Greatness is bubbling over in the Western Conference Finals (Bill Simmons)

[lurker23]

Also led and sub led:

The Spurs-Zombies Retro Diary

You have to love a game where either a legendary series would be born or San Antonio would continue an epic run

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...es-retro-diary

Definitely worth the read, in my opinion. Bill Simmons continues to gush over the Spurs.

[lefty]

Spurtstalk : " Great read "

[Dex]

3:52 — James Harden just came in, which reminds me … more than once this season, including this game, I've gotten my 4-year-old son to watch Oklahoma City for extended stretches by convincing him that Harden was a werewolf. You do whatever it takes to get your kids to like sports. You just do.

[timvp]

Fantastic read. Simmons can be annoying at times but he knows more about the NBA than 99.9% of the media.

[foodie2]

Loved it!

[tesseractive]

6:40 — Remarkable lefty runner by Manu. Spurs by eight. I gotta be honest … I don't understand how anyone could say the Spurs are boring when they have two guards who (a) play beautifully together, (b) get better when it matters, and (c) consistently make some of the most incredibly unique baskets in the league. Three times per Spurs game, either Manu or Parker invents a shot or a drive that makes you say, "Wait, have I ever seen that before?" That's boring?

So how many media folks have to proclaim "I don't understand why everyone considers the Spurs boring" before they all just admit that they're not calling the Spurs boring anymore? Is there a magic number of some kind?

[honestfool84]

one of the better articles i've read this post-season... or better summaries, tbh.

[CosmicCowboy]

Naturally, 14 teams passed on him, and naturally, the Spurs scooped him up (via trade), and naturally, they fixed the one questionable part of his game (3-point shooting) because they're the Spurs and they can do anything short of fixing NBC's prime-time lineup. Last year at San Diego State, Leonard made 29 percent of his 3s. In December/January for the Spurs, Leonard made 25 percent of them. In February/March, that jumped to 45 percent. In 10 playoff games, he's taken 31 3s and made 14 of them (45 percent). Does any of this make sense? NO!!!!!!! Of course not. But that's why they're the Spurs.

[Splits]

So much for flying under the radar....

[CosmicCowboy]

Simmons is greatness. Unabashed Celtics fan (He still hasn't forgiven us for the ping pong drop that gave us Tim Duncan) but he has always respected the Spurs.

[CosmicCowboy]

So much for flying under the radar....

They would have to be a pretty terrible basketball homey not to notice that Spurs 747.

[Seventyniner]

Fantastic read. Limbaugh can be annoying at times but he knows more about politics than 99.9% of the media.

Fixed.

[ViceCity86]

Simmons at his best.

[roycrikside]

Fantastic read. Simmons can be annoying at times but he knows more about the NBA than 99.9% of the media.

Please. Simmons either ignored or dismissed the Spurs the whole year. He never wrote about them or talked about them and he continued to insist that one loss to the Lakers was way more telling and meaningful than the two wins.

In his playoff predictions, he picked the Grizzlies to upset the Spurs in the second round, and he also said the Spurs-Jazz series would go "six games, at least."

He's like every other ESPN mediot, he ignored the team all year, just wrote/talked about Miami/OKC/Lakers/Bulls/Celtics/Clippers. He never watched the Spurs play.

Only when it became clear that the Spurs have a very good chance of representing the West in the Finals did he do a 180 and start gushing about them, and everyone at ESPN has done the same thing because finally their producers came to the conclusion that if you want to have any ratings at all in the Finals, maybe you should start promoting the team that's going to get there instead of ignoring them.

You've gotten more positive Spurs stories from ESPN in the last two weeks than you got in the last four years before then, combined. It's just the WWL covering their... bases.

Also, lest I remind you, Simmons wrote an article saying all four of their les deserve asterisks.

He's a to his corporate masters, nothing more. If they tell him to write an article on why this Spurs team is a fraud, he'll do it tomorrow without blinking.

[SpursRock20]

Please. Simmons either ignored or dismissed the Spurs the whole year. He never wrote about them or talked about them and he continued to insist that one loss to the Lakers was way more telling and meaningful than the two wins.

In his playoff predictions, he picked the Grizzlies to upset the Spurs in the second round, and he also said the Spurs-Jazz series would go "six games, at least."

He's like every other ESPN mediot, he ignored the team all year, just wrote/talked about Miami/OKC/Lakers/Bulls/Celtics/Clippers. He never watched the Spurs play.

Only when it became clear that the Spurs have a very good chance of representing the West in the Finals did he do a 180 and start gushing about them, and everyone at ESPN has done the same thing because finally their producers came to the conclusion that if you want to have any ratings at all in the Finals, maybe you should start promoting the team that's going to get there instead of ignoring them.

You've gotten more positive Spurs stories from ESPN in the last two weeks than you got in the last four years before then, combined. It's just the WWL covering their... bases.

Also, lest I remind you, Simmons wrote an article saying all four of their les deserve asterisks.

He's a to his corporate masters, nothing more. If they tell him to write an article on why this Spurs team is a fraud, he'll do it tomorrow without blinking.

I was fooled then, sounded like a genuine fan of what the Spurs are doing right now.

[timvp]

Please. Simmons either ignored or dismissed the Spurs the whole year.

Most Spurs fans have ignored and/or dismissed the Spurs in the last year, tbh.

[Spurminator]

Simmons picked the Grizzlies as the WC Champs before the season started and kept them as his pick as a gag for his Playoff column.

And there's no way he's writing positively about the Spurs because he's being told to. You're right that he and his colleagues didn't watch them enough in the regular season and might have appreciated them more if they had, but he's high enough on the totem pole at ESPN that he can write basically whatever he wants. If he says he loves watching the Spurs right now, it's because he loves watching the Spurs right now.

[Danny.Zhu]

Fantastic piece tbh.

[Danny.Zhu]

Most Spurs fans have ignored and/or dismissed the Spurs in the last year, tbh.

Me too.

[100%duncan]

Boris and his boobs are the next big 3.

[100%duncan]

Great article.

[Spurtacus]

I'm in 100% agreement with his intentional foul fix.

There's a very easy fix — just tweak the rule so it's like the defensive three-second rule. If officials determine that a player who's not involved in the play was intentionally fouled for the specific reason to put him on the line, it's a technical foul and the player's team keeps possession. We'd never have to watch Hack-A-Shaq again.

[Spurtacus]

I'm in 100% agreement with his intentional foul fix.

There's a very easy fix — just tweak the rule so it's like the defensive three-second rule. If officials determine that a player who's not involved in the play was intentionally fouled for the specific reason to put him on the line, it's a technical foul and the player's team keeps possession. We'd never have to watch Hack-A-Shaq again.

[eyeh8u]

Please. Simmons either ignored or dismissed the Spurs the whole year. He never wrote about them or talked about them and he continued to insist that one loss to the Lakers was way more telling and meaningful than the two wins.

In his playoff predictions, he picked the Grizzlies to upset the Spurs in the second round, and he also said the Spurs-Jazz series would go "six games, at least."

He's like every other ESPN mediot, he ignored the team all year, just wrote/talked about Miami/OKC/Lakers/Bulls/Celtics/Clippers. He never watched the Spurs play.

Only when it became clear that the Spurs have a very good chance of representing the West in the Finals did he do a 180 and start gushing about them, and everyone at ESPN has done the same thing because finally their producers came to the conclusion that if you want to have any ratings at all in the Finals, maybe you should start promoting the team that's going to get there instead of ignoring them.

You've gotten more positive Spurs stories from ESPN in the last two weeks than you got in the last four years before then, combined. It's just the WWL covering their... bases.

Also, lest I remind you, Simmons wrote an article saying all four of their les deserve asterisks.

He's a to his corporate masters, nothing more. If they tell him to write an article on why this Spurs team is a fraud, he'll do it tomorrow without blinking.

QFT

he only "respected" the spurs because they were the only thing keeping the lakers from tying and passing the celtics' championship count in the 00's , and he gushes over the spurs now because he doesnt want big bad miami to win a ring by "cheating" only after his celtics cheated a couple years before.

[Sean Cagney]

Fantastic read. Simmons can be annoying at times but he knows more about the NBA than 99.9% of the media.

Oh yeah he really does... He pissed me off some with the foot note thing on the les, but dude gives praise alot and he knows his sh*t.