I'm ok with the 3 seed.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

The Spurs might be better off finishing 3rd in the West. While I know this would setup two straight series where we'd be giving up homecourt advantage, I think the motivation factor of being the underdogs would more than offset lost homecourt advantage.

During the Spurs '05 run they had to beat Phoenix without homecourt, and I actually think it geared the Spurs up during those first two contests in Phoenix.

There's something demoralizing about getting beat on your own court in one or both of those first two home games against a team that, at least according to the seeding, you're supposed to beat. On the flip side, there's extra motivation to steal homecourt advantage if you're playing from a lower spot.

San Antonio is better as the underdog. Last year against Dallas the Spurs sputtered their way to a 3-1 deficit as the "favorite", played hard to bring the series back to 3-3, and then listened to everyone say they'd win game 7 at home and didn't turn on the jets until they'd spotted the Mavs a big lead...and still lost.

This year's Spurs are almost better as a road team. They seem more focused and more consistent. Homecourt advantage could actually hurt them.

So, I'm ok with the 3rd playoff spot. It might just work to our advantage. I, for one, am not really rooting for a Suns meltdown...until round 2 of the playoffs!

[nkdlunch]

we won't. We'll finish #2. and we ain't afraid of nobody

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I'm more concerned about complacency than fear when it comes to my Spurs.

[nkdlunch]

yeah I agree. but it is inevitable that Suns will lose more games than Spurs the rest of the season, the way the last few weeks have been going.

I also beleive that beating both Mavs + Suns on the road is a pretty tough task.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I also beleive that beating both Mavs + Suns on the road is a pretty tough task.

Which will make it that much more sweet!! :smokin

[mardigan]

I just realized we are only 2 games back from Phoenix .Im ok with #3, but #2 would be seweet

[duncan228]

I'm more concerned about complacency than fear when it comes to my Spurs.

Me too.

[ducks]

I would rather pop rest the starters and finish 3 then play the starters to much and finish 2

[Fabbs]

I would rather pop rest the starters and finish 3 then play the starters to much and finish 2
amen.

[ShoogarBear]

I just realized we are only 2 games back from Phoenix .Thanks to Milwaukee and Boston.

[Spurminator]

Thanks to Milwaukee and Boston.


:bang

[Supergirl]

Either way - whether we wind up #2 or #3, our destiny is pretty much the same -
we face either Denver or L.A. in the 1st round, Phoenix in the 2nd, and Dallas in the WCF.

Then, I predict, Detroit in the Finals. Should be a good series.

[Shank]

Why be comfortable with the #3 when Phoenix is doing their best to serve up the #2?

[mardigan]

I thought if we were the 2 seed that Dallas would play the Suns in the second round?

[ShoogarBear]

Nah, Dallas would play the winner of the 4-5 matchup.

[mardigan]

So then it doesnt matter, f-it then. Rest em

[Fabbs]

So then it doesnt matter, f-it then. Rest em
It's not worth overextending for. If the op presents itself, then good.
I did a thread on which seed the eventual NBA Champ came from.
It's not at all crucial to be #1 or #2. It helps, but there are plenty of #1 and #2s eliminated along the way.

[smrattler]

With the top 3 teams, you have three teams that are probably evenly matched and all play very well and focused on the road. Asking the home team to win the first two to start the series is a lot. And probably a lot of pressure.

The first game is always sloppy. There is an adjustment period when they are evenly matched and the road team is a "good road team". So, it's easier to steal that win early. By games 3 and 4, both teams know exactly what they want to do and it's a matter of execution, etc.

[td4mvp21]

I would rather pop rest the starters and finish 3 then play the starters to much and finish 2

They are healthy and do not need any extra rest at this point. If anyone gets injured, God forbid, then rest them. They are fine right now.

[dallasmavsnfuego214]

San Antonio is better as the underdog. Last year against Dallas the Spurs sputtered their way to a 3-1 deficit as the "favorite", played hard to bring the series back to 3-3, and then listened to everyone say they'd win game 7 at home and didn't turn on the jets until they'd spotted the Mavs a big lead...and still lost.


i agree with that except for the fact that they "spotted the Mavs a lead" and just simply turned on the jets. Dallas let up a little bit


we face either Denver or L.A. in the 1st round, Phoenix in the 2nd, and Dallas in the WCF.

Then, I predict, Detroit in the Finals. Should be a good series.

playoffs havent started yet nothing is guaranteed

[exstatic]

I would rather pop rest the starters and finish 3 then play the starters to much and finish 2
No spur player goes over 35 minutes. It's not like they're the Suns or anything. If we win tonight and Thursday against the Suns, I don't see anything stopping the hop to #2, certainly not the gasping Suns.

[Clutch20]

No spur player goes over 35 minutes. It's not like they're the Suns or anything. If we win tonight and Thursday against the Suns, I don't see anything stopping the hop to #2, certainly not the gasping Suns.
Touching on reg.season vs playoff minutes this is an espn article/observation/theory about the league's reg. season horses and postseasonal warriors, maybe to be taken with a "grain of salt?"


Who is Playing Harder in the Playoffs?
http://myespn.go.com/profile/truehoop?tag=san%20antonio%20spurs
March 13, 2007 5:29 PM

Yesterday I put out a call for some way to measure players who are
coasting for at least some of the regular season:

Here's one I've never seen but would love to see: who are the
all-time regular season coasters? The guys who just don't play hard for much
of the season, saving their knees, and their effort, for the late
season and playoffs?

TrueHoop reader and veteran stat junkie Michael Goodman responded with
a spreadsheet of stuff that looks really cool, but is hard for my
Bachelor of the Arts mind. So I'll let him explain:

PO/RS is Playoff/Regular Season productivity ratio. Both are
adjusted for team/opponent pace, year by year. A year with 400 playoff
minutes counts 4x as much as a year with 100.

'Net' is calculated by player's
(productivity*1.05)*(min/36)*(po/rs) The average po/rs is about .945, so the 1.05 cancels that: Anyone
over .945 has a positive net. You may see the player's stats go down --
along with most others' -- but relative to the opponent, his team gains.

Here are the top twenty from his list:

0.945 Net PO/RS POMin Min/36
Robert Horry 555 1.07 6740 187
Tim Duncan 489 1.02 4910 136
Baron Davis 283 1.15 1502 42
Dwyane Wade 240 1.05 2133 59
Manu Ginobili 232 1.05 2253 63
Caron Butler 205 1.24 957 27
Tim Thomas 199 1.12 1705 47
Tayshaun Prince 196 1.03 3165 88
Derek Fisher 182 1.04 3136 87
Paul Pierce 158 1.04 1615 45
Ray Allen 132 1.04 1563 43
Antonio Daniels 126 1.07 1567 44
Richard Hamilton 118 .99 3268 91
Allen Iverson 118 .98 2779 77
Vince Carter 101 1.02 1308 36
James Posey 93 1.10 920 26
Antonio McDyess 91 1.04 1055 29
Kirk Hinrich 90 1.16 520 14
Eric Snow 83 1.00 2212 61
Kenyon Martin 82 .99 2112 59

No one can argue with Robert Horry topping this list. His teammate
publicly accused him of as much a couple of years ago. (The only irony
there is that the teammate making the accusation is second on this list.)

Shaquille O'Neal, whom I trotted out as the poster boy of taking some
time off during the season, comes in 38th. I imagine that's because much
of the time when he has been apparently coasting was time when he was
on the injured list, and those games, I assume, did not count towards
his productivity tally.

In fact, it occurs to me that playing through injuries in the regular
season is a great way to get yourself on this list. A lot of the guys
here have played at half-speed for stretches of their career. If they had
been real coasters, they would have worn street clothes.

I wonder if anyone has a way to further refine this list to get to who
it is that is really taking the most time off. (Even Mike himself
admits that is not this list: "No," he writes, "I can't call out the
'coasters'. But Tim Thomas is a good start.") There is a difference that I'd
like to get at, between Tim Duncan hobbling through almost all of last
season on one leg, and whatever it is that Tim Thomas has been doing all
these years.

Wow. I just checked out the bottom of the list. These would be people
who have been frighteningly productive in the regular season compared to
the playoffs. Some of the NBA's bigger playoff disappointments are
here, as are several MVP candidates, and some championship winners. The
last twenty are:

Jason Kidd, Predrag Stojakovic, Lindsey Hunter, Darrell Armstrong,
Radoslav Nesterovic, Brad Miller, Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Webber, Sam
Cassell, Brent Barry, Bruce Bowen, Steve Nash, Michael Finley, Kobe Bryant,
Tony Parker, Shawn Marion, Dale Davis, Jermaine O'Neal, Clifford
Robinson, and (bringing up the rear) Gary Payton.

Notice how San Antonio Spurs are all over the top and the bottom of
this list? (Theory: these are the guys who pick up the slack when Tim
Duncan and Manu Ginobili aren't 100%.)


(ps. not my personal theory!)

[aaronstampler]

I think home court is way more important against Phx than Dallas. We need to control the pace against the Suns to have a chance and the best way to do that is to have home court. I really want them to get the 2 seed.

[efrem1]

I don't think they will be gaining ground tonight on PHX. That Denver bench is thin and they're running out of gas.

[T Park]

think home court is way more important against Phx than Dallas. We need to control the pace against the Suns to have a chance and the best way to do that is to have home court. I really want them to get the 2 seed.

Yeah that helped in 05.

oops.....

[J.T.]

The 2 seed doesn't really do much besides give us HCA against Phoenix in the second round. We'll get to the semis regardless, and we know to get to the Finals we have to go through Phoenix and Dallas. Course there's always the upset factor, could happen to us or them, but there's a good chance that's the path to the finals. I'm glad people are starting to see that the underdog factor will work to our advantage. I've only been saying that since Dallas took a 5 game lead in the division.

[dallaskd]

The Spurs might be better off finishing 3rd in the West. While I know this would setup two straight series where we'd be giving up homecourt advantage, I think the motivation factor of being the underdogs would more than offset lost homecourt advantage.

During the Spurs '05 run they had to beat Phoenix without homecourt, and I actually think it geared the Spurs up during those first two contests in Phoenix.

There's something demoralizing about getting beat on your own court in one or both of those first two home games against a team that, at least according to the seeding, you're supposed to beat. On the flip side, there's extra motivation to steal homecourt advantage if you're playing from a lower spot.

San Antonio is better as the underdog. Last year against Dallas the Spurs sputtered their way to a 3-1 deficit as the "favorite", played hard to bring the series back to 3-3, and then listened to everyone say they'd win game 7 at home and didn't turn on the jets until they'd spotted the Mavs a big lead...and still lost.

This year's Spurs are almost better as a road team. They seem more focused and more consistent. Homecourt advantage could actually hurt them.

So, I'm ok with the 3rd playoff spot. It might just work to our advantage. I, for one, am not really rooting for a Suns meltdown...until round 2 of the playoffs!

good. cuz thats all your gonna get for the next 5 years...

[lefty]

good. cuz thats all your gonna get for the next 5 years...


As long as we add other titles, we'll be ok for those next 5 years

[Rynospursfan]

Pop should rest Horry and get him right otherwise lets keep this thing rolling and head into the post season hot, preferably as a 2 seed. The Suns would be demoralized before even entering the playoffs giving up that lead for home court advantage to the Spurs. Also I would prefer to play a team like Denver, Clippers or the Warriors than have to battle Kobe and Phil in the first round.

[aaronstampler]

Yeah that helped in 05.

oops.....

Barbosa's a much bigger part of their team now than '05. He's the x factor for them we don't really have an answer for defensively. We couldn't keep up with him in transition last game no matter how much we tried.

[howbouthemspurs]

The Spurs will beat the suns in 6 games and will sweep th mavs, they will go to the finals and beat the pistons in 6 games. Manu will average 34pts 7reb and 6 as he will become the MVP of the finals then he will make marv albert lick his asshole. Im usually accurate on my predictons so I feel sory for marv :(

[toosmallshoes]

two seed....three seed.... haarumph. Who cares? The Spurs will beat whoever they play in the first round. The Suns will never win a Championship with their style of play. And the Spurs will never catch up to the win total of the Mavs. The Spurs just need to remember that homecourt didn't win game 7 last year. Neither did it win game 7 in 2005. The best team won. Concentrate on being the best team. To hell with seedings.

[Bruno]

HCA is quite overrated. Spurs rather have HCA against Phoenix but it's not a big deal if they haven't it.

The real edge of the second seed is to have an easier first round. I don't consider Nuggets as an easier opponent than Lakers but it's not sure than Nuggets will get the 7th seed. Nuggets are 35-36 and Clippers are 35-37. The dream scenario will be Spurs 2nd and Clippers 7th : Spurs will have in this case the easier first round of the West (Mavs will play against Nuggets, Suns against Lakers and Rockets against Jazz).

Anyway, being healthy and rested for the playoff is ten times more important. Spurs shouldn't try to get the 2nd seed if they had to play their starters 40mpg in April but they won't maybe had to do it because Spurs end of regular season schedule is quite easy.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

good. cuz thats all your gonna get for the next 5 years...

Congrats on your regular season title.

[DubMcDub]

Congrats on your regular season title.

Congrats on your 3rd place finish in the conference. :lol

Spurs fans sure like to talk a lot about the Mavs thinking a championship is a foregone conclusion. I've seen a hell of a lot more Spurs fans convey that attitude.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Congrats on your 3rd place finish in the conference. :lol

Spurs fans sure like to talk a lot about the Mavs thinking a championship is a foregone conclusion. I've seen a hell of a lot more Spurs fans convey that attitude.


Mavsfan sure likes to turn every thread into a discussion about their Avericks.

Go start your own thread about being the one seed...this thread was not about your team...much like the other 5,000 or so threads that you guys have managed to sabotage.

I liked it when the Pistons and Lakers were winning championships. At least their fans had the swagger of being there before, and the grace not to tug at Spurs fans coattails all day long talking about how great their team is.

Mavs fans have turned this forum into 5th grade playground nonsensical useless smack talk.

[Bruno]

Mavsfan sure likes to turn every thread into a discussion about their Avericks.

Go start your own thread about being the one seed...this thread was not about your team...much like the other 5,000 or so threads that you guys have managed to sabotage.

I liked it when the Pistons and Lakers were winning championships. At least their fans had the swagger of being there before, and the grace not to tug at Spurs fans coattails all day long talking about how great their team is.

Mavs fans have turned this forum into 5th grade playground nonsensical useless smack talk.

Agree and well said. :clap

[1Parker1]

I'm not too sure HCA advantage matters either way for any of the top 3 teams in the West. Even with HCA, a team will have to eventually win on the road at some time. But you are right in the sense that Spurs seem to play better on the road this season...I'm thinking it will be different in the postseason and their lackluster attitude at home won't happen quite as often. Any advantage you have in the playoffs help...and having HCA is always a plus.

Either way, I think the biggest battle for the Spurs...and the Suns will be that I think it will be hard fought series and difficult for either team to play a back to back series against each other and then the Mavs. Mavs have a slightly easier road, though I'm sure the Rockets may give them some trouble.


I just want the playoffs to start already.

[DubMcDub]

Mavsfan sure likes to turn every thread into a discussion about their Avericks.

Go start your own thread about being the one seed...this thread was not about your team...much like the other 5,000 or so threads that you guys have managed to sabotage.

I liked it when the Pistons and Lakers were winning championships. At least their fans had the swagger of being there before, and the grace not to tug at Spurs fans coattails all day long talking about how great their team is.

Mavs fans have turned this forum into 5th grade playground nonsensical useless smack talk.

It's not healthy to let me get so deep into your head. Take a few breaths and relax.

Then, go ahead and realize that my first post in this thread was in response to something you had said about the Mavericks. So I guess it wasn't me who brought them up.

[efrem1]

It's great to engage in this banter between us the Mavs fans. It could be worse. You could be a Kings fan here in Sacto and have nothing to brag about.

[td4mvp21]

It's not healthy to let me get so deep into your head. Take a few breaths and relax.

Then, go ahead and realize that my first post in this thread was in response to something you had said about the Mavericks. So I guess it wasn't me who brought them up.


He brought up the Mavericks because another Mavs fan thought it would be funny to make the cute little comment "Good, because that's what you guys will get for the next several years" regarding the thread title. So guess what? It was a Mavs fan that brought up the Mavericks. If Mavs fans would just keep their mouths shut from smartass little comments in these threads and stick to ACTUAL conversation about the topic, that'd be nice.



I want the 2 seed but if we get the 3 seed, things won't be much different except the first round matchups. I don't think we need homecourt advantage to beat the Suns.

[DubMcDub]

He brought up the Mavericks because another Mavs fan thought it would be funny to make the cute little comment "Good, because that's what you guys will get for the next several years" regarding the thread title. So guess what? It was a Mavs fan that brought up the Mavericks. If Mavs fans would just keep their mouths shut from smartass little comments in these threads and stick to ACTUAL conversation about the topic, that'd be nice.



I want the 2 seed but if we get the 3 seed, things won't be much different except the first round matchups. I don't think we need homecourt advantage to beat the Suns.

The fact is that he responded to it. Nobody forced him to. The Mavs fan who wrote that was obviously fishing and trying to get a rise out of some of you, and he played right into his hands. Then he wants to rant about it.

I respect your point though. At the same time, there's plenty of legitimate dialogue going on around these boards, sometimes even including Mavs fans. Does it really matter all that much if some of us muck up some of your threads with a remark or two? If Kori really thought it was THAT big of a deal she'd ban us all.

As to the topic at hand, I don't think it matters that much what seed the Spurs are, though it is a bit transparent that the original poster is trying to justify a bit.

[td4mvp21]

The fact is that he responded to it. Nobody forced him to. The Mavs fan who wrote that was obviously fishing and trying to get a rise out of some of you, and he played right into his hands. Then he wants to rant about it.

I respect your point though. At the same time, there's plenty of legitimate dialogue going on around these boards, sometimes even including Mavs fans. Does it really matter all that much if some of us muck up some of your threads with a remark or two? If Kori really thought it was THAT big of a deal she'd ban us all.

As to the topic at hand, I don't think it matters that much what seed the Spurs are, though it is a bit transparent that the original poster is trying to justify a bit.

I'm just saying, it would be nice to not have those comments in EVERY thread, it's ridiculous. And Spurs fans should not put the same type of comments in every Mavs-related thread either.

And Kori is a very nice mod, she puts up with a lot of shit IMO.