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Memphis had weak links. On offense it was Prince and Allen. On defense it was Randolph.
Memphis came into the series much hyped, even by some of ST's most vaunted posters, not to mention much of the brain trust at ESPN. And yet the Spurs dispatched them in 4 honestly not so tough games. So what are we to make of this unexpected by most outcome?
There's another much hyped team that will most likely make it out of the East to face us. So did the Spurs just beat a team that was much worse than most people thought, or are the Spurs hugely better than most people were capable of predicting? And depending on where you stand on that question, what does that mean for how you think the most likely Finals match up will play out?
Discuss...
Memphis had weak links. On offense it was Prince and Allen. On defense it was Randolph.
Memphis played us neck and neck most of the series. There were point swings but 2 games went to OT. Tonight was a close win.
I said the series would be decided in the 1st quarter of the 1st game and it was as the Spurs jumped out early and didn't look back.
Memphis just doesn't have the outside shooting to force SA to respect their perimeter play which means everyone can collapse on the bigs, and that's all Memphis really has. They had 16 offensive boards, if the Spurs had that it would have been a 25 point blowout.
How did the Grizzlies win 56 games?
A little bit of both imo. It's no secret that Memphis' offense struggles at times. Their role players, outside of Pondexter, just didn't really give them much offensively. And neither Z-Bo or Gasol had a very good series. But a lot of that goes to the credit of the Spurs, too. Duncan and Splitter both played GREAT D this series. Splitter's D on Z-Bo was huge. What's crazy is the Spurs could've played a lot better this series...
Meh....most people kept citing 2011 as the reason why the Spurs might get beaten. Not really based on solid analysis imo.
lulz @ Bill Simmons.
I was telling my friends before the series and they didn't believe me, but I thought this series would go to 5 max. The spurs match up so well with Memphis at this point its ridiculous. Their starting lineup has no shooting besides conley who isn't even that great of a threat, which means the spurs wings can constantly help out and double/reach for steals. The spurs have the length and fundamentals to seriously bother randolph, with Duncan, Splitter, and Bonner (great fundamentals defensively tbh) to bother him. The one point I kept trying to stress was that Zbo simply couldn't dominate or even play to his regular standards against us, he just can't get comfortable. All in all, our defense proved to be great in this series and we should feel good about ourselves
Pop coached the perfect series, exploited the Memphis weaknesses on offence and defence.
Let's see if he can do the same in the Finals. Fingers crossesd
Spurs struggle with teams that can fill it up from distance. Fakers and LeMizzerables don't have shooters, hence sweeps. Gameplanning for perimeter oriented teams is mighty difficult, which is why the Spirs are a nightmare matchup for anyone. But if the cHeat shoot like they did last night, we'll never stop them.
It'll go 7, with a playmaker at the end making the difference. Hopefully it is Manu or Green instead of Battier or Allen.
4 honestly not so tough games? I beg to disagree.
I'd argue this might have been one of the most compe ive sweeps ever.
Tbh, this series depended on the health of Tony Parker. If he was hobbled, Grizzlies probably win. If he was typical TP, Spurs win a tough series. If he plays his best series ever, Spurs sweep.
I think the Spurs are better than most realize. They only talk about the execution and poise of the Spurs. They forget about the physical standpoint of what the Spurs do. There is so much motion all over the court that a defense has trouble keeping up with the conditioning of the Spurs players. Even the bigs use tons of motion. It is confusing to defenses and forces all sorts of mistakes. I call the Spurs offense more opportunistic than a pick and roll offense. When the Spurs have so many players that can move without the ball and are threats to score at the slightest mistake, it is difficult for the basketball purist to not understand what exactly is happening to a defense facing the Spurs system. The Grizzlies were flat out tired. They couldn't keep up with the Spurs CONSTANT motion, and at the same time have the energy to compete against a solid Spur defensive gameplan. A team cannot take a break against the Spurs on either end of the court. This is why I believe that the Spurs are in fact a damn good team and have a chance to prove that they ARE the best TEAM in the NBA.
If we lose a series to Haslem jumpshots and Bosh 3s, I can live with that. You can't take away everything, so if we give them those shots and they hit them then so be it.
I feel the same about Lebrons mid range shots, if he hits them then you just gotta shake his hand and say well played. If he gets in to the lane he'll score or dish for dunks and open 3s, gotta give him the mid range and hope he misses.
The Spurs made the Grizzles look bad
It's just that the Spurs are such a bad match-up for the Grizzlies this year, exactly like they were our worst match-up. Their strength is the two big men, and the Spurs have the best interior defense (when healthy) against traditional low-post players. Tim and Tiago may not be able to stop LeBron's penetration, but ZBo's post-up plays right to their hands.
The Spurs defense was the difference, IMO... as I said on my prediction thread, we already knew the Grizz had trouble scoring, and since Game 3 of the Warriors series, the Spurs took it to another level defensively. I don't think Memphis was overrated. It was clear they would've had a much harder time getting past OKC if Westbrook was there, but they're a solid bunch of guys. The Spurs just had a great gameplan.
Grizz were exposed by Pop tbh
Memphis is a below average perimeter offensive team which hurt them in all facets. Spurs are playing terrific right now, especially TP but TD and Khawi were special too.
Tony was fine from the get go...
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214458
You Tpark'd this year LJ.... Own it.
I think Memphis was just that bad.
Randolph is literally like 6'7. If he's guarded by a true 7 footer who wont give him ground, then he's practically useless. Gasol is finesse as , and he got away with shooting jump-shots throughout the post-season for way too long.
And otherwise Memphis just plain out didn't have any scorers. Seriously. I don't think I've ever seen a team in the Western Conference Finals so offensively challenged. I mean we basically left Tony Allen (a 6'4 guard mind you) WIDE OPEN at the 3 point line and he wouldn't even shoot because he knows he's such a bad shooter. That's how bad it was for Memphis. Even their guards didn't have any confidence of making a shot.
And defensively I think Memphis was overrated. No one on their team could keep up with Parker, and Duncan was a mismatch because of Randolph and Gasol's lack of hustle on the defensive end (hence Duncan beating them down the floor multiple times throughout the series). And besides Tony Allen,, Memphis didn't really have anyone on defense that stood out. Marc Gasol winning defensive player of the year was an absolute joke IMO. Duncan had a better year defensively. Not to mention Lebron for God's sake!
I said before the series started that I felt we were the MUCH better team and that we were going to win the series easily. I mean we really dominated in all 4 games except for the 4th quarter of game 2 and the 1st quarter of game 3. I was surprised at all the hype Memphis got despite only beating a Clippers team we swept last year and a Thunder team without Russel Westbrook or James Harden.
Both.
A play that sticks in my mind is the missed breakaway layup at a key juncture. I think it was the Grizzlys Arthur.
Laid an egg and set it just in front of the rim for the miss.
The Spurs are extremely well balanced.
From playing against a team that were almost completely outside Jump shooters (Warriors)...to a team that is almost completely inside game (Memphis,) we were able to compete and beat both styles. Our defense can play against both types of threats, and win. So can our offense.
Memphis and the Warriors are not bad teams. They both are very good.
But, the Spurs are just that much better.
And to put it bluntly, we out-coached both of these teams. Pop put together a team that is extremely versatile...and he used that versatility to beat 2 different types of teams.
Personally, I don't care who we play in Finals.
Grizz were undermanned. They really missed Rudy Gay.
They beat us without Rudy Gay in 2011.
Grizzlies in 9, tbh.
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