Biggest reason the Spurs lost

[DubMcDub]

I totally agree. This was a fairly faced-paced series, too. All four games inside of one week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday.

Yep, and the Suns offensive system doesn't allow players to rest much on defense.

[LakerHater]

THIS GUY!

[Capt Bringdown]

Role players have been talked about ad infinitum. As I see it, the Big 3 concept is kaput.
Tim and Manu can't be counted on, due to age, they're too hot and cold.

[pjjrfan]

How about all of the above. The Spurs lacked defensive cohesion, shooters, health, focus, especially from our big 3, one of the flaws of this team has been that throughout the year our main guys were the ones who would commit unforced turovers. Fast guards gave us problems, and once Tony went down, moving Manu to the starting lineup killed our bench although the team played much better. But once we got to the playoffs the lack of punch from our bench really hurt us especially against the Suns.

[MmP]

I'd put a surprise factor as well, I think Spurs overlooked Suns.

[kromediablo]

Manu should have passed that last shot to george hill. georgie was swing behind manu with dudley held up and grant hill was cleared beyond the freethrow line...i mean seriously manu should have passed that last shot!

[Gagnrath]

I didn't get to watch alot of the suns games due to my lifes scheduling but saw part of all of them I put most of the issues down to the same things that have hurt the spurs all year.

1. Lack of an athletic power forward. Duncan with his decreasing mobility is basically a center full time now. McDyess isn't particularly mobile either and for some reason Bonner disappears for the play-offs. Blair wasn't bad for a rookie but wasn't great either and against some teams struggles a bit with being undersized. An athletic powerforward with some speed to get guys at 15' and out and chase faster forwards and outside shooting centers is needed and has been for awhile. Bonner is a situational player, Blair is going to end up being a super back-up in the NBA for most of his career but doesn't have the size to start night in and night out. Duncan having to fight inside all season basically alone has hurt him as the season has gone on over the last couple of years and I think probably took a year or two off of his career. It also makes the guards life easier having mobile size to pick up guys on picks, and provide help defense on drives.

2. Lack of a small forward position. Jefferson put up pedestrian small forward numbers in the play-pffs, wasn't a total no show but for his pay checks you'd expect better. He also doesn't have a real full time back-up. Bogans is small for the position, and has no offense. Jefferson getting huge minutes and not having effective out-put on either end is a big problem. If he has a big game at either end great spurs win games otherwise they don't.

The Defense was questionable both on the perimeter and stopping drives.... I blame it on a lack of interior speed necessitating lots of switches on defense. Seeing more zone might have helped with this.

Lack of shooting, the spurs weren't hitting free throws, this is sort of a team thing timmy was top offender but everyone i think shot below season average for the series. The three point line was also a problem, bonner is a big part of the spurs spacing outside and he disappears in the play-offs, Manu was understandably bothered by the nose, and Parker was worse than usual. Bogans and hill weren't great but not terrible otuside in the suns series either..

[rudwick]

No interior defense. (All year. Tim is no longer fast enough to play good team defense.)
Blew their salary room on RJ who doesn't fit the system.
No perimeter defender. (Bogans not as good as even an old Bowen)
Lack of perimeter shooting. (RMJ sucks since last year playoffs. No Finley)
Poor coaching. (Too much smallball. Didn't develop Mahinmi or Hairston)

[Supergirl]

Spurs' big 3 were just fine, not sure where the accusations they didn't do enough were. Except, I think you can argue that they didn't have the stamina to hold leads, which they had in ALL FOUR GAMES. That comes down to fatigue and mental toughness.

Spurs played basically a 7 man roster in the playoffs, and that's a pretty short bench. Spurs need a deeper bench next season.

I actually wonder about the idea of Duncan shifting to full time C for his last 1-2 years. He's still a of a defender, an excellent passer, but he's obviously not as athletic when it comes to jumping and running as he once was. Perhaps rather than playing a C with him, as he's preferred to do all his career, we should pair him with an athletic PF. We'll see if we don't see a lot more Blair-Duncan front courts in the next season.