Good article about why the path to the Finals has been easy for the Spurs

[Infamous]

Sure, the Spurs are headed to their fourth NBA Finals thanks to talent and execution. But it doesn't hurt to have a little luck. In fact, the Spurs have had their share of breaks this postseason. David Kendrick's analysis:

Avoiding Dallas

Entering the playoffs, it looked as though the Spurs would have to go through No. 2 seed Phoenix and the top-seeded Mavericks. Golden State did the Spurs a favor by eliminating the Mavericks in the first round. Dallas presented the biggest challenge for the Spurs after beating them in last season's playoffs and three out of four times in the regular season.

Avoiding Houston

Dallas wasn't the only team the Spurs avoided. Utah knocked out Houston in the second round, meaning the Spurs didn't have to face Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. The Spurs were 2-2 against Houston during the regular season, and McGrady averaged 28 points in three games.

Nash's nose

Steve Nash scored 31 points in Game 1 of the Suns' Western Conference semifinal series with the Spurs, but it's the 45 seconds he missed that will be remembered. After a collision with Tony Parker, Nash developed a bloody cut on his nose and was out while trainers tried to fix the gash. "You only see things like that in a boxing match," Robert Horry said. When Nash went out, the Suns were down 106-104 and he had scored the team's last seven points. By the time he came back, the Spurs were up 110-106 with only 9.1 seconds remaining. They went on to win 111-106.

Suspensions

When the Suns beat the Spurs 104-98 at the AT&T Center, Phoenix tied the series 2-2 heading home. But the celebration didn't last. Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were suspended for Game 5 after leaving the bench area during an altercation on the court. With Stoudemire and Diaw out, the Suns fell in Game 5 to the Spurs, who then closed out the series in Game 6 at home.

Williams' injury and sickness

Jazz guard Deron Williams was Utah's most effective player against the Spurs, averaging 30.3 points through the first three games. "This is like his coming-out party right now," Bruce Bowen said. But before Game 4, Williams came down with the stomach flu. While he did play, scoring 27 points and dishing out 10 assists, he wasn't 100 percent. Making things worse, he injured his foot at the end of the game and was then questionable for Game 5. He played but clearly wasn't at full strength as the Spurs eliminated the Jazz.

Fisher's absence

Williams wasn't the only Jazz guard who was questionable entering Game 5. Derek Fisher went to New York after Game 4 to be with his infant daughter, who underwent a procedure for a cancerous tumor in her left eye. He didn't show up until halftime Wednesday, by which time the Jazz already were down 55-39

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA060207.01C.BKNspurs.luck.3697c6e.html

[SA210]

:sleep

[Obstructed_View]

If it's so easy, how come nobody else ever does it? The harder they works, the luckier they gets...

[sprrs]

Better lucky than good.

[ca®lo]

WHY THE HELL CANT WE JUST GET CREDIT FOR WINNING AND ADVANCING TO THE FINALS?

its not like we asked for those things to happen. we beat those teams fair and square.

they talk about the damn nose that its parker who initiated the fuc*ng contact.

[Obstructed_View]

Laker fans know that they've got Juwan Howard and Scott Pollard to thank for two of their rings.

[Beast Juice]

Fisher didnt show up the entire series. So a half without him probably benefited Utah. He did decent in game 4 but that was it. I doubt that had any effect on the game or the series. He probably just didnt want to hear the shit he was gonna get at the AT&T Center for his altercations with Manu so he said he was missing for "family reasons" and expected Spurs fans to take it easy on him.

[itzsoweezee]

all of the supposed "breaks" listed are pretty stupid. but the dumbest one has to be that the spurs got lucky by not having to play houston, a team they went 2-2 against. instead, they lucked out by having to play utah, a team they went 2-2 against.

[word]

So basically, if we beat the Cavs that means Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Utah would have as well.

[Obstructed_View]

Winners play the hand they are dealt. Losers blame the dealer.

[Fernando TD21]

The path to the finals have been easy for San Antonio because they're the Spurs. Tim Duncan and the rest of the team make it looks easy. :toast


How about the path to the finals for the Cavs?
Denver > Wizards
Suns > Nets
Utah > Detroit

[BeerIsGood!]

I guess the Mavs trip to the Finals last year was luck because TD had the foot injury, TP had leg injuries, and Manu was banged up as well. Then the Heat's title was luck because they didn't have to face the Spurs.

This kind of thinking is incredibly stupid. Shit happens every year and the winner receives breaks throughout the season and good health in the PO.

[ATXSPUR]

Ahh yes..the good old asterisk on the Spurs finals. You know the more they try to take away from you that means the more they want to BE you!

[BeerIsGood!]

The Cavs may have had the easiest trip to the Finals in history - with the first two opponents being teams that wouldn't be in the playoffs in a normal NBA season where the East isn't NBDL level.

[ChumpDumper]

Awesome that no one has taken credit for writing that. My money is on ploto.

[Strike]

Anyone know why the playoffs have been easy for the Lakers?

BECAUSE THEY GOT FUCKING OWNED IN THE FIRST ROUND AND HAVEN'T HAD TO PLAY!!!

[Phil Hellmuth]

Nitpicking At It's Best

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Awesome that no one has taken credit for writing that. My money is on ploto.

It says it was David Kendrick in the lede.

[ChumpDumper]

:lol

That's what I get for just reading the bullets and looking for a byline.

[johngateswhiteley]

If it's so easy, how come nobody else ever does it? The harder they works, the luckier they gets...

:tu

[Death In June]

It's weird to see such visceral hatred for a team everyone was indifferent about a year ago, but I guess the second best way to approach a team's success without directly beating them, is to discredit everything they've worked hard to accomplish. It's a bitch move, and one everyone seems to have taken up.

[MI21]

In the first round with homecourt the Cavs played a Wizards team without it's best player (Arenas), and either its 2nd or 3rd best player (Butler). That team was 2-14 without those 2, with one win coming against Atlanta whom were also depleted and Indiana, who had given up on there season and also were without Jermaine O'Neal. The Spurs played a Denver team finding its peak, with 2 of the Top 5 scorers in the NBA including matchup nightmare in Carmelo, the DPOY in Camby and probably the 2nd most high octane offense in the league.

The Cavs then played the Nets who were without there best bigman (Krstic), a Richard Jefferson still fighting back from injury, a Jason Kidd playing with broken ribs and a declining Vince Carter who played like shit in the playoffs. Not to mention that the team was 41-41 playing in a terribly weak conference, and even if they were fully healthy, just aren't that good. Cavs also had homecourt. The Spurs played a 64 win team with a 2 time reigning MVP in Nash, an absolute beast in Stoudamire and another All-Star in Marion, not to mention the 6MOY, solid role players and the best offensive system in basketball. Also, Spurs didn't have home court.

The Cavs then got to Detroit, and beating them was an incredible effort for sure. Can't argue that, they were impressive. Spurs beat Utah as they should, but it has to be said that Utah finished with I think 2 less wins than Detroit, but played in a much tougher conference. Utah also got past Houston and Golden State, where as Detroit had only to beat a terrible Orlando side, and a very young Bulls squad. You could argue that the Jazz weren't that far off of Detroit in terms of being a tough opponent.

Who had the easy run again?

[FuzzyLumpkins]

The Mavs and Rockets lost to utah and Golden State. its not our fault that they werent good enough to beat those teams.

i guess the author missed that part.

[Spurs rock]

Avoiding Houston

Dallas wasn't the only team the Spurs avoided. Utah knocked out Houston in the second round, meaning the Spurs didn't have to face Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. The Spurs were 2-2 against Houston during the regular season, and McGrady averaged 28 points in three games.

*1st round :spin

[AnkleBreaker21]

Winners play the hand they are dealt. Losers blame the dealer.
:clap :clap :clap :clap hell fucking yah

[boutons_]

Infamous: http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000000OBP001003/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_003/002-3404172-8517632


From the bitter ankle-biters sitting remorsely in their fishing boats, "Al we hear is Radio GaGa ...."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000000OF6002003/ref=mu_sam_wma_002_003/002-3404172-8517632

[td4mvp3]

i give them dallas and marginally the nash nose (still, if you have the 6MOY, you figure he can steady the ship for 90 seconds). the rest is garbage. williams' injury in particular ignores the beatdowns in games 1 and 2 and conveniently overlooks the victory in utah, where the jazz had been invincible, despite boozer and williams doing their thing. fischer was worthless all series so his loss was nonexistent, and the rockets split, as duly pointed out, mirrored the jazz split.

[Melmart1]

What the hell is up with these worthless playoff articles that don't have any fucking fact checkers or proofreaders? I am damn tired of this lazy brand of "journalism." I gotta give ESPN and their ilk some credit -- even if the opinions of their "experts" suck, at least they know who played who in what round and use spellcheck!

[contentode]

The Cavs may have had the easiest trip to the Finals in history - with the first two opponents being teams that wouldn't be in the playoffs in a normal NBA season where the East isn't NBDL level.

Yeah right! What was the Cavs record vs the Spurs this year?
What was the Spurs record vs the NBDL East?
What was the Cavs record vs the (far superior :rolleyes ) West?

Don't bother looking up the answers:
2-0
20-10
19-11

Just be happy you avoided Dallas and were handed the Sun's series.

[SpurYank]

Look Kob...erh... Infamous. As I wrote to Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser, you guys have got to stop the whining. Everyone is getting a little tired of it. You don't win as many NBA titles with luck. Count your blessings for Derek's shot and Manu's foul, or you guys would really see what a dynasty looks like.

[florige]

The path to the finals have been easy for San Antonio because they're the Spurs. Tim Duncan and the rest of the team make it looks easy. :toast


How about the path to the finals for the Cavs?
Denver > Wizards
Suns > Nets
Utah > Detroit



How about the Cavs getting "lucky" as you call it and facing a Wizards team minus Arenas and Butler. The Cavs might not be here if those two are playing. Come with something better than that you bitter fans. :lol

[SAGambler]

Yeah right! What was the Cavs record vs the Spurs this year?
What was the Spurs record vs the NBDL East?
What was the Cavs record vs the (far superior :rolleyes ) West?

Don't bother looking up the answers:
2-0
20-10
19-11

Just be happy you avoided Dallas and were handed the Sun's series.

But what was the Cavs record against the teams in the West that the Spurs have eliminated? 1 - 5.

The only reason they had a winning record in the West is because we still have some dogs in the West.

[Hook Dem]

Yeah right! What was the Cavs record vs the Spurs this year?
What was the Spurs record vs the NBDL East?
What was the Cavs record vs the (far superior :rolleyes ) West?

Don't bother looking up the answers:
2-0
20-10
19-11

Just be happy you avoided Dallas and were handed the Sun's series.
You can't blame Cavs fans for being arrogant and ignorant because winning has been a long time coming. :rolleyes Have your day in the sun and get back to us when this thing is over so you can let us know how it turned out for you!

[CosmicCowboy]

so what?

http://www.hydrous.net/photoblog/large/50e7b552c45ad275.jpg

[ClingingMars]

Winners play the hand they are dealt. Losers blame the dealer.

That's gonna be a senior quote of mine for sure.

-Mars

[Loose Cannon]

Good article about why the path to the second round was hard for the Lakers:



Because they fucking suck.

Good read. :clap

[Ocotillo]

how did the Spurs even make it to the play offs?

How did Detroit manage to win two games against King James?

[wildbill2u]

In the first round with homecourt the Cavs played a Wizards team without it's best player (Arenas), and either its 2nd or 3rd best player (Butler). That team was 2-14 without those 2, with one win coming against Atlanta whom were also depleted and Indiana, who had given up on there season and also were without Jermaine O'Neal. The Spurs played a Denver team finding its peak, with 2 of the Top 5 scorers in the NBA including matchup nightmare in Carmelo, the DPOY in Camby and probably the 2nd most high octane offense in the league.

The Cavs then played the Nets who were without there best bigman (Krstic), a Richard Jefferson still fighting back from injury, a Jason Kidd playing with broken ribs and a declining Vince Carter who played like shit in the playoffs. Not to mention that the team was 41-41 playing in a terribly weak conference, and even if they were fully healthy, just aren't that good. Cavs also had homecourt. The Spurs played a 64 win team with a 2 time reigning MVP in Nash, an absolute beast in Stoudamire and another All-Star in Marion, not to mention the 6MOY, solid role players and the best offensive system in basketball. Also, Spurs didn't have home court.

The Cavs then got to Detroit, and beating them was an incredible effort for sure. Can't argue that, they were impressive. Spurs beat Utah as they should, but it has to be said that Utah finished with I think 2 less wins than Detroit, but played in a much tougher conference. Utah also got past Houston and Golden State, where as Detroit had only to beat a terrible Orlando side, and a very young Bulls squad. You could argue that the Jazz weren't that far off of Detroit in terms of being a tough opponent.

Who had the easy run again?
Excellent. :clap

[Spurminator]

I have more to add:

- Luckily, stayed healthy throughout the Playoffs.
We've all seen what injuries can do to a Playoff run. The Spurs are fortunate that one or more of their big three didn't go down or catch some kind of disease like TB or HIV.

- Luckily, made shots when they needed to.
Statistically, you usually make less than half of your shots, so every time the Spurs shot the basketball, chances were that the ball would not go through the basket. Yet they managed to luck into enough instances where the ball happened to fall through the net that they were able to outscore their opponents. Pretty remarkable luck when you consider how similar the diameters of the ball and the basket are.

- Luckily, only faced three of the 30 teams in the NBA on their way to the Finals
The Spurs managed to luck into a pathway to the Finals that allowed them to avoid playing Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Washington, New Jersey, Indiana, Orlando, and many other teams as well... in fact, they were able to avoid playing Cleveland until the Finals. Who knows what would have happened against a team like Milwaukee, who defeated them twice in the regular season?

[spurastic]

Most of those excuses were self inducted by the "unlucky" teams. Dallas and Houston lost without any help from the Spurs. Nash's nose was busted after Nash butted his nose into Tony's forehead during his steal attempt. The suspensions were self inducted by the dimwitted. I'm not sure about Williams' illness and injury--there were some rumours about drinking, but it's only a rumour. Fisher's reason fro missing the game is legit. Jazz just has a too shallow of a bench.

[easjer]

Hey, we kept our end of the bargain with Dallas. We showed up for our WCF rematch. They are the ones who let us down. We're supposed to be penalized and astricized because they imploded?

Whatever. Anything that starts with that is utter bullshit and fabrication.

[td4mvp3]

Yeah right! What was the Cavs record vs the Spurs this year?
What was the Spurs record vs the NBDL East?
What was the Cavs record vs the (far superior :rolleyes ) West?

Don't bother looking up the answers:
2-0
20-10
19-11

Just be happy you avoided Dallas and were handed the Sun's series.
your post is kind of the point. where is the "cavs are lucky to be here" story, is what we're wondering. consider, you say the league handed the spurs the suns series, presumably because of the suspensions. yet, what if amare and nash had been out of the series completely? that's what the cavs got from the wizards. and as much as folks are saying we got lucky to avoid dallas, geez, wake up: if dallas were that good, then the cavs would be facing them in the finals right now. lucky they aren't, isn't it?

as you've just pointed out, their records against the other conference were comparable. great. why is no one comparing the luck of the cavs as they have the spurs? it's really annoying.

[ShoogarBear]

Spurs are lucky they're not facing the Bucks in the Finals.

[Texas_Ranger]

Cry me a river.

[judaspriestess]

thats the way the ball bounces..............

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Every team that has ever won a title has had a couple of breaks go their way during the playoffs. Why people always try to put a * next to the Spurs' success is beyond me.

[BWJACKETS]

So basically, if we beat the Cavs that means Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Utah would have as well.

Not even close, Dallas lost to an eight-seed, Houston hasn't made it past the first-round in years, Utah doesn't have a championship mindset, the only team that could maybe beat Cleveland is Phoenix. Lebron could beat any of the other three almost single-handedly, and the Suns could give alot of teams trouble with the pace that they set offensively.

[BWJACKETS]

Every team that has ever won a title has had a couple of breaks go their way during the playoffs. Why people always try to put a * next to the Spurs' success is beyond me.

I haven't in the past, however I personally thought that the Suns were going to win their series against you guys until the suspensions were handed down based on how the teams matched up on paper and the fact that Phoenix had so much of the momentum after their win in game 4. The suspensions just seemed like much too easy of an out for SA after they had just lost at home, and in hindsight I would think that the facts speak for themselves that the Suns still almost won Game 5 without Stoudemire. However, although I feel like maybe you guys got off way too easy in that particular series, that doesn't mean that you guys should have your whole run written off by critics because of one unfortunate incident. If the Spurs win, they are very deserving of it, as an organization they are what every other team in the NBA strives to be.

Guess it just depends on what perspective you look at it from. I never thought SA was in any danger of losing to Denver or Utah at any point in time, however I thought SA could have lost to Phoenix and I know that they could lose to Cleveland as well the way that the Cavs are playing right now.

[easjer]

I haven't in the past, however I personally thought that the Suns were going to win their series against you guys until the suspensions were handed down based on how the teams matched up on paper and the fact that Phoenix had so much of the momentum after their win in game 4. The suspensions just seemed like much too easy of an out for SA after they had just lost at home, and in hindsight I would think that the facts speak for themselves that the Suns still almost won Game 5 without Stoudemire. However, although I feel like maybe you guys got off way too easy in that particular series, that doesn't mean that you guys should have your whole run written off by critics because of one unfortunate incident. If the Spurs win, they are very deserving of it, as an organization they are what every other team in the NBA strives to be.

Guess it just depends on what perspective you look at it from. I never thought SA was in any danger of losing to Denver or Utah at any point in time, however I thought SA could have lost to Phoenix and I know that they could lose to Cleveland as well the way that the Cavs are playing right now.


Suns were never going to win that series. We will have to agree to disagree on that one I suppose.

I will only point out that the Suns had every opportunity to win game 1 and game 3 and played us down a man in game 6. If they were better, they would have won those games.

[judaspriestess]

I haven't in the past, however I personally thought that the Suns were going to win their series against you guys until the suspensions were handed down based on how the teams matched up on paper and the fact that Phoenix had so much of the momentum after their win in game 4. The suspensions just seemed like much too easy of an out for SA after they had just lost at home, and in hindsight I would think that the facts speak for themselves that the Suns still almost won Game 5 without Stoudemire. However, although I feel like maybe you guys got off way too easy in that particular series, that doesn't mean that you guys should have your whole run written off by critics because of one unfortunate incident. If the Spurs win, they are very deserving of it, as an organization they are what every other team in the NBA strives to be.

Guess it just depends on what perspective you look at it from. I never thought SA was in any danger of losing to Denver or Utah at any point in time, however I thought SA could have lost to Phoenix and I know that they could lose to Cleveland as well the way that the Cavs are playing right now.

ok lets rehash the past shall we, the suns L-O-S-T game one. There could be NO margin for error from the suns after that and sure enough their stupidity came shining through for all the world to see. And the only one who showed some kind of humility was amare stoudamire. He knew he effed up.