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The more I think about it, the more I gotta think this season ranks at the top. Spurs would destroy PHX and then Detroit with Flipper isn't as scary.
1. 1994-95 WCF vs. Houston Rockets
This one hurt so damn much. The Spurs lose the first two games at home. Fight back and win the next two at home. Everything is looking good ... but then lose Game 5 at home and Game 6 on the road. Spurs had never won the championship before so getting that close and not doing it was damn tough to swallow.
2. 2005-06 WCSF vs. Dallas Mavericks
This one was bad. The only reason I don't think it's worse than the '95 loss is because the Spurs have three les to their name. That said, if the Spurs win Game 7 at home, I think they go on to win the championship. Phoenix?Spurs owned them last season with Amare. Detroit looks beatable with Flip at the helm.
3. 2003-04 WCSF vs. Los Angeles Lakers
.4 sucked. It really sucked. But going into that series, I thought the Lakers were the better team on paper. The Spurs were going to have to play perfect to beat them. As it turns out, they played great the first two games and then folded.
4. 2000-01 WCF vs. Los Angeles Lakers
That azz beating was just wrong.
5. 1978-79 ECF vs. Washington Bullets
Going up 3-1 and then dropping three in a row had to suck.
The more I think about it, the more I gotta think this season ranks at the top. Spurs would destroy PHX and then Detroit with Flipper isn't as scary.
While I'm sure 1 sucked, 2 and 3 are the worst for me because I was there and deeply involved at that point. Pure agony.
1. The 79 loss to the Bullets is number 1. That spurs team was really good and did not get any respect. If you talk about not getting any respect now then you don't know anything about 1978-1979. The spurs were an ex-aba team and the former nba teams didn't think the aba teams were any good. The spurs even had a 3-1 series advantage and a great chance to shock the nba with a trip to the finals. They even had a lead in the final minute of game 7 but lost.
This loss hurts the most because we came back from 3-1 and couldn't seal the deal.
.4 we still had a chance to win and force Game 7.
1a. 1989-90 WCSF vs. Portland Trailblazers
Oddly enough, meetings in the WCF against the Phoenix Suns and in the Finals against the Pistons awaited, with the Spurs having played well against both in the regular season. The Game 7 also went into overtime.
I'd rate that one right behind the '95 WCF debacle. I'd also rate the '79 ECF loss higher since the Spurs were that close to winning their 1st championship. After that, I'd rate the '01 WCF loss higher since that team was blown out despite having a great regular season and it was the matchup of the last two le teams due to TD having missed the postseason the year before. That was much more humiliating than last night.
The Spurs played this series down to the wire plus an extra half frame while playing a style other than their own. At this point, the consolation prize of not having to read the 12 year old drivel of Mavs fans anymore isn't that bad. There's plenty of options this summer to retool, which should be interesting.
This small ball crap blew up in Pop's face.
Is Detroit going to leave Ben Wallace out of their lineup, if they play Dallas???? no.
The Spurs won 63 games and 3 championships with their 7 ft centers. Dallas had more layups than any team ever had in a 7 game series against SA, and the reason was that they were not affraid to go to the basket, because there were no shot blockers there.
We had no bench production because our bench was starting and our starters were playing way too many mins.
Pop's other mistake was playing NVE who was horrible the whole series. His shot selection was atrocious, his defense was worse.
Pop got outcoached my AJ.
We wasted the best series by TD in his life by making him do too much, and he got tired down the stretch, as he missed his last 4 shots, all of them short.
I agree COMPLETELY.
He really screwed up going against what he always believed. He never even tried it. Oh wait, yes he did, in the regular season when we won 2 games that way.
Imagine we get a good center this summer. I still think next year Pop will play small ball, even if we got a good center.
Are you seriously comparing Rasho and Nazr to Ben Wallace?!?
Tim is a big too, but we didn't leave him off....
it's about having the best players on the court. If we had big men that could hang with the Mavs, you bet your ass they would be out there.
If Rasho and Nazr were starting, this series wouldn't even had gone to 7. Dallas in 5.
Agree with Jim. The spurs played into dallas's strenght. The spurs don't match up small ball with Dallas. Dallas has overall better athletes and more scorers.
I don't understand why some believe the spurs couldn't win this year when they never had much trouble beating Dallas in the past playng the centers they had.
Playoff Loss . . . . . . . . . . .Led To1. 1994-95 WCF vs. Houston Rockets
This one hurt so damn much. The Spurs lose the first two games at home. Fight back and win the next two at home. Everything is looking good ... but then lose Game 5 at home and Game 6 on the road. Spurs had never won the championship before so getting that close and not doing it was damn tough to swallow.
2. 2005-06 WCSF vs. Dallas Mavericks
This one was bad. The only reason I don't think it's worse than the '95 loss is because the Spurs have three les to their name. That said, if the Spurs win Game 7 at home, I think they go on to win the championship. Phoenix?
3. 2003-04 WCSF vs. Los Angeles Lakers
.4 sucked. It really sucked. But going into that series, I thought the Lakers were the better team on paper. The Spurs were going to have to play perfect to beat them. As it turns out, they played great the first two games and then folded.
4. 2000-01 WCF vs. Los Angeles Lakers
That azz beating was just wrong.
5. 1978-79 ECF vs. Washington Bullets
Going up 3-1 and then dropping three in a row had to suck.
'95 WCF Rockets . . . . . . .'99 Championship
'01 WCF Lakers . . . . . . . .'03 Championship
'04 0.4 Lakers . . . . . . . . .'05 Championship
'06 Mavs. . . . . . . . . . . . .????????
Because Dallas is obviously better than they were in the past. There guards are fast and deadly shooters. IMO, our centers couldn't guard them.
When did come back? When Avery started playing his bigs, fouling Tim, and slowing the game down.
I don't understand why people don't think the Spurs can run and gun and win. It worked against PHX, and it could've worked against the Mavs, if Bruce could hit some open threes, or if Manu didn't foul.
Pop didn't lose this series, he got us to 22 seconds of winning it.
Rasho can score better than Wallace and he can block shots and rebound almost as well. We tried to matchup with Dallas' athletes and that played into AJ's hand. Our team played 6 or 7 deep and they had not done that all year. When you are tired, your defense suffers, and our players were tired. Both OTs, the Spurs were dead tired and the final scores in both OTs showed it.
I like it.
Old fashioned twin tower defense > playing other team's game
BFD...they lost it...there are no moral victories in sports. The Spurs are losers once again, when they should not have been. We had a size advantage and did not use it. Had we had Rasho in the paint, they would have had to be a jump shooting team, and only when they are hitting 60+% from the outside, would that have mattered.
The Spurs are not a run and gun team...can you get that through your thick skull????
I'm sorry we disagree, but your insults certainly don't make your case for you.
Show me examples of how Rasho and Nazr would have won this series, and I may be more willing to accept your argument.
0.4 nearly killed me. I'll just leave it at that.
I wanted to say all these things that Jimcs said. That is so true, Detroit is not going to not start Rasheed because Dallas goes small. There was no bench because they were starting.
My Mavs fan friend called last night after the game and said we really screwed up by not playing our centers. He said Pop did what Don Nelson always did with their team by changing their lineups to "get the best matchup". Why have a system if you're going to change it because the other team is built a certain way. Dirk still got his free throws in crunch time and we still couldn't stay in front of them on defense.
I know, I know some will say if Manu makes that last shot we are not talking about small ball but we did lose.
if the spurs don't foul dirk or gino makes that layup, pop doesn't get outcoached. pop did what he had to do to try and win the series, and almost did. he didn't get outcoached in game 7, the bench didn't show up AT ALL. at some point the players have to put the ball in the bucket, and the bench didn't do that.
Gotta be higher than that. Spurs get to the Finals and probably win that year. That series loss helped give SA the choker reputation it took 20+ years to get over.
Last night was intense but let's be honest, we were down 1-3 and still almost pulled our ass out of the fire.
this hurts the my pride more than anything. the mavericks, always the "other" texas team, always playing second to the spurs, have just slapped us in the face. For all pop has done, he really ed this series up good style. the only reason we almost won was not because of pop "getting the best matchup by playing small ball," it was because tim duncan played his ing ass off while parker went 2-40 and ginobili didnt do four of the seven games. tim duncan is the only reason we had any chance of coming back and winning - and in the end, him by himself with ginobili throwing rockets off the backboard on the final play of regulation and parker jacking up 20 foot jumpshots he simply cant hit for his life, at least not yet, tim just wasnt enough. Pop should have played horry and nazr and forced them to adjust to us, because with them we have rebounding and shotblocking, which would have won us the series in my opinion.
instead, we lose game 2 and pop s his pants and goes small ball the rest of the series and we lose, thank you pop -- and thank you tim for doing all you could despite having no help besides finley, who btw played his ass off guarding dirk and hitting every big shot.
History has shown that the Spurs will morph their team in order to be able to play whatever style it takes to win.
I could have sworn we won the two games against Dallas this season when Rasho and Nazr played 40 minutes.
.04 was the worst I think.
The fact that the Spurs gave up the next game was worse than the actual .04 game itself.
This year's team gave it their all.
I agree with Jim, though, that we were outcoached in this one. If we're going to commit to a small ball sort of lineup we better find a young, athletic 4/3 player who can rebound. Do you think the Pacers would trade us Danny Granger?
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