I blame pop

[B-Hath]

I haven't had one thought about firin Pop. My only thought is that it seems like he was going out of his way to try and out-coach Avery. Our main problem was a lack of interior prescence. Just having Rasho or Nazr in the lane to even just take up space would have lessened the freeway to the hoop a bit.

[Spurfan 5021]

Originally Posted by B-Hath

I haven't had one thought about firin Pop. My only thought is that it seems like he was going out of his way to try and out-coach Avery. Our main problem was a lack of interior prescence. Just having Rasho or Nazr in the lane to even just take up space would have lessened the freeway to the hoop a bit.

Except that the mavs guards would have taken the ball right into the chest of nazr or rasho and gotten the foul. and by the way, does anyone have a thought on the last drive before overtime? I thought manu should have jumped into the defensive player and towards the rim instead of away from the rim and try to "finesse" the shot through the net??

[RoLd50]

Sure.. I blame Pop for going small ball.. But I will pick Pop over any coach any day.

[MenInBlackAreBack]

Games like this make you remember why we were so interested in dealing Barry. I say we need more athletic perimeter players...question is where can we get them? I also agree that Nazr and Rasho (although liabilities as one-on-one defenders) can alter shots, block them, and/or rebound. It only takes a few shots to alter games. People will be second guessing Pop's decision to try to play small ball for the rest of the offseason but hopefully people will not be second guessing whether or not he cost us the series.

[Twilite Kid]

Originally Posted by Brooklyn Dave

I think you make the point of those not happy with the Spurs strategy. Thank you.

And who are Rasho and Nazr supposed to guard? Enlighten us.

[Art Vandalay]

that last play sucked, ill blame pop for that. that play was brutal. rather have just seen a pick and pop the open shot.

but it came down to the little things in this series, inability to inbound the ball in closing seconds and then manu's dumba$$ trying to contest. just let him go not foul. made to many dumb mistakes this year in the playoffs. our bench sucked. mavs had like 30 something bench pts to our 2pts.

[Lord Deimos]

I do wish Pop would let Beno play more. He can't improve if he doesn't play, right?

[SCdac]

Originally Posted by Lord Deimos

I do wish Pop would let Beno play more. He can't improve if he doesn't play, right?

Yeah, its not just the small lineup that killed us... It was the "hand out" that Pop gave Van Exel. Nobody deserves handouts, especially after the way he played (or didnt play rather) all season.

[Twilite Kid]

Originally Posted by SA Spurs 2006

I know it's a frustrating time for us Spurs Fans.
But where were you Pop Bashers when we won game 5-6 ?

[StatMan]

Originally Posted by Twilite Kid

And who are Rasho and Nazr supposed to guard? Enlighten us.

You are missing the point. Who is going to guard Rasho or Nazr? Especially while trying to guard Tim and Robert?

[Art Vandalay]

we played big against the suns last year. marion, joe johnson, nash, a freak like amare, q rich, who would nazr and rash guard there?

[gooduy]

given the lineup the spurs have, they were built for playing against shaq and the heat.

i cant fully blame pop's coaching and strategy, since rasho and nazr cant really give you anything. he has to make do with what he has. having said that, it was he and rc who built this team, so if I were to blame pop, it is in the aspect of building this team not his coaching.

i'd like to add that ever since, the spurs always have trouble in defending teams who have good mid-range shooters. remember, the spurs always had problems playing the bucks when glenn robinson, ray allen, and sam cassell were still playing there. same here against dallas, terry, stackhouse and josh howard were killing the spurs with their mid-range jumpers.

[wlw3]

An NBA team is a business. Teams that get the most bang for the buck have the best chance to win. Pretty much why I love salary caps and parity. Way more fun for the armchair GM.

That said, deeming 12million of your 64million in assets as unusable indicates either a poor investment decision (GM) or bad asset management (coaching). Personally, I think Poppovich is a good GM. I liked the investments and they returned 63 wins. Surely someone could figure out how to use 20+% of their ammunition rather than leaving it idle in what I considered the "Western Conference Finals." Perhaps running the team engine on 75% of it's cylinders contributed to both overtime smokings?

Regardless, Poppovich isn't going anywhere. Before you fire someone, you should have a better replacement in mind. Not to mention I thought he was basically his own boss.

Yes, I'm angry. But no, I'm not going to say fire Poppovich.

Pulling for the Clippers... uhhh.... Suns..... nah, not them either. I guess I'll just go try to pull in some redfish.....

[intlspurshk]

I don't blame Pop for playing small ball but the team seems unprepared for the switching is absolutely the coach's fault. Besides, failure to get Naza in shape throughout the season is also part of the Pop's fault. He doesn't need to be fired but he need better assistants and need to be less rigid.

[DizzG]

He doesn't need to be fired but he need better assistants and need to be less rigid.

huh? What Asst coaches need to go....and why? the Spurs won the title with this staff and most have been around now for several seasons. Why would Pop fire any of his asst coaches?

and Pop gave Nazr opportunities this year. Its not his fault he wasnt the same player as last year and had a poor year. He lost his job in camp...earned it back at one point and then had lost it again. A coach can only do so much. Nazr showed problems this year even picking up the Spurs defensive plays. Thats not a good thing

[Mystic Soulja]

Originally Posted by looneytune

this years draft sucks anyways and the spurs knew it

yup

[Twilite Kid]

Originally Posted by Spurfan 5021

Except that the mavs guards would have taken the ball right into the chest of nazr or rasho and gotten the foul. and by the way, does anyone have a thought on the last drive before overtime? I thought manu should have jumped into the defensive player and towards the rim instead of away from the rim and try to "finesse" the shot through the net??

I wished he would have just dunked it. Throw it down and we win.

Originally Posted by StatMan

You are missing the point. Who is going to guard Rasho or Nazr? Especially while trying to guard Tim and Robert?

I didn't know that Rasho or Nazr were offensive forces to be dealt with.

Originally Posted by Art Vandalay

we played big against the suns last year. marion, joe johnson, nash, a freak like amare, q rich, who would nazr and rash guard there?

Nazr played much better last year. Rasho hardly played the Suns series.

[SCdac]

The fact is that the Mavs had two 7-footers on the floor almost all the time (Damp and Dirk/Diop and Dirk). Not to mention they have strong-athletic SF's in Howard and Daniels. The didnt go "small" nearly as much as we did.

When the Spurs went "small", they really did go "small".

[Twilite Kid]

Originally Posted by SCdac

The fact is that the Mavs had two 7-footers on the floor almost all the time (Damp and Dirk/Diop and Dirk). Not to mention they have strong-athletic SF's in Howard and Daniels. The didnt go "small" nearly as much as we did.

When the Spurs went "small", they really did go "small".

That's the truth. They did manage to get two "bigs" out there somehow, but we couldn't.

[curiousspirit]

There were enough "execution" mishaps to more than make up for the "small ball" lineup problem that everyone is complaining about. Players have to be responsible and know that every possession counts. Pop can't control that. By putting it all on Pop, some of you are playing the blame game. Our players played hard but they also made some pretty dumb moves, taking jump shots when the game was close, being slow (and we had our guards out there) on defensive rotations,...and so on.

Just because Pop choose to go small does not mean that is why we lost the series. Remember that with the exception of one game, most were won/lost within 5 points. The refs contributed to our losses in games 3 and 4, but we also failed to execute plays successfully.

I am grateful to have Pop as a coach. He tried something, and it didn't work. He is partly responsible but so are the players. This is no reason to want to get rid of Pop.

[Twilite Kid]

Originally Posted by curiousspirit

There were enough "execution" mishaps to more than make up for the "small ball" lineup problem that everyone is complaining about. Players have to be responsible and know that every possession counts. Pop can't control that.

At the beginning I did question the small ball. But the bottom line is, we won games 5 and 6 with it. It did work.

We didn't lose because we played small ball. We lost because we didn't make plays when we should have. That's it. It hurts.

[Denied__11]

Originally Posted by Spurs817

...also it must be said spurs came out with ZERO intensity in the first half

I agree, and it wasn't just this game. They have had a puzzling lack of focus at times in both series. I think it wasnt the small ball, it wasnt the officiating -- it was loss of intensity during crucial stretches which cost the Spurs this series.

[Robinson50]

Originally Posted by Twilite Kid

At the beginning I did question the small ball. But the bottom line is, we won games 5 and 6 with it. It did work.

We won game 5 and 6 despite playing with our hands tied. That shows we're the better team than the Mavs player-wise even when we failed to adjust with coaching to their better strategy.

[SCdac]

Its funny, I thought all year, after our blowouts with Detroit, Pop was stressing rebounds rebounds rebounds...

I just think its weird how he was content with going with a lineup that was inferior in the rebound department (and even admitting that).

I would have NEVER imagined that in the playoffs Rasho and Nazr would not be playing at all.

[intlspurshk]

Originally Posted by DizzG

huh? What Asst coaches need to go....and why? the Spurs won the title with this staff and most have been around now for several seasons. Why would Pop fire any of his asst coaches?

and Pop gave Nazr opportunities this year. Its not his fault he wasnt the same player as last year and had a poor year. He lost his job in camp...earned it back at one point and then had lost it again. A coach can only do so much. Nazr showed problems this year even picking up the Spurs defensive plays. Thats not a good thing

An assistant coach can be added without firing another. Pop need better assistants for improving his game plan, offensive and defensive scheme. He needs to be more open to accept others opinion.

Naza shared some of the blame but coaches also need to take their share of responsibilities. Good coach motivates players, give them confidence, bring the best of out the player and convince them to accept their roles. It's not like giving the opportunities for the best players to play and the job is finished. Come on, look what Phil did during the Shaq and Kobe era. The role players play like starters. Avery also did a good job in getting best out of the players.

[Twilite Kid]

Originally Posted by intlspurshk

An assistant coach can be added without firing another. Pop need better assistants for improving his game plan, offensive and defensive scheme. He needs to be more open to accept others opinion.

Do we really know that he doesn't?

[Krycek1]

Originally Posted by Twilite Kid

Do we really know that he doesn't?

For Real, I don't like Pops moves either but we don't know if it goes that deep.

[Cryan Yahood]

Originally Posted by Twilite Kid

I think he did go small and we lost the series in 7. If we used Rasho or Nazr we lose the series in 4 or 5.

Think about it. Who does Rasho or Nazr guard?

How bout Dampier or Diop and then you slide TD to Dirk?

It's not lik Bowen was shutting down Dirk at any point and TD defends Dirk as well as anyone.

The bottomline is that Pop completely threw out the bigs. It's understandable to use them less because of matchups but to cut their minutes from 25 to 0 was too radical of a move.

Nazr/Rasho helps you on the glass and in giving you that 2nd shot blocker the Spurs lacked this series to help TD. They slow the tempo down and you send a message to the Mavs that they need to match your game, not you succumbing to their tempo and style.

It's not like the matchups Pop used were slowing penetration to the hoop so you have to ask yourself how much worse could it have been when Mavs players were getting to the hoop at will anyway?

[huggy bear]

I'm just waiting for Pop to get over his apparent obsession with shooters that are past their prime. That's not to say that veterans like Kerr and Ferry were'nt great for this team though.

[spurssheriff]

Originally Posted by GameFan2k5

In my eyes we didn't lose in overtime. We lost at the start of this series when the Spurs choose to go small and never go back.

Exactly!

He was starting to make the same mistake during the Sacto series. Then he "rediscovered" that when you play your bigs they get your rebounds and blocked shots. Right away the Spurs got back in control of the series and won. You can watch the tapes and see it for yourself. Any time the Spurs went small, they would give up lots of points to the faster, better shooting team who also made it a point to hit way too many inside shots.

Same thing happened against Dallas. Except.. He never changed things up. It's on video. Watch it.

[DaSlicer]

Originally Posted by Cryan Yahood

How bout Dampier or Diop and then you slide TD to Dirk?

It's not lik Bowen was shutting down Dirk at any point and TD defends Dirk as well as anyone.

The bottomline is that Pop completely threw out the bigs. It's understandable to use them less because of matchups but to cut their minutes from 25 to 0 was too radical of a move.

Nazr/Rasho helps you on the glass and in giving you that 2nd shot blocker the Spurs lacked this series to help TD. They slow the tempo down and you send a message to the Mavs that they need to match your game, not you succumbing to their tempo and style.

It's not like the matchups Pop used were slowing penetration to the hoop so you have to ask yourself how much worse could it have been when Mavs players were getting to the hoop at will anyway?

Thats pretty much what I say already is how much worse could have gotten then it was without Nazr and Rasho in. They pretty much got layups everytime since the paint was open. I would even put Nazr or Rasho on Dirk since he was lighting up anyways with smaller guys on him and it couldn't really get worse since they would get all the fouls instead of our other players. Still boggles my mind is how anybody can defend small ball logically.

[shaggy17]

So much for a dynasty. This was soposed to be our time but spurs=a team who cant repeat and will never be a dynasty. I honestly think were done winning titles... but 3 titles in 7 year is better then none.We will stay a contender but we wont be the top dog in the league anymore. It was fun while it lasted

[Krycek1]

Originally Posted by shaggy17

So much for a dynasty. This was soposed to be our time but spurs=a team who cant repeat and will never be a dynasty. I honestly think were done winning titles... but 3 titles in 7 year is better then none.We will stay a contender but we wont be the top dog in the league anymore. It was fun while it lasted

No Spurs have plenty of chances to win another, but they just won't probably ever repeat.

[knownalien]

Originally Posted by GameFan2k5

In my eyes we didn't lose in overtime. We lost at the start of this series when the Spurs choose to go small and never go back. Going small and scoring is fools gold. It gets you exciting wins and teases you but doesn't win championships. He built this team by winning 3 titles with rebounding, and a defense that filters guards to bigs. Tim with his bad feet and all gutted it out and was asked to do everything. Then people blame him for getting tired in the Overtime.

My list of Panic Moves:
Horry being wasted in the first series when he was overplayed and asked to rebound, defend, and even create some of his own shots. He shot 20% in this series

7 starting lineup changes, I just don't ever recall this happening to a championship team

Going small... What else did we expect? Asking players to do things they have never done all season. Asking Bowen and guards to get rebounds from Dirk and Damp, Asking defenders to just scramble like mad when they didnt' do that all of the regulear season, Not giving a starting Center even one chance to start or more than 1 minute to get in the game and get settle into the pace. Rasho and Nazr might have played like 5 total minutes off the bench when they hadn't been coming off the bench all season.

doesn't this sum it up?

[spurssheriff]

Originally Posted by knownalien

doesn't this sum it up?

That depends if you believe Pop can do no wrong or not.

As Buck Harvey says in today's newspaper article:

"Luck was part of it. But so was a Dallas team that came with more depth, more shooters, more size — and a star who could counter Tim Duncan."

[Robinson50]

Originally Posted by knownalien

doesn't this sum it up?

Nah.

1. It's totally TP's fault, he didn't defend Dirk well enough.
2. It's totally Nazr/Rasho's fault, they weren't able to defend or rebound on the bench when we all expect them to raise their games to another level sitting.
3. It's totally my fault, my doubt on Pop caused bad karma.

Don't worry, we'd bounce back when we practice a lineup of TD + 4 guards for a full season.

[Krycek1]

Originally Posted by Robinson50

Nah.

1. It's totally TP's fault, he didn't defend Dirk well enough.
2. It's totally Nazr/Rasho's fault, they weren't able to defend or rebound on the bench when we all expect them to raise their games to another level sitting.
3. It's totally my fault, my doubt on Pop caused bad karma.

Don't worry, we'd bounce back when we practice a lineup of TD + 4 guards for a full season.

I missed that last word on the 2nd bullet and, i thought you were still serious until i got to the last one.

Originally Posted by spurssheriff

That depends if you believe Pop can do no wrong or not.

As Buck Harvey says in today's newspaper article:

"Luck was part of it. But so was a Dallas team that came with more depth, more shooters, more size — and a star who could counter Tim Duncan."

The Spurs had Size, It was sitting it's @$$ on the bench.

[spurssheriff]

From Steve Kerr:

STAT OF THE NIGHT

41-34 – That was the rebounding total in the game in favor of Dallas. Why is that significant? It was the 11th straight playoff game in which the Mavericks outrebounded their opponents. The transformation of Dallas from a free-wheeling, jump-shooting finesse team to true championship contender is complete.

UNSUNG HERO

DeSagana Diop – He lost his starting role for the first time in the series on Monday and played just 10 minutes. In fact, Diop was only forced into action after Erick Dampier and Keith Van Horn fouled out. But the 24-year-old made several huge stops on Duncan in overtime to help seal the Dallas victory. Diop also made all three of his field-goal attempts and snared a key offensive rebound in the extra session. Diop was part of the tremendous depth that helped carry the Mavericks against San Antonio.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slu...yhoo&type=lgns

[Krycek1]

Originally Posted by spurssheriff

From Steve Kerr:

STAT OF THE NIGHT

41-34 – That was the rebounding total in the game in favor of Dallas. Why is that significant? It was the 11th straight playoff game in which the Mavericks outrebounded their opponents. The transformation of Dallas from a free-wheeling, jump-shooting finesse team to true championship contender is complete.

UNSUNG HERO

DeSagana Diop – He lost his starting role for the first time in the series on Monday and played just 10 minutes. In fact, Diop was only forced into action after Erick Dampier and Keith Van Horn fouled out. But the 24-year-old made several huge stops on Duncan in overtime to help seal the Dallas victory. Diop also made all three of his field-goal attempts and snared a key offensive rebound in the extra session. Diop was part of the tremendous depth that helped carry the Mavericks against San Antonio.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slu...yhoo&type=lgns

lol, trying to rub it in?

[Spurfan15]

I for one was quite disappointed to basically never see Nazr/Rasho and Beno over NVE. I just think if the bigs were a key part of winning the year before, they should have been given a chance. A coach's initial instinct isnt always the right one... just look at how Avery avoided putting in Diop all game, and then he came up huge in OT. I think Pop refusing to play our bigs was one of the worst moves hes ever made... and the tragic part is it wasnt just for one game, it was the entire series. The Spurs abandoned their defensive presence inside, and couldnt grab down a rebound if their lives depended on it. We needed another big out there to grab rebounds and get in the way of dirk!

[bnwhuxley]

Pop had a subpar series, and indeed, a subpar year. There is just no running away from this conclusion. Here are the indictments.

* Smallball is fine, but you can't play it to the exclusion of everything else. How can you justify totally not letting our two centers play? That just put too much pressure on the six, seven rotation guys against a very deep Mavs team. Surely Rasho can guard Dirk for a few possessions - he's had success against Rasheed. Surely Nazr can earn his way to a few rebounds?

* Pop stuck with NVE throughout the year, and threw Beno into the doghouse, even though Beno had been playing better THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. That came home to roost because NVE gave us nothing. And now I don't blame Beno if he is fed up and wants to be traded. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

* How many times in this series has Pop called a timeout, set up a play, and have it actually result in a score? It seems like all the plays were broken. That can't all be on the players.

* How many times in this series has Pop called for the Spurs to attack Dirk? He let the opposing MVP get away with defending non-aggressive players, and consequently Dirk never got into foul trouble in the entire series.

[Spurfan15]

Throughout the series, especially in this late game, I felt our only hope at defense was praying the Mavs would miss. Every single possession the Mavs had the ball, its like I knew they were going to shoot almost uncontested, and I would just say "please miss"... Well its very apparent what the outcome was when the Mavs were hitting their shots: look at quarter 1 of game 7, the Spurs got buried. Our standard defense just wasnt there, our standard game just wasnt there, the Spurs werent the Spurs. At times I felt like we were trying to play Suns ball, or something of the sort. Pop obviously had his mind set on playing small ball, and why I'm not sure. It seems it would be better the force the Mavs into playing our game, not vice versa.

Also, if you notice, in all 3 games the Spurs won, both teams scored under 100 points, and in all 4 games in which the Mavs won, the Mavs scored over 100, and the Spurs did too or came close.

[Duncanforthree]

I think back to that game against Phoenix ealier this season when Nazr had 30 points or more importantly the game against Philadelphia when he pulled down 20 boards,nine of which were offensive.

I'm sorry,but matchup problems or not you simply do not ignore a player capable of putting up numbers like that for SEVEN STRAIGHT GAMES.

Hell even Rasho has a nice jumper he usually hits when he is open.He shot over 51% from the field this season.

The Spurs had enough problems dealing with the talented Mavericks and the spotty officials,Pop shortening the rotation the way he did cut the Spurs off at the knees.

They were weary legs to begin with and Pop kicked them out from under us.

Yes,Tim missed a shot that would have won game 4.Yes,Manu could have won it for us tonight in regulation.None of this changes the fact that Popovich ran the shortened rotation ragged trying to keep up with the Mavs.Hell,I'm not even sure if he would have played the bigs against the run and gun Suns.Would we have even had anything left for the Finals after another marathon series like this?

Three titles or no,this painful conclusion to a promising season is on Pop.Period.

[j1nsa]

Originally Posted by spurssheriff

From Steve Kerr:

STAT OF THE NIGHT

41-34 – That was the rebounding total in the game in favor of Dallas. Why is that significant? It was the 11th straight playoff game in which the Mavericks out rebounded their opponents. The transformation of Dallas from a free-wheeling, jump-shooting finesse team to true championship contender is complete.

UNSUNG HERO

DeSagana Diop – He lost his starting role for the first time in the series on Monday and played just 10 minutes. In fact, Diop was only forced into action after Erick Dampier and Keith Van Horn fouled out. But the 24-year-old made several huge stops on Duncan in overtime to help seal the Dallas victory. Diop also made all three of his field-goal attempts and snared a key offensive rebound in the extra session. Diop was part of the tremendous depth that helped carry the Mavericks against San Antonio.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slu...yhoo&type=lgns

I think the key was that Duncan ran out of gas and Popovich kept going to him. You could see him hobbling around. Diop did get some things to go down on the offensive end, but he didn't stop Duncan. OK, he did pull the chair on Duncan, causing a turnover. They went to Duncan 6 times, he only scored once on the only aggressive move he made. Parker got one try, made his basket. Finley took 2 threes, but the game was decided before his last attempt. Stackhouse altered Finley's shot on the inbounds play, he shouldn't had hesitated, it was either going to go in or get blocked and go out of bounds. Ginobili got one turn and got to the line for 2 free-throws. When you break it down, Popovich just got out coached by Avery. Even if the Spurs won, I would still feel the same about Pop's moves. It's supposed to be the other way around, they should have had to adjust to the Spurs, but Pop made the adjusting. Tim Duncan is why we have won Championships, not the coach. He kept riding Duncan, even when he was grimacing in pain. I've seen it more than once in several games when Manu don't touch the ball enough and they go away from him. Where were the touches in OT? I also see this in the beginning of games, and that's where the tone of the game is set, but he only touches the ball 2-3 times. It is important to get Ginobili involved early, his play and aggressiveness gets the whole team going, not a Duncan bank-shot, not a Tony Parker drive. Spurs were burned out, because they only went 8 deep with their rotations. Another coach's mistake was bringing Nick Van Exel during the entire series, he really sucked and provided nothing. Yeah he brought him in and he is a veteran, but had nothing, Beno could have provided something better. The Spurs should have probably won the game in regulation and Manu did screw up, but the game wasn't over. The game was over when Pop decided to keep riding a cramping up Duncan as he has all these years, but this time came up short. "Nice job Coach".

[DizzG]

Originally Posted by shaggy17

So much for a dynasty. This was soposed to be our time but spurs=a team who cant repeat and will never be a dynasty. I honestly think were done winning titles... but 3 titles in 7 year is better then none.We will stay a contender but we wont be the top dog in the league anymore. It was fun while it lasted

I dont get this attitude from some around here. There is no reason to act like the Spurs are done. They have a championship core locked up and with a few adjustments will have a great shot to try and get back next year. Hell even if the Spurs did nothing (which wont happen) they would still be contenders

SA isnt heading to the dump. The Spurs will win at least one more title before Duncan is done IMO. I dont think their done with this core group

[Dr. Real]

Originally Posted by Cryan Yahood

How bout Dampier or Diop and then you slide TD to Dirk?

It's not lik Bowen was shutting down Dirk at any point and TD defends Dirk as well as anyone.

The bottomline is that Pop completely threw out the bigs. It's understandable to use them less because of matchups but to cut their minutes from 25 to 0 was too radical of a move.

Nazr/Rasho helps you on the glass and in giving you that 2nd shot blocker the Spurs lacked this series to help TD. They slow the tempo down and you send a message to the Mavs that they need to match your game, not you succumbing to their tempo and style.

It's not like the matchups Pop used were slowing penetration to the hoop so you have to ask yourself how much worse could it have been when Mavs players were getting to the hoop at will anyway?

So now you're an expert.

[spurssheriff]

Spurs lost. But did they get beat or did they beat themselves?

[SCdac]

Originally Posted by spurssheriff

Spurs lost. But did they get beat or did they beat themselves?

Both imo.

[Big Empty]

We were up 3 points with a little more than half a minute to go. We make a stop and PoP all of a sudden is a genuis for his small ball stategy.

[Brooklyn Dave]

Originally Posted by DizzG

I dont get this attitude from some around here. There is no reason to act like the Spurs are done. They have a championship core locked up and with a few adjustments will have a great shot to try and get back next year. Hell even if the Spurs did nothing (which wont happen) they would still be contenders

SA isnt heading to the dump. The Spurs will win at least one more title before Duncan is done IMO. I dont think their done with this core group

I agree with you there. That's why I keep coming back to the fact that this team won the most games in franchise history.

The Spurs are a great team and will be again next year but that doesn't mean that we aren't free to comment and criticize what we see as shortcomings.