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Much Much Much easier said than done.
Pretty much. The Spurs have to close of the paint and keep Lebron/Wade on the perimeter and then get low post scoring themselves.
Much Much Much easier said than done.
This is a nice thing to look at and make one feel comfy.Thanks Mel. That is great stuff.
Next week when I get back to my computer (as opposed to posting on my phone as I am now) I'll play around with those queries. It will really help with my followup stats post I plan to do in the next couple of weeks.
So the Spurs really have improved, even from the end of last season. The difference is remarkable, really. I think it's fair to compare OC's full season stats from last year to this year due to a lack of major mid-season moves either year. They're a good bit better on offense and slightly improved on defense, but the Spurs' defensive improvement is far greater.
But if one actually uses the eye, it appears evident to this poster that teams are having to take and sometimes make tougher shots against us compared to last year. This is an opinion that I feel comfortable stating even if the numbers look fairly similar.
Do the stats filter junk-time, for example, or we just have to assume junk-time is similar year to year?
Ppl are overrating the heat, they can be beaten by a physical team that can match their athleticism. all it ok for the mavericks to get into their heads was a couple bench guys named "the custodian" and mahinmi to put a few hard fouls on these soft prima donnas and they folded.
Except... if the spurs make it to the finals this year they won't be playing the heat. The guys they will need to stop will be named George, Hill, Granger, & West.
In that case, game over!
Better equipped to beat OKC but the Heat are also better...
This is probably true but man oh man do i want to play them. Just give the Spurs the chance..
Its pretty crazy. Coming into the season (before the Harden deal, after the Lakers big moves) Spur fan wasn't feeling particularly great. Outside of Nando, no roster moves had been made, and we weren't crazy high on Nando anyway, so the only real hope was for some serious internal improvement. Surprisingly, that's EXACTLY what we've gotten. Kawhi has taken a noticeable step, Green is shooting a high percentage, but on way more attempts per game than last year, Tiago has been bumped into the starting lineup and has been a huge part of our suddenly elite defense, Tony has improved upon his MVP caliber season last year, Tim seemingly aged backwards (hope he returns to form within next 2-3 weeks though), and oh, yeah, did I mention our defense is elite again?
Definitely stronger than last year.
With Lebron playing at near-GOAT levels and Wade coming back in a big way the past few weeks...Doubt it. Their first option AND second option are better than our best player(Parker) which makes it an uphill battle. Spurs have defense on their side but playoff history has shown a team can only go as far as their stars can take them and point guards don't traditionally lead teams to a le. If Duncan continued to play like he did at the beginning of the year and Ginobili was able to play more than 25 mins a game, we'd have a chance imo. Duncan will bring it in the post-season but I'm having doubts about Ginobili.
My question would actually be different: is OKC as likely to make it to the WCF as last year? I'm not so sure about that. Last year people were saying the West was wide open, but actually the top 2 teams were very clear (OKC and the Spurs combined for only one loss in the first 2 rounds of the playoffs). I'm not so sure it's the case again this year, and it's likely OKC will have to face the Clippers in the 2nd round.
OKC will play the Clippers and we'll play the Grizzlies. It's not like either matchup will be a cakewalk. I don't see the Thunder having much trouble with the Clippers tbqh.
The only player who was able to check Manu in the OKC series last year was Harden. I'm curious to see if OKC has a way to stop Manu's penetration this year. I doubt Martin will be able to handle that task. The two games we've played OKC this year, manu's been out. I think the Splitter/Manu P-n-R could be deadly between the two. So say they put Thabo on Manu and he's able to hinder his game. That means Parker can have his way with westbrook/jackson/brewer. I also think Splitter can have his way in the paint as opposed to last year. I believe the learning experience Leonard had in last year's series will pay off big time. Now that he's gained some confidence, I see him going at Durant and making him work on the defensive end of the court, and that in itself can payoff. He's likely not to be the sharpshooter we know if he expends all of his energy on our side of the court. All that being said, we can't go into that series (if it happens) thinking we can beat OKC with just parker carrying the load. It's got to be a team effort. All Green, Neal, Bonner, and Blair have to do is hit their shots when they take them, and they don't have to take alot. If we do that, we got a of a shot!!
Yes, much more so. Better D and Tiago is killin it. TP is playing the best ball of his career as well. The only thing that concerns me is his ability to deal with solving the issue when he is guarded by bigger guards.
They were thin in the middle and running on their fumes fumes, two things the Jazz weren't equipped to exploit (they still should have beaten them though). I always felt the Spurs would have beat them in '99.
better equiped? maybe
but nobody is beating the Heat. So it's pretty pointless
not really, they made almost zero personnel changes. thunder got weaker but heat got stronger. even if the spurs miraculously get past the thunder, they better pray for a lebron injury.
When JeBron isn't getting permission to bulldoze to the rim without a traveling or charge call he is a fairly mediocre mid and long range shooter, he's athletic as , and a good passer but he really depends heavily on getting bailed out against a stout interior defense which the spurs have this year.
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