Just pains me to watch Duncan against Aldridge

[Brunodf]

Aldridge is like a poor man's 2011 Finals Dirk (that's actually a compliment to Aldridge).

Aldridge can rebound though

[heyheymymy]

I would love to see Duncan join LeBron to get his 5th ring.

ಠ_ಠ

[TampaDude]

The Blazers are fool's gold, just like they always are.

Spurs and Pacers in the Finals.

[r0drig0lac]

It's amazing that Duncan is even in the conversation against Aldridge. He's 37. You know what Shaq was doing at 37? Struggling to walk up the court for the Celtics.

word

[Josh810]

Just pains me to read these threads

[TheGoldStandard]

The Blazers are fool's gold, just like they always are.

Spurs and Pacers in the Finals.

If the Blazers stay like this they will be a tough out but im expecting an injury bug to strike soon

[spurseye]

Watch game 1 western conf finals vs Memphis... Spurs have another Level of defensive intensity that we likely won't see until playoffs. I do however think having home court is critical this year. I could see Spurs killing the will of the Blazers in the first ten minutes of a series @ home tbh

[boutons_deux]

"Spurs have another Level of defensive intensity that we likely won't see until playoffs"

OKC's defense in 2nd half vs Hou a couple nights ago astonished me. lockdown for the entire half.

[Horse]

It's not like anyone else can defend that er. But relying on jumpshots will always be your downfall. Couple yrs ago okc got hot against us but then cooled off against miami. Things change come playoff time.

[DMC]

aldridge shoots the same damn jumper in the same damn spot 1000x times. beyond annoying to watch. but kudos

Tim does the same thing, except he misses. He used to shoot the same bank shot from the same damn spot. Dirk does the same thing. It's called having a winning recipe and using it consistently and getting consistent results. Portland is playing within themselves, not trying to do things they cannot do, like Tim trying to run the point.

[sexinthatsx]

For one, Lamarcus Aldrige doesn't shoot stupid 3's like he did last year when he drifted beyond the arc. He has been posting up way more often and getting to the basket this year as opposed to previous years it seems, but is still soft. Furthermore, as good as Portland looks right now, I doubt Lamarcus Aldrige can sustain this level of play towards the end of the season / postseason when his ridiculously hard fadeaway jumpers stop falling.

[maverick1948]

We are missing Tiago and Danny and you people are writing us off? Dang. Down 2 starters and Bonner gets a head butt and nose fractured. 2 bigs and one of the best wing defenders we have. Signature win for Portland? No a chance. At the 1/2 way mark, we need to play .500 ball to have a playoff spot. 52 or 53 wins will get us there. 22 of the next 43 would not be bad. Pop is never going to play to win against the better teams this early in the season and not until the playoffs does he get after them.

On top of all that, Pop did not get tossed for no reason. LA was getting by with offensive fouls on every shot attempt he took. He was angry because Diaw was doing a heck of a job on Alridge and was not getting calls.

Splitter - Aldridge
Green - Matthews

Look at where we gave up the points late in the game.

[Skull-1]

Right, our le window was closed and we just made the Finals last year. Give me a freaking break. Many posters on this site lack common sense.

We we got lucky. You're just blind because you're a homer. We are done. Have been since Bruce left really....

[Skull-1]

"Spurs have another Level of defensive intensity that we likely won't see until playoffs"

OKC's defense in 2nd half vs Hou a couple nights ago astonished me. lockdown for the entire half.

Our defense hasn't been a true Spurs defense in years. Last year was at least an attempt to get back to it but we didn't. This year is worse.

[Kidd K]

Duncan's nearly 38. Most bigs are completely done before the point he's at. How well do you seriously expect him to play against arguably the best PF in the league right now? Duncan's level of play last year was insane. . .it was nearly unheard of for a player that old to put up those kinds of numbers. Especially in today's NBA.

Duncan isn't done or anything, you just need to dial back what you should expect anymore. He can still get it done, he just can't be relied on to carry the team on both ends or anything. Some nights he'll be amazing, some nights he's gonna need some help. That's what you get with an aging star. I'd like it if he'd play better but you need to have realistic expectations too. He ain't gonna single cover and lock down Aldridge by himself.

[Pako]

We are missing Tiago and Danny and you people are writing us off? Dang. Down 2 starters and Bonner gets a head butt and nose fractured. 2 bigs and one of the best wing defenders we have. Signature win for Portland? No a chance. At the 1/2 way mark, we need to play .500 ball to have a playoff spot. 52 or 53 wins will get us there. 22 of the next 43 would not be bad. Pop is never going to play to win against the better teams this early in the season and not until the playoffs does he get after them.

On top of all that, Pop did not get tossed for no reason. LA was getting by with offensive fouls on every shot attempt he took. He was angry because Diaw was doing a heck of a job on Alridge and was not getting calls.

Splitter - Aldridge
Green - Matthews

Look at where we gave up the points late in the game.

This..

[superjames1992]

We we got lucky. You're just blind because you're a homer. We are done. Have been since Bruce left really....

LOL.

[hitmantb]

Duncan's nearly 38. Most bigs are completely done before the point he's at. How well do you seriously expect him to play against arguably the best PF in the league right now? Duncan's level of play last year was insane. . .it was nearly unheard of for a player that old to put up those kinds of numbers. Especially in today's NBA.

Duncan isn't done or anything, you just need to dial back what you should expect anymore. He can still get it done, he just can't be relied on to carry the team on both ends or anything. Some nights he'll be amazing, some nights he's gonna need some help. That's what you get with an aging star. I'd like it if he'd play better but you need to have realistic expectations too. He ain't gonna single cover and lock down Aldridge by himself.

Malone was much stronger than Duncan at same age, and that was against prime Duncan/Shaq.

Not expecting anyone to shut down Aldridge, just that Duncan must do damage of his own.

Duncan is my favorite player of all time, and no it is not fair, but if this is all he has the Spurs are done. I just really envy Robinson (my second favorite player of all time) who had 2003 Duncan to carry him to story book ending. Ahhhhhhhhh game 6, if only LeBron didn't have fate on his side . . .

[james evans]

It feels like yesterday when I was watching Duncan against Malone/Barkley, what goes around comes around.

No matter what anyone else do on this team, Duncan is the foundation and that foundation is just not good enough for a le anymore. I would love to see Duncan join LeBron to get his 5th ring.

wtf?

[Skull-1]

wtf?

Had to be a troll. Lol

[look_at_g_shred]

I would love to see Duncan join LeBron to get his 5th ring.

I'm just gonna stop here....

[Joseph Kony]

Splitter has done a solid job on aldridge the last couple years. Probably plays him better than anyone else does In the nba. He was missed there tonight and could of possibly slowed him down a bit

This. Splitter is one of the most underrated defensive players in the NBA, he is long and quick enough to guard players like Aldridge without getting blown by or shot over