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This series is over, kids. Grab your tackle boxes. The Spurs aren't winning the next game if they could only win by one point at home, because they will not shoot 12 more free throws than the Mavs in Dallas. They will not survive one of their patented cold spells if they can't make stops, and there's one coming in the next two games. They can't win a series if they let Devin Harris shoot 60 percent. The kid has a range of about 12 feet and so far hasn't been forced to shoot at the edge of his range.
By the way, did I mention that they can't make stops? Go to church now and light a candle for more individual heroics because the team philosophy that won 63 regular season games is out the window. One of the deepest teams in the league is now looking severely overmatched. That beautiful championship defense that you saw last year and at the end of the Sacramento series is a fading memory now. What you are looking at in silver and black is now the 2005 Phoenix Suns. AJ is just following the blueprint, and it's working perfectly. Amare got the big block on Duncan tonight to keep the team on life support in the series. The only thing this team is locking down is airline reservations on "1-2-3-Cancun".
I've been ready all year for the Spurs to show the Mavericks and their fans what real defense is. Unfortunately, I never expected the coach to decide to leave a large chunk of it sitting on the bench for the whole game. How could anyone be surprised that when you remove the shot blockers from the defense that funnels dribblers to the shot blockers that you just end up with dribblers going right to the basket again and again? How do you expect to win when you have all of your defensive liabilities on the floor at once? The only way you make up for that on the other end is if you are allowed to play with more than one basketball, and don't expect David Stern to discuss that rule change until the off season.
I'm sorry, but didn't this team win 63 games this year? Do they really need to go to such drastic lenghts to match up with a team that they pretty much handled this year? The Spurs might even be able to beat the Mavericks at the Mavericks style of basketball, but not with this lineup. When you need your big three guys to have great nights just to eke out a win you are in deep shinola.
Let's put it this way: If I got in a time machine, travelled to last month and read you timmy's stats for the game tonight, how many points do you think the Spurs would have won by? I would guess that the general consensus would be 15-20. You guys wouldn't believe me though, because I'd also tell you that Rasho and Nazr would combine for one minute of playing time in games three four and five, and that's just insane.
[buck harvey ending]Isn't it?[/buck harvey ending]
I hope this makes sense. I haven't been sleeping much this week. I have to force myself to watch the games, because it's so obvious what's going to happen as soon as I see the starting lineup. Dallas knows that they are the better team when the Spurs play this lineup. They know they are going to win this series and they are going to do it by double digits and have the weekend off.
Premature ejaculation forum.
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The boat got lighter.
great thread. you are probably the only spurs fan who isnt a homer. you guys won today and some fans here are saying pop is a genius and the refs did a great job.
There is a difference between being a homer and believing your team can go on the road and win a game where they played 2 incredibly close games earlier in this series. It's not like the Mavs have been blowing us out. Both teams have been playing well. The score could be 3-2 Spurs right now for what it's worth retrospectively.
I know the Spurs have a tough game ahead of them, but they are not out of this yet.
Oh ye of little faith, remember I posted before that injuries change series? Well, there's a series-changing injury that a Dallas player is trying to hide that if the Spurs take advantage of, could turn this series on it's heals.
That's right, I'm talking about you Dirk.
Dude, you've called me a homer a dozen times, so if you agree with something I wrote you probably just misunderstood it.
you really can't say much until the series is over...seriously you make good points, but what will you say if the Spurs do come back and take it to 7... as a spurs fan just believe your team could do it...I mean look @ the Kings they thought they were actually gonna beat the spurs....but we all know that is bull ...yet their fans were screaming for every shot made.....no matter what, believe in these guys...if not don't call yourself a Spurs or a sports fan for that matter!
HEY! Change the THread's TOPIC...IT BRINGS BAD BOOJU
I don't like seeing it within my field of vision.
I will say, "Boy, it's a good thing the Spurs played some defense and got all those rebounds." I'm certainly not going to be upset to see the Spurs win this series. I live for the Mark Cuban season ending frown every year. The Spurs are more than capable of dominating the next two games, but I don't think they can do it with nobody but Timmy guarding the paint. I'd be really surprised if anyone on this board thought both centers would be completely phased out of the rotation, and I'm shocked that some of you don't recognize how completely different the team is when they can't get stops. It's not like they aren't making the effort on the defensive end, but the learning curve is pretty steep having to completely change your game while going against a pretty decent team that gets incredible respect from officiating crews in their own building. What the do I know? Nick Van Exel got his ten minutes tonight. Maybe that's all there is to it. I just don't understand how a team with a healthy Tim Duncan feels it has to adjust to anyone else in order to win.
I think your absolutely right. If the Spurs try and play small-ball in Dallas they will lose.
True, I think Pop is a fool for adjusting to AJ instead of the other way around. But we have another great chance on Friday to extend this series. If we play like we played the whole 4th quarter, and Manu is aggressive and goes after loose balls, makes steals and forces jumpballs when he can, then I believe we'll win the game. Just take it one game at a time, one quarter at a time, one possession at a time. I think the next game will be awesome.
Pop did what he had to do to survive this long, but cir stances change. It may be time for the Spurs to pull out the big-guns.
That's all I'm saying. Take the team the way they've been playing all year and suddenly add 10-15 points to Timmy's line. I absolutely believe the team can win, but having Finley as your starting power forward just drives me nuts.
You have to morph to beat your opponent. It's all about matchups. How would you matchup with Dirk if you play Nazr or Rasho?
Manu is the king of winning time, but you gotta slow somebody down eventually. It's insane watching the Spurs go up 10 and thinking "it'll be back to three in about a minute". You have to get some cushion to win a game 5 on 8, and believe me, the Spurs will be playing 5 on 8 Friday.
View, does the fact that the Spurs lost those two games in Dallas on bogus calls lose itself to you?
I've been watching game film, and Dirk can't drive to the right, his right-ankle is done after half-time. So Tim Duncan can easily guard either Dirk or Stackhouse, and cheat on D. That would put either Rasho or Nazr on Dallas big-men and effectively close many of the driving lanes in the middle. It would be a bold move, but I figure what do the Spurs have to lose?
You don't have to morph to beat an inferior opponent. A good team says "this is what I do, try to stop it."
To answer your question, you match up Bowen on Dirk, just like you did when Dirk went 3-13 in the regular season win where Rasho and Nazr still managed to combine for 16 points and 12 rebounds in a game where Duncan WASN'T dominating everybody that tried to defend him. You have your centers keeping the offensive rebounders off the glass. You have your centers challenging shots inside the paint. You have your centers cover Dirk on occasion, knowing that Duncan and Bowen and Manu are there to roam and double and confuse him. In short, you play exactly the same way that kept you from losing three in a row the entire year. AJ abandoned his defensive philosophy after one loss because he doesn't have any faith in it, but he still has two seven footers in the game at almost all times. Dirk doesn't really play defense like a seven footer, so this matchup problem everyone keeps mentioning doesn't make sense. The Mavericks would not be scoring more points than they have if one of the centers were in there instead of Barry or Finley, and you'd have some quality guys coming in to fill the roles they've had all year.
What exactly does the term "5 on 8" mean to you? In order to take the officiating out of the game, you have to play well enough to keep it from being a factor. Going small and not playing defense is not the best way to keep that from happening. If you know ahead of time you are going to get mugged when you go down a certain street, you should probably make sure you are armed before you go there.
Defense has been a joke at both ends of the floor this series.
All that talk about the Mavs newfound "defensive mindset" is all hogwash.
Spurs have been ripping these guys a new one offensively but b/c we can't play defense for a damn they are ripping us right back.
i'm all for trying out the bigs to start the game and seeing what develops, but it's game 6 and a must win, if the spurs start out bad w/ the bigs then that is a bad move. so far we have gotten off to pretty decent starts w/ our small line-up...let's just try to finish these guys off however we can...play Beno atleast a few minutes....he's the type of player that would score a quiet 10-15 pts w/out anyone realizing it but spurs fans...that's what we need ...a little effort from everyone on the court not just the main 3 and 1 guy off the bench....
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