Buck Harvey: Of Pistons and regrets — how Spurs feel even worse

[spurschick]

Web Posted: 06/04/2006 12:13 AM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA060406.1C.COL.BKNspurs.harvey.8085794.html
San Antonio Express-News

Buck Harvey: Of Pistons and regrets — how Spurs feel even worse

The NBA could have lived with Spurs vs. Heat.

Manu Ginobili vs. Dwyane Wade. Defending champs vs. a first-time Finals franchise. Gregg Popovich vs. Pat Riley. South Texas vs. South Beach.

And then there's Tim Duncan vs. Shaquille O'Neal. Including this June, one of them has been in the Finals in each of the last eight years. Wouldn't both of them, together for an opener in San Antonio on Thursday, have been worth a watch?

San Antonio would have loved it, and the Spurs would have, too. Miami never scared them.

Detroit, instead, was the reason to think repeating would be so hard. Detroit was the daunting vision of a long, postseason path. Detroit was the one who dominated the Spurs twice this season, and who would have had the home-court edge this time.

Now?

The Spurs will have to live with even more regret.

The NBA also could have lived with Spurs vs. Pistons. At least that would have been the company line. The league would have advertised a rematch of the 2005 Finals, as well as the two with the best regular-season records.

Then the league would have prayed the audience noticed. Last year's TV ratings, after all, were low even when the series went to seven games.

The NBA now gets to sell both new and old stars this week, as well as real change. Those in the West know that better than anyone, since either the Spurs or the Lakers had represented the conference since 1999.

Once in that era, in 2001, the Spurs had the best record in the conference and didn't make the Finals. But that season wasn't like this one. When the Lakers swept the Spurs, with the closest margin seven points, no one said the Spurs missed a title opportunity.

This time the misses are quantifiable. The Spurs lost two overtime games and another by one point, and the national reviews often reflect that.

Such as this from a Chicago Tribune columnist: "I've bounced around the playoffs and have seen most of the teams in person, and the best team I've seen is the Spurs. They just didn't win. It happens."

It happens, and it happened once before in San Antonio. Then, in 1995, the Spurs also took the best conference record into the playoffs and lost. The Rockets beat them, and Avery Johnson, years later, said that was the only Spurs team during the Popovich era that should have won and didn't.

Waiting for the winner of the San Antonio-Houston series then? Shaq, albeit in a different Florida city.

Just as the Spurs couldn't make enough plays against the Mavericks, there are no guarantees they would have against the Suns or the Heat. Shaq looks nimble again, and Riley's additions are contributing just as he had planned.

But the Spurs' brass always felt they matched up well with the Heat. Nazr Mohammed and Rasho Nesterovic, unused against Dallas, would have burned 12 fouls against Shaq. Bruce Bowen would have drawn Wade on one end of the floor, and Wade would have been forced to defend Ginobili on the other.

The series would also have opened in San Antonio, setting up the Spurs with the one home-court advantage that clearly matters in the playoffs. Given that, wouldn't the Spurs have been the favorites?

Given this scenario from the beginning, the Spurs might have seen everything differently. They drew Sacramento in the first round, saw the Dallas showdown coming — always with the idea that Detroit was waiting for the final lap.

That didn't alter how the Spurs played. But the prospect of what was ahead had to be as wearing as anything Dirk Nowitzki did to them.

The Pistons rarely lived up to that in this postseason. Cleveland extended them, and even Milwaukee tested them.

But there was always the feeling that the 64-win Pistons were under the surface, waiting with the edge that countered the Spurs last June. Instead they went away weakly, blaming their coach, looking worse on all fronts than the Spurs did.

That leaves Miami, with Wade and Riley and South Beach and Shaq. That also leaves a feeling that the Spurs were a play away from their fourth championship.

The Spurs get to live with that.

[1Parker1]

The fans also have to live with that :depressed

[1Parker1]

Great article BTW, sums up the situation and how I feel perfectly.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Given this scenario from the beginning, the Spurs might have seen everything differently. They drew Sacramento in the first round, saw the Dallas showdown coming — always with the idea that Detroit was waiting for the final lap.

That didn't alter how the Spurs played.

That didn't alter how the Spurs played? :lmao Good call Buck, it's not like we ran out Robert Horry, Michael Finley, and Bruce Bowen as our power forwards for the series or anything...

[SpurYank]

I still say the Mavs are in it because the ball bounced this way instead of that way.

The Chicago Tribune journalist got it right, as did a lot of other basketball experts.

I'm pulling for the Mavs. Here's hoping Payton, Walker, Williams, and Zo return to their old known form: The most fearsome foursome No- Champs.

[SPARKY]

Man, Suns in the WCF and the Heat in the Finals?

Oh well.

[timvp]

Nice to see Buck reading up on my posts. Wonder when he's going to break down and make that Reggie Evans article.

[polandprzem]

That's why I said that I saw the NBA Finals in the second round.

One frickin mistake :pctoss

I can't live with that :hang

[Spurologist]

Nice to see Buck reading up on my posts. Wonder when he's going to break down and make that Reggie Evans article.

Seriously..

You should either

1. Have him give half his paycheck
2. Sue him
3. Kick his ass
4. Have Mark Cuban send in visual e- evidence
5. Call in and predict what his next article will be so he can get fired and you hired
6. Do nothing


I love option 1

[blaze89]

Nice to see Buck reading up on my posts. Wonder when he's going to break down and make that Reggie Evans article.

Well, what else is there to talk about during the summer? NFL? Baseball?

Maybe great minds thinking alike. :huh

[ploto]

I usually ignore Buck, but I have to comment on this sentence:

"Nazr Mohammed and Rasho Nesterovic, unused against Dallas, would have burned 12 fouls against Shaq."

When it comes to defending Shaq, Nazr Mohammed's name does not belong in the same sentence, yet alone the same paragraph, as Rasho Nesterovic. Nazr truly is just for fouls, as evidenced by his brilliant 5 fouls in less than 6 minutes in January, but Rasho actually is one of the best in the entire league at defending Shaq. He makes Shaq work his butt off- beats him to his spots- fronts him, sides him, and does just about everything he can do to make things difficult for Shaq. Go back sometime and watch the game from January.

As for how the "inevitable" match-up with Detroit impacted the season, how many people here and everywhere swore we had to give Nazr all those minutes this spring to get him going because he was needed against Detroit. Too bad he forget to show up against Sacramento and Dallas.

[SPARKY]

That is significant since on defense TD would be charged with Haslem or whoever. Again, Suns in WCF and Miami in the Finals. Damn.

[NCaliSpurs]

On one hand, I wonder how much looking ahead affected the lineups we used against Sac and Dallas. On the other hand, I am pretty sure that Pop absolutely tried to put the most effective lineup he could put out there against the Mavs. I would loved to have seen just 1 game where we stuck to gameplan we used all-season.

Reggie Evans is looking better and better.

[nobodi_home]

Yep, "a play away from another championship", as Mr. Harvey said. And who were those fellows that muffed the "plays" which bounced San Antonio out of the playoffs? Rasho? No, not Rasho. Barry? No, not Brent Barry.

Ah yes, San Antonio's Sacred Cows, the fellows it is off limits to criticize in Spurs Country.

The very fact that Harvey dares not say who it was that cost SAS that additional championship is all the proof one needs. But we will say it here.

TIM DUNCAN, who could not make a piddly little layup. Actually, twice, wasn't it, that he screwed up?

And MANU GINOBILI, who's stupid foul, allowed Dallas to tie up the game.

Damned shame Mr. Harvey didn't dedicate his editorial to these issues.

What a worthless column. Harvey rambles on and on about all these "IF'S".

IF Ginobili only had the brains of a good high school player, Dallas would not have had a chance to win Game 7 because they needed 3 points, where Dirk's layup left Big D ONE POINT SHORT.

IF Duncan could only make tiny simple layups, tipins and free throws>

If If If, right on, Harvey, If only SAS had someone to take Duncan and Ginobili's place, SAS might be in the Finals again someday.

[strangeweather]

Yep, "a play away from another championship", as Mr. Harvey said. And who were those fellows that muffed the "plays" which bounced San Antonio out of the playoffs? Rasho? No, not Rasho. Barry? No, not Brent Barry.

Ah yes, San Antonio's Sacred Cows, the fellows it is off limits to criticize in Spurs Country.

The very fact that Harvey dares not say who it was that cost SAS that additional championship is all the proof one needs. But we will say it here.

TIM DUNCAN, who could not make a piddly little layup. Actually, twice, wasn't it, that he screwed up?

And MANU GINOBILI, who's stupid foul, allowed Dallas to tie up the game.

Damned shame Mr. Harvey didn't dedicate his editorial to these issues.

What a worthless column. Harvey rambles on and on about all these "IF'S".

IF Ginobili only had the brains of a good high school player, Dallas would not have had a chance to win Game 7 because they needed 3 points, where Dirk's layup left Big D ONE POINT SHORT.

IF Duncan could only make tiny simple layups, tipins and free throws>

If If If, right on, Harvey, If only SAS had someone to take Duncan and Ginobili's place, SAS might be in the Finals again someday.
When you have guys who have singlehandedly kept us in games, series, seasons, and trophies, it earns them a certain amount of slack. If you want to generalize beyond a few plays and go around and say Duncan and/or Ginobili aren't clutch or don't play smart basketball, you're mostly just going to embarrass yourself.

[SPARKY]

Manu hits the shot that puts the Spurs up 3 and then commits the foul that allows the opponent to tie. Boneheaded play, but he had a big hand in winning two championships. You take the good with the bad.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

Great article BTW, sums up the situation and how I feel perfectly.
This is exactly what I was thinking and

HOPING FOR DAMN IT. I wanted to see Pop elevate his status as a coach trying to match wits with Riley. :bang I wanted to see Manu's crazy acrobatic contortionist penetrating game flops counter Wade's daring brazen athletic penetrating ultimately drama queen game....:bang

I wanted to See the Big Fundamental vs. the Big Aristotle-- who are the only two lone players on the same tier.:bang:bang:bang:bang

Oh well, maybe next year is still possible. I hope Wade gets his first ring and returns next year to face us. I hope.

But judging how last year I had idealized that Miami would overtake Pistons and the crazy trades further affirmed this possible wish I thought we'd see it NOW... Hmmm...this is why you don't dream.

[JET_31]

I still say the Mavs are in it because the ball bounced this way instead of that way.

The Chicago Tribune journalist got it right, as did a lot of other basketball experts.

I'm pulling for the Mavs. Here's hoping Payton, Walker, Williams, and Zo return to their old known form: The most fearsome foursome No- Champs.

Sometimes thats just how it goes....however i give props to both teams for a great series. Although i still cant see why most spurs fans are rooting against the mavs... :depressed

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

Manu hits the shot that puts the Spurs up 3 and then commits the foul that allows the opponent to tie. Boneheaded play, but he had a big hand in winning two championships. You take the good with the bad.
Manu gets a pass because that was one utterly bad play out of a dozen great game winning plays alone in that series...then there's the championships. Can you imagine if Tim had missed that free throw to tie the game in game 5 of last year. Or even he hadn't WE LOST! On that larger stage that would have been a lot worse. But it still wouldn't be justified to make it out worse than it actually was. Horry saved Tim from a reputation altering game. Now we forgot it. Tim's forgot it it looks like with his SOMEWHAT decent FT percentage in the Mavs series at least.

Anyway if Manu makes another boneheaded play like that again next year that has us packing. I don't think I'd be able to say the same thing. But I don't believe he'd let that happen next time.

Manu should be glad that the Sac TO didn't occur in place of that Mavs series where we had NO chance as a team to try and win it. :wow

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

Sometimes thats just how it goes....however i give props to both teams for a great series. Although i still cant see why most spurs fans are rooting against the mavs... :depressed
Because you eliminated us in a potentially repeating year-- that's all. It's not really that hard to figure out.

Had we had gotten a few more lucky possessions, decisions we would have been going all the way since the Pistons it turned out didn't look so damn scary after Lebron, and Heat, eh they're beatable.. We still respect you guys as a team. Well I can only speak for myself. :lol

But yeah if you guys do ultimately win it, then I can just say you guys earned it.

But I see it as kind of being a fan and rooting for the underdog. Dirk will get bounced off Shaq though if he doesn't watch it. I don't think he will though cuz he's playing on another level now and can keep himself 15 feet away and do the damage from there. It's gonna be a great matchup.

[JET_31]

Because you eliminated us in a potentially repeating year-- that's all. It's not really that hard to figure out.

Had we had gotten a few more lucky possessions, decisions we would have been going all the way since the Pistons it turned out didn't look so damn scary after Lebron, and Heat, eh they're beatable.. We still respect you guys as a team. Well I can only speak for myself. :lol

But yeah if you guys do ultimately win it, then I can just say you guys earned it.

But I see it as kind of being a fan and rooting for the underdog. Dirk will get bounced off Shaq though if he doesn't watch it. I don't think he will though cuz he's playing on another level now and can keep himself 15 feet away and do the damage from there. It's gonna be a great matchup.

thanks, i agree that the winner of the western semifinals would have went on to win it all, mavs or spurs regardless.

[George Gervin's Afro]

Well I agree that these "if" article serve no purpose. I am sure throughout our prior runs every team had a 'what if' thought about the respective series. I am with everyone on feeling we were one play away from repeating but unfrotunately the Mavs made that 1 more play. Hats off to them.