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A series . . . you said championship.
They just didn't have the legs to go on much longer. Pop even said as much (only time I can remember him playing that card).
I don't think this is a defensible position on your part. Missing a key role-player can totally flip a series, especially one that came down to the last minutes in a game seven. , just someone making an extra shot is enough to get there. Splitter was EASILY the best Griffin defender the team had. He'd been doing great work on Blake for a couple of years leading up to that series. Diaw was completely unable to slow Griffin down during the series. Even if Tiago just blunted the edge ever so slightly, if he didn't get blown by so fast, so consistently, that'd been enough.
Then the question is could they have beaten Houston that year. I feel pretty good about saying they probably would have done that. They were better than Houston (who at that time were basically just Harden). Considering what happened to Cleveland in the playoffs with their injuries, it's not a huge stretch to say the Spurs would have beaten them either.
So this really comes down to whether the Spurs could beat the Warriors. GS before Durant gets overrated, especially in 2015. They were significantly more mortal back then (especially considering that they hadn't won a le at the time). , Memphis had a great chance of beating them that year. It would not have been a series the Spurs win without effort or something, but they matched up really well with GS. They had the experience advantage.
A series . . . you said championship.
They just didn't have the legs to go on much longer. Pop even said as much (only time I can remember him playing that card).
Lol at this thread. While there is some truth to the OP the real reason the spurs were so good during that time especially from 2012 to 2016 was overall talent and depth on the roster, Manu not being too old yet (2013 aside), TP being an MVP candidate early in that period, and the main reason is Tim ing Duncan. It was always be Tim Duncan. You Kawhi slurpers thinking that Leonard was more important to this franchise in any year they played together (2016 aside) is laughable. Put some respek on Timmys name
Yeah, I heard your point about fatigue and don't agree with it.
You said Splitter wasn't the difference between them winning a le or not. But you have four series to win before you win the le. Given their particular injury, the Clippers were arguably the hardest of those matchups. It's not remotely a stretch to argue that the Spurs would have been a solid two-seed in the West and the third-overall seed had they been healthy. They were literally just one loss from that as it was. They were a MUCH better team than you seem to be projecting. Them losing in the first round doesn't mean the rest of the bracket would have beaten them. In fact, it was because of that series that they changed the way seeding worked.
Spurs repeat in 2015 if Parker and Splitter are healthy. The Clippers were the worst match up they could've got and they only had to play them cause 2nd and 6th seed were 1 game away from each other and the Division champ Portland was ranked before them with a worse record. Both Doc and Pop complained about that seeding rule. They destroyed the Warriors in the regular season with the Big 3 resting
CLIPPERS werent the worse matchup, its like those idiots was happy to make playoffs, but didnt care about repeating or defending that championship...loss focus or goal to win another championship...
thats when u know the big3 or parker/ginoboli had to go and start the retooling around kawhi...
they did retool around kawhi, but they ended up shafting them younger players for stupid vets who deserved their minutes when they were holding back the team...
spurs landed duncan and wasted his years by surrounding him with 08-12, it was like patfo was content on 07 championship and never bothered again...main goal was to get duncan his 5th ring
when they did get him his 5th ring, it was ginoboli and parker, they wanted to get them 5 rings also...but no, those 2 shouldve been content on 4, but stick around too long that hurt the spurs moving forward, continue to show loyalty to vets or start with the youth retooling...
everytime they kick a rookie out they develop, they go draft another and waste another 2years to develop them, only to be shown the door, hence htf are you going to keep a young core roster with years experience together to compete if you continue to favor players/vets whose been h ere longer over guys who actually can make a difference and not just collecting cheques
Last edited by TDMVPDPOY; 10-24-2018 at 07:15 PM.
LOL at this thread.
I agree that the Spurs repeat in 2015 if Splitter and Parker (especially Splitter) are healthy. Additionally, if we had a healthy Splitter instead of West in 2016 then we at least get past OKC.
I criticized this in multiple threads. To have the big 3 around wasn't wrong though, it was mostly the Parker contract which stopped them from signing better players. And then when that was over it were the Gasol/Mills contracts. PATFO was just not aggressive enough after the 2015 offseason to surround Kawhi with the right supporting cast
remember kawhi never had the green light to chuck till his outburst in the finals, he was below the pecking order to chuck shots, hence even the scrubs on the bench had the green light to chuck b4 him, his role was defense first then offense...
there was like 2-3 guys on the bench who had green light to chuck b4 him when he was playing with bench players, it was a load of bull
they basically throw out the chance not only to repeat, but a 3peat out the window...whether it was injuries or just patfo poor decision making...
it time to call out the patfo then continue with the excuses, they still living on some reputation of 5rings to continue with the bad decision making moving forward, while everyone else around the league especially the contenders are leaving them behind cause they wont change their ways....
remember when kawhi sign that extension after his rookie contract, what i didnt get was...why wasnt he more vocal coming into the office and making demands about the roster going forward,
-were they going to build around him? or they going to give out loyalty contracts to vets and big3 on 1yr rentals
- enrique or me? they chose to extend enrique alongside kawhis extension, why continue keep the coatrider holding the team back?
how different wouldve been had the spurs got rid of parker and ginoboli after spurs wcf exit, instead continue to hold onto them for another year....or even getting rid of them b4 kawhis trade trying to persuade him to stay, but no... i guess thats where patfo loyalty goes to, to the fkn vets who had nothing else to offer when the championship window is now kawhi moving forward...
think about it after the t rade, the spurs were going to keep ginoboli and parker for 1more year but due to money and role, didnt keep...pretty much sums it up about patfo loyalty to its favorites even when they know a championship window is there with kawhi, but would rather go with their bull culture
Last edited by TDMVPDPOY; 10-24-2018 at 08:34 PM.
Agree. Jackass pop too dumb to know.
popa and his crew culture, keeping LMA happy whey his only been here 1yr, giving pau a loyalty contract with only 1yr service with the spurs
while kawhi gets the boot...why didnt they try to make him happy by clearing the roster of coatriders/deadbeats or guys he has no chemistry with...lol culture
dont talk about spurs culture, when u continue to keep a kent who tried cucking team mates wives...fck that culture
kawhi looks damn fkn good this year, could possibly win dpoy and mvp in the same year...
I remember they lost a game to an awful Knicks team that they should have won and I remember a few posters saying it was going to cost them and it did. That might have been literally that game that made the difference in the standings. Still there was no reason to lose that Clippers series after they had lead alot of the series. They got killed repeatedly on a high double pick with DJ/Blake that Pop never came up with answer for.
Last edited by therealtruth; 10-25-2018 at 12:10 AM.
Yeah. I don't think TD21 is wrong about fatigue factoring in. But teams power through that fatigue to win B2B les. If they were healthy, I think they would have found a way to get it done. LAC was just a bad match-up at the exact wrong time.
Yeah, Dannys brick laying and overrated D of the last 3 or so years really helped a lot...especially when Kawhitter went down against GSW
smartest guy on the forum tbh...not being sarcastic
If you don't have the legs to go 4 rounds, everything else is essentially minutia.
Even if energized and healthy, I don't think they had enough. Parker was virtually finished and Ginobili, after a strong start, faded badly.
Again I hear you. I think they do have it, though. They certainly had enough to beat Houston, who was a one-man team (with that man playing the same position as the Spurs' best perimeter defenders). Golden State is definitely the hump, but the Spurs still had their number back then.
I honestly consider the LAC series to be pretty similar to the DAL series the year before. In an alternate timeline where SA loses that series due to a key injury, I can totally imagine Bizzaro-you or some other alternate poster arguing that that injury meant nothing and SA just didn't have the legs to keep going.
I have to agree with TD 21 on this one, and he is right that Pop stated they were really worn out. It wasn't just that series.
That year, the injuries did them in... not just at the end, in the series missing Tiago. The year had really worn out Timmy and Manu, but Manu especially.
They went through an awful December month with both Kawhi and Tony getting injured (the hand ligament on Kiwi remember). They had I think the only losing month (Dec. 2014) in records of the Tim era... it was so striking that I remember that being said from a broadcast. They had the triple OT games against Memphis and Portland. I watched both those games. I remember being amazed at how great Timmy looked in his old age, and how much the fire was still burning. He surprised me again with some amazing games in the playoffs against the Clippers but the one player that year that had the determination to win it all was Timmy Duncan. I think that was Timmy's last amazing year, next season his other knee gave up and that was the end since they needed a healthy Tim to get past OKC (that was clear).
Anyways, Manu was run down that Dec. and never quite regained himself. Tony's decline speeded up, he was really awful that year, there is no other way to put it mildly. He suffered from hamstring issues all year and it was the beginning of the end for him as an elite player (although I am sure some fans would point to his health issues/decline starting sooner)... but really Tony never looked well that year. They lost some games they shouldn't have. I remember them struggling in the RRT too.
Kawhi was having his first season as "the man" and him not being healthy in the preseason and through that Dec. took a toll in chemistry, adjusting to the system centered around him and in general he wasn't that year the MVP we have come to know after.
The Clippers series was so close that MVP Kawhi would have for sure taken over, but he struggled some games. Tony struggled mightily as he was clearly having a bad year hampered by recurring injuries. Worse, Paddy and Marco were insanely hot shooting that series but were still losing you games bc both of them together were putting together their own version of the spectacle in worse defense in the history of the Spurs similar to what we are witnessing this season, as they both let Austin Rivers kill them repeatedly making momentum plays.
I mean you are en led to being a homer... but aside from Timmy's greatness that team had too many issues, too many guys playing subpar, whether worn out (Manu), injured (Tiago), struggling being the Man (Kawhi), sucking (Tony) and just being awful defensively (Marco and Patty) to win it all.
The year after, having Kawhi in a more dominant form and Lamarcus was the one year that I really thought was going to be the one to ring again, but Timmy's knee gave up and that was really the end.
The Pau era is disgraceful, no other way to put it. He made me miss Tim in every way. Tim never looked like he didn't give a on the court. He looked hobbled, he moved slowly at times, he struggled finishing, his percentages went down. One could tell it was Timmy's last rodeo, but he never ever looked lazy like Pau looks at times... anyways, I am ranting.
agreed.
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