NBA FINALS: San Antonio vs. Detroit

[Cheesebeef]

okay - I don't care what anyone says - you get to the Finals in back to back years - especially against Shaq and Wade in a 7 game series without Homecourt and you are freaking fluke.

That being said - SA v. Detroit might be the most boring Finals of all time - yes - even more boring than Knicks v. Rockets - at least there we could watch Dream ascend to another level and watch Patrick Ewing fail miserably.

I say Spurs in 7 - if you just watch the last 4 minutes of each game, you'll be entertained but it will be death watching the other 44 minutes.

Oh - and all those media guys talking about Larry Brown and how he should be stoned to death and that he would completely be the distraction that this team couldn't handle - well, they went 3-1 after that news broke.

 

[ActingWild]

Dang it, you beat me to it cheese. sorry for the other post. I whole heartedly agree. What a BORING finals matchup!

 

[Yuma]

GO SPURS!

 

[George O'Brien]

Some of the Spurs are talking about trying to run in the finals. I think they would have to, because Manu will end up getting knock to the floor so hard when driving the basket he'll end up with a permanently bruised butt.

On the other hand, I think the Spurs can run on the Pistons if they try.

 

[frankiekazoo]

"okay - I don't care what anyone says - you get to the Finals in back to back years - especially against Shaq and Wade in a 7 game series without Homecourt and you are freaking fluke."

You're joking right?

 

[Cheesebeef]

"okay - I don't care what anyone says - you get to the Finals in back to back years - especially against Shaq and Wade in a 7 game series without Homecourt and you are freaking fluke."

You're joking right?

I missed the word NOT in there.

 

[WizardOfAz]

of course, ESPN has a poll:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/polling?event_id=1379

 

[AZZenny]

Last night on some obscure radio show, the announcer was saying Spurs would HAVE to play Detroit's slow game, 'it's impossible to run against Detroit. Pistons will show those (lightweight) Western Teams its not about speed, it's about muscle.' (lightweight wasn't the exact word, in fact he may have said 'fairy,' but that was the idea - quick but insubstantial, all wings and no combat boots.)

Also that he expects Detroit to put Ginobli and Parker on their backs hard and often, and 'oh well - elbows, ankles, knees get twisted or broken sometimes when you get knocked around - Detroit plays mean, and they will make sure Ginobli gets scared.'

Ummm...didn't we outrun Detroit this season? OK, playoff refereeing may change that somewhat, but I think if the Spurs use the kind of fast-paced, slightly loose offense with their sticky, suffocating, but quick, pesky defense, they will trounce the Pistons. Spurs can run them into the ground.

That said, I hope Detroit knocks the crap out of Ginobli.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Ummm...didn't we outrun Detroit this season?

uh - no? We got the crap kicke dout of us the first time we played them (w/o Nash) and then were getting dominated the second time we played them but had a great 4th quarter comeback and won by 3 point 100-97 - I wouldn't exactly call that "outrunning" Detroit.

 

[WizardOfAz]

Beat me to it -

Phoenix won at AWA 100-97.

Detroit won at the Palace 94-80.

 

[az1965]

I want Spurs to win so that we can beat the champs next year...

 

[AZZenny]

Sorry - I forgot the AWA game was that close - I was there and just remembered a win and lording it over my Detroit-fan companion.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I don't know about you guys but I actually think this will be a very good series and am even getting excited about it. Not sure why people hate the Spurs and their style of play? Parker is lightning quick going to the hole, Duncan is pretty damn impressive to watch and Ginboli (love him or hate him) is like a circus show out there. Throw in a team that makes big shots and gets a lot of blocks and that's a pretty entertaining game.

The Pistons on the other hand have their share of high fliers with Tayshaun, Sheed and Wallace, as well as one of the game's purest scorers/clutch palyers in Rip not to mention Chauncy Billups who apparently has just become one of the most clutch guys in the league.

Besides Sheed - there's no scumbags, no huge egos, no drama-queens - just two pretty evenly matched clubs going for the title. It hasn't happened in the NBA in a long time and I for one am grateful - even though this arguably the owrst match-up as far as aesthetics go from the 4 semi-finalists, the NBA was guaranteed their first competitive matchup no matter who got in and after years of watching drek - I'm stoked for a competitive Finals where it's truly up for grabs.

 

[NickelBack]

Besides Sheed -

And, he hasn't been nearly as bad since he signed with Detroit.

 

[George O'Brien]

And, Sheed hasn't been nearly as bad since he signed with Detroit.

Until lately.

There are numerous reasons to dislike both teams.

Pistons:

1. Any team that strives to win 85-80 is a disgrace
2. Larry Brown is the schmuck who lost the gold medal and negotates for a job while in the conferenc finals.
3. Sheed because he has always been a jerk
4. The whole team which couldn't do anything at the start of the season when the refs were calling fouls but got hot when the refs stopped

Spurs

1. Manu's flops
2. Parker getting away with constant uncalled hand checks
3. Duncan routinely getting away with fouls that are not called because he's Duncan
4. Popovich because he treats every bogus foul called on his team as a huge miscarrage of justice

 

[NickelBack]

1. Any team that strives to win 85-80 is a disgrace

Detroit average scores were 93.3 to 89.5 in the regular season and 91.7 to 85.9 in the post-season.

 

[Cheesebeef]

can someone tell me what this Will Smith nonsense is? Do you guys remember when the draw of the NBA Finals was... the NBA FINALS!

 

[elindholm]

I just realized...

When's the last time that the Finals matched the reigning champion with the champion from the year before that? I think it would have to be 1988 (Lakers 1987, Celtics 1986), right? That's impressive.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I don't know if I made a prediction on the prediction thread - but I'm saying Detriot in 6. I think wemade SA look a HELL of a lot better than they really are. They struggled with a mediocre AND injured Seattle club and it's pretty apparent just from the first couple minutes how badly we need to work on our defense in comparison with the Pistons(mind you - I'm not saying we need to defend like the Pistons - but man - we were are sieve against the Spurs).

 

[Joe Mama]

This is exactly the high-scoring affair that the NBA was looking for in the finals. Its 13-4 halfway through the first quarter.

I still believe that San Antonio is much better than they look here, but I agree, cheese, that the Phoenix Suns really need to work on their defense. If they were playing half the defense that Detroit is right now we would be watching the Suns in the finals.

Joe Mama

 

[elindholm]

I know it's early, but right now I'm thinking that the Suns would not have beaten Detroit in the Finals. During the Spurs series, I have to admit I thought that if they could come back and win that one, the title would be theirs. But Detroit really kicks it up a notch in the playoffs. What impresses me so far is that they don't even seem to be getting away with fouls while they're doing it.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I gotta say - I LOVE the way the Suns play and definitely if given a preference I'd watch them any day of the week, but there is something really great about watching REALLY good defense play - both of these teams play it. It's not like those Knicks team that literally just pushed everyone aroudn and got away with it - these teams can actually PLAY D and I think this series is gonna be a little hard on the eyes, but from a competitive standpoint, it's gonna be a classic.

 

[Joe Mama]

I gotta say - I LOVE the way the Suns play and definitely if given a preference I'd watch them any day of the week, but there is something really great about watching REALLY good defense play - both of these teams play it. It's not like those Knicks team that literally just pushed everyone aroudn and got away with it - these teams can actually PLAY D and I think this series is gonna be a little hard on the eyes, but from a competitive standpoint, it's gonna be a classic.

Both of these teams have the length and athleticism in the frontcourt and speed in the backcourt. More importantly both of these teams take pride and put forth a maximum effort on defense.

Sometimes it's easy to forget just how good Rasheed Wallace is because of his temperament and propensity for disappearing. However when it comes down to it he has the talent and body to be one of the best players in the NBA. I said this a couple weeks ago, but could you imagine this Phoenix Suns team with Rasheed Wallace instead of say Q?

Joe Mama

 

[Cheesebeef]

man I wish I was watching the Suns in the Finals right now - sigh.

If we are ever gonna be able to beat either of these teams, we're gonna have to get someone out there who can bang and shut the middle down every once in a while - have some kind of hybrid between our style now and what these teams do. We don't have to swing all the way in a different direction, but we really need to shore up our rebounding/defense - especially already being at a disadvantage with Nash at the point on D.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I said this a couple weeks ago, but could you imagine this Phoenix Suns team with Rasheed Wallace instead of say Q?
Joe Mama

they'd crush anyone they played. Even with Dyess back (and I know he had big injury concerns - still didn't stop Detroit from risking 4 mill for him) I believe we would have that player to solidify our D enough.