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Good God. You don't know about basketball. He does so much more than just score the basketball and he may just be the best perimeter defender in the game.
personally I think a big part of the issue is not having an actual small forward on the on the roster to back up kahwi. Having guys who are naturally 2 guards, that can fill in for a few minutes works sorta when you have someone to guard first team 3s a majority of the game. Not good really to have a game long liability.
Good God. You don't know about basketball. He does so much more than just score the basketball and he may just be the best perimeter defender in the game.
However it is idiotic to say "What's the different about the Spurs being eliminated in first round...?" Then answer with the name of one player. The team has improved significantly at multiple positions and that is why we won the championship.
The body language doesn't look that bad to me. I think you're being very pessimistic. I think the look you are seeing is a combination of them struggling with this many games in the month of December and being tired on top of that. I don't think it's because of them thinking Kawhi is out for the season.
You'll say the same thing over and over again but you won't get closer to the truth...
I just think the difference between splitter, diaw, green to mcdyess, Blair, hill is significant.
Natahn89
I sure hope you're wrong. But with how quiet this has been it's starting to get a bit eerie.
Last edited by Southwest Texas Fan; 01-02-2015 at 01:02 AM.
Spurs aren't repeating without Kawhi, but carry on with the it takes a village bull if it makes you feel better.
Leonard is much like James Worthy tbh. Worthy also started off slow and the Lakers were unbeatable when he played well, but Kareem & Magic were still the franchise players.
There's a distinct bifurcation happening here. It's the false dichotomy that either Kawhi is unimportant or he's the reason the Spurs are in a slump. The truth is not as cut and dry. The Spurs have been playing uninspired ball on both ends. When Leonard was out in the Finals the Spurs still moved the ball. He didn't play 48 minutes a game. Danny Green played defense, Manu didn't turn the ball over 5 times in 20 minutes and go 3-15 or whatever. Danny wasn't shooting 1-6 from 3. Those facts have nothing to do with Kawhi being out. Sure he impacts the team, but he's not the reason they are losing so many games. You said yourself that Leonard is a bigger part of the offense this year, but what changed from last year when he wasn't?
The "tired" thing is overblown. These are professional athletes that play 35 - 45 minutes every other night at most. Being on the floor a few more minutes doesn't make them tired. It increases the chance for injury, but almost every team in the league plays their starters those minutes. The Spurs haven't historically but that doesn't make their player more prone to getting tired.
Spurs aren't repeating with Kawhi. Too much has to happen elsewhere in the league to give the Spurs that window of opportunity. However I find it amusing that some of you have put Kawhi on a pedestal because of 3 games in the Finals. He sucked the first two games, and yeah he found it somewhere in there but so did Manu and so did Patty Mills. To be honest, game 5 was looking bleak until Manu came in and dropped napalm all over the place. Kawhi did his thing, but his performance wasn't Earth shattering, it's just that there were no real standouts otherwise. Everyone played so well, which is why people are making the point that the team plays well without any one particular guy. If they ever get into the mode where they cannot play without one guy, they are doomed anyhow.
So? Did the Spurs go s up last season when Kawhi was out? I'm guessing Tony being replaced by Cory ing Joseph with basically no backup PG really doesn't factor in. You're a ing idiot if you think the Spurs have a binary outcome based on Kawhi being on the floor.
There's a big difference between playing an entire game without a player and 10 or so mins.
You could say that about a lot of players on the spurs.
So KL being out accounts for the poor shooting of the Spurs, the turnovers, missing FTs... all that?
We won 61 games the year before kawhi got here. Let's not act like this team is trash right now just because kawhi is out.
Fools gold team, Nathan. For some reason (probably due to boredom), I taped over 40 regular season games that season and i cringe whenever i play one of those videos.
This was our rotation that season.
Tony Parker
Richard Jefferson
Manu Ginobili
Tim Duncan
George Hill
Matt Bonner
DeJuan Blair
Gary Neal
Antonio McDyess
Tiago was a rookie and got no PT.
Is it the sole reason? No. Is it a factor? Most certainly. When you have an important piece of the team out you are forcing others to take on a bigger role. Guys like Manu, TD, Marco and Green are playing more minutes and are forced into larger offensive roles. Now could they handle it in a short period? Yes but over the long term it tends to get exploited, unless you have someone capable of filling that role. The Spurs don't really have one, which makes Kawhi 1 of the most (if not the most) important players on the team because there is a lack of replacement.
MPG since Kawhi has been out vs last season:
TD: 35.6 (32.3 excluding 3OT games) vs last year 29.2
Manu: 28.8 (26.5 excluding 3OT games) vs last year 22.8
Green: 35.6 (31.5 excluding 3OT games) vs last year 24.3
Marco: 32.7 (31.3 excluding 3OT games) vs last year 25.2
Manu, Parker and TD were 4 years younger, Blair was playing decently, George Hill. The compe ion out west is also a lot tougher now than it was 4 seasons ago. Also as much as people on Richard Jefferson he is more capable than Beli at SF. The biggest reason Kawhi is so important to the team is the lack of replacement.
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