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Duncan injury started the spiral to me...
Can anyone explain to me what happened to this team from early-March onwards?
One day they were playing incredibly clever, cohesive offensive basketball, and even had an extra defensive gear in the 4th Q when they needed it, then over night that all disappeared. For the first 60 games they had amazing chemistry, toughness, and belief in one another, and then it all evaporated.
WTF happened? I haven't been able to figure out what changed and led to this disastrous ending to the season.
Duncan injury started the spiral to me...
Sadly, that's when the tires fell off.
Other teams started to play harder... playoff positioning, and just gearing it up for the playoffs... we regressed to the mean. You didn't think RJ would shoot 60% forever or Bonner would keep his 50% from 3, did you?
We also made some changes that, in hindsight, I'm not sure were improvements, like moving Dice to the starting lineup and rolling out the turd towers.
IMHO the fall started about 10-15 games before TD hurt himself, basically after the ASB.
Very good points.
I called this after game 1 of Memphis, and can even give you the date.
March 9.
Antonio McDyess inserted as starting center for the Spurs, moving Blair to the bench and giving us the vaunted Blair/Bonner Twin Twinkies front court.
The rotations, defensive intensity, and on court chemistry were never the same.
The Spurs had already been playing at their highest level while other teams kicked it up a notch. There was no another gear for Duncan. And, yes, the Blair-Bonner front court had disaster written all over it.
The day we got humiliated by the Lakers at home it all started coming apart.
The Spurs fluke model of winning this year (lots of 3's, no D) would only succeed if the three-ball continued to fall. And you can't rely on soft guys like RJ, Bonner and to some extent, Hill to make that happen in the postseason.
Plus when TP and Manu lose faith in their other teammates (outside shooters to knock down shots, defenders to switch, picks to be set, etc.), then the ball movement stops and the whole team gets out of sync.
It was pretty much a recipe for disaster all year -- no matter how many games they won in the regular season.
Oh...and RJ just sucks.
Yes, that game had a huge impact on the season, and that's where the downward spiral began. Lakers reminding the Spurs where the bar is set, as they've done since the Gasol trade.
That 6 game losing streak......they just found new ways to lose games.
Yes, that sounds right to me, because that's about the time when I saw it start to fall apart too. And, guess what, that was one game after:
Yup. Nono already said it, but yup, I think that's a key.
Indeed. It was clear they had a high trust level in their teammates until that Laker game, then it started to wane... and yeah, RJ can bite me!
Baseline bum has a really good take on this too:
Impressive anatomy of a failed season here already, people. Thanks.
Somehow it makes me feel a little better... no idea why.
rj declined every month, fluke 3 system, blair lost his job near the end of the season. spurs perfect health finally stopped but only for a second since parker recovered in 2 seconds duncan got a nice rest out of his injury.
Fall from grace started when we replaced Bruce and Horry with RJ and Bonner.
I thought it all started when McDyess was put into the starting lineup.
Blair was much more effective as a starter. After he was sent to the bench, he became a non-factor. Also, the role players started to disappear as the season went on.
The regular seasons was merely fool's gold. The Spurs got fat during the regular season, off of a style and tempo that many opposing teams didn't have ability to counter. Still, their flaws were obvious when they played any opposing team with size (Fakers, Grizz, Celtics). Once the Grizz got them in a seven-game series, it was church.
Watching them get undressed during this series, caused me to keep asking myself the question I have been pondered all season long. WHat was Pop thinking? How did he ever convince himself that he could enter this season and contend with an undersized, and overaged frontline? No way that Duncan should still be this team's best big man at age 35. As far as I'm concerned, it was a total disservice to him.
And the even worse part is he had a 7 footer with size on the bench the whole year but never elected to play them together. Seemed to go out of his way to make sure the two never shared the court together. To me, that's almost inexcusable given Timmy's age & obvious decline.
This. Pop even changed his starting lineup by inserting Dice after that game. It's like he panicked. I think both the Laker beatdown and the subsequent lineup change messed with the Spurs' chemistry (and psyche).
Then TD went down and Pop chose to sit his key players down the stretch for certain games and expected them to flip the switch in the playoffs. By then the damage was done.
I made a post months ago that guys were shooting OUT OF THEIR MINDS from 3. There were several spurs that were near career highs or close to it.
Usually a single individual can go buck wild but when 4-5 guys do it collectively and shoot out of their minds?
Really? Seriously, not to pile one, but anyone that thought that was anything other than fool's gold really needs to check there basketball iq at the door.
Add that to the fact that TD is BARELY even able to school a defender on single coverage...
WRiting was on the wall months ago.
Let's not forget Pop's end of the year shenanigans that ended with unnecessary injuries to key players.
I'm sick and tired of defending him.
NEVER AGAIN!
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