how worrisome is it that the spurs only won by 9?

[td4mvp3]

certainly the score hit 18, but it also got chopped to 8. lebron sucked. spurs played defense for the ages. only a 9-point win?

[gino>yourlife]

the spurs always seem to give up big leads in the 4th quarter (if they have one)

similar to how the cavs always seem to go cold in the 3rd

[gino>yourlife]

and it fucking pisses me off..

[duncan228]

The rust is gone.
The Spurs always leave the door open after they get a big lead.

No one will remember the score.
Just the Champions.

[DfendtheStar]

certainly the score hit 18, but it also got chopped to 8. lebron sucked. spurs played defense for the ages. only a 9-point win?
you should know by now that the Spurs have a nasty habit of letting teams back in....no matter what team it is.

[Creation88]

here's the SPURS formula to giving all that live in SA a heart-attack:

1) we build a decent lead
2) we let the opposing team back in the game
3) we close it out close

ugh! i absolutely despise this style we play, i really do, but for some reason we always seem to let up. we've only had 1 game all season were we put our foot on the throat of the opponent and stomped: Game 5 against Utah.

[MadDog73]

I think LeBron will score more in Game 2, but the other Cavs will score less.

Spurs will score more, too. A lot of the shots they missed were open.

That said, I still expect the Cavs to play very well in Cleveland, and win a couple. Then Spurs close it down in 6 back home.

[IceColdBrewski]

The Spurs played far from their A-game, and they still won. That's pretty encouraging if you ask me.

[Obstructed_View]

The Spurs couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from outside in the first half. They hit a couple of threes in the second half and went up by almost 20. Look at the box: Fin had two points, Horry had three, Oberto had none, Bowen had six. The Spurs were rusty offensively and still scored at will in the paint and scored more than the Pistons did in 4 of the six games against the Cavs. Their defense kept them in the game this time until their offense comes back.

The Cavs aren't likely to score more than 90 points in this series. The Spurs' role players played like shit on offense and they still scored 85.

[gino>yourlife]

here's the SPURS formula to giving all that live in SA a heart-attack:

1) we build a decent lead
2) we let the opposing team back in the game
3) we close it out close

ugh! i absolutely despise this style we play, i really do, but for some reason we always seem to let up. we've only had 1 game all season were we put our foot on the throat of the opponent and stomped: Game 5 against Utah.

and the GS away game

even the bench curbstomped the GS starters :lol

[Obstructed_View]

we've only had 1 game all season were we put our foot on the throat of the opponent and stomped: Game 5 against Utah.
That's because it was the guys at the end of the bench closing it out, and they were competing for Finals minutes.

[Clutch20]

From here, not worrisome at all.
The rust factor impacted until late in the 3rd; and at the beginning of the 4th the adrenalin was all burned up.
Tony was on the bench for many minutes in the 1st period after his hit, so the game plan that worked against the Jazz was delayed by that amount of time that he was out.
You get the feeling that the Spurs are in control with even minimal leads late in the game. However, if you've been a long time fan, like me, sometimes you get anxious and frustrated doing subtraction in your head while that lead diminishes. But so far, so good.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

The Spurs played grade A defense on James, and for sure he's going to score more next game. However, the Spurs sucked during the last minutes of the first quarter and all of the second. We couldn't buy a shot if our lives depended on them. This won't always be the case. Shots that usually fall for us were simply not falling even though they were pretty open shots. Spurs offense is going to score more next game as well. It will balance itself out, and the Spurs will one yet again.

[smrattler]

We dominate a quarter, the third, get out to an 18 point lead and the other team starts chopping away with less than 8 mins to go? Did you see the Jazz series?

We had it in the bag, coasted. This means Pop will remind them about the Jazz series and put some "appropriate fear" in them imagining James with the ball in a tied game with 2mins to go.

[DarrinS]

That score doesn't accurately reflect how much the Spurs really dominated game 1.

[Obstructed_View]

That score doesn't accurately reflect how much the Spurs really dominated game 1.
Didn't Gibson get two jumpers within the last 30 seconds of the game?

[bdictjames]

A win is a win nonetheless.

This still isnt a statement game by the Spurs.

[J.T.]

You guys are stupid. The reason their shot wasn't falling in the first half was because Beno was late getting to the game with more magnets for everyone. So they had to use their actual talent in the first half, which we all just saw was not so good, but Beno made it back at halftime and the Spurs got their magnets and dominated the 2nd half.

Easy.

[Slinkyman]

It reminds me of the superbowl where the colts dominated the game completely, yet only won by 12. The spurs were in control the entire game and won which is all that matters.

[GrandeDavid]

I thought it was a nice performance overall. I was at the game and not nervous for a second, even when Cleveland reduced the lead. Cleveland just played like their legs were heavy. The Spurs' D was just too tough last night.

[T Park]

I'll answer this honestly.

Is it worrisome?

Eh, about as worrisome that the Spurs only beat the Jazz by 8.

Game 1 last night reminded me quite a bit of game 4 against Utah.

Both teams struggled in the first half, and the Spurs took over in the second half.

I'd love to know what some people think the Spurs didn't do well that they could improve on.

IMO, the team defense got sloppy in the 4th and Gibson, Pavlovic and Gooden got too many open shots, and they will have to prepare for Funbags Gibson to play alot more and take more shots.

Is it worrisome?

Eh, somewhat.

But the Spurs at the end of the third, beginning of the 4th, played great basketball, and IMO, need to bring that effort for 48 minutes for the next 3 games so we can all rest easy :lmao

[TampaDude]

Yeah, I hate it when the Spurs piss away a big lead, which happens far too often. Fortunately, whenever their opponent gets close again, the Spurs seem to wake up and lock it down for the win.

The Spurs played at about 80% last night and still won fairly easily...if they had really put the hammer down like they did in Game 5 of the WCF, it would have been a slaughter.

[peskypesky]

The Spurs played far from their A-game, and they still won. That's pretty encouraging if you ask me.

What game were YOU watching? The Spurs definitely brought their A game. Duncan, Parker and Bowen had great games, while Ginobili and Elson played very well too. Aside from Finley, who was off, and Oberto, who was ok, the Spurs were definitely balling.

They went through that awful stretch in the 2nd quarter (when they were 2-15), and they let Cleveland get a bit too close in the 4th, but they definitely seemed in control for most of the game.

So, yeah, it was encouraging, but I just wish they wouldn't let teams creep back so close in the 4th. It might bite them in the ass.

[Solid D]

+9 points is about their average point differential (+8.42) and this was a low-scoring game.

[td4mvp3]

I'll answer this honestly.

Is it worrisome?

Eh, about as worrisome that the Spurs only beat the Jazz by 8.

Game 1 last night reminded me quite a bit of game 4 against Utah.

Both teams struggled in the first half, and the Spurs took over in the second half.

I'd love to know what some people think the Spurs didn't do well that they could improve on.

IMO, the team defense got sloppy in the 4th and Gibson, Pavlovic and Gooden got too many open shots, and they will have to prepare for Funbags Gibson to play alot more and take more shots.

Is it worrisome?

Eh, somewhat.

But the Spurs at the end of the third, beginning of the 4th, played great basketball, and IMO, need to bring that effort for 48 minutes for the next 3 games so we can all rest easy :lmao
but that's my concern. they don't play too much better than they did last night. granted, they did seem a bit nonchalant and business-as-usual, more so than i would have expected, but it doesn't change what looks like a team teetering on pistons-mavs-itis, counting out a pretty nice team with a superstar that just needs to be a little more gritty to stun everyone.

[samikeyp]

Its not worth worrying about unless the NBA starts determining who wins and loses games by point differential.

[Solid D]

but that's my concern. they don't play too much better than they did last night. granted, they did seem a bit nonchalant and business-as-usual, more so than i would have expected, but it doesn't change what looks like a team teetering on pistons-mavs-itis, counting out a pretty nice team with a superstar that just needs to be a little more gritty to stun everyone.

Anthony Hopkins seemed rather non-chalant too when he said "Well, Hello Clarese".

http://content.flixster.com/photo/31/67/46/3167462_tml.jpg

[ChumpDumper]

The point-differential in quarter four was basically the two Lebron off-balance depseration three point shots. I'm not too worried about that.

We'll have to see what they do to adjust.

[arial]

After we hit the 18 point lead we backed off a bit on defense and pretty much let them run and gun to the rim. So we could run down the clock and didn't get into foul trouble late in the 4th. Which would have enabled the Cavs to make a last minute run. And when they got close we shut them down again. It may have looked like they were making a comeback but we were in control the entire time.

[Don Quixote]

Not worried in the least.

Wake me up when Cleveland has a lead in the 4th.

[ducks]

.

[td4mvp3]

you are some confident mofos.

[Obstructed_View]

I'd love to know what some people think the Spurs didn't do well that they could improve on.
The Spurs missed 32 of 43 shots outside of the paint. Oberto scored zero points. Finley scored two points. Horry scored three points. The Spurs made six three pointers in the game. They had 14 turnovers.

Anything else?

[Solid D]

you are some confident mofos.


Actually, I've been one of those trying to warn everyone about the Cavs and their ability to junk-up games and not to get too giggly. The Spurs were just very good last night, especially in the 1st and 3rd quarters.

I'm still saying Spurs in 6, though.

[Budkin]

Had it not been for the rust we would have won by 20 considering Cleveland sucked.

[Obstructed_View]

The Spurs missed 32 of 43 shots outside of the paint.

I hate to quote myself, but this one is worth repeating.