I know a lot of Spurs fans like to argue that Duncan is better than Hakeem but I just dont see how its even close. Duncan was horrible in last year's playoffs. He choked again today. I just dont think he is very good at handling the pressure.
Agreed... and it wouldn't be THAT hard to implement. Most of the time, the players who are flop are the ones who always flop: Ginobili, Reggie Evans, Bowen, Vlade... Everytime the refs call a "no call", they know the opponent is "flopping." Thus, in that situation, call a tech.... and 2 techs, and the player is done. Simple as that.
One of the biggest problems of Spurs has been no outside shooting. Big Dog supposed to help on that department, but he did not get enough time. Where is that Brown guy? He can definitely help. Denver's interior defense led by Camby is great tonight.
They brought back Duncan too early, he says he's at 80% - but he looks like a pale shadow of what he should. They can't sit him, because he's too important, and the Nuggets are playing too well and have so many bigs - but he's not going to get much better limping around for 35 minutes.
This is why you don't take your foot off the pedal in those last few regular-season games. Because for all you know, facing the Mavs in Round 1 could prove less costly than losing home court to the Nuggets in Round 3.
Brown's out for the series I think. So, what's the over/under on FT next game for San Antonio? I say 50. Ginobili - 14, Duncan - 14, Parker - 8, etc. The officials gave San Antonio no home cooking this game. You know that's going to change in game #2. Almost always happens this way in the playoffs. But I'm happy for now.
I've never been that high on Camby, but he was pretty effective tonight. Didn't one of the annoucers mention that Duncan had said that Camby was one of the defenders that can give him some trouble?
Camby usually very effective when he is playing. He is long, athletic, and mobile and gives the opposing team lots of problems down low. Problem with him is he is hardly playin since he is made out of glass.. You can count on his game when playing, but you cant on him to be playing.
I don't know if that's entirely true. He played 72 games in '03 and 66 games this past season. That's not enough games for me, but he's getting better, I suppose, at staying healthy considering it was 29 games per season in '01 AND '02 respectively. He was on my fantasy team this year and was a big contributor.
Duncan was 24 and 10 against the Grizz and 21 and 12 against the Lakers. He had one subpar game in the playoffs last year, when he only scored 10 points (with 13 rebounds). If that is horrible, I would like to know who has ever played excellent in the playoffs.
Racking up great line against a Memphis team is not impressive. Compare his 58% FG against Memphis to 47% agaisnt Lakers when it really counted. Add 4+ turnovers/game to that. Not to mention he let an aging karl Malone shut him down most of the time. When Spurs were looking for points late in games, Duncan did not step up to provide them on a consistent basis. Am I supposed to be impressed with 20 12 with 4 turnovers in a conference semi-final series by a supposedly best player in the game? BTW, I am not even gonna go near his pathetic FT %
Spurs fans are crazy if they think that. There's no comparison whatsoever between the 2. Hakeem vs. Shaq is a great debate. 2 of the all-time 5 best Centers. Hakeem vs. Duncan is a joke. Duncan is a poor man's Hakeem with less athleticism, far less defensive presence, and less explosiveness offensively. Duncan is very good, but not in that superelite tier. And I agree with his track record of free throw and field goal shooting in clutch playoff situations is very shaky at best. A couple years ago they got by because Steve Kerr and Stephen Jackson were the nails players in the clutch. They don't really have that this year, with the exception of Ginobilli, the flop man.
Exactly. He was very unimpressive vs. Malone. Granted Malone is dirty, but an MVP vs. a 40 year old past his prime PF should be a severe mismatch. It wasnt.
between Nene, Camby, Carmelo, and Kmart thats a dang solid front court. if these 2 teams met in the west finals i think yao would just about keel over. and then haha if we got to play the heat poor yao would have to retire.
The best they'd do is to lump the upsets together, but remember that SA is the 2nd seed and the main WC favorite to win it all.
Denver's defense was good, but the Spurs had plenty of open shots, they just missed them. It was their Lakers series from last year all over again. Brick after brick. Duncan atleast has an excuse, his ankle won't allow him to jump, but Ginobili had a great first 3 quarters and then starts shooting off-balance jumpers in the 4th, Bowen, Barry, Parker, all start throwing up bricks in a panic. The Spurs won so many blowouts, they don't seem to know how to stay poised in a close game. I still think they will win the series. I originally picked the Spurs in 6, but it might go 7 if they can't get their shooting act together.
You think Rose would have done more than Mohammed did last night? I don't think so. They need shooter. Same problem as last year. Brent Barry is supposed to fill that role, instead, he went 0 of 2 and got 0pt yesterday. I feel lucky we got the other Barry.
Damn these Spers play like little frickin girls.....haven't seen a collection of flopping b****es like this since Stockton/Malone
