Reply With Quote
That writer makes a lot of solid arguments.
That writer makes a lot of solid arguments.
Dupe.
*yawn*
we all know the media wants the spurs to lose so the nightmare will end for the NBA front office.
At least the fan comments after the article were worth reading.
yes indeed...just plain better.
they have a master plan to shut Ime down... oh no!!!!!!!!!
simple math! ahhhhhh. if one kobe equals both tim and manu. then doesn't one tim equal both pau and radmanovic?
we are so ed!
Great Article! It needs to be posted!
The List: Sorry, Spurs — you just can't win this one
Posted: May 21, 2008
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. 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 -- 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.
Steve Greenberg is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at [email protected].
Sorry if this has already been posted.... it just made me so mad i had to share it with the board right away
HAHA....this writer has just jinxed his team....Duncan goes for 40 tonight
The reader comments are hilarious
that dude got owned
So basically the Spurs are worst in every aspet of the game. Pretty amazing how they got to the finals in the first place...
Another writer hating on the spurs?
Dude needs to get in line.
The real list:
1) Spurs Big three better than Kobe, Gasol and Odom and by a lot - proven winners all three
2) Spurs have two of the three best defenders in the series in Duncan and Bowen - that is if Kobe plays defense which he often does not.
3) Kobe has never been defended as well by anyone as by Bowen and now Udoka is along to help out at times.
4) Without Bynum this Spurs team will score with impunity inside.
5) Popovich is a better coach than Jackson - that is the truth.
6) Spurs bench while it may not get the acclaim of the Lakers is simply a better combination of parts to put in at key times.
7) Lakers young guns have not faced the pressure, ala the Hornets.
8) Spurs have better match ups at multiple positions.
9) Kobe although a great force going to the basket is simply not as quick as Chris Paul and absolutely as good as passer.
10) Spurs will find a way - mark it down.
Somehow that girl sasha is supposed to step up on a stage she has never been on?
There should be a punishment for sports analysts and their half baked commentaries.
They should actually have to eat crow or something when they are wrong, encourage them to research their opinions a little better.
Speaking of homerism is this guy on the LA Times payroll? Objectivvity isn't his forte btu this si the SSDD we always get from most of the media.
So we'd be lucky to win just one game? Yeah , right!!!!!!!!!!
Bulletin board material!! But I doubt if any of the Spurs really care about this.
Didn't the Spurs sweep LeBron's team last year?
How many times have the Spurs been written off by the media? The best team of the decade by far gets no respect. Unbelievable!
Already posted:
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96216
Comments at the bottom of that article are hilarious.
i wouldn't say kobe is the next jordan, but he dang sure is the closest thing the league has seen to his airness.
i love his respect for the bowen and the spurs.
i just wish all these sports writers wouldn't orgasm over a boston/los angeles finals, but rather a spurs/lakers WCF.
and you aren't?
biiiiiitch.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
