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Either the Lakers or the Spurs will be the 2009 Champions. Lakers have the advantage now.
Fact remains, the healthiest team will win the Championship.
Here's to health and hopefully a future match-up between the Spurs and the Lakers.
Since when did we all care what ESPN columnists think? They don't know anything.
I see a lot of Spurs fans bringing up 2007. Here's a little known fact about the 2007 Spurs. They had the highest margin of victory of any team in the league that year.
So contrary to popular belief, they should not have snuck up on anyone's radar. Maybe on the ESPN columnist's radar, but to anyone paying attention to what was going on it should have been clear the Spurs were one of the best teams in the regular season.
Either the Lakers or the Spurs will be the 2009 Champions. Lakers have the advantage now.
Fact remains, the healthiest team will win the Championship.
Here's to health and hopefully a future match-up between the Spurs and the Lakers.
With this lineup, YESCan The Spurs Beat L.A. In A Seven-Game Series?
Duncan
Gooden
BRUCE BOWEN
Manu Ginobili
Parker
Well yeah, because Manu was 100% for the regular season, he had like 3 40+ games in a week, hit numerous game winners and had his career year. When they came into the playoffs, and 1 of the big 3 was injured, i knew it was a long shot. Lakers are better equipped to deal with injury to anyone not named Kobe and to a lesser extent gasol. And they are even stronger this year with improved play from ariza, bynum. But same goes for spurs, if manu and tim can play at 80% increased output from other spurs this year (see mason, bonner, gooden) makes this an awesome playoff battle, and not one in which spurs have no chance.
i want both teams to be healthy so we can play each other and have the series of a decade
You're getting soft. That's disappointing.
I think with the right line up and a controlled game start, the Spurs could do fine..
If they are going to start Bonner and spot teams 15 point margins in the first 5 minutes of every game, then good luck with that.
ofcourse they can, but everything has to be perfect. And things are not perfect for the Spurs right now. Tim and Manu are hurt. Tony is playing great, but won't be enough.
I don't know why "experts," keep saying LA is the clear favorite in the west - they are not. No one knows how they fair against a healthy SA, and until they can prove they beat a healthy Spurs team I'm going to suspend judgment.
It would have been a different series last year had the Spurs had probably their second best scorer playing healthy in situations where they were desperate for ppoints down the stretch. Game one is a perfect example of this. Spurs win game one AND get the bull no call on Barry and that series is 3-1.
Why everbody is conceding that LA is basically unbeatable is beyond me when they beat the Spurs with one their best players at 50% and got a bull call which should have been foul.
Add that the Spurs replaced reserves Vaughn and Horry with Hill/Gooden/Bonner.
LA needs to beat the Spurs w/ a healthy Manu to prove they are better than them.
As far as I can tell, they are only better than a Spurs team with a 50% Manu, which isn't all that impressive.
- IF we are 100% healthy, we'll beat Lakers, no question
- IF we are 80% healthy, they'll kick our asses, no question
And Pop's coaching.
Hopefully he won't be outcoached by Phil, again. Part of him being outcoached by Phil would include Pop Not going with this lineup. Phil would be proud.
The problem is that even if SA is fully healthy (which would be doubtful considering all the nagging injuries) their defense is still far too inconsistent.
All the injuries haven't allowed for a proper set rotation and with the playoffs just around the corner, I don't think this team will be where Pop wants them when the playoffs begin.
I'm not too worried about the big 3, but it's the role players who will be big question marks. I have no faith in Bonner to show up against the Lakers, Mason while great, can be inconsistent and makes a lot of silly fouls, and George Hill is great when he attacks the rim but that only happens every 3-4 games (plus he probably won't get a whole lot of playing time). I'm actually hoping Gooden can be the surprise X factor against the Laker bigs, and the Spurs can use Ginobili to even out the FT disparity since the Lakers attack the rim far more than SA does.
It's already bad enough Phil knows how to keep TP out of the lane (and if we're gonna spend an entire series with the Lakers depending on TP's jumpshot to carry us then forget about it, he's improved his J every year, but he'll need to be on fire from the perimeter the entire series if he can't get a high number of layups).
I think this current Spurs team has a ton of potential, but this Lakers team is easily the best of their post Shaq era.
And a point that Dr. House has brought up several times which will probably decide the series, is that the Spurs live and die by the 3, whereas the Lakers score very easily in the paint.
That stat alone could signal the entire outcome of the series.
Here's to hoping SA can get healthy and we can get one of a great matchup.
I was at the game last night, and wow,Gooden looks like a nice piece. If Manu can get healthy, obviously a big if, I think this might one of the deepest teams the Spurs have ever had, and could make a serious run and beat the Lakers
Manu will be healthy and he will be back. Book it.
I agree. At this point, you have to go with the Lakers. The Spurs have experience and championship pedigree/heart but with the unknown status of Manu's health, TD's health problems, I don't think the Spurs have enough to beat the Lakers.
And you have to consider this: the Lakers & Spurs may not even meet in a WC Final.....the Spurs could be eliminated before that happens.
I hate to say this but while I'm a Spurs fan at heart, I'm a realist too.
I still love my Spurs though!! :thumb
First priority is to get healthy.
Without a healthy Big 3 you can forget it.
anyone who thinks our Spurs will beat the Lakers in 5 games is smoking crack. If we beat the Lakers it will be a 7 game barn burner. They will not make it easy for us.
Anything is possible. But I'd have my money on LA. Maybe Pop can teach Gooden some D in 4 weeks.
I know the 2003 Spurs had "VERY" little playoff experience on some key contributors when they won the championship. Parker only had 1 year of playoff experience, Ginobili was a rookie that season, Stephen Jackson had never played in the playoffs until 2003, Speedy Claxton only played 1 year in the playoffs (5 gms in 2002) and they did better vs. the Lakers than the guys with the experience (Smith, Kerr, and Ferry).
Spurs are going to have to have the stars aligned to beat the very deep Lakers, regardless of whether Bynum is healthy. If he is, it will be even more difficult. They are big and fast. Arriza is a huge problem. If Manu can get healthy, and if Tim is 85%, I think there is a decent chance of beating the Lakers in 6 games. If it goes to 7, no way in Spurs win in LA. Really, Manu needs to get healthy enough to play last 8 games or so of the regular season. Spurs will have an easier opponent in the 1st round than the Lakers. And home court as well. Just gotta hang on to the 2nd seed, I think it's VERY important this year.
That's too many players without experience. It's not going to happen. The Spurs are just too old, too injured, too slow, and too predictable for the Lakers. Plus, the Lakers didn't have Ariza and Bynum last year. If anything, I'm thinking the Hornets might be the team that will give the Lakers a lot of trouble.
This season? Sure -- it's possible, but not very likely.
The Lakers have far superior talent, athleticism, and depth and should be able to handle Tim, Tony, and the rest that the Spurs can throw at them. This was amply demonstrated in the playoffs last year, has proven to be the case this year (the one lucky Spurs win notwithstanding), and should hold true this postseason.
Might I be wrong? Sure. It's possible. Hope I'm wrong. But if I were to gamble real American dollars, I'd put alot of them on the Lakers taking it in 5. Maybe 6.
The key is a healthy Manu and some time to get him back into the lineup. If Manu is 100% then the Spurs can compete with the Lakers; if not then the Spurs have no chance.
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