Were doomed now . . .

[BronxCowboy]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AtuGowYKMe01M6S6b3bAW6GkvLYF?slug=thelis tsorryspursyoujust&prov=tsn&type=lgns

If the Boston Celtics can summon the energy and focus, two nights after completing a second straight seven-game stress test, to beat a rested Detroit Pistons team in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, then the San Antonio Spurs ought to be able to bounce back from a night sleeping on the team plane—after a Game 7 of their own—and hit the Los Angeles Lakers with their A-game tonight (9 p.m. ET, TNT).

The thing is, the Spurs’ A-game may not be enough to get a Game 1 win. Or a Game 2 win. Or, for that matter, more than a win or two - period—in the Western Conference finals.

Because the Lakers, yes, indeed, are just plain better.

Let The List go on record right now as not only doubting that the Spurs are as good as they were a year ago, but also completely buying into a Lakers resurgence spirited by the best player in the game, Kobe Bryant—a deserving MVP, for those of you doubting it—and backed up by the rest of a long, lean, smooth-running machine that won’t quit until the last opponent has been spit onto the scrapheap.

With that fistful of flame-throwing hyperbole, The List’s top 10 reasons the Spurs can’t beat the Lakers in a seven-game series:

1. Simple math. Kobe Bryant equals any two of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, much as LeBron James offset any two of the Celtics’ Big Three in a seven-game series that had no other rational reason for being. Anyone who doubts Bryant’s preeminence in this series is ignoring the elephant in the room: Bryant has finally ascended to Michael Jordan’s level. The Lakers, health be with them, are good to go for the next few championships.

2. The Big Fundamentals. Duncan doesn’t seem to have that 16-foot jumper from the elbow anymore. His kisses off the window from improbable angles don’t come often enough, either. Duncan is one of the 20 best players ever, but he is unmistakably on the downside of his career—a post player who didn’t fight for position against the New Orleans Hornets and whose best contributions came as a rebounder. The truth hurts, Spurs fans.

3. The lane game. Chris Paul is a wizard, but he got into the lane so easily in the second round that The List shudders to think of how easily Bryant will do the same. Whereas Paul lobbed to Tyson Chandler for easy dunks, Bryant will draw fouls by the truckload and give Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, yes, easy dunks.

4. Ageism. The List naturally roots for the oldsters, but Bruce Bowen (36), Michael Finley (35) and Robert Horry (37) won’t get many open looks because of the closeout ability of the exceedingly tall Lakers. And Derek Fisher, Vladimir Radmanovic and Sasha Vujacic are better long-ball shooters, anyway.

5. Trevor Ariza. :lmao At some point in this series, the Lakers’ long-armed defensive specialist will make his reappearance from a foot injury and become a force to be reckoned with. Be ready, Mr. Ginobili, because Ariza can make you go right if he wants to.

6. Pau-er ball. Gasol can soften the Spurs’ interior with his pick-and-pop shot, but his real value is in crashing down the lane off the pick-and-roll, which the Lakers run—with Bryant at the point—as well as anybody. No way Fabricio Oberto can stay with Gasol; Duncan can’t run with him, either.

7. The most underrated player in the league. He is Lamar Odom, and he will draw Duncan or Oberto away from the basket and then drive right past him. And Odom is strong enough to defend an interior big man—and rebound—better than David West did. Don’t be surprised when Odom averages 12 boards a game in this series.

8. The Udoka factor. Ime Udoka has been a savior for the Spurs, but the Lakers have at least three guys on their bench—Vujacic, Luke Walton and Ariza :lol—who are athletic enough to neutralize him.

9. Kurt Thomas? Please. Thomas is an underappreciated man of men, but so is Ronny Turiaf, who is younger and sprier than Thomas and just as strong. At best, the Thomas factor is a wash for the Spurs.

10. Coaching. Gregg Popovich is a Hall of Famer in waiting, but he rates no edge whatsoever over Phil Jackson. Not this year, anyway. Jackson’s shtick doesn’t always stick, but when It does it’s priceless—and all things are working for the Lakers this spring. L.A. wins in five games. Six, tops.

[celldweller]

"THE EXPERT" This guy knows!!!! :lmao

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/cn/headshots/steve_greenberg1.jpg
By Steve Greenberg - SportingNews (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/sports/tsn/nba/article/SIG=10tmms2oa;_ylt=AlsNygLZofrhUuN07TnVbP.zvLYF/*http://www.sportingnews.com)

[O-Factor]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AtuGowYKMe01M6S6b3bAW6GkvLYF?slug=thelis tsorryspursyoujust&prov=tsn&type=lgns

If the Boston Celtics can summon the energy and focus, two nights after completing a second straight seven-game stress test, to beat a rested Detroit Pistons team in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, then the San Antonio Spurs ought to be able to bounce back from a night sleeping on the team plane—after a Game 7 of their own—and hit the Los Angeles Lakers with their A-game tonight (9 p.m. ET, TNT).

The thing is, the Spurs’ A-game may not be enough to get a Game 1 win. Or a Game 2 win. Or, for that matter, more than a win or two - period—in the Western Conference finals.

Because the Lakers, yes, indeed, are just plain better.

Let The List go on record right now as not only doubting that the Spurs are as good as they were a year ago, but also completely buying into a Lakers resurgence spirited by the best player in the game, Kobe Bryant—a deserving MVP, for those of you doubting it—and backed up by the rest of a long, lean, smooth-running machine that won’t quit until the last opponent has been spit onto the scrapheap.

With that fistful of flame-throwing hyperbole, The List’s top 10 reasons the Spurs can’t beat the Lakers in a seven-game series:

1. Simple math. Kobe Bryant equals any two of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, much as LeBron James offset any two of the Celtics’ Big Three in a seven-game series that had no other rational reason for being. Anyone who doubts Bryant’s preeminence in this series is ignoring the elephant in the room: Bryant has finally ascended to Michael Jordan’s level. The Lakers, health be with them, are good to go for the next few championships.

2. The Big Fundamentals. Duncan doesn’t seem to have that 16-foot jumper from the elbow anymore. His kisses off the window from improbable angles don’t come often enough, either. Duncan is one of the 20 best players ever, but he is unmistakably on the downside of his career—a post player who didn’t fight for position against the New Orleans Hornets and whose best contributions came as a rebounder. The truth hurts, Spurs fans.

3. The lane game. Chris Paul is a wizard, but he got into the lane so easily in the second round that The List shudders to think of how easily Bryant will do the same. Whereas Paul lobbed to Tyson Chandler for easy dunks, Bryant will draw fouls by the truckload and give Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, yes, easy dunks.

4. Ageism. The List naturally roots for the oldsters, but Bruce Bowen (36), Michael Finley (35) and Robert Horry (37) won’t get many open looks because of the closeout ability of the exceedingly tall Lakers. And Derek Fisher, Vladimir Radmanovic and Sasha Vujacic are better long-ball shooters, anyway.

5. Trevor Ariza. :lmao At some point in this series, the Lakers’ long-armed defensive specialist will make his reappearance from a foot injury and become a force to be reckoned with. Be ready, Mr. Ginobili, because Ariza can make you go right if he wants to.

6. Pau-er ball. Gasol can soften the Spurs’ interior with his pick-and-pop shot, but his real value is in crashing down the lane off the pick-and-roll, which the Lakers run—with Bryant at the point—as well as anybody. No way Fabricio Oberto can stay with Gasol; Duncan can’t run with him, either.

7. The most underrated player in the league. He is Lamar Odom, and he will draw Duncan or Oberto away from the basket and then drive right past him. And Odom is strong enough to defend an interior big man—and rebound—better than David West did. Don’t be surprised when Odom averages 12 boards a game in this series.

8. The Udoka factor. Ime Udoka has been a savior for the Spurs, but the Lakers have at least three guys on their bench—Vujacic, Luke Walton and Ariza :lol—who are athletic enough to neutralize him.

9. Kurt Thomas? Please. Thomas is an underappreciated man of men, but so is Ronny Turiaf, who is younger and sprier than Thomas and just as strong. At best, the Thomas factor is a wash for the Spurs.

10. Coaching. Gregg Popovich is a Hall of Famer in waiting, but he rates no edge whatsoever over Phil Jackson. Not this year, anyway. Jackson’s shtick doesn’t always stick, but when It does it’s priceless—and all things are working for the Lakers this spring. L.A. wins in five games. Six, tops.

Wow, just like the Suns were better huh?

Amazes me how ignorant sports journalism has become.

[The_Game]

You are another clueless fan who has no idea what it takes to win games.

Those guys are key players for L.A.

Ariza will play a key part if he is heathly. He is a pretty good swingman defender. You need role players to win and those guys mentioned in bold are key role players. They are no worse than the Spurs role players.

[hater]

LOL @ #1

LOL at the plan to neutralize Udoka. He's the Spurs 6th or 7th option

[ca®lo]

PAU-ER ball?? what the fuck

[Extra Stout]

Except for points 1-10, this writer is spot on.

[NASpurs]

You are another clueless fan who has no idea what it takes to win games.

Those guys are key players for L.A.

Ariza will play a key part if he is heathly. He is a pretty good swingman defender. You need role players to win and those guys mentioned in bold are key role players. They are no worse than the Spurs role players.

You mean the PROVEN Spurs role players. Seems like the clueless one here is you.

[mVp]

"THE EXPERT" This guy knows!!!! :lmao

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/cn/headshots/steve_greenberg1.jpg
By Steve Greenberg - SportingNews (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/sports/tsn/nba/article/SIG=10tmms2oa;_ylt=AlsNygLZofrhUuN07TnVbP.zvLYF/*http://www.sportingnews.com)

Seriously, who the fuck is that guy?

[CubanMustGo]

Sporting News aka the Baseball News has the worst NBA coverage in the country.

[Anti.Hero]

Look at them all lineup and get on their knees.

This series victory will be so sweet.

[Johnny RIngo]

He forgot to mention the Laker's biggest advantage:

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4788/nbaftleadersny4.jpg

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/8819/teamftasbz8.jpg


Kobe Bryant is avg more FTAs in '08 than Wade was in '06. Fucking Lamar Odom gets more FTAs than anyone on the Spurs.

[ECZ]

:lol

:lol

[remingtonbo2001]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AtuGowYKMe01M6S6b3bAW6GkvLYF?slug=thelis tsorryspursyoujust&prov=tsn&type=lgns


2. The Big Fundamentals. Duncan doesn’t seem to have that 16-foot jumper from the elbow anymore. His kisses off the window from improbable angles don’t come often enough, either. Duncan is one of the 20 best players ever, but he is unmistakably on the downside of his career—a post player who didn’t fight for position against the New Orleans Hornets and whose best contributions came as a rebounder. The truth hurts, Spurs fans.

He's right. Duncan doesn't shoot the 16 footer from the elbow.

He extended his shot to 20-feet from the top of the key.

Not too mention a clutch 3-pointer in overtime.

[George Gervin's Afro]

I say we just give up now and let the lakers win by forfeit. We have ZERO chance to beat these guys. 75% of the experts are picking them to win so we're f*cked..

[G-Nob]

Don't go to sleep on that Lakers bench, people. They are DANGEROUS.

[CubanMustGo]

Here's another Sporting News take:

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=413769

Finals Countdown: Spurs set up heavyweight duel with Lakers
Stan McNeal

Here we go. Two conference finals, two heavyweight matchups. A pair of No. 1 seeds, a No. 2 and a No. 3, and the No. 3 just happens to be the defending champions.

Celtics-Pistons and Lakers-Spurs. Of the four teams, only L.A. did not seem like a lock to reach the conference finals as far back as November. And L.A. emerged as a pretty good bet long before the All-Star game.

So which series will be more entertaining?

Celtics-Pistons will be hotly contested but figures to resemble typical Eastern Conference ball: slow and rough. The West, meanwhile, will have the following:

• The league's MVP, Kobe Bryant, being guarded by the league's top perimeter defender, Bruce Bowen.

• A matchup of the top two coaches in the league, the Lakers' Phil Jackson and the Spurs' Gregg Popovich. Look for Jackson to whine about the Spurs' flopping or Bowen's tactics at some point. Look for Popovich to repeatedly tell us that Kobe is the best player in the world and can't be defended.

• Tim Duncan vs. Pau Gasol. Two skilled big men who can pass and shoot. One also can play defense.

Intriguing matchups all over the place. Does Jackson assign Kobe on Manu Ginobili and risk losing energy Kobe will need on offense? Will Fabricio Oberto try to guard Lamar Odom, or does Popovich give significant minutes to aging Robert Horry? How can Derek Fisher stay in front of Tony Parker? Will the Spurs' front line beat up the Lakers, the least physical team left in the playoffs? Will Michael Finley or Sasha Vujacic hit more big 3s off the bench?

So who wins? I'm sticking with my pre-playoff pick to win it all, the Spurs (over the Celtics). Because of San Antonio's size advantage inside, this will be the round the Lakers miss Andrew Bynum.

[G-Nob]

• A matchup of the top two coaches in the league, the Lakers' Phil Jackson and the Spurs' Gregg Popovich. Look for Jackson to whine about the Spurs' flopping or Bowen's tactics at some point. Look for Popovich to repeatedly tell us that Kobe is the best player in the world and can't be defended.

He is dead-on on this little tidbit!

[DazedAndConfused]

When you compare Trevor Ariza's defense to Walton and Radmanovich.......it is a big deal. I shudder to think what a healthy Ginobli would do to those sloths.

The thing is Ginobli isn't healthy. He was not able to attack the rim successfully at all in the NOH series. All he did well offensively was shoot 3's. I think his ankle is still limiting him and he is staying away from those body-contorting moves he normally uses to get in the paint because he doesn't want to risk re-injuring himself.

[Indazone]

The experts don't know jack about the Spurs regular season lacksadaisical ways losing a fair amount of games but...always stepping their game up to another level during the playoffs.

[FromWayDowntown]

The thing is Ginobli isn't healthy. He was not able to attack the rim successfully at all in the NOH series. All he did well offensively was shoot 3's. I think his ankle is still limiting him and he is staying away from those body-contorting moves he normally uses to get in the paint because he doesn't want to risk re-injuring himself.

Or the Hornets denied penetration by clogging the lane and invited the Spurs wings to shoot the long ball.

Ginobili did attack when the opportunity presented itself against the Hornets.

[Cry Havoc]

When you compare Trevor Ariza's defense to Walton and Radmanovich.......it is a big deal. I shudder to think what a healthy Ginobli would do to those sloths.

The thing is Ginobli isn't healthy. He was not able to attack the rim successfully at all in the NOH series. All he did well offensively was shoot 3's. I think his ankle is still limiting him and he is staying away from those body-contorting moves he normally uses to get in the paint because he doesn't want to risk re-injuring himself.

That's all the Hornets gave them. They packed the paint and left 1-2 shooters open on every possession. For three games that worked, but playing gimmick defense and hoping the Spurs miss will never be good enough to beat us.

They tried to extend their defense for one game and Parker and Manu went off on them for 31, with only 9 points of those coming from three. The one game the Hornets left the lane free, we had penetration all game long.

The Hornets resolved that they couldn't guard both the three point shooters and keep their interior defense intact, so they packed the paint. It burned them, and it will burn the Lakers too if they try.

The thing about the Spurs is that every player can score, but they can also all play defense. Even our anemic players on offense like Oberto and Bowen can light you up if you don't pay close attention to them. Few teams in the league can score from the 1-5 and still play D.

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

This is the most homer Laker take I've ever read. This could have been posted in lakersground.net and no one would have known how to tell the difference.


The thing is, the Spurs’ A-game may not be enough to get a Game 1 win. Or a Game 2 win. Or, for that matter, more than a win or two - period—in the Western Conference finals.

Because the Lakers, yes, indeed, are just plain better.


:lol We'll see, LakerLanny


Kobe Bryant—a deserving MVP, for those of you doubting it—and backed up by the rest of a long, lean, smooth-running machine that won’t quit until the last opponent has been spit onto the scrapheap.

A Lakers roster that has won a total grand of 0 championships together so far.



1. Simple math. Kobe Bryant equals any two of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, much as LeBron James offset any two of the Celtics’ Big Three in a seven-game series that had no other rational reason for being. Anyone who doubts Bryant’s preeminence in this series is ignoring the elephant in the room: Bryant has finally ascended to Michael Jordan’s level. The Lakers, health be with them, are good to go for the next few championships.

Really? Kobe is more than Duncan and Parker or Ginobili? Wow, why did he miss the playoffs and made early exits without Shaq then? And in case that was true and the comparision with Lebron stands, the Cavs still lost that series, as they lost the Finals last years against the Spurs.

I'm not even gonna comment on the Jordan part.


2. The Big Fundamentals. Duncan doesn’t seem to have that 16-foot jumper from the elbow anymore. His kisses off the window from improbable angles don’t come often enough, either. Duncan is one of the 20 best players ever, but he is unmistakably on the downside of his career—a post player who didn’t fight for position against the New Orleans Hornets and whose best contributions came as a rebounder. The truth hurts, Spurs fans.

Duncan had his worst series ever, yet he lead in rebounds and the Spurs still won. And 3 pointers are further away than 16 foot.


3. The lane game. Chris Paul is a wizard, but he got into the lane so easily in the second round that The List shudders to think of how easily Bryant will do the same. Whereas Paul lobbed to Tyson Chandler for easy dunks, Bryant will draw fouls by the truckload and give Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, yes, easy dunks.

Yeah, because Kobe will stop taking 20 shots per game to run like Paul (nevermind he doesn't have Paul's speed) and feed Gasol and Odom who doesn't have the athleticism of Chandler. And Bowen will be on him, since Kobe doesn't have a Peja to kick it out.


4. Ageism. The List naturally roots for the oldsters, but Bruce Bowen (36), Michael Finley (35) and Robert Horry (37) won’t get many open looks because of the closeout ability of the exceedingly tall Lakers. And Derek Fisher, Vladimir Radmanovic and Sasha Vujacic are better long-ball shooters, anyway.

:lol So the Lakers won't double Duncan, stop Parker and Manu penetrating and in the rare case they don't they'll block the Spurs shooters on time? Wow, they must be the best defensive team ever.

Radmanovic and Vujacic are proven playoff shooters, unlike Finley, Bowen and Horry, who don't know how to position themselves for open shots in the Playoffs, even when they've been playing a minimum of 3 seasons with the team.


5. Trevor Ariza. At some point in this series, the Lakers’ long-armed defensive specialist will make his reappearance from a foot injury and become a force to be reckoned with. Be ready, Mr. Ginobili, because Ariza can make you go right if he wants to.

Ohhhh, Manu must be wetting his pants. I mean, Ariza is better than Artest, Raja Bell, Shawn Marion, Tayshaun Prince, Richard Jefferson, Kerry Kittles, Shane Battier and others who have forced Manu to go right in the playoffs. This "Manu can't go right" argument is idiotic. Some of Manu's best and most important shots in his career were made going right

Manu clearly can't go right...
IM7FP7zrE0M
bf9kZNKYx9o
78S8rLzwwkg
cNb-PujGKbI
18o0mPTElBo
18wVMhSJqLo
dPegMCO4za0


6. Pau-er ball. Gasol can soften the Spurs’ interior with his pick-and-pop shot, but his real value is in crashing down the lane off the pick-and-roll, which the Lakers run—with Bryant at the point—as well as anybody. No way Fabricio Oberto can stay with Gasol; Duncan can’t run with him, either.

Really? Such a strong statement for a player who has been owned by the Spurs his entire career.


7. The most underrated player in the league. He is Lamar Odom, and he will draw Duncan or Oberto away from the basket and then drive right past him. And Odom is strong enough to defend an interior big man—and rebound—better than David West did. Don’t be surprised when Odom averages 12 boards a game in this series.

This is getting ridiculous. Kobe MVP, Gasol fastest big man, Lakers better shooters. I mean, this will be a sweep surely?


8. The Udoka factor. Ime Udoka has been a savior for the Spurs, but the Lakers have at least three guys on their bench—Vujacic, Luke Walton and Ariza :lol—who are athletic enough to neutralize him.

:lmao


9. Kurt Thomas? Please. Thomas is an underappreciated man of men, but so is Ronny Turiaf, who is younger and sprier than Thomas and just as strong. At best, the Thomas factor is a wash for the Spurs.

:lmao


10. Coaching. Gregg Popovich is a Hall of Famer in waiting, but he rates no edge whatsoever over Phil Jackson. Not this year, anyway. Jackson’s shtick doesn’t always stick, but when It does it’s priceless—and all things are working for the Lakers this spring. L.A. wins in five games. Six, tops.

Popovich is coaching the best playoffs of his career. Can someone tell me what Jackson has done without Kobe, Shaq, Horry, Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Kukoc? Pop has oriented the Spurs to play as a team. All Jackson has is the triangle and he lets Kobe take 40 shots in a game.

[ElNono]

Gonna have to cook a lot of crow to hand out once the series is over.

[VaSpursFan]

this is the problem with some sports writers, they have never played the actual sport they cover competitively. on paper, everything he says looks good. but actual game time execution is something different.

i can refute everything he said, but why waste the energy on this trash can fodder...

[Supreme_Being]

I'm scared.

[Cherry]

5. Trevor Ariza. At some point in this series, the Lakers’ long-armed defensive specialist will make his reappearance from a foot injury and become a force to be reckoned with. Be ready, Mr. Ginobili, because Ariza can make you go right if he wants to.

oh, really? :devil

[MadDog73]

This is sarcasm, right?

I mean, comparing Kobe to LeBron?

Yep, pretty sure this is Grade A sarcasm.

Or stupidity. Hard to tell nowadays.


"Kobe Bryant equals any two of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, much as LeBron James offset any two of the Celtics’ Big Three"

[admiralfats]

that line about kobe equaling any two of the big three is ridiculous. This guy also wrote an article about the hornets signaling a changing of the guard, in championships and power forwards. The focal point of our defense wasn't david west. of course he had some good games. he's a really good player. it's like people don't watch the basketball games.

[noichuyenspurs]

I don't know about the doom and gloom but I hope the Spurs don't take the Lakers for granted. Why didn't the Spurs play with more urgency towards the end of regular season to try to get homecourt advantage over the Lakers instead they were blown out? I know Manu didn't play that game but are the Lakers that much more dominant than without him? Also, how come TD let Gasol outplay him that game? I don't understand why the Spurs didn't fight for homecourt advantage against the Lakers.

[Agitator]

The truth hurts, Spurs fans.

So does this you fucking poser. :nutkick: :frying:

I guess we will see, won't we? Time to start writing some flame-mail.

LA will not be easy, but you can bet your ass the Spurs can pull it out. When that happens, I will personally box up some roadkill crow, and send it to the guy's office. Ok, not really, but I might do a nice little stuffed toy crow with a spork...

[Agitator]

10. Coaching. Gregg Popovich is a Hall of Famer in waiting, but he rates no edge whatsoever over Phil Jackson. Not this year, anyway. Jackson’s shtick doesn’t always stick, but when It does it’s priceless—and all things are working for the Lakers this spring. L.A. wins in five games. Six, tops.


"When Jackson's coaching is working, they win games."

:rolleyes

What a brilliant observation. Kinda like "when the Lakers score more points than the other team, they win 100% of the time".

I try not to be a total homer, but when it comes to Popovitch, I really think he is the best coach in the game on many levels. Period.

I think that if you took the two coaches from their teams, cloned the worst team in the NBA, and gave Popovich and Jackson one team of identical clones each, Popovich would romp all over Jackson in any given 100 games.

:loser

[SpursFan0728]

what the fuck
worse article ever.

If spurs beat Lakers, he is going to write the same thing for Boston
fucking douche bag

[TampaDude]

EX = former, previous, has been, used to be, is no more

SPURT = something that comes out of my dick

'nuff said...

[Sense]

This article made me laugh a lot..

Wow...