I say Spurs2005 would easily beat any of these 2 teams. Bruce2005 would stop / slow down Kobe or Pierce. And Manu2005 would easily score against Artest2010, Rondo2010 or Allen2010. And of course Duncan2005 >>>> Gasol2010 >>>> Garnett2010.
............Boston or the Lakers in a championship series?
I know both have a bigger front line by a small margin..........but, we had much better outside shooters. We would kill either of these teams from the outside...........3pt line. We may have had the advantage at the point as well.![]()
I say Spurs2005 would easily beat any of these 2 teams. Bruce2005 would stop / slow down Kobe or Pierce. And Manu2005 would easily score against Artest2010, Rondo2010 or Allen2010. And of course Duncan2005 >>>> Gasol2010 >>>> Garnett2010.
I think the 05 Spurs would beat either of these teams in 6 games. Maybe 5. Can you imagine if the old man KG is giving Gasol problems, what a prime Timmy would do to him?
We'd have crazy mismatches everywhere. Fisher trying to guard TP?Manu in his prime would have decimated anyone the Lakers tried to use to slow him down. And the way Kobe played in games 1-4, we'd probably have taken 3 of them, especially if Bowen was on him to shut him down even more.
The 2005 Spurs would whip both of these teams' ass.
2005 Duncan destroys Gasol now, even on his bum ankles.
2005 Manu isn't better than Kobe, but he's probably better than any player on the Lakers not named Kobe or Pau.
2005 Parker is easily better than Fisher, also younger and faster.
2005 Bowen is the best perimeter defender in the NBA at the time, he definitely would force Kobe into some atrocious shooting games. 2005 Bowen's defense >>>>> 2010 Artest's.
Then you have Robert Horry who was a great defender, Brent Barry who was an elite three point shooter and could run PG, rookie Beno (who didn't suck so much balls in his rookie year, though this would be a WCF or Finals match up so he would probably choke), Nesterovic and Mohammed manning the paint, with guys like Glenn Robinson, Tony Massenburg, and Devin Brown...Spurs have WAY too much depth for either team.
If you put them up against the Celtics, you basically have prime Duncan, Horry, Nesterovic, and Mohammed teaming up against old, washed up Garnett, Wallace, Perkins, and Glen Davis...who do you think wins that? The Celtics have good scorers but they are all old now with the exception of Rondo, and we'd have Bowen who could float between Rondo, Pierce, and Allen.
I say against Lakeshow, Spurs in 6. Against the Celtics, Spurs in 5.
Damn nice breakdown...................
Which I agree with completely.
I agree 2005 Spurs would own these teams. Think about who they were playing... I would say the 2005 Pistons would own both these teams. That says it all. 2005 Spurs were ing rude.
Absolutely, the 2005 club was one of the deepest Spurs teams of the last decade. The Lakers biggest strength over other teams is their frontcourt length. Their biggest flaws is their bench and their toughness. The Spurs would have neutralized thier biggest strength with a deep,tough, defensive minded frontcourt of their own, while bullying them and exposing their weak bench rotation.
Duncan probably averages 30 and 15 against Gasol, while shutting him down on defense. Bynum wouldn't have a sizeable length advantage over Nesterovic and Mohammed. The only matchup that would favor the Lakers would be the speed and quickness of Odom on the frontcourt, but I think Horry could have done a decent job on him.
A 2005 Bowen would have an easier time defending a Kobe Bryant who has lost a lot of his explosiveness. Bryant wouldn't have the size advantage on Bowen that he has against most other perimeter players. As a result, he would have a much harder time posting him up. But because of Bryant's excellent mid range game he would probably average 28 points on 42% shooting.
A 27 year old Ginobili would have been much too quick and crafty for a declining Artest. In fact, I could Artest getting pissed off and picking up a few T's complaining about Ginobili's flopping.
Parker on Fisher- Nothing more needs to be said
Bench:
Spurs: Horry, Barry, Nesterovic vs Lakers: Farmar, Brown, Vujacic![]()
I think it would be more difficult to find a team that has won a championship over the last 30 years that would lose a finals series to either one of these teams. Maybe, Miami but I am not so sure.
i'll just say that this Celtic's team is looking better than it actually is (esp. Big Baby, who's obviously had a huge impact) with Bynum playing injured. healthy Bynum and the Lakers beat Celtics in 5 or 6. i think the '05 Spurs would win against them in the same fashion.
as far as LA and SA, it's a tough one. homer Spurs fans will argue it isn't, but this series would probably go 7 with a healthy Bynum. not healthy, Spurs in 5 or 6.
Spurs' frontline was geared to play big frontlines with Rash, Nazr, Tim, and T-Mass. Horry in '05 was a player more than capable of handling Odom, who has given this team a lot of trouble mismatch wise.
backcourts, Bowen and Kobe would be great to see as always and Manu would eat Artest's lunch.
Spurs bench > Lakers' bench.
Spurs in 7.
the '99 Spurs team would win in 6 though.
not without a time machine
I really don't think the 2005 team could beat either of them, but I know the 2003 would destroy them. Duncan Robinson Horry, a young Bowen, a young Manu and Parker. Not to mention Stephen Jackson and Steve Kerr. That was a very tough team, I consider them the best spurs team ever.
I wholeheartedly disagree. Duncan basically put that team on his back and won it all. Ginobili and Parker were nowhere near their prime and DRob was just about done.
Great and fair analysis
vs. '05 I'd take Lakers in 7
But that '99 team I may take the Spurs in 7 ... They played some of the best defense I have ever seen easily better than '05 version ....
Spurs in '05 beat a weaksauce Cavs team Celts beat a better Cav team Lakers about to beat them ...
i agree as well '99 Spurs neede no *
Davis still had a lot to give and duncan already had a bushel of moves and was at his "fittest" atheltically (Wasnt his first injury the next year IIRC)
You recall correctly. Injured in April, surgery in May 2000 for a torn meniscus.
was that the same year kobe was drafted?
I think The Spurs or The Pistons in 2005 beat both those teams in 6.
Agreed. Boston is playing pretty good defense and giving the Lakers fits. Either Piston or Spur squad in 2005 would have kept these teams from scoring more than 80 points.
It also depends on the rules..
That Pistons-Spurs series was extremely physical, and the refs weren't blowing their whistles every 30 seconds..the 2005 Finals averaged 5 or 6 fouls less per game than this current Finals, which is a massive margin..
I would agree that Spurs/Pistons take it in 6..
OUCH! The Spurs beat the Pistons in '05 bro. The Cavs were in '07.
You might want to reanalyze since you were thinking of the wrong team.
Please. The only reason the Pistons even made it to the finals was due to Wade being injured when Miami went up 3-2. Pistons caught a major break on their way to the championship round. The 2006 ECF proved that true after Miami DOMINATED Detroit in a non-dramatic 6 games. Wade had a bad sinus infection for game 6 and the Heat kicked that ass 95-78.
The 2006 Heat were a much better team than the 2005 version, at least in terms of being built for the playoffs. Alonzo Mourning finally got healthy and played more than 19 games. They also added veterans who really wanted a ring like James Posey (still a very good defender at that time), Antoine Walker, Gary Payton, and Jason Williams.
The Pistons, meanwhile, had the distinct disadvantage of being coached by Flip Saunders instead of Larry Brown. They also gave up some of their defensive iden y that year in favor of more offense.
I actually think that the 2006 Heat would be a great matchup with this Lakers squad. Wade against Kobe. Shaq and Zo against Pau and Bynum. Walker/Haslem against Odom. Posey, Payton, Williams against Artest, Brown, and Fisher. Good matchups across the board.
05 had rasho, thats just automatic win when you have the goat on the team
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