It's happening again! SAS leading the league in reg. season.

[bagelred]

SAS? Stephen A. Smith?

[Purch]

It's not even about being surprised anymore, its about taking a step back and examining what we're witnessing. This is a team who 5 years ago got swept by the suns, and everyone was saying that they were done being an elite team. 2 sunmers later, after smoothly transitioning the team over from Timmy to Tony... they had a 60 win season. No rebuild... no season with less than 50 wins. Just pure excellence

[ProfessorMurder]

I remember Ginobili said in an interview that during halftime of a game the Spurs were winning by 20 pts, Popovic still berated the team... everyone was like, WTF coach.

Tony Parker also said that Pops once gave him a tongue lashing even though they were also winning comfortably, "But coach I can't be Perfect!!!" and Pops said "Yes you can!!!".

Awesome.

[Carbine]

This team will not win a title unless Timmy gets back to what he was last year.

[Mrofir]

This team will not win a title unless Timmy gets back to what he was last year.

only necessary for 16 games -- thus far I don't really see a team in the west stopping them, unless OKC gets on a serious roll

[Purch]

This team will not win a title unless Timmy gets back to what he was last year.

Depends on how Kawhi progresss. If he takes the next step, as a player, then that will put a lot less burden on timmy

[KG215]

only necessary for 16 games -- thus far I don't really see a team in the west stopping them, unless OKC gets on a serious roll

I think OKC, and maybe the Warriors, are the only two teams in the West that can beat them in a 7-game series. Not saying they will, but could. I still don't know if I'll trust the Clippers come playoff team. But we've seen in the playoffs the last 2 seasons that young, athletic teams can cause problems for the Spurs. OKC's athleticism and length really disrupted them int he 2012 WCF after the Thunder settled in and adjusted after dropping games 1 and 2. Last year the Warriors were going toe-to-toe with them before Curry re-injured his ankle. That injury, coupled with bigger, longer defenders on Curry really hampered Golden State's offense.

For the Thunder, it's going to depend on how much the young players in their rotation grow up. Guys like Adams (20 years old, rookie), Lamb (21 years old, 2nd year), Perry Jones (21 years old, 2nd year), Andre Roberson (22 years old, rookie) and Reggie Jackson (23 years old, 3rd year) will have to improve and become more confident in their games. But, if they do, OKC could have their deepest, most athletic team ever. Of course, unless they drastically improve, I don't expect Roberson or Jones to be a part of the playoff rotation -- although that won't really be fair to Jones if he keeps producing like he has been in the limited minutes he does get right now.

OKC's situation, in my opinion, is somewhat similar to what they were in 2009 and 2010; except the young players aren't as good now (Adams, Reggie, Lamb, PJ3, Roberson), as the young players were in '09 and '10 (KD, Russ, Harden, Serge). However, these young guys have "been there, done that" veterans to guide them (KD, Russ, Serge, Thabo, Collison, Perk, Fisher), whereas KD, Russ, Harden, and Serge had to figure it out on their own. But, and this is just my opinion, this is the first season since either '09 or '10 that I think OKC can legitimately be quite a bit better by March/April than they are in November/December.


As for the Spurs, while I've developed a respectful hate for them over the last few years, it's still not hard to be impressed by their sustained excellence. I mean it's been damn near 20 years of being a constant contender, save maybe as season or two here and there.

[rmt]

I don't think that it's necessarily young, athletic teams but teams with perimeter offenses (OKC, GSW) that give SAS problems. The combination of Duncan/Splitter/Diaw handle any big men combos very well. The problem is on the perimeter. As long as Pop plays Manu and poor defenders like Bellineli/Neal, star perimeter players are gonna light them up.

There are several reasons why SAS always does well in the RG - discipline, team work, passing/sharing the ball. But in the playoffs, defense is needed. Their defense last year was very good - mostly because Duncan had a resurgent year.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

It's not even about being surprised anymore, its about taking a step back and examining what we're witnessing. This is a team who 5 years ago got swept by the suns, and everyone was saying that they were done being an elite team. 2 sunmers later, after smoothly transitioning the team over from Timmy to Tony... they had a 60 win season. No rebuild... no season with less than 50 wins. Just pure excellence

Really overlooked.

They didn't land a superstar in the free agency or fired their head coach. Good drafting, Pop altered what needed to be changed, and suddenly they are back amongst the best in the NBA.

Speaks to the greatness of Pop and the Spurs organization. Mainly Pop. He's close to and still could win a championship with much of the same key pieces playing two different styles of basketball. That's incredible. Pop is the GOAT coach of my lifetime, and probably alltime.

[KG215]

I don't think that it's necessarily young, athletic teams but teams with perimeter offenses (OKC, GSW) that give SAS problems. The combination of Duncan/Splitter/Diaw handle any big men combos very well. The problem is on the perimeter. As long as Pop plays Manu and poor defenders like Bellineli/Neal, star perimeter players are gonna light them up.

There are several reasons why SAS always does well in the RG - discipline, team work, passing/sharing the ball. But in the playoffs, defense is needed. Their defense last year was very good - mostly because Duncan had a resurgent year.

Good point. However, I do think OKC's athleticism, length, youth, etc. caused problems in the 2012 WCF, simply because they were active defensively, forcing turnovers, and their athleticism and speed meant most turnovers were an automatic two points.

[rmt]

Good point. However, I do think OKC's athleticism, length, youth, etc. caused problems in the 2012 WCF, simply because they were active defensively, forcing turnovers, and their athleticism and speed meant most turnovers were an automatic two points.

Respectfully disagree. There was that game where OKC's big men went crazy 21-23? Also, having Harden in 2012 was another PERIMETER SCORING threat that Spurs couldn't handle. Pity he played so poorly in the Finals.

[ispin69]

[AT9]

They've had a pretty soft schedule so far, to be fair.

But as others have said, their success is simply amazing when you really think about it. The modern Spurs organization (98/99 to present) is arguably the best professional sports organization in history, considering their success, class, consistency, etc. Most teams would kill to have a couple 50+ win seasons and solid playoff success. The Spurs have done it year in and year out for more than a decade.

That being said, I think Golden State and OKC are their biggest threats. Both young, athletic, and motivated. The GS-SA series really could have gone either way last year.

[KG215]

Respectfully disagree. There was that game where OKC's big men went crazy 21-23? Also, having Harden in 2012 was another PERIMETER SCORING threat that Spurs couldn't handle. Pity he played so poorly in the Finals.

It was a combination of both, in my opinion. OKC's length, especially the switching Thabo to being Parker's primary defender, absolutely caused problems in that series. There's a great Grantland article highlighting what OKC did after games 1 and 2 in changing their defensive gameplan/strategy and how effective it was. Yes, the bigs having that one crazy game, and OKC getting hot in general played a big part in swinging the momentum in the series, but it wasn't the only reason.

[HarryCallahan]

It was a combination of both, in my opinion. OKC's length, especially the switching Thabo to being Parker's primary defender, absolutely caused problems in that series. There's a great Grantland article highlighting what OKC did after games 1 and 2 in changing their defensive gameplan/strategy and how effective it was. Yes, the bigs having that one crazy game, and OKC getting hot in general played a big part in swinging the momentum in the series, but it wasn't the only reason.

Good point, TP9 really struggled once Spo put LBJ on him in the finals. Even with Thabo guarding TP9 in the Conference finals, I give my Spurs a slight edge (due to the bench), but Thabo on TP9 from game one changes the series. Spurs need to put Danny green on WB from g1 too. Green is great at defending dominant pg's. Kawhi vs Durant is good for Spurs, so is Ibaka/Perk vs Thiago/Timmeh. Patty>Reggie, Marco>Lamb, Manu>DFish/PJIII, Diaw=Collison (both have BBIQ's through the roof!), Ayres/ Baynes = Adams/Thabeet.

Good series, I hope the Spurs don't to play GSW and OKC...