Duncan injures Knee!!!

[F-Dog]

Are you really comparing that year's Heat team with it's four HOF players to the 2005 Lakers which started Kwame Brown, Smush Parker, and Luke Walton? If only the Suns could get the opportunity to crumble in the Finals, which if course they have yet to do considering they can't beat the Spurs which is only something the Shaq/Kobe Lakers and the Mavs can brag about.

It was framed as a test of character, not strength: cheese is claiming the Suns lost because they lack the "Iron John"-style manliness the Dallas Mavericks have become so famous for.

Even cheese seems to have conceded that the Spurs didn't deserve to win on their merits.

 

[Cheesebeef]

It was framed as a test of character, not strength: cheese is claiming the Suns lost because they lack the Iron John-style manliness the Dallas Mavericks have become so famous for.

as sad as that is, yes, the Suns weren't mentally tough enough to beat the Spurs, as opposed to the Mavs. And neither's "Iron-Style" but if you want to put words into my mouth for some reason, go ahead. It just belies your lack of argument.

Even cheese seems to have conceded that the Spurs didn't deserve to win on their merits.

please stop putting words into my mouth. We lost because we weren't as good as them, mostly from a mental standpoint, which is just as much a part of the "merits" as the physical part, plain and simple.

now if you want to continue to put words into my mouth to try and start some kind of flame war be my guest, but I ain't gonna take the bait.

 

[F-Dog]

That is hilarious. I assume one of the monkeys that flies hardest at opponents would be Ginobli.

Whether or not I like Duncan has nothing to do with it. I want my team to beat the Evil witch at her full power. No one has beaten the Suns the last three 3 years at full strength. No One... but, that is part of basketball.

You'll be disappointed...all it takes is an official throwing a bucket of confetti on them at a crucial moment, and the Spurs melt and don't reform until the next season.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Duncan was immobile, he may have looked good against Diop and Dampier, but consider the defense of the post by the Mavs, awful. On a good ankles he should have been way more productive. The spurs are at their worst when duncan scores alot and gets few dimes(no double teams), its his assists that make the system work. Because he was slow, doubling wasnt needed to win, so the easy baskets by his teammates were few against those mavs. Its not about his baskets, its about those he gets for others that cant score for themselves (like Horry, Bowen, Barry). the suns actually want duncan to score, not to pass. The suns were the most competitive against the spurs last year and limited duncan to 1.1 asst/game. The nuggets allowed him to get 6+ asst /game(but ONLY 20 ppg) and were nearly swept.

gimp, we're just gonna have to agree to disagree here. good debate though.

 

[F-Dog]

as sad as that is, yes, the Suns weren't mentally tough enough to beat the Spurs, as opposed to the Mavs.

Since, on another occasion, the Suns showed mental toughness the Mavs can only dream about, obviously mental toughness wasn't the difference.

please stop putting words into my mouth.

It's not a matter of putting words in your mouth. When you retreat from your points instead of defending them, what do you think that's called?

 

[nowagimp]

gimp, we're just gonna have to agree to disagree here. good debate though.

Yeah thats OK, but my position is that the great ones make other better and scoring yourself isnt making them better. Magic, Bird, even Jordan had guys taking open shots and killing the opposition. John freakin Paxon killed the suns in '93, but the defense against jordan set it up. I sure dont give paxon the credit, its jordans. Getting everyone involved is always better for the D and the team energy. If Duncan or Nash, or amare are rolling up the stats(not dimes), the defense has succeeded in taking out of the playmaker role. Amare scoring 37ppg against the spurs in '05 was the PLAN according to pop, to stop the other guys, get them standing around watching. So it is with duncan, the teams that deal with him best are limiting his playmaking, and the suns did it best in '07 and had the most competitive series. Dallas also did a commendable job limiting him to 3 dimes/game in '06, but that was on bad ankles. No way they can do that if he's healthy without giving other guys alot of open shots. If you look in that Dallas series just check the FG% of players other than Duncan, it was crap, save manu. In Pops offense it is duncans job to create the easy shots, and avery knew not to allow that. It was made easier by his immobility or else he would have totally torched them. Hey, stats are fun but they dont tellthe whole story. Thats why Nashs PER sucks unless he scores alot, and thats a joke, because thats when the suns lose.

 

[DevonCardsFan]

Your hopes were the worst, and they didn't come true.

I hope Kobe does not tear his ACL I hope Kobe and the Lakers get along and everything stays great in LA.

 

[DevonCardsFan]

Great thread.
Now I know who to respect and who to filter.
Thanks.

Hope you Filter me, because when it comes to the Spurs I hate them and wish them the worst, I'm sure others on this board feel this way, they just afraid to say it, I'll say it. I hate them, I hate their cheapness and cheap shots, I hate their crying like a bunch of women, I hate their boring ass game and I hate that the NBA show blatant favoritism towards them and I'm sick of hearing about Eva and Parker too, filter me big time I will never have a good word to say about Spurs and wish them the crapiest luck!!

 

[D-Dogg]

I hope Kobe does not tear his ACL I hope Kobe and the Lakers get along and everything stays great in LA.

You stay classy, Illuminatifan.

 

[timmo]

I'm sick of hearing about Eva and Parker too

At least we agree on one thing