Keep telling that to yourself if it makes you feel better................Im sure Pop has told them to save their last gear......to go all out now is pointless. Pop has always said to win the championship you have to win the best of 7 against all opponents and it doesnt matter if its at home or on the road.
Spurs have been there and done that. Everyone please calm down. Most of the teams the Spurs have played in the last two weeks are going BALLS OUT on the court. The Spurs.......meh??
...............Im sure Pop has told them to save their last gear......to go all out now is pointless. Pop has always said to win the championship you have to win the best of 7 against all opponents and it doesnt matter if its at home or on the road.
Spurs have been there and done that. Everyone please calm down. Most of the teams the Spurs have played in the last two weeks are going BALLS OUT on the court. The Spurs.......meh??
I approve of this message. I'm sick of reading about everyone throwing in the towel. Inexperienced 'fans'. Go figure.
Very true. Alot of Spur fans are on him, quite a bit. However I will not say anythying until the after the playoffs. Becasue I believe Tim can turn it on for the PO's. I think he is semi coasting and does not want to exhaust himself. I do not know if this is wishful thinking, but I actually believe that is what he is doing. Besides all that 4 championships is more than what anybody could of asked from Tim I think.
Whether or not the Spurs as a team have other gears to hit in the PO doesnt have any bearing on whether or not Im going to watch and enjoy this playoffs. Pointless to argue about gears and stepping up now, just wait a week, sit back, grab a few beers and enjoy playoff Spurs ball as long as it lasts. After it's over we can argue the results and causes. All I know is I'm not counting out a 3 in five year champion no matter what seed they are or how they finish the regular season.
It sounds plausible, but 'll start to believe it's true the first time the Spurs make a big comeback in the playoffs. So far they've put one complete game performance together in the past month and have had three impressive runs outside of that to seal games. Not really confidence-inspiring in my book. Pop had the same laissez-faire at ude in 2006, and that didn't work out too well for the team.
Go Spurs Go!!! Win that fifth ring woohoo!!!
I like this thread.
I believe that they have been pacing themselves to a certain extent this season. I do think they've also had some bad games where they didn't play to their ability.
But as others have said, to count out this team is foolish. This is the first time Duncan has had almost the same cast of characters to try to repeat with. I put a lot of stock in that experience. Duncan is a warrior, he will fight for his fifth.
As always in the Playoffs, we need the team healthy. There are no back-to-backs, which certainly helps an older team. Everyone starts equal at 0-0. No matter what position they start in it's going to be the toughest road Duncan has faced to get out of the West. I believe he can do it. As strong as the West looks, only one team has Championship blood. Believe.
The Spurs have nothing to prove in the regular season. These are veterans with rings. They don't need confidence boosts from regular season wins. They have a spot in the playoffs and the only thing that matters is their health. Pop knows this. The players know this.
Sad thing is the Spurs could run the table during the playoffs, then follow the exact same pattern for the 08/09 regular season, and this time next year Spurs fans would still be ing and whining about regular season losses and how the Spurs have no chance at a le because they're playing like crap.
Never underestimate the heart of a Champion.
If that happens, as foolish as it sounds, I will be the first to post and say I was wrong...
You better gottdayummit!!!!
They could be fine...or what we see could be what we will get in the playoffs. At this point, I think it's 50/50. We'll just have to wait and find out.
dont underestimate what happens when your body gets old.
They have been up and down all season, and now they are down. Will they viagrate themselves in time for the playoffs, or will they go down in dysfunctional flames? We'll just have to wait and see . . .
I don't think Pop told the players to save them self, but i do think that he's saving them................Im sure Pop has told them to save their last gear......to go all out now is pointless. Pop has always said to win the championship you have to win the best of 7 against all opponents and it doesnt matter if its at home or on the road.
Spurs have been there and done that. Everyone please calm down. Most of the teams the Spurs have played in the last two weeks are going BALLS OUT on the court. The Spurs.......meh??
If yesterday game'd have been in the playoffs Manu'd have played, Tony wouldn't have stayed in the bench for 8 minutes in the 2nd and Pop'd have never put a lineup of JV, MM, Finley, Udoka and Oberto. I mean what the is that!? All of the teams here in the Argie league would have kick that lineup's ass.
I think we're going to be OK. I don't see us losing in the playoffs against any west team other than the Lakers (and even against them i think that the Spurs are favorites).
I don't buy it.
The past seasons when the Silver & Black have brought home the hardware, they were kicking butt at the end of the season.
This talk about them "saving themselves" for the playoffs is wishful thinking.
I doubt the Spurs don't care about how being blown out by top teams these past weeks.
They know damn well it's very poor preparation for the playoffs, no momentum, no confidence, no nothing.
They simply aren't imposing their will on the games and getting the Ws. They don't seem to have any idea of how a game will progress and finish. No idea at all. They actually have looked pathetic, repeatedly.
If there were a switch, they would have hit it a couple times recently.
Of course, I really hope I'm wrong.
Last edited by boutons_; 04-14-2008 at 03:53 PM.
Yeah, I don't buy the notion that people who are concerned about the Spurs recent play and their chances in the playoffs are somehow uneducated or new fans who don't understand Spurs basketball. It's quite reasonable, I think, to have some concerns about their play despite the championship pedigree that we've all watched them develop. In fact, the reason that some are justifiably concerned is that this recent stretch of play doesn't look anything like past teams that have won les.
Like I say, my inclination is to think that the Spurs just don't have the juice this year. I'd defy anyone to call me an uneducated fan, but if you choose to believe that, I suppose that I can't do anything to change that.
With my doubts comes the observation that Pop is handling things very oddly for someone who would normally be flipping out about the way this team is playing at this juncture. Pop undoubtedly knows more about the situation than I do and his calm in the midst of these recent games is both surprising and might be reassuring (if it's not an admission that his team just isn't very good).
What's interesting is that the Spurs are pretty much sticking to form in the championship years. The 1999 team was playing incredibly good basketball the whole season and just steamrolled into the playoffs, but that team is the exception. Even if the Spurs split the next two their numbers look similar to all the other championship seasons, especially the teams with this core.
Most optimistic record to end the regular season:
2008 11-4
2007 25-6
2005 9-3
2003 12-2
1999 12-1
Record over final 5 games of regular season:
2008 2-3
2007 2-3 (lost last 3)
2005 2-3 (preceded by a loss and back to back 2OT wins)
2003 3-2 (dropped 2 of last 3 after 11 game winning streak)
1999 5-0
WERD...and don't forget that the Spurs were .4 and a stupid foul away from probably winning 5 les in a row...they are still a dynasty, though...no other team has won as much over the past decade...the Lakers come close, but the Spurs are still the top dog overall. They're the champs until they lose 4 out of 7 in the playoffs. Never forget that.
I think alot of it has to do with Pop (As Timvp mentioned in GT)
I'm surprised Pop has busted a vein in his forehead yet. This leads me to believe, to some extent, that these loses were coerced.
My brother made a good point the other night. When we played Phoenix, we played well during the 1st half. We proved to ourselves, that we could be effecient on both ends of the floor. Our set plays were pretty effective. After which they went to a one-on-one format, which the Spurs usually don't do well.
It's as if Pop is trying to keep other teams from getting a good feel for as to what we might run during the playoffs. The Spurs rarely go into a one-on-one mode offensively, especially when their shots are not falling. It's either been 4 down, or motion.
As well, I can easily see Pop wanting the team to exhaust the majority of their energy during the playoffs. Pop has already said seeding is a major factor. If that's the case, why let your opponent get any type of edge. The games aren't significant at this point other than to keep your players in game shape.
If we can get Manu and Brent (Maybe Rob) healthy, I think we'll be just fine.
"2008 11-4
2007 25-6
2005 9-3
2003 12-2
1999 12-1"
2004 was a super strong finish,
season ended with 10+ win streak,
swept the Hubie Grizz,
up 2-0 vs Lakers, then ...
I wouldn't put a lot of stock into that sort of comparison. The Spurs tanked the last 3 games in 2007 because their seeding was basically set. The same was true in 2003 (certainly, they didn't play the last game of that regular season to win ). And in 2005, the Spurs were set as the #2 seed and weren't going to catch Phoenix for #1 while trying to incorporate Tim Duncan back into things during that stretch. By comparison, in 1999, the Spurs were playing their guts out to get the #1 seed over Utah and had to win through to the last night of the regular season to accomplish that.
During those runs, the only time I can really remember the Spurs getting blown out by playoff teams this late in the season is 2005, when they played @ Dallas and @ Denver without Timmy.
I hope I am wrong but I don't buy the I-do-not-care-about-seeds CIA Pop idea. Indeed, you want to build up confidence before playoffs start. Being beaten up repeatedly does not do that. It gives you a bad habit and you cannot just "turn the switch on".
I just hope that Manu, Tim and Co get back into shape and that the Spurs manage to win the first PO round. Then maybe things will look different.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
