Marc Gasol says the Spurs are the favorites in the West.....
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7610949
HEy chuck was right about dem Mavs last year ...so there is that.
But he has been wrong about the Heat last year and about the Cavs the year before that.
Like I said in the pre-season. I still feel the Spurs have one last WCF run in them. Not sure if this is a Finals or championship team. But a trip to the WCF is probable. I dont see how you can have one of the better NBA records two years running and not make the WCF unless you are a D'antoni/Nash led Suns team or Mike brown/Lebron led Cavs team tbh ...
Marc Gasol says the Spurs are the favorites in the West.....
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7610949
Charles: "Spurs are the best in the west OKC isn't winning a ring this year."
Spurstalk: "LOL IS HE ON CRACK WHAT AN IDIOT THERES NO WAY WE'RE THE FAVORITES"
Charles: "Spurs aren't even the best team in Texas let alone best in the west"
Spurstalk: "WTF DOES THIS ASSHOLE EVEN WATCH SPURS GAMES OUR TEAM-CENTRIC OFFENSE IS AMAZING PLUS WE'RE MISSING MANU/SPLITTER SO WE'RE NOT EVEN AT FULL STRENGTH YET LOL@SPURS FLYING UNDER THE RADAR AGAIN WOE IS ME"
Never change, spurstalk
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Yeah it's pretty funny. That said our contender status is as fragile as Splitter's calves.
As much as I can disagree with his takes, SAS is pretty entertaining. He even got a chuckle out of Marc
for okc your forgot Ibaka there but why not... the big okc remaining concern is westbrook thats it.
best in the league
I do think okc has the edge so far and we are right there with dallas, the clips and also the lakers that I wouldn't take out of the equation.
In the east I think chicago and miami are better
The Clipps and Blazers are not good enough, so leave them out.
The Lakers are not cohezive and are waiting for their next head coach and the trade of Pau before they get serious again.
That leaves the Mavs and Thunder.
The reason I agree with Chuck about the Thunder not being ready is they are very similar to the Hornets a few years back when they were on the brink and took us to 7 games. They fastbreak and look great doing it, but that goes away in the playoffs. And in halfcourt, they rely too much on jump shots. They are not "in and out" enough, not balanced. And people say "why do they have to be"? It's simple... in the playoffs, just like regular season games, there's a reason why teams start off 6/8 from behind the arc before the averages catch up and they end up 10/20. Legs get tired as games go on. And they get even more tired in the playoffs with the intensity and cranked up defense.
That leaves the Mavs. I see them as a threat only because they have the heart. Dirk loves to play the Spurs. They can "rise" above they're norm to make it a toss up with us. And it's not like we have separated ourselves that much from them.
I think the biggest obstacle though: injuries.
That is for everyone this year. But for us, any injury in the frontline in the last month may cost us. This Tiago injury, if it happened in April may have cost us. And Timmy hasn't had one injury yet at all. Can that go the whole year into the playoffs? I hope so.
He's acted like the Spurs were done for four years, so what's changed? Their stars have only further aged, they've only gone more away from the post, they're not any better defensively than they were in recent seasons and they still don't have enough size. He and many others have chastised them for these reasons for four years, so I don't understand why the change of heart.
Spurs still need to add another big to the rotation to be considered favorites. Dice would be excellent for the playoff run if we can't trade Anderson for a big.
The probably I have with OKC stems from last years playoffs. Will Scotty Brooks make the in game adjustments? Will Russell Westbrook go into chucker mode?
Durant told ESPN earlier today in Orlando that the biggest challenges OKC could face to get to the Finals are:
Mavs
Lakers
Clippers
in that order. Zero mention of the Spurs...
The Spurs still match up like against them, as Blair and/or Bonner against Gasol & Bynum is a nightmare. Outside of Miami they'd be the worst matchup for the Spurs and I wouldn't give the Spurs more than a ~35% chance of beating LA even with homecourt.
IMO, too much contribution is from rookies and 2nd/3rd year players (Leonard, Splitter, Neal, Green?, Blair) for SA to be the best team in the West. When the bright lights and pressure intensify in the playoffs, how many of them are going to stand up well under that? Not many inexperienced teams go far in the playoffs. The last time major contribution came from inexperienced players and a team won was Spurs 03. Unfortunately, 03 Duncan is not around to carry them when they go falter.
Spurs have been doing their business so far, flying under the radar as usual. They've been doing well in this compressed season because the bench has, for the most part, out-played opponents' benches. In the playoffs, rotations are shortened and the best players play major minutes so they won't be going against benches.
If the match ups are right (ideally, OKC (1), DAL (4), LAL (5) and MEM (8), SA might get to the WCF. I'd feel better about that if they had a veteran big man on the bench to give TD and TS some rest. LA's and to a lesser extent MEM's big men will give Spurs all they can handle. I'm hoping for above seeding and that OKC gets to WCF. But then SA has no hope against CHI or MIA barring injury.
So he is obviously stupid. Tony Parker dropped 40+ pts on them, not so long ago.
That's why they need that 5th big. In case Bonner/Blair is not working Pop needs to be able to go with something else.
5th big? They need a 3rd big to match up with LA.
We have the second best record in the West, and we beat the team with the best record head-to-head. We had the longest winning streak in the NBA this season. That's enough reason to say we're the best team in the West.
I'd like to see the Spurs concentrate on improving their Defense in the second half of the season. Truly commit to improving. ---> I'm sure everyone in this forum wants the same.
I have no fear of the Mavs. As well as they are playing defensively, they have their own match-up problems with us too.
still gotta get rid of his acne though
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