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That and the fact that you equate Manu to Odom. Give me a break!
Yeah that is the problem with the NBA today. 2 Mega markets better play in the finals or nobody watches. I was amazed that the ratings were so bad last year in the finals. So much for Lebron James being the darling of the league.
That and the fact that you equate Manu to Odom. Give me a break!
Yes, your stupid mouth does need a break. Come up with some mismatches Yawn.
Manu has been putting the ball in the hole lately at an almost Kobe like level. If Lakers fans are not scared to death of him going off on them they should be. No way they survive a big series by Manu, Timmy going for 25 and 12 a game and Tony going for 20 plus. They need to slow one of them down.
Lebron James is great but Cleveland wasn't very good or the east for that matter last year so the matchup with th Spurs who few cared about to begin with drew little interest. The spurs also do not play what many casual fans would consider entertaining or exciting basketball. For a 4 time champion the spurs don't have much of a fan base outside of San Antonio.
This year Boston has a top team with 3 all stars and is a legitimate contender for the le. Boston and LA are also two old school nba teams with winning traditions and a large national fan base.
Manu's been a stud the last few games and really the lifeblood of the Spurs during this mini team slump. He's been filling in for both TP and Bowen.
But against the Lakers (IF) he actually guards Lamar, that will:
1) Tire out Manu trying to guard and box out a much bigger dude (6'10 Odom)
2) Lamar is getting 12-15 rebounds per game right now. With Manu boxing him out, how many more is he going to get?
3) How is Manu going to stop Lamar from getting 20 a night?
Manu's going to average 25-30 a night, Lamar will get 20 + 15 rebounds, it's a wash.
This is tough to call. Lakers are playing really good right now, and the Spurs are playing average. We have not played the Lakers with their full, healthy roster and vice versa.
I don't think the Lakers have anyone for Duncan. Duncan should rip Bynum to shreds-pretty much a playoff rookie vs. the greatest power forward ever? 1-on-1, Parker will own Fisher. I guess Kobe guards Ginobili, which I think Ginobili should be able to exploit. Kobe is a decent defender but you pretty much have to be a lockdown one if you want to shutdown Manu. Bowen is a given-Odom should just sit in the corner. Thomas/Oberto will have to rely on their jumpers to score, they aren't good enough in the post, I think.
On the other end, I like how Parker defends Fisher, as long as he gives him no room to shoot we should be fine. Kobe is unguardable, really. When he misses, it's only because he took a bad shot. Bowen should just try to force Kobe into bad shots, there's no way he's shutting him down. Same for Udoka. Odom is the biggest mismatch for the Spurs, he should have an advantage should he decide to drive often. I don't know how Gasol faired agains the Spurs in the playoffs in 2004, so I won't really make a comment about him. I do think Duncan can lock down the paint and force him to shoot outside. As far as Bynum, I think we should put Thomas on him. Quite a bit of height difference but Thomas is smart and a big body to throw at a guy with next to nothing in playoff experience. I think Bynum will probably average around 8 and 7 against in the playoffs, but that's just a guess.
As far as benches go, the Lakers have a great one. If Ginobili is coming off the bench, so do we. I like Finley, Horry, Thomas?, Udoka and potentially Barry. Stoudemire might be a nice piece to have. I would, however, have to give the bench advantage to the Lakers.
I do think Phil will try his strategy in 2004 against us, should we meet. Hopefully the Spurs won't crumble like they did last time, and I don't think they will. Our outside shooting is VASTLY, VASTLY superior to how it was that year. I think Phil will focus the defense on Tony Parker primarily.
It's hard to make a prediction, because I don't want to sound like a homer. I think the advantage the Spurs have is that their core has been playing in the playoffs a lot longer than the Lakers' core has. Not to mention our big three > the Lakers big three, IMO. If the Spurs can play tough defense, which is what I'm counting on them to do, and get back into a good offensive flow, I think we can beat the Lakers in 6 games, with or without homecourt advantage. However, if we were to lose, I think it would take the Lakers 7 games and they would have to have homecourt advantage to do so. Should be a very tough series, and I can see it going both ways.
Spurs in 5.
Spurs in 6.
Allanon, i'm glad you're not coaching the spurs coz putting manu on odom is idiotic, crazy even. some would even call it downright ludicrous!
Yeah i keep hearing that about the Spurs and everytime i do it makes less and less sense. Spurs are boring to watch. What about them makes it boring?? They have a player that runs the floor and slashes to the rim in Tony Parker. They have a player who is amazing to watch when he is HOT in Manu Ginobli, the man can do it all and they have a dominant low post player in Duncan. The only team i hear is quote "Exciting" is the Suns, who as we know play ZERO D every year and get bounced in the playoffs. The Celts and Lakers are not more exciting to watch, they don't have a specific style that is all flash and not at all mechanical. The ratings in the NBA are a leaguewide problem, not a Spurs problem. You can look it up, the only time the ratings have been very good in the post-Jordan Era was when the Lakers were in the finals and i believe they were good when the Knicks and Spurs played. Yes the big markets still bring in more viewers but too many people like to think the public just does not like the Spurs, they are boring. The problem goes deeper than that. Another example was this years all star game. Lowest ratings in history and they have gone down every year that TNT has broadcast it, look at these numbers.
All Star Game Ratings
'08 New Orleans- 4.5/6,334,000
'07 Las Vegas- 5.1/6,843,000
'06 Houston- 5.2/7,070,000
'05 Denver- 6.0/8,082,000
'04 Los Angeles- 6.2/8,190,000
'03 Atlanta- 8.2/10,829,000
The truth is most people find the NBA in general boring, the plummeting ratings year to year prove this.
Oh I know, thankfully Pop puts Finley on him!
I know it's crazy and idiotic, but if not Manu, then who? Finley?
Manu won't guard Odum the whole game though and the Spurs will be fine with that?? Timmy will take his turns as will Thomas and Oberto i am sure will get his shots as well. I am not high on Lamar at all never have been. He does not come off to me as a big game player, Manu we know what he is all about. I think the series will be very high scoring and entertaining to watch but i think overall Lakers have more ????, in the big game than the Spurs do.
You rotate the bigs around. Timmy, Thomas and Oberto are all going to have to take turns on the Laker Bigs. Manu is not going to be in the low block with Lamar for 30 min a game.
That's the problem.
You have 7' Pau, 6'-10" Odom, 7' Bynum and 6-6" Kobe playing 30 minutes.
Who on the Spurs gets those 30 minutes and who do they guard?
Last edited by Allanon; 02-22-2008 at 10:41 PM.
Spurs are not that boring but their media character development is severely lacking. You could say Eva Longoria is the most popular Spur. Duncan is a funny guy but sounds majorly robotic in interviews and nobody can even understand what the Manu and Tony are saying half the time. Pop is as boring as mold growing in a petri dish. All those jabs and talking Phil does is because he's an attention . He knows how to work the media. That's just how it is man.
spurs win.. we have two finals MVPs how many does LA have~
I would not book Bynum playing 30 min a game as you don't know how he will do yet but if he does i answered your question. If we go with a starting 5 of
Timmy
Tony
Bowen
Oberto
Thomas
Just for example, you will have obviously Bowen on Kobe, Oberto, Thomas and Duncan all taking turns on Pau, Bynum and Odom. Fisher won't do much against Tony. Manu will probably be off the bench and guard Kobe a little bit, Odom a little, we'll see. You are acting as if the Spurs have a huge matchup problem here, i don't see it. Lakers can not match up with any of our big 3 at all and you'rs presents problems for us as well.
Some people call Kobe the American Manu
This starting 5 can definitely combat the Lakers 5 but that would mean you lose Manu for considerable minutes.
That's also a HORRIBLE offensive lineup, which is why you'll never see it on the floor.
The Lakers starting 5 is flat out more balanced on both ends of the floor. Oberto and Bowen are complete non factors on offense. We only have to worry about 3 players while the Spurs must be watchful of our entire starting 5. It's going to be a nightmare for them to try and contain us and they will no doubt have to expend more energy on defense than we will. They are also far older and less athletic than we are. The only major advantage they have on us is experience, and I question whether or not it's enough to tip the scales in their favor.
1/2 gb motha as!
All you Laker fans can pin your hopes on Lamar Odom, the underachiever of this decade, being able to match Manu's production. Good luck with that.
Since when have we pinned our hopes on Odom's offensive production? Do you even follow basketball? By bringing in Gasol it means there is LESS pressure for Odom to score. He can go back to what he does best...setting up teammates, rebounding, and sharing the ball.
We have the #3 offense in the league, we get our production from just about everyone. 8 players on the team are now posting career high FG% numbers. We are almost undefeated when Kobe scores under 20 ppg. Offense is the least of our worries, it's the defense that must shore up if we are to contend this year.
The only advantage is experience? You don't seriously believe that do you? That's the only one? It's not just that we've been around the block a few times. It's that the Spurs have a championship team. It still is a championship team until we get knocked off.
And I see Udoka starting next to Bowen if we play the Lakers. Udoka is the one Spur who can handle Odom's size adavantage and can guard the post up game of either Odom or Kobe on a switch.
So I would see the Spurs with a lineup of
KT
Duncan
Udoka
Bowen
Parker
Manu and Finley are our super subs. Kobe is going to have to play a of a lot of minutes otherwise you aren't going to have someone to Guard Manu when he subs in. And with the 40 point games he's been dropping you are going to have to cover him well.
Spurs in 5.
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