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Not even close. We have 4 championships. Getting swept by the Lakers in '01 (or was it '02) with DRob and Duncan was the worst feeling ever. Second-worse was the DA injury and third was the TD injury in '00 I think
Its tough when you follow each game so closely and dissect everything to the point where you think you understand it, then things change and you cannot explain it.
This year is not so bad, probably because I have other things going on in my life that take priority, and I have put games in general into perspective. I was a sports nut for quite some time and very compe ive in whatever I did, but as I grew older and my kids grew up, I started seeing things differently. These days I am happy with a decent match up, some wings and a cold one. We win, that's great, I get some yelling and fist pumping in and go on a week high. We lose, I feel it for a few days and finally I move on. In the past, I was a bas to get along with for weeks after a loss.
Not even close. We have 4 championships. Getting swept by the Lakers in '01 (or was it '02) with DRob and Duncan was the worst feeling ever. Second-worse was the DA injury and third was the TD injury in '00 I think
Relative to the alternatives, I have no problem with it. The team will go on and there will be more eras to come and go. I feel lucky to have witnessed this one.
It hurts since this was one of the last best chances the Spurs had to contend with this core and it was a first round upset to the Grizz. At least we had one truly great game for the Spurs playoffs history in game 5?
It also sucks since there might not even be a season next year, and if its anything like 1999 it could drain the veterans' legs since it was a jam-packed schedule.
The Spurs had an almost legendary season and it looked like they were finally going to finish healthy and then Duncan went down with his ankle and Manu went down in the last game of the regular season. Dice also tweaked his leg throughout the season and all three of these guys got banged up in the playoffs pretty good, including Duncan tweaking his hurt ankle.
The Spurs mojo was starting to lose steam after they lost the best record in the league in arguably humiliating fashion and also lost the coveted health advantage they were monitoring for.
Like what Barkley said...if the Spurs matched up with the Hornets they'd be going to the 2nd round...the Grizz were just a bad match-up even without Rudy Gay. They had a size and athleticism advantage for just about every play on the court.
I'd say this is probably the last chance the Spurs had of ever having a healthy Ginobili for 81 games in the regular season and a semi-healthy Duncan. That's what pisses me off the most about this season. Ginobili was FINALLY healthy and the Ginobili we all Spurs fans loved---and he sprains his elbow on the FINAL game of the regular season.
It's almost fitting in a way that the Phoenix Suns doomed the Spurs from the begining in Round 1
Then I tip my hat and say thank you very much... they showered with thousands of memories which will never retire. You know the end is coming for that group sooner or later. You always hope they can give you more of those magical moments, but if that's the end of it, then I'm more than thankful.
Hmmm, okay... how about the actual topic's question?Forgot about that!
So far, the most painful memory of the Spurs was when Duncan had to start using a brace. It meant this run is coming to an end.
The truth is that it wasn't one of the best chances. It just seemed that way. This should temper a few of us against the notion of up tempo offense vs solid defense.It hurts since this was one of the last best chances the Spurs had to contend with this core and it was a first round upset to the Grizz. At least we had one truly great game for the Spurs playoffs history in game 5?
It also sucks since there might not even be a season next year, and if its anything like 1999 it could drain the veterans' legs since it was a jam-packed schedule.
The Spurs had an almost legendary season and it looked like they were finally going to finish healthy and then Duncan went down with his ankle and Manu went down in the last game of the regular season
The Spurs mojo was starting to lose steam after they lost the best record in the league in arguably humiliating fashion and also lost the coveted health advantage they were monitoring for.
Like what Barkley said...if the Spurs matched up with the Hornets they'd be going to the 2nd round...the Grizz were just a bad match-up even without Rudy Gay. They had a size and athleticism advantage for just about every play on the court.
Don't ever question Pop's decision to play Manu in the final game. You do not question around here, just bow your head and pay allegiance.I'd say this is probably the last chance the Spurs had of ever having a healthy Ginobili for 81 games in the regular season and a semi-healthy Duncan. That's what pisses me off the most about this season. Ginobili was FINALLY healthy and the Ginobili we all Spurs fans loved---and he sprains his elbow on the FINAL game of the regular season.
It's almost fitting in a way that the Phoenix Suns doomed the Spurs from the begining in Round 1
I thought the Spurs were the best team in the league in 2006 and the Mavs got just enough breaks to pull out the series.
In 2008, I felt certain the Spurs would repeat.
There was the epic opening game of the playoffs with Tim Duncan's 3-pointer (the cherry on top of a dominant 40-15 performance). They wiped out a Suns team that was supposed to have the tools to beat them in five games.
Then came the Hornets. It was a bad matchup for the Spurs and some of the team's flaws (age and lack of offensive weapons) were becoming apparent. Still, the Spurs battled back and pulled out the series. Tony Parker was playing some of his best basketball. He was matching Chris Paul point-for-point, and it was when Parker starting guarding Paul (as opposed to Bowen) that the tide began to turn. I think Game 7 of that series was the last vintage Spurs game we witnessed. Clutch defense, Manu and Tony hitting timely shots, and role players stepping up in big moments.
Then the Spurs went down in 5 against the Lakers. I still don't quite understand how that happened. I think a healthy Ginobili would have made the difference. The Spurs just didn't have enough offensive weapons to overcome Manu's erratic play. A lack of youth and energy was also becoming a real problem as the Lakers' scrubs were getting all the loose balls and making all the hustle plays. It also became clear that Timmy was slipping (although the 2008 Duncan was still vastly superior to the current version). A healthy Ginobili would have been enough to get past a Lakers team that still hadn't quite matured, and I think the Spurs would have had at least a 50/50 shot against Boston.
I didn't say that it was one of the best chances, but imo this was one of the last best chances until the starters ran into health problems. And that doesn't mean it was a great chance either but securing HCA is one of an improvement over last year's finish and it looked like they were finally going to finish healthy as well.
The Spurs lack of size and athleticism are imo the biggest weaknesses beyond health and age; they don't have a real back up SF, rely on small 3 guard lineups, and Blair/Bonner just won't cut it especially together on the court.
An interesting thing about the Big 3: they never were all at their peak at the same time.
In 2003-04, Dunca was peaking but Parker and Ginobili were still green.
In 2005-06, Ginobili was at his best, Parker had improved (but not yet peaked), ad Duncan was slightly less than his best due to nagging injuries.
In 2008, Parker was peaking, Duncan was slowly slipping, and Ginobili enjoyed his best regular season (but got hurt in the playoffs)
2007 was the closest we got to seeing them all peaking at once, and even then, I'd say Duncan was not as good as he had been 3-5 years earlier. Also, the 2007 role players weren't as good.
No, as the season started to close the spectre of defeat began to show its ugly in face all up in our soup. Suddenly, we started to play as small as we looked...the sense that we overachieved sort of popped up but I didn't want to believe it or come to terms with it until the 2nd round. But we're not even getting there because of the inconsistency in the 2nd half of the season. The team lost its footing and got outhustled by a younger, hungry team. It happens in all sports, the prize fighter with championships appears to lose his inner fight and the younger guy beats the out of him. That's pretty much what happened in this series, for a variety of reasons.
I'm not mad, but I am sad because I thought this was a great group to cheer for but they seem to have been severely mismanaged in at least the last 3rd of the season and the lack of ability to get stops/turning the ball over needlessly bit us in the ass like a in python. As, somewhat, expected.
For me 95 will always be the worst. Not even close.
For the Duncan-Ginobili-Parker era, I guess '06 was bad, but you can't really be too bitter about it since they just won the year before and won again the year after. You can't be like a greedy Yankees or Lakers fan and demand to win every year, imo. I'm just not wired that way, at least.
2004 doesn't bother me at all. Never did. I've said all along that Detroit was so tough and so deep and so determined that year, that I never thought a Spurs team that couldn't hit a jumper to save its life would've had a chance against them.
As for 2011, you can't be too down about the year itself, imo. Sure it sucks losing as a 1 to an 8 seed, but they weren't really an 8 seed. They were more like a 5 that tanked to an 8. Over the last 50 games both teams had around the same record. Tbh I think we lost the series in game 1. If we had beaten them with no Manu, it would've really shaken their confidence. Instead we gave them both the series lead and confidence. That last minute of Game 1 was the most critical of the whole series.
The point about it being the last memory for Tim-Manu-Tony is just sad. Whenever I think about them I'll always think about '03-'05-07 before I ever think of negative stuff.
The Spurs won four les. That's nothing to sneeze at. The last 30 years it's pretty much been either us, LA, Boston, Chicago, Detroit or Houston. I'm happy with what the team has done.
As for their "window being closed" and all that stuff, I think we found out painfully that happened the day Pop traded Bowen for RJ, the mentally-softest player in Spurs history.
Deep down I always knew this was a gimick team. Not terribly disappointed at all. Sure it sucks only because now we have to share the same ted bed with the Mavs having been a #1 being beat by a #8.
Thats probably the worst part about it for me. Still, I have some consolidation that Memphis was no gimick team like the Warriors where. Spurs where the gimick team in this series.
Bad but far from the worst. Deep inside I never really trusted RJ and Bonner and Duncan cannot carry this team anymore. I hate this but it is not surprising at all. I am having some beer now and feeling quite good.
Spurs fans have had it damn good.
If you think this is rough the 1979, 1990, 1991, and 1995 playoffs are calling.
2001, 2004, and 2006 were all worse than this. A little luck and they could have had two more les out of those playoffs.
I remember when the playoffs meant a first round exit, perhaps second if they got the right matchup as the Spurs were a bit player in some other franchise's history. Now the Memphis whatevers are going to memorialize this playoff series as the high point in it's franchise history.
Not at all. This team didn't look the same post ASB. When the 6 game losing streak happened, I knew it was over.
Also, our defense was average and we relied on the 3 pt shot too much. Those are recipes for disaster.
I'm just angry that the Lakers have HCA in the West again.
1979, no doubt.
It was pretty clear that no ABA team could win an NBA le any time soon.
This year? Bonner and Jefferson and a 6'6'' center?
Come on!
I still can't get my head around '06. Part of me will never forgive Manu for that. The one's where you beat yourself are the hardest to reckon with.
'06 followed by '79, where we blew a 3-1 lead. I'm not sure we could've beaten Seattle for the le, with DJ's Ice-melting defense.
Last edited by Capt Bringdown; 04-30-2011 at 06:10 AM.
This year has to be the toughest for me because I'm starting to see the future isn't so bright. Freaken depressing!!
This. Anyone who remotely thinks this is the worst exit for the Spurs has utterly no perspective or knowledge of what a true playoff disaster this team used to be.
We all knew the team's lack of D and over-reliance on the three ball would keep them from going anywhere this year.
79 and 95 because after those losses, I always felt like we would never get another shot. After 99 it's all been gravy, sure it hurts but not like those 2 years because now I got 4 le dvds to fall back on and knowing that this franchise had a great run.
Part of me will never forgive you for blaming 2006 on Manu. The fact that they had a 6'6" guard trying to make a defensive play on a 7'1" power forward at the rim at the end of a game 7 should be self-explanatory.
If this series had ended after Game 4 - and in particular that Battier 3 where Manu stood there - it would be up there. But to have Game 5 - probably one of, if not the last great playoff moment - and then to bust their asses all of Game 6 the way they did, it makes it not as tough to handle.
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