Rummpd
05-30-2007, 10:44 AM
Stating what the smart ones (me included) have said all year (still notice he had to throw in the obligatory Suns trash)
Same as they ever were
Reports of Spurs demise were greatly exaggerated
Posted: Tuesday May 29, 2007 5:43PM; Updated: Wednesday May 30, 2007 11:26AM
Tim Duncan (left) has been the MVP of the postseason so far.
AP
What a hoax the Spurs have pulled. They were supposed to be too old and slow. Tim Duncan was supposed to be irrelevant in the new small-ball world.
Four months ago they weren't defending with enthusiasm. They weren't executing their offense. The Mavericks and Suns looked like they were running away from San Antonio. Was age getting the worst of them?
"It's a legitimate concern for us,'' 35-year-old Brent Barry was saying in January.
"I don't think that our bench play has been as good as it has been in the past,'' coach Gregg Popovich was adding a month before the All-Star break. "From time to time our starters have been a little bit inconsistent. That's not a good thing because I think the West is probably tougher than it's ever been. But ...''
Here came the important midseason clue.
"... it also doesn't mean that the sky is falling.''
In fact, the Spurs had a history of taking their time to get things right. You can go back and find that their younger teams would be stumbling around before finding their rhythm to make a late-season charge.
From that perspective, their accomplishments in these playoffs have been an execution of their annual plan. But what is normal to them has been extraordinary to watch.
The Nuggets beat them in the opening game of the playoffs, only to be smoked out of the gym over the next four games. The Suns still don't know how they lost their six-game series in which they could have won every game but the clincher (though the suspensions of Amaré Stoudemire and Boris Diaw might have played a part).
And now in these Western Conference finals, the Jazz are successfully checking off a lot of the to-do's on their list. They're getting strong performances from their best players, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams. In Game 4 they came out playing just as hard as the Spurs, and they did an excellent job against Duncan (19 points) and Tony Parker (6-of-19). For three quarters they had rendered Manu Ginobili mostly ineffective -- and then Ginobili destroyed them with his punishing drives for 15 fourth-quarter points as the Spurs won 91-79 to take a 3-1 lead heading into Game 5 on Wednesday at San Antonio, where, as everyone knows by now, the Jazz haven't won since 1999.
This idea that the Spurs were too old never made much sense: Duncan is 31, Ginobili is 29 and Parker is 25. As a group they're at their peak. But Duncan was coming off a bad case of plantar fasciitis last year, and the theory is that Ginobili's physical style may cut years off his career. So much for that theory in Game 4. As for Duncan, he has reemerged as the NBA's postseason MVP thus far.
It's true that the Spurs have downsized their front line to make it quicker, smaller and more mobile because they don't have Shaq to worry about anymore in their conference. It's also true that they've been seeking to fill their complementary roles with younger talent, given the ages of Barry, Robert Horry and Michael Finley.
But the real truth is that the Spurs welcome playoff series against younger teams. Those opponents may be more explosive, but do they know how to apply that athleticism in a constructive way? That's what Utah coach Jerry Sloan was talking about after watching his team play hard but without purpose in the crucial second half Monday.
"Obviously,'' he said, "you need to learn how to stick with what you are trying to do and not have the turnovers and not have the fouls that put them on the free-throw line, regardless of circumstances.''
Bruce Bowen at 35 is able to stay with any scorer in the league, regardless of their advantages athletically, in height or in age. That's because he knows what he's doing and he plays within a system that bolsters him. It's not an easy system to learn, and the Spurs lose a few regular-season games along the way as they figure it out.
Popovich gladly helped feed the midseason speculation that his team was on the way out following last year's second-round loss to the young and spry Mavericks. But there also came a point in late January when he couldn't put up with the misjudgments any longer.
"I look back at last year and people say, 'You know, you didn't get by Dallas,' '' he said then. "Well, if not for one ill-advised foul [by Ginobili at the end of Game 7], we do get beyond Dallas. And if we do, then people wouldn't speak about us being old. They would say, 'Dallas still couldn't get over the hump against that experienced, executing bunch of Spurs.' But since that foul in the seventh game, you're old.
"I think being healthy at the end of the year, we'll be able to play with anybody.''
Of course that's obvious. Now.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/05/29/spurs/index.html
Same as they ever were
Reports of Spurs demise were greatly exaggerated
Posted: Tuesday May 29, 2007 5:43PM; Updated: Wednesday May 30, 2007 11:26AM
Tim Duncan (left) has been the MVP of the postseason so far.
AP
What a hoax the Spurs have pulled. They were supposed to be too old and slow. Tim Duncan was supposed to be irrelevant in the new small-ball world.
Four months ago they weren't defending with enthusiasm. They weren't executing their offense. The Mavericks and Suns looked like they were running away from San Antonio. Was age getting the worst of them?
"It's a legitimate concern for us,'' 35-year-old Brent Barry was saying in January.
"I don't think that our bench play has been as good as it has been in the past,'' coach Gregg Popovich was adding a month before the All-Star break. "From time to time our starters have been a little bit inconsistent. That's not a good thing because I think the West is probably tougher than it's ever been. But ...''
Here came the important midseason clue.
"... it also doesn't mean that the sky is falling.''
In fact, the Spurs had a history of taking their time to get things right. You can go back and find that their younger teams would be stumbling around before finding their rhythm to make a late-season charge.
From that perspective, their accomplishments in these playoffs have been an execution of their annual plan. But what is normal to them has been extraordinary to watch.
The Nuggets beat them in the opening game of the playoffs, only to be smoked out of the gym over the next four games. The Suns still don't know how they lost their six-game series in which they could have won every game but the clincher (though the suspensions of Amaré Stoudemire and Boris Diaw might have played a part).
And now in these Western Conference finals, the Jazz are successfully checking off a lot of the to-do's on their list. They're getting strong performances from their best players, Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams. In Game 4 they came out playing just as hard as the Spurs, and they did an excellent job against Duncan (19 points) and Tony Parker (6-of-19). For three quarters they had rendered Manu Ginobili mostly ineffective -- and then Ginobili destroyed them with his punishing drives for 15 fourth-quarter points as the Spurs won 91-79 to take a 3-1 lead heading into Game 5 on Wednesday at San Antonio, where, as everyone knows by now, the Jazz haven't won since 1999.
This idea that the Spurs were too old never made much sense: Duncan is 31, Ginobili is 29 and Parker is 25. As a group they're at their peak. But Duncan was coming off a bad case of plantar fasciitis last year, and the theory is that Ginobili's physical style may cut years off his career. So much for that theory in Game 4. As for Duncan, he has reemerged as the NBA's postseason MVP thus far.
It's true that the Spurs have downsized their front line to make it quicker, smaller and more mobile because they don't have Shaq to worry about anymore in their conference. It's also true that they've been seeking to fill their complementary roles with younger talent, given the ages of Barry, Robert Horry and Michael Finley.
But the real truth is that the Spurs welcome playoff series against younger teams. Those opponents may be more explosive, but do they know how to apply that athleticism in a constructive way? That's what Utah coach Jerry Sloan was talking about after watching his team play hard but without purpose in the crucial second half Monday.
"Obviously,'' he said, "you need to learn how to stick with what you are trying to do and not have the turnovers and not have the fouls that put them on the free-throw line, regardless of circumstances.''
Bruce Bowen at 35 is able to stay with any scorer in the league, regardless of their advantages athletically, in height or in age. That's because he knows what he's doing and he plays within a system that bolsters him. It's not an easy system to learn, and the Spurs lose a few regular-season games along the way as they figure it out.
Popovich gladly helped feed the midseason speculation that his team was on the way out following last year's second-round loss to the young and spry Mavericks. But there also came a point in late January when he couldn't put up with the misjudgments any longer.
"I look back at last year and people say, 'You know, you didn't get by Dallas,' '' he said then. "Well, if not for one ill-advised foul [by Ginobili at the end of Game 7], we do get beyond Dallas. And if we do, then people wouldn't speak about us being old. They would say, 'Dallas still couldn't get over the hump against that experienced, executing bunch of Spurs.' But since that foul in the seventh game, you're old.
"I think being healthy at the end of the year, we'll be able to play with anybody.''
Of course that's obvious. Now.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/05/29/spurs/index.html