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Official Spurs Game Thread

Did the Spurs start Diaw in any of the Finals games last year? The Heat have been pretty much humiliated in this series from the minute Pop made the swap in the starting lineup from Splitter to Diaw.
 
KidA23 said:
Did the Spurs start Diaw in any of the Finals games last year? The Heat have been pretty much humiliated in this series from the minute Pop made the swap in the starting lineup from Splitter to Diaw.
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No. And I doubt it would have worked as well last year either.
 
What I'm surprised at is Ibaka didn't get a Player Option in Year 3 or 4. His agent really screwed up. He took less money and didn't get anything in return.
 
KidA23 said:
Did the Spurs start Diaw in any of the Finals games last year? The Heat have been pretty much humiliated in this series from the minute Pop made the swap in the starting lineup from Splitter to Diaw.
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I don't think so, but he basically played that lineup more IIRC. Diaw had a decent finals last year. Pop put Manu in the starting lineup for Splitter midway through, and shifted Duncan and Leonard down a peg. Diaw and Splitter basically split minutes in half, each getting about 100 min through 7 games.
 
The real key for Miami was signing Greg Oden. He's great on the fast break.
 
94Deac said:
With OKC's current lineup, not even Phil "The Messiah" Jackson could win a best-of-seven title. Too much of OKC goes through Durant and Westbrook. But if you add Carmelo in there (and I have heard no one even suggest that), it doesn't matter who their coach is. Of course you'd need three balls on the court at the same time but they'd be hard to stop.
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The Spurs are, at this moment, proving that depth is more important to a championship run than having 2-3 elite talents. Yes, the elite talents help, but the Spurs are winning this thing (for now) with depth.
 
deacondamo said:
Isn't Stephenson a poor man's Kawhi Leonard?
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No Stephenson is a total headcase. Kawhi has to be cajoled to takeover a game. His biggest weakness is his humility.

Maybe Stephenson is Leonard without a brain and having a grossly over-inflated ego.
 
Deadbolt said:
The Spurs are, at this moment, proving that depth is more important to a championship run than having 2-3 elite talents. Yes, the elite talents help, but the Spurs are winning this thing (for now) with depth.
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And it appears to the be the exception to conventional NBA thinking. Certainly runs afoul of the "celebrity/huge stats" superstar focus fans have now. Do the Spurs have any starters averaging more than 30 minutes a game? RC Buford is a genius. And Peter Holt gets credit for just fueling the tank and letting the front office and players drive this thing.
 
94Deac said:
And it appears to the be the exception to conventional NBA thinking. Certainly runs afoul of the "celebrity/huge stats" superstar focus fans have now. Do the Spurs have any starters averaging more than 30 minutes a game? RC Buford is a genius. And Peter Holt gets credit for just fueling the tank and letting the front office and players drive this thing.
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I kept thinking the other night about how much the Spurs rest their three "stars" during the course of a game. At one point there was a lineup of Mills, Green, Leonard, Diaw and Splitter on the floor against the Heat starters in a game that was yet to be decided. Pop can just throw a seemingly endless number of guys on the floor, manage their minutes so nobody is exhausted, and just wear the Heat starters down. I believe that's part of why Pop never called timeout during that 3rd Quarter surge in game 3...he didn't want Miami to catch their breath.
 
Deadbolt said:
The Spurs are, at this moment, proving that depth is more important to a championship run than having 2-3 elite talents. Yes, the elite talents help, but the Spurs are winning this thing (for now) with depth.
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The Spurs have depth and elite talents. Sure they don't have Lebron. They do have one of the all-time greats in Duncan playing at a high level, 2nd team All-NBA Tony Parker, and a former great in Manu playing much better this post-season. Arguably, most importantly they have an emerging great player in Kawhi Leonard who could be one of the best players in the league over the next decade.

And they have depth after those four.
 
Deadbolt said:
I kept thinking the other night about how much the Spurs rest their three "stars" during the course of a game. At one point there was a lineup of Mills, Green, Leonard, Diaw and Splitter on the floor against the Heat starters in a game that was yet to be decided. Pop can just throw a seemingly endless number of guys on the floor, manage their minutes so nobody is exhausted, and just wear the Heat starters down. I believe that's part of why Pop never called timeout during that 3rd Quarter surge in game 3...he didn't want Miami to catch their breath.
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Man, that's a good point. Rope a dope.

The thing about that lineup you mentioned is it's still basically 4 starters and a backup PG who averaged 19 min a game this season.
 
PhDeac said:
The Spurs have depth and elite talents. Sure they don't have Lebron. They do have one of the all-time greats in Duncan playing at a high level, 2nd team All-NBA Tony Parker, and a former great in Manu playing much better this post-season. Arguably, most importantly they have an emerging great player in Kawhi Leonard who could be one of the best players in the league over the next decade.

And they have depth after those four.
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Certainly they have elite talent, but those three don't play like they 7-8 years ago. I think their solid play is an effect of the managed minutes. They're not on the floor for long stretches, so they can afford to play hard knowing they'll get a rest pretty soon.
 
Deadbolt said:
Certainly they have elite talent, but those three don't play like they 7-8 years ago. I think their solid play is an effect of the managed minutes. They're not on the floor for long stretches, so they can afford to play hard knowing they'll get a rest pretty soon.
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No question. But it's not like they're a pure team of no-names. And Kawhi was the best player on the court the last two games.
 
PhDeac said:
Man, that's a good point. Rope a dope.

The thing about that lineup you mentioned is it's still basically 4 starters and a backup PG who averaged 19 min a game this season.
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That's just crazy to think of...they basically have two teams worth of NBA starters.
 
Deadbolt said:
That's just crazy to think of...they basically have two teams worth of NBA starters.
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I think I recall hearing that the Spurs set NBA regular season records in both (i) not having a single player average 30 MPG or more, and (ii) having 9 different guys start at least 10 games. Insane.
 
The Spurs have 3 HOF players and a rising star in Kawhi Leonard. Not just 3 HOF players, but Tim is one of the greatest players of all time. The idea that they don't have elite talent is asinine. I think most good teams in the NBA completely understand the need to add depth. The Heat are essentially the inverse of the Spurs - youngish stars with old ass role players. The Pacers focused on depth. Good teams realize the need for depth, they just haven't done as good a job at managing their cap, scouting young players, and identifying good pieces. I love this Spurs' team, and I love the way the franchise is run. To act like they are doing something no one has thought of before is stupid though. The greatness of the Spurs is not in concepts, but execution both on the court and in the front office. Well, that, and Tim Duncan has been really good for a really long time.
 
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PhDeac said:
No question. But it's not like they're a pure team of no-names. And Kawhi was the best player on the court the last two games.
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This needs to be repeated. While Kawhi had his outburst in Game 3, in Game 4 it seemed as if it actually occurred to him that he could play with LeBron and seemed to just let loose going after him both on offense and defense. I wouldn't be surprised if Games 3 and 4 turned out to be a turning point for Kawhi's career.
 
Deacfreak07 said:
BTW, it needs repeating that Rick Carlisle is a genius.
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What are we expecting for Patty and Boris so far as free agency? They gonna get PAID or are they sticking around?
 
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