Are the Spurs #1 in the West?

[milkyway21]

..Minny won against Phoenix tonight. Spurs @ #1? :king

[milkyway21]

okay just checked in the standings-Spurs & Sonics # 1 in standing in the West & overall. That makes Dec. 8 game vs.the Sonics a must-win game.

[Rummpd]

No worries by Dec 8 and soon beyond Sonics fade.

MadDoc

[RobinsontoDuncan]

yeah, i dont understand any possible way that they can continue to play at such a high level, they dont have the talent to be doing this, so eventually, they will slow down, we however have as much talent as anyone.

[johnny00]

Are the Spurs #1 in the West? Not according to some idiotic analysists on ESPN. These three dudes to a man say Minnessota is still the team to beat in the West.What FUCKIN' season are they watching??????

[T Park]

Let em say that JohnnyOO.

Then what you do, when you go to the Finals is throw it back in there face by sayin,

I thought you said Minnesota was better, I thought you said the Spurs werent good enough.


Thats satisfaction, let the talking heads talk, let the Spurs game talk for itself.

This honestly the best the Spurs have looked in December in my time of watching Spurs games.

This is as good as they have played in May and April most years, THATS how good this team is.

[sickdsm]

No question the spurs AT THIS TIME are the team to beat. But we all know how much weight these first few months hold. Look at the 3 pt leaders in the NBA. Its kinda surprising, at least last time i checked, that Rashard and Radmonovic are below %40 I was expecting them to be at or near 42%, 45%.

[boutons]

"Its kinda surprising, at least last time i checked, that Rashard and Radmonovic are below %40 I was expecting them to be at or near 42%, 45%."

yep, very surprising. But it also explains why SEA is one of the best offenseive RB teams. The create a lot of offense rebounds (much like the Spurs/any team on a bad shooting night) and they get them. All the Spurs needs to crash the defensive boards Wed night.

SA, "horrible shooters", team FG% is 4-places above sharp-shooting SEA! But SEA is #1 team in 3pt %age at .393, Spurs 18th at .331, and 3rd in FT%.

I would say SEA's only claim to "power" is their shooters, both 3pt and FTs. In all other off categoreis, they are mediocre to poor, and mediocre in all defensive categories.

I see Wed night as very much Spurs D against SEA 3's, plus the Spurs fouling too much of an .800 FT% team. I think the Spurs 96 PPG would be quite easy to get vs SEA, but Spurs D has hold them.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

the thing is seattle at best is the Dallas team of 2003 that won 60 games but didnt play defense as was ultimatley beaten byt the spurs in 6

[wildbill2u]

Just a hunch, but I think the Spurs make a statement when they play Seattle next time and beat them badly with defense shutting Seattle's shooters down.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Don't you still have to say that until you beat Seattle, they're the "best" team in the league?

Once the Seattle game rolls around and the Spurs hopefully roll them, then we shall be the best team of the short season so far.

[Jimcs50]

Are the Spurs #1 in the West? Not according to some idiotic analysists on ESPN. These three dudes to a man say Minnessota is still the team to beat in the West.What FUCKIN' season are they watching??????


They said because of the Big 3 in Minny they have the best starting lineup in the league and that is praobably true, but they have to play more than 5 guys, so I give SA the edge.

[Jimcs50]

the thing is seattle at best is the Dallas team of 2003 that won 60 games but didnt play defense as was ultimatley beaten byt the spurs in 6

We beat them because Dirk went down. They might have won had they had him healthy, just as we would might have won in 2000, had we had TD. You never know, Dallas was playing pretty damn good ball then, as they are still.

[ducks]

them not having nash in postseason is going to hurt mavs alot
when it slows down to half court ball

[T Park]

Jim I disagree witht hat

The Spurs handled the Mavericks pretty easilly in gmaes 2 and 3 and the beginning and middle and twords the end of game 4 when he went out.

So thinking Dallas with Irk woudlve beaten the Spurs is a little much.

[LakerGod]

Try to win the Chicago game first before getting all excited about "beating" Seattle :lol

[conversekid]

A must win game?

It's not even mid december yet... this is not a "must" win game.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Try to win the Chicago game first before getting all excited about "beating" Seattle :lol

Too easy.

http://www.nba.com/games/20041201/LALCHI/boxscore.html

[LakerGod]

:lol

We'll see

[Jimcs50]

Jim I disagree witht hat

The Spurs handled the Mavericks pretty easilly in gmaes 2 and 3 and the beginning and middle and twords the end of game 4 when he went out.

So thinking Dallas with Irk woudlve beaten the Spurs is a little much.

TPark, you never know. Have you forgotten how SA was killing the Lakers last year by blowing them out in games 1 and 2 and also killing them in first 2 amnd 1/2 quarters of game 4? One quarter turned the tide in that series. could Dallas have had that Q if they had a healthy Dirk? It would be silly to say it was not a possibility. I did not say that Dallas would have won, but they had a chance to win with him, and no chance w/o him.

[sickdsm]

They said because of the Big 3 in Minny they have the best starting lineup in the league and that is praobably true, but they have to play more than 5 guys, so I give SA the edge.

I dissagree. If anything the spurs starting five is better than MN starting five, as of right now. The bench belongs to MN though. You can only hang your hat on Barry so much until he can prove he's out of his slump.

[Solid D]

It's a tough argument: who has the better bench, 'sota or the Spurs? The Mayor of Ames and Eddie Griffin (who knew?) are lighting it up from the arc. There again, the Spurs' bench mob is mauling the competition and actually outscored the starters in a recent game, 54-51.

[boutons]

Nobody's hanging his hat on Brent (scoring) alone.

Taking the 6-9 players in MPG, MIN's 4 bench is about 10% better in PPG and RPG.

[Solid D]

Are you looking at the current starting lineup of:
Cassell and Spree in the backcourt and KG, Szczerbiak and Madsen in the frontcourt, boutons?

Also, the % of contribution by bench should also be considered (% of average points scored and points allowed).

[boutons]

"Are you looking at the current starting lineup of:"

I said: "the 6 - 9 players in MPG", not in starting positions.

"% of contribution"

I gave the SA and MIN team stats pages a quick look, nothing more, and was very rough on rounding decimal point avgs, to conclude his "MIN has better bench" comment was valid, at least arguabe.

[Solid D]

Oh okay. "the 6 - 9 players in MPG" is different than "bench" to me.

[samikeyp]

We beat them because Dirk went down. They might have won had they had him healthy, just as we would might have won in 2000, had we had TD. You never know, Dallas was playing pretty damn good ball then, as they are still.

Dallas played better in that series after Dirk went out.

[ALVAREZ6]

The Spurs are the best team in the league.

[ALVAREZ6]

the only team that might be tied for the best team in my opinion is the Suns because they are a true team. Seattle is just a team relying on the 3-pt-line.

Nash and Amare are really stepping it up this season. Nash's assist numbers are crazy.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

The Suns are probably number one. They have the same group of guys that gave the Spurs so much trouble in 03, but instead of Marbury they now have Nash-a guy who can score like Marbury AND bust out 20 assists out in a game. The Sonics D just isn't enough for me to think of them as honest contenders. There are times when shots don't fall and there's nothing that can really be done about it. But a team that plays good D can play good D every possession.

[boutons]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking

... but it's a toss-up until until SEA, MIN, and PHX come to SA this month.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

T-wolves at #2? What is this guy smoking?

[Manu20]

T-wolves at #2? What is this guy smoking?

Probably because the T-Wolves beat the Suns this week.

[milkyway21]

Try to win the Chicago game first before getting all excited about "beating" Seattle :lolThat Supersonics' win over San Antonio Spurs was a just a FLUKE!!! :blah