I'm not quite sure that today's game was a statement game like a lot of fans may think. Granted, San Antonio played with a lot of heart, but its not like we haven't beat them before this year. Before we played them, they only beat Atlanta and lost their last four before that. They just really brought it today and had a lot more energy because they knew that they simply couldn't lose the regular season series to us. Both times we beat them, they had Tim Duncan. The first win was without Jon Barry, David Wesley or Mike James. Then we beat them with our four guards. Then we lost because Rod Strickland was one of our starting guards and was our glaring weakness. So just because they beat us one time without Duncan does not really mean that much. Just think of it as San Antonio fighting off elimination. Besides playoffs is a start of something new!
My pick is Detroit. Since January 26 they have been hightailing it back to the top of the standings. They have gone 20-10 since starting out 23-16. Almost as hot as we are (21-8), but they are last year's NBA champs. In a close second I would have to say the Spurs.
It's between the Spurs and Pistons. Why? DEFENSE. We are the 3 best defensive teams in the league and it shows when we play each other. Suns, Sonics, etc... are good offensive teams, but they don't play a lick of D. In the playoffs, when the game slows down, and it comes down to half court sets and defense, the best defensive teams will prevail. Houston- Good mix of defense and offense. SA- Great defense, efficient offense. Detroit- Great defense, Rip/Billups/Prince/Sheed put up points.
I think our defense is good enough to affect any team. Unfortunately, I think, our offense has a lot of trouble scoring against a strong defense. Bring on the Dallas's, Phoenix's and Seattle's of the world. San Antonio and Detroit are the type of teams that scare me.
