No one is beating the Spurs this year.

[Mazingerz]

Oh but Stern wants his anointed gorilla and wade to win a championship this year.

[Atzar]

Nope. The title is theirs to lose.

I like the Spurs so watching them is bittersweet. The way the Spurs are playing is the way I imagined us playing...

The difference between them and us is the fact that they have willing, capable, intelligent passers at every position - every one of their starters and even most of their bench players will almost always make a quick, correct decision with the ball.  Often, this decision is to SHOOT IT. 

We can't make that claim.  Rondo and Garnett are great passers, but they hesitate when the correct play is to shoot the ball.  I cringe whenever Garnett passes up an open fifteen-foot shot to get Bass an open fifteen-foot shot.  Unless Bass is on fire, Garnett should be shooting that.  We all know of Rondo's occasional refusal to shoot an open layup.  Bass is a mediocre-to-poor passer.  In addition, nobody on the bench is really capable of facilitating offense like the Spurs do.  We have Dooling filling in as the backup PG right now, yet he's clearly uncomfortable running an offense.  Bradley showed similar discomfort, although I liked the fact that he was occasionally able to make something happen simply by being aggressive and pushing the ball in transition. 

Also, I can't shake the opinion that we're simply a jumpshooting team who can't shoot.  For whatever reason, this team just doesn't seem to hit open looks as often as it should, given the amount of shooting talent we have on the roster.  I know we have injuries and we're old, but if we don't regain our shooting touch soon, then we'll be going fishing. 

[j804]

They are for real and defense is great, to shut down OKC the way they have who are explosive and athletic and probably their biggest threat and most complete team left I don't see them losing to anybody. They aren't going to let James and Wade beat them alone and Miamis role players won't last in a shootout with the Spurs. Manu/Parker driving and kicking and Duncan down low will eat the Heat alive if it came to that.

[Leon0]

It blows my mind.

[Chris16]

Funny thing is the Heat trolls are saying "The Spurs hasn't seen defense like the Spurs yet".

Did they forget what kind've coach Popovich is? Do they think he's Mike D'Antoni or something?

[Chris16]

Funny thing is the Heat trolls are saying "The Spurs haven't seen defense like the Heat yet".

Did they forget what kind've coach Popovich is? Do they think he's Mike D'Antoni or something?

[mctyson]

The difference between them and us is the fact that they have willing, capable, intelligent passers at every position - every one of their starters and even most of their bench players will almost always make a quick, correct decision with the ball.  Often, this decision is to SHOOT IT. 

No, the difference is when the Spurs shoot it, the ball goes through the round orange thing and white nylon.  Our shots deflect off of it.

[mgent]

Never EVER underestimate the Thunder at home.

[SHAQATTACK]

True 

[Kuberski1]

In the land of Coulda/Shoulda/Woulda

KG/Wilcox
DWest/Bass
Pierce/Green
Ray/Bradley
Rondo/Dooling

Assumption is that West would have made a wiser choice, and good health.   That would've been a heck of a team...

[feckless]

That's what everyone said about the Lakers before the last Boston Championship!

[guava_wrench]

Never EVER underestimate the Thunder at home.

Or any good team. People so often get carried away by teams winning at home, claiming them invincible.

[StartOrien]

Never EVER underestimate the Thunder at home.

Or any good team. People so often get carried away by teams winning at home, claiming them invincible.

This is different. This team is playing an incredible brand of basketball.

[missyP]

I just hope that Danny and Doc are watching the Spurs, because we can be the spurs next year, smart veterans,star point-guard, we just need to surround them with reliable support cast.

We are very different from the Spurs besides also having an aging core. Outside of that we struggle on offense, we move the ball up slow, while their pace is much faster. They have a score-first point guard and ours is not and cannot score.  Imagine defenses leaving Parker open for a split second like they do on Rondo. We do not rebound. Yesterday while watching Spurs I understood the luxur of having a point guard who can score, consistently and also pass efficiently. The are VERY deep, to an extend where DeJuan Blair gets a DNP..lol