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that was the 3rd game in 4 nights
lol he mad, 23-3
Parker has been lazy bringing the ball up in late game situations for a while now. They usually don't seem to pay as much attention in the waning minutes, but when he's running the clock, there are several times where he BARELY gets it over in the allotted eight seconds.
I'm pretty sure they let one slide last night before they actually called him on it. Hopefully that will be a bit of a wakeup call.
that was the 3rd game in 4 nights
lol he mad, 23-3
Spurs are not contenders
I agree
Lots of great points in this thread.
I feel like the mental errors made in the past few days are simply embarrassing. This team prides itself on being more well coached, and high B-all IQ and quality characters players. Even as fans, we pride ourselves in our coach, our caliber of players, the way we draft, how we always manage to compete while remaining (for the most part) under the luxury tax. So I think the string of mental errors are embarrassing, however, for the reason why we love the Spurs, I don't think its a big deal just yet. I think that they'll correct these errors as soon as next month.
I hate the argument "Were winning so /thread." Winning is great, obviously I'm enjoying the best record AND the best start in franchise history. However I don't want to settle. There are still areas of improvement. Do you guys think the guys are sitting back and partying cause they have the best record or do you think the coaching staff is working on improving the team?
The biggest one is rebounding/size and length. Ill use the T-Wolves game where we came back to win in overtime and last nights game as examples. In both games were outrebounded but still found a way to win. That's fine because we can out class those teams on the level of skill, talent, and coaching, but would this work against the elite? When given a team thats just as talented and just as well coached, can you afford to drop the rebounding category and expect to win? History says no.
I don't know if Blair, Splitter would necessary help in the rebounding area either. Blair has been shown to be out muscled by guys like Love and Randolph, so he probably wont be that effective against Gasol, Shaq, Perkins etc. Splitter has been a pretty poor rebounder so far. Bonner... well we know what were getting with him. Playing Bonner against the Lakers or Celtics won't work either. He won't spread the floor at all, especially in the playoffs. In the regular season they might leave him open, but with Odom (who is still haunting Rashard Lewis' game) playing the 4, theres a grim chance Bonner is going to do anything at all.
All in all, I do think were contenders, but I don't see us being the "favorites" to win it anytime soon.
aslong as the spurs keep winning things will be alright.....spurs are winning and thats what matters...
Duncan is posting career lows across the stat sheet, Tiago and Blair have been non-factors all season, GHill has been completely inconsistent, interior D is the worst it has been in years...
and yet, the team is 23-3.
It's not like they have been playing at the apex of their ability/potential all season to get where they are at right now. This is a team with holes and the need for players to step up and fill their roles.
and yet, the team is 23-3.
Are people forgetting that SPAM?
Come on guys!
You should be out getting ready for the annual "Boo Your Team off the Floor" Staples center Christmas Day tradition.
Some of your points are valid, others are weak.
For instance: Everyone in the league is out muscled by Love and Randolf. Blair is a rebound machine compared to everyone but those guys. Also, who cares? Neither of these teams is a threat to the Spurs.
The only concern we should be discussing is facing the defending champs in the West, and against Dallas. We really don't have a problem with any other teams. Boston isn't going to keep us out of the Finals, nor will Miami. Dallas or the Lakers can. We should build to beat those two teams.
So it's pointless to even worry about whether Blair will be effective against players who aren't in our conference. If we can get to the Finals, we will probably win because that means we got over LA and Dallas. Anyone who can beat both of those teams in the playoffs probably wins it all. I say probably because the East has a couple of good teams and you never know what happens in a 7 games series or even leading up to it.
Maybe I was unclear, but I realize that they aren't a threat, which is why I think we won because we were able to outclass those guys. My concern is that we have to be a great rebounding team against teams like the Lakers and Celtics, but to your point, more importantly the Lakers for now. Therefore, I don't think we can rebound poorly against the Lakers or Mavericks and have a good shot.
But like i said, I do think were contenders, I think were about even with the mavericks and but I'm not confident about our ability to match up with LA just yet.
Blair is too short to be effective against 2 seven foot post players like Gasol and Bynum. They'll just shoot over him.
If they get to the Finals and have to play both LA and DAL, they'll be dead tired and have nothing in the tank for BOS. I don't think they match up well with BOS at all who are so deep (especially in the front court). Against LA and DAL, at least they have 1 position that's a mismatch (Parker).
I'm hoping that DAL and LA have to battle it out before playing SA and that some other team (ORL or MIA) take out BOS before the Final. If LA makes it out of the West, I hope BOS is waiting for them.
Just a side note, per Twitter, ESPN's Ric Bucher noticed Bynum wincing as he was running up and down on the court. Bucher also noticed how Bynum was stretching out and testing his braced, right, knee/leg.
lol pointing out that another poster's points are weak when your argument for why the Spurs dont have to worry about Boston is because if they beat LA they probably beat Boston. That's one of the tiest points in this thread, which is basically a repository of ty points.
Is an alley-oop not a high percentage shot? Jefferson just ed it up is all.
Agree with your other points though. Looked as if Jefferson was single handedly trying to give this game away.
RJ's improvement is a big reason we are 23-3, despite all the problems others have mentioned. that's why its discouraging to hear he reverted last night (judging from comments, didnt see the game). Its more important for RJ to be clutch, and not just in shooting, than for him to maintain the improved 3pt %. Thats what makes or breaks him, bonner too for that matter. I've been able to watch several games lately and I think we need to integrate RJ more, to keep him engaged and take the load of the big 3. The big 3 + RJ and hill playing at a high level is enough to mitigate some of the shortcomings inside, but they need to be clutch and smart to make up for the lack of size.
Gasol and Bynum are 7-foot +. I don't care what their listings say, watch them when they're being guarded by 6-11 and 7-0 guys and you'll notice a clear difference.
The big rotation/minute distribution against the Lakers has to be as follows to have a legitimate chance at beating them: Duncan 36-40 mpg, McDyess 28-32 mpg, Splitter 20-24 mpg, Bonner 8-12 mpg. It's not going to work any other way.
The Spurs undoing against the Lakers could easily be Pop's inability to nail down a rotation against them. Does he go Anderson over Neal for more size on the wing? Does he play small, get more shooting on the floor and play Jefferson some at four when Odom is in? Blair or Splitter?
He needs to have a rotation against the Lakers nailed down by game 1 if and when. They can't go into a series against them making it up as they go along. They need to hit the ground running, particularly if they have home court.
The Spurs aren't going to win the paint battle, but they need to limit the damage as best they can and the only way to do that is to lean heavily on Duncan, McDyess and Splitter.
Unfortunately, I'm thinking more and more that Pop is going to essentially concede the paint and flat out try to beat them from the outside. I suspect we'll see roughly 20 mpg out of Bonner, we'll see some Jefferson at four against Odom (they might even close this way if they can get away with it), which would allow them to play Ginobili, Hill and Parker simultaneously for stretches.
The Spurs are definitely finding ways to play down to the level of their compe ion. They are making stupid mistakes that should be costing them games.
HOWEVER, the fact that they are committing mistakes that should be costing them games, and keep finding ways to win in spite of themselves does say something about the make up of this team.
Winning easy is one thing. Finding ways to win games you should be losing is another.
The one thing that EVERYONE, posters, sports media, and the like have said is that with Bynum, the Lakers have a size advantage over everyone. But here's the one thing that they're not mentioning, how many playoff games has Bynum played?
The guy can't stay healthy, and while he can help the Lakers in the game, there's nothing he can do from the bench to help the team win. As a fan, I don't worry about the Lakers size advantage because even Phil is worried about his frontline.
Bynum is a non factor for the Lakers because he hasn't shown the ability to stay on the court for long periods of time, especially come playoff time.
Coming into the season, we knew the Lakers imposing frontline would have an advantage on every team except Boston. After seeing this current Spurs team their strength is the perimeter. Nothing will change that fact. We have to hope that our frontline competes and makes the Lakers's frontline work for everything they get. And if Bonner isn't on, I pray that Pop benches him. I'm pulling for Splitter to find a permament spot in the rotation prior to the playoffs.
This.
He should be named Andrew Ming.
It's funny you say this because I used to think the Suns were idiots for going small and using offense as their main weapon of choice. And now, we may be headed in that direction against the Lakers.
If Dice is up for it, and Splitter develops nicely the rest of the way, I think we've got a uva a chance, but I guess we'll see.
I don't believe SA will be "dead tired". It's not like they are racing in the Tour de France. These guys have to play someone regardless. The Lakers went 7 a couple times last year it seems.
Are you saying that the Spurs cannot go to 7 twice and still compete in the Finals?
The logic escapes me. They play 82 games before the playoffs and never a back to back in the playoffs.
Wow some of you say some outlandish . There's no way Pop concedes anything, especially the Paint. Pop isn't going to play 7 second offense and forget about defense in the paint.
No, I understood you just fine, but like many others here you are just as focused on the East teams and teams that won't matter come playoff time as you are the Lakers and Mavs. There's no reason to build a team around beating an Eastern team. No franchise builds a team to beat the opposite conference. You have to get to the Finals, and in the West that means going through LA and Dallas. If you can do that, you take your chances with whomever gets there. You cannot structure for all possibilities.
Right now the Lakers are strong because of Gasol and Odom, not Bynum. Odom spreads the floor because he can shoot the outside shot and he can run the break. He's a good rebounder and finishes well. Gasol, we all know what he can do. Get them together and they score a ton and give up one shot only, if that. We haven't even covered Kobe, Artest or the other shooters on the team. Dallas isn't the Dallas of last year. With Tyson Chandler, they have a dimension in the paint they didn't previously have. Dirk can now hang back and feed off Chandler's paint presence, enjoying probably single coverage that he can easily shoot a high percentage over.
The Spurs need reliable bigs. You cannot depend on your scoring to get you there, you have to build for defense. You can force defense and crank it up, risking fouling of course but crank it up still. On offense, you just take what you are given and hope your shots start to fall. You cannot make that happen suddenly.
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