Ode to the 2016-2017 Spurs

[phxspurfan]

No matter what happens from here forward, if we get swept or manage to tie it to 2-2 in these home games and even have a shot at winning the series, here's to the 2016-2017 Spurs.

All year I have been telling my friends and family that I'd celebrate if the Spurs just even made the Western Conference Finals. Considering how this is the team's first year without Duncan, the first year of Kawhi really taking the reigns, the team managed to win 60+ games in the regular season and still be considered one of the best teams in the league. Not only that but we managed to beat the Grizz in a hard-fought series.

Then after a long first round, after losing Parker who had been playing crazy well, beat the best second-tier team in the league, the Houston Rockets, led by a bona fide MVP (who may actually be declared MVP soon) in Harden, in a crazy lopsided game without even Kawhi in game 6.

Top it all off with Kawhi being injured going into the series with the Dubs going up by almost 30 on them in their gym in the first game was basically orgasmic. Only to lose it all with one fell sweep of the leg. Wow, what a heartbreaking ending.

But still, I'd rather take that ending than not even making the WCFs, losing in the first round to a 40 year old Vince Carter and Friends, or potentially losing in the second to Mr. 20 Free Throws a game himself, and the three point happy crew that beat us down in game 1 of that series. But we made it. And not only that, Kawhi made it (and maybe even Simmons made it, on Mother's day, no less). Kawhi is now our late 80's Young Jordan (except with a title under his belt already, thanks Tim), and the Spurs are like those Bulls, searching for the Robin to their BatMan. Hopefully we can find one in the next offseason or two to really make this team great again (lol). But for now I must say I really enjoyed (and unexpectedly so) the team moving on post-Duncan era and still putting something on the court we can all be proud of. In the era of Super StoreBought Teams and MoreyBall, we still have a team that can play with the best of the best and represent with nothing but fundamentals of defense/rebounding and ball movement, if only with almost a full compliment of players.

So, Cheers to the 2016-2017 Spurs, the first post-Duncan-era team, the first truly Kawhi-led team, one we can all be proud of. Get some rays in Cancun, rest up, eat some well-earned breakfast tacos, "Get Refuel" this summer and come back for more next season.

If I lived in SA I would hope there would be a huge showing of fans at the airport for the team landing this week after what happened in Cali.

:flag:

:lobt2: :lobt2: :lobt2: :lobt2: :lobt2:


Some season memories for our unofficial DVD:

Spurs-Warriors regular season opener highlights, a.k.a. Simmons' coming out party:
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TD Jersey Retirement
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Christmas 2016 game vs. the Bulls (with those awesome jerseys):
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Kawhi game winner vs. Indiana:
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David Fizdale Grizz coach in round 1 vs. Spurs "They Won't Rook Us"
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"Kawhi Leonard bleeds Antifreeze"
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Manu Heroics in Spurs-Rockets game 5 (the real series clincher):
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Spurs - Warriors WCF Game 1 first half highlights:
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[Robz4000]

Fuck that, this is one of my least favorite Spurs teams ever tbh. Happy they made it to the WCF and reached their ceiling, but the style of play was disgusting and a lot of their potential was wasted by playing washed up scrubs like Gasoft, Parker (when he was awful during the regular season), and Lee over younger talent like Murray and Bertans.

Glad we at least got moments of greatness from Manu in Game 5 against Houston and Kawhi taking a dump on the league most of the year.

[TE]

Hell yeah I'd be there at the airport greeting them if I lived in SA.

For sure I plan on going to game 4 with really good tickets.

[TE]

Yeah pretty much on that video with first half highlights of game 1. That was the version of the Spurs I knew we could get. It's such bullshit the card we were dealt but it was bound to happen for all the success this franchise has experienced. All I want to know is if we are living in the same universe then why doesn't that same shit apply to Golden State?

[phxspurfan]

It will eventually. Always does. Remember when we were saying the same stuff about OKC who never got hurt? They lost Harden, Ibaka, now KD, and are unfortunately dealt really crappy cards. Good thing Russ is kicking ass for them but that's a once great team you can really feel sorry for.

Same with the Heatles. What an implosion we caused to happen over there.

GS will not be able to re-sign Curry and Klay and Green and Iggy and Livingston in a couple years. They will have to be a normal salary capped team at some point. For now it's the KD "I lost so I went to the Yankees" squad. What a coward.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

going to be a long, boring and miserable summer until football season tbh.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

It will eventually. Always does. Remember when we were saying the same stuff about OKC who never got hurt? They lost Harden, now KD, and are unfortunately dealt really crappy cards. Good thing KD is kicking ass for them but that's a once great team you can really feel sorry for.

Same with the Heatles. What an implosion we caused to happen over there.

GS will not be able to re-sign Curry and Klay and Green and Iggy and Livingston in a couple years. They will have to be a normal salary capped team at some point. For now it's the KD "I lost so I went to the Yankees" squad. What a coward.

Can't feel sorry for OKC after they stole a franchise from a better city and they ref-fucked us 3 times in 5 years.

Miami doesn't give a rat's ass about pro sports. College is a thing, but really all that place is is a place to party, drink, do drugs, get laid. Fun to visit, shithole to live. And then you have all the old fucks who spend their days on the golf course and complaining about the last hurricane.

GS/GayBay still has the Raiders as a great fall back option if the GSW don't beat the Cavs.

[Texas_Ranger]

this team exceeded my expectations. I don't like the way we played most of the season with all the ISO's but overall it was a pretty good season. I just hope most of the guys are not on the roster next year.

[SAGirl]

I was going to be critical but 60+ wins seasons are rare even for talented teams. They got to the WCF and this series was going to be tough even if fully healthy and they are not healthy, so I reconsidered.

This team has to be appreciated. Noy my favorite version of the Spurs but I bet it could be worse too. We are spoiled

[SnakeBoy]

Post Tim Duncan era and Spurs are at least tied 1-1 in the WCF's if not for an injury, I can't complain.

[phxspurfan]

If you think about it, we could have been last night's Spurs for the forseeable future had we not traded GH3 away for Kawhi that night. We could have been forced to watch this type of game for 3+ years like all the other rebuilding teams. Instead we are still looked at as a contender, with the consensus #2 player in the world, and winning 60+ games, getting to the WCF.