Even if they lose to th cavs that doesn't mean much. They are just now getting fully healthy and playing better. They should improve with every game. Scary first round opponent that's for sure.
TP and Kahwi look like they will be primed and ready to go in the playoffs. That is very bad news for other WC teams. Would not surprise me if they ended up #4 behind the Rockets. If that happens, I pity the Blazers or Clippers in the 1st round.
The irony is, The Rockets match up well with the Spurs thats if....... I hope that's not the case, I want the Rockets to face the Blazers again in the first round, revenge is best served on a cold dish.
The Spurs competition in their 6-game winning streak: @Sactown, @Phoenix, Sactown, Denver, Chicago(sans Rose and Butler), and Toronto. Hardly an impressive collection of teams. Prior to that, they lost 4 in a row at the Clippers, Warriors, Jazz, and Blazers. Notice a pattern here? They beat up on crappy teams(or wounded good teams) and lose to quality ones. Granted, they did a lot of this last season and won the title, but let's see them keep this up the rest of the season as the schedule gets tough again. Then I'll start to believe they're the same Spurs as last year.
The difference in the recent 6 games are that Parker and Leonard have been playing much better. Parker was not healthy for quite a while. It seems that the Spurs is finally healthy and will make the final push. I think they can get the fourth seed!
Haha, yeah I know... I'm not a Spurs fan, but it's unrealistic to write these guys off yearly. Sure the Rockets match-up well in the regular season, but I don't know if I'd be putting money on it happening like that in the playoffs. Like last year if houston would have got passed the first round (I know that's something tough for us to do...), I think they might have done better than the Blazers (maybe 6 games), but after watching the Spurs dismantle everyone in the playoffs last year, there's no way our weak first round exit was going to magically eliminate the Spurs. I'm not going to talk trash on the Spurs until they're actually eliminated in the playoffs and most of their core calls it quits, because their team has proven they belong among the best for the last 16 years... I mean 5 chips, and almost 6 if they didn't screw up in the last minute of a finals game.. I wish our Rockets could even had 1/2 of their success over the last 17 or so years. Hopefully harden can lead the Rockets somewhere like Duncan has for the Spurs.
The regular season is simply training camp for the playoffs. The playoffs is a season unto itself. Everybody knows the Spurs know how to play the game of basketball at an extremely proficient and efficient level. They have a great chance to come out of the West if healthy. The only question is do they have enough gas in the tank?
You can also get injured during the playoffs. There is that. They probably will be playing much better in April than before. As Expected. I just hope the competition is ready to knock them out.
I have a personal rule in writing/commenting about the NBA: never bet against the Spurs. It's served me well since I developed it 10 years ago, shortly before the first "Spurs are too old" narrative. I'm not relaxing it until Duncan and Popovich are both gone. I have zero desire to see that team in the first round regardless of "matchups".
The Spurs could rise to fourth or higher quite easily if they keep winning. Watch out, here they come. And, they are no "easy out" in the playoffs.
