Someone Convince Me The Grizzlies Shouldn't Be The Overwhelming Favorite

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Originally Posted by spursparker9

Didn't we swept them last year?

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Yeah but they were uhhhh missing a piece or two

I think we win in 6 at the most. I feel yea on Memphis though. It's gonna be a dog fight

Still have hope.
Kawhi is going to have to play like an MVP.
Lamarcus showed some things tonight.
The rest of the team is not sharp.
They need to get it together.
They are a veteran team and thus I would not dismiss them so lightly (in the first round), but they don't have it together right now and are not inspiring that much confidence.

Pop has also taken a very long time to find the identity of this team and it doesn't feel like they quite have it. One feels that there are deep bench guys that could help that will never see the floor bc it's not their time.

If Spurs beat MEM, I'm betting HOU ML on the series .. tbh

Spurs in 7 tbh

:cry Everyone should know every post on this forum
:cry If you respond you're an idiot
:cry because see the first :cry

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Originally Posted by Ron Swanson

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/...rollThread.jpg

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:lol

Spurs in 4

Avoid. At. All. Costs.

Sibling rule - Pau won't let little brother beat him.

I think in a playoff stage, we can eliminate both Memphis and the Clippers in 6 games if we can count with our complete roster.

It seems to me that the Spurs are not playing the same way the were playing a few weeks ago when they were chasing the seeding, they are playing a "i won`t show you nothing" game.

how about if the grizz lose the series you have to ask me before you can post.

The Spurs COULD beat any of the teams out there, if things go right. Getting Memphis in the first round means that things would have to go right four series in a row.

The whole series with the Grizzlies comes down to the zebras, IMO. They play very physical, but they also do a LOT of grabbing and pushing that could (and should) draw whistles. It disrupts the shit out of the Spurs offense - especially the guards. Guys cut across the paint, and get held, and don't come out on the other side like they are supposed to. And our guards really struggle to create something on their own.

If the refs are calling some of those things, the Grizz will have to back off a little, and it will leave the Spurs some room to operate. If the refs are "letting them play", there's a real chance the Spurs go fishing early. The problem - and I've been saying it since the pre-season - is that the playoffs are played under a different set of rules, and the refs are much more likely to swallow their whistles than blow them.

:lol

spurs won't lose to them. but if they did... i have to imagine the silver lining would be that the parker situation would finally be addressed.

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Originally Posted by ElNono

I apologize in advance but my first reaction when thinking about the Spurs vs. Grizzlies is Memphis should be considered a heavy favorite. Right now, I'm thinking the Grizzlies in 5 or 6 is a pretty damn safe bet. I hate to be this pessimistic but I just don't see how the Spurs are going to win this series. Maybe someone can convince me otherwise but ...

1. LaMarcus isn't playing that well. He had trouble with DeAndre and Marc Gasol is just a better version than DeAndre. LMA has had a great season but it's asking a ton for him to shine against the former DPOY.

2. Parker is hurting. He had trouble scoring with iffy defensive guards and limited bigs. What's going to happen against Conley -- arguably the best Parker defender in the league -- and a team with legit bigmen and other players with agile length? On paper, this looks like it'll be a disastrous series for TP unless he miraculously returns to health.

3. Ginobili is no longer in the stage of his career where he can carry a team. And besides, going up against Tony Allen would be a tall task no matter his age.

4. Gasol played a bit better today but he's still playing without physicality. He has trouble grabbing contested boards. He still has issues finishing in crowds. Those three faults play perfectly into the Grizzlies hands.

5. Leonard and Green just came off of a GREAT defensive season -- but Memphis does their damage on the inside. There really won't be anyone for those two to shut down. Thus, it'll be much more difficult to impact the series.

6. LMA, Dedmon, and Joel Anthony are all poor matchups against a physical frontline.

7. Patty ballhandling and decision-making against that pressure defense? Yikes.

8. Does Simmons or Kyle have the experience to play in what is going to be a glorified back alley dogfight?

9. The Grizzlies are at the very least as good defensively as the Spurs. Most likely, they're better. San Antonio was superior offensively for the majority of this season -- but they've fallen off a cliff in the last couple months. That ball-movement that made this team special is mostly gone. They don't have much in terms of individual creators. The Grizzlies offense isn't awesome but their scoring, on paper at least, will be more reliable since it'll come on the inside. Add in the points they'll create by forcing turnovers and hitting the offensive glass -- and I can't make a strong case for the Spurs having a better offense or defense right now.

10. We still really don't know how good the Spurs are at the moment. Should we take anything from beating most of the good teams? Probably not. Is struggling with a Thunder team that was mediocre in the regular season a bad sign? Yeah, probably. Add in the poor way the Spurs ended the regular season -- and this team is still riddled with question marks. The Grizzlies, on the other hand, know exactly what they are and what they aren't.


I hope beyond hope that I'm dead wrong. I really, really, really want the Spurs to win this series. (In fact, just making it to the Finals would make my year; I wouldn't even care if the Spurs lost to the Heat -- I just want this team to make the Finals one last time.)

Hopefully there are a few pieces to the puzzle that I'm missing. Maybe one of you can give me some hope. Maybe when I crunch the numbers, I'll see it differently.

I want to believe -- but as I'm sitting here right now, I just can't do it by any logical means. I'm sorry.

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The main problem. Kills energy and the team.

I think Leonard is playing at a level to will the Spurs to victory. Of course they need to make some shots, and Gasol will have to play well.

Spurs problem is consistency. They will have games will ball moves great, energy is high and team is playing very well. But other times it's like we forgot how to even play simple basketball. Will go 10 straight possession with terrible shots and will have dry spells where it allows other teams to either get back in the game or create a big lead.

but we've been inconsistent and gotten far in the playoffs before. Just gotta play well for 4 games each series. We'll see what happens.

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Originally Posted by ElNono

I apologize in advance but my first reaction when thinking about the Spurs vs. Grizzlies is Memphis should be considered a heavy favorite. Right now, I'm thinking the Grizzlies in 5 or 6 is a pretty damn safe bet. I hate to be this pessimistic but I just don't see how the Spurs are going to win this series. Maybe someone can convince me otherwise but ...

1. LaMarcus isn't playing that well. He had trouble with DeAndre and Marc Gasol is just a better version than DeAndre. LMA has had a great season but it's asking a ton for him to shine against the former DPOY.

2. Parker is hurting. He had trouble scoring with iffy defensive guards and limited bigs. What's going to happen against Conley -- arguably the best Parker defender in the league -- and a team with legit bigmen and other players with agile length? On paper, this looks like it'll be a disastrous series for TP unless he miraculously returns to health.

3. Ginobili is no longer in the stage of his career where he can carry a team. And besides, going up against Tony Allen would be a tall task no matter his age.

4. Gasol played a bit better today but he's still playing without physicality. He has trouble grabbing contested boards. He still has issues finishing in crowds. Those three faults play perfectly into the Grizzlies hands.

5. Leonard and Green just came off of a GREAT defensive season -- but Memphis does their damage on the inside. There really won't be anyone for those two to shut down. Thus, it'll be much more difficult to impact the series.

6. LMA, Dedmon, and Joel Anthony are all poor matchups against a physical frontline.

7. Patty ballhandling and decision-making against that pressure defense? Yikes.

8. Does Simmons or Kyle have the experience to play in what is going to be a glorified back alley dogfight?

9. The Grizzlies are at the very least as good defensively as the Spurs. Most likely, they're better. San Antonio was superior offensively for the majority of this season -- but they've fallen off a cliff in the last couple months. That ball-movement that made this team special is mostly gone. They don't have much in terms of individual creators. The Grizzlies offense isn't awesome but their scoring, on paper at least, will be more reliable since it'll come on the inside. Add in the points they'll create by forcing turnovers and hitting the offensive glass -- and I can't make a strong case for the Spurs having a better offense or defense right now.

10. We still really don't know how good the Spurs are at the moment. Should we take anything from beating most of the good teams? Probably not. Is struggling with a Thunder team that was mediocre in the regular season a bad sign? Yeah, probably. Add in the poor way the Spurs ended the regular season -- and this team is still riddled with question marks. The Grizzlies, on the other hand, know exactly what they are and what they aren't.


I hope beyond hope that I'm dead wrong. I really, really, really want the Spurs to win this series. (In fact, just making it to the Finals would make my year; I wouldn't even care if the Spurs lost to the Heat -- I just want this team to make the Finals one last time.)

Hopefully there are a few pieces to the puzzle that I'm missing. Maybe one of you can give me some hope. Maybe when I crunch the numbers, I'll see it differently.

I want to believe -- but as I'm sitting here right now, I just can't do it by any logical means. I'm sorry.

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1. Good thing LMA plays PF. Plus his shot has been much much better since the heart issue. Then of course there is his defense where he has really stepped it up on the perimeter and as a rim protector.

2. Parker has taken a back seat for three years now. C'mon, man. Even for a troll thread this is weak shit.

3. Ginobili is a bench player whereas Allen starts. If Tisdale wants to play him 45 mpg so he can cover Kawhi and Manu then yes please. Gino has shown the ability to take over quarters and that is all we need from him at this point.

4. People have been trying to push Gasol around and then he alternates between finishing in the post in their face and dropping threes. His rebounding has been outstanding that last few games as well. He looks like he has really settled in.

5. The only serious post player is ZBo and he is not what he once was. You can still collapse on him on the double and deny him the ball quite easily. Spurs have been owning him for years. Their offense is mostly through Conley whose penetration game they sure as hell can cover and Gasol who is more perimeter oriented. That plays into our hands. :lol Jamychal Green.

6. ::lol Jamychal Green and the near corpse of Vince Carter. Dedmon is inconsequential on offense but on defense he can cover all of their frontline players. Anthony is just plain inconsequential as the 15th man. LMA and Gasol's ability to play both inside and out is going to cause all kinds of issues with the Grizzlies lack of mobility. And Brendan Wright vs Gasol? Yes please.

7. Patty is fine. His shot is streaky but overall is a 41% from 3. His Assist:To is at 3. Meanwhile the Grizzlies backup PG is hitting under a third of his shots playing 20 mpg.

8. Simmons and SloMO will be dealing with James Ennis and Troy Daniels. The Grizzlies bench is shit outside of ZBo since Parsons shit the bed.

9. The Spurs have the best defensive rating in the league and the beautiful game disappeared two years ago with the exodus of shitter and the elevation of LMA and Kawhi. We actually saw the closest approximation if it we have seen in a long time when we eviscerated Cleveland. Meanwhile the Grizz are pretty mediocre offensively with :lol Jamychal Green pusing 30 mpg in that lineup.

10. So we should ignore that the Spurs have been dominating the elite teams. As attempts to poison the well that is a pretty shitty one.

This is actually not the worst take on why the Grizzlies might win I have seen. DPG's "grit and grind" marketing regurgitation takes from past years are by far the shittiest so at least you have that.

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Originally Posted by Ron Swanson

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/...rollThread.jpg

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one of my favorite meme's ever

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Originally Posted by Seventyniner

:lol

Forgot to replace Heat with Cavs tbh

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He also put "LMA" when he should have replaced Splitter's name with "Gasol" in paragraph #6, and paragraph #10 doesn't really mesh well this time because we're not going to have another playoff opponent before the Grizzlies this year like the 6th seeded Warriors in 2013.

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Originally Posted by UNT Eagles 2016

He also put "LMA" when he should have replaced Splitter's name with "Gasol" in paragraph #6, and paragraph #10 doesn't really mesh well this time because we're not going to have another playoff opponent before the Grizzlies this year like the 6th seeded Warriors in 2013.

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:lol I tried to do TD = LMA, and Tiago = Gasol, but the latter makes no sense, tbh... they're opposite players. Tiago was stronger but limited offensively, Pau has length but is more of a finesse player, with bigger offense.

I thought some things did stood with time, like the Grizz are going to try to make this a physical dogfight, and I don't know we're well equipped for that. I suppose if we're knocking down shots, it won't matter...

:cry its gonna hurt :cry

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Originally Posted by ElNono

:lol I tried to do TD = LMA, and Tiago = Gasol, but the latter makes no sense, tbh... they're opposite players. Tiago was stronger but limited offensively, Pau has length but is more of a finesse player, with bigger offense.

I thought some things did stood with time, like the Grizz are going to try to make this a physical dogfight, and I don't know we're well equipped for that. I suppose if we're knocking down shots, it won't matter...

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Tiago wasn't strong, I don't know who you were watching. He was very soft on defense even though his length did force some errant shots at the rim. Splitter was definitely a finesse player at the rim, maybe even more so than Pau -- his ratio of reverse layups to dunks was like 20 : 1 or something like that.

Splitter = Gasol is an easy comparison, but TD = LMA is significantly worse even though it's obviously the best we can do, LMA spends too much time in the high post compared to TD down low and is a far inferior shot blocker/alterer.