To be honest, if u gave the Spurs the worst role players in the league with Duncan it probably would have been the same margin of victory. Cause Lakers did not blowout PHILLY each game, but I beleive the Spurs were a better basketball team when healthy then the 76ers. Margin of victory means nothing when your second best player is injured, and your 3/4th best player has a kidney disorder and can barely play 10 minutes.....I was exagerating DA half of the offense..but you cant just say he was EXPENDABLE...if he was expendable...then the entire Spurs supporting cast basically was, which seems to make that Laker series blowout less crediable in terms of the Spurs being an actual COMPETITOR.
Did the Spurs really miss DA this year? No.... They went as far without him than with him. And they did this with Steve Smith playing like dog$hit.
Steve Smith is terrible PERIOD. He did fine in the regular season but was WORTHLESS in the playoffs. I mean you could not do much worse than Smith did against the Lakers. Missing WIDE OPEN jumpshots (which was the only reason the Spurs got him). The reason the Spurs did well was the growth of Tony Parker and Bruce Bowens solid D, and team defense of the Spurs. Give them one consistent second scorer and Drob a little health and they might have beaten the Lakers.
The Spurs had defense in 2001... Hell, they've had defense since the early 90s. D-Rob is washed up and too old. He couldn't play in the 4th quarter in most of the games in the reg season because of this. I'm sorry, but SA can't/will never beat LA in a series until they add a 2nd go-to guy. The #2 guy for SA needs to be a go-to guy, not some role player like DA or Steve Smith. Getting Kidd would be good, but what do they do with Parker?
Duncan has more skills, etc. But Shaq is the best player in the NBA. I'm sure you will overrate Duncan, like you overrate DA. I personally think Duncan is the #2 or #3 best player in the NBA.
In all honesty starting Ginobili will be better than Smith. Anything is better than Smith in the long run and during the playoffs. Duncan, Parker, Rose and the Spurs solid defense is enough to get the Spurs 50 wins, by playing Ginobili more, he can grow faster and maybe become a legit 2nd/3rd scorer for the Spurs, considering no one can score consistently besides Duncan, and MAYBE Parker this season if he takes more shots.
I'd give Duncan the slight edge over Shaq because I think Duncan could also get it done with Kobe Bryant and solid supporting cast. Shaq can be more dominant at times, but if they both have equal supporting casts I don't see Shaq as being a better player than Duncan. to me Duncan and Shaq are basically equals, but I think Duncan is a better FT shooter and is a better 4th quarter performer than Shaq, which is why I consider as the same level as Shaq.
The Spurs led game 2 for almost the entire game... Duncan had 40 and 15. The problem was that they had a fourth quarter stretch like they had in every game this year, where the defense sagged down and Duncan really couldn't move. If DA's there to stretch the defense and play the opposite side from TD, the Spurs probably win that game easfily. If the Spurs win that game, it would've been a split, and a totally different attitude for them going into LA. At the least, it would've guaranteed one more home game for them. I think it would've made a difference.
Man, it seems like theres some variation on the spurs lakers theme every weekend now, with all the usual suspects involved. Anyway, I vote lakers, I think they would have beaten pretty much any team in the 90's. But who knows its all speculation. where the hell is mr. spur in all thhis mess?
