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Agreed with pretty much everything until this. The Lakers match up very well with the Spurs.
Detroit. They really didn't have "stars."
Agreed with pretty much everything until this. The Lakers match up very well with the Spurs.
Or Duncan.
It's not just that---
Bonner is a mediocre player--
what skill does he have? he can hit a wide open 3-- that's it.
He can't defend well. He's not a great rebounder. He's not a great shot blocker so he's doesn't help Tim defend in the paint.
Any team that has two quality bigs can take advantage of him.
He can't guard Bynum or Gasol to save his life.
He can't guard West.
He can't protect the rim or shot block. He doesn't rebound.
And he's not that productive on offense, even in the way that he does score -- wide open 3s.
So long as Bonner is one of our starters, a starting big, the Spurs have no chance at winning advancing to the WCF.
He is the weakest link because he can't defend the paint, doesn't rebound well enough, doesn't rotate well enough , and can't guard the quality 4s or 5s on the other good teams in the West.
We needed Mutombo or Alonzo Morning or some legitimate big (preferably younger obviously if available) who can defend the paint and rebound.
Unless or until that happens, our record is an illusion. We won't get to the Western Conference Finals.
I love the Spurs. I am still going to keep cheering for them, but that's reality and I think a lot of people here know it. We are a second tier team without a quality second big.
Tim did it in 03 for sure.
As Jeff Van Gundy says, out of Tony, Manu and Timmy, Timmy is the only sure HOFer right now.
Manu and Tony have outside shots at making it, but they have serious work to do and at best it's 50-50 and probably the odds aren't that good.
However, that doesn't mean that we can get by with Bonner posing as our second big this year. This year, we can't get away with that.
Bonner is no Robert Horry. He's not even a Rasho Nesterovich or Nazr Mohammed!
He just doesn't protect the rim well enough, rotate well enough, rebound well enough, he's too slow, he's not tall enough, and he can't make up for it in the ways that Robert Horry did who was a much better team defender!!!
Bonner is good as a player off the bench. Not as a starting big for a team that wants to a championship.
That's wonderful that you all keep mentioning that Manu was injured in the playoffs while neglecting to mention that both Bynum and Ariza were out for the Lakers. At least Manu played all 5 games.
Now, the Spur's problem against the Lakers is defending their front court. Whomever Duncan ISN'T guarding is basically going to have a field day posting up Bonner and Thomas who are woefully undersized to defend 7ft bigs. An Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol baby hook 3-4 ft from the rim is a very high percentage look. I will take that shot over Kobe jacking up a contested jumper any day of the week. The Lakers scored 56/111 pts in the paint, those shots are invariably easier to make than long range jumpers that the Spurs took.
The Spurs shot 57% from the field which most of you would have to agree is an extremely good percentage for them. And they only won by 1pt on a fluke Derek Fisher foul at the last second.
If this was last year's Laker team in the playoffs against your current team you would likely win as your offense is good enough now to have made the difference. But you're not facing last year's Lakers.
If it was for the NBA only I would agree but Manu has a pretty good chance of being there based on his all of his international accomplishments.As Jeff Van Gundy says, out of Tony, Manu and Timmy, Timmy is the only sure HOFer right now.
Manu and Tony have outside shots at making it, but they have serious work to do and at best it's 50-50 and probably the odds aren't that good.
Great take Timvp and whottt.I rewatched the game and this kid wasn't even fazed that he made that shot. He didn't hesitate when he was knocking down that free throw either. He wanted that 3 shot, and he wanted to be the guy taking the FT, and it seemed first nature to him. Sometimes you can tell players are faking it in that situation...faking confidence and wanting the ball, especially young players...not so with him, in fact he seems to have more of that sort of swagger than some star players with a rep for burning to win.
He's impressive and I'd tip my hat to the Spurs for landing what appears to be a very clutch player, if they hadn't already said they didn't know he was like that. Plus it's still early..
Definitely seems to be a case of them getting more than they expected, and hopefully it'll hold up in the playoffs.
I've seen some Spur fans comparing him to Mario Elie and while I don't agree with that from a skill set perspective, I do agree that he has Mario's at ude. Game wise he's got a clean game and doesn't try to do more than he's capable of, and it's also pretty obvious that he's got a lot more going on upstairs than the typical NBA player. He plays Barry's kind of fill in the spaces game(minus the great passing), but he's got much more of an edge to him at ude wise. I don't want to jinx him by saying he's Jack reincarnated, but damned if the way he carried himself in that game wasn't impressive. He was the difference in winning and losing in a Spurs Lakers game. It was much more impressive watching the sequence the second time around...he just about that won that game all on his own while the rest of the team was losing confidence. He definitely reigned on Kobe's parade and ruined his victory script
One thing I just saw recently that is completely awesome...he and Bonner rank 1-2 in the NBA in 3 shooting...that combined with the star talent of Parker, Manu and Duncan is one of an offensive unit...there's nowhere for NBA defenders to hide with that group on the floor together.
They will create problems for any NBA defense and I don't think the Lakers can match up with very well defensively when it comes down to it. Ariza can't guard any of them...and Kobe's never exactly been a Manu stopper himself, and Parker is a total mismatch for D-Fish. I think they'll matchup well with the Lakers all season. I thought they matched up well with them last year it's just that Manu was injured. I didn't expect Bonner and Mason to help them matchup even better with LA, and they just might. Hopefully some of Mason's edge will rub off on Bonner...and hopefully they'll keep knocking down those threes at that kind of clip all season long.
I'll see your Bynum and Ariza, and raise you a healthy Manu, a George Hill, and Roger F'in Mason.
Are you talking about the " Huevosdance " 3?
I was referring to the one he hit from the right corner, on an inbound play
And a rejuvenated Bonner in place of Robert "Dinosaur" Horry.
This guy doesn't know Spurs basketball..
A healthy Manu is 10 times the player of both Bynum and Ariza combined..
Bottomline as Whott pointed out, Lakers is a one-star team. Once Kobe raped another girl, the season is gone..
Unless you count the Finals MVP, the multiple NBA DPOY multiple rebounding and blocked shots champ, and the 4 of them that made the All Star Game the following season(plus Okur who went on to make one also)....5 All Star Caliber players on the same team...
And Billups, Wallace and Wallace have all been MVP candidates at one point or another in their careers.
Ben Wallace will be in the Hall Of Fame most likely too...
So it's probably a safe bet to say they had more stars than just about any team to win a championship...
Duncan had a HOF'er MVP caliber bigman(and another one who is borderline), the most accurate 3 point shooter in NBA history, a top 5 all time perimeter defender who made many many consecutive all NBA D teams(and lead the NBA in 3 shooting), a finals MVP, one of only two players to win an Olympic Gold Medal, NBA le and Euroleague ke, and along with all those achievements, a couple of guys that have a better than average shot at making the Hall Of Fame....
That team actually 3 NBA 3 point champs on it...that might be a record...
And I didn't even mention Jack, who played a pretty important role and has become an borderline All Star caliber player himself.
I'd rather you guys have just attacked Hakeem being a one star champion because he had guys like Sam Cassell who went on to be an All Star, Otis Smith who was All NBA at one point and a 20-10 player at least once...not to mention all those clutch shooters....
Anyway, I'd rather you guys have just attacked Hakeem than actually mention other teams that are one star champions, as that totally undermined the argument I was making towards the Laker fan...
Exactly whose side are you guys on?
In that case I retract everything until that...and leave that
well, if a team win it all, there will for sure be a finals MVP in this team, doesn't mean he's a star by himself.
When your team is so ahead of any other in the RS, you've got to be involved in the MVP race, it's still a team thing for the Detroit. who was in this team on the same level as KB, LBJ, CP3, Howard, Duncan, O'Neal.....
same thing for the ASG: the pistons were so great as a team, that they deserved severals all stars, but it doesn't mean that they were by themselves: where are all these all-stars now ?
Ben Wallace being a HOFer would be a disgrace.
Detroit had 5 good players, a great team chemistry, but any superstar. all the individual awards they had or were involved in was due to their excellence as a team.
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