If the other teams players get pumped up anything like their fans on their message boards.
It's cliche, but it's true - EVERY team in the league circles EVERY game the Spurs play - the contenders to secure home court advantage, the good ones to use as a measuring stick, the average ones to demonstrate to show improvement, and the crappy ones just to be that way.
Spurs are getting the treatment the Lakers got a few years ago...you know, when the Spurs would have the better record, would split with the Lakers, or even take 'em 3-1 in the regular season, and then inexplicably get smoked in the playoffs.
Many blamed the Spurs for not having the heart or desire - that wasn't the case. When Spurs played Lakers in the regular season, it was a huge game for only one of the teams - the exact thing for the Spurs now.
Just check out the Nets boards today compared to this one - 2 day old threads breaking it down like the superbowl; SpursReport? A Vbookie and a little talk about Bowen v. Carter; and if you say, "well that's only the fans," look at the the quote from Richard Jefferson about absolutely being back for THIS game (do you hear anything about any specific game meaning anything from ANY Spur - including tilts against Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix?)
All teams have a higher gear, and all teams have a different threshhold for calling on it. Detroit, Dallas & Phoenix are ALL in high gear damn near every game, trying to stay in front of or catch the Spurs - they three treat games against the champs with playoff intensity. Detroit got a taste of it last week; demonstrated not so much against Utah, as against Cleveland (HUGE game for the Cavs who consider Detroit a rival - nobody outside of Ohio sees it that way - including the Pistons).
The Spurs are only motivated by a championship, and we will not see their gear until a game has championship implications. If coasting keeps them on top of the WC, then coasting is what we will get.
When the playoffs FINALLY get here, however, after months of taking every teams 2 or 4 best shots - close game after close game, the Spurs will bring their A game, and it is going to be something to see. Can't wait.
I absolutely agree. Ever since the first exhibition game v. Miami when the starters for both teams played about 7-8 minutes and the Spurs went up by 12-14 I have not worried about the eventual outcome of this season, barring a catastrophic injury to a key player. In most of the wins, the Spurs have turned it on for some period of the game..long enough to get the W.
Gregg Popovich interview
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...carmelo/2.html
"On the importance of the Spurs' upcoming rematch with the Pistons:
'It's a big game in the sense that I want to match their physicality and their aggressiveness and their purpose. I'll be very disappointed if I don't see that. If we win the game because we shot the out of it, I won't be that impressed, and if we lose the game because we didn't shoot well then that won't bother me. I wish the game was in February or March. We just played them, and now we're going to play them again. I'd rather play them down the road when Manu's back in the flow and Timmy [Duncan] feels a little bit better.'"
And, the way you describe the New Jersey Nets messageboard ... how about the thread here en led "1-12-06"? It was started over a week before the game was even scheduled.
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32260
...and the Pistons got last year, and the Bulls during the Jordan years, and pretty much every defending champ in living memory....
I agree. Boo-freakin-hoo. It's great that other teams get up to beat the Spurs; if the Spurs choose not to meet that intensity -- if they can't rise to that challenge, they don't deserve to be champions. Champions always wear targets and always take the best shot that an opponent has.
people have been playing the spurs like this for years, you think fans would be used to it.
Who cares where the last guy to win the Boston marathon was at mile 13?
Getting up to beat the Champions is perhaps why Red Auerbach said the Spurs won't repeat. I didn't see him explaining why he thought that.
3 les in 7 years is wonderful, but repeating is very hard, they say. It's one achievement that has escaped the Spurs. They simply blew it in 04.
If the Spurs don't repeat this year, then it will take 06/07 and 07/08 seasons to try again. Tim's injury potential will be getting larger, not smaller.
Last edited by boutons_; 01-10-2006 at 04:27 PM.
Actually me, for some odd reason you have me curious now.
Unfortunately for the Spurs they don't play in the BCS, so strength of schedule won't help. Just win the next one.
I think the original poster must have taken a course in Obvious 101 (Pun Intended)
Does that quote sound to you like Pop is "pumped" for the game? Sounds to me like he views as more of a strenuous practice.
I would say the content and length of that particular thread, considering how long other threads tend to get in this very active forum, bolsters my position.
You would think - but it still seems, based on the general pessimism of the board this season, it could be pointed out.
Also - to the poster who said teams have gotten up for the Spurs for years like this: No, they haven't. After '99 championship AND after the '03, Lakers were the odds-on favorite each subsequent year. And as a fan of a team other than the Pistons last year...weren't that pumped to play them during the regular season.
WTF being a champion have in common with the scheudle?
Come on - be real.
It is still a "win championship" not "repeat".
But the spurs must defend what they have accomplished. And teams alawyes wanned to win with the champs. I don't care about the Lakers the 2000 or 2004.
Scheudle is scheudle. You deal with that, you deal with referees you deal with injures.It is all about the main goal for the spurs.
That is right. The Lakers were always the team to beat...2000 or 2004. The Pistons were seen as a team that beat a Laker team in disarray.....The Spurs have clearly been the team to beat since day one this year.
Let's not go overboard here. Yes, we have a bullseye on our back because we're the champs but so do the Pistons. They're one year removed from a le and were 5 minutes away from the back-to-back last year. There's no doubt that teams get up to play them as well.
Also, as another person pointed out - if we're the champs then we should rise to the occasion and welcome the adversity otherwise we don't deserve to remain champions. I think we've coasted far too much this year instead of striking fear in teams like we should be. I hope Pop starts to crack the whip... soon.
Coming into the season with everybody back and the credibility of a 7-game Finals, the Pistons quickly established themselves this season as the best team in the NBA.
The Spurs and Pistons are BOTH the teams to beat this year.
The pre-season predictions are confirmed with season records, Pistons in EC, Spurs in the WC.
every team views the spurs as a dominate force, .04* from a three-peat.
As George Bush would say "it's hard work".
So what? Should the NBA issue a rule that says that it's unfair for teams to get geeked up to play San Antonio because they didn't get geeked up to play other champions in other years? That fans should spend less time worrying about playing the Spurs (and beating the Spurs) than they do with other teams?
I guess what I'm saying is that I don't see the point of the complaint or observation in this thread. The Spurs are a good team. NBA teams get up to play good teams. If that makes rolling to a bunch of wins more difficult for the Spurs, then that's the price of being a good team. In theory at least, it helps the Spurs to have to play to that level most nights -- it should make them better tested by the time the playoffs roll around. I would think we'd be happy for that.
If the point is a comparison of the Spurs to other teams, in an effort to say that the Spurs shouldn't be judged by their record, I think it's misplaced. Everyone in the West plays pretty much the same schedule, so we're talking about the role of emotions in making one of those schedules more "difficult" than others. But what about teams that have more back-to-backs? or who have poor home attendance? or who deal with injuries? Aren't those teams facing "difficult" schedules too? Why are their schedules at least as "difficult" as the Spurs' schedule?
I don't get it.
I disagree with the original premise for the simple reason that the Spurs never have to play the Spurs.
@ Spurminator
I agree with 101's primary point which is that the Spurs are wearing the target this year more than ever. The Spurs are now widely regarded as THE team to beat in the NBA. They are most people's choice to be champs again and widely regarded as the best team in the league.
'99 was considered a fluke by many and David's retirement after '03 had many doubt our ability to repeat in '04. Now the Spurs are considered the best in basketball. It's awesome, and a big compliment to this franchise and its continued success.
I always got the impression that Pop worried more about the Spurs' level of play than worrying about "matching" the opposing team's level or style of play. The fact that Pop states that the Spurs have to match the Pistons as opposed to something like "we just have to play like we're capable of playing" tells me that it's important to Pop. And, by him saying he wished the next meeting was in March or later so that Duncan and Manu are healthier, it shows that Pop sees the game as some kind of measuring stick.
Last year, the Spurs were widely considered one of the favorites to win it all as well. They had targets on their backs for the last few years, just like the Pistons do now. I think most teams get up to play the Spurs, but I don't necessarily think that makes their schedule that much tougher, at least not to the point to say they have THE TOUGHEST schedule.
at least all of you are not homers. big detroit fan, and you don't know half the things about the pistons. our starters will kill your starters because chauncey billups will man handle tony parker, bruce bowen is a great defender i give you guys that, but when bowen switches to chauncey this time rip will take advantage of tony unlike last year's series. if bowen gaurds our backcourt then tay can take ginobili every time, speaking of ginobili he isn't as great as he was last season, a lot of pf's can't do a thing about tD, but sheed isn't one of them he gats duncan frustrated, and ben is much better than nazr. the pistons bench has talent. at the point you have arroyo and hunter who is better than beno and van exel. your sg/sf's are more experienced and have talent. we have maurice and delfino while you have finley, and barry. at the pf we have a great matchup with horry and dice who i'd say are pretty close, and at center we have dale and darko while you have rasho and oberto. oh let me add all of our players want the championship back. it happens with every team last year spurs had that advantage now we do. also the pistons now really care about the regular season and if they keep the best record it would be great. the 2-3-2 format is tough for the road team because almost every time the opposition wins 1 on their floor, and if the pistons have the ability to win back to back ships without homecourt in both the conference and nba finals imagine what they'll do when they do have homecourt.
oh by the way the pistons have the hardest schedule they have the most back to back sets 20, while spurs are second with 15 sets. 20 sets is 40 games so the pistons are only 1 game short of having half their season as games part of a back to back.
Ummmm, Tony Parker runs circles around Chauncey Billups. As much as Chauncey has a size and strength advantage over Parker, he has a quickness advantage over Chauncey ... over any of the Pistons guards, including a healthy Lindsey Hunter.
Pistons have an advantage with the starters, but the Spurs have a decided advantage with their bench.
The two best teams in the NBA ...
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