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George Hill can look like a good defender sometimes and then other times not at all. They need him to step up. Only time will tell. Duncan is saving himself but the question is- how much?
To everyone who is saying we don't need good D, you're nuts. We always beat the flashy offensive teams in the past with our intense D. Offensive juggernauts who can't play defense never win les. It just doesn't happen.
George Hill can look like a good defender sometimes and then other times not at all. They need him to step up. Only time will tell. Duncan is saving himself but the question is- how much?
That is true because in the playoffs over 7 games it always turns into a slower half court game. Open 3 ptrs vanish, and low post and pick and roll defense becomes more important. It is true that the 2007 Suns would have won if they got by the Spurs, but they lost that series 4-2. Also there was no Gasol/Bynum/Odom Lakers that year or Celtics or Heat to get by in the East. Overall it is safe to say based on the last 20 years that every team to win the championship was a good if not great defensive team.
tonight reminded me of why i think that Splitter has to have an impactful role on this team for the Spurs to win a chip. key rebounds were missed at critical/momentum swinging junctures and the Bulls were able to score second chance points off of those. they had something like 20+ second chance points. you're not going to win many games giving up that many points.
i'm not hating on Bonner, he's a situational player and times will arise when his services will be needed in games for his three point shooting and his ability to take opposing bigs out of the paint. but, he doesn't play a gritty grind-it-out type of game, and the Bulls' bigs thrive off of that. that is sort of Splitter's game. plus, they have mobile bigs for the most part that can guard him out on the perimiter so he didn't do that good of a job stretching the floor.
it also didn't help that Blair and McDyess were no shows almost.
there's a lot that can be cleaned up defenisvely.
this game also highlights how important Blair has become for this team. i'm worried maybe it's become too important for him to be good every night and he's just not ready to be that player.
How much defense and rebounding can we expect out of Blair, Bonner & Dice? There's the rub.
And playing Duncan heavy minutes ain't the answer.
46-10 = Fool's gold. This is not a championship team.
The Lakers won a couple of les with an average at best defense. The Mavs choked in the finals but should have won in 2006. The Suns were not that far...
Elite defense is a huge factor in the playoffs but an elite offensive team with solid if not great defense can win les.
These Spurs can't play like they still have Bowen and Duncan in his prime. We need to improve defensively but must keep our "flashy offensive" style. I don't know how far it can get us, but I don't think we have much choice.
The Spurs aren't an offensive juggernaut, but to say that they can't play defense is ridiculous. They aren't the same defensive team as they were when they had two all NBA first teamers, it's true, but they've shown they're capable of playing good defense, and scoring more and gambling more for steals makes up for a lot of that.
Everyone has been going on about our SF defense being the problem but RJ has stepped up big many times this season.
I think our biggest problem is PG defense, we have been scorched by many top quality PGs this is a problem, I know TP gives some back but never seems to be to the exact high level.
Rose, CP3, Williams, Rondo the list goes on these guys kill us all over and I'm not sure what we can do about them.
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