Spurs DESPERATELY need improvement

[Grim1]

This game has NOTHING to do with what the weaker Jazz managed to do. This pathetic loss was due SOLELY to the lack of effort on the Spurs part. The Spurs are a defense-driven team. Even if their shots don't fall, they have the abilty (supposedly anyway) to STOP teams from scoring. Unless they walk onto the floor half-asleep feeling as if there's no way a crappy team like the JAZZ would be able to beat them. Which is EXACTLY what happened tonight. The Spurs are SUPPOSED to be the 1st or 2nd best team in the league. How the Hell can anyone claim they deserve to be there though when they ROUTINELY blow HUGE leads OR allow....ALLOW a team like the Jazz to control the entire game? The Spurs sit on top as an overrated team with a really misleading record with a buttload of problems they never, ever seem to fix and are CONSTANTLY working on. I laugh when I hear commentators attempt to contradict the Spurs when the Spurs themselves say they still have improvements to make. They always point out the record or something. The Spurs most DEFINITELY need improvements and I think tonight's game really drives that FACT clearly home. Otherwise, get ready for the same kind of EXIT they faced in last year's playoffs.

[SequSpur]

Spurs need to improve their crunch time play. They have lost a few close ones.

[Dex]

Why do you keep changing your favorite team? So far I've seen you with the Bobcats, the Warriors, and now the Raptors?

Are you trying to throw us off your scent?

For god's sakes man, you could at least pick some decent teams.

[Grim1]

Why do you keep changing your favorite team? So far I've seen you with the Bobcats, the Warriors, and now the Raptors?

Are you trying to throw us off your scent?

For god's sakes man, you could at least pick some decent teams.
Better? Better than the Spurs anyway, huh? Don't jump on the soapbox though, I don't think they'll last either.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Dude, everyone blows leads in the league, it's the nature of the business.

[Rummpd]

Grim1 is a joke - just go away, this team is still 28 and 8.

Abused the supposed best other team in NBA, will do so again, and will get motivated and thump them (Suns) and Dallas in near future.

No team without issues but Spurs at least solvable. Suns, were exposed vs. Spurs and have absolutely no depth - cannot develop that over-night, Miami ditto and 7 and 7 vs. West, Dallas and Sac town streaky with no history of playoff success to count on, Sonics live and die by 3 etc. Any team you involved with all kinds of problems too long to LIST.


Spurs, although have some work to do = by far the class of NBA in all ways! You ought to jump on this train, it is not going to be stopped by anyone you or anyone else roots for!

MadDoc

[Dre_7]

THATS IT!!! Its time to fire POP, Trade Timmy & Manu, and hope we get a good pick in the lottery. Cus face it, our season is OVER. Time to concentrate on the future. We suck!!!


I dont know why everyone is trippin about this ONE loss. Its just one game. It happens all the time in the NBA. It just the nature of playin 82 games in a season. No team has ever went 82-0. Couple years ago, LAL lost to the HORRIBLE Bulls TWICE and still went on to win the title. in 98 we started out 6-8 and still went on to win it all. One poor showing by an elite team early in the season doesnt make the season a bust. Just gotta learn from this loss, move on, and handle buisness the rest of the way.

BTW its only the 1st loss in 18 games against them. Personally, I have no worries.

[Brodels]

Improvement is needed and losses like this are bad.

But it's one loss. Let's see how they come out next game.

On any given night in the NBA any team can beat any other team. It should raise alarm if it becomes a trend.

I'm not too worried. If nothing else, losses like this show there is lots of room for improvement. They can't play like this in the playoffs, but I think their annual SPAM feast will prepare them better for the playoffs.

Relax.

[ShoogarBear]

Oh, Milwaukee is toast.

And Dallas? A division game and the sting from this game will not have completely worn off. Another W.

Then at Houston again? Don't even have to say it.

Nope, the next games to worry about are home vs. Washington and the Clippers. Wanna bet they'll snooze through one of them?

[GrandeDavid]

Tough losses are part of the games. The Spurs were still playing a fellow NBA team, not a collegiate one. Losses, they happen. What sucks is win losing streaks happen to good teams...then the ass scratching starts. That has not and will not happen, so ill and chill.

[boutons]

"Milwaukee is toast."

You could say the same thing after @SAC, after @DEN, which were in just the last 10 days. You could keep saying that until end of season as these Spurs keep repeating this shitty basketball to a 5th seed record of 54 - 30 season. You could say that, I won't. Enough is enough.

These Spurs are just head-fucked screwed up. There's something fucked up, sicko in the Spurs' team culture, with these no-hustle, error-prone 6 or 7 give-away games (to lottery-teams, to teams below the Spurs in the rankings, to teams of equal ability but the Spurs can't get it up) and with the FTs.

And for all you "hey, don't worry, be happy, we-re 28-8" people, I say "Take away the give-away games, and the Spurs have absolutely wasted a 33 - 3 record".

Tue morning, I am, yet AGAIN, extremely unhappy about the Spurs blowing this season (time is short people, Tim won't last forever, he may be shot already, anybody is a play-away from a season-destroying injury).

We got no injuries (yet), we aren't tired, we're good enough to claim the best start in franchise history, but the Spurs don't have a clue about how to play basketball consistently. And there is a specific problem about the insconsistency, it's being league-best 17 -1 at home (but with too many shitty wins), but the shitty play shows up as a ridiculously weak 11 -7 road record.

I'm very worried that no coach, no Spur has a fucking clue how to make the Spurs want to play basketball.

We have absolutely no idea which Spurs team will show up on any given night. The box-of-chocolates Spurs.

[polandprzem]

I always must to hear. That the Spurs are pussy's THEY DON'T HAVE BALLS.
Even if they are better team they will not gonna win . They just can't finish.
The game like vs. LA like in Toronto and like this one.
And I can't argue with that.
I hope the Spurs will just be sweeping in playoffs- new and best record of 16-0. Then I think it would shut those buttheads up.

[Extra Stout]

These Spurs are just head-fucked screwed up. There's something fucked up, sicko in the Spurs' team culture, with these no-hustle, error-prone 6 or 7 give-away games (to lottery-teams, to teams below the Spurs in the rankings, to teams of equal ability but the Spurs can't get it up) and with the FTs.You're being melodramatic. The Spurs usually have these kinds of lackluster performances much more often in the first half of the season. They deserve to get kicked in the ass by Pop when it happens, but sheesh, you act like each loss is playoff elimination or something. They had this loss coming for about a week because they've been thinking they can get away without playing defense and still win having nice fun just scoring a lot. That BS came back to bite them. If they try it again, Pop's going to start benching people.

Meanwhile, this is still only the best any Spurs team has played through 36 games, even considering this franchise has two of those championship thingies. Even if they sputter through the next couple of weeks, they will have 30+ wins at the halfway point.

Let's see how they're playing in March. If they show the same kind of continuous improvement that just about every Gregg Popovich-coached team does, you're looking at 33-37 wins in the second half, the best Spurs record by far, and one of the best regular seasons in league history. If you have to pop pills fretting about whether 65-67 wins will be enough to hold off Phoenix, then just back away for a while -- being a fan is too hazardous to your health. I'm positive the Suns have your counterpart in their fan base bitching and moaning about their lack of size and depth. Meanwhile if the Spurs rack up those kind of win numbers, I'll be walking around in a puffy-cloud dream world of glee even if they're the #2 seed.


And for all you "hey, don't worry, be happy, we-re 28-8" people, I say "Take away the give-away games, and the Spurs have absolutely wasted a 33 - 3 record".

Tue morning, I am, yet AGAIN, extremely unhappy about the Spurs blowing this season (time is short people, Tim won't last forever, he may be shot already, anybody is a play-away from a season-destroying injury). Are you saying that anything short of 33-3 is "wasting the season?" I remember 2003 when the Spurs raised the goddamned trophy without ever truly fixing their tendency to fart away big leads and lose games out of carelessness. In fact, back then, they also turned the ball over in bunches, which they don't seem to do anymore. Shall we attach some asterisks to that banner noting the Game 5 loss to Dallas, the Game 5 near-miss against LA, or that Game 3 abomination in the Finals which set back the sport 50 years?


We got no injuries (yet), we aren't tired, we're good enough to claim the best start in franchise history, but the Spurs don't have a clue about how to play basketball consistently. And there is a specific problem about the insconsistency, it's being league-best 17 -1 at home (but with too many shitty wins), but the shitty play shows up as a ridiculously weak 11 -7 road record.I frankly don't give even a fraction of half a rat's ass whether the Spurs are playing their best basketball on January 11. I've gone through too many seasons where I drunk the Kool-Aid and bitch and moan about the inconsistent "same old Spurs," only to see them rip out 15 wins out of 16 or whatever.

It's always the same old crap from fans. There was the New York loss in 2003, then the Minnesota loss, and the same old suspects bitched and moaned about the clock striking midnight for the Spurs, wah wah wah. And those losses happened during the stretch run, not during the work-out-the-kinks first three months. I fell for it later on when I whined and complained about how cursed the Spurs were when Phoenix stole that Game 1 two years ago, and we know how that turned out.


I'm very worried that no coach, no Spur has a fucking clue how to make the Spurs want to play basketball.

We have absolutely no idea which Spurs team will show up on any given night. The box-of-chocolates Spurs.Just like pretty much every year, even the ones when they lose in the playoffs, when the games really matter in the stretch run, the Spurs find another gear.

[AmarilloDoc]

If you expect a team to maintain constant, playoff-level intensity through an 82 game season, they will get swept in the 1st round of the playoffs. Pop doesn't really get serious with the Spurs until after the All-Star break. If you notice over the past 5 years, they almost always have the best record in the NBA after the break. He tries to get them to peak at the end of the season, not the first. This time a year they work on certain aspects of their games, and do other various experimenting with rotations, plays, etc.

If 1 month after the All-Star break they are still playing like this, then it's time to worry. Until then we all need to just relax.

[CHAMPS AGAIN]

Tough losses are part of the games. The Spurs were still playing a fellow NBA team, not a collegiate one. Losses, they happen. What sucks is win losing streaks happen to good teams...then the ass scratching starts. That has not and will not happen, so ill and chill.

I'ts only one game.Every NBA team plays above their heads against the SPURS.They want to be at the BEST TEAM IN THE NBA.

2004-2005 NBA CHAMPS THE SPURS

[boutons]

"you expect a team to maintain constant, playoff-level intensity"

nobody does, but these way-too-numerous give-away games and shitty wins mean this isn't really a special Spurs team due to the best start in franchise history, just the same old Spurs with a slightly front-loaded season.

OK, no big deal, this team isn't going to have a special season.

14+ losses to go (22 total) in the next 6 or 7 weeks weeks or so, 2 losses/week. Cool, I'm up for it! Go Spurs Go!

We'll see if the Spurs can pick it up like they did last March, and if the Suns really can or can't pull off their own special season.

[mysterious_elf26]

Dude, everyone blows leads in the league, it's the nature of the business.


The way the spurs have this year?? I don't think so.

[ShoogarBear]

"Milwaukee is toast."

You could say the same thing after @SAC, after @DEN, which were in just the last 10 days.


Of course, if you had read carefully through my post, it would have been clear that I was pointing out the Spurs' inconsistent efforts.

After a loss like this, they usually come out loaded for bear with one of their strong wire-to-wire games, which makes the fact that they could have such a bad loss even more aggravating/annoying.

But then eventually they revert to bad habits, and I was suggesting that the Washington or Clippers game would be about the right time for that to happen.

[The Big Chicken]

What a big bunch of paranoiks. They lost ONE game! And we all know that regular season games and playoff games are completely different. They WILL be in the playoffs and then everything can happen.

[ALVAREZ6]

KG>Amare>Mehmet>TD

Manu :smokin >Shaq>Amare>J'Oneal>Boykins>AI>LeBron>Claxton>some old woman>KG

[Brodels]

Of course, as we know, championships are won during the regular season...

[Extra Stout]

KG>Amare>Mehmet>TDA floatie>wolves009 posts

17-16.

[FilSpursFan]

I don't care if they blew the game to the Jazz, and I don't care if they are not the top team of the current standings, as long as they end up in the playoffs, they still have the best shot at championship..

:elephant :smokin :hat

[BigRed]

This game has NOTHING to do with what the weaker Jazz managed to do. This pathetic loss was due SOLELY to the lack of effort on the Spurs part. The Spurs are a defense-driven team. Even if their shots don't fall, they have the abilty (supposedly anyway) to STOP teams from scoring. Unless they walk onto the floor half-asleep feeling as if there's no way a crappy team like the JAZZ would be able to beat them. Which is EXACTLY what happened tonight. The Spurs are SUPPOSED to be the 1st or 2nd best team in the league. How the Hell can anyone claim they deserve to be there though when they ROUTINELY blow HUGE leads OR allow....ALLOW a team like the Jazz to control the entire game? The Spurs sit on top as an overrated team with a really misleading record with a buttload of problems they never, ever seem to fix and are CONSTANTLY working on. I laugh when I hear commentators attempt to contradict the Spurs when the Spurs themselves say they still have improvements to make. They always point out the record or something. The Spurs most DEFINITELY need improvements and I think tonight's game really drives that FACT clearly home. Otherwise, get ready for the same kind of EXIT they faced in last year's playoffs.

[samikeyp]

A floatie>wolves009 posts

:lmao