straight championships) and needed Horry's would be game winning three to go in and out. They also somehow were damn near taken to 7 games by a joke ass Nets team. All this despite having Duncan playing a higher all around level than anyone I've ever seen.

In '05, it took Horry, from games 5-7, playing the best I've ever seen a role player play, considering the magnitude of the games and relative to expectations. He literally had to play at a star level and even then, they only won because Wallace made a mistake and gave him a wide opening, back breaking three in game 5.

Then '07, it took the Mavs and Pistons being eliminated, Nash having to sit out down the stretch of a game 1 that they had controlled throughout and were on the verge of pissing away and of course the Stoudemire/Diaw suspensions, after they had collapsed at the end of game 4 and given back home court, despite again controlling the game.

Add the last three seasons, they way they ended and this team has no business having all the cliches that are always attached to them, attached to them. In fact, they're the exact opposite of all those things.

[therealtruth]

It means this core historically doesn't respond well to adversity. It's part of the reason they never had the mental toughness to repeat as champs. Great frontrunners--they'll crush an opponent's will in this position but any resistance and they fold like lawn chairs

I agree about mental toughness. We need more guys like Horry. Horry had more mental toughness than this entire group. I think it starts with head coach. Pop doesn't have the mental toughness to instill in the players.

[hitmantb]

It has nothing to do with mental toughness. The talent level on Spurs was never that great compared to the competition. You need talent level disparity to win reliably or repeat. Your role players can get lucky and give you a big lead but they can not sustain it if you don't have the talent edge. Teams that repeat or win effortlessly usually have two hall of famers, one of them at the peak of his power and top 5 in the NBA. Parker and Ginobili were never elite players. Spurs way overachieved last year with Green's historical shooting, the expectation of this board is way too high, they just don't have the talents and GDP, while each can still dominate in stretches, can no longer sustain it.

2003 Spurs had only Duncan, it was a miracle they actually won that series against the Lakers, Parker was getting destroyed by Jason Kidd, offset most of Duncan's damage.

2005, Wallace brothers easily neutralized a hobbled Duncan, held him to low percentages, Manu/Parker are overall weaker than Chancy/Hamilton. Parker again torched.

2007, Nash torched Parker and Spurs got very lucky, Phoenix had much better talents that year with Marion/Amare/Nash at their peak. That was a much nastier trio than GDP at that specific time.

The team's core is a 28th pick of round 1 and another pick in round 2. Spurs did an amazing job to win these championships using the GDP core to begin with. Remove Ginobili/Parker, add Kobe, the Spurs team would have three-peated for sure. At end of the day it is a small city and very old core, back when Duncan was in his prime we got amazing veterans looking for rings, nowadays, these players go to Miami instead. Popovich's best-in-class minute management and great coaching got Spurs beating low end teams more reliably than anyone else. But against good competition, the stars matter.

Also not sure why Spurs feels Mavericks are not as talented? If you look at the stats of Spurs vs Mav players during the regular season, Dirk > Duncan, Ellis > Parker, what do you expect really? Relying on role players can only get you through the regular season. In the playoffs once minutes are up, Spurs weakness is fully exposed. The margin of error for SA is just too low with the talents they have.

I don't know why people think Popovich got out-coached, he does not have the best two players on the court against any coach. It is much easier to win if you have the best player on the court or even top two players on the court. There is only one ball and having a 10/10 and 9/10 is much easier to win than having a 8/7/6 out of 10 trio.