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I didn't feel too bad about it until this flurking thread.
2004 - I still say that was some BS.
1995 - Wouldn't have been so bad if I had not gone to the game five debacle. Still that series was just torture.
2008 - Champion Air, no vacancy in New Orleans, blowing a 20 point lead in game one. But in hindsight, it was Boston's time and with Manu playing with a broken ankle, we probably lose in the Finals anyway.
I didn't feel too bad about it until this flurking thread.
2006 hurt a lot more, honestly. The NBA put the Spurs in a really bad position to start that series by giving them one day of rest and an early start time for Game 1, which if I recall correctly they amazingly won on some clutch shooting down the stretch. Then Devin Harris blew our up in Game 2. About the only other thing I remember from that game is the entire AT&T Center chanting "Ref you suck" in unison. Burn in Steve Javie. Game 3 I affectionately remember as the game Duncan fouled out because Dirk stepped on his foot, and Game 4 Ginobili fouled out on a phantom foul on Terry. We'll all remember Game 5 for "The Block" and "The Nut Punch." Game 6, Tony Parker was clutch down the stretch playing on no legs in a must win road game which amazingly they won. And it all came crashing down in Game 7 with "The Foul."
That Game 7 was a million times more painful than any of the losses in this series. The Spurs were down big, I think as much as 20. They came roaring back and basically had the game won. All Manu had to do was not foul, we trade free throws for half an hour to end the game, and probably win. Instead we go to OT and run out of gas. I'll take to my grave that Duncan was decisively fouled on his last shot at the regulation buzzer.
My point with all of this is that those Spurs fought and died together and were in it every game. For some reason after Game 2 of this series, I felt like I was watching a different team. Even when the Spurs were within striking distance or had a lead, I didn't feel safe. The magic was gone. I always want the Spurs to win but I didn't have faith like I did back in the day. I just knew they were going to lose. Sometimes you just get that feeling and that's all you can do. Last night hurts a lot because I feel like their opportunity to win the game was taken away from them by the whistles. But that's how the NBA is sometimes. You might say that because they were two wins away from the Finals, this hurts more than 2006 but keep this in mind:
Had the Spurs beaten Dallas in 2006, their next two opponents were Phoenix and Miami. That is an almost guaranteed repeat championship. No, 2006 hurts a lot more. After the way they played against OKC after being up 2-0, does anyone think they would have reverted "back to normal" against the East champ and just blown them out? I don't. The Spurs Dynasty died the minute Bruce Bowen retired.
Yeah, this one hurts more than '06, because at least then, you could look at the core and go "they've got at least a few more shots at this". At this point, they probably don't have another realistic shot. They could get back to the Conference Finals next season and I wouldn't be surprised if they do, but if they couldn't beat the Thunder this season, the odds of them doing so next season are slim to none.
It's amazing, for a franchise that has had so much success, just how many gut wrenching defeats they've had along the way. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but I can't think of one the Lakers have had in this era. Seriously. I'm not saying they haven't had tough ones, because anytime you lose in the Finals it's obviously tough. But I'm talking like this or '06 or '04.
The spurs have officialy become old guy at the club. Sure theyre exerienced, decent looking, and girls will talk to them. But at the end of the night, those same girls are going home with the young bucks, and the Spurs are going home without a prize.
There is a bright side to all of this. At least the Spurs have never lost in the NBA Finals. That would hypothetically be the hardest loss of all. But nope - we're 4 for 4.
On the other hand, this is arguably due to the superiority of West over East. Many of the WCF we've been in have resulted in the eventual NBA champion.
You are talking like the league will remain exactly the same as it is now next season. There will be big changes with player movement and teams like the lakers will be better.
You are talking like the league will remain exactly the same as it is now next season. There will be big changes with player movement and teams like the lakers will be better.
This one sucks but I remember how 2006 and 2004 sucked the air out of me. 2006 especially since after .4 we had a chance. This was bad, and sadder because of the finality but 2006 will always be the worst for me.
Have only been a spurs fan since 03, but this and 06 definitly hurt the most... I think once the initial sting of this one goes out though, 06 will hurt more. It was our best chance for a 3peat and we were essetially 1 bad foul away from doing so
For me, it's the years the Spurs would have most certainly gone on to win the championship that hurt the most.
2006, the Spurs would have beat Phoenix (our es) and Heat. Dallas went from being Dirk and a bunch or good role players against the NBA to Dirk, a superstar SG (Terry) and an elite SF (Howard) against the Spurs. That really, really hurt.
2004 was the singular most devastating blow obviously. Fisher, as always, with the dagger. I'm not 100% sure the Spurs beat Detroit, but I'm thinking they would.
2012 really hurt. What I think was the Spurs last true shot at a le and potentially coming up against a weak Eastern Conference foe.
Ugh.
2006 was the worst. Spurs were the defending champs and a MUCH better team than those Mavs but Pop had an awful series from a coaching standpoint(ridiculous when you remember he was up against Avery Johnson). Pretty sure Spurs would have repeated if Ginobili never fouled Dirk.
I thought Spurs were bound for 4th/5th seed this year, after last year's disaster. , I thought they were done after the Ginobili injury. They surprised me more than anything. Also, this being an asterisk season makes the loss hurt less.
I love my Spurs.
This last series hurt.
Yesterday morning, I was in Manila and I had something to do later that day, but the Spurs game was in 30 minutes and I had no place to watch it.
So, what I did was rent a motel room for 3 hours, and watched the game right there.
Took a cold shower (90 degree tropical heat outside) and had my early lunch there too.
I was sorta laughing at myself when I realised how hard I was screaming
"In your face, es!"
"BOOM!"
" IT!"
" NOO!"
all alone, inside a love motel. Haha.
Anyway, after the consecutive bull calls in the second half, my nerves couldn't take it anymore and checked out early. And just waited for the sports report on radio that day.
I still haven't seen the last few minutes of the game. Maybe in a few more days, I'm feeling down about all this, right now.
GO SPURS GO!
PS:
I hope SAS retires Capt. Jack's jersey. I know he hasn't clocked that many minutes, or completed that many games in a Spurs uni, but I think the Spurs should make an exception.
He's a 100% Spur, in my eyes.
2006 was the crusher.The worst one
2004 I don't think they beat Pistons relying on Rasho and Turk.Manu was a year away.
2012 This one sucked but Im not convinced they beat Miami even they did get by Thunder.
I been a fan since Robinson rookie year.I don't think any other year they would of won,including 1995.They weren't good enough.
Agree with the first two.
I wasn't around for 95, but it looked like a painful one.
2006 was the worst because that team was definitely championship-caliber and better than the Mavs imo. Those Spurs would have beaten both Phoenix and Miami and repeated.
2004 was the hardest to swallow at first, but in hindsight the Spurs weren't beating Detroit that season. Too many holes in the roster and nobody to help Tim outside of Tony on occasion (Manu was a year away from finding himself in the NBA at that time).
This year hurts because it feels like a curtain call for our Big 3, but from a basketball standpoint the Thunder were the better team. Definitely not at the start of the series, but the Thunder evolved faster than a goddamn virus, while the Spurs were overwhelmed by OKC's youth and stamina. This season is the most comparable to 2001, tbh. Both times the expectations were high, and the letdown was massive.
This one hurts because it wasn't the storybook ending we all hoped for the big 3. Damn shame as they got so far. Would of really sealed their legacy, Sjax as the returning fan favourite and the Spurs as a dynasty.
Last season was the most embarrassing in my book. Hurts in a different way and 95 not as much. Jus all the bull that comes when looking back at David Robinson.
04 would be up there too.
WHAT?
It does not hurts!
Before the season they were not favorites and I'm so proud they lost in the WCF !!!!!
The recent playoff beatdowns at the hands of Phoenix and Memphis were kinda refreshing - At last a "normal" playoff loss.
Spurs have certainly had their share of bone-crushing playoff exits. This one hurt, not so much in the mere fact of losing, but in the way we lost, the dreaded backdoor sweep.
Spurs are mentally weak
The haters were always right as it appears.
Pop is not a great playoff coach.
We've got to admit those and stop with homerism ...
'12 backdoor sweep
'11 memphis disaster
'10 swept by suns /lol/
'09 Dallas smackin
'08 LA toying with spurs
Now you also can extend those - in like Mem we had the best record, Suns pnr no adjustments, Parker disappearing etc.
S[purs got a history of heartbreaking loses.
TD has a great legacy, but those gives some arguments to why he is not so close to being top big man all time.
btw. Pistons championship squad had a superstar?
+1
That was the only instance regarding Spurs I cried over (2004).
This hurt so bad, because we had
1) Homecort advantage throughout this and the Finals round
2) We were healthy, with Tim and Manu both being healthy since the last time we won it.
3) We had a 2-0 lead on the only team that could beat us. (I am convinced we would have easily taken the Heat and the Celtics
4) We'd won 20 straight, and I have to admit, the question in my mind wasn't "Can we win it all?" but "will we sweep the playoffs?" It's like being on that undefeated Pats team who lost in the Superbowl. "We're the greatest team of all time! Oh? Oops, we're not even the best team this year..."
5) Tony seemed to be playing the most complete ball of his career
6) We had great depth, some of which we cannot afford to keep long term. So we had to win now....
7) We all know/knew that there won't be many more chances....
All in all, this was crushing. I felt so bad for Timmy.
My rankings of the "bummer" fest?
1. 2012
2. 2004
3. 2001 (Spurs fans said "We'd have defended our le with Timmy healthy in 2000." Laker fans said, "It wouldn't have mattered." The way we lost in 2001, made it feel like the hated Laker fans we're right)
4. 2006
However, something should be said about the suckitude of being swept by the Suns (the Suns!?!) in 2010.
Also, losing to Dallas and Memphis in 2009, 2011 first rounds wasn't fun. And, of course, there was 2008 when we slept on planes, lost leads in the WCF and had Joey Crawford ignore fouls.... (Very similar to this year, minus the on planes part!)
In short, any losing sucks. But in 2012, it seemed such a glorious last hurrah, and then the power went out..
Last edited by BillMc; 06-08-2012 at 04:59 AM.
btw.
LJ you do not sleep much recently do you?
How a team that screamed "champion" in every way as the 2006 team, fall 3-1 against the mavs? I know that that Dallas team was very good but I can't understand why most of you say that about the 06 Spurs if they managed to stay in front of Dirk.
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