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as for who knocks us out, dallas or phoenix.
i still think dallas can beat us and probably would have last year. detroit is more iffy, i think ben wallace was more to them for his defense than what they've got now and they don't have enough scorers to have a score-first mentality to win it all. that said, and i thought i'd said so in some other thread, but eh, there's like a billion started each week, i think boston pulls it out. for all the talk of how a healthy spurs team would go all the way, i think the emergence of rondo lets some of the advantage given to parker go away (especially with the injury). so now, rajon and parker are kind of even (just go with me for argument's sake on the injury/emergence thing), pierce and manu seem like a push, allen can get the better of bowen, as we saw in the seattle series not too long ago, and kg and duncan are going to negate each other. their bench seems better at least in scoring, and we've always taken pride in our defense during the regular season, so there's no sense in discounting the team with the best defense and offense in the league based on stats. it pains me because i liked tim always having a favorable comparison to kg, but i think give garnett one ring and the media will fawn all over him and dismiss duncan as a good player with a better supporting cast. but for simplicity's sake, i go boston, suns (with the trade), mavericks, lakers (i don't think gasol pushes them over), spurs, detroit, rest of league.
and just for supers ion's sake, i'd had a little hope with the idea that either duncan or shaq have been in the finals for the past decade, and with miami's implosion, there was hope for duncan. the trade nixed that hope, though.
as for who knocks us out, dallas or phoenix.
So, why does Dallas beat us last year if they're still in the playoffs?
ummm ... because they kinda beat us the year before. they give us fits and seem to have just the right mix to give us trouble. as much as folks lambast them for choking, it wouldn't stun most of the nation if the mavs kicked us out this year. dirk does his thing and showed he can score on us, josh howard is dang good, their point guard was zipping into the lane, terry hit shots, diop was doing ok in the middle.
depends on if the Spurs make a move or not
i don't think they are. it took parker getting hurt to go after stoudamire. when was the last time the spurs made a trade in the middle of the season? was it nazr? when was the last time a mid-season trade made a big impact?
You mean they beat us in game 7 - I see now. That automatically means they would have owned us in the playoffs. - they had the best regular season record. That really helped them against the Warriors and don't give me it was all because of matchup problems. Dallas stunk it up in that series - showing that being dominant in the regular season is not the same as beign dominant in the playoffs.
no, they beat us game 7, game 2, and at least one other time that escapes me exactly when. they beat us thrice in the 07 regular season. they beat us twice, or three time, i forget, in the 06 season. they won 67 games and lost to the one team that had beaten them the past two-three years but went under the radar because that team sucked against just about everyone else. regardless, the mavs have the confidence, talent and hunger to take out the spurs, and i don't see why not this year particularly in light of parker's injury, barry's injury, et al. and for all the naysaying of dominant regular seasons, aberration's happen. more no 1 seeds have won the le than no 8s.
Nazr actually made an impact though, he was out starting C then entire championship playoff run, and Rasho was riding the pine
that's pretty damn big if you ask me
maybe. he seemed to be a non-factor until the pistons series, but maybe i'm forgetting. but even then, that's once in the past how many years that the spurs have made a significant mid-season trade?
They actually beat us four times in the 2006 playoffs (4 wins advances?) and yes they did beat us 3 times last year, but none of those games were blowouts with the worst being a 5 point loss. Also, one of those losses was that joey crawford game - doesn't mean we would have won but it sure didn't help. That said - I still don't see how that translates into a probable playoff series win for Dallas over the Spurs in 2007. Was it possible? Sure
We're still the team to beat - just ask phoenix
what about okur
I've got Spurs, Lakers (with Bynum), Pistons, Celtics, Suns, Mavericks
I just can't share your wildly optomistic scouting of the Celtics and Suns given that we haven't really seen the Celtics tested and we haven't seen the new Suns _at all_. The "emergence" of Rondo gives me a laugh every time I hear it. His emergence against the likes of CP, Parker, D-Will, is probably going to go over about as well as his emergence against Billups.
We will run layup drills on Shaq and Amare. Two seven-footers, coached by Mike D'Antoni, one of which is always out of position to begin with and another that is old and slow. Both keys to their offense. NFW they can stay out of foul trouble with Tim in the block and Tony and Manu attacking.
i don't think so. they needed an injured duncan and a hobbled ginobili to win. even then, the spurs took it to seven and had a chance to win in the end.
as for last year, spurs kept their end of the bargain, mavs didn't. mavs have no right to talk smack about last year's championship coz they clearly failed to show up.
Sun is beatable. Lakers with Gasol familar with triangle offense is a real threat. Dallas is still dallas which has the ability to KO Spurs. The point is - for SPURS to win, they need to play even better than last playoff and SPURS will be more relied on a mighty TP as he can negate some impacts of the big man additions. If TP has mastered the mid range, got a decent 3pt and still possesses the speed to slash, then SPURS have a chance. Too bad he is hurt and has no time to further enhance his shooting skills this summer (this is not an accusation to TP). So right now, SPURS's chance is pretty low - 20% maybe. Things can change in the playoff though.
spurs has the confidence of a perrenial contender and a champion. do not discount that.
We haven't proved that we can repeat, and there seems to be more legit challengers to the throne this year than before - so if we do win, it would be perhaps our most significant le to date.
I didn't think we could win it last year, but we got very lucky and pulled it off. I hope that's the case this year as well.
I don't think we look like a championship squad right now, however. I think we've gotten old, and if we don't win it this year, I'd welcome so dramatic changes.
Right now we are starting to put it together but the heatlh of the Big 3 is critical. If Tony isn't full strength then we will have problems. His penetration and kick outs have been very important to our runs in the past. I think Timmy and Manu will be alright but Tony's bone spurs have me a bit worried. I've had one and it ain't fun. I don't know what they are doing medically for him or what is state of the art - mine took surgery and it was located in the big toe rather than the heel - but these things don't just go away with a little rest. Hopefully he can recover and get back to his old self. If not then our chances to repeat will be less. Time is still on his side but not for long, though.
But I still believe that in a 7 game series anything can happen. Just ask Dallas.
With no b2b and the ability to plan your attack for each game gives the Spurs an edge. Pop and crew will have something up their sleeve.
But this is going to be one tough playoff run. Probably the toughest ever.
and if they can get it done, the most rewarding.
all right, having checked some stats, maybe "emergence" was due mostly to the media's fawning on the guy lately, he doesn't seem too impressive in their big games. still, with parker injured, that may make up things. as for the suns, i am curious how they work out. shaq seems to always have had an adequate power foward to work with (horry, haslem) not someone nearly as dominate as himself, so we'll see how it works out. but the striking parker is again key, and with his problems, he may not strike much.
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