This NBA Season Proved One Thing...

[coachmac87]

That winning a championship is hard...

This NBA season couldn't have proven that statement any better..and it really put things in perspective for me.

The Spurs won a franchise 67 games and throughout the first 5 games of the playoffs had a 30+ point differential. Most all assumed we'd make it to the WCF and have a legit shot at getting to the Finals. But things didn't go our way...Game 2 and Game 5 were tough pills to swallow when you feel the refs didn't give you a fair shot to win a game..and it's crazy how ONE play can change s series. Maybe the Spurs win Game 2 if they can run a set play..go up 2-0 and maybe the series is different..but nope it didn't happen and they lost to OKC 4-2.

OKC shocked the world and beat the heavy favorite Spurs and rode that wave of momentum and went up 3-1 against the 73-9 GSW. They seemed to have punched their ticket to the Finals and had a 3 games to close it out...Game 6 was their best chance to do so but the unthinkable happened. Klay Thompson breaks a postseason record and makes 11 3's and pretty much ripped the hearts out of OKC and their fans..So close yet so far away...now their best player (Kevin Durant) is at a crossroads on what to do this Free Agency..

The Warriors broke the NBA season wins record by winning 73 games!!! They looked unstoppable at times and pretty much EVERYBODY had them locked in as Champions and the debate of greatest teams of all time would soon follow..But Curry got hurt...they bounced back and recovered from a 1-3 hole against OKC..and made it to the NBA Finals with a chance to make history..They made history all right lol Just not the kind they were expecting..They were up 3-1 and NO TEAM had ever lost a Finals series lead like that..Butttt Draymond Green gets suspended..Kyrie and LeBron each drop 41 and they lose Bogut for the rest of the season. Checkmate.

This season was INSANE!!!! And I'm fascinated about this offseason..Duncan and Manu may retire or come back? What's the Spurs next move? Kevin Durant? Most assume he'd just sign a +1 deal and run it back with the OKC squad who was 1 win from the Finals and kick the Free Agency can down the road and become a FA in 17' with Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and oh don't forget Steven Adams who will be restricted but pretty much assured himself a MAX deal. Everything points to Durant going back OKC right?? He can make the most $$ there so why would he consider looking elsewhere? Because I believe Durant understands what I just wrote..it's HARD to win a title and anything can happen in ONE year..I believe he's looking elsewhere for a better long term plan..which is why it's been rumored GSW and SA will have meetings. Both team have their core players locked in for 3-4 years unlike OKC....

Should be a great offseason.

[Silver&Black]

"Winning a Championship is hard"........not really breaking news.

Thought the entire post was going to be a "The NBA is rigged" one, tbh.

[coachmac87]

"Winning a Championship is hard"........not really breaking news.

Thought the entire post was going to be a "The NBA is rigged" one, tbh.

This year put that meaning in a totally different perspective...

[cd98]

Actually, I think we learned that you can be a below average three point shooting team and still win if you play good defense and you manufacture quality shots in the paint, including fast break points. The Cavs missed a ton of 3s in game 7, but they won with defense and getting better shots in the paint. GSW couldn't make enough threes to save themselves and they couldn't get to the paint as efficiently, especially in the last two minutes of the game.

[tmtcsc]

I think it proved that the regular season means very little and that the overwhelming majority of teams in the league were awful to mediocre. Golden State wasn't a 73 win team and the Spurs' record was inflated too. Their defensive stats, winning margin, all that crap meant only that their competition sucked.

Also, when the Spurs were tangled up in close games with OKC, I knew they weren't good enough to win a Championship. For me to believe they had a chance of beating Golden State, they needed to thrash OKC at home. They started off on the right track but those fluke games by Aldridge turned out to be fools gold. Nobody maintains that level.

The Spurs had no killer mentality, lacked cohesion and reverted to iso ball. It was disgusting. They relied way too much on two guys to pull them through and that wasn't going to cut it. You need at least 5 or 6 players to pull their weight. Boris, Tim and Patty all came up short of expectations. Tim was due to injury. Boris and Patty just flat out sucked.

Even Danny Green played well. LMA, Kawhi, Manu and Green played up to their abilities but the other guys just didn't have it.

[K...]

Congrats on not embracing victimhood. So many peeps here don't want to admit that winning isn't a right but a privilege

[.G.]

This thread proved one thing.... click bait worthy :tu

[HarlemHeat37]

This season proved the importance of "luck" as a major factor, tbh..

- Spurs vs. Thunder: Refs call the offensive foul on Waiters, refs don't call the phantom foul on Danny Green: Spurs win and advance?
- Warriors: Montejunas falls on the court, Curry slips over his sweat, injures his knee, never the same again
- Warriors vs. Cavs: Draymond Green gets suspended for game 5, preventing a likely 5-game series and Lebron's historic stretch

[kaji157]

It also proved that the GS title last year had the bigest asterisk of them all, they showed that they couldn´t have gone against 3 full squads.
Injuries to other teams were the reason GS won the year before.

[r0drig0lac]

Actually, I think we learned that you can be a below average three point shooting team and still win if you play good defense and you manufacture quality shots in the paint, including fast break points. The Cavs missed a ton of 3s in game 7, but they won with defense and getting better shots in the paint. GSW couldn't make enough threes to save themselves and they couldn't get to the paint as efficiently, especially in the last two minutes of the game.

Lebron James factor

[Captivus]

It proves the East is better than the West

[Hoops Czar]

It proves the East is better than the West

Why did you use blue font?

[spursistan]

Also major takeaway from Warriors, and to lesser extent Spurs, flameout: gaudy reg season record, double digit Net Rating, long winning streak etc..mean jackshit if you are not healthy and peaking in the playoffs..

I don't think teams will kill themselves anymore for top seed or huge win totals (Almost sure we aren't getting another 70-win season for a long time)..

[SAGirl]

Also major takeaway from Warriors, and to lesser extent Spurs, flameout: gaudy reg season record, double digit Net Rating, long winning streak etc..mean jackshit if you are not healthy and peaking in the playoffs..

I don't think teams will kill themselves anymore for top seed or huge win totals (Almost sure we aren't getting another 70-win season for a long time)..
It also proved you need a third reliable scorer at least. The team has to have a threat to score in the court at all times. This spurs team didn't specially in the bench. The guys who said committee wasn't going to cut it in the playoffs were right. Specially if Pop wants to play Iso and not move the ball. Only stars in their prime can impose their will like that and the majority of the bench couldn't. Role players need to be set up. It means Pop needs a bench scorer at least-if they can't swing a big ticket FA.

[DeRozan m8]

Proves the reg season means shit

[cjw]

Third reliable scorer? I think Cleveland proved you don't need that. Meanwhile, Golden State's third most reliable scorer (Draymond) showed up and 1/2 didn't.

Issue with regular season is vigor isn't there nor is level of competition. Stats helped by lots of data, but skewed by bad data. Less data points in playoffs but all more meaningful, and there are in fact more data points against the same team.

One thing that is clear is Spurs and Warriors depth definitely helped pad win totals - which got the teams extra games at home, but isn't as important in playoffs assuming nobody gets hurt because of 1-2 days rest.

[SAGirl]

Third reliable scorer? I think Cleveland proved you don't need that. Meanwhile, Golden State's third most reliable scorer (Draymond) showed up and 1/2 didn't.

Issue with regular season is vigor isn't there nor is level of competition. Stats helped by lots of data, but skewed by bad data. Less data points in playoffs but all more meaningful, and there are in fact more data points against the same team.

One thing that is clear is Spurs and Warriors depth definitely helped pad win totals - which got the teams extra games at home, but isn't as important in playoffs assuming nobody gets hurt because of 1-2 days rest.
Well they had 2 guys going supernova that combined at times for 40 points and LeBron is a generation type player (in conversation for top 10 or 5 ever, imagine that) and capable of creating for others. We don't have him. They also had Love, who is underused and underwhelms in their system but it's not like you can ignore him. He's capable of getting hot and scoring one on one. Other role players got hot from 3 at different points to help but LeBron was heroic and he was setting those guys off. Even with all that they barely pulled that off and GSW really choked at the end when they faced adversity. GSW is a multifaceted team with many scorers as a matter of fact. They survived playoff games without Stephen that's how potent they are. I don't think we win even one game, without Kawhi or LMA. That how dispar both teams are in overall depth and current talent.

So if you can't overhaul everything at once at least you need a better third banana than Tony, of make your third banana a better scorer than Patty (who was handling the ball quite a lot).

With LMA and Kawhi I really think you need a third guy... or a better system bc the role players coming short so consistently. I mean none of them had a good game that you could recall gas to be the talent level was deficient in the bench or g he guys who Pop trusted are not up to it.

The Thnder did have a 3rd scorer in Kanter, he's just a defensive liability in space and certain types kill him defensively. They also had Waiters a guy who calls his own number way too much but he's streaky. In fact Waiters fading and the lack of a reliable third wheel when they couldn't play Kanter doomed them in a way.

[spurspokesman]

Very Hard

[mudyez]

Beating DET, ATL and TOR didn't seem too hard.

[Chinook]

Think it showed that you don't need to win in any certain way. You just have to be able to do what you're doing better than they can do what they're doing. No one team has the winning formula. You don't need the size to match up with OKC or the shooting to keep pace with Golden State. Or even the stars to duke it out with Cleveland. Do it your own way.

[NameLess Scrub]

It proved that the #1 seed in the NBA can be beaten if its starting C gets hurt and its 3rd best player and important system facilitator is a punk and it catches up to him.

Also proved Lebron's way of only really having to work hard in the finals pays off some times.
And showed us who he is when he feels he can brag again :lol

[Tully365]

Proves the reg season means shit

Both teams in the finals had #1 seeds and home court advantage in their conference series... So I'd say this shows the regular season definitely matters.

[SAGirl]

Think it showed that you don't need to win in any certain way. You just have to be able to do what you're doing better than they can do what they're doing. No one team has the winning formula. You don't need the size to match up with OKC or the shooting to keep pace with Golden State. Or even the stars to duke it out with Cleveland. Do it your own way.
This will be unpopular for Manu fans, but the bench has to change. In the SL I thought Tony missed shots he used to make or get fouled. His being so unreliable is a trend of decline going on several years and yes it's problematic, but it's masked better bc he plays next to two stars in their primes. Tim is no longer a two way player. He's mainly just a defensive player right now and in the playoffs other coaches scheme to help off guys like that. That's why he was getting benched. It was a sad sight for a player of his stature. But even so he provided so much defensively that he was still a positive over very other big not named LMA in the SL.

But consider this: the bench came up empty every time. And that shit was not on KA. He barely played. He barely got touches or shots at all and the ball was not on his hands. It was Patty, Manu and D west. D west is just terrible as a center even a bench center. This was all season not just the playoffs. OKC exposed him but his expose was not news to us. That's why I do not want D west. The way he was played and if we keep Diaw, it will be a disaster. Manu is done. He is seriously done as the focus in the bench. If he wants to return to mentor others fine, but the bench cannot revolve around him anymore. 2014 was this core's swan song. That's just the truth. The following two seasons they have declined. Timmy admittedly was great in 2015. That was his last great series. He just doesn't have it anymore either but with as diminished a role as he had, he could still perform it, Manu, no. He can't turn a corner on guards with quickness and size and hey he's 39. He should need to. The worst was that Waiters ran him ragged. Patty is not the answer either, he's just not.

We might have something in Boban Bertans, Anderson and yes keep Mills but make him a SG again. Either play Simmons or find another athlete that fits. The main scorer in this setup is Boban. That is why he will get paid. These guys played very well off Boban and Anderson specially can feed Boban the ball very well. If you Pop wants Diaw there fine too. But they got to do something about the bench. I feel like the above crew would have done better than Patty/Dwest/Manu.

:pop: but these playoffs weren't for these guys.

If Boban is not meant to be featured then they need to find someone else, pay that instead and let Boban go but we can't go forth with the same bench style.