oh, and MrSpur, even if you comprised the best one on one defender at every position and put them on one team, you would never win a thing. name a great nba scorer that gets consistently stopped by a great one on one defender. please...name one.
Once again, it is about more than points. If you have to double Bryant then you allow him to create for others. Your 'formula' does not account for that. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kobe_bryant/game_by_game_stats.html Bryant only broke 30 once in that series and he had to take 31 shots to score 31 points. The Spurs had that in the 2001 playoffs when Bryant was free to do what he wanted offensively. AD put up something like 15 points per, the problem was that Bryant averaged close to 40 in that series. Why? Lack of DEFENSE. As for Christie being the best defender in the league that is ridiculous. Bryant torched him in the 2001 playoffs. Bowen is the best on-ball defender in the NBA.
ah, see you and i have a fundamental difference of opinion when it comes to defense. i do not believe in double teaming guards (with very, very, very few exceptions). as soon as you start double teaming you allow the guards teammates to get involved. that's when the floodgates open. but, imo, as long as you have a perimeter player shooting jumpers over and over again over a single defender, while on the other end having to play defense against a good penetrator, you've done all you can. i didn't mean that quite so literally, and i thought you would have noticed. my point is that if he wants to score, he more than likely will. it's the reason he is a premier scorer. same applies for AI, tmac, etc. gee, i'm sure your objective nature led you to believe that one, right? bwen is an above average defender, i'll admit. however, to say that the idea that christie is the best defender in the league is ridiculous because bryant torched him in the 2001 playoffs only shows how blindly fanatical you are about the spurs. who HASN'T KOBE TORCHED IN THE PLAYOFF, DUDE? including bwen???!!! so bruce is the best because kobe torched christie in 2001. but kobe torched bruce too, but that doesn't matter. uh huh, makes sense to me. silver and black glasses man. silver and black glasses.
: The problem in the 2002 WCSF was not the Spurs' defense. Anyone with a shred of bball knowledge knows that. The Spurs' D was the reason they were in every friggin' game. The main problem is that the Spurs went away from Parker and Duncan running screen rolls in the second half in at least a couple of those games, dude. No Laker guard could stay in front of Parker. Shaq's ability to defend the screen roll is limited. The reason this is even an issue is because Pop failed to establish a second scorer during the season, dude. I read at least one article which cited a general consensus among various NBA types that the Spurs should've continued to go with Parker and Duncan in the two man game instead of just running 4Down every friggin' time in the second half. Take off the Spurs hate hat.
1. when did i say the spurs problem was defense? 2. when did i say that someone (other than pockmarkovich) stopped parker? 3. you're cute, sugar. and pop is a piss poor coach. i've ALWAYS said that, even though you have denied it in the past. 4. how bout a kiss honey? i'm still waiting on an answer to my question: name a great nba scorer that gets consistently stopped by a great one on one defender. please...name one. care to address that one, my cute, fluffy little dumpling? :smoochiekissemoticon:
Um, when you said that the Spurs shouldn't have had Bowen and should have had DA or whoever. Bowen is integral to the defense.
BTW, i think charles smith v kobe is a MUCH better matchup for the spurs than bbq bwen v kobe. kobe likes bbq. bbs tastes good. but spiders can be very dangerous. they bite back!!!
What the Spurs need versus LA is a scoring small forward. They have the penetrating point and the solid defender/spot up shooter. Bowen does start at the 3 but versus LA he is essentially playing the 2. SA does have SSmith who can match up physically versus the Laker SFs but he requires set plays in order for him to score and Pop didn't really incorporate him in the offense at all last season. If you start a 'normal sized' SG (6'5"/6'6") versus LA and Bowen then you have a mismatch with that SG trying to defend Fox/Horry. The trouble is, it's not easy finding a scoring small forward. Maybe Stephen Jackson will develop into a reliable backup. He should've been given that spot last season and DFerry used as a backup 4 in certain situations when the Spurs wanted to spread the floor. As for a starter...supposedly Lamond Murray is being shopped by the Cavs. SA wants to preserve enough cap space so they may not want to take on his deal...which is reasonable as for the salary level...it does last until 2005 or 2006. If the Cavs would take AD and a future pick for him I would do that. Ginobili should provide a boost off the bench. It will be nice to have Claxton as the backup point instead of 67 year old Terry Porter. Yes, CSmith is a decent defender and decent offensive player though he is terribly streaky.
Bruce Bowen the best on ball defender in the NBA? Let's keep in mind that the great bball mind who is making this assertion is the same one that proclaimed David Robinson was a better defender than Hakeem Olajuwon, one of the funnier things ever said on this BBS. Yeah, I'm sure your opinion of Bowen is purely objective. The best on balll defender in the NBA is Ruben Patterson. He's just as disruptive as Bowen except he's much more physical and much quicker. Kobe shot something like 30% from the field against the Blazers this playoffs and Ruben is the reason. Just because a Spur is good at something, hard core homers like Cat and Mr. Spur shouldn't go around proclaiming the best in the league at it. As for Ginobilli, perhaps you should see how he does against NBA comp before annointing him as Rookie of the Year.
Yeah, I forgot that this is the Rocket site so Olajuwon is the better defender. As I'm sure your opinions of the Rockets and the Spurs are just as objective. Never did say Ginobili would be ROY. "Homer"? Um, ok, let's call names.
Verse, you are fighting a losing battle, man. THe only thing harder than getting spurs boys to admit that their players aren't that great or their team isn't close to the Lakers is getting them to admit they are coming from a biased view shared by nobody outside Bexar county. I tried to do that all last week, it just woudn't take: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37956 Of course, they will come back by saying that we are a bunch of jealous spurs haters, which is not true. I would much rather see the spurs win than the lakers, they're boring, or insufferable Cuban, or heaven forbid the Jazz. I just don't think they will. Finally: This is just asking for trouble, I don't even want to bother addressing its merits. You can go ahead and take this to any site of any team, starting with Atlanta and ending with Washington (barring SA's) and see how far it gets you.
Great. Don't live in Bexar county. I've admitted the problems as I've seen it...the problem is...I don't think the Spurs suck in every aspect like some of you hardcore Rockets "homers" do. When someone bothers to point out the flaws in your rants then all of a sudden they are a "homer". Bfd. I don't get it. I don't spend my time posting "Rockets suck"...though I could, I suppose. That's what I get for being a fan and not acting out some high school like rivalry.
When did I ever say David Robinson was a better defender than Hakeem Olajuwon? It's one thing to try and have a logical argument... it's another thing to totally make up bull**** to try and ruin another poster's credibility. Hakeem is obviously a better defender than Robinson. BTW, Kobe shot in the 38% range against Bowen... he shot about 60% against everyone else. And we're not the ones anointing him ROY... that would be national, unobjective NBA writers such as Mike Monroe of Fox Sports. We're just merely citing that as an example of why he has a chance to be good.
But maybe I am wrong and a homer, and the rest of the basketball watching public would know Robinson was better than Olajuwon but for the media hype machine that told them otherwise (that same hype machine that makes people think O'Neal is better than Duncan; and that plays up Tskishvili and Nachbar when Ginobli is better).
Yes, He was. How many Nike Barbershop commercials were there for Hakeem Olajuwon where he was declared the best player in the league? Zero. How many "Mr. Olajuwon's Neighborhood" commercials were there? Zero. Why did Sports Illustrated put him on the cover in 1994 with the title "Mr. MVP"? I didn't say (weeks ago) that small market SA could never ever ever have famous players, I said that it was a small market and does not have the appeal of NY, LA, etc. to people who have never spent time there.
Cat, You misread what I said. I was saying that Mr. Spur was the one who claimed DRob a better defender than Olajuwon. And as you can see he's not denying it. He even implies that saying Olajuwon was a better defender than Robinson is Rockets homerism, never mind that Hakeem is the blocked shot leader of all time, always averaged more steals than D Rob, won more Def player of the year trophies, made more all Defensive first teams, and never got mutiliated in the playoffs by other Superstar Centers!!!! His statement that DRob was a better defender than Olajuwon immediately kills any sense of objectivity and credibility on other subjects in my opinion.
