Someone Convince Me The Grizzlies Shouldn't Be The Overwhelming Favorite in the WCF

[hater]

to say the Grizzlies should be an overwhelming favorite is just plain stupid. roycrikside already tore your pathetic, "emo" post to shreds though, so I won't bother elaborating.

[MR-Clutch]

I think it being an odd year helps our odds as well...

[EricB]

They have Prince now.

Battier >>>> Prince. Battier is a way better shooter and defender and its not close.

[MR-Clutch]

As I said earlier, kawhi has to leave his imprint on this series. When Kawhi is rolling and confident we're nearly unbeatable and it makes it a lot harder for a defense to zero in on any one player. In the 2 games we lost against the warriors, leonard scored 11 points each on .45 and .35 fg% respectively, with no 3s made in either as well. In our wins he scored at least 15 ppg, made at least 1 3 pointer, and on average had a fg% of 63.7%. He will arguably be the most athletic player on the court against grizzlies, so it's important to utilize him. As usual, it will be important to get kawhi and Danny going early and keep them involved throughout the game...I'm looking at you TP...If kawhi can emerge as the player we all know he's capable of becoming and average 15-18ppg, I think we take this series in 5.

[Yuixafun]

I think Parker goes berserk this series.

He knows out of the Big three he has the most life left.

He's not that stumbling kid who got pulled for Claxton, or collapsed against packed the paint defenses.. or the Eva's playboy, or the club fighter/promoter.

He's mature, full grown, he remembers what it is to be a champion, and his spirit has a burning desire to feel it once again. I just have this notion that Parker is hungering for redemption and validation, to prove himself at this season in his manhood. But not just for himself.

For Pop, for Teemy, for Manu... for San Antonio, for the next generation spurs that will be his to lead, for France lol...

[TrainOfThought5]

timvp is just trying to insulate himself from the soul crushing disappointment we felt last year when we just assumed the Spurs were winning it all.

[Spur|n|Austin]

Great writeup by Timvp. I'm just as pessimistic heading into this series for all the reasons that were articulate above.

In order for the Spurs to win, the following must occur:

- Spurs must carry their stout defensive mindset, borne from the last series, into this next series.
- Splitter MUST play with an increased level of physicality against the Memphis bigs
- Spurs role players MUST contribute on a consistent basis to offset the decline of Ginobili and the overall occasional fatigue of Big Three
- Bonner cannot and should not play even limited minutes. This is not a series for him because it's all about physicality and Bonner doesn't meet the challenge. He proved it so memorably a couple of years ago, when he sucked on both ends of the court.
- This series screams for additional physicality. It would ideal for Pop to do the unthinkable - insert Baynes for some brief minutes. Given the fact that there is no more physical big on the roster, any limited contribution from Baynes, even in a very limited role, could come in handy. Of course, this will never happen, but he would certainly be a more viable option for this series than Bonner.

This cannot be stressed enough, but we're all smart enough to know Pop's love child is going to get minutes. It's as sure as death and taxes.

[TD 21]

I think Parker goes berserk this series.

He knows out of the Big three he has the most life left.

He's not that stumbling kid who got pulled for Claxton, or collapsed against packed the paint defenses.. or the Eva's playboy, or the club fighter/promoter.

He's mature, full grown, he remembers what it is to be a champion, and his spirit has a burning desire to feel it once again. I just have this notion that Parker is hungering for redemption and validation, to prove himself at this season in his manhood. But not just for himself.

For Pop, for Teemy, for Manu... for San Antonio, for the next generation spurs that will be his to lead, for France lol...

Does he . . . or has Ginobili been holding back?

I'm not totally convinced, but I'm wondering if he was so conscious of not getting injured in two series that he knew they weren't going to lose (the Warriors series, frustrating as it was at times, always felt like a long shot, especially after Curry tweaked his ankle), that that's why he basically didn't even bother to attempt to attack for the most part.

He's also got to be the freshest of the three and I think he realizes that, particularly if Parker and Leonard aren't physically right, it's time to throw caution to the wind. If it leads to injury, so be it, because they're probably not winning this series without him being more aggressive and shouldering more of the scoring load anyway.

[z0sa]

Packing the paint vs the Grizz will be extremely effective. The problem in this series will be scoring. I am convinced that if the Spurs roleplayers shoot the ball at a high clip, Spurs will roll the Grizzlies. Last night's game continues to fit my theory that this team goes as Kawhi, Green, and Diaw goes, obviously providing the Big 3/Pop's playmaking and decisions generate open looks.

[baseline bum]

LJ, if there's one thing you can really look forward to, it's that the Spurs just went in and took a playoff game on the road in a crazy building when Tony Parker shot 3/16 and Tim Duncan had to be benched. I think grinding out a win like that has to say something very positive about the rest of the team.

[MR-Clutch]

Did the Golden State series feel like it lasted forever? Seriously. It was painful to watch and just seemed to drag on. Even last night's game felt like it lasted about 5 hours.

It didn't help that every freakin game besides 4 was a late game. It's made it hard to stay awake at work the following day.

[RD2191]

It's funny, all the perimeter players will probably shut each other down. Tony Allen can shut down Parker, Prince can shut down Ginobili. On the other side, Leonard can shut down Prince and hopefully Green can contain Conley. No one really holds the advantage in the perimeter in this series. However, the Grizzlies have a massive advantage inside the paint and that will be the difference. Splitter needs to get his head out of his ass because it's going to be a tough series inside the paint. The bench would usually be the saving advantage for the Spurs but they've been playing mostly like lately. Bonner/neal and even Diaw needs to find ways to score.

Stop posting, tbh.

[spursince#99]

oh and lets not forget, Bonner and BLAIR were getting SIGNIFICANT minutes that entire series in 2011

[Budkin]

We will channel the power of the new chat room to drive the Spurs to victory!

[milkyway21]

oh and lets not forget, Bonner and BLAIR were getting SIGNIFICANT minutes that entire series in 2011

I was against Bonner playing against GS, but I think because of Memphis size, Bonner could see significant minutes here. Because he is one big mamba who can shoot from the 3pt line.

[Solid D]

"Playing in the half court doesn't work real well against [the Grizzlies]." -- Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. 12-02-12 (After the Spurs came from behind to beat the Grizzlies in OT early in the regular season)

I see this series as a huge challenge for the Spurs.

[EricB]

I just fail to see how a team that struggles to score against decent defenses, I just, whatever.

[Spur Bank]

Bodog has the Spurs as veeeeeeeeeeery slight series favorites:
891 Memphis Grizzlies -105

892 San Antonio Spurs -115

I'm seeing some sites online with the Grizz as favorites, some as the Spurs. Vegas thinks it's extremely close -- imo, it's not wise to bet against Vegas.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I like the defensive matchups for us in this series:

TP can rest on Allen
Green/Leonard can dog Conley the whole time, the other can control Prince
Splitter and Diaw are both good Z-Bo defenders, particularly Splitter
Duncan gave Bogut fits, he'll do the same to Gasol (although Gasol is a champ and will also cause problems for Duncan)
Diaw needs to stay in Arthur's grill so he doesn't get hot from midrange
Manu can corral Pondexter

The bigger question is whether TP can get healthy enough to hurt them offensively, and how often our offence will go into a funk like it did for the last 15 mins of game 6. IMHO the team just needs to have faith in the system and stick to it.

[Strategic]

I'm not sure Timvp, but one of the teams has stars and superstars. The other doesn't. I don't see this series as a debutant ball. It will take more than one lock down defender to handle the Spurs. I look for Pop to go a little deeper in his front line rotation, maybe give the Grizz the same treatment as he gave the Lakers. Even though Randolph's numbers are good I haven't seen him make the impossible shots he used two years ago vs. the Spurs. With Green and Joseph taking Conley out of his game, the Spurs in 5.

[Chomag]

That pressure defense of thier is going to crush Neal is a grantee I think. I feel the Spurs still have the better players overall in this series but it's a bad match up for them, It's Going to be a tough one

[TheGoldStandard]

Gary Neal should see > 4 minutes in this game.

[skulls138]

- We're a better passing team
- We're a better 3 pt team
- We have alot of beef to throw at the big guys
- We win everything other than the bigs
- If Duncan did so bad, how come he was high scorer in the last game and Bogut had 3 pts, 7 rebs
- Were deeper
- Parker
- Last time we got beat by the Grizz we didnt have Green, Leonard, Splitter and more
- Last time we got beat by the Grizz, Duncan was gimpy

[SpursFanaticInVegas]

If the Grizz bigs get in foul trouble (which they do often) they will get run out of the gym. Its real simple: Attack, Attack, Attack Gasol and Randolph cannot be on the court at the same time. Leonard has to become the X Factor fighting for boards and keeping Conley at bay.

[SpursFanaticInVegas]

Gary Neal should see > 4 minutes in this game.

Bonner and Neal = 2 mins each only PLEASE