Agree, could have gone either way. However, isn't "The Finals" MVP judged by his play throught the finals i.e. in this case all seven games? If so, Horry and Ginobli had just as many good games (that probably won the Spurs the game) as Duncan. Ginobli - Half of game 1 and whole of game 2. Horry - Half of game 2, Half of game 5, Half of game 7.
Manu doesn't get that space w/o Duncan. Duncan wasn't legendary, but he still was the difference. One prop to Manu from me, the last 5 games or so I don't remember him going Diego Maradona on the Pistons, so maybe he has grown to respect the game more from his criticism and has cut that crap out. Makes him much more respectable. Chancey wasn't agressive the whole game, even when Bowen wasn't on him. It was like he tried too hard to get others involved when his team needed him to go Isiah on his opponents. Chancey will live this game over and over, 1st big game where he really didn't manage it well. At least he showed over the series Parker is a chump, hopefully Eva will see the light and go for a real bad dude like Billips and not that French wuss. Overall, the Spurs played harder and smarter when it really mattered. Mid 3rd quarter and on the Pistons offense had no motion and was a bunch of isolations, played right into the Spurs hands. They (part TD, Manu, Horry, Bowen) played a lot hungrier than Detroit in game 7 (with the exception of Big Ben and somewhat McDyess) and deserved to win the series. And Popovich deserves the title of best coach in the game. He coached Larry Brown's butt off each time his team was about to go down (end of game 5, last 18 minutes of game 7). What is sickening is all this "Spurs so great", "so well managed franchise", "so classy", bla bla bla before they did **** this year. I guess we will get more of for another year until they get their asses kicked next year. Yet the playoffs showed there were three outstanding teams very close to one another (Spurs, Pistons, and Heat), and some others not that far behind (healthy Phx squad, Seattle), but no dominant teams. The Rockets need not build there team to beat the Spurs any more than Detroit or Miami, the Rockets just need to build the best team they can and bring on all opponents. We really are not that far behind.
Jumpman, can you please post another picture of Rasheed, this time showing him after or near the end of Game 7? Preferably with his mouth shut this time. This is the Rasheed I want to remember. I still have nightmares from the one you posted a couple of weeks ago after they beat Miami.
Very well said. All the talk about what we need to do "to beat the Spurs" is crazy. Let's build the best team we can and go from there. For the sake of argument, a dominant center, an all-world player like T-Mac and suffocating defense are the perfect foundation for matching up to and beating anyone, including the Spurs.
apostolic3, I couldn't find the one you wanted, but I did find this one, he does have his mouth closed. Enjoy!
