rank best playoff matchups for the suns

Agloco

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I don't want to play the Warriors. I do not think the Suns size advantage clearly translates to an overall advantage.

I would put the Spurs much higher. The Suns can beat them consistently with Shaq.

No love for the champs eh? I think if you were to poll NBA players, most ,if not all of them would put the Spurs dead last on the list. The original poster got it right.

Having said that, yes the Suns match up better with the Spurs now than they did before. My question is how you guys match up against the rest of the west now.
 

Proteus

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No love for the champs eh? I think if you were to poll NBA players, most ,if not all of them would put the Spurs dead last on the list. The original poster got it right.

Having said that, yes the Suns match up better with the Spurs now than they did before. My question is how you guys match up against the rest of the west now.
How much of that would be reputation picks though?
 

95pro

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have we played a healthy full-on spurs team this year?
 

nowagimp

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No love for the champs eh? I think if you were to poll NBA players, most ,if not all of them would put the Spurs dead last on the list. The original poster got it right.

Having said that, yes the Suns match up better with the Spurs now than they did before. My question is how you guys match up against the rest of the west now.

Players always say "until proven otherwise" they are the champs, its about respect for what they have done. THis is how the players want to be treated after they win: they are the champs until proven otherwise. The spurs are a very good team, but their record against the top 8 is worse than any of the 8 except for the suns. And their defense has slipped, they are no longer the defensive juggernaut they were. The suns "top eight" record is primarily without shaq, when the team was outrebounded by a wide margin every night. Its likely that the suns with shaq are a substantially different team, so who knows what their record would be. Recently Antonio McDyess said the suns looked like "the team to beat out west", after shaq was shaqlimated. I think the hornets are the team to beat, unless the lakers can get healthy fast, very fast. the hornets have all the pieces, and CP3 is unbelievable. The spurs are right there though, they still have their big 3, all of them clutch.

In a matchup sense, the suns matchup well with the spurs as they have shaq for duncan and raja for manu, and the spurs have no one for amare. the lakers match up well with the jazz as the jazz dont have a decent defender at the '2', every outstanding '2' has torched them, and the best '2', kobe, just is incendiary against the jazz. The Jazz match up well with the warriors, because Deron WIlliams can play Baron Davis physical, and the jazz can abuse them down low with Boozer.
 

ClingingMars

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suns fans who are hoping for the Spurs are laughable. This is a 7 game series, not one game.

mavs or rockets would be your best bet, but GS would be the highest scoring series ever.
 

Cheesewater

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suns fans who are hoping for the Spurs are laughable. This is a 7 game series, not one game.

mavs or rockets would be your best bet, but GS would be the highest scoring series ever.

Well so far the series is 2-1 in favor of the Suns....
 

Covert Rain

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come on, surely you know your rivals well enough to realize that there is a HUGE difference in our regular season play and our post-season play?

There is? Huge difference?? I thought the Spurs took the last 3 regular season series against the Suns the past 3 years?? So......that trend technically held through the playoffs. Where is this difference? The way I see it the Spurs did what they should have done based on those results.
 

Treesquid PhD

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1. Denver
2. Houston
3. Dallas
4. Golden State
5. New Orleans
6. Utah
7. LA
8. Sterns
 

nowagimp

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There is? Huge difference?? I thought the Spurs took the last 3 regular season series against the Suns the past 3 years?? So......that trend technically held through the playoffs. Where is this difference? The way I see it the Spurs did what they should have done based on those results.

SteelDog, they are saving their energy and geritol for the playoffs. Horrys career lows in FG%(32%) and 3pt%(26%) are just 'cause he's saving his shot for the playoffs. At that time there will be a huge difference in "big foul bobs" shooting percentages.
 

sLapzsHaQ

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too bad it's an even year, so don't expect the Spurs to be doing great :D
 

95pro

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come on, surely you know your rivals well enough to realize that there is a HUGE difference in our regular season play and our post-season play?
if you haven't noticed its been "playoff" basketball the past 2-3wks or so.
 

Agloco

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Yes, they were healthy for the last game on March 9th.
http://www.nba.com/games/20080309/SASPHX/boxscore.html

Tony Parker was out for the first two meetings, that we split.

Yeah, Shaq was out for those meetings, too.


LOL...... as if Shaq>Parker at this point......

Seriously though, it's about rhythm. People hate to admit it but the Spurs always seem to show up at the right time. I know if I were picking my matchups as a player, I'd hate to see them coming.
 

Agloco

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Players always say "until proven otherwise" they are the champs, its about respect for what they have done. THis is how the players want to be treated after they win: they are the champs until proven otherwise. The spurs are a very good team, but their record against the top 8 is worse than any of the 8 except for the suns. And their defense has slipped, they are no longer the defensive juggernaut they were. The suns "top eight" record is primarily without shaq, when the team was outrebounded by a wide margin every night. Its likely that the suns with shaq are a substantially different team, so who knows what their record would be. Recently Antonio McDyess said the suns looked like "the team to beat out west", after shaq was shaqlimated. I think the hornets are the team to beat, unless the lakers can get healthy fast, very fast. the hornets have all the pieces, and CP3 is unbelievable. The spurs are right there though, they still have their big 3, all of them clutch.

In a matchup sense, the suns matchup well with the spurs as they have shaq for duncan and raja for manu, and the spurs have no one for amare. the lakers match up well with the jazz as the jazz dont have a decent defender at the '2', every outstanding '2' has torched them, and the best '2', kobe, just is incendiary against the jazz. The Jazz match up well with the warriors, because Deron WIlliams can play Baron Davis physical, and the jazz can abuse them down low with Boozer.


I think the Mavs are also worse. Not sure though. Great points here overall. I can't help but think that the players might know a bit more about these types of things than we do seeing as they compete against each other night in and night out. I've seen plenty of interviews this year and most if not all of them say the Spurs will be the toughest out (ie the team you'd least want to face).

If you've seen the Spurs play of late, you might be re-evaluating your view as well. It's not that they've won 8 straight, it's about how they're doing it. You might want to pay particular attention to the last two games they've played (HOU and GS). The old men are waking up and everyone to a man hates to see that.

Reputation picks? It's definitely an element, but more rooted in the reality of the moment I'd say.
 
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mojorizen7

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suns fans who are hoping for the Spurs are laughable. This is a 7 game series, not one game.

mavs or rockets would be your best bet, but GS would be the highest scoring series ever.
Dude,you guys aren't the bad matchup anymore. You guys are going to be there and so will we. SUNS & SPURS were the top 2 teams in the West last year and will probably be again this year, except.........you guys won't be able to exploit the joke that was "smallball" anymore. Period.
Pleeeez give me the SPURS in the first round,semi's,west finals....it would be a small shame to advance to the NBA Finals without putting and end to the STERNS boring dynasty.
 

Agloco

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Dude,you guys aren't the bad matchup anymore. You guys are going to be there and so will we. SUNS & SPURS were the top 2 teams in the West last year and will probably be again this year, except.........you guys won't be able to exploit the joke that was "smallball" anymore. Period.
Pleeeez give me the SPURS in the first round,semi's,west finals....it would be a small shame to advance to the NBA Finals without putting and end to the STERNS boring dynasty.


Admitting that there's a problem is the first step to recovery. I'm proud of you. :)
 

Michael

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I don't consider the Spurs last decade a dynasty at all.

They have been a consistent very good team over a long period of time with opportunistic titles and some luck.

Of course it all started with the tanking of a season and the drafting of Tim Duncan who became the cornerstone of this franchise.

The lockout in 1999 when all teams were out of shape the Spurs had a huge advantage with their two big guys and easy scoring on the block.

The Spurs couldn't beat the Lakers in their prime and had to wait for them to fall apart from within to finally beat them in 2003.

In 2005 they were the best team in the league and deserved the title. Yes, they were lucky for Joe Johnson's injury in the WCF, but that season they were clearly too much for the Suns.

In 2007 San Antonio got a little help from the league to win the title.

Now don't get me wrong. Give them credit for building such a succesful team around TD with lower picks like Parker and Ginobili; for always adding great role players that fit into the system; for consistently being one of the elite teams in the league.

Certainly they sometimes just fell short in their quest to defend their title.

However, I don't consider the Spurs a dynasty without winning back-to-back championships once.

A dynasty imo stand for a team that remains unbeaten for some years - not for some team that wins from time to time.
 

capologist

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4 championships in 9 years equals a dynasty, whether they’re consecutive or not.

How about the Lakers, who won in ’80, ’82, ’85, and ’87? Are you telling us that didn’t qualify as a dynasty before they won their first back-to-back in ’88?
 
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