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What the? Now I'm upset at them.. I'd rather them look good before we take them out! But then again... lakers losses are still like a drug for me.
Discuss.
What the? Now I'm upset at them.. I'd rather them look good before we take them out! But then again... lakers losses are still like a drug for me.
They got beat by another team that's better than they are. Guess they are fortunate that Pop won't spend Duncan to kick their asses on Tuesday. They're washed up or they don't want it, what's the difference. The result will be the same.
Yes you are right. Every team in the NBA is better than the Lakers. I just hope that someone can take the almighty Spurs down. They clearly are the best team of all time. I just hope the lakers can at least compete with any team. I am so scared of all these teams. Thank you Spurs for being great and giving the poor Lakers a bone. You will destroy us in the playoffs.
Last edited by 15 and counting; 04-10-2011 at 11:25 PM.
Thalidomide or just Lakerfan? One can only speculate.
Spurs lose 6 in a row, 4 with injuries and 2 while trying to get back on track. After this, the media proclaims the Spurs done. How many of you think that the media will still make excuses for the Lakers again and proclaim that nothing is wrong and that they'll just turn it on in the playoffs. Lately, media seems selective with their judgment in regards to anything they can pick on the Spurs for.
Memphis and NO are now tied with NO owning the tiebreaker. The Lakers vs. either Memphis or Portland in the first round would be nice.
That is exactly what we need. New Orleans wouldnt threaten or make LA sweat at all, while Portland and Memphis both could....
Of course they'll give them the "they're bored" excuse. They always do. It's not just lately that they're doing that.
The Lakers are going to be loaded for bear. Pop shouldn't rest the starters to avoid a potential confidence crushing loss. Instead, they should treat the game like it's a playoff game and play the starters as many minutes as it takes (within' reason) to attempt to pull out the victory. A victory would give the Spurs a confidence boost going into the playoffs, but more importantly, it would go a long way to holding off the Bulls.
Speaking of the Bulls, inexplicably, the Spurs don't appear to care much about the holding them off. The Bulls have slightly more than a one in three chance at being in the Finals. Which means if the Spurs get to the Finals, there's somewhere between a realistic and a good chance that they could face them. Why hand away home court in the final two games, when they've had it virtually all season and it's especially crucial in the Finals (because of the format)? It makes no sense, yet it appears they're willing to do it. If they lose game 7 of the Finals on the Bulls home court, that decision will haunt Pop forever.
I don't want to hear about rest. The minutes have been managed all season. They're the most rested team in the league, they'll have played one game in fives days and be coming off two days off going into the game and they'll get two - three days off after the Suns game before opening the playoffs.
I have thought about this but some part of me stubbornly still feels Pop has more to gain by resting the starters against the Lakers and mostly playing the bench in the second half.
Remember that it seems that beating us is somewhat of a catalyst for the Lakers. The last time they beat us I believe it snapped a losing streak and sparked a long win streak. After this last loss they will be desperate for a win. I doubt they have intended to drop this many games.
If Pop plays hard to win and loses, I say they Lakers are re-energized and we suffer a blow in the psychological battle- not to mention more wear-and-tear, risk of injury and less rest. If the Lakers win against scrubs, it's a hollow victory and robs them of any real satisfaction. If the bench actually guts one out in LA, it will be devastating at this point. Win-win.
Yes, we open the window to the Bulls but I'm willing to side with the roughly 70% odds(you mention) we won't see them in the finals.
Last edited by TwoHandJam; 04-11-2011 at 12:05 AM.
I disagree. No need to risk injury on essentially a meaningless game. If we make it to the finals and meet the Bulls and they have HCA so be it. I'd rather not give the Lakers any satisifaction of beating the Spurs playing like it's a playoff game. I'd pull the starters early and put in Novak, Anderson, Neal, Bonner and Green and let them rain threes. Treat this game like a shoot around.
If he's going to mostly rest the starters in the second half, they he shouldn't play them at all. I'm against resting them, but if that's what he intends to do, then rest them all the way and don't risk injury.
Look at how you guys are viewing this, though. The mentality screams "we're scared of the Lakers". If this team is going to get to where they want to go, they're going to have to go through the Lakers. No more running away from the Lakers; it's time to run through them. Send a message of their own heading into the playoffs. If not to the Lakers (because they're too arrogant to take heed to it), then to themselves.
The Lakers won't get satisfaction, other than from knocking the Spurs confidence down a peg. But it's not like their own confidence will inflate (I'm not sure it could anyway). They clearly don't take the Spurs seriously and they won't until they're on the verge of being eliminated. This is '03 all over again in that respect.
The odds are high enough that they could be a potential Finals opponent to where getting guys who are already rested an extra few minutes rest would be ridiculous. If they're seriously going to risk losing home court so that they can play, for example, Duncan 32-34 minutes instead of 36-40 (if it takes it) in one game, then they deserve to lose game 7 of the Finals on the Bulls home court.
I don't understand why so many people think playing the starters regular minutes over the next 2 games is going to risk wearing them out for the playoffs. With 2 games (even with a back to back) we have plenty of time to rest before the playoffs.
I mean the goal is to be the NBA Champions not the Western Conference Champions. If the Spurs make it to the finals then playing a game 7 at home will be a huge advantage that we should not just throw away. This team worked too damn hard over the season to throw that away right now.
Caption:
They lost Duncan and the Spurs were more than capable of winning those games without him. And Ginobili and Parker missed the Portland game for precautionary reasons and nothing more.
The Lakers were proclaimed done last year when they backed into the playoffs losing 7 of 10. That was prior to steamrolling into the finals against the Celtics. They are still the defending champs and until they're beat, they will be the favorite. Why is this so hard to understand?
The Spurs have a myriad of problems facing them come playoff time. The defense wreaks (Blair, Bonner, Neal, Jefferson) and they rely too heavily on the three point shot. Two of their most reliable three-point shooters have either never shown up in the post-season (Bonner), or has never played in the post-season (Neal). They're are too many unknowns to make a proper evaluation of this team and thus, are picked as long shots by many analysts.
The defending champs have just lost 5 in a row. A proud (to the point of arrogance) team got punked in their own building in embarrasing fashion by crumbling in the 4th. Just how fired up do you think this team will be to beat us? In Staples no less.
I don't think it's worth it. To win this type of game Pop would likely have to show some of the wrinkles he's saving for the playoffs. Why tip your hand now when your conference seed is secure and it's not likely the Bulls make the finals.
I disagree, from what I've seen the bulls seem to be the best team in the NBA since after the all star game.
Don't discount them.
They could surprise everyone, their record is not a fluke and they play good team defense.
It's not about resting the big three or being scared.
I just don't think it's worth playing all out for HCA against the Bulls, if in fact we meet them in the finals. By not taking this game too seriously, I think there's more positive outcomes vs. going all out like it's a playoff game.
It just doesn't make sense for the us to try and win this game, when it does nothing for us other than give us a "moral" victory. I understand you would love to make a point and keep the losing streak going, but it just isn't worth it for the Spurs IMO.
In all honestly, not sure how the players will react mentally on Tue, knowing the season ends the next night and that you already own the #1 seed. It could have blow out all written all over it. Just play Splitter HEAVY mintues and start Hill and hope great play out of RJ. Role players need the experience and confidence boosts compared to the Big 3 anyways....
So basically, "we're scared of the Lakers". In a nuts , that's what not playing the starters or playing them limited minutes would signify. It would indicate that, given the situation, "we don't think we can beat the Lakers anyway, so let's save our guys the embarrassment and not have their confidence crushed".
It's very worth it. Pop wouldn't have to show . He'd just have to play it like it's a playoff game and play Splitter. That's it. He does those two things, they've got a chance. The Bulls have a fairly good chance to make the Finals and if they do and the Spurs make it too and lose game seven on the road, it'll haunt them forever. And why; all so they could get already rested players an extra 5-8 minutes of rest in one game? That's worth risking home court in the Finals for potentially? Not a chance.
+1 I mean just imagine if somehow we beat them while resting the big 3.....
It would mean absolutely nothing.+1 I mean just imagine if somehow we beat them while resting the big 3.....
It would indicate that this game means NOTHING. Kinda like a preseason game... I can see playing our starters is a case of the Spurs not being confident, like we got to prove to ourselves we can beat this team. We can, we have done it before. Big 3 is rested and ready and its been a long time since we have been able to do that. Lets keep it that way......
Your telling me if the Lakers lost to the Spurs B team on Staples on National TV...6 game losing streak??? Im sure that would stir a few things up.....You gotta feel uncomfortable if your a Laker fan if that happens lol
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