Jazz Fan: What are the Spurs Weaknesses?

[JAZZinSIX]

Very impressive win tonight. You guys play nearly flawless basketball, your experience constantly shows, your offense is patient and deadly, and your defense is like a boa constrictor. I'm just wondering what SA fans think their weaknesses are? The stats so you're only so-so offensive rebounders, but every other stat is off the charts. What teams beat you and how do they do it?

[MannyIsGod]

You saw their main weakenss today. They let teams back in and prefer to coast as opposed to laying the hammer sometimes.

[jag]

weaknesses?? Vaughn getting pt in the 4th.

I feel the biggest weakness is when we start to fall in love with the outside shooting and stop penetrating.

[Strike]

Very impressive win tonight. You guys play nearly flawless basketball, your experience constantly shows, your offense is patient and deadly, and your defense is like a boa constrictor. I'm just wondering what SA fans think their weaknesses are? The stats so you're only so-so offensive rebounders, but every other stat is off the charts. What teams beat you and how do they do it?

Sometimes free throws in the stretch (Except for Finley) and lackluster play when they've built a big lead (see games 4 and 6 against Phoenix and game 1 against Utah).

As far as so-so offensive rebounding goes, it's because the Spurs are more concerned about getting back on defense to limit fast breaks and easy transition buckets. It's a trade off.

[spurtime]

Teams who have multiple players with strong midrange games give us trouble. Our defense is predicated on contesting the 3 point shot and funneling people to the basket up the baseline. When teams can stop and pop from 15-17 feet with regularity that can put a dent in our defensive strategy.

[Kori Ellis]

You saw their main weakenss today. They let teams back in and prefer to coast as opposed to laying the hammer sometimes.

Exactly. They sometimes loaf or lose focus when they are up,instead of stepping on the opponent's throat and burying them.

Rebounding is a problem sometimes. And the Spurs don't usually get consistent play from the center spot - but Fabricio has stepped it up in the postseason.

[picnroll]

Duncan falling asleep on defense in the 4th today. Weak rebounding effort.

[T Park]

Letting teams in.

Rebounds.

Lazy defense.

Pretty much how they played in the second half :lol

[timvp]

Rebounding has been a huge weakness all season. The Jazz can beat the Spurs if they concentrate on just destroying the Spurs on the glass while trying to get Duncan into foul trouble.

[sprrs]

Defensive rebounding is pretty horrible also. When Vaughn is on the floor, back off him and let him shoot jumpers. For some reason he's extremely confident with it and will brick every time he gets the ball. Phoenix won some games by collapsing the paint and forcing the shooters to shoot nothing but threes. The Spurs are capable of making them, mind you, but when they have a bad shooting night they have a BAD shooting night.

[Cry Havoc]

Some of our players struggle with consistency (Manu.)

Parker gets frustrated at times and resorts to Mr. Passive Tony.

Sometimes we can't get a rebound to save our life, and 7 foot jump shooters tend to give us problems because our defense is about matching up. We don't like sticking our bigs out on the wings because we have boarding problems as it is.

Honestly though, if Manu's shot is falling and Duncan is playing like he has been... I don't know how many teams in the history of the league would have a shot at taking us in a 7 game series. Jordan's Bulls, Magic's Lakers, Bird's Celts, Bill's Celts.... that's just about it.

I'd like to play a Kobe and Shaq driven Lakers team right now. I think we'd knock them off in 5. This team is so much better than it was when it won a title in 2003.

[picnroll]

Jazz fan is Boozer as bad a defender as he appeaared to be today?

[JAZZinSIX]

Boozer is a terrible defender which is why he's on Oberto. The Jazz hide him in every game, but they can get away with it when AK plays his game. AK played like shit tonight so Booze got exposed.

Basically, Booze is fine against immobile big guys. Anyone who runs or cuts gives him trouble and he doesn't block shots.

The flip side is what you didn't see tonight. On offense, Booze is a BEAST in the paint and he can finish with both his right and left hand (especially his left). Jazz defense works best when AK is roaming...you saw a little of this tonight but he was late and goaltended. He blocked 13 shots in the first two games at GS and he's going to have to get untracked for us to win.

[JAZZinSIX]

Personally, I don't see many weaknesses on the Spurs. On offense, you guys really wait a defense, make the extra pass, and get easy buckets. On D, you just don't stop playing which is the key. Most teams can't sustain 24 seconds of defense and you guys expect to play 24 on every possession.

I think our best chance to beat you guys is to decimate you on the boards. We just have so many rebounders and when we're attacking the glass, we can turn every offensive possession into 2 tries. We'll make it interesting if we can do this, but it's going to be an uphill dogfight.

[JAZZinSIX]

By the way, what the hell is my 500 dollars of betting money and how can I do something with it?

[phyzik]

By the way, what the hell is my 500 dollars of betting money and how can I do something with it?


look for "vBookie" threads... you dont win shit for betting correctly, just more vBookie... its a status thing.... hence why I am perpetually at 0... I swear either Kori or the Spurs themselves have something against me :lol

As far as weakness... if it comes down to a game like this in the final minutes, I fully expect the Jazz to keep Finley away from the inbounds. They let him get the ball too much and let him shoot free throws. If it was anyone else we still might have won but it would have been MUCH closer.

other than that you can refer to the first reply.... Spurs just LET people back in it.

[Kori Ellis]

you dont win shit for betting correctly, just more vBookie...

The person who has the most vBookie money at the end of the year gets prizes, so that's not exactly shit but yeah.

[Kori Ellis]

By the way, what the hell is my 500 dollars of betting money and how can I do something with it?
Click on vBookie in the black control bar and you'll see which bets are open to bet on. There's new ones every day or so.

[timvp]

Jazz fan is Boozer as bad a defender as he appeaared to be today?

Looking at the plus/minus numbers from the Jazz, their two worst defenders are Boozer and Okur.

That's pretty odd.

[SequSpur]

Weakness is a sign of pussiness.

The Spurs have none.

Spurs in Four.

[picnroll]

Okur sucked so bad they played Arujao. Oberto is going to have a big series methinks.

[phyzik]

BTW, not trying to take away from the Jazz come back (in regards about Spurs letting teams back in the game) but we see it pretty much all the time...

[wildbill2u]

Very impressive win tonight. You guys play nearly flawless basketball, your experience constantly shows, your offense is patient and deadly, and your defense is like a boa constrictor. I'm just wondering what SA fans think their weaknesses are? The stats so you're only so-so offensive rebounders, but every other stat is off the charts. What teams beat you and how do they do it?
We're so BORING. Sometimes we're winning and bore ourselves and lose to an inferior team.

[UV Ray]

Fan Attendance.

[sabar]

-Bad home crowd
-Rebounding
-Foul trouble & reliance on Duncan
-Stretches of very bad shooting
-Stretches of very bad defense
-Free throws

[MrChug]

I'd have to say that among the most frustrating things as a Spurs fan is our tendancy to overpass. Which means that SOMEBODY didn't take a shot, which speaks directly to a fear of the big shot which scares me...

[chorizo overdose]

probably barbacoa tacos with cilantro, cebolla and limon... you know the works, and some dos equis.

[Tigole Bitties]

-Bad home crowd
-Rebounding
-Foul trouble & reliance on Duncan
-Stretches of very bad shooting
-Stretches of very bad defense
-Free throws

reliance on Duncan -- sometimes, guys just stand around and watch Timmy do his thing. Offense gets stagnant and there's no movement. Usually ends up with a one-and-out.

A few more:
-Terrible stadium music
-PA Announcer
-parking fees

[jmard5]

Rebounding and FTs.

[mikejones99]

jazz will be favored in utah so Spurs are weaker on the road maybe. or it could be easy money in Nevada

[Nbadan]

You let Duncan score 50, but don't let Parker, Gino, Horry, Bowen and Finley go off on you. It's not rocket science.

[Man In Black]

The stat-geeks did a study on all the teams and I think it was Dean Oliver(Stat guy for Seattle) who said the Spurs give their opponents a fair amount of open mid-range jumpers and when they played in the 2005 semis. Then Seattle started to make a whole bunch of those shots. Spurs D finally clamped down and they started to miss those shots(live by the J, die by the J)

[ATRAIN]

FT's and lately Gino's crazy passes to the front row.

[tmtcsc]

jazz will be favored in utah so Spurs are weaker on the road maybe. or it could be easy money in Nevada


I actually think we play better on the road.

Weaknesses ? Falling in love with the 3 and not driving to the hoop enough. Getting too comfortable with leads.

[Jimcs50]

being human

[Extra Stout]

Weaknesses:

-- No free T-shirts
-- No discount hot dogs

[ATXSPUR]

Bad shot selection when other teams are cutting into our lead. We tend to fall in love with three pointers when the other team makes a run. I wish we would drive more instead of taking jumpshots.

Also poor defense with the lead...however that wasnt much of a problem last night.

Turnovers are also a weakness....we tend to keep teams in the game that way.

I guess you can sum that all up by saying we get sloppy with the lead.

[SpurOutofTownFan]

Teams who have multiple players with strong midrange games give us trouble. Our defense is predicated on contesting the 3 point shot and funneling people to the basket up the baseline. When teams can stop and pop from 15-17 feet with regularity that can put a dent in our defensive strategy.

From all the opinions in this thread this is the most important. He wasn't looking at who is struggling more or whatever. He was looking at real weaknesses, something about game plan, a weak point in the structure. I agree with this statement, midrange consistent shooters give us serious trouble and take us out of our game. That's probably the only time we need to do something different and lose something else from our game.

[Solid D]

Looking at the plus/minus numbers from the Jazz, their two worst defenders are Boozer and Okur.

That's pretty odd.

One needs only watch Game 1 and Game 2 video of these two guys' help defense to realize those numbers don't lie. One ball reversal or extra pass and Okur and Boozer get lost and forget about anyone cutting to the basket.

[shaq_h8ter]

Duncan is the Spurs' single point of failure stop him and you have a chance.
Send all your slashers to rim and hope to get him in foul trouble.

Maybe have expendable big start a fight with Tony and get Tim to run off the bench, but don't start a fight with Manu because he'll end it.

[Deede4525]

Duncan is the Spurs' single point of failure stop him and you have a chance.
Send all your slashers to rim and hope to get him in foul trouble.

Maybe have expendable big start a fight with Tony and get Tim to run off the bench, but don't start a fight with Manu because he'll end it.


Hey! Don't give them any ideas.... :lol

[texasqb2]

one weakness could get sweeping teams out of the West Finals so that we can't get any revenue from our other 2 home games we will be missing, but then again, people will probably not show up anyway

[NoMoneyDown]

Turnovers are also a weakness....we tend to keep teams in the game that way.

I agree. I saw TWO passes (one by Parker and another by him or someone else) in the last few minutes of the game that just sailed by the recepient. I just kept my fingers crossed they wouldn't come back to haunt us at the end of the game.

[spurster]

At this point, overconfidence.

[LavaLamp]

Duncan is the Spurs' single point of failure stop him and you have a chance. Send all your slashers to rim and hope to get him in foul trouble.


Actually, I don't think the Spurs have a single point of failure. This is their most notable structural feature. They have three dangerous, independent threads of offense in TD, TP and Manu. Trying to stop TD just frees up opportunities for TP and Manu to run the offense and explode either as scorers or as facilitators. And it is highly unlikely that all 3 threads are off on one night.

If there is a team with an obvious single point of failure, it would be the Suns' Steve Nash. The Suns offense always starts with him. Boris Diaw is like a secondary point guard in the block but not quite as effective as Nash.

[DarrinS]

The Spurs have 3 main weaknesses


Vaughn
Elson
Boredom

[SAGambler]

Failure to put their foot on the neck and close it out early.

Rebounding at times can become a problem.

Getting too quick and losing some control which results in turnovers.

But in the overall picture, the weaknesses that come thru are few and far between.

[Vito Corleone]

The spurs only weakness is kryptonite

[TDMVPDPOY]

jazz lacks hatred

[TampaDude]

You saw their main weakenss today. They let teams back in and prefer to coast as opposed to laying the hammer sometimes.

Yup...that's their biggest weakness...they tend to fuck around and coast when they have a big lead, and that often lets the other team get back in the game. Fortunately, the Spurs usually wake up when the other team gets close again, and they put the hammer down. It's still a bothersome trait the Spurs have...maybe they're just being nice...who knows?

[GSH]

At the risk of sounding too cocky:

If you want to beat the Spurs, your best bet is to play them before the All-Star break. This year they were 23-5 after the break. (35-19 before the break.) That's not going to help in the post-season, though.

Next, make sure and play them on the second night of a back-to-back. ("Experienced" players need a day of rest.) Of their 24 losses this season, 7 came on second nights - almost a third of their losses. That's not going to help in the post-season either.

Next up...pray for a night when they aren't focused, come after Tony and Manu hard all game, and get them to commit 14 or more turnovers. (If they commit 13 or less, they don't lose very often.) Unfortunately, the loss of focus usually happens when they have opened up a very big lead early in the game, and start coasting. Still, the Jazz force a lot of turnovers against opponents, and we have seen it happen in the first two games.

Finally, pray for a night when the Spurs can't hit perimeter jumpers to save their asses. Then clog the paint, and dominate them on the glass. Probably a good idea to pick up a decent number of transition baskets on those missed shots too. The Jazz dominate the glass better than anyone else, which is a start. Clogging the paint speaks for itself. The part about them not being able to hit perimeter shots is more of a leap of faith.

When any two of Bowen, Barry, Horry, Finley, and Ginobili are hitting from outside with any respectable percentage... I don't know how anyone is going to beat them in a 7-game series. When you look at what they have done since the All-Star break, it is a pretty bleak prospect for the other teams. I know I'm a Spurs fan, and biased. But the record speaks for itself.

[TampaDude]

probably barbacoa tacos with cilantro, cebolla and limon... you know the works, and some dos equis.

Damn...stop it...you're making me hungry! :lol

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Complacency.




There's a reason why the Spurs don't have back-to-back championships.

[ForeignFan]

making passes sometimes to people sitting in the fifth row

[CubanMustGo]

Cheap-ass owner who stays out of the limelight.



</sarcasm>