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Exactly look at last year.
the Spurs look.
And just like the current Spurs team, the '04 Spurs looked invincible to close the season.
They won 17 straight games until Game 3 of the Western Conference Semis, a series lost (as we all know) against a team they were favored against. The Lakers had no answers for Parker's penetration, or the pick-and-roll, so Phil threw his hands up in the air and desperately packed the paint, leaving the Spurs' shooters wide open. Should've been an easy enough counter for one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the league, but for those of you who haven't repressed the memories you have of the greatest choke job in franchise history, you'll not-so-fondly recall all the missed shots from Turkoglu, Bowen, Horry, and Ginobili, which allowed the Lakers' defense to squeeze Parker and Duncan, taking away the space they needed in the paint to be effective.
And like the '04 Spurs (or any other version of the Duncan-era Spurs for that matter), interior spacing is crucial to the offense's success, spacing that is highly dependent on outside shooting threats, and if those threats (Green, Leonard, Neal, etc) decide to emulate the '04 Spurs' shooters, we could be in for a rude awakening. And there's a possibility it could happen, which is why we should remain cautiously optimistic rather than start preemptively making room in the case for number 5.
Exactly look at last year.
There's no Kobe/Shaq presence in the West. I wouldn't consider Bynum to be anywhere close to Shaq's level.
However, it's noteworthy that the scoring was so low even going into the playoffs. Great defense, slow games.
We have fed off of the shooting of unproven players who might fold in post season. That's not news.
…2004?!
Spurs were easily the best team in the West that year tbh. Arguably in the league right there with the Pistons. I hate to say it but they just always seemed to cower against the Lakers for some reason, starting with Pop. The better team lost that series imo. Still dont think Fishs shot shouldve counted either tbh.
My greatest concern.
I'm not even all that concerned with the frontline anymore since the integration of Splitter and the acquisition of Diaw has elevated the Spurs' interior from weak to good, but I do fear the outside shooting faltering in a key game. Think Game 6 of the '03 WCF. No one could hit a in' shot and it took Kerr, who hadn't seen more than garbage time up until that point, to save their collective hides. I fear that same scenario happening, but like in '04, "Kerr" doesn't show up.
If San Antonio can't open up the lane, they're toast. LA gave a preview of that when they put a beatdown on San Antonio but SA were able to reverse it by opening up the lane in games 2 and 3 of the season series.
It happened in 2004, in 2008 and last year.
How do you figure that? There's was no adjustment Pop could've made in the series that would've changed things. Phil's gameplan after game 2 was to cut off Parker's penetration and collapse on Duncan in the paint, which left Spur shooters wide open. At that point, all you have to do is hit shots, which the Spurs didn't.
Hedo Turkoglu single-handedly cost the Spurs a repeat trip to the Finals.
tbh, that Lakers team in '04 had a HoF coach and at least 4 HoF players... amazing how they choked against the Pistons...
They could have won the le if Malone didn't get hurt. It's also one of my biggest what-ifs, not only because the Lakers wasted a le chance but of what could have happened down the road if they won it all in 2004.
Pistons were a machine. I don't think the Lakers choked at all. Kobe was god awful and made some truly terrible decisions in that series, but even if he played well, the Pistons win the series in 6 instead of 5.
Hedo Turkoglu is possibly the best NBA player for the past 7 years….
Malone was getting his pushed in in game 1; lol @ thinking one of the all-time great chokers was saving your team in a series they came a couple of seconds from being swept out of.
He still played 4 games. Anyhow I don't think a 100 percent Malone changes the outcome of that series. You can make that argument if the Lakers lost in 7, but they lost in 5 and only cracked 90 points in one game.
Wasn't Shaq shooting like 60%+ for the series? That one was on the Kobester, and the reason Phil walked shortly after.
I remember Kobe playing hero modeand the Pistons were taking it like a reinforced wall
Not adjustments wise. I always just got a sense that the Spurs were intimidated by the Lakers. For the most part, theyve owned the Spurs in the playoffs over the years.
Midnight brings the goods per the usual etc but if it takes a choke of pretty epic proportions for the Spurs to lose then I like the Spurs chances.
Also PJ has and always will own Pop unfortunately. With Potato Head on the sidelines he (probably) won't himself like he usually does vs LA.
I didn't think we'd be having this discussion this year. Can't complain.
Thing is, we also heard the same last year. And it happened.
hope you trolling spurfan when you bring up last year, brah
04 phil said " it parker make in open jumper" at which point parker did not. Game over series over. Also turk was through those entire playoffs, not just the laker series.
The Western Conference is not what it once was. In 2004 you had the Lakers obviously, along with the Mavs, Kings, Timberwolves all capable of winning the conference. This year only the Spurs and Thunder are capable, and the Spurs own the Thunder head to head.
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