Phil Jackson picked Bill Russell because they both have 11 rings, Phil is an egregious self aggrandizer, he's trying to sell a book called 11 rings.
Assuming The Heat reach the Finals are they the favorites? LBJ will be the best player on the court but I'm not so sure The Spurs are the underdogs.
The weird thing about the Spurs is that throughout their history, they are rarely down and out for an extended period of time for the most part...the organization, since its ABA days have found a way to carry over a good roster from generation to generation. In the mid to late 70s, the Spurs consistently made the playoffs with Gervin as their centerpiece and two supporting stars in Larry Kenon and Billy Paultz.. Adding Artis Gilmore and Mike Mitchell later on. Struggled a couple of seasons and landed David Robinson and brought proven veteran talent and promising young players to play with the elite young center. Though the 90s, the Spurs continued through the same cycle always remaining competitive, not quite getting close to a championship. An injured David Robinson leads to #1 pick, which would become Tim Duncan. Leading the organization to its first ever title. Still, the Spurs knew David Robinson was quickly in decline and set out to find a great talents across the globe. Often investing in global talent than most NBA teams, the Spurs drafted many budding young prospects and veterans talents in Europe and Latin America. Drafting players, like Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and picking up make shift vets, like Bruce Bowen, Stephen Jackson, Brent Barry, Nazr Mohammed, and Robert Horry. It's been 4 titles, 5 NBA Finals appearances, and countless divisional titles and #1 seeds of the Western Conference.
Spurs quietly #1 team in the NBA... again. People are so used to them being good, they are never newsworthy. Clippers, Pacers, OKC? Not near as much of a threat compared to the well-oiled machine that is the Spurs.
Yes or no? <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Spurs, at this moment, have to be overall favorites to win the title. Problem is, West is so damn good, "favorite" status may not mean much.</p>— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/statuses/447777343399284736">March 23, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Agreed with the whole "west is so competitive" comment. Spurs are so good, but I feel like any team in the West, whether it's Memphis, Phoenix, whatever, can upset any of the high seeds. Whereas in the East, it's pretty much guaranteed that Miami and Indy will be 1 and 2, and meet in the ECF. What's cool is that seeds 1-4 in the West, currently, have had something of a run. Spurs on currently on a giant win streak, as have the Clippers and Rockets. Durant, without Westbrook in...February...went on his 30+ pts/gm run. tl;dr? West, you scary. East, you suck.
Maybe. But I still want to face them more than I want to face the Clippers or the Thunder. I'm very much content with the bracket right now.
Do you know the Spurs team Rockets beat three times were missing some key players? I really don't understand why so many people are so confident about beating the Spurs.
When you play GS on the road, without 2 of your big 3, and still win by 9, you know things are going your way. The playoffs are a whole other season though. I think many here are over confident given our 3-0 mark vs SAS. Doesn't mean a thing in the playoffs. I am pretty sure SAS doesnt win that GS game on the road without Gino or Timmy if it were the playoffs.
I think it would be beneficial for the Spurs to trade Parker for a high pick in this draft unless Duncan is playing for one more season. They could probably still be an average team, not terrible, with a high draft pick + the current crew of roleplayers they have around Duncan and Parker. Probably their best shot to keep this run going, especially if Popovich helps them select their next franchise player. Obviously they're still a ridiculous team, but I think once Duncan and Popovich leave they're going to finally have to go through the cycle of finding a new star player. TP is too old to be that guy for long, plus building around a point guard is an iffy decision
That is simply wrong. Nov. 30 @SA - Rockets missing Lin, Spurs fully healthy Dec. 25 @SA - Rockets missing Asik, Spurs fully healthy Jan. 28 vs SA - Spurs missing Green, Leonard and Splitter, but Rockets were without Harden and Asik
We have yet to face them at full strength...if we are at 4 we will go to the WCF...and we will need harden to really get hot to advance past the thunder or the clippers to the finals
I don't care if we sweep the spurs, you have to be a fool to want to face them and consider them an easy out
Even if your claim is not true - the Clippers have our number. We hadn`t really have a chance against them so far. We can`t guard CP3, their shooters tire down Harden, we miss a four that can defend Griffin and Jordan is pretty good against Dwight. The Thunder have Durant and Westbrook. Two players that can go off at any moment. Just because of these two players the team is really tough to beat. We`ve had success against the Spurs, because we match up against them well. I am not saying we`d be the favorites against them, but I am saying our chances would look better against them, than they would against LAC or OKC...
Only an inexperienced fan base would think regular season records mean a thing come playoff time. It means absolutely nothing.
