if there is such a thing as a good loss, this is it

[mexicanjunior]

Spurs playing VERY well offensively? yes. Ok. take that for something.

fify

The Spurs couldn't get a crucial defensive stop and secure a bigtime rebound to save their (playoff) lives.

[TD 21]

When the NBA starts awarding partial credit in the standings for not being blown out, I will enjoy losses as much as you. Until then, they are just a sign of a mediocre team finding more ways to beat themselves.

They can't pull out a close game against a credible team, can't come up with the big play or the big shot, they're a ing joke. This is why they're more than likely not going to win a round, even though they should be more than capable of doing so and often show flashes and glimpses of doing so. If you can't execute in close games, then you can't win in the playoffs, it's that simple.

I know this is a different team than the championship teams of yesteryear, but I'm still surprised at how terrible they are in the aforementioned situation, given what they have on their team and bench. It literally seems like all of the games that they should have lost last season that went their way, like it's all evening out this season. They just can't seem to break through.

[spursfaninla]

When the NBA starts awarding partial credit in the standings for not being blown out, I will enjoy losses as much as you. Until then, they are just a sign of a mediocre team finding more ways to beat themselves.

Get used to the Spurs not being le contenders; they will be a longshot next year by all odds. If you can't enjoy a good game, you will not be able to enjoy much spurs basketball the next 5 years.

[mexicanjunior]

Get used to the Spurs not being le If you can't enjoy a good game, you will not be able to enjoy much spurs basketball the next 5 years.

If enjoying Spurs basketball = fawning over losses to good teams...I agree with your assessment.

[Brazil]

Worst loss of the season

We had that game and TOs and boards killed us and we have NO legs for tomorrow

^this. This loss means +2 in the loss column

[Muser]

Well, not sure who you think our best rebounder is, but I think he was on the floor then, his name starts with a T.

McDyess had 10 rebounds in 16 minutes, Duncan had 13 in 41 minutes, Bonner had 6 in 32 minutes.

[Budkin]

i don't get it.

Spurs fans are crazy. Most feel only a championship makes a success because of your pedigree and our past success. I understand that.

We were under-performing all year, losing (usually not close) against top teams. Injured most of the year. Did not integrate rj well.

Then we lost one of the big 3 for the rest of the regular season. Chance of recovery for le: 0.

So, let me give you a clue. Enjoy not the wins, but just the spurs playing well. Sure, i was disapointed that the spurs lost, but the fact they played so well has me positive for the rest of the season, and they will play hard in the playoffs too.

+1000

[spursfaninla]

If enjoying Spurs basketball = fawning over losses to good teams...I agree with your assessment.

I think you enjoy the drama of losing actually. You will come on here, complain and decompress, not about a legitimate letdown from a championship hope year, but about one, stupid regular season loss when ONE OF THE BIG THREE IS OUT AND WE HAVE NO BUSINESS BEATING A TOP 5 TEAM TODAY ANYWAY.

BEING IN A GAME WITHOUT TP AGAINST A TOP 5 TEAM THAT IS AT HOME IS A VICTORY. Otherwise, there might not be any victories for you the rest of the season and stop watching.

Oh yeah, I forgot, you like to come in here to blame the coach and complain, and blame role players that got too many minutes, when the savior was a rookie player on the bench. sorry, let me get out of your way. complain away.

[mexicanjunior]

I think you enjoy the drama of losing actually. You will come on here, complain and decompress, not about a legitimate letdown from a championship hope year, but about one, stupid regular season loss when ONE OF THE BIG THREE IS OUT AND WE HAVE NO BUSINESS BEATING A TOP 5 TEAM TODAY ANYWAY.

BEING IN A GAME WITHOUT TP AGAINST A TOP 5 TEAM THAT IS AT HOME IS A VICTORY. Otherwise, there might not be any victories for you the rest of the season and stop watching.

Oh yeah, I forgot, you like to come in here to blame the coach and complain, and blame role players that got too many minutes, when the savior was a rookie player on the bench. sorry, let me get out of your way. complain away.

I've complained plenty about the Spurs blowing a great year by Duncan with poor personnel decisions and an unwillingness to make a move before the deadline. I hate to break it to you but all the "stupid" regular season losses is what is causing the Spurs team as a whole to show why they are not contenders.

I know you like coming to the forum and throwing out "believe" schtick to try and make yourself feel better about Spurs losses but I'm afraid not everyone shares your love for moral victories. Enjoy your "participation" trophies, the Spurs have earned plenty this year.

[spursfaninla]

Spurs had injuries to TP and Manu for much of the year.

They made a big trade this summer.

They integrated and played a rookie and a sophmore in the regular rotation.

They have gotten much, much younger.

They added the best bigman on the market this summer.

You are fooling yourself if you think there was some magical deal that the Spurs could have made that would have landed the mythical athletic, scoring/defensive big, or a scoring/defending 3. It was not available for what we have.

Duncan had a great year, but sometimes injuries stuff up. Hakeem's last contending year with Houston with Barkley and Pippen was ed up when Barkley got injured. They would have contended that year too.

Other years we lost because of injuries. Manu has JUST gotten back from his injury fully.

Now TP is down.

What did you want? If they had everything PERFECT all year, this would still have failed b/c of the parker injury. It was not meant to be this year.

[TD 21]

Spurs had injuries to TP and Manu for much of the year.

They made a big trade this summer.

They integrated and played a rookie and a sophmore in the regular rotation.

They have gotten much, much younger.

They added the best bigman on the market this summer.

You are fooling yourself if you think there was some magical deal that the Spurs could have made that would have landed the mythical athletic, scoring/defensive big, or a scoring/defending 3. It was not available for what we have.

Duncan had a great year, but sometimes injuries stuff up. Hakeem's last contending year with Houston with Barkley and Pippen was ed up when Barkley got injured. They would have contended that year too.

Other years we lost because of injuries. Manu has JUST gotten back from his injury fully.

Now TP is down.

What did you want? If they had everything PERFECT all year, this would still have failed b/c of the parker injury. It was not meant to be this year.

I don't want to hear that . The entire league is dealing with injuries, many of them significantly more than the Spurs (supposedly one of the deepest teams in the league) have and they continue to win and why? At least in the case of the good teams, because they know how to pull out tight games down the stretch, something this team used to be good at. Even with all you said, think about it, if they're even .500 in these types of games this year, they're a top four seed in the West.

I'm sick and tired of people making excuses for this team. They should have a better record than they do (I don't have the stats at the moment, but I assume they still have the biggest gap between actual and expected record in the league) and the only reason they don't, aside from generally awful coaching, is because they beat themselves. It's either turnovers, or missing a wide open shot off a perfectly executed play, or not securing a rebound, or inexplicably blowing a defensive rotation, it's always something.

[mexicanjunior]

What did you want? If they had everything PERFECT all year, this would still have failed b/c of the parker injury. It was not meant to be this year.

Accepting failure because of injuries does not mean fans do not have the right to complain about losses that could have been wins if not for the individual performance of players and coaches.

Does the entire team and coach get a pass from criticism because 1 player is out?

Alot of teams are dealing with injuries and are overcoming them much more effectively than this team has...just look at the Cleveland game last week. Using Parker's injury as a crutch too write off obvious mistakes by the coach and bad performances by certain players is silly IMO.

Like I said though...enjoy your moral victories, who am I to take your pacifier away.

[spursfaninla]

enjoy your perpetual disappointment for the rest of the season (and the next 5+ years) and the opportunity to about it.

[mexicanjunior]

enjoy your perpetual disappointment for the rest of the season (and the next 5+ years) and the opportunity to about it.

I don't enjoy losses, I would much rather be here gloating about this team being in a position to contend for a le. That said, if losing now equates to giving this team an opportunity to improve for next year, I'm all for it.

What I won't do though is sit here and throw out "silver lining" BS and expect everyone to follow suit or have their "real fan" card revoked. Have fun rallying the troops and leading them over the cliff...

[spursfaninla]

I don't enjoy losses, I would much rather be here gloating about this team being in a position to contend for a le. That said, if losing now equates to giving this team an opportunity to improve for next year, I'm all for it.

What I won't do though is sit here and throw out "silver lining" BS and expect everyone to follow suit or have their "real fan" card revoked. Have fun rallying the troops and leading them over the cliff...

Losing NOW doesn't do . We would get a mediocre talent at best. TANKING A MONTH AGO WOULD ALSO BE POINTLESS.

But go ahead and doom and gloom it up. ohh, we should have tanked. Why oh why didn't we tank. Last time we tanked we got Tim. Damn. Should have tanked. Let's tank now! Thats a GREAT idea.

wow.

[angelbelow]

damn tough loss

[mexicanjunior]

Losing NOW doesn't do . We would get a mediocre talent at best. TANKING A MONTH AGO WOULD ALSO BE POINTLESS.

But go ahead and doom and gloom it up. ohh, we should have tanked. Why oh why didn't we tank. Last time we tanked we got Tim. Damn. Should have tanked. Let's tank now! Thats a GREAT idea.

wow.

ALL CAPS MAKES ME REALIZE YOU WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG!

[Capt Bringdown]

Best chance at this point to get back to championship contention is for us to miss the playoffs and see what we can get out of being in the lottery. We haven't improved, we can't beat good teams, we can't put together an effective lineup-this team is toast.

[Oh, Gee!!]

stfu--I thought the spurs won. I turned on MSNBC to watch the votes on health reform with the Spurs up by 4 and less than a minute (I think) remaining. I counted this one as a win. WTF?

[spursfaninla]

ALL CAPS MAKES ME REALIZE YOU WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG!

OTOH, that rolly smiley made me realize it was I that was wrong. My bad.

[spursfaninla]

Best chance at this point to get back to championship contention is for us to miss the playoffs and see what we can get out of being in the lottery. We haven't improved, we can't beat good teams, we can't put together an effective lineup-this team is toast.

not listening. lottery at number 19 is . being just out of the playoffs is non-regular rotation talent.

tanking now or a month ago would not make a dent in the young talent this team has. get over that.

We will need to be really bad all year to get real talent. you have to earn your lottery.

[santymrc]

Best chance at this point to get back to championship contention is for us to miss the playoffs and see what we can get out of being in the lottery. We haven't improved, we can't beat good teams, we can't put together an effective lineup-this team is toast.

Brainless post.

[Capt Bringdown]

We will need to be really bad all year to get real talent. you have to earn your lottery.

We can take whatever talent is available, bundle it up in a package and see what we can get. That's one option among others.

You seem to be complacent merely to be first-round cannon fodder, why not set your sites a little higher and start looking to the future?

There's no evidence that this team has even the slightest chance to contend, you have to earn that distinction.

It'd be nice to think that we could draw parallels between this year and previous year's squads, but it ain't happening. We're finished, therefore let the rebuilding begin.

[kaji157]

Good game? yes, Good loss? absolutely not, the worst possible scenario.

You stop, and think about it, you look at the game, at the boxscore, at the last quarter and the overtime, and you'll see Manu and Tim playing his asses off to make a score, running on defense, only to let Bonner box out no one, Bogans foul on every posession.

You think what Duncan and Ginobili can rescue from this game, about their talents? sure, they must be proud of that and their efforts, leading both by example and on the court. But lord, they must be feeling a lot of pressure by now, knowing that against top teams they are alone. Realising that what seemed a good group of players around them are actually a bunch that cannot help them win even when they both play at their best.

Did they make mistakes? Sure, but there was no one there helping them. Can i blame Manu for that late turnover? sure can. But he controlled the tempo of the Spurs pretty much all game long. Hill was scared, it was really obvious, he, Mason, Bogans and Jefferson had a VIP pass for a TD-Manu show for the 4th and overtime. Shame on the players when Bonner is the 3rd best player on today's Spurs team.

You see Manu quote, "this one was on me" sad as it sounds, he is taking responsability for the loss on his last turnover in regulation. Yet he shouldn't. Those guys (our leaders) are so classy that they take the blame for others sucking for little mistakes. Duncan saying Horford dominated him.. Well he had help when he looked around and that encourages you... Timmy? not so much to look forward...

What good can i take out from this game? Our leaders, they won't let us fall without a good fight. Be it on the PO or out of it, no team will swap us, not even the lakers.
What can i hope to be good about this game? That tomorrow when the other guys review the tape, realise the kind of people they have leading the team and go all out, play their best game of the season, and show them they have their backs. Be it a W or a L. But i am sure for now Tim and Manu need some signs that they are not alone. Or the load their shoulders will be unbareable.

I hope some of the other Spurs take notice and show up tomorrow.

[sabar]

I'll take the moral victory because that's this team's ceiling this season. Enough excuses on how we aren't playing as good as we can be, this is as good as we can be. You're silly if you're going down in flames to the lakeshow in round 1 still muttering that.

I'll be honest. I enjoyed the game and mailed it in as a loss after we blew the early lead. They have done it all year. Why is this day any different? This team was up by 4? That means nothing. We have blown leads in nearly every game this season. The exact same song and dance. No defense, everyone is inconsistent, and our biggest players are gassed by the end of the game.

I guess I find it difficult to be disappointed after feeling that way the prior five straight months. We were supposed to lose this game and we are supposed to lose all the upcoming games. The season is lost with no TP and no consistency. I'm ready for 2010-2011, these games are just an extended preseason. Not even close to the worst loss of the season.