What do the Spurs do with James?

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

There is nothing the Spurs can do. Also battier, Allen, bosh all murder the Spurs. Seeing as how the spurs will give you the midrange Miami will kill us from there.

Heat in 5, but lets enjoy our first finals in 6 years. That really is something.

Dafuq? Stay with their shooters and put it on James to score 60 a game. The Kobe defense.

Miami is the favorite for sure, but let's not pretend like the Spurs can't win this series.

[DPG21920]

Dafuq? Stay with their shooters and put it on James to score 60 a game. The Kobe defense.

Miami is the favorite for sure, but let's not pretend like the Spurs can't win this series.

Look, I don't pretend to know what to do to stop Lebron, but Lebron is not Amare. He's worlds better on both ends. You can't just lump what the Spurs did for Amare onto Lebron because Lebron is so much more capable than Amare and has enough talent to score 60.

It's not like the Spurs can stop other guys every possession either. MIA has a stacked team full of talented guys that are also tough to guard.

[Mugen]

I'm more inclined to put Green on LeBron and have Kawhi take Wade out of the series tbh.

LeBron is going to get his no matter who guards him but he becomes transcendent when he's getting easy looks for everybody else on the Heat.

He's loads better than 2007 but the blueprint should be the same. Cut off his drives with Tim/Tiago and make him shoot the pull ups/mid-range/3s.

The Heat are going to hurt us when they put LeBron at the 4. He'll be scary of course but i'm more scared of Wade/Bosh in a potential matchup tbh.

[Spurs and Mavs fan]

Don't care if LeBron keeps making jump shot after jump shot - I don't want him to be making easy layups after easy layups.

[Brunodf]

It's not that absurd. James doesn't really have that much of a height advantage over Blair, and if there's one thing DeJuan can do well is stand there and not let someone push him around in the post. But Blair has little chance to defend him on the perimeter, so I wouldn't be for him guarding James at all.

Although Blair did a pretty good job on Melo earlier this season.

Blair is slower than Kawhi, Diaw, Splitter and is the worst defender

[SpursRock20]

Guarantee you Pop has no strategy for James right now. He won't until the Spurs win the WCF. The Heat have too many weapons. You put your best on James and Wade kills you. You switch up and Bosh kills you. You manage to avoid those and Allen kills you from outside.

Their only weakness is that they lack size inside. Pop will want to slow it down with them, but that's no secret tactic and no one else has been able to. They score off turnovers, they shoot the 3, they shoot a high percentage, they get offensive boards, they share the ball, they move the ball well, they defend well, they even shoot FTs well.

It will be quite a feat to win a single game against them. Taking them to 7 would be monumental. Beating them would be borderline impossible. They have to play subpar and the Spurs have to play out of their minds to even stand a chance.

Quite a feat to win one game against them? The Bulls beat them without Rose, Deng, or Heinrich

[DMC]

Quite a feat to win one game against them? The Bulls beat them without Rose, Deng, or Heinrich

Different gear in the Finals.

[DMC]

The Spurs have never lost when getting to the Finals so what does that mean?

They haven't been there enough times.

[Spurs and Mavs fan]

For those who say the Spurs have never lost in the Finals - well, the San Francisco 49ers were an undefeated 5-0 in the Super Bowl before losing in the Super Bowl this February.


Meaning, it's meaningless.

[dbreiden83080]

Quite a feat to win one game against them? The Bulls beat them without Rose, Deng, or Heinrich

The Pacers could be up 2-1 if not for a bad overplay by George in game 1..

[SpursRock20]

For those who say the Spurs have never lost in the Finals - well, the San Francisco 49ers were an undefeated 5-0 in the Super Bowl before losing in the Super Bowl this February.


Meaning, it's meaningless.

I think it means something. The 49ers is not a good reference because no one from the previous superbowl appearances were on last year's 49ers team. This Spurs team still has the core Big 3 who are undefeated in the Finals. They know how to get it done. Now this doesn't mean that it is an automatic win in the Finals, but it shows that the Spurs have players that step their game up and are not afraid of the big stage.

[Chinook]

Blair is slower than Kawhi, Diaw, Splitter and is the worst defender

It's like you only read the first four words of the post. Blair's supposed lack of footspeed wouldn't be a huge issue in the post. Blair's only a bad post defender because he's short, but against shorter players (compared to bigs), he shouldn't be as bad. But ultimately, I agree that he can't guard James, since Blair can't guard perimeter players. He doesn't have that bad of feet, though. He's pretty agile for a big.

[Richie]

A video of Butler defending Lebron in the ECSF



Obviously the video only shows Lebrons misses, and considering how few there are of him missing in the paint compare to jumpshots that tells you all you need to know about the game plan. Stay in front of him, give him the jumpshot and hope he misses, if he gets in to the paint he rarely misses.

[MannyIsGod]

The thing with the Heat is that people need to realize their losses are due to a lack of effort. What has happened everytime they've been beat? They come back and slaughter the team the next game. I do believe the Spurs have a chance, but the fact is that the Heat are a much better team at defending the PnR than Memphis and they are obviously far more talented.

The Spurs will have to play efficient low turnover basketball to have a shot. The two meetings this year tell us nothing so we'll see. We have a huge advantadge in the coaching department so hopefully that makes a difference.

[TD 21]

I'd rather Lebron beat the Spurs than Allen, Battier, Miller, etc. Double team as little as possible. Rotate Leonard and Diaw on Lebron and try to wear him down. Spurs will miss SJax.

1. Limit turnovers.
2. Rebound, rebound, rebound.
3. Play big - 2 of TD, Splitter and Diaw at all times - no Bonner or Blair
4. Stay home on the others. Let Lebron try to win the game himself. If they keep it close, maybe he'll choke at the end or get tired.

Spurs need to go hard after game 1. That'll be the most winnable with all that rest - put pressure on them and hopefully they'll choke. That said, I think it'll be MIA in 5.

How does Diaw qualify as "playing big", but Bonner doesn't?

To beat this team, they're going to need to limit the minutes of spots 9 (I'd say 8 too, but Joseph is basically playing 8 mpg, in 3 minute increments, so there's not much more he can be limited) and they should do away with spot 10 in the rotation altogether. That means making a choice between Bonner and Neal. For 3 reasons, Bonner should be the choice . . .

1) They're going to need to shoot the three well and Neal's shot has been broken since he got plantar fasciitis. Meanwhile, Bonner has finally nutted up in the playoffs.

2) There's no obvious safe hiding place for Neal. Chalmers/Cole is the best they can do and though both are limited creators and function more as spot up guys, it's not like they're a Green or Pondexter and they're completely incapable of dribbling and creating at all off the bounce. Besides, the Spurs can't afford to risk being burned by such limited players.

3) More so than any other team, size on the wings matters against the Heat. Going with Bonner makes it easier to play Diaw some at SF, thereby utilizing him as a secondary James defender.

[tesseractive]

How does Diaw qualify as "playing big", but Bonner doesn't?

To beat this team, they're going to need to limit the minutes of spots 9 (I'd say 8 too, but Joseph is basically playing 8 mpg, in 3 minute increments, so there's not much more he can be limited) and they should do away with spot 10 in the rotation altogether. That means making a choice between Bonner and Neal. For 3 reasons, Bonner should be the choice . . .

1) They're going to need to shoot the three well and Neal's shot has been broken since he got plantar fasciitis. Meanwhile, Bonner has finally nutted up in the playoffs.

2) There's no obvious safe hiding place for Neal. Chalmers/Cole is the best they can do and though both are limited creators and function more as spot up guys, it's not like they're a Green or Pondexter and they're completely incapable of dribbling and creating at all off the bounce. Besides, the Spurs can't afford to risk being burned by such limited players.

3) More so than any other team, size on the wings matters against the Heat. Going with Bonner makes it easier to play Diaw some at SF, thereby utilizing him as a secondary James defender.

I like this idea in theory, especially since Miami has bigs that we can hide Bonner on.

But OKC killed us last year because Bonner's release wasn't quick enough. They could sag his man into the paint to help with penetration, then recover in time to challenge the shot. Miami also has guys who can close out really fast. So I'm ok trying Bonner for a few minutes to see how it goes and get guys some rest, but I have zero confidence that he'll have the same success he had against Memphis and LA.

[tesseractive]

Dafuq? Stay with their shooters and put it on James to score 60 a game. The Kobe defense.

Miami is the favorite for sure, but let's not pretend like the Spurs can't win this series.

Between his shooting, his post ups, and his isos, LeBron can destroy any one-on-one defender in the league -- nobody can handle all three of those. He can back down Leonard on every single possession if we let him, and if we leave him on an island, he can take Boris off the dribble 10 times out of 10.

LeBron is the best wing since Jordan, and it's not close. Help me remember -- how well did the "we'll make Jordan beat us" defense work out?

[TD 21]

I like this idea in theory, especially since Miami has bigs that we can hide Bonner on.

But OKC killed us last year because Bonner's release wasn't quick enough. They could sag his man into the paint to help with penetration, then recover in time to challenge the shot. Miami also has guys who can close out really fast. So I'm ok trying Bonner for a few minutes to see how it goes and get guys some rest, but I have zero confidence that he'll have the same success he had against Memphis and LA.

I don't disagree, but let's face it, at least one of them is getting minutes and I don't see a case for it to be Neal. If he were the Neal pre injury, then for the very reason you brought up (which I had thought of), I'd probably be advocating him, even with no ideal option to hide him on. But in the state he's in, he's not an NBA player. That being the case, it's an easy call to go with the guy shooting literally double the percentage from three in the playoffs, no hatter how equipped they are to eliminate his open looks.

Hopefully he can make them pay with his running hooks.

[tesseractive]

I don't disagree, but let's face it, at least one of them is getting minutes and I don't see a case for it to be Neal. If he were the Neal pre injury, then for the very reason you brought up (which I had thought of), I'd probably be advocating him, even with no ideal option to hide him on. But in the state he's in, he's not an NBA player. That being the case, it's an easy call to go with the guy shooting literally double the percentage from three in the playoffs, no hatter how equipped they are to eliminate his open looks.

Hopefully he can make them pay with his running hooks.

Ok, I see your point. Neal has really shown some toughness out there fighting gamely through his injuries even though he's not close to right, but, yeah, he really isn't much of an asset at all.

It's a shame that De Colo buried himself so deep in the doghouse, because I could see him giving us a few useful minutes at the 2 if he had been part of the playoff run. Maybe next year if he keeps working on his shot and gets his at ude back on course.

So yeah, I guess Bonner is the only realistic option as the 9th man, despite his well-known problems.

[CosmicCowboy]

@ all the doom and gloom. Miami is not invincible and Spurs can take them.

[rmt]

How does Diaw qualify as "playing big", but Bonner doesn't?

To beat this team, they're going to need to limit the minutes of spots 9 (I'd say 8 too, but Joseph is basically playing 8 mpg, in 3 minute increments, so there's not much more he can be limited) and they should do away with spot 10 in the rotation altogether. That means making a choice between Bonner and Neal. For 3 reasons, Bonner should be the choice . . .

1) They're going to need to shoot the three well and Neal's shot has been broken since he got plantar fasciitis. Meanwhile, Bonner has finally nutted up in the playoffs.

2) There's no obvious safe hiding place for Neal. Chalmers/Cole is the best they can do and though both are limited creators and function more as spot up guys, it's not like they're a Green or Pondexter and they're completely incapable of dribbling and creating at all off the bounce. Besides, the Spurs can't afford to risk being burned by such limited players.

3) More so than any other team, size on the wings matters against the Heat. Going with Bonner makes it easier to play Diaw some at SF, thereby utilizing him as a secondary James defender.

I think that Pop did experiment with Diaw at SF - I recall TD, Bonner and Diaw all on the court at one time against MIA. Without SJax the only way to rotate players on Lebron (some Diaw) is to play Bonner. I do wish SJax were here. Then Spurs could get away with only TD, TS and Diaw as bigs. I think they're going to blitz TP big time and prefer to have TD, TS, Diaw as bigs because they are excellent passers and will find the open man. Bonner - not so.

[SA210]

Damn people have fallen for Miami's hype. Was there a Spurstalk GTG neutering party that I don't know about?

[TD 21]

I think that Pop did experiment with Diaw at SF - I recall TD, Bonner and Diaw all on the court at one time against MIA. Without SJax the only way to rotate players on Lebron (some Diaw) is to play Bonner. I do wish SJax were here. Then Spurs could get away with only TD, TS and Diaw as bigs. I think they're going to blitz TP big time and prefer to have TD, TS, Diaw as bigs because they are excellent passers and will find the open man. Bonner - not so.

He did in the first meeting, but the big three, Leonard, Green and Jackson, weren't playing, so it was essentially by default (he and Anderson were the only somewhat viable options) and also largely irrelevant, since it was obvious the Heat weren't engaged until they were in serious danger of losing the game. And in the second meeting, James didn't play and Diaw didn't play SF.

No question they'd prefer Diaw as a big period and particularly in this case for the reason you alluded to. But as I said in my initial post in this thread, asking Leonard to guard James for roughly 45 mpg without getting in foul trouble, is not realistic. They're going to need at least one of Diaw or Green to give them some minutes on him; the question is which is better suited.

[therealtruth]

I think it's going to come down to if Parker can play like the best PG in the NBA. If he can then it gives the Spurs a counter to James.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Let Jax wear him down for 25mins a game, then leave it to Leonard...