ambchang
01-17-2007, 07:52 PM
The Spurs will have one of those patented 16 game winning streaks, and shut all the doubters up with the league's best record in the 2nd half of the season.
Why am I so confident? For one, Pop have been messing with the line up like he always does. People forget that the Spurs have always been a second half of the season type team because of last year's relatively quick start.
Second, the Spurs KNOW that the season is a marathon, not a sprint, while building the league's best record after 40 games is great, having your MVP (Nash) push the ball for 35.8 minutes is not, having your 2nd best player average 38.4 minutes (Marion) is worse. The Mavs are doing better in terms of managing minutes to their best players, but Dirk is still averaging 36.3 minutes, and Terry and Howard are clocked at 35 per.
All the while, Tim Duncan is the only guy averaging over 33 ppg for the Spurs (34.2, with Parker at 32.9 and Bowen at 32.2). Fresh legs will serve the team well.
Finally, look at the champs since Jordan retired. The Heat never had the best record in the league, neither did the Pistons. In fact, 3 of the 8 champs did not own or share the league's best record ( the 03 Spurs (tied with Mavs), 00 Lakers, 99 Spurs (tied with Jazz)).
The Spurs may be starting off slowly yet again, but I have my faith in one of the best managed teams of the last decade.
Why am I so confident? For one, Pop have been messing with the line up like he always does. People forget that the Spurs have always been a second half of the season type team because of last year's relatively quick start.
Second, the Spurs KNOW that the season is a marathon, not a sprint, while building the league's best record after 40 games is great, having your MVP (Nash) push the ball for 35.8 minutes is not, having your 2nd best player average 38.4 minutes (Marion) is worse. The Mavs are doing better in terms of managing minutes to their best players, but Dirk is still averaging 36.3 minutes, and Terry and Howard are clocked at 35 per.
All the while, Tim Duncan is the only guy averaging over 33 ppg for the Spurs (34.2, with Parker at 32.9 and Bowen at 32.2). Fresh legs will serve the team well.
Finally, look at the champs since Jordan retired. The Heat never had the best record in the league, neither did the Pistons. In fact, 3 of the 8 champs did not own or share the league's best record ( the 03 Spurs (tied with Mavs), 00 Lakers, 99 Spurs (tied with Jazz)).
The Spurs may be starting off slowly yet again, but I have my faith in one of the best managed teams of the last decade.