2001 Western Conference Finals

[baseline bum]

It doesn't matter, the '04 Pistons would have crushed a Spurs team that had HeDon't/RaSoft/Damn'it Brown as major rotation players & Porker playing wingman. If anything, it saved the franchise an embarrassing le defense like the 2014 Heat.

I'd give the Pistons the edge in a hypothetical matchup, but the Spurs would have given the Pistons a far better series than LA did and would have had a decent shot at the repeat.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

The refs were horrible in Game 4 of the 03 Spurs/Lakers series, but can't blame them at all for 04. Phil Jackson went with the desperation move of packing the lane with four defenders and dared Turkoglu to hit shots with no one within 10 feet of him. That series loss was 100% on Turkoglu. If the Spurs had Stephen Jackson, Brent Barry, even Roger Mason in that spot they destroy that Lakers team. Tex Winter said he had no idea how they ever beat the 04 Spurs. Even with Turkoglu's complete no show the Spurs probably still would have won the series if Horry had hit that wide open three in Game 5.

Horry shot would have put us up 74-70 with under a minute to go

We were up 10 to start the second half in game 4 and then came the refs and Turkoglu bricks.

[Russ]

I still remember watching the Lakers post game show on KNBC after Game 4 and AJ had to leave in the middle of an interview with one of the LA media guys because I guess it struck him at that moment that his Spurs career was over. It was pretty funny hearing DA complain about money when they went and interviewed him next. You just got knocked out of the playoffs and you're talking to the other team's media about the contract you want in the summer?

Hey, BB, weren't you one of the crowd that met at the Pantry before going to that miserable Game 4?

[Kawhitstorm]

I'd give the Pistons the edge in a hypothetical matchup, but the Spurs would have given the Pistons a far better series than LA did and would have had a decent shot at the repeat.

The '04 Pistons were better than the '05 Pistons & '04 Manu/Horry were nothing like '05 Manu/Horry. We all know what happened to Porker when he went up against Billups in the '05 Finals & we also know what happened to the Spurs offense when Porker got shutdown in the '04 Lakers series.

The '04 Pistons were so loaded upfront that Okur was getting garbage minutes after being a starter before the Sheed acquisition & Big Nasty's minutes got cut. Mike James also didn't get consistent minutes while Devin in' Brown was the backup wing.

Spurs top 5-7:
-Rasho
-Horry
-Devin Brown

Piston top 8-10:
-Okur
-Campbell
-Mike James

[lefty]

We wouldn't have beaten Detroit in 04

[baseline bum]

Hey, BB, weren't you one of the crowd that met at the Pantry before going to that miserable Game 4?

God no, I would have never gone to Game 4 of that series. I avoided all my Laker fan friends I usually watched games with for those last two games, so no way I'd want to be around 18000 of them for that.

But weren't all the LA Spurs fans drinking their sorrows away with Jack Ramsay at that hotel in Marina Del Rey after Game 4?

[baseline bum]

The '04 Pistons were better than the '05 Pistons & '04 Manu/Horry were nothing like '05 Manu/Horry. We all know what happened to Porker when he went up against Billups in the '05 Finals & we also know what happened to the Spurs offense when Porker got shutdown in the '04 Lakers series.

The '04 Pistons were so loaded upfront that Okur was getting garbage minutes after being a starter before the Sheed acquisition & Big Nasty's minutes got cut. Mike James also didn't get consistent minutes while Devin in' Brown was the backup wing.

Spurs top 5-7:
-Rasho
-Horry
-Devin Brown

Piston top 8-10:
-Okur
-Campbell
-Mike James

Yeah no , that's why I said I'd give the 04 Pistons the edge against the 04 Spurs. You seem to be implying the 04 Spurs would bend over for Detroit like the Lakers did, no ing way.

[Kawhitstorm]

Yeah no , that's why I said I'd give the 04 Pistons the edge against the 04 Spurs. You seem to be implying the 04 Spurs would bend over for Detroit like the Lakers did, no ing way.

It would have been like the Pacers-Pistons series.

[Russ]

God no, I would have never gone to Game 4 of that series. I avoided all my Laker fan friends I usually watched games with for those last two games, so no way I'd want to be around 18000 of them for that.

But weren't all the LA Spurs fans drinking their sorrows away with Jack Ramsay at that hotel in Marina Del Rey after Game 4?

No, that was 2002 (after Game 5 I think it was).

Second thought, maybe that was 2001 -- but it wasn't after Game 4, maybe Game 3.

I remember Charlie Parker (the local SA radio guy) saying he wanted to wear a Davy Crockett hat and pick off LA motorists with a squirel rifle. (Not that he was bitter.)

[Thomas82]

I'd give the Pistons the edge in a hypothetical matchup, but the Spurs would have given the Pistons a far better series than LA did and would have had a decent shot at the repeat.

It would have been a dogfight.

[midnightpulp]

Baseline laid out the key points, but I'll add that the 2001 Spurs arguably had the worst perimeter depth of all-time for a "contending" team. Tim basically carried that team with some help from an aging David Robinson.

[Thomas82]

Baseline laid out the key points, but I'll add that the 2001 Spurs arguably had the worst perimeter depth of all-time for a "contending" team. Tim basically carried that team with some help from an aging David Robinson.

I remember Tim getting off to a slow start for the season since he was recovering from the knee surgery.

[Thomas82]

'04 and '08 to me is when the Lakers jumped the shark in the rivalry by adding Malone and then Gasol. The Lakers gave up on their previous championship model which was having 2 superstars and a bunch of role players to win a le. Duncan had gotten a lot better by the time '03 rolled around that you were not going to beat him without having a stacked team. Lakers pretty much had to create all-star teams after '03 to beat the Spurs. The '13 Lakers were also set up like an all-star team but failed miserably due to Kobe not having Phil their to reign his chucking.

+1

[Kawhitstorm]

Baseline laid out the key points, but I'll add that the 2001 Spurs arguably had the worst perimeter depth of all-time for a "contending" team. Tim basically carried that team with some help from an aging David Robinson.

The 2007 Cavs had worst supporting cast for a team that made it to the Finals. (Bron essentially beat the Pistons all by himself in Gm 5)

[dbreiden83080]

Tim Duncan playing basketball by himself. The end..

[daslicer]

I remember Tim getting off to a slow start for the season since he was recovering from the knee surgery.

I remember that year cringing every time Tim went up for a dunk thinking he would re-injure that knee.

[Thomas82]

Tim Duncan playing basketball by himself. The end..

That about sums it up.

[Thomas82]

I remember that year cringing every time Tim went up for a dunk thinking he would re-injure that knee.

Me too.........considering the slow start he had that year, it's amazing that he was able to finish 2nd in MVP voting.

[Sean Cagney]

Tim Duncan playing basketball by himself. The end..

He had, wait... Damn that team was not that good and he lead them to 58 wins and the WCF. Tim was the man in his prime pulling out miracles with bad teams around him in the early 00's. The 03 team on paper was not that great either being Tony was 20 and Manu was a rookie (Plus a journeyman in Jax), plus D Rob was on his last legs. Tim made the teams back then almost single handily and everyone rose up around him in their level of play. I will not forget how dominant Tim was in 01-03, that was his absolute peak.

[Thomas82]

He had, wait... Damn that team was not that good and he lead them to 58 wins and the WCF. Tim was the man in his prime pulling out miracles with bad teams around him in the early 00's. The 03 team on paper was not that great either being Tony was 20 and Manu was a rookie (Plus a journeyman in Jax), plus D Rob was on his last legs. Tim made the teams back then almost single handily and everyone rose up around him in their level of play. I will not forget how dominant Tim was in 01-03, that was his absolute peak.

This is the absolute truth.

[Thomas82]

Here's an interesting discovery I just made:

With the exception of the 1996-97 season, every postseason that Shaq didn't face the Spurs, he averaged 30+ points. Every year that he did face the Spurs, his averages in those series brought him under 30 points for the postseason. This just shows how good a job The Admiral did against him, even with a bad back.

*Yes, I also took into account that Shaq had Karl Malone and Gary Payton in 2004, the year after D-Rob retired.

[dbreiden83080]

He had, wait... Damn that team was not that good and he lead them to 58 wins and the WCF. Tim was the man in his prime pulling out miracles with bad teams around him in the early 00's. The 03 team on paper was not that great either being Tony was 20 and Manu was a rookie (Plus a journeyman in Jax), plus D Rob was on his last legs. Tim made the teams back then almost single handily and everyone rose up around him in their level of play. I will not forget how dominant Tim was in 01-03, that was his absolute peak.

The 03 team in particular to me is his greatest achievement. As you said, we had young players in Tony and Manu, nobody knew the longevity they would have. Back in 2003 speculation was running wild that Tony would be replaced by Jason Kidd.. Spurs had the best record in the reg season but most expected the Lakers to smash us again, and Tim was so dominant especially in game 6 we closed up their dynasty..

[Thomas82]

The 03 team in particular to me is his greatest achievement. As you said, we had young players in Tony and Manu, nobody knew the longevity they would have. Back in 2003 speculation was running wild that Tony would be replaced by Jason Kidd.. Spurs had the best record in the reg season but most expected the Lakers to smash us again, and Tim was so dominant especially in game 6 we closed up their dynasty..

That was my favorite out of all of our le runs.

[Benoit]

Kobe was unstoppable in this series, that was the main takeaway

Spurs had an answer for Shaq, but this was the series that cemented Kobe as the best player in the NBA for the next 9 years

[daslicer]

Here's an interesting discovery I just made:

With the exception of the 1996-97 season, every postseason that Shaq didn't face the Spurs, he averaged 30+ points. Every year that he did face the Spurs, his averages in those series brought him under 30 points for the postseason. This just shows how good a job The Admiral did against him, even with a bad back.

*Yes, I also took into account that Shaq had Karl Malone and Gary Payton in 2004, the year after D-Rob retired.

Granted its painful to watch but if you watch the .4 game you will be amazed by the great defense Duncan had on Shaq in that game. Duncan guarded Shaq for most of the game and held him to 11 points. While Duncan had 21 points, 21 rebounds, and 4 block.