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Familiarity breeds contempt. Other teams have figured them out a little better. It happens.
When you look at the games basically this year, the Spurs are not as solid and confident as they used to do in the past.
Familiarity breeds contempt. Other teams have figured them out a little better. It happens.
Have you actually looked at the box scores from any of those games? Just take a look at Game 4. Duncan and Parker got their numbers. Barry had a huge game.
Other than that, Bowen got 7 (about what we expect from him), Ginobili got 7 (everyone knows he was hurt), and Horry got 2 free throws. And that's it. Nothing else. Nada. Nothing from Finley. Nothing from our starting center. Nothing from Udoka. That's not much in the way of bench production, do you think? Game 1 of the WCF looks pretty similar.
Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili played well through the season. Our bench was, overall, the least productive I can remember in the Duncan era. Somebody may pull up stats that prove me wrong. But it's fair to say that they left their A-games at home a lot of times.
Guys get worn out when you ride them like horses.
Um, they just won a series when they were down 0-2 for the first time in the franchise history. And from down 3-2. Not to mention a Game Seven in NO. That's a Game Seven win on the road for the first time. So they are confident.
They are extremely mentally tough. And they are strong in the money time.
The problem in this Lakers series is Manu's injuries, his ankle. With Manu playing like Manu, they would have been able to win it in five games. Even with Manu playing at 80%, they could have won it. But the guy is injured, he's the Spurs clutch player/closer.
Last edited by greens; 05-31-2008 at 07:34 PM.
cant agrue this.....the spurs are not as confindent as yrs before....they looked lost, confused, made horrible decisions, and lost to many leads all season long...reminded me of the cowboys last half of last season...we never knew who was showing up..unfortunetly the cowboys have plenty to be happy about....its not like that with our spurs....go spurs go
"I doan give them no repsek! None!" ... to other teams figuring out the Spurs.
The Spurs, playing Spurs basketball, prevail.
The Spurs were extremely (comparatively) weak in the season,
ty road record,
seriously losing record against the aggregate of top teams,
and just a few weeks ago, aka SPAM stretch:
Fri, Mar 7 @ Denver L 96-109
Sun, Mar 9 @ Phoenix L 87-94
Wed, Mar 12 @ New Orleans L 75-100
Fri, Mar 14 @ Detroit L 80-84
Sat, Mar 15 @ Philadelphia L 96-103
Mon, Mar 17 Boston L 91-93 (4 straight losses, all playoff teams)
Sun, Mar 30 Houston W 109-88 ( only W in Mar/Apr vs (low) playoff team)
Fri, Apr 4 @ Utah L 64-90
Wed, Apr 9 Phoenix L 79-96
Sun, Apr 13 @ LA Lakers L 85-106
... most Ls not even compe ive. Yep, the Spurs didn't win a single game in Mar/Apr vs playoff teams.
March/Apr used as polishing, tuning, ramp-up time for the playoffs? GMAFB
The Spurs were AWOL.
All the above crap was with everybody healthy,
Manu's ankle hurt in first round.
timvp was posting that it looked VERY BAD but all one could do was "believe".
My point is, in contrast to nearly everybody here, that the season does count:
the post-ASB record,
record against playoff teams,
overall road record.
The Spurs failed the season on all counts,
predicting they're being blown out in several playoff games,
and finally taking only one game vs LA (and unable to win @Staples).
There were other factors in the playoffs:
no bench contribution
2 starters at best marginal
only one big man
Manu hurt
... but the stench was already undeniable in March and April.
they did all that and never really peaked
suprised me somewhat they got to the confernence finals
I think it' related with Tim duncan too.
Remember years ago when the team needed to score it was all the ball to Tim.
The thing is Play hasn't changed but Tim is not dominant big time anymore.
I don't looking the stats he's still great all around but honestly how many time did you see Tim turning over the ball or not concretising the points needed in money time this year?
I disagree.
I think they were very good in the clutch playoff situations.
There were not alot of games though like that.
The only series where you could say they had alot of clutch situations was Phoenix and they out executed the F out of them, and that was with a hobbly Manu.
New Orleans Game 7 they schooled the F out of them as well.
The other games were blowouts and didn't get a chance to see it.
The Lakers series they were gassed and had nothing so thats not a good indicator.
the Spurs in the Lakers series looked tired but thats to be expected... the first round with the Suns wasnt long but tiring, then the Hornets series was just long and they had to run with a younger group for 48 minutes by the time they got to LA they had no rest and were playing a ghey laker squad who had a pretty easy series again the Nuggets and the Jazz. If the Spurs had some time to rest i think they would have taken LA.
Great post. This shows how poorly the spurs were playing right before the playoffs. Anyone paying attention would have seen that the spurs had problems that would carry over into the playoffs.
Some are still fooled believing the spurs only need to add a role player or two because the spurs made it to the wcf. They need to overhaul the bench and add two quality starters. They need 5 or 6 new players on the team.
The WCF were played with one day of rest unlike the other playoff games where teams got two or three days. Go figure.
THe first thing to go with older athletes are the legs. Fatigue affects the jumper, the drive to the baket and hard defensive play.
You'll note that we played pretty damn good for the first half of every game--but by the last quarter the Lakers owned us.
Not having MANU is like the Lakers not having KOBE in the 2nd half.
We need Hulk, not Bruce Banner
It's funny because I think it's the exact opposite. Remember the Spurs in 2004 who gave up after the Fisher shot. That was still 3-2. They could have forced a Game Seven. But they were mentally beaten. Now, this year, they actually forced a Game Seven on the road and won. Up from 2-0. That shows mental toughness and strength.
Amen, if Manu is healthy I won't we would've won but the results would have been better than a 4-1 exit.Not having MANU is like the Lakers not having KOBE in the 2nd half.
We need Hulk, not Bruce Banner
They wanted it , but they made so many mistakes for a team that thrives and excels on NOT making more mistakes than their opponent (Detroit series).
You could argue they lacked some urgency, but they had chances to win it three times out of their five games, but came up short, so I doubt that.
So Barkley was right, fatigue caused their mistakes.
The 3-point shooting roster couldn't make their wide open shots that would have maintained their lead because their legs gave out by halftime.
Pop and FO got screwed by a Catch-22, we had all the pieces we didn't have to wait on in big game situations,(Udoka's inexperience minimalized) to potentially play at a championship level, but the age -factor just had to catch up with us, where the bounces no longer fell our way.
When Manu's ankle heals, we will be strong again!!!!!
Don't you remember they said we were not gonna beat the Suns or the Hornets?
We will reload in the offseason..
Manu had nothing in the tank with his injuries and his turnovers were a by product of that, I think.
Tim and Tony were good enough for an NBA finals type team with their numbers in the playoffs.
The big three was not the big three by the WCF and the bench was not explosive enough.
Getting to the WCF was quite an accomplishment for this team, given that Manu was injured in the first Phoenix PO game and simply was not the same player the rest of the year.
The Spurs competed till the end. Things did not fall their way.
Other than Manu and Barry, the Spurs had no ing bench this year...
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