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As long as we stay healthy we are on a collision course for one of the great Western Conference finals match ups of all time.
The '04 team ended the season on a 13 game winning streak (including a dominant road win against the Lakers, who had like a 10 game winning streak, IIRC) and won 6 straight playoff games by a double digit average before melting down. The Lakers weren't the better team that year. It was a chokejob.'04 team wasn't dominant. We had ing Jason Hart as our fulltime backup point guard that year. The bench in general was mediocre after all the personnel turnover we had that previous offseason. We only won what, 55 games? Never believed in that team though that Timmy shot over Shaq was a flash in the pan,
As long as we stay healthy we are on a collision course for one of the great Western Conference finals match ups of all time.
We lost that series primarily because Tony played great for two games, then completely went into the toilet.
Ohh...not even close
This thread is long overdue. The Spurs have been the best team in the NBA this season, Golden State hype and all. They're #1 in point differential, #1 in net rating, #1 in defensive efficiency, the only team in the top 3 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, and it's still a long way away from its ceiling (whereas the Warriors are already approaching theirs).
This could end up being the best Spurs team in history.
Phil packed the paint after Tony was shredding them, and since ty Hedo and a slumping Robert Horry couldn't hit a in' 3, Parker never got good spacing to operate. This was before he developed that 18 footer, unfortunately. Not excusing Tony, but the "shooters" we brought in also massively choked. Thankfully Horry redeemed himself. But Hedo...what a pile of trash.
The West is just not as strong this year. Which is kind of refreshing to be honest.
You are correct in everything that you just said. We did pretty much choke that series away. Tim I recall played well but not as well as he should have. But then again outside of Tony in the first two games, it is not like he had a whole lot of help.
good challenges coming
14- cavs
25- gsw
30- cavs
MDude nailed it. Besides, easy sched or not, we still yet to reach 5th gear (danny hitting 2-4 threes per game, LMA being 19-21 ppg player)It's still early in the season, but you don't just fluke into being this dominant for 35+ games. Someone here posted a tweet showing the best point differential through 35 games, and the Spurs were 2nd all-time behind only the '72 Lakers. The other teams on that list were the '72 Bucks and '97 Bulls...so needless to say, pretty good company. They had over a +20 net rating in December, which is the best month since the '96 Bulls had a month with a +16 net rating.
If this were basically any other year, the Spurs would be getting insane amounts of hype and would be clear-cut favorites to win it all. Unfortunately there's another GOAT-tier team in the conference though. That being said, I've grown much more confident in our chances of beating GS. If you asked me at the start of the season I would've said we only have a 30-35% chance of beating them. Now, I think it's about 50/50 (and that's assuming they get HCA).
The most encouraging thing is that it's not like we're playing way above our ceiling or anything. Green has been awful for most of the year. LMA has been inconsistent as he's trying to learn how to fit in to the new system. Duncan has been taking it easy and not exerting a ton of effort. I think Parker's play from earlier on is unsustainable, but we've still looked great even when he doesn't play that well. Kawhi's shooting might regress a bit but even if it does, he could still be a 21-22 ppg scorer on 57-58 TS%, which is all we could've asked for going into the season. Schedule has been admittedly easy, but 1) we've still played well against +.500 teams, and 2) even if we regress some as the schedule toughens, we're still shaping up to be one of the most dominant teams in the past decade.
If this team stays healthy, I like our chances against anyone...even another all-time great team like the Warriors. Hopefully we're the '72 Lakers and they're the '72 Bucks
the difference between the Warriors record and Spurs record is a bunch of games decided by 5 points which have statistically been clip flipping in their determination of a winner. The Warriors legendary luck has been in full display.
Spurs choked at home pretty badly in the playoffs last year. Not like GS can't win in SA. They're a better road team than the Spurs.
Loving this year's Spurs, and we should get to the WCF, but I'd bet a lot more money on GS's best players showing up consistently in a series than ours.
Yah like how green and thompson performed last finals imho tbh fwiw
The Clippers had like a 19 game winning streak in 2013, and they were first round fodder that year. The Rockets had a 22 game winning streak in 2008 and were first round fodder. Regular season winning streaks mean very little typically speaking. And that road win against the Lakers wasn't exactly dominant, we let them back into the game before pulling away again at the end. Not to mention the fact we lost the other 3 against the Lakers that year (including both at home). The Lakers were old that year, but stacked nonetheless.
Our playoff rotation consisted of Tim, Tony, sop re Manu who wasn't that great yet, Bruce, Rasho (LOL), Horry (who looked done that year tbh), Devin Brown (LOL), Hedo (LMAO), Jason Hart (LOL) and Malik Rose. Possibly the tiest bench in the TD era, if you count Manu as a starter and Turkoglu as a sub.
Iggy won FMVP, their players will show up when they'll need them. I'd love for the Spurs (or any team) to finish GS this year, but I think the Spurs defense is overrated (but still solid).
Would love to do to them what the 2005 Spurs did to the 2005 Suns.
I was thinking the same thing watching the game tonight. This team is so incredibly deep. We have a bench full of playmakers and assassins, a handful of great post options, a solid PG, and a 2-way superstar/MVP candidate in Kawhi. We can go small, we can play big. Honestly, the sky is the limit. Once Danny fully regains his stroke and Timmy/LMA develop better chemistry we'll be beyond scary good.
Do you also think gsw defense is overrated? Serious question because when they dont click offensively they also seem to struggle on the defensive end imho
that +14 PT differential after 36 games was manufactured while barely breaking a sweat..This team is really good, just hope we get a fair shake with health to see its final ceiling...
People seem to forget that the Spurs were a legitimate championship contender last year before Tony and Tiago inexplicably broke down toward the very end of the season. They ended the season on a tear and were absolutely destroying teams. This year's team is even better.
Smfh.... the thunderefs
SPULSHHH!!!
I don't think GSW is invincible, I think they win a lot of games decided by 5 points or less (at least 7 off my head) but Curry is in god mode this season. He's the difference maker whereas I can see Kawhi go missing for a game or two in a potential series. Obviously a long way to go until we reach that point and I do think the Spurs have more room for improvement than the Warriors do (can the Warriors play any better than they have been so far?)
I just think GSW has so many weapons, not that the Spurs don't but we've seen last year what happens when half the team doesn't show up. Hopefully I'm proven wrong this spring!
It's still only the beginning of January - a long way to go and lots of potential injuries. What happens when GSW goes micro-ball? TD and LMA won't be able to play together - the rotation and defense will be messed up.
Curry's track record against the Spurs has been mediocre while Kawhi had been a bad matchup for their wing defenders (Barnes, Iggy). I don't think Kawhi will disappear against them like you believe. I think you give Curry too much respect too. Imo, he wasn't very good in the Finals last year against the Cavs, who we are rich man version of.
Spurs D has been slipping a bit/or balancing out with offense..we only have 3rd best D rating in the league in the last 10 games (96.6) starting from the Wizards game , which coincided with Duncan getting plenty of DNPs rest since then..
enough for UNT Eagles 2016 tothis ..
Last edited by spursistan; 01-05-2016 at 03:33 AM.
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