So shortly after finishing the 03 Nets series, I jumped to the 05 Spurs series. The 03 and 05 Spurs are two totally different teams. Offensively, the 05 team is MUCH more dynamic, with Ginobili able to create, and Horry, Barry and Bowen nailing outside shots, more on this later.
Defensively, the Spurs are no longer a team that can funnel everything to the middle and get the twin towers to block everything. Duncan, though great (especially considering that he has two bum ankles) was no longer the 03 version of himself. Much more of the defense was around rotations, closing out, and positioning. You can see Greg Popovich really growing into a defensive coach.
Overall, I felt the 05 Spurs are much better than the 03 Spurs, despite the fact that Robinson is, and will always be, my favourite player of all time.
Broadcasting
Thank God Hubie Brown was there and not Tom Tolbert and Bill Walton. Brown sees the game through the eyes of a coach, and can explain why things are ran a certain way, and the importance of each screen. I learned a lot just listening to him, and I am sure I will learn even more the next time I watch the series.
One thing of note is that in 03, the TT and BW would not be able to answer whether it was good defense or bad offense causing low scoring games despite the fact that the Nets and Spurs ranked #1 and #3 in defensive rating, respectively, Hubie Brown was quick to point out that the Spurs and Pistons were not scoring loads because they were playing fantastic defense, and were the #1 and #2 team in defense that season. I thought that was pretty obvious, but not so for TT and BW.
Al Micheals was very good in differing the expertise portion to Brown. Michaels new that his role is to do play by play and probe for questions. While his efforts (I think it was him in 03, but it could have been another person in the same role) were wasted asking the moronic twosome back during the Nets series, it now brings out insights from Brown. Quite an enjoyable broadcast.
Refereeing
The incompetence is really getting pronounced in 05. My biggest issue is that it's not that they are wrong, but it's that they are inconsistent. In basketball, 80% of the calls are one way or the other, there are really very few obvious hacks that you have to call, it's not black and white, and as a referee, your job is to let the players know what is acceptable and what is not early it the game, then have them adjust.
In this series, they would be calling things all over the place. A play in one possession would be a foul, while the same play by the same player the next possession wouldn't be. You know the league was complaining about low scores? Then stop calling stupid touch fouls on the perimeter that has little/no effect on the game to kill the offensive flow, and start calling those hacks in the paint when players go up for shots. Why would you call it the other way around? You kill the flow on one hand by calling these ticky takcy fouls, while you send the message to the defensive player that hacking is perfectly acceptable and destroy chances teams have in getting high percentage shots. it's just re ed.
Pistons
The 05 Pistons team was, IMO, better than the 04 version. The major changes are McDyess for Okur/Williamson, and more Lindsey Hunter. While there is a little drop in offense, the gain in defense is huge. Besides, a player like Okur could be easily stopped by the Spurs offense (as playoff series against the Spurs have shown.
Larry Brown is a master tactician. Say whatever you want about him being a total jerk and such, but the moves he made between games 2 and 5 (no 3 and 4 in the set) was profound. If I remember correctly, I think Ginobili pulled his groin in game 3 and slowed him down a bit, but the close outs by the Pistons defense in game 5 were quicker and more aggressive. The rotations on Duncan, many times with a hard double/soft triple team, and then the rotations to cover the shooters made life very difficult for the Spurs. Brown is certainly one of the greatest coaches and most brilliant basketball minds the game will ever seen.
Rasheed Wallace - This guy is good. His basketball IQ is extremely high, where he would be at the right spot at the right time on defense, and make the right rotations on offense. Yes, he made some mistakes during the series (such as his 4th foul in Game 7), but leaving Horry in Game 5 was technically not one of them. Yes, you should always double Ginobili, it' was good basketball, too bad the dude open was Horry. His defense on Duncan was just a thing of beauty, and his energy and length gave Duncan all kinds of trouble.
Ben Wallace - Great help defender, but really not that great of a one on one defender. I honestly think that he is overrated, as he wasn't even the best defensive Wallace on his squad. Don't get me wrong, he was a great help defender, probably the best since Mutombo, but his man to man defense really wasn't the most impressive thing in the world. He also flops a lot, and I really was having trouble trying to figure out how Ginobili got his flop reputation while Wallace didn't. On offense, he was much better than I remembered. He gets to the right places to receive passes, he has soft hands and can pass relatively well.
Chauncey Billups - This guy is great. He doesn't have to score all the points, he just has this ability to run the Pistons offense. Very strong and very quick, and I really think that he is the best PG in the NBA from 04 to 07, including Nash and Kidd.
Rip Hamilton - The guy is in constant motion, and has his mid range game that gives the Spurs problems. The Spurs give up the long 2s, and Hamilton has no problems nailing those down.
Tayshuan Prince - Overrated defensively and offensively. To be fair, nobody could really stop Ginobili, but Prince bit fakes too easily. He should have used his length more effectively. On offense, he was hesistant, or maybe he was just exhausted by chasing Ginobili around
Antonio McDyess - Great mid range game, his defense was the worst of the 3 (the other two Wallaces), and Duncan had the least trouble against him (also because Ben Wallace doesn't work as well with him as Ben did with Rasheed, Ben's rotations just wasn't quick enough to cover McDyess's butt like he did with Rasheed), but he was quite a decent help defender.
Lindsey Hunter - He was as good defensively as he was bad offensively. Seriously, this guy was compared to Isiah Thomas when he first came into the league. How? He can't make a shot two feet from the basket! But his defense was top-notch. He takes Ginobili at crunch time a few times, and was way more effectively than Prince could ever imagine being.
Spurs
Pop has really grown as a coach. he would no longer have a heart attack everytime a mistake was made, and allowed Parker to run the team with more freedom. The Spurs defense really took a different turn with the retirement of Robinson, and Pop had a huge hand in this.
Nazr Mohammed have Boy's hands. He just can't catch the ball. He fumbles the ball like it was a live grenade. But he does provide some offense and rebounding when needed, while his defense was clueless.
Beno Udrih had every single chance, he blew them all away. In the first two games, whenever he was in the game, he would get rid of the ball at the first chance, not aggressive at all, and he was a sieve on defense. His effort, at the biggest game of his life, was questionable at best.
Horry got most of his praise for his Game 5 heroics, but he was equally impressive in Game 7. He would make key steals, rebounds and shots and take charges in the 4th quarter (like this is anything new). He plays really well with Duncan, where he can roam on offense and defense.
Brent Barry was just a smart player. He takes good shots on offense, doesn't make many mistakes, and roams on defense.
Parker was good, but definitely not great. He was still growing as a player. While he was too small and weak to guard Billups, his effort could not be questioned. His offense was up and down, and given how erratic his outside shot was, it was obvious that playing off him could help slow, or even shut him down.
Bowen's defense on Billups, Hamilton and sometimes Prince was what shut down the Pistons offense. There is no coincidence that when Duncan mentioned other worthy MVPs during his finals MVP acceptance speech, he mentioned Bruce first. On offense, he was a low mistake person, and plays well within his abilities. Just the ideal roleplayer.
Ginobili was SUPER. He created offense when there was nothing, making passes and nailing shots in situations that I can't see even in slow motion replays. His defense on Prince was fantastic, as he was clawing and fighting for everything. He would also make clutch steals, pull down important rebounds, and make great passes whenever the Spurs needed it.
Duncan deserved the MVP. People point to Ginobili's stats and say that Ginobili should have been the MVP. Not to take away from the greatness of Ginobili, but Duncan would suck in the whole Piston's defense and give that extra few inches to the other Spurs to launch their shots. His defense was amazing as usual.
Just let me put it this way, with two bum ankles, Duncan averaged 1 point and 1.7 less rebounds than the two Wallaces put together. You are talking about two all stars, with one of them being a league leading rebounder and 4 time DPoY. He tied/outscored Rasheed Wallace for all 7 games, and tied/outscored Ben Wallace for 6 of 7 games. He tied/outscored the two combined in 3 out of 7 games, and 3 out of 7 games in rebounding. How in the world is that not dominant?
Anyways, I am looking forward to the Cavs series. Despite the fact that it was the most recent, I remembered it the least.
Awesome stuff. That Piston team was amazing. It took Manu playing like a top 10 player in the NBA, Robert Horry making historic plays, and Bruce Bowen being the best perimeter defender in the NBA to overcome that team. Not to mention Duncan besting the two Wallace's.
My favourite championship.
Thanks ambchang. I'm really enjoying these.
'05 is my favorite of the four. As great as Duncan was in '03, I thought it meant more in '05 because he played through those ankles. He was incredible. From the six minute mark of the third in game 7, when he grabbed his own miss and put it back, through the moment he put his fingers up with the win...what a great 18 minutes. I agree that he deserved the MVP, as great as Manu was I don't think we win that series without Duncan's performance.
I'm looking forward to your take on '07.
Timmy definitely deserved the MVP; even if Manu was spectacular.
Tim was a battering ram, the infantry, so to speak, that compromised the Pistons defense with foul-trouble that opened the floodgates.
I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, but I'm not sure the league will ever see a more spectacular 10-27 performance again.
Good post, ambchang.
That 05 Piston team caught a major break when Wade got injured when Miami went up 3-2. The next season when Miami DOMINATED their asses, it proved that Miami was better than them in 06 but also in 05.
What an epic series that was. Duncan in game 7 was just amazing. Spurs go down 9 in that 3rd and the heart and soul of that team takes over. He is being vocal in the huddles, diving for lose balls, fighting through the pain of the 2 bummed ankles etc etc. If Duncan doesn't take over, Pistons go back to back. What a ing warrior.
Similar to this year with Yao, Garnett, Manu and then Nelson?
don't forget about the injured role players like tmac, powe, and mutombo!
for some reason i thought ben wallace wasn't on that '05 pistons team. spurs beat a very good defensive team.
I came across a blog by a Piston fan not long ago.. basically bemoaning the fact that Larry Brown benched Antonio McDyess for much of the pivotal 4thQ opting to go with Rasheed who proved to be ineffective. Prior to his benching McDyess had been having a terrific game. But by the time he was inserted late in the 4th, the Spurs had a lock on the game and the championship.
Manu wouldnt have mattered for the simple reason that the Spurs D was unable to contain the Lakers O. That reason alone is why you didnt stand a chance at beating us 4 times. Spurs also with Manu werent versatile last year which also wouldnt have helped them all that much against the Lakers in a series.
Yao is injury prone so he really doesnt count.
A healthy nelson would have given us issues but Orlando wasnt good enough. They struggled to contain the Lakers O and Howard didnt have a low post game. Even with a healthy Nelson, those other issues wouldnt have gone away.
I will give you the KG injury. We caught a break with that one. I still think we would beat Boston in a rematch but then again we will see.
a healthy nelson would have been lethal to the lakers' greatest weakness which is at the pg spot.
That is bull . Rasheed was basically the one who was scoring all the buckets in the 4th in the 1st few minutes while the rest of the Pistons were missing all their shots.
great piece!!!
".. tied/outscored Ben Wallace for 6 of 7 games" so in one of the games TD scored less than Ben? Wow
Parker's ability to chase and defend Hamilton was a big part in the Spurs success defensively against the Pistons.
Dwyane Wade missed 60 games two seasons ago, and missed games the season before that too - so is he injury prone too?
"but leaving Horry in Game 5 was technically not one of them. Yes, you should always double Ginobili, it' was good basketball, too bad the dude open was Horry."
That's not true in the least for one simple reason, Larry Brown told everyone NOT to double anyone. They showed the huddle over and over and Brown kept screaming not to double. Rasheed made a HUGE mistake and there was no excuse for it.
Yeah, true that Brown told guys not to double anyone, and especially not leave Horry open, but from a basketball stand point, that is a logical, instinctual play.
I was at game 7. It was my finest Spur moment.
well said it was the most intense finals i have ever seen! i cant believe it had bad ratings, san antonio was dead when those finals were on, i didnt see one car drive down my street
I just got my Spurs 16 dvd set and having worked my way through the 99' series and shedding a few tears during the 03' series.... it's time to watch this 05' series... great wrap up.
I still remember how angry some people were when TD got the Finals MVP in '05, believing Manu to clearly be the deserving winner of the hardware. I too initially felt like Manu was deserving, but watching that series again showed how TD made all facets of the game easier for his teamates.
Game seven TD starts calling for the ball and lets his teamates know to "be ready" for kickouts on the double. While manu certainy was the high octane fuel in the series, TD was the motor that made things go.
Probably the hardest playoff and finals series TD had to fight through, starting well before with the rough tactics used by the Sonics. I'll never forget TD turing that ankle in Seattle and some of the crowd cheering...TD got up went to the line, and it was on the rest of the playoffs.
That was my favorite le run....2nd best was the elimination of the Lakers in '03...even better than the finals itself in some ways.
That '05 team is one of my favorites. I thought TD deserved to win that MVP trophy. Yeah, Manu was great and so was Bruce, but Timmy really brought it every game. His defense was really superb.
You're right on the count. Nine media votes and the fan vote.
The second half of game 7 is reason enough for Duncan to deserve the MVP. He literally willed the team to the championship.
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