My God, how are the Spurs not in the Finals?

[Mr. Body]

I love how laker fans are complaining about Kobe and the Lakers not getting to the FT line, but I can see something from a non bias view, Kobe with his pinky injury, in these playoffs is determined to score more of his points with jump shots. In fact, he rarely drives to the hoop anymore for a contested layup or dunk, I think he knows if he injures that finger on a dunk or layup, the Lakers season is over so he is playing more conservative game with jumpshots and 3's.


Sure there are probably a few missed calls here and there but Kobe isn't getting fouled because he is not attacking the rim(with defenders between him and the basket) nearly as much before the injury

Yeah, no one on that team takes it inside. Other than Kobe, as you say, and Gasol, but Gasol is too soft to do anything other than his semi-hook flip shot.

[Josepatches]

We lost to THESE Lakers ??????

Man, 1 injury and we are not the same team

7 games against the Hornets with no rest.Game 1 up by 20 in the third quarter.foul on Derek Fisher.Manu's injury.Good luck....

A lot of things could had change the winner of the series.The Lakers deserve to be in the Finals but we could have won with only a few changes
IMO the rest was the key but if we had won the game one maybe the history could be different.But I think we lost the big lead we had in game 1 and game 5 because we were tired.Lakers had more time to rest before the series and they played 2 game less in the playoffs too.

I'm happy with our post-season.We won the series against The Suns.We won in NO the game 7.It was not a bad post-season.We still be one of the best team of the league and that´s not easy.We won four times.Obviously we can win every year

[Avitus1]

[tmtcsc]

Oh man, they should have just rolled over and died. Trying to come back from that many points down and then losing it by 6 stings worse than just getting blown out.

Throw some fuel on the fire....PSYCHE !!

[DDS4]

This year hurts, but not as bad as '06.

I had NO doubt in my mind the Spurs could have beaten the Heat in the Finals.

[Solid D]

You can never count a team out with Kobe Bryant on it. Never. That's why this NBA Finals continues to intrigue - going back to LA for three games. With that said, the Celtics are still a great defensive team. Even with the 3 losses against ATL, where ATL outshot the Celts and outhustled the Celts, Boston has still regrouped when they needed to put forth the effort and their defense has been all about effort.

Even with those 3 ATL games, Boston has held their opponents to .425 FG% and .326 3-pt % in 22 playoff games. Before Boston took their foot off the gas pedal, they had held LA to 61 points through 3 quarters...so it's not like the Lakers figured something out. The remaining games will be determined by effort.

[rascal]

Healthy, I like the Spurs against the Celtics. It'd be a low scoring series but that'd favor the Spurs. The Celtics only clutch player is Pierce ... and he's not amazingly clutch. I'd take Ginobili or Duncan in the clutch over Pierce. , Parker has developed into a clutch player too.

Spurs vs. Celtics would be like 74-71 type games but I'd give the Spurs a slight edge. It'd be a lot like Spurs vs. Pistons 2005 ... except the Celtics don't have the same clutch players that the Pistons had.

How can you continue to pick the spurs every year? This year the spurs were not that good against the top teams in the league. Thats a good indicator that the team was not that good. Boston had the best record in the league.

[SenorSpur]

I had fully expected for the Spurs to have exposed the Fakers, in this fashion, for being the frauds that they are. Instead, it's the Celtics who have uncovered the flaws in the play and mental toughness of the Fakers.

Personally, I never believed the Fakers were as good defensively, as the public proclaimed. Because of matchups, I projected the Hornets would have been our toughest opponent, rather than the Fakers. Simply because they were a better defensive team. The Celtics were overlooked for being THE best defenisve team in the NBA this year - by far. However the success they are having so far only proves just how poor an offensive team the Spurs were against the Fakers.

[Oh, Gee!!]

No... even at 100% our offense wouldn't be good enough to beat the Celtics Defense

it's amazing what happens when you make freakin shots!

[tmtcsc]

I had fully expected for the Spurs to have exposed the Fakers, in this fashion, for being the frauds that they are. Instead, it's the Celtics who have uncovered the flaws in the play and mental toughness of the Fakers.

Personally, I never believed the Fakers were as good defensively, as the public proclaimed. Because of matchups, I projected the Hornets would have been our toughest opponent, rather than the Fakers. Simply because they were a better defensive team. The Celtics were overlooked for being THE best defenisve team in the NBA this year - by far. However the success they are having so far only proves just how poor an offensive team the Spurs were against the Fakers.

Yep. I thought the Hornets would be our toughest foe. Even though we beat them, I still think they were the toughest match-up. I know that sounds crazy but schedule, injuries and poor play contributed much more to our losing than our opponent did.

[jack sommerset]

Yep. I thought the Hornets would be our toughest foe. Even though we beat them, I still think they were the toughest match-up. I know that sounds crazy but schedule, injuries and poor play contributed much more to our losing than our opponent did.

3 of the 4 victorys the Spews had against the Hornets came on a total of 9 days rest. Schedule, clearly the older more expierence team benifitted from that.

Injuries, West and Chandler were hurt. Bynum of the Lakers did not even play. Seemed MORE than fair.

This was a great run from the Spews. No matter what you think they would not beat the Lakers or the Celtics, They were very fortunate to get the Hornets when they did.

[xtremesteven33]

The only reason we lost to the Lakers was the schedule. nothing else.

I was the first one to say these Lakers are not a great team. theyre a good team, but not close to being great. The Lakers had like 6 days of rest before they played the Spurs and the Spurs had really 1 night of rest.

had the spurs had at least 2 days of rest we couldve finished off game 1 and the whole series would be changed.

[SPURSGOAT]

Total meltdown on Lakersground.net. Laker fans have a million comments complaining about the refs.

Hah! I remember those trolls jumping on us for complaining about the officials... ie Crawford...

[Oh, Gee!!]

The only reason we lost to the Lakers was the schedule. nothing else.

I was the first one to say these Lakers are not a great team. theyre a good team, but not close to being great. The Lakers had like 6 days of rest before they played the Spurs and the Spurs had really 1 night of rest.

had the spurs had at least 2 days of rest we couldve finished off game 1 and the whole series would be changed.

and had the Spurs scored more points than the Lakers, they woulda won.

[Sway]

I’m going to have to raise the BS flag on those of you saying the Spurs are better than Lakers or Celtics. You can talk the Spurs would’ve, should’ve, or could’ve all you want, but that don’t change the facts. The Lakers beat the Spurs which means they were the better team, no way around that. People can make all the excuses they want but that won’t change the scoreboard. Honestly, there is no way anyone can reasonably make the argument that the Spurs are a better team than the Celtics. Especially if you have watched the game 1 & 2 and seen how handily the Celtics have beaten the Lakers.

I see this as no different than a Suns fan coming on Spurstalk and talking mess about how they were the better team and how they would have beat the Lakers. Lets keep it real…

[cze1860]

i think suprs need a champion，and suprs fans need too。

[tmtcsc]

3 of the 4 victorys the Spews had against the Hornets came on a total of 9 days rest. Schedule, clearly the older more expierence team benifitted from that.

Injuries, West and Chandler were hurt. Bynum of the Lakers did not even play. Seemed MORE than fair.

This was a great run from the Spews. No matter what you think they would not beat the Lakers or the Celtics, They were very fortunate to get the Hornets when they did.

You over estimate Bynum big time. The Hornets gave everything they had. Are you seriously comparing Tyson's injury and West's back problem to Manu's injuries. Dude, that's not even close.

The Hornets are a 3 1/2 man team. West, Paul, Tyson and sometimes Peja. Take Peja out of the picture and the match up gets easier. It gets 4-1 easier after dropping 2 early games.

They do what they do over and over and over again. They should be applauded for that. They are the exact opposite of Golden State. They milk the hot hand as well as any team out there. Experience had nothing to do with them losing. They did everything they could to beat us except bring it for 48 minutes on the road.

They laid down and lost focus. -- They also got out-coached, They relied on the home court and fell short in the biggest game of the year. If they find themselves another reliable scorer who can create off the dribble, I'd put them ahead of the Lakers next year.

If we add the right pieces (scoring off the bench), I'd still give the Spurs the nod.

Brought to you by the totally biased Spurs fan: TMTCSC.

But still, I'm not kidding.

[tmtcsc]

I’m going to have to raise the BS flag on those of you saying the Spurs are better than Lakers or Celtics. You can talk the Spurs would’ve, should’ve, or could’ve all you want, but that don’t change the facts. The Lakers beat the Spurs which means they were the better team, no way around that. People can make all the excuses they want but that won’t change the scoreboard. Honestly, there is no way anyone can reasonably make the argument that the Spurs are a better team than the Celtics. Especially if you have watched the game 1 & 2 and seen how handily the Celtics have beaten the Lakers.

I see this as no different than a Suns fan coming on Spurstalk and talking mess about how they were the better team and how they would have beat the Lakers. Lets keep it real…

On paper, I can't argue with you. But Manu's injury changed all that. Had he not played at all, would you still be so quick to say that the Lakers were the better team ? I don't think so. Manu tried his best to contribute but it was a disaster.

So lets put it this way, next year I have NO fear of the Lakers winning the West. I don't see us having to get back to the drawing board to figure out how to beat the Lakers. We just need to be healthy.

[Nbadan]

We just need to be healthy.

I don't see how the Spurs are gonna have a well-rested Manu with him playing in the Olympics this summer...unless the Spurs sit him for the first half of the season....then they lose home-court advantage to both the Lakers and Hornets....

[DazedAndConfused]

The Spurs are not in the Finals because they lost 4-1 to the Lakers. They are an old aging team and had too many key players not 100% due to injury which tends to happen when your team is old. It's no coincidence that they ran out of steam, you need depth to survive the playoffs and the Spurs didn't have it.

Would they have beaten LAL in the 1st round with a healthier Ginobli? Who knows, that's irrelevant. The sooner you realize that the better.

[SenorSpur]

The Spurs are not in the Finals because they lost 4-1 to the Lakers. They are an old aging team and had too many key players not 100% due to injury which tends to happen when your team is old. It's no coincidence that they ran out of steam, you need depth to survive the playoffs and the Spurs didn't have it.

Would they have beaten LAL in the 1st round with a healthier Ginobli? Who knows, that's irrelevant. The sooner you realize that the better.

Hard to argue.

[Nbadan]

Ok....but let the action on the court decide games...and a foul is a foul if it happens in the first few seconds or the last....

[DazedAndConfused]

Ok....but let the action on the court decide games...and a foul is a foul if it happens in the first few seconds or the last....

No arguments here. The officiating in the NBA is a ing joke. They have way too much power over who wins/loses games.

[mrspurs]

Celtics defense is amazing.

Spurs made the Lakers bench of Sasha Vuijic, Farmar, and even Luke Walton look like amazing players. Celtics are making them look the way they really are; Inexperienced, streaky shooters, who bring energy but not much else.

since day one i wanted to see how these 3 players would play together,(kg,allen,paul). and i was impressed on how well they, and this team played defense...imo the celts were the only other team that played 5 on 5 straight out man on man defense, with kg and perkins helping downlow....it reminded me of the dave,tim days defense.....play tough on the outside, lure them into the middle and get it swatted.....

[timvp]

The Spurs are not in the Finals because they lost 4-1 to the Lakers. They are an old aging team and had too many key players not 100% due to injury which tends to happen when your team is old. It's no coincidence that they ran out of steam, you need depth to survive the playoffs and the Spurs didn't have it.

Would they have beaten LAL in the 1st round with a healthier Ginobli? Who knows, that's irrelevant. The sooner you realize that the better.

0-2.