My only concern playing Utah involves comments from some of the ESPN guys yesterday; they were saying Utah (though they would lose) would 'beat up' the opposing team. They said the Utah coach favors a very physical style of play. Is this true? I'd hate to have someone on our team (Ginobili) injured again at the start of the playoffs.
Last edited by Thompson; 04-22-2012 at 10:55 AM.
It's likely a moot point anyway. Utah's magic number for PHO is one win or one PHO loss.Yeah, because this Spurs team is exactly like the 2007 mavs
That Mavs team was very strong, not dissimilar to the Spurs of this year at all. Great offense, average defense. They won 66 games. They just had a bad matchup.
I'd rather Pop not tank another game this season if possible. The Spurs will all over the Jazz, and be hardened by the experience.
No, because by winning, we eliminate Nash and the Suns. Like a mini-payback for 2010.
Do you remember who hurt Manu last year? Grant Hill and Phoenix, our other likely first round foe. Fearful is a rotten way to live.
@ the fans who still haven't figured out tanking (or strategic positioning or however you want to label it) exists and plays a role in strategy at the end of every season. It's humorous to watch their brains explode whenever it's mentioned.
Anyways, if the Spurs can basically pick their first round opponent, it'll be interesting to see what they do. Neither the Jazz or Suns stand out as much easier than the other.
The Jazz are physical but the Suns aren't exactly soft. Dudley and Hill go hard. Gortat is a handful. Robin Lopez has tossed around Splitter all year and isn't opposed to issuing out a flagrant foul or two.
Defending the Nash pick-and-roll is difficult. Duncan has turned back the clock a bit recently but he's still not swift enough to consistently defend it. If the Spurs play the Suns, they'd put Duncan in about 500 pick-and-rolls.
Utah has Devin Harris, who is always annoying. Jefferson scores against Duncan in the post as well as anyone in the league. Millsap can be great sometimes and Favors and Kanter are high quality bigmen depth.
The Jazz suck on the road, so that'd be a plus. The Suns are decent on the road but Phoenix is home away from home for the Spurs in the playoffs. The Big 3 habitually explode in PHX. Salt Lake City, on the other hand, is a hard place to win no matter how good or bad the Jazz are.
It's a pretty damn difficult choice. I don't see the Jazz actually being capable of beating a healthy Spurs team. The Suns? Very doubtful but if Nash catches fire and everything breaks exactly right, it's not impossible. On the other hand, I think the Suns are the team more likely to go out with a whimper. Tbh, I think they'll be more than satisfied to just make the playoffs.
All that said, I guess I'd prefer the Jazz. Less of a chance of tragedy and they could help prepare the Spurs for the fight they'd get in Round 2.
Tanking can get you in trouble. Even if you do decide to "tank" games, why give a potential opponent any extra motivation to play you?
Gortat is not a handful and Robin Lopez's bad hair is about all that's interesting about his game and potential impact against the Spurs. The Spurs (yawn) would easily, yes, easily walk over the Suns or Jazz.
+1. That and Utah has always been a tough place to play, where the refs swallow their whistles for the road team and the calls always clearly go to the Jazz...
Correct me if I'm mistaken, but didn't we tank the second game of a home-to-home with Utah a couple of weeks ago. Even if we rested the Big 3 against Phoenix (aka tanking), its not as though we didn't help secure Utah's place in the standing already by tanking.
The Suns can control their own fate with their game against Utah, I say let them and we should be concerned with making sure our players are healthy and rested going into the playoffs. If the Big 3 do play in Phoenix, it should be limited to no more than 12-15 minutes and then they should be shipped back to SA to rest for the start of the playoffs Saturday.
Only caveat to all this is if they are going for a 50-win season, but then they better take care of business against the Cavs and Portland first. And they better not drop that last game to a tanking GS.
Nowadays, 16 and 10 on 56% shooting with a 21+ PER isn't a handful. Good to know.
Utah has the UTH/PHO tiebreaker, so they essentially have a two game lead. Phoenix controls nothing.
Really, cuz it looks like Phoenix is 2-0 so far this season against the Jazz. Wonder what tiebreaker they are holding.
No tank.
But If we win next 2 games at home I would rest Duncan and Manu..even Parker.
It's the first game of a back to back so if we only need one more win I would play the big3 in the game where our chances to win are higher.That game would be at Oakland next day
And if OKC lose one game our last 2 games could be meaningless for the 1st seed of the West
Incorrect. Per espn recap on last Utah game just the opposite suns own tie break.
Pop has shown he is not afraid to use unothidox methods to win; hack-a-loser for instance. However I don't see a clear win making it worth a tank. Unless it is a clear big advantage tank is too double edged. Games could matter in finals too. If games don't matter for seeding and a small to moderate advantage I don't tank. Get Orlando? That is worth tanking
no
Play the game. Rest players, but do not tank on purpose. Spurs are better team than this both.
How crazy would it be if we got Phoenix then Memphis. The 2 teams that have taken us out the past 2 years
If losing the last game has no other negative repercussions, e.g. lower seeding against Chi or whoever later, then I'd have no problem resting the big 3 for it. If that means we face PHO instead of Utah in round 1, that's fine. Main concern is not suffering some stupid freak injury again. Personally I feel PHO is an easier matchup, though I know Timvp thinks otherwise and I respect his analysis. So I'd say it's a push in that regard. Basically, getting rest and avoiding injury would be the real benefit of resting during the final game, much more so than choosing PHO over Utah.
There's an even worse question regarding this now: What if the Spurs have home court all wrapped up but the Suns are in a fight for last place? Do the Spurs put a full roster out there to be "fair"?
The Suns would beat the Jazz in a 7 game series. And they would also give us more trouble than Utah.
No.
I'm not afraid of any team this year, although it would be nice if the Lakers and Grizz would beat each other up in the other side of the draw (not going to happen, we'll probably have to face one of them)
Yeah, because this Spurs team is exactly like the 2007 mavs
EXACTLY with his dumb ass
Forget all the other considerations for a minute. Do you know how much money it's worth to a team to get into the playoffs? It's a lot. I don't know about now, but it used to be that the Spurs didn't turn a profit unless they made the post-season. And they used to talk about how having a series go to 7 games wasn't all bad.
The Jazz are another small market team, and doing that would be some seriously cold . If the Spurs obviously tanked to put one team into the playoffs, and knock another one out, they really might cause the league to think about a rules change. I know if I was one of the Millers, I'd be standing on a chair yelling about it at the next owner's meeting.
Which team would require less of Duncan? Which team can Blair/Bonner/Diaw contribute most against? With MEM looming in the 2nd round and maybe LAL in WCF (if OKC falls apart like today), I'd prefer TD to get as little wear and tear as possible in the first round.
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