Never has there been a franchise so adept at choking games away in so many ways

[SpursFan86]

Missed FTs? We got it. TO off the inbound? You bet. Foul a 3-point shooter while down 3? Why the hell not? Give up a crucial offensive board and then let them get a dagger off 2nd chance points? My favorite!

It's comical at this point. I don't expect us to win close games anymore. We could be up by 15 with 2 minutes left and I wouldn't feel remotely comfortable.

This team is pathetic without Kawhi, and as of now they don't even deserve to be brought up with other elite teams. No fight, no intensity...it's honestly sad. Sometimes I can't tell whether I'm watching the defending champs or the god damn Knicks. :lmao

The myriad of ways in which they piss games away is truly unbelievable. And yes, I'm having a January meltdown. This team has been so agonizing to watch this year. I typically don't give a shit about regular season games, especially not ones in January, but I'll be damned if this isn't one of the most frustrating seasons I've ever experienced. I'd rather watch a shitty team be shitty than a great team play mediocre.

/rant

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

The meltdown threads are actually justified this season. We already have more losses than our entire last season, and shits just not coming together. Can't make free-throws, can't finish in clutch situations, and the defense is looking horrendous.

Either the Spurs get their shit together in January and get Kawhi back, or its time to throw the towel in and tank for a better draft pick.

[Silver&Black]

Best rant/meltdown thread yet. I agree with OP....

[DesignatedT]

Odds the previous three posters are the same person?

[ElNono]

I said it on the game thread... this team has yet to put together a 48 min game where everyone is mentally engaged... we do it in spurts... maybe a quarter, maybe two...

Getting Kawhi back will help masquerade things a bit, but the team entirely has to just take games and every possession seriously...

[midnightpulp]

Team has issues right now.

The rube-ish optimists will tell you everything is all right, these are the Spurs! SPAM! We're the Champs! But aside from Kawhi's brittle hand and Tony Parker's inability to heal and unwillingness to play through pain, the role players that were so essential to last year's run have been mediocre to awful this season, Boris being the primary offender. Danny Green is a soldier, but he's obviously getting worn out by having to be the team's only capable perimeter defender while Kawhi's pussy heals. If Duncan and Manu aren't playing at an All Star level in any given game, you can basically add another one to the loss column.

It's absurd this team has to rely on its two oldest players, but it is what it is.

[unleashbaynes]

fucking chokers. that being said try being a cowboys fan.

[Mugen]

"Who says the Spurs are boring?" :lol

[SpursFan86]

"Who says the Spurs are boring?" :lol

There should honestly be circus music in the closing minutes of all of our games. The type of laughable blunders we have is seriously fucking hilarious. You could have a nice 5 minute blooper reel just from the dumb shit we've pulled this season alone. Include the past 10-15 years or so and you have a full-length movie's worth of material.

[Capt Bringdown]

The Spurs have never owned a championship swagger. If they did, we'd be looking at a potential 3 peat this year, instead of the predictable meltdown.
Are they playing like champs? Nope, more like a team who gave a championship away.

[TampaDude]

There is still plenty of time to right the ship, but yeah, we suck right now. Spurs choked this game away long before the missed FTs and botched inbounds pass. Real talk.

[Clipper Nation]

fucking chokers. that being said try being a cowboys fan.

Try being a Clippers and Chargers fan.

GNSF meltdowns are hilarious.

[timtonymanu]

The team just won a championship last June. :lol Easy on the meltdown.

[boutons_deux]

Foul a 3-point shooter while down 3?

and he shoots 92% FTs :lol

[J_Paco]

The Spurs have never owned a championship swagger. If they did, we'd be looking at a potential 3 peat this year, instead of the predictable meltdown.
Are they playing like champs? Nope, more like a team who gave a championship away.

The team is playing like dog shit, but this take is beyond moronic. The team is obviously in a championship hangover and is letting a ton of winnable games slip away. Pretty frustrating and disappointing especially when Duncan and Ginobili have been the main culprits in at least three of the close losses.

[TE]

Sure it was a choke...if you were to dial up all the wrong things to finish a game your team looked to be winning, look at this game. But this is the regular season, we're out our finals MVP, Pop is experimenting, guys are not focused (free throws, rebounding, out of position defensively), the Spurs are running the same plays but with terrible timing on screens and people are just out of position...these are things that are correctable. They will be corrected when the team is fully back and Pop pushes the regular season panic button--which looks to be after the AS break.

[unforeseen]

But Mills is back. What can go wrong? :lol

[unleashbaynes]

Try being a Clippers and Chargers fan.

GNSF meltdowns are hilarious.

perspective :lol

[mVp]

Everything that could go wrong went wrong, I'm not even mad, that was amazing tbh :lol

[hommeaetage]

This team is not championship material right now. And spare me the injuries talk; this team shouldn't need Leonard and Parker to beat the f*** Pistons. Every single player on the team has regressed and it's showing on the court right now. Sure they have time to pick it up, but it's already January and I have yet to see any signs of improvement.

[Budkin]

Agreed that this has been one of the most frustrating seasons ever. That being said, if this is the price we must pay for 5, it's worth it.

[50Bestspurever]

This team is not championship material right now. And spare me the injuries talk; this team shouldn't need Leonard and Parker to beat the f*** Pistons. Every single player on the team has regressed and it's showing on the court right now. Sure they have time to pick it up, but it's already January and I have yet to see any signs of improvement.

So stop fucking following them.

[Sean Cagney]

fucking chokers. that being said try being a cowboys fan.

MAN I am a Fins fan, beat that :( Now that is a bunch of chokers right there.
Agreed that this has been one of the most frustrating seasons ever. That being said, if this is the price we must pay for 5, it's worth it.

Damn right man, 5 was sweet! That makes this here absolutely tolerable. This is frustrating and NOT our Spurs by any means but I remember them getting 5 and say it was worth it...

If you told me after 2013 they would win a title the next year only to fall off the next year and get a later seed and show signs of age then I would smile and say cool I take it. I have to keep reminding myself of that, all I wanted was 5 and they got it.
Everything that could go wrong went wrong, I'm not even mad, that was amazing tbh :lol

How many times have we said that this year with everything goes wrong? It seems it's just what it is right now. I have heard this in the past as well from games and they were fewer and far in between but this year just seems like a given. Oh well I still got love for the team and think they can maybe turn it around and I am still very proud of what they did last year man. If they fall off this year so be it, was meant to be.

[Legacy]

Sure it was a choke...if you were to dial up all the wrong things to finish a game your team looked to be winning, look at this game. But this is the regular season, we're out our finals MVP, Pop is experimenting, guys are not focused (free throws, rebounding, out of position defensively), the Spurs are running the same plays but with terrible timing on screens and people are just out of position...these are things that are correctable. They will be corrected when the team is fully back and Pop pushes the regular season panic button--which looks to be after the AS break.

Let's hope he remembers where the panic button is, tbh.

[Silver&Black]

MAN I am a Fins fan, beat that :( Now that is a bunch of chokers right there.


Try being a Chargers fan.


that being said try being a cowboys fan.

You guys don't know the meaning of pain.....Buccaneers fan here. We don't even get a chance to choke....the season is normally over after 4 games.

[hommeaetage]

So stop fucking following them.

Here come the I'm a better fan than you brigade. I started watching this team the same year Hakeem took Robinson's soul. I think I've seen enough basketball in my life; you certainly can't tell me who to follow or not

[Sean Cagney]

You guys don't know the meaning of pain.....Buccaneers fan here. We don't even get a chance to choke....the season is normally over after 4 games.

Damn you got us there, checkmate.

[Clipper Nation]

You guys don't know the meaning of pain.....Buccaneers fan here. We don't even get a chance to choke....the season is normally over after 4 games.

You've seen your team win a Super Bowl in your lifetime, cry me a river.

[Sean Cagney]

You've seen your team win a Super Bowl in your lifetime, cry me a river.

Damn I forgot about that team, the Fins last won in 73! They went back two more times after that in the 80's but damn I was a kid then and not watching them. Since then tease after tease in the early to mid 90's of a Super Bowl pick (They were picked to go a few times then) and after that COMPLETE HELL! 00's and beyond have just been a joke as a fan, playoffs rarely and just overall a joke and their uniform change (Helmets are horrible) make it even worse for a fan. Damn it sucks.

[Silver&Black]

You've seen your team win a Super Bowl in your lifetime, cry me a river.

When you're right...you're right. I remember that SB win 12 years ago like it was yesterday.....

[TampaDude]

You guys don't know the meaning of pain.....Buccaneers fan here. We don't even get a chance to choke....the season is normally over after 4 games.

LOL you live in the Tampa Bay area, too? The Bucs were absolutely craptacular this season, weren't they? At least we get the first pick in the draft, so we can get Mariota and have a real QB for a change.

[TampaDude]

When you're right...you're right. I remember that SB win 12 years ago like it was yesterday.....

Heh...at least we have a Super Bowl Championship and a Stanley Cup, plus the Rays reached the World Series in 2008 and have had a good run since then.

Imagine being a Cubs fan. :lol

[Ditty]

Life goes on

[SpursFan86]

For the record, I'm not trying to act like us Spurs fans have it rough. Just pointing out that we seem to have a tendency to choke away games in some of the most hilariously awful ways you could imagine.

[mkurts]

Choking has been a Spurs thing since Pop took over.... remember McGrady's 13 points in 35 seconds and Game 6 2013 Finals ? Its just that losing to the crappy Pistons is so embarrassing. ...

[BillMc]

MAN I am a Fins fan, beat that :( Now that is a bunch of chokers right there.
.

I'm a Fins fan too. The Spurs are smooth sailing by comparison.

[BillMc]

For the record, I'm not trying to act like us Spurs fans have it rough. Just pointing out that we seem to have a tendency to choke away games in some of the most hilariously awful ways you could imagine.

Close games give weird results. I remind everyone that we just WON a game against New Orleans on pretty much a fluke. The problem is we're allowing ourselves to be in situations where it is just a coin flip. A lot of these coin flip games have gone against us, but that doesn't tell us anything really. Point differential over the course of the season is one of the best indicators of strength. And right now we're about as good as the Rockets. :depressed

Still, plenty of time to get better. That lousy inbounds play didn't mean much. That stuff happens.

What is cause for alarm was blowing an eighteen point lead.

[hater]

Evita handling the ball in clutch does that to you.

[jsandiego]

We aren't winning another championship without a healthy TP and Kawhi. Pop knows this and the team knows it. Our margin for error is thin, so we've gotta tread water and hope they get fully healthy after the all-star break to make a run. There isn't a team out there we can't compete with, we have lost a ton of close games where we're starting Kyle Anderson and Marco Belinelli and giving heavy minutes to Bonner, Ayers, and Baynes.

Again the margin is thin, but the infrastructure is in place to execute the rope-a-dope strategy come playoff time. When you have stars that are older than dirt, and your young star is injured, this is what happens.

[DAF86]

That championship mettle, tbh.

[look_at_g_shred]

Everything that could go wrong went wrong, I'm not even mad, that was amazing tbh :lol
"Actually I'm not even mad. I'm impressed."

[Silver&Black]

LOL you live in the Tampa Bay area, too? The Bucs were absolutely craptacular this season, weren't they? At least we get the first pick in the draft, so we can get Mariota and have a real QB for a change.

Nope....never even been to Tampa. I live in Mississippi actually. But when I lived in Louisiana....my middle school was the Buccaneers. So I became a Bucs fan somehow. And this was the ugly ass orange creamsicle years. We sucked extremely bad back then.....and still do. All in all....I can remember about 3 good years in our history.

[GrandeDavid]

I can name two franchises that are more adept at choking, one being a former franchise: The Houston Oilers and Houston Texans. Well, the Oilers were historic chokers, the Texans just poorly managed until this season.

[superbigtime]

This loss was disgusting. Add it to the list.

[Cry Havoc]

I've probably been labeled as a hopeless optimist at this point, but the way our guys are playing is definitely concerning. I really don't care about blowing games in the last minute, because I doubt we'll do that in the playoffs, but I AM concerned about our health situation as a team, and the fact that the team just doesn't want to bring it every night.

Hopefully it's just dead legs from a long finals run and then our guys being dragged over the coals for minutes because of Splitter/Parker/Mills/Kawhi injuries. We definitely need to get healthy before we panic though, this team can still turn it on.

[TampaDude]

What is cause for alarm was blowing an eighteen point lead.

^this

The game shouldn't have even been close at the end. The Spurs should have cruised to a 15+ point win. Blowing big leads at home is a sign of a tired team. They shouldn't be tired in early January after 3 days off. That is rather disconcerting.

[hitmantb]

We aren't winning another championship without a healthy TP and Kawhi. Pop knows this and the team knows it. Our margin for error is thin, so we've gotta tread water and hope they get fully healthy after the all-star break to make a run. There isn't a team out there we can't compete with, we have lost a ton of close games where we're starting Kyle Anderson and Marco Belinelli and giving heavy minutes to Bonner, Ayers, and Baynes.

Again the margin is thin, but the infrastructure is in place to execute the rope-a-dope strategy come playoff time. When you have stars that are older than dirt, and your young star is injured, this is what happens.

This. Spurs fans are way too spoiled, if they think this is bad, just wait until next year when Duncan/Ginobili retire.

Any team without 2 of its best 3 players is going to struggle, no game is a free win. If Parker/Leonard are not healthy at playoff time, it doesn't matter what our seed is.

Pistons has been on a winning streak if you haven't noticed. The Lakers beat the Warriors without Kobe, momentum is a powerful thing sometimes.

Also, Spurs lacks a super individual scorer to close out games. Even last year we either win in a blow out or lost in a blow out. We didn't look good in the close games at all. This is what happens when your best player is at the end of his career (and yes, I still rank Duncan ahead of Leonard on overall impact).

[SpursFan86]

:lol

[Budkin]

Good bump