Reply With Quote
I thought the Spurs played their most inspired basketball getting to the Finals in '99. Once there, I knew the Knicks were no match. The Spurs seemed to play that way too.
Man, was that a dominant defensive team or what? The Knicks offense was pretty much crap, with only Houston and Sprewell able to create their own shots, and Sprewell pretty inefficient at that.
KNICKS
Larry Johnson should have a piece of the Finals MVP award. Before Kenyon Martin, there was Larry Johnson; Duncan shut him down so badly that I felt bad for him. He couldn't do ANYTHING inside, and his shot was just off outside. Used to be a dominant player, but lost almost all of it due to his bad back, then his sprained knee. On defense, he just got embarrassed by Duncan over and over and over.
Dudley was pretty much the only person who can defend Robinson or Duncan with some degree of success, but his offense was ridiculously bad, that the Spurs were putting Mario Elie on him, or sometimes just totally ignoring him.
Camby was an active body around the court that could fight for rebounds against the twin towers, but he got outmuscled so badly, that his defense on either was useless most of the time.
The tandem of Charlie Ward and Chris Childs was goodd, even great defensively, but pukingly bad offensively. Neither guys can finish, and they were not great with running an offense either.
Kurt Thomas was the only guy who came out to play. He had a couple of good games early on, but once the twin towers figured him out, he was nowhere close to as effective. But he set great screens, nailed the mid-range jumpers consistently, was tough on the glass, and played rugged defense. I am not sure why Van Gundy didn't start Thomas over Johnson.
Sprewell gambles a lot on defense, but was quick when his man got the ball. His stop and pop was amazing. Most people won't even attempt those shots, but he was nailing them. Fun player to watch.
Houston got underrated a lot, he can create for himself and others, he competed night in a night out. He is worth nowhere close to a $100+ million contract, especially not 10 years ago, but the Spurs had great difficulty containing him. He can drive, shoot the 3, and was deadly from mid-range. Sean Elliott deserved a lot of credit for putting the clamps on him and doing a very effective job.
Van Gundy was one stubborn man. His rotations and game plan changed little over the course of the series despite being pummelled by the Spurs over and over and over. On the other hand, the talent level was so wide apart, there really wasn't anything he could have done to win the series. The Knicks played with a lot of heart (especially the elimination game), was well prepared defensively, and Van Gundy deserved a lot of the credit.
Spurs
Sean Elliott didn't play that well offensively, but he was fantastic on defense. He deserved a lot of credit for slowing down Sprewell without sending him to the line for easy points. He didn't nail his shots that well, but he was being aggressive, taking them when available.
Mario Elie was like a ball of fire! He played inspired. His defense was tough and physical, and his offense of timely. It seems like every time the Spurs needed a momentum changing basket, Elie nailed it.
Avery Johnson was quick as a bolt of lightning. He really wasn't that much slower than Parker, but he couldn't hit an outside shot to save his life (well ... except the championship winning shot). Since Ward and Childs was just horrendous on offense, I am not sure if it was Avery Johnson playing that good of a defense.
Jaren Jackson was absolutely uselss when his outside shots were not falling. His ball handling was even worse than a 2003 Bowen, but at least Bowen had the sense of getting rid of the shot when he didn't have an outside shot. His defense was slow footed. But when his shots were falling, there was nothing that could stop him.
Only the Mavs could have let Steve Kerr destroy them (2003). You can see Childs and Ward's eyes light up when they see Kerr.
Malik Rose was all energy. He was wreckless out there, providing a totally different dimension to the Spurs team. He made tonnes of mistakes, and when he in for Robinson, the Spurs offense and defense suffered greatly. But then again, totally unfair to compare any player to the great 50.
Robinson lost most of his quickness during his prime years, but he was still the quickest guy on the floor outside of Sprewell and Johnson. That man was really amazing. However, the one thing that he could not do that Duncan could, and this really is what I felt didn't allow Robinson perform poorly in some of the playoffs in the past, was that he couldn't finish as well when he was bumped. These were normally fouls in the regular season, but the playoffs is another story. Robinson would take multiple hits to his arms and body before missing the shot. His defense was amazing. Granted Knicks didn't exactly had a fearsome frontline, but it seemed like Robinson was defending 2/3s of the court sometimes, his rotations were crisps and quick, just shutting down the whole lane area.
Duncan was so much quicker back then, you can even say that he was athletic. His decisions with the ball improved as years went on, but his offensive repetoire was absolutely unmatched back then. He can nail the 20 foot jumper, he can drive, he has an assortment of post moves, and he read his defenders very well. On defense, he was quick and rotates fantastically. I still say Robinson was the better defender, but Duncan wasn't really that far off.
Pop was patient and believed in his system. He would ride out scoring droughts, and quickly corrected mistakes on defense.
After watching these games again, it seems like the 99 Spurs were the best of the 4 championship teams
I thought the Spurs played their most inspired basketball getting to the Finals in '99. Once there, I knew the Knicks were no match. The Spurs seemed to play that way too.
i remember there was an interview with Tim Duncan the first time at MSG, they asked how does it feel to play at the Garden, and Duncan said "nice nets" or something to effect.
2 of the top 5 defenders in NBA history anchoring the paint at the same time..before Duncan's surgery..no way they wouldn't be dominant..imagine they could have gotten a Parker or a Ginobili too..
yeah, especially the portland series was meant to be the bifg test....one mirracle later it wasn't! this and LJ's 4pt play within two weeks...great time!
remember beeing in praque for a few days...in an internet cafe, I read, that the Knicks bet Indiana and it was like: "We are allready champions!"...Sounds mean, but it was (NY also was and is my 2nd fav team)
When you burn through the playoffs at 15-2 you've got to be a defensive beast to still win when your shots aren't falling.
The playoffs that year were probably the most fun I have ever had as a sports fan. It was all uncharted territory at the time, and we were magnificent throughout. Truly a team effort!
I've being watching some '99 playoff games this summer. Last night I watched '99 Finals Game 1. The thing that stands out now looking back on it was how focused that team was. They didn't let up for a second and no matter what happened it was always 100% business. That team didn't have loads of talent outside of TD and Dave but they played about as well as they possibly could.
Jaren Jackson doesn't get as much credit as he deserves for that championship. He played good defense and hit a ton of clutch shots. He made bad decisions and couldn't dribble but he was cold blooded. Perfect timing for having the best stretch of his basketball life.
Malik Rose was pretty damn good, too. Compared to TD and Dave he was obviously going to look weak but considering how little experience he had, Malik knew how to win. He was relentless on the glass and was the original master flopper. His boxing out and physical post defense was damn impressive during that run. If any of the young bigs next year can play as well as Rose played in '99, the Spurs will be in good shape.
In Game 1 of the Finals specifically, I thought Robinson was the best player. Duncan had a sick stat line but Robinson set the tone early and softened the middle for Duncan to snipe away.
The '99 team was a machine. Extremely fun to watch
^ wait to see the new twin towers : the great Tim Duncan and Bid Baby with Matt Bonner on the bench. This frontcourtwould destroy the 99 one...
That 99 defense exemplified what a number of people have talked about when they say the Spurs would wear teams down and take their will to win. By those close out games opposing perimeter players would look at the Twin Towers and just say, " it. I'm not going in there anymore."
I saw this game last month and I'm very happy I can see it in DVD and with the original NBC audio. I also have this game in VCR but it's from 99 so the quality sucks and it's also the Brazil announcersI've being watching some '99 playoff games this summer. Last night I watched '99 Finals Game 1. The thing that stands out now looking back on it was how focused that team was. They didn't let up for a second and no matter what happened it was always 100% business. That team didn't have loads of talent outside of TD and Dave but they played about as well as they possibly could.
Jaren Jackson doesn't get as much credit as he deserves for that championship. He played good defense and hit a ton of clutch shots. He made bad decisions and couldn't dribble but he was cold blooded. Perfect timing for having the best stretch of his basketball life.
Malik Rose was pretty damn good, too. Compared to TD and Dave he was obviously going to look weak but considering how little experience he had, Malik knew how to win. He was relentless on the glass and was the original master flopper. His boxing out and physical post defense was damn impressive during that run. If any of the young bigs next year can play as well as Rose played in '99, the Spurs will be in good shape.
In Game 1 of the Finals specifically, I thought Robinson was the best player. Duncan had a sick stat line but Robinson set the tone early and softened the middle for Duncan to snipe away.
The '99 team was a machine. Extremely fun to watch
And with the original audio you can say the Alamodome was damn load.
When TD make the 1st basket of the game the crowd exploded and it was like that the whole game.
I wish I could find the Blazers series also in a better quality. My 99 tapes are really bad
I know alot of people would pick guys like MJ, Bird, or Magic, but if there was a machine that could turn back the clock on athletes I would love to see David Robinson in his prime play against todays talent at center. That 99 team was so much fun to see compete, Duncan and D Rob both able to really play, sick just sick.
Hilarious!^ wait to see the new twin towers : the great Tim Duncan and Bid Baby with Matt Bonner on the bench. This frontcourtwould destroy the 99 one...
The '99 play-off run was insane. You had Jaren Jackson the Terminator hitting crazy 3's playing way above his head. 5-0 running the floor with TD, Elie was fiery as ever and Sean hit the Memorial Day miracle shot on my birthday. Two sweeps with one over the Fakers. Stoudemire's comment that SA would never win a championship with Avery at the point. And who seals the championship with a jumper? Couldnt' have asked for a better play-offs. I was super critical of Sean's play during the Finals but playing without a healthy kindey... that's manning up. The only thing I felt bad about that season was that we let Vinney Del Negro go. He'd been there with Sean and 5-0 all that time (and always with the same haircut...), my heart really went out to that guy.
I watched Game 1 not long ago as well.
It's sad going from watching David Robinson control the whole court defensively by himself, to watching Matt Bonner start at center
Tim was so fast back then. I mean really fast for a big man.
people really seem to forget that..
Duncan pre-2000 was athletic as ..he wasn't David Robinson or Hakeem Olajuwon or anything, but he was definitely a stand-out athlete..
I just received the San Antonio NBA Championship Special Edition 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 16 set disc special form Amazon. It looks awesome! I'm going to watch the 1999 series very soon.
Agree. It wasnt even the vertical leap - it was the fluidity and easy in which he moved and changed direction.
yeah, I love watching that series and that final game of 99. That was an incredible defensive team anchored by two dominant low post defenders both in their primes, Timmy and David !
That's very cool !
Now, you're depressing me!I watched Game 1 not long ago as well.
It's sad going from watching David Robinson control the whole court defensively by himself, to watching Matt Bonner start at center
Seeing Matt Bonner as the starting center for the San Antonio Spurs was the definite low point and proof of the demise of our Spurs. What team which prided itself on defense would not be ashamed to start him at center ? For shame, San Antonio Spurs Front Office ! For shame !
I too, just finished up watching these last night. Good stuff.
He was! And even at that, he wasn't the fastest big man on our roster. It was really incredible that we had DRob and Tim on the same team.
Class acts, great players, and champions!!!!
To DRob and Timmy's greatness.
I would agree, though the 2003 team was loaded with talent and stopped the Lakers Dynasty. And the 2005 team faced the toughest finals opponent. And the 2007 team swept their finals opponent. So, you can make a case for them all.
But, if I had to pick it would 1999. Their postseason record was amazing. I think, if the 90's Bulls had stayed together one more year, they'd have beaten that Kicks team easily in the East. Spurs vs. Bulls, that would have been a of a finals series. I think the Spurs might have won, as that Bulls team was running on fumes for their last championship. (Though it was certainly enough to beat the Jazz.)
Ah, to party like its 1999...
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
