LOL @ VC asking Barkley what it's like to win a championship...
No. Pop had a pretty bad year coaching imo, but it was not even close to the main reason why the Spurs struggled. Even Pop's bad year was not that bad compared to other coaches.
It was just gimmicky compared to what you are used to getting. But it is hard when your main guys like TP and RJ had such tough years.
I guess now we'll see if Hill is indeed capable of carrying it to the next level and if a healthy Tony can return to carrying this team.
Even if Splitter does come over, and Hill and Blair continue to improve, there's a 75% chance that the 2010-2011 Spurs will have nobody on the All-NBA team.
Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic, but I just don't see championship contender.
I would love to see Malik get a fair shot at the SF position. He won't do worse than Jefferson, that's guaranteed. Let him play through his growing pains and see how he develops.
Personally, I still think the Spurs can contend for another le, but they have to make the right moves. Youth is key, but balanced talent is a must. No more one-dimensional players. And of course, become a great defensive team again.
Out of the remaining teams left, only Orlando/Atlanta/Phoenix are bad match ups. The rest of these teams the Spurs match up well with, it's unfortunate that we saw one of those teams that I mentioned.
Parker leads the team with +5 and Dice the only other Spurs player in positive with +1
If we can somehow get 2008 Parker back, we got our alpha player right there, all-nba accolades or no.
I agree. It would take an amazing amount of luck for the Spurs to find 2-3 more "perfect fit" role players that can come in and strengthen the depth and infuse defensive energy.
It would also take a pretty impressive trade. Even if the Spurs do improve, they are still behind LA, ORL, CLE & PHX. What if they improve as well?
Updated.
Suns fight off Spurs for first time in five tries to advance to conference finals
Steve Nash's right eye was swollen shut. He had six s ches beneath a bandage on his eyebrow, while the purplish lump was darkening another shade.
And that fourth quarter?
"I couldn't see anything," Nash said.
One good eye was plenty.
Nash scored 10 of his 20 points while his eye gradually shut more and more in the fourth, and the Phoenix Suns swept the San Antonio Spurs from the Western Conference semifinals with a 107-101 win Sunday night. It was long-awaited redemption for the Suns, who had been booted from the playoff by the Spurs four times since 2003.
"That was ugly," Suns forward Channing Frye said walking off the court.
He wasn't talking about Nash's eye, though it would've fit. Nash was accidentally struck by one of Tim Duncan's elbows in the third quarter and briefly went to the locker room.
Nash came back with an ice pack on his eye when he finally returned to the court. Even then, it wasn't back into the game right away -- first he lay on the court with the ice still on his head.
"He looked like Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini," Suns forward Grant Hill said. "It forced him to focus 'cuz he was shooting out of one eye."
It was reminiscent of the 2007 West semifinals, when Nash had his nose sliced open when he and Tony Parker collided head-to-head in Game 1. The gash in Nash's nose bled profusely, and the Suns went on to lose the series.
Not this time.
"Obviously I'm very sad and very mad that we lost, but at the same time I'm happy for Nash and [Amare] Stoudemire," Parker said. "Because every year they played hard against us and it never went their way. This year, it went their way."
Stoudemire led the Suns with 29 points. He is the only Suns player who was on each of those Spurs-ousted teams over the last seven years, but rather than rejoice, Stoudemire coolly walked off the court.
The Suns still have work to do.
They'll either play the Los Angeles Lakers or the Utah Jazz in the West finals. The Lakers lead that series 3-0, and no team in NBA playoff history has ever come back from that deficit to win.
Add these Spurs to that list.
"We thought from our past experience that we could do some things to control the series, but they just outplayed us," Duncan said. "All in all, they just outplayed us."
The Suns are keeping one of the more remarkable stories of the playoffs going. Three months after Phoenix was on the brink of trading Stoudemire and calling it a season, the Suns are returning to the West finals for the first time since 2006.
General manager Steve Kerr has said it would've taken an offer "really good for us to break up the team," and good thing it never came along.
Phoenix sealed its third trip to the West finals since 2005, and gets another crack at returning to the NBA finals for the first time since 1993.
Parker scored 22 points to lead the Spurs, who were swept out of the playoffs for the first time since 2001. It was an abrupt ending for the Spurs, who will have a summer to chew on some uncomfortable questions facing the winningest franchise of the last 13 years.
Any season that doesn't end with a ring is a failure for the four-time champions. The three years since their last le is in an eternity in San Antonio and, as been the case since the 2007 finals, time isn't on the side of their aging core.
Manu Ginobili, who will be 33 next season, signed a three-year extension in March. Duncan will be 35 when his contract is up in 2012. But could the Spurs part with Parker, who enters the summer with an expiring deal and a cheaper replacement behind him in Hill?
Back at the All-Star break, it was the Suns who were thinking about the future when a Stoudemire trade seemed imminent. The Suns instead kept the team together, and Stoudemire got to enjoy Phoenix beating the Spurs in the playoffs for the first time since 2000.
"It feels great, but the past is the past," Nash said. "It's definitely rewarding to beat the Spurs. For me personally, it feels great. I have a tremendous amount of respect for this franchise."
Game notes
The Suns pulled off their first sweep since ousting Memphis from the first round in 2005. ... Texas Gov. Rick Perry had a front-row seat to the Spurs' exit while sitting next to team owner Peter Holt for the first half.
Last edited by duncan228; 05-09-2010 at 11:21 PM.
Now how are yall feeling about that Malik hairston for Dragic trade?....not real good mannnn
I told ya! And look at Nash's face now. LOL.
You mean malik hairs ton Dejuan Blair and five hundred grand?!?
It was a sad way to see the season end. Those turnovers in the 2nd quarter were the beginning of the end. As obvious that the Suns were the deeper team, they didn't look that great tonight...our TO's and FT's gave the game away. We were either trying too hard or not hard enough...can't figure out which. I guess it doesn't matter either way now. Hope you all have a great summer...
Nash has a full week to recover from the injury. Based on personal experience I can say that he will be fine. He will continue to look bad, but he will see clearly and there will not be any pain. I have had a similar injury (not basketball related). However, I did see an ophthalmologist to make sure there was no injury to the eye. I assume Nash will see one too, and hopefully his eye is OK too.
However, last year Stoudemire had an eye injury during a game. It did not seem like a serious one, but he got detached retina and he missed several months. So there should be some concern about Nash's eye, but in his case it looked more like an injury above the eye, near the eyebrow. The blood running down his face looked scary, but it also tells me the injury was near the eyebrow and probably not to the eye. The eye was shut due to swelling.
Don't want to take anything out of the Suns. They were the clear winners this time around.
I was waiting until the morning to post here because I didn't want to post right after the game. The Spurs played an overall good game based on their capabilities and what the adversary allowed them to do.
Going back to my first sentence, it's pretty hard to beat a team that's so hot from 3pt range, with or without a hand in front of the shooter.
I don't expect the Suns to be as successful against LA. I thought the Spurs were a worse matchup for LA than Suns is. Suns are weak on the post against LA. The Spurs were better prepared in that department. I'm sure LA is salivating at this right now.
This next series (provided LA advances which will probably be the case in 4 or 5 games) will be decided on the post. LA is just too big and I don't expect the Suns to be so lucky from 3pt range.. yes.. I said it.. lucky
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