2006 Miami Heat or 2007 San Antonio Spurs

[aj242]

Spurs for me. 2006 was a down year for the Spurs because of Duncan's injury and they still almost beat Dallas, which kind of fell apart on its own in the finals. 2007 Spurs were much better than the 2006 Spurs, with no major injury problems, Parker really emerging and Ginobli and Duncan still on top of their games.

This kind of gets to me somewhat. San Antonio didn't lose that series because Duncan was hurt. The Spurs scored fine in that series.

San Antonio couldn't defend Dallas at all that year. Oustide of the Lakers in 01' or the Suns in 05' I believe. I have never seen a team be offensively efficient against a Popovich coached team. This with contested shots.

There really weren't a ton of break downs. Dallas was on fire the entire time.

The Mav's were up 20 point thru most of Game 7 in San Antonio.

[SCdac]

I think the 2006 Spurs, OR, the 2007 Spurs could have taken the 2006 Miami Heat. Neither of those Spurs teams were anything less than contenders, don't be fooled by a second round exit in '06. Spurs put up a franchise-best 63-19 record that season.

In 2006, the Spurs were built to beat a team like the Heat, IMO. They had two 7-footer types in Rasho Nesterovic and Nazr Mohammed to throw at O'Neal, not to mention Tim Duncan himself. They had Bowen, Finley, and most of the roster from '07. Nazr and Rasho literally got no playing time versus the Mavs though, as Pop (much to my displeasure) elected to go small and have one PG, 3 SG/SF, and one PF on the floor. If you look back at that series, much of what killed the Spurs in clutch situations was their inability to grab offensive and defensive boards, Duncan got no help on the glass, and a swingman like Finley had to play PF position. Long story short, the Mavs got the best of the Spurs, yet the Spurs could have potentially picked up a title had they won that OT of Game 7 against the Mavericks. Remember, the two best teams had to face each other in the semi-WCF that season. As mentioned, Spurs had a franchise-best record of 63-19, Mavs had a 60-22 record, Suns went 54-28. Had the Spurs beat the Mavs, they would have had to face a Stoudemire-less Suns in the WCF, which I'm willing to say would been a win for the Spurs. The Suns, with all due respect, would have been no match for the Spurs.

In 2007, the Spurs only got better. They would have a fair chance against the '06 Heat for sure. Duncan, though putting up huge numbers anyways, recovered from Plantar Fasciitis. San Antonio cut slack in Nazr, Rasho, and Van Exel; added the athletic-for-a-big Francisco Elson, Jaque Vaughn, and Matt Bonner. Finley and Oberto, both in their second year with the Spurs, showed noticable improvement. Parker had an AS/Finals MVP kind of season. I have a hard time seeing him contained by Williams and an ancient Payton. Oberto was starting to show that superb efficiency around the basket. Finley even broke a Spurs-PO record for most three's made in a game, going 8/9 beyond the arch against the Iverson-lead Nuggets. The Spurs were just better prepared to win in 2007, adding peices that they could actually play come the playoffs. The "Big 3" of Duncan/Ginobili/Parker collectively playing as good as ever.

[statman32]

Great post Scdac!

[SCdac]

Great post Scdac!

thanks. can't tell you how many times i've though about what would have happened had the spurs beat the mavs in 06, and gone on to face the heat in the finals...

did you lose an avatar bet or what?

[BA_God]

Spurs would rape heat easily.
all the spurs big 3 were healthy, and all the spurs big 3 were not mentally weak unlike the chokin mavs.

[duncan on U]

Spurs would rape heat easily.
all the spurs big 3 were healthy, and all the spurs big 3 were not mentally weak unlike the chokin mavs.

[kgisbigticket]

Heat in 7

[ForceOfNature]

San Antonio Spurs 4- Miami Heat - 0


The referees would not let Wade beat the Golden Boy of the NBA.

Well yeah it depends on the refs. If they are fair, then San Antonio should take it.

[catzhernandez]

Heat would win. Oberto would have no chance on Shaq

Is this a joke? Duncan would be on Shaq.

[dejordan]

it doesn't necessarily mean anything, but the heat played the spurs well in the regular season that year. i think it would be a very tough series, and probably come down to whether parker could tear up the interior d of the heat bigs. which i think he could.

[Lakers13]

SA wins the series 4-2. Dwade wont get the same ride he got with the refs that year.

[mjbulls23]

Spurs

[clayton]

Wade would still take over. Devin Harris's D = Bruce Bowen. And Harris is way faster than old man Bruce.

[VCMVP1551]

Is this a joke? Duncan would be on Shaq.

Some people actually think Oberto is a center even though he spends almost no minutes at center and he is like 6'9" and 245. Either way it would be Duncan on Shaq most of the time with Elson on him at times.

[boozehound]

spurs. heat wouldnt have beat them in 06 anyways.