Why the spurs are so good so early?

[polandprzem]

I wonder what is the 'purpose' or Pop's idea to start the spurs so high(?)

Or is it just me who have any worries?

As I remember correctly the spurs were starting 'lower' the seasons they won championships.

Now it seems the spurs have very good D and are winning game after a game. Pop does not want to lose many games. ne way it's good cause the championship mind is made in the regular season. When you are learned winning and giving max effort every night it will prepare you better t the playoffs. Although the spurs are old and IMO Pop should give more chances to D-Wash and Ian. Now with Horry back and voughn already in the rotation I do not know if other reserve (Ime) will get the chance to play some decent (20-30 min.) Barry playing good so far.

The main question is if the spurs can keep it and can be better and better as the season will progress.

On the other end we've got Boston which are ripping every team and still they say they got place for improvenment.

WHAT IS THE KEY FOR THE SPURS SUCCESS THIS YEAR?
What's the reciept?
We talking bout championship year.

[boutons_]

My guess is that they know Tim's window for repeating is closing. When Pop says he doesn't care about repeating, that's CIA lying. :)

The defense, which stat-less hustle and sweat, isn't anywhere near playoff level, bu that will come. So for now, the Spurs are winning with offense mostly, without turning into the Suns, and decent defense.

When the defense catches up with the offense next April, Spurs repeat.

Offense is fun and motivating, so I think they can keep up this offensive level all season.

We know Pop knows how to prepare for the playoffs.

[duncan228]

I think we're this good this early because 11 of the players on last year's Title team are back. They're familiar with each other and (most) everybody knows their role and how the Spurs system works.

I always prefer the Spurs fly under the radar in the regular season. Let the media focus on other teams while we work out any kinks and gear up for the playoffs.

I'm not worried about minutes, Pop is a brilliant coach and manages minutes properly so our guys are fresh for the playoffs.

They can get better as the season goes on, in fact they should. That's what the season is for-to work on things that need improving.

The keys to a repeat are the same as any other season. Play as a team, improve as the season goes on, stay healthy, keep the mind set that it's a marathon, not a sprint. The goal is to be playing their best come playoffs.

The superstitous part of me is nervous about the good start. Superstition wants everything to match the Championship years. But this year is different. With virtually the same team back it let them start stronger. And hopefully it leads them to a repeat.

[Walter Craparita]

Same team and the team play system.

And we are DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

[Tippecanoe]

a rested manu ginobili

[SpursIndonesia]

I think we're this good this early because 11 of the players on last year's Title team are back. They're familiar with each other and (most) everybody knows their role and how the Spurs system works.

I always prefer the Spurs fly under the radar in the regular season. Let the media focus on other teams while we work out any kinks and gear up for the playoffs.

I'm not worried about minutes, Pop is a brilliant coach and manages minutes properly so our guys are fresh for the playoffs.

They can get better as the season goes on, in fact they should. That's what the season is for-to work on things that need improving.

The keys to a repeat are the same as any other season. Play as a team, improve as the season goes on, stay healthy, keep the mind set that it's a marathon, not a sprint. The goal is to be playing their best come playoffs.

The superstitous part of me is nervous about the good start. Superstition wants everything to match the Championship years. But this year is different. With virtually the same team back it let them start stronger. And hopefully it leads them to a repeat.

Good post, +1. :clap

Perhaps Manu in a very good condition physically and Tony's improvement really give the team the boost early on this season. Also Bowen is in pretty good rhytm, offensively & defensively.

Our schedule also is not the toughest up to this point i must say -plenty home games & against sub 0.500 team, so this 11-2 isn't exactly all that impressive to begin with.

[whottt]

You know it's funny...I thought the Spurs tend to suck early as well...

But the other night during a game they showed a graph of the teams with the best winning record in November since Duncan joined the NBA...and it's the Spurs.

[jman3000]

we usually start and finish the season strong... it's the december january time frame that fucks us up.

[ArgSpursFan.]

a rested manu ginobili

yeap,First summer off in a looooooong time made the Diference for him(and the team also)

[BeerIsGood!]

Bench Depth.

Dont worry, the Spurs are a couple of weeks away from going on auto pilot for 2 1/2 months. We'll have plenty of time to bitch.

[SenorSpur]

The great start notwithstanding, the Spurs still need to prove they have a strategy to effectively neutralize and beat the Mavs. They are the only team that gives them the matchup nightmares that we've seen over the past 2 seasons.

[easjer]

You know it's funny...I thought the Spurs tend to suck early as well...

But the other night during a game they showed a graph of the teams with the best winning record in November since Duncan joined the NBA...and it's the Spurs.

The Spurs were 11-5 last season, and they at least 2 and maybe 3 of those losses were at the end of November. I remember distinctly because there was a contest on ST last year that if you correctly predicted the Nov. record you could change another user's title for a month. I went with 11-5 and Jason went with 12-4, and we watched that last game with each other's titles on the line. He lost and his title changed to "I lost this bet to my wife." :D

As other teams learn to play better, the Spurs will have more close games and will get plenty of practice at playing from behind to regain a lead and playing to hold onto a lead. And they'll lose a few more games (hopefully to good teams) and that will all make them better.

[vander]

# 1 - TP, he's been better this year then ever. he's under control, making no mistakes. when he decides to take it to the hoop, it's because he already knows he'll make it, he can hit the J, he's dishing out more assists, seeing the floor better, playing great defense, he's been money.

#2 - stability at the C position, while there are still doubts about Elson, this is the first year since Drob that our Centers aren't either in their first year here or on their way out. it's nice

#3 - weak schedule

#4 - familiarity and cohesiveness

#5 - pressure to repeat, it's on all their minds, you know it is

[Brutalis]

This is my opinion based on zero facts.

It seems like when the Spurs start half-assed, or sluggish, we come on strong and win a championship. Then when we start out strong as we should, we eventually break mentally. I'd bet I'm wrong, but hopefully they can keep this radio tuned all year. And if it gets scratchy hopefully it's not towards the end and more time to fix.
I'm confident we'll make the shots we are supposed to make because we always find a way. That's the material the Spurs have embedded onto their skin by now and we just need to stay mentally strong.

[SouthernFried]

Manu.

TP, more recently.

Mostly Manu tho.

And a weak schedule doesn't hurt.

Nothing to get too excited about. Lotta fun to watch tho. That passing exhibition against the Grizzly's was a joy to watch.

[spurs1990]

11-2 in 2007 so far
10-2 in 2006
16-3 in 2005
16-3 in 2004

seems to me 4 straight years is a trend, no?

[boutons_]

yeah, playing 3 top teams left us 1-2.

Boston has had it easy, too. All EC teams, except Lakers,, and lost only to Magic.

[Brutalis]

11-2 in 2007 so far
10-2 in 2006
16-3 in 2005
16-3 in 2004

seems to me 4 straight years is a trend, no?

How about more accurate numbers. Say, not 19, 19, 12, then 13 this year. And not by losses.

[polandprzem]

All in all the spurs + ;ast year got into sucking mode somethng like December january fabruary.

I'm :drunk so what.

All I'm thinkinmg is the spurs ...

The joy of the jurney is when the spurs are winning championship - then you have the story.
They were fricking struggling last year and they won with Phoenix in the PO ? wow

wqe still do not know what is mavs about cause Avery is looking liuke a tester - he is tesing the squad. Phoenix not playing their best game are winning game after agame.


If I was Pop I would go sleep trough the November December and in the january started to play the GAME. :D

Well pop is always in "all star mode" after that he is figuring out the rotation and what he want to do before the playoffs. Then the rotation of 8 men are being made.

damn :drunk

[boutons_]

The 06/07 Spurs were 13-12 from 20 Dec through early Feb, going from 20 - 6, league best, to 33 - 18.

Then they took off and never looked back.

[ShoogarBear]

I agree with almost every post in this thread.

I wonder what the Spurs record is in December-January-February during the Duncan era? They've only once had the best record at the A-S break during Pop's career.

Bottom line:
-Spurs haven't hit the point of the year yet where they usually slump.
-There are lots of reasons to believe that this year's fast start may be the real deal ("corporate knowledge", Manu rested, TP continuing to improve, deepest bench).
-They still haven't beaten Dallas yet, and haven't played a lot of the real competition.
-If they're still rolling going INTO the RRT, then maybe this is something different from previous years.

The only thing we CAN be assured of, is that Duncan is getting a lot of rest, and that he still has Playoff Tim in his back pocket. :smokin

[bdictjames]

So are you afraid Spurs will not carry this on for 82 games and the playoffs?

I am too, but I feel this year is Parker's year to dominate again. Ginobili is looking at the best year of his NBA career, and Duncan and Bowen still deliver. Its all up to our sub guys, specially Fabri, Fin, and Brent.

[TheAuthority]

Winning games they're supposed to win.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Winning games they're supposed to win.
Spoken like a true Dynasty.

[Cry Havoc]

I see a loooooooooooot of determination out of our players this year. They're playing hard, they're making excellent passes, Parker and Manu have become two of the best players in the NBA over the past two seasons, and our defense is -learning- from Duncan and Bowen. Don't think they aren't giving our newer players advice on almost every possession. I bet it's nice having Oberto out there if you're Duncan... the guy may not be as athletic, but he's a sponge (the good kind) intellectually.

I also think our guys are having fun. Pop seems more content and confident with this team. He's still ripping into our players but they've been very steady so far this year, we haven't had any major defensive meltdowns.

As the season goes on though, I think he'll be even rougher on our boys to play classic Spurs defense. At 11-2, we're remarkably deep and playing as a team.

[tlongII]

Biased officiating.

[BeerIsGood!]

Biased officiating.


No kidding. If the officiating had been fair the Spurs would be 13-0 and have a much higher average margin of victory. Damn officials.

[Cry Havoc]

Healthy players.

:)

[Vinnie_Johnson]

Winning home games help plus only a few road games so far.

[SRJ]

What everyone else said - especially our Big Three all playing good ball at the same time to start the season. Manu's rested and seemingly back to his 05 level, Tony's playing well despite playing this summer, and Tim hasn't been hit with some stupid ankle tweak like the start of 04 or plantar fasciitis like 2006.

The supporting cast has been reliable and more this season, but the Big Three playing well in unison has been key.

[ducks]

tp being tp
manu playing like 2005

[Capt Bringdown]

The great start notwithstanding, the Spurs still need to prove they have a strategy to effectively neutralize and beat the Mavs. They are the only team that gives them the matchup nightmares that we've seen over the past 2 seasons.

I agree 100%.

I really want to see the Spurs solve the problem they have with the Mavs. We can't count on getting a lucky assist from the Warriors this year.

It's bigger than a matchup problem I'm afraid. The Mavs seem to bring their utmost A game when they play us, while we seem to crawl into a shell. We appear to be somewhat intimidated by them. We need to show that they don't have our number.

I'm hoping the great start this year is due to an uncharacteristic regular season fire-in-the-belly. That would be a welcome change from the usual corporate line about waiting until the playoffs. There's a lot to prove this year:

1. Get the "can't repeat" monkey off our backs
2. Get the Mavs monkey off our backs
3. Making the most out of our limited window of opportunity: face it, Duncan's best years are behind him. He ain't gonna play at this level forever.

As a bonus motivation, I'd love to see us wipe the smile off of KG's face and break the hearts of all of the new Celtic bandwagoners. We represent the best chance of shutting that crap down. I'm sure the Celtics would love to face the Mavs or Suns in the finals.

Nobody wants us to win this year. Repeating would piss a lot of people off. I love that...

[tmtcsc]

I think its a combination of things: An easy schedule, our experience and a deep bench.

We have played a total of 13 games . Out of those 13, 4 were against a worthy opponent. We lost 2 of those to Dallas and Houston and won against a McGradyless Houston and beat Orlando.

The Orlando game was probably our best win. We have done a good job of beating the teams we are supposed to beat. We have also been able to rest players for entire games and still win. -- Barry, Elson and Bonner for example.

We're looking good but I am sure that we will hit a dry patch before we pick it up again for the playoffs. I think we can continue to fly under the radar too. The bigger story this year is Boston and maybe even Phoenix.

As far as I am concerned, we are still playing the longest pre-season in major league sports. The real season begins in the playoffs.

[Yuixafun]

Effort.

[SpurOutofTownFan]

manu's early start

[spurs1990]

How about more accurate numbers. Say, not 19, 19, 12, then 13 this year. And not by losses.

Its relative to the OP's question. We're only 12 games in, so within the first 12 games, the Spurs have done well for 4 straight seasons.