Now THAT is truly the most amazing thing about the Spurs! But alas, no worries, their payroll will skyrockets when they pay up the big contracts in the near future.
i thought they already had all their important players signed to long term deals. tim, ginobili, parker, nerterovic, bowen, barry, etc
No i will answer the Rockets actually. I think our defense is better. The difference is this. The Spurs actually have 2 guards that can break down good defenses...in Manu and Tony. We don't have those type of guards that can break down a defense like the Spurs. We are able to do that to teams that have weak defenses but when it comes to a defense like the Spurs we have problems with it. I am not saying the Rockets defense is not as good or better than the Spurs. But i am saying that they have 2 players that can effectively break down a good defense.
I also would like to add the TO's and the offensive boards given up as major contributing factors to the loss. This is the kind of games the Rockets need more to acclimatize to the intensity and hustle needed to win play-off games and championships. It's a learning experience. Yao is a big target for every lose simply because some people's expectations are simply unrealistic, some people are impatient and Hakeem really spoiled us.
I am not saying that Rockets would have problems with any other team... That's not what the discussion was about...the discussion was about the fact that Tony and Manu are better guards at breaking a defense down then our guards.... I never stated that we would have problems with other teams or anything.
I didn't mean that response to be a smart remark. I really was asking who else you thought would give the rockets problems.
To be honest i don't think there really is any other team that can give us fits consistantly as the Spurs do. The reason i say this is because they are the only team that actually plays hard nosed defense and still can shoot the ball as well...teams like Detroit play great defense but have problems scoring sometimes... I think if we play our best ball there isn't team that can stop us really... Spurs have our number sometimes...they know how to break us down.
Everyone talks about effort. What baffles me is that why Rockets could play 3 quaters and 5 minutes choking defense and then suddenly fell apart. Did they just run out of gas? Or they simply couldn't keep up with Spurs' pace? I think Yao had an average game, not a bad game. There was one time late in the 4th quater, he was surrounded by three spurs' players near baseline, then he bumped one aside and pass out the ball. I think he did play hard today. It's a tough loss. Today Spurs is just a better team. I would really like to see JVG's comments about the game.
But wait a second, have they actually STARTED paying Genobili and Parker under their new contracts yet? Or is their rate for this year still under the older contracts? Does anyone know?
/me Booos the Rockets guards. Where has the shooting gone? Wes is back to where he was 2 months ago. Barry, please shoot it more.
ginobili was a free agent so hes into his contract now...duncan, nesterovic, barry, bowen, horry are all into their contracts. i believe parker is too but i might be mistaken.
The most glaring thing to me about today's game was our noticeable lack of athleticism. We could not keep up with their ball movement or their running up and down the floor. They seemed to just break us down. The loose officiating inside for the big guys really hurt us too because we rely on Yao to score and they use little dudes who get calls.
I haven't read the entire thread so I don't know if someone has actually said this or not: This was the worst emotional effort of the season by our guards!!! The Spurs had NO ONE to block shots inside and yet our guards chose ALL DAY to stay outside hoping they would get left alone for the easy jumpers they've become accustomed to getting. Even Sura, (my favorite player), acted like a virgin at his first dance!! The guys were pathetic in their lack of interest in penetrating to the rack. I thought when Mike James came in that we would actually see some movement toward the hoop but save for one or two buckets the Rox guards acted like someone had already stolen their candy!! I give credit to the Spurs for playing good D, but the lane was open ALL DAY!!!! Let our guys get called for multiple charges or have some shots blocked before deciding there's no payoff inside!! Our supposedly veteran team played like grade-school rookies after taking a 5 pt lead in the 4th. And how about ANYBODY playing D on Manu? There were only three guys who could beat us and one had an off day (Parker). Manu should have been instanly doubled every time he touched the ball (ala Nash)! I hope this game sends a message to the Rox about where they actually fit in the grand scheme of the NBA. They are no better than 3rd and possibly as low as 7th in terms of preparedness to win a title.
