Spurs v Portland - Western Conference Semi-Finals: The Complete Chronicles

I hope we win, but more than that I hope we stay healthy. I don't want to see anyone make an unscheduled trip to the locker room. I think Portland closes out on the shooters and makes Tim and Tiago beat them, and they double on Tony to force the ball out of his hands. Pop would love that, but you have to give up something and I think it's going to be the inside game since the Blazers are a jumpshooting team and so they will likely focus on the jumpshooting game. Forcing turnovers on the perimeter will lead to fast break points the other way. Getting a turnover in the paint will just lead to a change of possession in most cases. I think Lillard goes Westbrook and scores in the 30's with some good efficiency, and LMA gets his as well, but I'm more concerned with what they get from their bench players like Mo Williams who is a chucker extraordinaire, and can get hot in a second.

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Originally Posted by ElNono

Who is Brazil? Did they re-open registration?

Anyways, welcome to Spurstalk. :lol

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He is the one who will bring balance to the universe tbh

How is everybody's day going tbh?

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Originally Posted by DMC

I hope we win, but more than that I hope we stay healthy.

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my first thought was Duncan's minutes when I saw Pop rolling the dice with Baynes. Even if B isn't as effective tonight, I hope Pop sticks with it if for no other reason than to buy minutes for Tim.

It's so obvious you feel like a dummy saying it, but going up 2-0 is gigantic. Especially with how most teams have stolen games on the road this playoffs. Spurs are going to have to get good looks despite the fact that Lillard won't be there to muck things up defensively as much for POR (they will hide him). Hopefully, as we saw, TP can still be very effective against Wes Matthews. The other guys (Manu especially) have to be ready and find good shots if they decide to trap and remove the ball from TP's hands (easier said then done).

However, if the Spurs rebound and don't turn it over, it should be next to impossible for POR to separate from the Spurs. Just have to have a shot to win it going into the 4th.

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Originally Posted by Blake

my first thought was Duncan's minutes when I saw Pop rolling the dice with Baynes. Even if B isn't as effective tonight, I hope Pop sticks with it if for no other reason than to buy minutes for Tim.

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If Tim needs to be limited to 30m a game or so, we're done already. The opposition is going to play their best bigs for 40 minutes a game.

With how great Spurs offense is when clicking, Spurs can survive with Lillard/Aldridge getting there points. Spurs have to shut down the other guys and have the studs to do it (Kawhi/Danny). Tiago being able to hassle LA 1 v 1 is a massive advantage and if he can prevent fouling he should provide the winning strategy.

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Originally Posted by DMC

If Tim needs to be limited to 30m a game or so, we're done already. The opposition is going to play their best bigs for 40 minutes a game.

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IMO - Spurs can get away with limiting Tim's minutes because Lopez isn't a real threat outside of offensive rebounds. The key is Tiago this series. Tim might do ok switched onto LA, but I would prefer we don't have to see that too much. Tim offensively though should be solid this series. He doesn't need to force shots v Lopez, but you can definitely run offense through him.

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Originally Posted by _JaG

Look how happy and talkative DPG is.

Tony has a couple nice games and DPG is like a new man, liberated and carefree.

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I'm like a worried papa watching my boy limp around and look feeble. He worries me because of how important he is. But he's just the goods when healthy.

They are obviously going to try something different on Parker, I hope role players will take full advantage of the attention is gonna get from Blazers defense. If I were Portland I will try to bother Parker with Batum a lot. Batum is long, solid one on one exactly what bothers Parker plus Batum is with Diaw the one who knows him the best in the NBA.

Speaking of Batum, people are underestimating how important he is for Portland and tend to focus on Lilly and LMA, fact is Batum is quite key for them starting obviously on D but also on the O end. His range, capacity to score at the rim and passing skills open a lot of suff for Lilly, Wes and LMA. Batum is a complete dude ala Boris and can feed the score sheet on all categories, 3 pts, stl, assists, reb etc...

Batum has been extremely disappointed by his performance, I fully expect a total different game from him.

On a side note, Boris and TP know that Batum is sometimes capable to loose his cool, I believe they are too class to play dat card but both could easily go at him tbh

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Originally Posted by Dex

Series threads are lame. They get so long that people just stop giving a shit tbh.

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Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh reallllllly? I guess you missed the 103 page Spurs v Mavs Series Thread in the less populated NBA Forum. So there goes that theory mr jokey joke maker.

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Originally Posted by Brazil

They are obviously going to try something different on Parker, I hope role players will take full advantage of the attention is gonna get from Blazers defense. If I were Portland I will try to bother Parker with Batum a lot. Batum is long, solid one on one exactly what bothers Parker plus Batum is with Diaw the one who knows him the best in the NBA.

Speaking of Batum, people are underestimating how important he is for Portland and tend to focus on Lilly and LMA, fact is Batum is quite key for them starting obviously on D but also on the O end. His range, capacity to score at the rim and passing skills open a lot of suff for Lilly, Wes and LMA. Batum is a complete dude ala Boris and can feed the score sheet on all categories, 3 pts, stl, assists, reb etc...

Batum has been extremely disappointed by his performance, I fully expect a total different game from him.

On a side note, Boris and TP know that Batum is sometimes capable to loose his cool, I believe they are too class to play dat card but both could easily go at him tbh

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Great point. Batum has had many games where he started out tentative and poorly. He is much like Boris in this regard where people scream and yell at him to play his game consistently and for whatever reason he drifts in and out of that focus/aggression.

He has hit some massive shots for POR, especially from 3 in big moments, but he is going to have a hard time with Kawhi on him. Much harder than last round.

If people think Parker or Diaw are inconsistent, Batum brings it to a whole other level. Which means he's bound to go off at least once in any series. I hope it's going to happen in Portland in a game that the refs had decided they would gift to the home team anyway.

The only good thing I can see regarding the officiating is that POR got a lot of FT's in game 1. Hopefully, that trend won't continue and the Spurs can keep that even.

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Originally Posted by DPG21920

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh reallllllly? I guess you missed the 103 page Spurs v Mavs Series Thread in the less populated NBA Forum. So there goes that theory mr jokey joke maker.

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103 pages on an 7-game series vs. the 392 pages on the combined Game Threads for that same series upstairs, breaking down to an average of 14.7 vs. 56 per game?

So there goes that theory Mr. Mathy McMatherson.

Quit buckin the system, DPG!

I agree with Dex. The idea of a series thread is great for downstairs where there are more topics to discuss and more teams. But up here, it makes little sense to restrict posting to a single thread. This whole forum is dedicated to this series right now, and I appreciate the different angles and foci that come from the separate threads.

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Originally Posted by Dex

103 pages on an 7-game series vs. the 392 pages on the combined Game Threads for that same series upstairs, breaking down to an average of 14.7 vs. 56 per game?

So there goes that theory Mr. Mathy McMatherson.

Quit buckin the system, DPG!

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I have to agree, this cannot be a serie thread, it is much more suited to debrieff the games and talk about adjustments for next one imho fwiw

The Jews did this.

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Originally Posted by Dex

103 pages on an 7-game series vs. the 392 pages on the combined Game Threads for that same series upstairs, breaking down to an average of 14.7 vs. 56 per game?

So there goes that theory Mr. Mathy McMatherson.

Quit buckin the system, DPG!

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Like I said, it's less populated! The majority of Spurs fans post up here and that still got to 103 pages in addition to every other series thread down there that was discussed!

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Originally Posted by Chinook

I agree with Dex. The idea of a series thread is great for downstairs where there are more topics to discuss and more teams. But up here, it makes little sense to restrict posting to a single thread. This whole forum is dedicated to this series right now, and I appreciate the different angles and foci that come from the separate threads.

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Well, this wasn't to restrict other threads. If there was something really relevant (game grades, in depth break downs...) that should fully have it's own thread. Game threads bring very little value and it's mostly just a gathering place with very little analysis outside of a few posters. Having one place, continuous for that type of deal IMO makes a lot of sense.

But I have no ego. If people just want this to serve as the game thread for this game and enjoy making a game thread for every single game, by all means. I'm just here to talk basketball.

https://p.gr-assets.com/540x540/fit/...758/633529.gif

Sooooooooooooooooo.......over/under on how many FTs Portland gets tonight and how many posters call out Joey?

Putting the former at 40 and the latter at 100.

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Originally Posted by DMC

I hope we win, but more than that I hope we stay healthy.

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I think you meant the opposite...staying healthy only matters to the extent that it leads to winning, hence winning is the first priority. Especially in the playoffs. In a home game. Maybe on the road you can pull the "just stay healthy" line.

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Originally Posted by DPG21920

Well, this wasn't to restrict other threads. If there was something really relevant (game grades, in depth break downs...) that should fully have it's own thread. Game threads bring very little value and it's mostly just a gathering place with very little analysis outside of a few posters. Having one place, continuous for that type of deal IMO makes a lot of sense.

But I have no ego. If people just want this to serve as the game thread for this game and enjoy making a game thread for every single game, by all means. I'm just here to talk basketball.

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Nah, man. I could care less about game threads. I'll post in here so long as others do. I just took from your OP that we'd do analysis in here. I'm not a huge fan of that, seeing as the people who do their own analysis work hard on it and deserve their own threads. But Coach Nick videos and articles can definitely go in here along with game-time discussion and general between-games reaction.

If only we could get Tlong to get on board with it.

EDIT: http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/show...15#post7313815

This is the type of stuff that should be restricted to this thread.

^Exactly. This is more a continuous game thread than anything else. It can be used for game day breakdowns/discussions, but real break downs or articles should have their own thread.