Which Was the Greatest Team the Spurs Defeated On the Way to a Title?

[BillMc]

1999 Trailblazers (35 and 15 regular season, veteran team, victim of the "Memorial Day Miracle", would push Shaq-Kobe Lakers to 7 games next year)

2003 Mavs (60 and 22 regular season, first 60 win team of the Dirk era)

2003 Lakers (50 and 32 regular season, 3 time defending champs going for a fourth, Spurs win in 6)

2003 Nets (49 and 33 regular season, 2 time defending Eastern Conference Champs, Jason Kidd and RJ! (Yes, RJ!) in his prime).

2005 Suns (62-20 regular season, best of the Amar'e/Nash Suns. Spurs took them down in 5 games)

2005 Pistons (54 and 28 regular season, defending champs who had also defeated the Shaq-Kobe Lakers the previous year, Spurs win in 7 hard fought games)

2007 Suns (61 and 21 regular season, biggest threat that year after the Mavs choked in the first round)

2014 Thunder (59 and 23 regular season, second best record in the NBA, had beaten the Spurs 4-0 in the regular season, and backdoor swept them in 2012)

2014 Heat (54 and 28 regular season, 2 time defending champs, had beaten the Spurs in the 2013 Finals, Heat making their 4th consecutive finals appearance.)

A team I missed?

[Chris]

2005 Pistons for sure

I think all of their starters were all stars that year, and that bench was so solid with Hunter running the second team

[baseline bum]

Tough call between 2014 Heat and 2003 Lakers

[DJR210]

I think you have to give the 2014 Thunder some credit. I was literally at the edge of my seat in game 6. Ibaka dominated the paint for all but the final 3-4 Duncan possessions at the end of the game. I don't see how the 2014 Heat can be mentioned..regular season accomplishments aside, that should have been a sweep.

2005 Pistons were also beast. Who knows what would have happened without Horry.

[Chris]

I think you have to give the 2014 Thunder some credit. I was literally at the edge of my seat in game 6. Ibaka dominated the paint for all but the final 3-4 Duncan possessions at the end of the game. I don't see how the 2014 Heat can be mentioned..regular season accomplishments aside, that should have been a sweep.

They didn't have Mike Miller to bail them out time after time. What a terrible move in hindsight tbh

[TheyCallMePro]

The 2003 Lakers were bored. They had just won 3 straight Championships and didn't care.

The 2005 Pistons were very good, but were just full of role players.

The answer is easily the 2014 Thunder. They were no question the 2nd best team in the NBA this year (they had the 2nd best record as well). They have 2 SUPERSTARS in Westbrook and Durant, the best defender in the league in Ibaka, and a talented, if relatively thin, bench (Adams, Jackson, Fisher, Butler). We were the only team that was going to stop them this year, and if Ibaka wasn't hurt the first 2 games, then we might never have gotten past them.

[xmas1997]

The 2003 Lakers were bored. They had just won 3 straight Championships and didn't care.

The 2005 Pistons were very good, but were just full of role players.

The answer is easily the 2014 Thunder. They were no question the 2nd best team in the NBA this year (they had the 2nd best record as well). They have 2 SUPERSTARS in Westbrook and Durant, the best defender in the league in Ibaka, and a talented, if relatively thin, bench (Adams, Jackson, Fisher, Butler). We were the only team that was going to stop them this year, and if Ibaka wasn't hurt the first 2 games, then we might never have gotten past them.

I don't know about that. The Mavs team took them to seven games.

[Jimcs50]

2005 Pistons by a mile

[Jimcs50]

The 2003 Lakers were bored. They had just won 3 straight Championships and didn't care.

The 2005 Pistons were very good, but were just full of role players.

The answer is easily the 2014 Thunder. .

Spurs smoked OKC three times. We beat Pistons only once by blowout and they blew us out twice. We beat both Pistons and Thunder in OT once, but our close out game was a close game against Detroit at home and we went 7 games...so Pistons are the toughest team for us

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

The 2003 Lakers were bored. They had just won 3 straight Championships and didn't care.

The 2005 Pistons were very good, but were just full of role players.

The answer is easily the 2014 Thunder. They were no question the 2nd best team in the NBA this year (they had the 2nd best record as well). They have 2 SUPERSTARS in Westbrook and Durant, the best defender in the league in Ibaka, and a talented, if relatively thin, bench (Adams, Jackson, Fisher, Butler). We were the only team that was going to stop them this year, and if Ibaka wasn't hurt the first 2 games, then we might never have gotten past them.

^ WTF?

[TheyCallMePro]

^ WTF?

Ibaka was robbed of the DPOY. Ten times more the presence on D than Noah is. Noah wouldn't even come close to intimidating Parker.

[xmas1997]

Not surprising. Look how many times Bowen and TD didn't get it.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Bowen and TD didn't get the DPOY exactly because of players like Ibaka who is a great weakside shotblocker but nothing special as a defender. Blocks are overrated.

[spurraider21]

03 Lakers. and if Horry hit that shot in game 5 we could be singing a different tune tbh

[Arcadian]

You left off the 1999 Lakers. They should at least be in the poll.

But anyway, my vote goes to the 2005 Pistons. They took us to the 4th quarter of game 7 in the Finals.

[doobs]

2005 Pistons. In alternate universe, 2013 Heat come a close second.

[Vito Corleone]

I'd say

2003 Lakers

99 Trailblazers

14 Heat

[xmas1997]

I'd say

2003 Lakers

99 Trailblazers

14 Heat

I would agree with the first two.

2003 Lakers

1999 Blazers

2005 Pistons

2014 Mavs

2014 Thunder

2014 Heat

In that order.

[RoyerReptiles]

I can see how someone would put in a vote for the 2005 Pistons. They were the defending champs and pushed SA to 7 games. Although this poll is based on opinions (which believe it or not can be very ridiculous), though, I have to think that you'd be insane to vote for anyone other than them, or the team with my vote, the 2003 Lakers. Voting for other teams makes me question how much basketball one actually watches....

The 2003 Lakers had just THRASHED San Antonio the last two years in the playoffs to the tune of a sweep and a 4-1 series. 8-1 over the last two series. They had two of the top 5 players in the league, arguably the greatest NBA coach of all time in Phil and had just come off of a THREE-PEAT! Bored or not, you cannot ignore the record. They even went on the next year to once again beat San Antonio in the 2004 Playoffs. I'm sure I don't need to remind too many of the members of this board of .4....

The Shaq/Kobe/Phil Lakers have already gone down as one of the great teams of all time. Pop said it best when he compared them breaking up to the breakup of the Soviet Union. No other team truly gave SA the trouble that LA did in the last 15 years in the playoffs. Look at it this way....10 Championships between them since 1999. That's 10 out of the last 15 champions. Five and five. The Lakers also made it to 2 other finals. No offense, but to me choosing another team would be shortchanging what the Lakers were able to accomplish. I can understand the Silver and Black blinders that many in here have on. Most long time Spurs fans have a healthy hatred of the Purple and Gold. They and the Spurs are the only two teams that have any claim to the "Best Post Jordan Team" title. Not even the Heat of the last 4 years comes close.

Seeing San Antonio beat them in game six, with Kobe and Fish crying on the sideline was one of my favorite Spurs moments....right up there with the Memorial Day Miracle. Epic, epic defeat of a great team.

[Old School 44]

The 2005 Pistons were the best team, but they just weren't that appealling to watch. Same could be said about the Spurs style of play back then.

I've always said the "Spurs are boring" label came from their matchups in the Finals. Because the Spurs finally had a two-time champion, and media darling as an opponent, one they crushed on the biggest stage, they're finally getting their due. Can you imagine if the Lakers and Spurs played in different conferences during the Shaq/Kobe years? We'd probably have 7-10 years of Lakers/Spurs Finals.

[hitmanyr2k]

I can see how someone would put in a vote for the 2005 Pistons. They were the defending champs and pushed SA to 7 games. Although this poll is based on opinions (which believe it or not can be very ridiculous), though, I have to think that you'd be insane to vote for anyone other than them, or the team with my vote, the 2003 Lakers. Voting for other teams makes me question how much basketball one actually watches....

The 2003 Lakers had just THRASHED San Antonio the last two years in the playoffs to the tune of a sweep and a 4-1 series. 8-1 over the last two series. They had two of the top 5 players in the league, arguably the greatest NBA coach of all time in Phil and had just come off of a THREE-PEAT! Bored or not, you cannot ignore the record. They even went on the next year to once again beat San Antonio in the 2004 Playoffs. I'm sure I don't need to remind too many of the members of this board of .4....

The Shaq/Kobe/Phil Lakers have already gone down as one of the great teams of all time. Pop said it best when he compared them breaking up to the breakup of the Soviet Union. No other team truly gave SA the trouble that LA did in the last 15 years in the playoffs. Look at it this way....10 Championships between them since 1999. That's 10 out of the last 15 champions. Five and five. The Lakers also made it to 2 other finals. No offense, but to me choosing another team would be shortchanging what the Lakers were able to accomplish. I can understand the Silver and Black blinders that many in here have on. Most long time Spurs fans have a healthy hatred of the Purple and Gold. They and the Spurs are the only two teams that have any claim to the "Best Post Jordan Team" title. Not even the Heat of the last 4 years comes close.

Seeing San Antonio beat them in game six, with Kobe and Fish crying on the sideline was one of my favorite Spurs moments....right up there with the Memorial Day Miracle. Epic, epic defeat of a great team.


Yeah, but the title of the thread says the greatest team the Spurs had to go through to win a championship and the 2003 Lakers weren't it. LA got their collective asses kicked by 25+ on their homecourt in the closeout game by Duncan and the new blood who weren't even close to their primes yet. That doesn't say "great" to me. Yeah, LA 3-peated and all but they never truly had to go through a good Eastern Conference opponent in the Finals. They had to face two decent playoff teams max and then it was cupcake competition in the Finals with the over the hill Pacers, the one man show Sixers, and that godawful Nets team. The Lakers were also fortunate Duncan never had any true veteran perimeter talent around him in 2001 and 2002. The closest thing the Spurs had had to a decent 2nd option talent-wise was Derek Anderson who was taken out early in the 2001 playoffs by a Juwan Howard cheapshot.

Meanwhile the Pistons were the defending champs who gave the 2005 Spurs (the best and most seasoned Spurs team to this day imo) all they could handle. Detroit lost a heartbreaker in Game 5 on their home floor but didn't even look close to folding like the rest of the primadonna teams on this list. Unlike the Lakers the Pistons came back strong and took Game 6 in San Antonio and then had Spurs fans biting their nails more than Lebron when they took Game 7 down to the final minute. The Spurs have never had a greater challenge enroute to a title than the Pistons.

[Budkin]

2005 Pistons by a mile

This x 100000

[Prime Time]

The '05 Pistons seemed to be the one series that truly could have gone either way. I know if the '03 Lakers won G5 it could have put the Spurs away as well, but the blowout in G6 exposed the lack of composure that Lakers team had.

The '05 Pistons series would probably kill me if I saw it live. Games 3-4 were blowouts, Spurs barely squeaked by in G5, Pistons proved they could win on the road in G6, and in G7 the game was tied entering the fourth quarter. The only thing that could have come close in terms of stress would probably be the 2013 Finals if the Spurs had won Game 7.

I firmly believe the '05 Pistons could have defeated any of the teams you mentioned. In fact, I'd go as far as saying the Pistons deserved to be champs in '05 as much as Ginobili deserved Finals MVP.

[Brunodf]

Pistons is the best team the Spurs ever played against tbh

[RoyerReptiles]

Yeah, but the title of the thread says the greatest team the Spurs had to go through to win a championship and the 2003 Lakers weren't it. LA got their collective asses kicked by 25+ on their homecourt in the closeout game by Duncan and the new blood who weren't even close to their primes yet. That doesn't say "great" to me. Yeah, LA 3-peated and all but they never truly had to go through a good Eastern Conference opponent in the Finals. They had to face two decent playoff teams max and then it was cupcake competition in the Finals with the over the hill Pacers, the one man show Sixers, and that godawful Nets team. The Lakers were also fortunate Duncan never had any true veteran perimeter talent around him in 2001 and 2002. The closest thing the Spurs had had to a decent 2nd option talent-wise was Derek Anderson who was taken out early in the 2001 playoffs by a Juwan Howard cheapshot.

Meanwhile the Pistons were the defending champs who gave the 2005 Spurs (the best and most seasoned Spurs team to this day imo) all they could handle. Detroit lost a heartbreaker in Game 5 on their home floor but didn't even look close to folding like the rest of the primadonna teams on this list. Unlike the Lakers the Pistons came back strong and took Game 6 in San Antonio and then had Spurs fans biting their nails more than Lebron when they took Game 7 down to the final minute. The Spurs have never had a greater challenge enroute to a title than the Pistons.

The case for the 2003 Lakers (especially after the complete domination the previous two years of San Antonio) is very, very easy to make over any other team during SA's 5 runs. While the Spurs put it together very, very well in LA for game 6 and crushed them there, LA was one Horry shot away from changing the tone of that series in game 5, just like Fisher's shot the next year changed the tone in 2004. Win game 5....you win the series. All you have to do is look at game 6 in 2004 for proof of that. Fisher's shot deflated San Antonio, just like Horry's miss deflated LA in 2003. LA came back and beat SA the very next year. Considering the battles these two teams waged with each other from 1999 to the end of the Shaq/Kobe team, it's just too easy to pick LA. For YEARS the winner of that series was considered the favorite to win in the Finals. It was truly an amazing thing to watch.

Regarding the Eastern Conference comment....seriously, can you really compare that conference to the West in the post Jordan era? Who cares who the Eastern opponent was for the winners of the West. Put Miami in the West and they don't make it to 4 straight finals. There's a good chance that Detroit doesn't make it to two, either. The fact that any team makes it through the gauntlet of Western Conference teams (which includes 11 NBA champions) basically tells me that the REAL NBA championship was played out West most years in the NBA. It was sort of like the 90's NFC Championship games. The Lakers went through the Spurs as well as two juggernaut teams in Sacramento and Portland to win their 3 titles....teams that all would have owned the East. That's impressive, especially considering the longevity.

I give the Pistons their props...they did win one and they pushed SA to game 7, but do we hinge everything on that fact? Dallas took SA to a game 7 this year. Does that mean they were the best team the Spurs played in the playoffs? I doubt you'd put them ahead of the Thunder or Heat. I sure as hell wouldn't. Look at the total picture, the multiple series played and the championships won. The 2003 defeat of the three time defending champs was very, very special.

[stephen jackson]

that piston team was so good......
remember everyone questioning timmy? he was under the pressure that series everyone was talking down on him like he couldnt get it done

[phxspurfan]

Father Time in 2014

[phxspurfan]

03 Sonics! Jerome James!

[elemento]

2005 Pistons

[baseline bum]

LOL all these people here parroting the ESPN storyline of the 2014 Heat sucking. The 2014 Heat were an awesome team than ran into a fucking buzzsaw. The Pistons series in 05 only went 7 because Duncan was on two bad ankles. You put 04 Duncan or even 06 Duncan (pf and all) and the Spurs mop the floor with Detroit. I know the 05 Spurs were the best team in franchise history on paper, but Duncan wasn't healthy.

[SAntonio!]

Maybe not the greatest team we beat but as far as the toughest series I can remember would have to be the Suns in 2007. Phx had a helluva team that year and should've won that series tbh. Detroit in 2005 was a tough series as well but from what I remember that Suns series was nerve-racking as hell, and for me, the toughest series I can remember the Spurs ever playing.

[RoyerReptiles]

LOL all these people here parroting the ESPN storyline of the 2014 Heat sucking. The 2014 Heat were an awesome team than ran into a fucking buzzsaw. The Pistons series in 05 only went 7 because Duncan was on two bad ankles. You put 04 Duncan or even 06 Duncan (pf and all) and the Spurs mop the floor with Detroit. I know the 05 Spurs were the best team in franchise history on paper, but Duncan wasn't healthy.

Parroting the ESPN storyline of the '14 Heat sucking? Thankfully some of us are capable of independent thought. If my opinion seems to mirror ESPN's, that's only by coincidence. I could care less what they say. I personally don't get too excited about the Heat's accomplishments just yet. I'm always more impressed by the team that makes it out of the West in one piece. They did win two, obviously, but their current form was so completely weak compared to 2012 and 2013. Wade was physically not right and they lost Mike Miller. Battier was also a shell of himself. Their lack of multiple three point shooters exposed them considerably on offense.

Take the '14 Spurs and Heat and have them trade conferences. There's no way in hell the Heat make it to the finals in the West. The Spurs were a machine this year, no doubt, but I personally feel that they played against the worst Heat team of the last 4 finals teams this year. They lacked any depth and their second best player was a shell of himself.

[RoyerReptiles]

Maybe not the greatest team we beat but as far as the toughest series I can remember would have to be the Suns in 2007. Phx had a helluva team that year and should've won that series tbh. Detroit in 2005 was a tough series as well but from what I remember that Suns series was nerve-racking as hell, and for me, the toughest series I can remember the Spurs ever playing.

If it weren't for the Spurs in '07, that PHX team would have been the champs that year. That was an awesome, awesome team. Who knows what would have happened if it weren't for those suspensions???

[baseline bum]

Parroting the ESPN storyline of the '14 Heat sucking? Thankfully some of us are capable of independent thought. If my opinion seems to mirror ESPN's, that's only by coincidence. I could care less what they say. I personally don't get too excited about the Heat's accomplishments just yet. I'm always more impressed by the team that makes it out of the West in one piece. They did win two, obviously, but their current form was so completely weak compared to 2012 and 2013. Wade was physically not right and they lost Mike Miller. Battier was also a shell of himself. Their lack of multiple three point shooters exposed them considerably on offense.

Take the '14 Spurs and Heat and have them trade conferences. There's no way in hell the Heat make it to the finals in the West. The Spurs were a machine this year, no doubt, but I personally feel that they played against the worst Heat team of the last 4 finals teams this year. They lacked any depth and their second best player was a shell of himself.

Wade was way stronger this time around than in 2013, when he was genuinely hurt. :lol

No credit given to Danny Green even on a Spurs forum. :pctoss

[KL2]

Bowen and TD didn't get the DPOY exactly because of players like Ibaka who is a great weakside shotblocker but nothing special as a defender. Blocks are overrated.


Ibaka doesn't have to do much that's what makes him special, it's pure intimidation. Players see him in the paint, suddenly they are forced to change the angle of their shot, an easy layup becomes a difficult floater. Nobody likes getting swatted, it's embarassing. Teams then choose to shoot jumpers instead of attacking, and that's how you beat a team, make them make low % jumpers.

[RoyerReptiles]

Wade was way stronger this time around than in 2013, when he was genuinely hurt. :lol

No credit given to Danny Green even on a Spurs forum. :pctoss

Maybe you and I watched a different finals, but THAT was not the Dwayne Wade I've seen in the past. He looked good (not great) in earlier series, but he was slow and lethargic against the Spurs. Was he better physically than 2013? Perhaps, although I wouldn't get too excited about a 75% Wade being better than a 60% Wade. That's not saying much.

Soooo we have a 75% Wade, NO Mike Miller/basically no Battier/and NOOOOO Chalmers (which leads to little spreading of the floor/3 point shooting).....how is this team equal to the '13 Heat? Or the '12 Heat? They were the best the East had to offer, no doubt, but that's like saying you're the smartest kid in the "special" class. The East was historically weak. A special win for San Antonio after '13 no doubt, but OKC was a better team win for SA if you take away the storyline from '13 and the Finals. Winning game 6 in OKC was HUGE.

And Danny Green was awesome, by the way ;). He brought really good defense, regardless of whether or not his 3 point shot was falling. If you're trying to say that he should get the credit for Wade's terrible finals??? I'd definitely put some of that on his and Kawhi's D, of course, but a 100% Wade is very much like a 100% Lebron/Durant/Melo/Kobe. They're the type of players that you can only make work hard, but they'll get their numbers. What we saw in the finals was not a 100% Wade.

[barbacoataco]

I thought about this hard but voted for Miami. You could also argue for 2003 Lakers, 2005 Pistons. I guess it's hard to distinguish between how good a team was on paper, and how well they were playing at that time. I can't take any of those Suns teams seriously since the Spurs beat them year after year. They never even went to 7 games. Nash and Amare didn't have what it takes to win a championship.

[baseline bum]

Maybe you and I watched a different finals, but THAT was not the Dwayne Wade I've seen in the past. He looked good (not great) in earlier series, but he was slow and lethargic against the Spurs. Was he better physically than 2013? Perhaps, although I wouldn't get too excited about a 75% Wade being better than a 60% Wade. That's not saying much.

Soooo we have a 75% Wade, NO Mike Miller/basically no Battier/and NOOOOO Chalmers (which leads to little spreading of the floor/3 point shooting).....how is this team equal to the '13 Heat? Or the '12 Heat? They were the best the East had to offer, no doubt, but that's like saying you're the smartest kid in the "special" class. The East was historically weak. A special win for San Antonio after '13 no doubt, but OKC was a better team win for SA if you take away the storyline from '13 and the Finals. Winning game 6 in OKC was HUGE.

And Danny Green was awesome, by the way ;). He brought really good defense, regardless of whether or not his 3 point shot was falling. If you're trying to say that he should get the credit for Wade's terrible finals??? I'd definitely put some of that on his and Kawhi's D, of course, but a 100% Wade is very much like a 100% Lebron/Durant/Melo/Kobe. They're the type of players that you can only make work hard, but they'll get their numbers. What we saw in the finals was not a 100% Wade.

Wade looked pretty healthy when Green was on the bench other than Game 5. The 2014 Spurs team was way better defensively than the 2013 team that played a gimmick defense against Miami. All they did in 2013 was pull a 2004 Lakers, packing the paint and giving up wide open jumpshots. And I never said the 2014 Heat were equal to the 2013 Heat. Obviously they weren't as good as the 66 win team that won a title with its second best player at 50-60%. But we're only considering teams the Spurs beat.

And I do think the 14 Heat make it out of the West if the Spurs are in the East. OKC looked like shit against Memphis but they're beating a Heat team they match up badly with? The Game 6 win in OKC was huge because they're a terrible matchup for the Spurs, not because they're some world beater.

[Vic Petro]

2005 Pistons. They were Joe Frazier. Not flashy but just kept beating on you.

[50Bestspurever]

03 Lakers. and if Horry hit that shot in game 5 we could be singing a different tune tbh

was thinking the same thing. That ball was in the cylinder!! then he makes the shot for us against the pistons. crazy!!!

[tmtcsc]

2005 Pistons embodied team and they were the defending champs. Its not even close.

As for some of the others:

99 Blazers? We swept them.
2003 Lakers: Dysfunctional but talented.
2014 Heat? They were weak and older than Spurs.
2014 OKC? No bench. Spurs took them to deep waters in OKC and trounced them in SA.

[tmtcsc]

The Game 6 win in OKC was huge because they're a terrible matchup for the Spurs, not because they're some world beater.

Terrible matchup? The times they are a changing. Spurs crushed them at home, adjusted to Ibaka's presence and took them out in 6. KD is a great offensive player but Westbrook is the guy that puts spurs defenders on their heels with his drives to the hoop and quickness on the defensive end. They are no longer the boogeyman except to many Spurs fans.

If the Spurs play OKC again next year in the playoffs, it will be even easier. They have them figured out.

[baseline bum]

Terrible matchup? The times they are a changing. Spurs crushed them at home, adjusted to Ibaka's presence and took them out in 6. KD is a great offensive player but Westbrook is the guy that puts spurs defenders on their heels with his drives to the hoop and quickness on the defensive end. They are no longer the boogeyman except to many Spurs fans.

If the Spurs play OKC again next year in the playoffs, it will be even easier. They have them figured out.

It wasn't very easy this time. They come an incredible block by Kawhi from possibly needing to go to a seventh game. Oklahoma City is still going to be a hard matchup next year.

[Vic Petro]

Terrible matchup? The times they are a changing. Spurs crushed them at home, adjusted to Ibaka's presence and took them out in 6. KD is a great offensive player but Westbrook is the guy that puts spurs defenders on their heels with his drives to the hoop and quickness on the defensive end. They are no longer the boogeyman except to many Spurs fans.

If the Spurs play OKC again next year in the playoffs, it will be even easier. They have them figured out.

They aren't a boogeyman, but doesn't change the fact that it's a bad matchup for San Antonio relative to the other teams in the west (as presently constituted anyway).

[Darkwaters]

2005 Pistons for sure

I think all of their starters were all stars that year, and that bench was so solid with Hunter running the second team

4 of the 5. Tayshaun Prince didn't make the cut.

[Darkwaters]

The 2003 Lakers were bored. They had just won 3 straight Championships and didn't care.

The 2005 Pistons were very good, but were just full of role players.

The answer is easily the 2014 Thunder. They were no question the 2nd best team in the NBA this year (they had the 2nd best record as well). They have 2 SUPERSTARS in Westbrook and Durant, the best defender in the league in Ibaka, and a talented, if relatively thin, bench (Adams, Jackson, Fisher, Butler). We were the only team that was going to stop them this year, and if Ibaka wasn't hurt the first 2 games, then we might never have gotten past them.

Isn't that what the Spurs are now? Haven't we just finished having all these discussions about how a great TEAM > individual play? The Pistons were a solid team to be sure.

Oh and your take on the Thunder? Just....no.

[Ginobili3]

2005 Pistons. That D was something else, not to mention those starters. 2014 Heat is up there too

[J.T.]

2007 Cavaliers

[Budkin]

2007 Cavaliers

Pretty sure you meant 1999 Timberwolves!

[Galileo]

Just a little side trivia:

The 1995 champion Rockets defeated in the playoffs the 4 teams with the 4 best records in the NBA that season;

Jazz 60-22, beat 3-2
Suns 59-23, beat 4-3
Spurs 62-20, beat 4-2
Magic 57-25, beat 4-0

Beat all 4 teams giving up home court advantage.

[Aztecfan03]

Spurs smoked OKC three times. We beat Pistons only once by blowout and they blew us out twice. We beat both Pistons and Thunder in OT once, but our close out game was a close game against Detroit at home and we went 7 games...so Pistons are the toughest team for us

You can't go just by that because the Spurs teams were all different.

[TampaDude]

2005 Pistons by a mile

^ this, tbh

[DieMrBond]

Easily 2005 Pistons. If it wasn't for Robert Horry basically, that title was theirs.
Never been more worried about a finals opponent (until 2013, obviously) than that year.

[ILoveOranges]

Maybe the Spurs won't have too much trouble against the Thunder, but it's always been the the Refs that have always been the Thunder's biggest players. If they smell blood next year, they'll go for the jugular. They tried every single game of this year

[Kidd K]

Let's just look at this year 2014:

Round 1: Spurs defeat 2011 champion Mavericks

Round 2: Spurs defeat annual playoff team who just crushed the Rockets in the Blazers

Round 3: Spurs defeat 2012 WC champion Thunder

Round 4: Spurs defeat b2b champion Heat


Spurs literally defeat every team that appeared in or won the Finals over the previous 3 years (besides themselves) enroute to title, and STOMPED most of them at that. Arguably most impressive run ever.

[Arcadian]

Let's just look at this year 2014:

Round 1: Spurs defeat 2011 champion Mavericks

Round 2: Spurs defeat annual playoff team who just crushed the Rockets in the Blazers

Round 3: Spurs defeat 2012 WC champion Thunder

Round 4: Spurs defeat b2b champion Heat


Spurs literally defeat every team that appeared in or won the Finals over the previous 3 years (besides themselves) enroute to title, and STOMPED most of them at that. Arguably most impressive run ever.

Yeah, and they went through the two best players in the league, James and Durant. No one can question this title. All those "asterisk"-claiming bastards can go fuck themselves.

[admiralsnackbar]

The question was : which was the greatest team the Spurs went through? We've me tough match-ups because of particular individuals, but Detroit has my abiding respect as the only real team that we happened to have the fortune of defeating. The 2003 Lakers are second, but they were already imploding when we destroyed them.

[therealtruth]

They didn't have Mike Miller to bail them out time after time. What a terrible move in hindsight tbh

It seemed like M. Miller hit every timely 3 last year. Can't say the same for Lewis. Also helped we didn't have defensive sieve GNeal out there. I don't give 2014 Heat that much credit. They weren't as good as last year especially defensively.

[spursparker9]

2003 Lakers

2005 Pistons

[tmtcsc]

It wasn't very easy this time. They come an incredible block by Kawhi from possibly needing to go to a seventh game. Oklahoma City is still going to be a hard matchup next year.


OKC was the toughest opponent for the Spurs this year but I think the biggest challenge was mental. After losing in 2012, the Spurs' braintrust went to work and figured out how to beat OKC. They didn't have much regular season success but that's ok, it didn't tell the whole story. We have the advantage on them now - both mentally and match-up wise. OKC's bench is barren and they will need to develop it or get FA's that can help.

[baseline bum]

The question was : which was the greatest team the Spurs went through? We've me tough match-ups because of particular individuals, but Detroit has my abiding respect as the only real team that we happened to have the fortune of defeating. The 2003 Lakers are second, but they were already imploding when we destroyed them.

They were also imploding in 2001 and managed to run off a 15-1 playoffs.

[spurspokesman]

03 Lakers or 05 pistons, could go either way.

[Mark in Austin]

LOL all these people here parroting the ESPN storyline of the 2014 Heat sucking. The 2014 Heat were an awesome team than ran into a fucking buzzsaw. The Pistons series in 05 only went 7 because Duncan was on two bad ankles. You put 04 Duncan or even 06 Duncan (pf and all) and the Spurs mop the floor with Detroit. I know the 05 Spurs were the best team in franchise history on paper, but Duncan wasn't healthy.

People also forget Ginobili was injured in the middle of the series with a deep thigh bruise that made him practically lead footed for the middle games Detriot ran away with.

Healthy Manu + healthy Duncan = Spurs in 5 or 6, tops.

[gospursgojas]

03 Sonics! Jerome James!

"We dont give them no respect!...None"

lol Garbage Bag Cape
lol Knicks FO

[baseline bum]

People also forget Ginobili was injured in the middle of the series with a deep thigh bruise that made him practically lead footed for the middle games Detriot ran away with.

Healthy Manu + healthy Duncan = Spurs in 5 or 6, tops.

Indeed; got hurt really early in Game 3. I really loved those Pistons teams, but they ran a 7 man rotation, with the 7th man (Hunter) hardly playing. Their lack of depth murdered them in the third quarter of Game 7 when both Wallaces and McDyess got in foul trouble and they had to guard Duncan with Tayshaun Prince for about 3 minutes. If that was the 04 team they could have brought Okur or Williamson in to bang with Duncan for a few minutes, but those guys were gone. An interesting matchup would be a healthy 05 Spurs team against the 04 Pistons that destroyed the league after trading for Rasheed. That 04 team got so much from its starting lineup and then had pretty crazy depth too. Not sure which way that matchup would have gone, as the 05 Spurs were a monster.

[phxspurfan]

But in all seriousness, those Dallas teams we managed to get by all those years were far and away the best teams we faced. They had like 3 or 4 stars each and were well coached. They also seemed to win like 60 games every season and had Dirk in his prime.

[baseline bum]

But in all seriousness, those Dallas teams we managed to get by all those years were far and away the best teams we faced. They had like 3 or 4 stars each and were well coached. They also seemed to win like 60 games every season and had Dirk in his prime.

The only one of those Dallas teams the Spurs went through to a title was 03, and they were horribly coached. I remember they actually got better when Nowitzki got injured in Game 3 because it forced Nelson to guard Duncan with Najera. No clue why he thought guarding Duncan with Nowitzki in single coverage was a good idea.

[TheChillFactor]

2005 Pistons

[dbreiden83080]

2005 Pistons repeat against anyone but us that year..

[baseline bum]

2005 Pistons repeat against anyone but us that year..

That's pretty obvious since Phoenix would have never been able to bang with them. The Wallaces would have eaten Stoudemire alive.

[gameFACE]

2005 Pistons embodied team and they were the defending champs. Its not even close.

As for some of the others:

99 Blazers? We swept them.
2003 Lakers: Dysfunctional but talented.
2014 Heat? They were weak and older than Spurs.
2014 OKC? No bench. Spurs took them to deep waters in OKC and trounced them in SA.

Pretty much this. Emphasis on "dysfunctional for the '03 Lakers.


The Pistons series in 05 only went 7 because Duncan was on two bad ankles. I know the 05 Spurs were the best team in franchise history on paper, but Duncan wasn't healthy.

Duncan started the '05 post season on two bum ankles but he was healthy by the time the Finals came.

[phxspurfan]

For more interesting takes, this should be renamed best teat we went through in years we won and should've won the title (i.e. '04, '06, '12 and '13).

[baseline bum]

Duncan started the '05 post season on two bum ankles but he was healthy by the time the Finals came.

No he didn't and no he wasn't. He started the 05 postseason on one bum ankle from a RS game in Detroit and injured the other one in Game 6 in Seattle (remember the fans cheering his injury as he was on the ground?).

Tim wasn't even close to healthy in the Finals. I remember Michelle Tafoya reporting that both his ankles were extremely painful by fourth quarters that entire series but that Duncan said 'it is what it is'. Go back and watch that Finals. Those ankles are why Duncan went 1-6 from the line in the fourth quarter of Game 5, why his shots were coming up short. That's not the fourth quarter Tim Duncan we have known for so long.

[Rummpd]

2003 LAL and not even debatable-2 absolute monster stars in prime plus a deep and well coached team

[gameFACE]

No he didn't and no he wasn't. He started the 05 postseason on one bum ankle from a RS game in Detroit and injured the other one in Game 6 in Seattle (remember the fans cheering his injury as he was on the ground?).

Tim wasn't even close to healthy in the Finals. I remember Michelle Tafoya reporting that both his ankles were extremely painful by fourth quarters that entire series but that Duncan said 'it is what it is'. Go back and watch that Finals. Those ankles are why Duncan went 1-6 from the line in the fourth quarter of Game 5, why his shots were coming up short. That's not the fourth quarter Tim Duncan we have known for so long.

He was healthy enough when the Finals started. A 26-19 double-double in Game 5 isn't indicative of ankles that were bothering him. And his free throw wows also weren't from bad ankles. Tim was a much worse free throw shooter back then. Especially in 4th Quarters whether he was healthy or not both in RS and playoffs. Game 5 wasn't that unique in that respect. What I remember about Seattle Game 6 was Pop saying Duncan's ankle would be "jelly" or something like that. Also, one of this ankle stuff negates the fact that Duncan still put up good up numbers against Rasheed Wallace who had always defended him well.

[baseline bum]

He was healthy enough when the Finals started. A 26-19 double-double isn't indicative of ankles that were bothering him. And his free throw wows also weren't from bad ankles. Tim was a much worse free throw shooter back then. Especially in 4th Quarters whether he was healthy or not. Game 5 wasn't that unique in that respect. What I remember about Seattle Game 6 was Pop saying Duncan's ankle would be "jelly" or something like that. Also, one of this ankle stuff negates the fact that Duncan still put up good up numbers against Rasheed Wallace who had always defended him well.

I think you really don't remember that Finals too well. Duncan shot a terrible 41.8% that series and said his ankles flared up like hell every fourth quarter. If you don't believe me, it's not hard to find Game 5 of the 05 Finals on torrent to watch the report from Tafoya.

[gameFACE]

I think you really don't remember that Finals too well. Duncan shot a terrible 41.8% that series and said his ankles flared up like hell every fourth quarter. If you don't believe me, it's not hard to find Game 5 of the 05 Finals on torrent to watch the report from Tafoya.

It's not that I don't believe you. I don't dispute that his ankles were hurting him. But he was healthy enough to play. And he put decent numbers up against someone who always gave him trouble. You could deduce that with fully healthy ankles he could have put up better numbers against Detroit and be done with the series on 6. I don't believe that to be the case. Duncan's numbers were comparable to what he put up anyway. He overcame and played through the ankle issue, Tafoya's report or not. And Detroit was a tough team. Defending champs. They were part of the reason for that 41.8%. That's why I voted for '05 Detroit over '03 Lakers. "03 Lakers are a close second.

[ajh18]

People are mistaking the difficulty the Spurs had with these teams for their overall greatness. A lot of that is match-up driven, and also based on how well the Spurs are playing at the time.

The 2003 Lakers were a dominant team. People saying they were bored forget that they were literally crying after the loss, and just how good Tim Duncan was that year. You can put basically any player, from any year, on that Spurs team in Duncan's place (including Lebron from the last few years) and they don't beat that Lakers team.

2005 Pistons were great as well and matched up very well with those early-2000s Lakers teams because they had their two dominant bigs and decent perimeter D with Billups and Prince to guard Kobe. They may have struggled a bit more with this year's Heat team (and also this year's Thunder) however, because those teams both have great shooting on the perimeter and mid-range.

The 2014 Heat were a great team, and I think it's disappointing to see the media and people on this board diminish them because the Spurs beat them down so badly. The Spurs this year were just THAT GOOD. We were basically a better version of the SSoL Suns on offense, and a top defensive team as well. No other team in the league this year beats the Heat in the finals, including OKC who matches up much worse with them than we do (and ironically matches up better against us than the Heat do). I think the Heat from this year beat any team on the list easily outside of the 2003 Lakers and 2005 Pistons, and may well have given the latter a run for their money.

Those are the top three by far, followed by a second tier of the SSoL Suns and the 2014 Thunder.

[Jenks]

I voted 03 Lakers but definitely would switch to 05 Pistons if I could. 2004 finals were pretty 1 sided, the four Pistons wins were 20, 13, 12, and 8 points. Kobe 38% from the field, 17% from 3.

05 Pistons.

[Mark in Austin]

An interesting matchup would be a healthy 05 Spurs team against the 04 Pistons that destroyed the league after trading for Rasheed. That 04 team got so much from its starting lineup and then had pretty crazy depth too. Not sure which way that matchup would have gone, as the 05 Spurs were a monster.

Yeah everybody seems to assume that if not for Fisher's shot in 04, the Spurs win the title that year, but Detroit was a monster. I still can't make sense out of Joe Dumars as an exec. He builds that nightmare matchup of a team, they go to the finals twice, and then they sign Villaneuva and Ben Gordon? I don't get it. But for those two years, and especially 04 Detroit was no joke. I'd give the matchup even odds at best - I would love to see that series.

Manu's '06 foul on Dirk to me is the real lost opportunity to add a ring. The Spurs would have swept that Heat team; maybe by more total points than the beatdown they gave them this year.

[soxxx]

LOL all these people here parroting the ESPN storyline of the 2014 Heat sucking. The 2014 Heat were an awesome team than ran into a fucking buzzsaw. The Pistons series in 05 only went 7 because Duncan was on two bad ankles. You put 04 Duncan or even 06 Duncan (pf and all) and the Spurs mop the floor with Detroit. I know the 05 Spurs were the best team in franchise history on paper, but Duncan wasn't healthy.
Im starting to believe that more and more. ESPN put out this image that the Spurs beat a Heat team that was just complete crap outside of Lebron James when truthfully they outplayed the Spurs the first 2 games, would have won game three 9/10 times if it werent for the Spurs incredible half. Game 4 and 5 is where everything changed, heading into game 4 the whole world said the Heat would win, yet after the game everyone was saying the roster is crap. Rewatching that game, Dwayne Wade single-handedly killed the Miami Heat, he started 1 of 11 and just gave off such a negative vibe around the whole team. Then in game 5, I mean come on, the series was a wrap. I can say 3 out of the 5 games the Heat were fully capable of winning, its not like this was some high school lineup.

[baseline bum]

Yeah everybody seems to assume that if not for Fisher's shot in 04, the Spurs win the title that year, but Detroit was a monster. I still can't make sense out of Joe Dumars as an exec. He builds that nightmare matchup of a team, they go to the finals twice, and then they sign Villaneuva and Ben Gordon? I don't get it. But for those two years, and especially 04 Detroit was no joke. I'd give the matchup even odds at best - I would love to see that series.

Manu's '06 foul on Dirk to me is the real lost opportunity to add a ring. The Spurs would have swept that Heat team; maybe by more total points than the beatdown they gave them this year.

It kind of does make sense though. Big Ben was just an afterthought in the sign and trade that sent Grant Hill to Orlando. Chauncey Billups was a complete bust who never lived up to his draft selection slot. Scoreless Williamson was a scrub coming from a finished Kings team. Tayshaun Prince was too skinny to make it into the NBA and fell to the mid 20s. Mehmet Okur was a Turkish nobody. Mike James was a roster filler. Elden Campbell hadn't been shit since the late 90s. The one player who had any value at the time of acquisition was Rip Hamilton, who Dumars traded his only star, Stackhouse, for. And then Rasheed was the league pariah, the cancer you could never win with, when he got dumped by Portland and then Atlanta. But Detroit had incredible coaching to make these pieces fit: namely, Rick Carlisle and then Larry Brown. I mean that team had no business being good after losing Hill; what a gut punch that was. But Dumars thought he could do it again, only garbage coaches like Michael Curry and John Keuster aren't going to put such flawed pieces together into a strong whole. That great Pistons team is such a testament to Carlisle and Brown.

Rick Carlisle made them into a team and Larry Brown made them good enough to win it all.

[superbigtime]

I can see how someone would put in a vote for the 2005 Pistons. They were the defending champs and pushed SA to 7 games. Although this poll is based on opinions (which believe it or not can be very ridiculous), though, I have to think that you'd be insane to vote for anyone other than them, or the team with my vote, the 2003 Lakers. Voting for other teams makes me question how much basketball one actually watches....

The 2003 Lakers had just THRASHED San Antonio the last two years in the playoffs to the tune of a sweep and a 4-1 series. 8-1 over the last two series. They had two of the top 5 players in the league, arguably the greatest NBA coach of all time in Phil and had just come off of a THREE-PEAT! Bored or not, you cannot ignore the record. They even went on the next year to once again beat San Antonio in the 2004 Playoffs. I'm sure I don't need to remind too many of the members of this board of .4....

The Shaq/Kobe/Phil Lakers have already gone down as one of the great teams of all time. Pop said it best when he compared them breaking up to the breakup of the Soviet Union. No other team truly gave SA the trouble that LA did in the last 15 years in the playoffs. Look at it this way....10 Championships between them since 1999. That's 10 out of the last 15 champions. Five and five. The Lakers also made it to 2 other finals. No offense, but to me choosing another team would be shortchanging what the Lakers were able to accomplish. I can understand the Silver and Black blinders that many in here have on. Most long time Spurs fans have a healthy hatred of the Purple and Gold. They and the Spurs are the only two teams that have any claim to the "Best Post Jordan Team" title. Not even the Heat of the last 4 years comes close.

Seeing San Antonio beat them in game six, with Kobe and Fish crying on the sideline was one of my favorite Spurs moments....right up there with the Memorial Day Miracle. Epic, epic defeat of a great team.
Awesome post. You definitely convinced me. The defeated Lakers bench .. so sweet. All those teams listed were awesome. Would love to see OKC vs Pistons.

[ViceCity84]

2005 Pistons.That was the hardest series Spurs won en route to a championship.

Overrated-2003 Lakers and 2014 Heat

[therealtruth]

The 2014 Heat were a great team, and I think it's disappointing to see the media and people on this board diminish them because the Spurs beat them down so badly. The Spurs this year were just THAT GOOD. We were basically a better version of the SSoL Suns on offense, and a top defensive team as well. No other team in the league this year beats the Heat in the finals, including OKC who matches up much worse with them than we do (and ironically matches up better against us than the Heat do). I think the Heat from this year beat any team on the list easily outside of the 2003 Lakers and 2005 Pistons, and may well have given the latter a run for their money.

Those are the top three by far, followed by a second tier of the SSoL Suns and the 2014 Thunder.

The numbers basically say the 2014 Heat weren't great defensively and that's exactly what we saw. They went against some weak offenses in the East and still gave up alot of points. Against high powered offense WC team they would have been fighting for their lives. All we had to do was play OK defense and that series was ours.

You can say they won game 2. But it took Lebron going into god mode for that to happen. They beat us 98-96. We scored >98 in every game we won. They simply didn't have enough to outscore us and they're defense wasn't good enough to hold us to low 90's which is what they would have to do. That's exactly why I thought it would be a 5 game series. I gave Lebron 1 god mode game.

[DMC]

2013 Heat

[Cry Havoc]

Awesome post. You definitely convinced me. The defeated Lakers bench .. so sweet. All those teams listed were awesome. Would love to see OKC vs Pistons.

The 2004 Pistons would smash OKC. 6 games. The 2005 Pistons would probably beat them in 6 as well.

The 2003 Lakers were a good team, but the Spurs were not an all-time great. That was by far the weakest championship Spurs team of all time, and they beat the Lakers pretty convincingly. A much BETTER Spurs team in 2005 was tied after 27 quarters with the Pistons -- this lends itself to the Lakers being better, how exactly? The 05 Spurs beat the 03 Spurs in 5 games. 05 was a better Spurs team at virtually every position. MUCH better Tony Parker and Manu playing out of this world, he was a top 3 guard in the playoffs that year. Bowen is a wash. Duncan was better in 03 by a small to decent margin but still completely dominant in 05.

So a weaker (weakest title team) Spurs team beat the 03 Lakers in 6.

A stronger Spurs team got taken to 7 by Detroit.

It's Detroit. They DESTROYED the Lakers team that upgraded to Malone & Co. that beat the Spurs that season. The Spurs, in turn, got a lot better, and then barely scraped by the Pistons.

[RoyerReptiles]

The 2004 Pistons would smash OKC. 6 games. The 2005 Pistons would probably beat them in 6 as well.

The 2003 Lakers were a good team, but the Spurs were not an all-time great. That was by far the weakest championship Spurs team of all time, and they beat the Lakers pretty convincingly. A much BETTER Spurs team in 2005 was tied after 27 quarters with the Pistons -- this lends itself to the Lakers being better, how exactly? The 05 Spurs beat the 03 Spurs in 5 games. 05 was a better Spurs team at virtually every position. MUCH better Tony Parker and Manu playing out of this world, he was a top 3 guard in the playoffs that year. Bowen is a wash. Duncan was better in 03 by a small to decent margin but still completely dominant in 05.

So a weaker (weakest title team) Spurs team beat the 03 Lakers in 6.

A stronger Spurs team got taken to 7 by Detroit.

It's Detroit. They DESTROYED the Lakers team that upgraded to Malone & Co. that beat the Spurs that season. The Spurs, in turn, got a lot better, and then barely scraped by the Pistons.

I'd first off start by saying that the 2003 Spurs and 2007 Spurs were almost a wash. While Parker and Manu were better in '07, the same cannot be said about Duncan or Bowen. The 2003 versions of those two players were better than the 2007 versions. The 2003 team was excellent defensively as well. Defensively, the 2003 Spurs allowed 90.4 points per game to 90.1 in 2007. The difference was what they scored: 95.8 in 2003 to 98.5 in 2007. I find that hard to describe as "by far". The 2003 team also finished the regular season with a better record of 60-22 vs. 58-24 in 2007. The 2003 Spurs were also STACKED! Duncan, Robinson, Manu, Parker, Bowen, the Steves: Kerr, Smith, Jackson, Malik Rose, Kevin Willis and Speedy Claxton. Depth was not an issue in San Antonio in 2003.

It's a subjective poll, with the definition of "greatest team" being so very open to interpretation. That's why in my post I said that you couldn't go wrong with choosing either team, but my case led me to the Lakers as being considered "greatest" team. You really can't go wrong picking either, but you have to pick one, so my choice is based on overall results. Defeating the defending three time champs that boasted arguably two of the top ten players of all time, coached by arguably the best coach of all time was HUGE for San Antonio in '03, especially after the complete obliteration the Spurs went through at the hands of the Lakers the previous two years.

[barbacoataco]

I'm not sure the 2003 team was so weak. Duncan was at his best. No comparison at all between 2003 and 2005 Duncan. Also Bowen was better in 2003, he shot 17 for 26 3ptrs in that series and the whole Spurs shot .473 3pt which is phenomenal. That was also a great defensive team. They didn't face a great team in the finals, and I think people hold that against them.

[Cry Havoc]

I'd first off start by saying that the 2003 Spurs and 2007 Spurs were almost a wash. While Parker and Manu were better in '07, the same cannot be said about Duncan or Bowen. The 2003 versions of those two players were better than the 2007 versions. The 2003 team was excellent defensively as well. Defensively, the 2003 Spurs allowed 90.4 points per game to 90.1 in 2007. The difference was what they scored: 95.8 in 2003 to 98.5 in 2007. I find that hard to describe as "by far". The 2003 team also finished the regular season with a better record of 60-22 vs. 58-24 in 2007. The 2003 Spurs were also STACKED! Duncan, Robinson, Manu, Parker, Bowen, the Steves: Kerr, Smith, Jackson, Malik Rose, Kevin Willis and Speedy Claxton. Depth was not an issue in San Antonio in 2003.

It's a subjective poll, with the definition of "greatest team" being so very open to interpretation. That's why in my post I said that you couldn't go wrong with choosing either team, but my case led me to the Lakers as being considered "greatest" team. You really can't go wrong picking either, but you have to pick one, so my choice is based on overall results. Defeating the defending three time champs that boasted arguably two of the top ten players of all time, coached by arguably the best coach of all time was HUGE for San Antonio in '03, especially after the complete obliteration the Spurs went through at the hands of the Lakers the previous two years.

The fact that you list 2003 Parker as a reason that team was stacked (to say nothing of the shell that DRob was that year) shows how rose-tinted your memories of that team are. Parker was TERRIBLE and even got benched repeatedly for Speedy Claxton. That was possibly the 2nd best NBA playoff performance of all time by ANY player with what Duncan did, and we still dropped two games to everyone, even truly bad teams. 2014 Spurs SWEEP that nets team. If they were that deep and overpowering we wouldn't have needed Duncan to post absurd (ABSURD) numbers in the entirety of the playoffs, and we would have beaten some of those teams more convincingly.

[barbacoataco]

They played some good teams in 2003, and Parker wasn't terrible. Inconsistent, but not terrible. He had blazing speed that caused problems for opponents. It's true his ball handling wasn't all the way there, but they had Speedy who was very solid. Also, the presence of SJax gave that team a toughness. With Bowen that is two great defenders at the wing position, and then Duncan and Robinson down low. And DRob still had some game.

Yes they lost 2 games in every series, but they were never really pushed that hard and were in control of every series. I think they are underrated on this board. I would say 2007 was the team that was a notch below the rest.

[baseline bum]

They played some good teams in 2003, and Parker wasn't terrible. Inconsistent, but not terrible. He had blazing speed that caused problems for opponents. It's true his ball handling wasn't all the way there, but they had Speedy who was very solid. Also, the presence of SJax gave that team a toughness. With Bowen that is two great defenders at the wing position, and then Duncan and Robinson down low. And DRob still had some game.

Yes they lost 2 games in every series, but they were never really pushed that hard and were in control of every series. I think they are underrated on this board. I would say 2007 was the team that was a notch below the rest.

They were pushed pretty hard in the LA series. Rob's shot drops in Game 5 and it's a goddamn nightmare.

[wildbill2u]

So many fans in Spurs Talk are relatively new. The Spurs-Piston finals was a war with every game a nail-biter in the balance. The Pistons were a tough team with a great pedigree during those years.

[G-Dawgg]

2003 Lakers by far was our best competition ever. Shaq and Kobe together at their PRIME, with Fox, Horry and Fisher. That team won multiple of championships together for a reason. Shaq in his prime was unstoppable and Kobe has always been a fierce competitor. Throw in Phil Jackson as coach.. I personally think that team could have easily beat this year's Heat or Thunder in a 7 game series.

[Cry Havoc]

It blows my mind that people actually think that the 2003 Spurs were loaded. I guess that's why Duncan needed to average 25, 15.4, 5.3, and 3 blocks a game to get us by the Starbury led Suns, and an atrocious Finals team in the Nets.

[baseline bum]

It blows my mind that people actually think that the 2003 Spurs were loaded. I guess that's why Duncan needed to average 25, 15.4, 5.3, and 3 blocks a game to get us by the Starbury led Suns, and an atrocious Finals team in the Nets.

The Spurs had a phenomenal team in 2003.

Ginobili's stats may not be impressive, but he made some huge plays. He hit a really difficult floater on the baseline to win Game 3 of the Finals. He assisted on I think two of those threes that Stephen Jackson made to put away Game 6. He had the steal on Jefferson that completely broke the Nets and made that 19-0 run happen. Manu fucking massacred the Lakers in Game 2.

Tony Parker outplayed Kidd the first two games of the Finals and had a huge Game 5. Parker was also huge in Game 6 of the real finals to close out the Lakers. Dude is 20 years old, walks into Staples Center, and hangs 27 on the 3x defending champs in a must-win for them on their homecourt.

Malik Rose was a perfect smallball four, and played the game of his life down 0-1 in Game 2 of the WCF against Dallas.

Bruce Bowen was the best perimeter defender since Pippen, and destroyed Kobe in Game 2 of real finals with 7 three pointers.

Stephen Jackson played out of his mind in the first round against a Suns team that owned the Spurs and then stepped up and took Game 6 in Dallas, not to mention his three threes in the 19-0 run to win the title.

Kevin Willis was big off the bench for going against Shaq.

David Robinson at age 37 was still a top 5 center, and had what, 13 and 17 in the close-out game?

Steve Kerr hit big shots in Games 5 and 6 of the Finals, in addition to his legendary performance to close out Dallas.

Speedy Claxton ran a train on the Lakers in Game 2, and then did the Nets the same in Game 6.

I mean that is a fucking deep team with tons of weapons.

[TampaDude]

So many fans in Spurs Talk are relatively new. The Spurs-Pistons finals was a war with every game a nail-biter in the balance. The Pistons were a tough team with a great pedigree during those years.

^ this

The 2005 Pistons were the defending champs, and basically the same team that raped the Lakers in the 2004 Finals.

TBQH, if not for Horry, we lose to the Pistons in the 2005 Finals.

Best.

Finals.

Ever.

[baseline bum]

^ this

The 2005 Pistons were the defending champs, and basically the same team that raped the Lakers in the 2004 Finals.

TBQH, if not for Horry, we lose to the Pistons in the 2005 Finals.

Best.

Finals.

Ever.

Ask a Piston fan if those were the same teams.

[baseline bum]

Whereas the 2003 Lakers actually were the same team that won their third in a row in 02.

[RoyerReptiles]

The fact that you list 2003 Parker as a reason that team was stacked (to say nothing of the shell that DRob was that year) shows how rose-tinted your memories of that team are. Parker was TERRIBLE and even got benched repeatedly for Speedy Claxton. That was possibly the 2nd best NBA playoff performance of all time by ANY player with what Duncan did, and we still dropped two games to everyone, even truly bad teams. 2014 Spurs SWEEP that nets team. If they were that deep and overpowering we wouldn't have needed Duncan to post absurd (ABSURD) numbers in the entirety of the playoffs, and we would have beaten some of those teams more convincingly.


It blows my mind that people actually think that the 2003 Spurs were loaded. I guess that's why Duncan needed to average 25, 15.4, 5.3, and 3 blocks a game to get us by the Starbury led Suns, and an atrocious Finals team in the Nets.

Okay, you pick one player out of the list of how many? Let's just gloss over the TEN other players I listed. Parker had a rough few games in the finals for sure (games 4 and 6), but look at his point totals in the other 4 finals games: 16, 21, 26 and 14. Dude, that's no scrub. He averaged nearly 15 points per game in the playoffs. You prove the point of the depth of the team, though, by bringing up the fantastic job Speedy did when he came in for Parker during those rough patches. That's the definition of deep team.

Next, you obviously don't look at any of the analytics that were listed. They were basically the same team defensively, based on the numbers (I'd argue that a prime Duncan/Bowen with a "shell" David Robinson was possibly our best defensive front line ever. Sean in 99 was good, though, but not Bowen). The main difference was on offense, where the 2007 team put up 3 more points per game more than the 2003 team. Again, "by far" is a bit of a stretch. The depth of the 2003 team was one of it's strengths. That "shell" of David Robinson from 2003 is still the best center that Duncan has paired up with since DRob's retirement. Yes, better than Splitter/Rasho/Nazi and whoever else you'd like to list.

And as far as Duncan "need" to smash teams, seriously, regardless of how deep your team is, if you have the two time MVP (fresh off getting his trophy) on your team, regardless of the rest of the team, wouldn't he be the focal point? Especially considering how dominant he is on offense AND defense? That doesn't take away from the depth of that team. The 2003 version of Duncan was easily the best of all five champs.

The Rosy Eyed quote was just, well, what can I say :). I've got rosy eyes for every one of the Spurs title teams, but to call 2003 "BY FAR" the worst championship team short changes them considerably. That's all I'm saying. I've already made a case for them being right there with the 2007 team. I also like you bring up the Phoenix and Net teams. So what? Not every great team has to go through four great teams to get the Larry O'Brien. The Mavs were a powerhouse that year. They had the leagues best offense (103 pts per game), as well as the highest SRS rating in the league that year, a rating that takes into account average point differential and strength of schedule. Do I need to go over the Lakers from that year again? The three time defending champs have already been covered.

[RoyerReptiles]

One more stat blip for Parker and how "TERRIBLE" he was in 2003. Here are his game by game point totals for the entire playoffs:

7, 2, 29, 19, 7, 17, 9, 16, 2, 14, 21, 27, 18, 19, 29, 25, 7, 0, 16, 21, 26, 3, 14, 4. AVG: 14.7.

Digest on some of those game by game point totals for a bit and see if "TERRIBLE" is the conclusion you'd come to for a starting point guard in the NBA playoffs.

[RoyerReptiles]

So many fans in Spurs Talk are relatively new. The Spurs-Piston finals was a war with every game a nail-biter in the balance. The Pistons were a tough team with a great pedigree during those years.

Agreed on the new part, lol. It's a shame, too. For me the best version of the NBA is long past. I'm probably showing my age a bit, though. I loved the Magic/Bird era, but the 90s was probably my favorite. I guess a big part of it would be the nostalgia of growing up and watching during those younger years, but having a relevant Spurs team in the 90s after the rough post-Gervin years was special. Spurs fans are most certainly spoiled, thanks to RC, Pop, Timmy D and company. That sound you heard in the ATT Center during the finals? Hemisfair was like that every game. It was madness! At the time we had the loudest arena in the league. Fans without multiple championships were hungry back then.

You definitely can't fault anyone for picking that Pistons team as the best team SA went through. I was un-impressed with them after the first two games (Detroit), but they smashed SA the next two to set up that epic game five. You gotta give Detroit props for coming out strong in game six. SA played like they had a parade already scheduled (oh wait.....).

[baseline bum]

Agreed on the new part, lol. It's a shame, too. For me the best version of the NBA is long past. I'm probably showing my age a bit, though. I loved the Magic/Bird era, but the 90s was probably my favorite. I guess a big part of it would be the nostalgia of growing up and watching during those younger years, but having a relevant Spurs team in the 90s after the rough post-Gervin years was special. Spurs fans are most certainly spoiled, thanks to RC, Pop, Timmy D and company. That sound you heard in the ATT Center during the finals? Hemisfair was like that every game. It was madness! At the time we had the loudest arena in the league. Fans without multiple championships were hungry back then.

You definitely can't fault anyone for picking that Pistons team as the best team SA went through. I was un-impressed with them after the first two games (Detroit), but they smashed SA the next two to set up that epic game five. You gotta give Detroit props for coming out strong in game six. SA played like they had a parade already scheduled (oh wait.....).

I have been following the Spurs since the mid 80s, and 2014 is far and away my favorite team. Agreed on Hemisfair. It was comparable to what the Chesapeake in OKC is now. But yeah, 89-90 was unreal when all I had known was the Alvin Robertson era. Though I did love seeing the tail end of Mike Mitchell's and Artist Gilmore's careers. And of course Johnny Moore's return from desert fever was huge. Awesome guys too.

[TampaDude]

Whereas the 2003 Lakers actually were the same team that won their third in a row in 02.

Wait a minute...2003? Are you talking about...

Ck9nyiwaTIg

:lol