Come out come out spurs fans

[Lorenzo]

I want PJ or Pop, but neither would ever happen. Jeff Van Gundy is getting a lot of play here. I think a guy like Carlisle would be interesting but it sounds like he's going to Dallas. I expect Kerr to hire some inexperienced puppet.

you know the suns better be careful of who they hire as a coach. the same for dallas. both teams are at a crossroads. two or three years ago I thought the mavs did a great job of reloading that team that got embarrassed by sacramento in the first round. in fact that season was almost a mirror image of this one. they were a great regular season home team and they were a bad road team. because of it they let nash walk and finley the same shortly after. but they did a great job of staying with a coach that the team could relate to and slowly began to improve again. now they have to do the same three or four years later. the suns are in a bind because of shaq and you really don't know what direction this team is headed in from a philosophical point of view. I think both teams need to make some trades....definitely dallas does.

 

[mojorizen7]

Do you guys now know why the whole "we need to be like San Antonio" mentality is useless to begin with? If Steve Kerr is still saying "we need to figure out how to beat San Antonio" while New Orleans has orchestrated back-to-back blowouts right in front of our eyes, then the guy is an absolute moron.

I think the jury's still out on Kerr.
If Kerr wants to model this franchise after the SPURS by becoming a legitimitely good defensive team with some size up front along with tough-minded players then i'm all for it because thats how S.A. has won 4 championships(along with a coach that doesn't preach run & shoot).
In that regard....i wouldn't call the "we wanna be like S.A. mentality" useless. Look at the teams that are faring well in the current playoffs.
Defense is the common denominator there,and these are clearly where the differences in philosophy between Kerr/D'antoni lie.

 

[ambchang_]

So how do you deal with a team like the Hornets? Anyone?

The Hornet simply matches up with the Spurs well. The major weakness of the Spurs defense is isolation defense. The Mavs exploited it in 06 with 4 guys who can score 1-1 and demands double teams. The Hornets are similar in which they have a great point guard, a PF who can consistently nail down open shots and create his own offense, a 3 pt shooter who has deadly accuracy, and two supplementary offensive players who finish well around the basket.

On defense, the Hornets have Chandler roaming the paint. He is quick, long and athletic enough to give Duncan problems (Rasheed Wallace is the best Duncan defender with the same attribtues) as well as roam the paint to cut off penetration. Normally, the Spurs can bomb the opponents out with their outside shooting, but the Hornets are quick to recover and cut off that aspect.

So what to do with the Hornets?

A team with superb passing would present them with a problem (see Lakers), and a team who has a quick and outside oriented PF or a big SF can match up well with West. They are still beatable, but they are just a terrible match for the Spurs.

 

[mojorizen7]

Yeah...uh huh.
They're younger,stronger,faster,and hungrier than the SPURS.
N.O. is the better team,and before the series began i wasn't so sure of that.
I seriously doubt you guys get swept,but it's over IMO.

 

[mojorizen7]

Here I am.

Tough time for me. Only hope at this time is that we don't get swept.

A lot of the old guys are probably seeing their last series right now.

Hornets have so many weapons--its pick your poison.

Either way, I think a Hornet-Lakers WCF will be pretty interesting.

BTW--who do Suns fans want as a coach?

Classy as usual.
I don't really care too much who the SUNS next head coach is,as long as it's not Mad Mike anymore.
Our window has closed shut and i'm in favor of hiring any yahoo to coach here for two years while we blow up this team and prepare to re-emerge in '2011.

 

[ambchang_]

Yeah...uh huh.
They're younger,stronger,faster,and hungrier than the SPURS.
N.O. is the better team,and before the series began i wasn't so sure of that.
I seriously doubt you guys get swept,but it's over IMO.

I am not calling the series over yet, I have faith that the Spurs can come back and win the series with some adjustments. And I agree, the Hornets are definitely the better team, and Popovich is being thoroughly outcoached so far in the series.

But the man didn't win 4 championships because he gets outcoached regularly, he will adjust, and can come back. It's not like it's unheard of coming back from 0-2, and even if it was 0-3, there is still a possibility that the Spurs can come back, some team is going to back from 0-3 some time.

 

[Darth Llama]

I will say the same thing for the Spurs that I said for Phoenix when they were in the same exact position.

It all depends on game 3, pure and simple. For the Spurs, Game 3 is an elimination game. If the Spurs win Game 3, we have a series on our hands. Spurs win, they will build confidence, prove they can hang, and have a 4th game coming up in San Antonio.

They lose game 3, the series is 100% over, end of story. If the Spurs go down 0-3, that's all the proof we need that the Hornets are vastly superior and the Spurs will have no shot. It was the same in the Suns/Spurs series, had Phoenix pulled it together one game earlier and won Game 3, that would have been an entirely different series. If the Spurs can win game 3, they have a chance to take this series.