Message From Above

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Originally Posted by mytespurs

They lost to, arguably, the best team in the East tonight by 2 points-no moral victories but at least they were competitive unlike last night when they should've beaten a mid tier opponent. Now that loss, to me, is more disappointing than losing to the Celtics.

Now that Spurs lost to Celts/Knicks back 2 back, I'm sure we'll start hearing the "overrated" and "not as good as their record" talk. But as with the other uppper echelon teams in the east/west, Spurs will go through their slump and will fall back in the pack & will fight for their lives as the season continues. . Spurs started strong but I think how they finish may give us a clue whether they'll be able to fight with the other big boys.

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That's the thing.

Spurs might not win 60 games but the level of play in late March and April will tell us what's the team worth.

Still waiting for Splitt and Anders to go out and play rotation minutes.

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Originally Posted by EricB

What about against the Lakers?

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Very good defense against the struggling Lakers. That is one game. They have had far more terrible defensive games than good ones.

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Originally Posted by ShoogarBear

Sweet. Need the points for FL.

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I got Rondo !

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Originally Posted by EricB

What about against the Lakers?

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Fluke? Kobe going into chucker mode and shitting on his own team?

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Originally Posted by warlord23

i don't mind. We deserved to lose both games. This team needs to wake the fuck up and start playing competitive d. Pop needs to wake the fuck up and fix his idiotic rotations. We richly deserve these and any future losses till we improve the d. The record is fool's gold. Executing in the last 2 minutes and getting lucky with a win at the end would have extended our bad habits.

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+100

The Spurs haven't played many games where they've been sharp for 48 minutes. They're due some losses. I wonder what we'll see outa Pop if the Pacers shit on the Spurs by like 20 points. I almost want to find out

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Originally Posted by DPG21920

Very good defense against the struggling Lakers. That is one game. They have had far more terrible defensive games than good ones.

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So the games against OKC and others the past couple weeks "Don't count"


Awesome.

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Originally Posted by MannyIsGod

At this point I'm just looking for signs. I'd be far more worried if the Spurs were playing like this in March.

The Spurs have two basic avenues to a title. Shoot lights out for the entire playoffs, or develop a consistent defense. Right now they play well for periods (last half of the 1st quarter was an example of good defense) but they're rarely able to maintain it.

As constructed this team isn't going to be a great defensive team, but hopefully they can simply play better defense.

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I agree, they have shown flashes. They obviously have a ton of work just to be a pretty above average defensive team.

I was just disagreeing that they had played great defense in the previous 4 games. They played good, but there were some other factors involved.

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Originally Posted by ElNono

Fluke? Kobe going into chucker mode and shitting on his own team?

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Ah now its a fluke.

Of course.

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Originally Posted by EricB

So the games against OKC and others the past couple weeks "Don't count"


Awesome.

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It only counts when you can build from it and make it stable and consistent

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Originally Posted by EricB

So the games against OKC and others the past couple weeks "Don't count"


Awesome.

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Of course they count. I just don't think they played "great" defense in those games. It was good, not great.

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Originally Posted by mytespurs

They lost to, arguably, the best team in the East tonight by 2 points-no moral victories but at least they were competitive unlike last night when they should've beaten a mid tier opponent. Now that loss, to me, is more disappointing than losing to the Celtics.

Now that Spurs lost to Celts/Knicks back 2 back, I'm sure we'll start hearing the "overrated" and "not as good as their record" talk. But as with the other uppper echelon teams in the east/west, Spurs will go through their slump and will fall back in the pack & will fight for their lives as the season continues. . Spurs started strong but I think how they finish may give us a clue whether they'll be able to fight with the other big boys.

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That's BS spin. They maybe the best team when fully healthy, but today the Boston frontcourt rotation was garbage. They are missing both their starting C and starting PF. Both O'Neals are foul-prone and have nothing to offer on offense. They were 3-3 in their last 6 before this one.

They had only two plays in their playbook (pick and roll and Allen coming off screens), and we let them shoot 61 fucking per cent.

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Originally Posted by DPG21920

I agree, they have shown flashes. They obviously have a ton of work just to be a pretty above average defensive team.

I was just disagreeing that they had played great defense in the previous 4 games. They played good, but there were some other factors involved.

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Factors are always involved.

If you wanted to the rest of the year they could play great defense but you could find excuses for it.

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Originally Posted by EricB

Ah now its a fluke.

Of course.

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I asked a question. I see you agree.

I understand that a lot of smart Spurs fans are hedging the enthusiasm of the hot start because they don't want the rug pulled out from under them. Hopefully this team isn't a fluke. We'll see.

Defending Kobe while he goes 1 on 5 is a little bit easier than playing teams that move without the ball and actually force the spurs to rotate and communicate.

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Originally Posted by DPG21920

Of course they count. I just don't think they played "great" defense in those games. It was good, not great.

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Agree to disagree I guess.

Holding OKC to 74 I thought was great but it was just good.

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Originally Posted by ElNono

I asked a question. I see you agree.

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Whatever floats your boat.

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Originally Posted by EricB

Factors are always involved.

If you wanted to the rest of the year they could play great defense but you could find excuses for it.

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No.

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Originally Posted by baseline bum

Hey timvp. is there a letter low enough for Hill's grade tonight? Double F? F square?

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So much for Hill being our lockdown defender. Very disappointing.

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Originally Posted by mytespurs

They lost to, arguably, the best team in the East tonight by 2 points-no moral victories but at least they were competitive unlike last night when they should've beaten a mid tier opponent. Now that loss, to me, is more disappointing than losing to the Celtics.

Now that Spurs lost to Celts/Knicks back 2 back, I'm sure we'll start hearing the "overrated" and "not as good as their record" talk. But as with the other uppper echelon teams in the east/west, Spurs will go through their slump and will fall back in the pack & will fight for their lives as the season continues. . Spurs started strong but I think how they finish may give us a clue whether they'll be able to fight with the other big boys.

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This wasn't really the best team in the East. It was the best team in the East missing their most important player. Yes, Davis played out of his mind to make up for it. But realistically, the Celtics were in control during crunch time and it was only by a couple of flukes that the Spurs made it close.

The Spurs are still much more of a work in progress and still have more potential for improvement than any of the top teams. But realistically what we learned the last two nights is that they aren't as good as their record. Not yet.

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Originally Posted by EricB

Agree to disagree I guess.

Holding OKC to 74 I thought was great but it was just good.

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I think the type of team also matters. Like I said in the game blog, beating the Thunder/Blazers/Hornets etc by denying the paint is one thing. But we have no idea how to stop good jump shooting teams like the Magic, Knicks and Celtics.

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Originally Posted by EricB

Agree to disagree I guess.

Holding OKC to 74 I thought was great but it was just good.

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I was really referring to the 4 game stretch where everyone was salivating over the Spurs defense.

stupid thread. Spurs were lucky to be even that close in the final minutes. once in a blue moon chain of fluke plays at the end to keep us in it. it was over after Manu failed to cover Allen on that 3.

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Originally Posted by ElNono

Fluke? Kobe going into chucker mode and shitting on his own team?

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+1.

the defense is better than what has been displayed the last couple of nights, but the Laker's game, i always thought, was more LA playing low IQ ball than how great the Spurs D was. Kobe made horrible decisions that game and they didn't use their size advantage nearly as well as they could've, even thought whenever Bynum and Gasol were getting the ball they were scoring. and if you can't see that, you need to take off your homer glasses for a second.