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There's not much to say about the San Antonio Spurs at this point, but it is worth taking a moment to savor how difficult it is to win four championships in nine years with today's rules. On top of that, they've consistently done it from the tougher conference and show no particular sign of relenting. Photo by Flickr user Compujeramey used under a Creative Commons license Comments (22)
LeBron is just too young, but he will be back. He has much of the elegance and style that MJ had--and that flair too. This is a tough loss for him but I have a feeling the Cavs will be back as soon as they round the team out more, find a Pippen for him and maybe, is it Gibson? who becomes the outside threat? Personally, I would have rather seen Cleveland win at least one game as I'm not much on humiliation and this game could have been a win, but they gave up with about 45 seconds left--you could see it. I feel for them. As for the Spurs? Will they repeat? I sure hope so. Robert Horry will stay around one more year. Make it 8 rings? Wow! And Tony Parker--what a series. He deserves the MVP trophy, big time. Cleveland deserves a lot of respect. LeBron has a great future ahead of him. However, the present is that of the Spurs. 
but it is worth taking a moment to savor how difficult it is to win four championships in nine years with today's rules. Had the Lakers finished off the Pistons, it would have happened three times in the last, what, thirteen years?
Yes, if the Lakers HAD finished off the Pistons, it would have been a more frequent event. Great point! And if I had fully realized my basketball potential and become an unstoppable threat from downtown, then I would have cornered the market on magnesium in '97... wait, I lost the thought...
They can thank me later. See, it was all because I saw my first & only NBA game earlier this year, Spurs at Golden State. Since my first & only MLB game was Twins vs Yankees back in 1987, when the Twins won the World Series, it follows that any team I see play goes on to win the championship. You're welcome.
Soccer Geek Random observation: Okay, one of the strangest moments watching the San Antonio Spurs NBA title victory coverage tonight: Tony Parker getting interviewed by local TV media after the game and who is standing around in the background? Thierry Henry! He was just standing there in a Spurs jersey with not a soul speaking to him, just looking around with a confused look on his face. It didn’t surprise me really but it was very strange to watch. Given how many international media people would normally be falling over each other to talk to him to find out about his rumored move to Barcelona, it was weird to watch him in an environment where not a single person except maybe Parker knew who he was.
Nothing like a 4-game sweep to remind television audiences how lame a best-of-seven playoff series is. NCAA basketball tournament: single elimination. Exciting. NBA playoffs: whatever. I'd rather watch pre-season football, which is only about six weeks away.
two things: 1. How badly did the cavs get out-coached? I couldn't make heads or tails of their rotation, like what happened to Ilgauskas in the 4th quarter? And why didn't they ever seem to have a plan for scoring in the half court? 2. The ABC announcing crew was just awful. Big step down from the tnt crew. How many times do we need to hear them yammering about the cavs needing to get more stops in games where they gave up 50pts through 3 quarters? How about finding a way to get the ball in the hole?
"it is worth taking a moment to savor how difficult it is to win four championships in nine years with today's rules." Not quite sure what is meant by this. The current CBA with its "max player money" rules makes it ridiculously easy to keep a squad built around an elite post player together. If Greg Oden turns out to be the real deal, Portland should have a good shot at winning four titles.
The current CBA with its "max player money" rules makes it ridiculously easy to keep a squad built around an elite post player together. Exactly what I was thinking. The NBA financial model is designed specifically to limit the movement of elite players. How many times have players flirted with free agency only to resign with their current club? The monetary advantage of the incumbent team is too high. Also, no matter how old he is, no matter how little talent is on his team, this is a setback for Lebron. It's fine to say that the future is bright, it's fine to say that the playoff format is screwed up, that the West is so dominant-- if he is the future global icon, I'd really like to see him not get swept. Not sure why so many people seem ready to just sweep this series under the rug.
Since my first & only MLB game was Twins vs Yankees back in 1987, when the Twins won the World Series, it follows that any team I see play goes on to win the championship. As a Tiger fan, spending 19 years in the wilderness from 1987 to 2006, I can only say, "Curse you, Grumpy!!"
"Had the Lakers finished off the Pistons, it would have happened three times in the last, what, thirteen years?" "Finished off"?!? They didn't even START! They got THRASHED in five games and essentially lost 18-19 out of 20 quarters. People were calling it a "five game sweep." Other points... -That last 45 seconds wasn't the Cavs players giving up, it was Mike Brown completely crapping the bed by letting 20 seconds tick off the clock without a foul. This was like one of those clock-management situations in the NFL where crappy coaches absolutely kill their teams because they're seemingly not even paying attention. The players should probably have known better than to sit and watch the Spurs dribble away their season, but ultimately decisions like that rest on the coach. -The Cavs should not be seduced by Daniel Gibson. It's nice that he got hot in the playoffs, but to use that as some kind of excuse for not shoring up their abysmal backcourt would be a huge mistake. I'm not really convinced he's even a starter in this league, let alone a #2 option on a championship contender.
"The Cavs should not be seduced by Daniel Gibson. It's nice that he got hot in the playoffs, but to use that as some kind of excuse for not shoring up their abysmal backcourt would be a huge mistake. I'm not really convinced he's even a starter in this league, let alone a #2 option on a championship contender." The only two players the Cavs should care about long-term beyond LBJ are Boobie and Sideshow Bob. Gibson is an absolutely perfect guard for that team. He'll need a couple of years to get his legs under him, but he really is perfect for them.
Wow. That series made the baby Jesus cry. Quite possibly the most unwatchable basketball I've ever seen. Anyway, Petey was right about the MVP. It's gotta be Duncan. You could replace Parker with Boobie Gibson and the Spurs would still win the series, although it might take them 5 or 6 games. Duncan dominated every game, even when he didn't score much. The Cavs have to be the worst-run winning team in the league, from the front office down to their sorry excuse for a coach. Where did they find these guys to put around LeBron? Eric Snow? It's like they're trying to get the worst players out there, and the ones least likely to complement LeBron. LeBron wants to run. Let him run! Also, let him play some PG, but that would require having teammates worth passing to.
Oh, and Petey and Jake are both right about Gibson. Yes, he's a nice player, and yes, the Cavs still need help in the backcourt. I don't see them getting back to the finals with this bunch of fuck-ups.
When the current administration came into Cleveland, which was but two years ago, they hadn't made the play-offs in forever. Mike Brown is probably better suited as being a lead assistant in charge of defense rather than a head coach, but he is not an idiot. It is not like they had a whole lot of assets to begin with to remake the team. The Cavs may well have been the worst team to make the finals, but that is because of two other factors: the East is truly terrible right now, and the Cavs got pretty much everything they could get out of a star and a ragtag bunch of schmoes. They overachieved, which is more than you can say for just about any other team this side of Utah. Just because they weren't good enough to win the title doesn't mean things aren't going in the right direction in Cleveland.
Freddie wrote: Also, no matter how old he is, no matter how little talent is on his team, this is a setback for Lebron. It's fine to say that the future is bright, it's fine to say that the playoff format is screwed up, that the West is so dominant-- if he is the future global icon, I'd really like to see him not get swept. Not sure why so many people seem ready to just sweep this series under the rug. My response: same thing happened to Shaq. Look at him now.
Umm, no Mike Brown is bad. Everyone complains that the Spurs play "ugly" but that's crap. The Spurs are really fun to watch and always keep me interested in the half court. Zipping passes around, finding open shooters, draining threes and then going back inside to Duncan, plus some excellent interior passing between Parker, Duncan, Oberto and to a lesser extent Ginobili. Ginobili and Parker are really fun on the break. The Spurs-Suns series was awesome b/c the Spurs held up their end of the bargain and it was great to watch at both ends. If you want to blame someone for how awful that Finals was, blame Mike Brown. He should have started running an offense where Lebron was coming off screen, out of sets design to get him free with a head of steam going to the hoop. But Mike Brown seems to think that pick and rolls with Z and Sideshow Bob are the best use of his resources. How strange was it to see Duncan just completely turn his back and lose his man and go at Lebron over and over again full speed to cut him off. And then to watch Lebron sputter his way into the lane with two guys on him and then throw up an off balance shot surrounded by four Spurs. That was literally 75% of their possessions. I credit Brown with getting that group of sorry basketball player to play good defense but he really need to hire an OC. He needs someone who can design an offense to get Lebron free when an opponent traps. It was clear five minutes into the series that the Cavs were toast. Brown simply couldn't conceive of the fact that the Spurs are the best team closing out on shooters in the league and so he'd need to come up with something besides Boobie or Donyell freaking Marshall shooting them out of it. The only reason why the Pistons could take the purs to 7 games in 05 was because the old Pistons had that factor. Rip and Prince could move around and get the defense shifting to either take a shorter open jump shot or kick out to Billups if his defender sagged, and they can pass on the interior too. That's how you play the Spurs. That's how the Suns almost beat the Spurs, and probably would have but for the suspensions. But the Cavs were just completely ill-equipped and ill-prepared to do any of it. p.s. Also, I can't wait to check the replays for Thierry Henry. That's hilarious. Was he the guy in the orange shirt that came out of the stands right after the game ended? I thought they said that was Parker's brother.
the real question is how many more can the spurs win before duncan is done? if parker continues to improve -- somewhat scary thought -- and manu stays remotely healthy, they've got a decent shot at two more (assuming they continue with their every other year schedule). obviously dallas and PHX will affect this, as will salary cap (but that spurs are in very good cap shape, nash is getting old, marion may be moving, etc.). maybe this motivates shaq to get back into shape so he can play a little longer, though with shaq's ego he may not consider such things as total rings worthy of his concern.
A couple of things: Jake thinks the Cavs should not be seduced by Gibson. Petey thinks he is the perfect fit. In some way, these two statements are not actually in disagreement. Gibson is the perfect fit if he lives up to his potential. Whether he can do that remains to be seen. Mike Brown is a great defensive coach, but an atrocious game manager and offensive coach. The game management aspect of it prevents him from ever having any hope of being a decent coach in this league, even if he allows an assistant to run the offense. I don't think you can learn game management. If you're just that stupid, there's nothing that can really be done for you. The salary and cap rules in the NBA are by far the weirdest of any major sport. But they place a huge emphasis on superstars who are worth more than their max contracts. This is what made the Lakers so effective while Shaq was in shape and getting along with Kobe. The Spurs only need one superstar because they do such a good job of picking up value players cheaply in free agency or through the draft. And once you have a player on your roster, the cap never prevents you from resigning him. Duncan is the key to the Spurs. The only question is how long can he last? I don't know, but this will probably determine how many more titles they can snag. He's not as heavy as Shaq, but he has had his health problems and any basketball player can start to seriously slow down in his early 30s.
"Eric Snow?" I never thought I'd get to refer to anyone as a poor man's Jacques Vaughn.
I think Tony Parker is the best NBA player after Michael Jorden! The MVP title should be a very nice gift for Tony Parker wedding with Eva Longoria on the cosmic date 07.07.07, don't you think?
Comments closed June 29, 2007. |
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Heads in the Sand
You forgot to tell all the Lebron boosters to suck it.
Posted by gswift | June 15, 2007 12:44 AM