Interesting news... ------------------------ Spurs' Parker expected to play despite upset stomach Dallas, TX (Sports Network) - San Antonio Spurs starting guard Tony Parker is expected to play in Thursday's Game 6 of the Western Conference finals against Dallas despite suffering from an upset stomach. Parker missed the team's shootaround Thursday morning. He is averaging 15.8 points per game in the postseason. If Parker is unable to play, Speedy Claxton would most likely get the starting nod. San Antonio leads the best-of-seven series, 3-2, and can advance to the NBA Finals with a victory. ------------------------ Maybe he choked on something.
About all that can be said about the Spurs is that they aren't as gutless as the Mavs. If, as appears likely, they go on to win the title, they'll be easily the worst team ever to have won it all, with the possible exception of the 1999 Spurs.
i know we're all rocket fans here...but let's not be naive. The 95 rockets were "easily" the worst team to win it all. How can you be the worst team to win it all if you won 60 regular season games? Hell...whoever expected that the 6th seed rockets would make noise back then? The spurs were expected (by many) to win it all this year. You can't be a bad team if someone is counting on you to win.
Well, on a technical level, the Rocs are the worst team to win it all, but whether it's seen as Cinderella story or "the worst team to win it," the fact remains that the Rocs beat teams with the 50+ wins (I'm sure Utah, San Antonio and Orlando had 55+) and won the championship. Had Shaq been injured or David been injured in any of those series, some of the glamour would have been lost, and there would be more merit to label the Rocs as paper champs. But... the Rocs beat them with healthy players (and thank you Nick Anderson), so I call that a Cinderella team. The Spurs on the other hand, did hand the Lakers their @$$es, so that gives them enough credibility. But an injured Dirk and especially Webber would have changed alot of outcomes, but hey, injuries are part of the game, so go Spurs, at least keep it in Texas.
A championship is a championship...it's never easy. They beat the defending champion lakers to get there, they deserve some credit. I'm not saying it's a done deal but any team from the west is the favorite in the Finals.
I agree that this year's Spurs will be far and away the weakest champ ever. I think the way they have played they lose this series to SAC w/ Webber or if Dirk hadn't gotten hurt. The Spurs youngsters are talented but aren't really consistent and Duncan is not the best player in the game. He's about as clutch as Cris Webber. I think Shaq is a better crunch time FT shooter than Tim. They are just the best team in a really bad year for the NBA and an injury filled playoffs. The way they are playing, I wouldn't be surprised to see a really weak NJ team take them to 6 games. Going to be a very ugly series with some 80-71 type games. Probably will be the worst NBA Finals ever next to the SA-NY series.
I watched part of the third with the Mavs cruising, then went back to work, turned back to watch and the Mavs were down by about twenty. Funny thing is, may be San Antonio loses if Tony Parker was healthy, but we'll never know.
the regular season rockets were not good...agreed. but by the time they got to the playoffs they were unbelievable. they clicked, and it didn't matter who they played...they beat them! so ultimately, the rocket team that won the title in 1995 was very very good.
"Weakest Team Ever". At times, yes, the Spurs have played this way. Out-of-sink, confused, soft; especially, obviously when holding big leads. BUT; they have also shown, when clicking, that they can dominate teams. They have yet to be pushed to an elimination game, and have taken care of three game sixes, on the opponents floor, in convincing fashion. When they HAVE to step up, they do. Duncan has put up multiple 30+20 games, several different role players have made big shots, and the defense has been consistently strong. This team has lost two game ones AT HOME and won each of those series in six, knocked off the 3 time defending champs, and beaten a 60 win team (and yes, I know Nowitski was out, but he went out while the Spurs were HAMMERING the Mavericks in the 4th of game 3 - the Spurs were going to win this series). They have done this with a 20 (just now 21) two journeyman starters & a rookie 6th man - THAT is why they look so bad at times; not that they are weak, they are very young and haven't played together long. IF this team does now get the job done, and those guys do nothing but get more experience playing in the NBA and playing together AND add $15 mil in talent to that core, anything can happen, but, damn, they could be very, very good for a long time.
To characterize any championship team as "weak" is silly. No weak team can win the champ. Do you realize how many obstacles there are to overcome in order to get there?
I would like to see rockets become this kind of choker: Early big lead in most of the games, and lose some, but still get the rings.
MrSpur, Kerr was awesome, and I've never known why he doesn't get more playing time than Speedy, but I don't think you should be revealing that Mr. ClaNKston has no penis. That is just mean.
A team that closes out the defending champs on their home court and makes them cry can never, ever, possibly, even be considered to be anywhere near the worst NBA title team ever.
From Thesaurus.com:<blockquote> Entry: spur Function: noun Definition: incitement Synonyms: activation, actuation, catalyst, excitant, goad, goose, impetus, impulse, incentive, incitation, inducement, motivation, motive, needle, <b>prick</b>, stimulant, stimulus, trigger, turn-on, urge </blockquote> So if you want to call them the Pricks, the thesaurus gives you ample authority.
