Am I the only worried Spurs fan?

[concken]

I mean seriously?

Scanning through posts, all I see are exactly what Lakers fans say, "It's one loss", "It's regular season", "We'll bounce back", "We weren't exposed".

Pardon me for being a realist about yesterday's game, but they countered us on EVERYTHING. Regardless of the ways each team was playing, they knew our gameplan, and we didn't have else to throw at them.

Am I the only Spurs fan that thinks we got exposed?

[George Gervin's Afro]

I mean seriously?

Scanning through posts, all I see are exactly what Lakers fans say, "It's one loss", "It's regular season", "We'll bounce back", "We weren't exposed".

Pardon me for being a realist about yesterday's game, but they countered us on EVERYTHING. Regardless of the ways each team was playing, they knew our gameplan, and we didn't have else to throw at them.

Am I the only Spurs fan that thinks we got exposed?

The Lakers are a great team... it is going to be hard as to beat them in a 7 game series... with that being said the good guys usually win in the end so until we meet up in the playoffs I won't worry..

[hater]

tbh, the Cavs exposed the Lakers and so did the Grizzlies, the Bucks, etc, etc, etc.

you are reading too much into this. Everyone can have a bad game. And if Spurs are not good enough to beat the lakers then they don't deserve to win it all. As long as there are no injuries it's fair and square and may the best team win. Now sack up, buckle up your sports bra, it's gonna be a ride.

[Drachen]

I really am hoping that we get the Lakers in the playoffs, rivalry or not, it will be a freaking entertaining series. (of course the entertainment value increases exponentially when we win)

[TXstbobcat]

I think that dallas fans feel worse loosing at home on a last second shot and blowing a chance to get within 4 1/2 games of the spurs.

[Wilford Brimley]

I'm definitely more worried than I was a couple days ago, but can you really expect the Lakers to play that well over the course of a series?

We have the homecourt too, we're set

[Blake]

I really am hoping that we get the Lakers in the playoffs, rivalry or not, it will be a freaking entertaining series. (of course the entertainment value increases exponentially when we win)

Tough call between wanting to see them play the lakers or mavericks, imo.

I think the entertainment level would be slightly greater playing the mavs

[clambake]

I think that dallas fans feel worse loosing at home on a last second shot and blowing a chance to get within 4 1/2 games of the spurs.

nah, we don't feel that way at all. we're used to disappointment.

[Obstructed_View]

The Spurs beat the crap out of the Lakers at Staples in April of last year. How'd that work out?

[Wilford Brimley]

The Spurs beat the crap out of the Lakers at Staples in April of last year. How'd that work out?

We never had a chance at them in the playoffs though so who knows

[Obstructed_View]

We never had a chance at them in the playoffs though so who knows

Point is, the best team on March 6 isn't terribly relevant.

[Waps1980]

I think Pop has many ideas up his sleeve but doesn't want to let the Lakers know until the games get important like WCF if not before in the playoffs.

Maybe the Lakers showed their guns and that was exactly what Pop wanted?

[bus driver]

sometimes a team loses a game......stay on the bus

[duncan228]

Just the quote, hit the link for the whole piece.

Big Spurs loss causes fitful night for Popovich
Tim Griffin

...“We didn’t do very well last night. It was a disappointing game,” Popovich said. “But the good news is that our team knows that. I know that. Our players know that.

“They are grown, full of character, lots of experience. Nobody has to say a word to them. They know. They worked hard today in practice and we’ll do our very best to get back on track to learn from both the Miami game and from the LA game and try to get better. That’s what you do. That’s the bottom line and that’s what every team tries to do.”

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...-for-popovich/

*********************

Pop vs. local media, part XVIII
Jeff McDonald

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursna...ia-part-xviii/

[John Basedow]

We never had a chance at them in the playoffs though so who knows

Yeah, I'm sure the Spurs would've won that matchup

I think Pop has many ideas up his sleeve but doesn't want to let the Lakers know until the games get important like WCF if not before in the playoffs.

Maybe the Lakers showed their guns and that was exactly what Pop wanted?

lol thinking Pop is going to outsmart Phil. Phil owns Pop 4-1, and his only loss he spent half the series in a cardiac cathlab

You can't outsmart the Zenmaster...don't even try.

[FromWayDowntown]

I think it's pretty silly to take a single regular season game and draw any sort of conclusions about what it means for the purposes of a playoff matchup.

Yesterday seemed like something of a perfect storm -- the Lakers wanted to send a message and the Spurs looked (to me, at least) as if they were content to walk away from the weekend with the split they already had. The Lakers rained 3's on the Spurs early in the game, while the Spurs needed a late game hot streak to even reach 36% on the day. The Lakers shot 56% from the floor in the first half; the Spurs barely made 40% of their shots from 5-feet and in. When those sorts of things happen -- as Friday night suggested, in reverse -- bad things are going to happen.

From what I saw yesterday, there are certainly things for the Spurs to be concerned about if they intend to make a good showing against LA down the road. The Lakers' length is formidable and their ability to defend the paint without resort to double teams makes it much, much easier for them to defend guys at the arc and contest those shots that ball movement usually creates for the Spurs. If you're inclined to worry, those are certainly things to worry about. But even with that, it's only one game, and as hundreds of examples through the years readily demonstrate, what happens on a random Sunday afternoon during a long regular season is no sure indication of what will happen in a playoff context.

As a side note, I'm absolutely fascinated by one truth about the 2010-11 Spurs: when they lose games, they don't tend to do it in close fashion. Of their 12 losses, 9 of them have been by 9 points or more, and 6 of the 12 losses have been by at least 13 points. In fact, their margin of defeat in losses this season is a remarkable -12.1 ppg. When they lose, for whatever reason, they tend to lose badly. . . .

[FromWayDowntown]

You can't outsmart the Zenmaster...don't even try.

Indeed. Give that guy two of the best 10 or 15 players in the league and he's absolutely brilliant.

[John Basedow]

Indeed. Give that guy two of the best 10 or 15 players in the league and he's absolutely brilliant.

True, anybody can do that

[concken]

I think it's pretty silly to take a single regular season game and draw any sort of conclusions about what it means for the purposes of a playoff matchup.

Yesterday seemed like something of a perfect storm -- the Lakers wanted to send a message and the Spurs looked (to me, at least) as if they were content to walk away from the weekend with the split they already had. The Lakers rained 3's on the Spurs early in the game, while the Spurs needed a late game hot streak to even reach 36% on the day. The Lakers shot 56% from the floor in the first half; the Spurs barely made 40% of their shots from 5-feet and in. When those sorts of things happen -- as Friday night suggested, in reverse -- bad things are going to happen.

From what I saw yesterday, there are certainly things for the Spurs to be concerned about if they intend to make a good showing against LA down the road. The Lakers' length is formidable and their ability to defend the paint without resort to double teams makes it much, much easier for them to defend guys at the arc and contest those shots that ball movement usually creates for the Spurs. If you're inclined to worry, those are certainly things to worry about. But even with that, it's only one game, and as hundreds of examples through the years readily demonstrate, what happens on a random Sunday afternoon during a long regular season is no sure indication of what will happen in a playoff context.

As a side note, I'm absolutely fascinated by one truth about the 2010-11 Spurs: when they lose games, they don't tend to do it in close fashion. Of their 12 losses, 9 of them have been by 9 points or more, and 6 of the 12 losses have been by at least 13 points. In fact, their margin of defeat in losses this season is a remarkable -12.1 ppg. When they lose, for whatever reason, they tend to lose badly. . . .

Hm, so what you're saying is that you completely disregarded my OP to throw a whole bunch of stats that I [not as acutely] already knew...

[jb4g]

I saw enough to be reminded that the Lakers are still the team to beat, their size is a tremendous advantage, fat boy and peg legs are no match for them. Spurs would have to play 4 perfect games to beat them in the playoffs, nothing I saw yesterday makes me think they can do that. The Spurs record has fooled us into thinking they are a legit contender, it only took 1 quarter by a motivated Lakers team to reveal the truth, barring injury they will rule the West again.

[FromWayDowntown]

Hm, so what you're saying is that you completely disregarded my OP to throw a whole bunch of stats that I [not as acutely] already knew...

Not at all.

What I'm saying is that it's one game and one game isn't necessarily indicative of how 2 teams match up over time, unless you're inclined to believe that the Lakers have developed a defense that will always hold the Spurs to under 36% and an offense that will always allow them to hit almost 60% of their three pointers. Teams have bad games and it's not necessarily indicative of the ways in which they can counter the tactics and strategies that opponents throw at them.

It's one game, played by humans who perform differently on different days. The Lakers were great yesterday and the Spurs stunk up the gym. Did the Lakers' effort have something to do with how the Spurs played? Absolutely. Did the Spurs effort have something to do with how the Lakers played? Absolutely. The idea that either team is exactly what it appeared to be in that single game is remarkably illogical to me. And to draw from yesterday that the Spurs, under better cir stances, couldn't counter the Lakers in various ways is equally unsupported.

That's not to say that LA isn't better -- I think they probably are. But I don't think they're 30 points better than the Spurs on any sort of consistent basis, just as I don't think the Spurs are 15 points better than the Lakers on any sort of consistent basis, as the earlier game in San Antonio might have suggested.

With that said, if you're inclined to say that I've "disregarded" your post by disagreeing with your premise that the Spurs got "exposed" yesterday, then yes, I have disregarded your post.

[silverblk mystix]

I mean seriously?

Scanning through posts, all I see are exactly what Lakers fans say, "It's one loss", "It's regular season", "We'll bounce back", "We weren't exposed".

Pardon me for being a realist about yesterday's game, but they countered us on EVERYTHING. Regardless of the ways each team was playing, they knew our gameplan, and we didn't have else to throw at them.

Am I the only Spurs fan that thinks we got exposed?

So, explain how the spurs are 3-1 in the last four games they played against the lakers?

Maybe the lakers have been exposed and this made them play their asses off to save face...and maybe they will get beat 3-1 in the NEXT four games they play against the spurs...

[2Cleva]

Problem for SA is they are built on offense now. That's not what beats LA in a playoff series or when they are serious about playing. A reg season game in December means nothing to them - regardless of the opponent.

SA isn't going to score inside against LA, nor is LA going to give up the 3 in the new D scheme they started on after the last SA game. And Duncan is ineffective against the Lakers. I'm curious of what trick SA can pull out of a hat because their strengths are taken away.

[concken]

Not at all.

What I'm saying is that it's one game and one game isn't necessarily indicative of how 2 teams match up over time, unless you're inclined to believe that the Lakers have developed a defense that will always hold the Spurs to under 36% and an offense that will always allow them to hit almost 60% of their three pointers. Teams have bad games and it's not necessarily indicative of the ways in which they can counter the tactics and strategies that opponents throw at them.

It's one game, played by humans who perform differently on different days. The Lakers were great yesterday and the Spurs stunk up the gym. Did the Lakers' effort have something to do with how the Spurs played? Absolutely. Did the Spurs effort have something to do with how the Lakers played? Absolutely. The idea that either team is exactly what it appeared to be in that single game is remarkably illogical to me. And to draw from yesterday that the Spurs, under better cir stances, couldn't counter the Lakers in various ways is equally unsupported.

That's not to say that LA isn't better -- I think they probably are. But I don't think they're 30 points better than the Spurs on any sort of consistent basis, just as I don't think the Spurs are 15 points better than the Lakers on any sort of consistent basis, as the earlier game in San Antonio might have suggested.

With that said, if you're inclined to say that I've "disregarded" your post by disagreeing with your premise that the Spurs got "exposed" yesterday, then yes, I have disregarded your post.

[concken]

Problem for SA is they are built on offense now. That's not what beats LA in a playoff series or when they are serious about playing. A reg season game in December means nothing to them - regardless of the opponent.

SA isn't going to score inside against LA, nor is LA going to give up the 3 in the new D scheme they started on after the last SA game. And Duncan is ineffective against the Lakers. I'm curious of what trick SA can pull out of a hat because their strengths are taken away.

When you run with an offensive game plan for 63 games, it's hard to adjust any differently. Especially when your resources are so wrapped up in that game plan. I'm not by ANY means saying that the Lakers will have our number in PO because there are so many other factors than set plays (i.e. emotions), which is why the NBA is the best sport on the planet. The Spurs definitely put their game faces on come PO time. The point of this thread was to iterate the fact that elite teams (such as the Lakers) are catching on to (and becoming effective against) our offensive style.