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Easy 1st round opponents do not necessarily make your team better prepared for the 2nd round.
Just win, baby.
Poll: Would you throw in the towel vs Phoenix if it meant meeting them in round 1 instead of Utah?
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I watched most and all of the end of the Utah game tonight and they looked tough out there. Hayward and Harris hit some huge threes late and Mullins was hyping up how hyped up the SLC crowd was all night. Granted, they had to work harder than they should have to beat a Dwight-less, no Hedo Orlando, but give the Magic all thecredit for that. They had 36 first quarter points with J-Rich going off for fifteen in the period and went hard all game. Richardson, Nelson, Anderson, and Davis all played at least 39 minutes and played pretty damn good games.
Its not surprising Utah finally wore them down, but the win was impressive nonetheless. They were executing well and had several guys step up. Obviously their four-man front court rotation always gives them an inside presence, and tonight Millsap (18 & 9 with 4 steals and a +23 in 46 min), Jefferson (21 & 10 with 3 blocks), Favors (16 & 11 on 8/11 shooting and a +21), and Kanter (9 points on 4/5 shooting) all played great.
The game was pretty up and down (at one point they showed Jerry Sloan in the crowd and I can only imagine how pissed he was at the lack of defense, Nelson in particular kept getting to the rim with ease), but the Jazz can definitely bang down low and make games a grind in the paint.
I cant remember who it was in ESPN's studio crew of Magic/Wilbon/Broussard/Barry who pointed it out, but someone noted how Utah hung their hats on playing tough and Corbin coached em up to go hard, and how that would wear down on their opponents (probably us) in a playoff series.
The Suns meanwhile, who from the look of it just got bull rushed by Denver tonight, aren't exactly known for beating up opponents. Their up and down style would offer little resistance to our overwhelming offense, and there is no doubt when it came down to it who could really get more stops.
Now, all that said:
I'm not saying the Jazz can beat us. I'm not even saying they could last any longer then the Suns could (because, honestly, they probably wouldn't). But I am saying that after beating the Suns the Spurs would be a lot less banged up then they would after beating Utah. And with one of the league's most well respected home court advantages, there is far more likelihood of something unlikely happening in Salt Lake City than in Phoenix.
In the thread discussing potential first round opponents, Mel_13 made a very interesting point:
So how bout it Spurstalkers? If the cards fell into place,would you be in favor of throwing in the towel vs. Phoenix to close out their season to get them in round 1?
We would still have one game at Golden State the following night.
This is assuming we keep the one seed of course. On that note LA really needs to beat OKC, but thats a whole new discussion.
2. OKC, 3. LAL, 4.LAC, 5. MEM, has got to be what we're all rooting for, tbh.
The only downside I see is it could potentially ruin what would be a pretty remarkable way to continue our 50-win season streak
I would, if all the stars aligned, do it. Obviously we wanna take the injury risk out of of play by resting the big three, and no one should get big minutes with guys like Mills and Anderson absorbing a lot. After what happened last year I want to see us risk as little as we can at the end of the season. Golden State should be winnable even with our second unit, so dropping the Suns game if need be shouldn't cost us #1. If LA beats OKC it would give us quite a cushion over the Thunder and go a long way in keeping the Lakers out of the 4 seed.
Obviously, our second unit is good, and could win the game, but if an at home Suns team fighting for their playoff lives can't pull off a W so be it.
really tiredwill edit/read through tomorrow..maybe
Easy 1st round opponents do not necessarily make your team better prepared for the 2nd round.
Just win, baby.
No
honestly i still don't think any of these lower seeded teams are "easy"
The End.
Meh. The West is loaded with talent, but after the top 7 I think there's a pretty noticeable falloff. And that depends if Dallas actually plays up to their potential.
That's a very good point.
I just think that long term in a playoffs where I desperately want the Spurs to win four series, I would love it if the first of the four could contain less bruises and potentially easier victories allowing less Big Three exertion.
Additionally the style of play we would see in a Phoenix series would be more conducive to keeping our offense on a roll. We have been averaging something like 115+ on this win streak and in a Suns series we could continue snowballing our beautiful offensive play. In such a scenario we'd have more momentum moving forward rather than potentially having to slug out 5 or so tough ones, regardless of the final scores or margins.
I wish people would stop pulling the tanking out of their asses. What are you consummate quitters? You win every ing game, then you don't have to worry. If you are afraid of the ing Jazz, you shouldn't be in the playoffs to begin with.
I'm definitely not afraid of the Jazz, they'd be no sweat. Read above.
I wouldat Utah fans forever if the Spurs did that to them.
Forever.
should be a hotly contested match-up when they show down. I would've expected a Utah victory, especially at home, but I dunno after Mel pointed out Phoenix seems to have their number.
I would
Forever.
You would.
even if we tank, the suns still need to beat utah in one of its remaining games to make it...
I'm all for anything that hurts the Jazz.
No tanking anything until we A) are mathematically eliminated from having the best overall record or B) are at least assured of having it over OKC and Miami.
The last two are on our racquet. We don't need any help. In fact, we can just win three of our last four games and don't even need the Phx game. But for the Bulls, we still need help. By tip-off against Phx we should know if they lost to the Pacers or not, so we'll know if we need to win that Suns game or if we can relax.
TBH, I'd prefer PHX in the first round but we gotta hold the top seed so unless we clinch it, we win it.
I would do it, IF we beat Cleveland and Portland, because we play Phoenix and GSW in a back-to-back in the last 2 days of the season.
Last time around Manu got injured last game.
Of the two, Phoenix are going to be playing hard, so I'd rest the big 3 against them, take a loss, and go for the win vs. Golden State. 3 wins from our last 4 should get us #1 seed in the West, and 2nd overall behind the Bulls.
If it also means we avoid the Jazz, I guess that's also a bonus. But that only matters if Phoenix beat them.
Tanking is gay. Spurs beat a better Jazz team 4-1 in the 2007 WCF. If they draw the Jazz in the first round and it goes more than five games I'll cut my of with a rusty pair of safety scissors.
Noted.
don't care if we get Utah, Phoenix or Houston. We should defeat them all in 5 games.
Yes but not cause I'm scared of utah but because beating the suns in the playoffs and us winning it all go hand in hand.
The Mavs did this exact thing in 2007, tanking to face the team they were playing in the final game. Yea, THAT turned out well.
Yeah, because this Spurs team is exactly like the 2007 mavs
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