nba playoffs round 2 discussion thread...

[dreday]

that's fair...i think the entertainment value will go up even with the spurs in the finals as the east will bring more physicality than what i've seen in the west...can't knock the spurs either...they got the best coach in the game and they play really well as a unit...its just as an outsider not all that a great watch...for me at least...but it was only one game...and ok city won't lay down so this series is going deep

tbf,im not really seeing whats so great to watch with those celtics.outside of garnett,whom i dont even think is that great to watch,theres really nothing that exciting to see about them.the offense is slow and drab to me,but hey thats just my observation.hope they beat the heat,thats all im concerned about though.

[hooshoops]

i think he has a point...these useless points are really no different than SI or any other sports publication,but there is such a thing as free will...the spurs keep steam rolling teams and this is what they get in return...its all good,itll just feel that much better when they win the ship'.

i don't derive anything from what i read on the internet or hear analyst talking about on tv...in football or hoops...i just go with what my eyes tell me...so if that mirrors the vast majority of analysts etc and such it is what it is i guess...

the nba didn't even have the spurs series to my knowledge prior on the big tv stations...they were playin on the 3rd carries nba tv to my knowledge a lot...and i think it has to do with perceived entertainment value...in fact i'm sure thats what it was...at least the first round it looked that way to me...

[hooshoops]

tbf,im not really seeing whats so great to watch with those celtics.outside of garnett,whom i dont even think is that great to watch,theres really nothing that exciting to see about them.the offense is slow and drab to me,but hey thats just my observation.hope they beat the heat,thats all im concerned about though.

no problem with that...and kg has been hit and miss this postseason...i guess thats to be expected when a guys 36 playing the minutes he plays...rondo can be electric so can paul pierce at times but the celtics draw i think is more about the franchise history etc and prior matchups with lebron first with cavs and now all the heat hype with the big 3 thing etc...

no doubt a lot of that 6ers series was ugly ball...ugly...i see more beating and banging in the east than the west and that's always an entertaining brand of ball for me...but i also thought the heat dallas final last year was terrific and i expect this final will be the same...the scoring and fast paced game of the west vs the defense and half court muscle game of the east

[dreday]

i don't derive anything from what i read on the internet or hear analyst talking about on tv...in football or hoops...i just go with what my eyes tell me...so if that mirrors the vast majority of analysts etc and such it is what it is i guess...

the nba didn't even have the spurs series to my knowledge prior on the big tv stations...they were playin on the 3rd carries nba tv to my knowledge a lot...and i think it has to do with perceived entertainment value...in fact i'm sure thats what it was...at least the first round it looked that way to me...

well if that is what conclusion you are arriving at still after seeing them win 19 straight,then so be it.i see a lot of so called analysts doing an about face concerning their opinions of the spurs,especially this year.that doesn't erase the fact of it all either that the casual basketball fan,(and im not saying you),THINKS they are arriving at their on conclusion on an opinion about anything,but in reality they only have the opinion of the writer or analyst because they really believe wholeheartedly in what sports media has to say.

[j-off-her-doll]

I tend to agree with hoops more often than not - whether it's football or basketball - but I disagree about the Spurs being a difficult watch. They're the closest thing the NBA has to NFL level precision. The game of basketball doesn't force people to do the little things the way the NFL does. But the teams that do the little things will come out on top - if the talent level is similar. That's the problem. Most talented teams just kind of do what they do, and they're too talented for teams who "play the game" better. For instance: those Sacramento Kings teams that always lost to the Lakers in the Conference Finals. They utilized their talents much better than said LA teams . . . but they just had no answer for Shaq, and Kobe was also better than anyone on that team. The reason I love the NFL over any other team sport: the consistency with which players do the little things. When I see teams in other sports approaching that level of execution, it's very exciting. I think OKC is by far the most talented team in the NBA, but they still have to learn how to win. Going to be a tough series for them.

[dreday]

no problem with that...and kg has been hit and miss this postseason...i guess thats to be expected when a guys 36 playing the minutes he plays...rondo can be electric so can paul pierce at times but the celtics draw i think is more about the franchise history etc and prior matchups with lebron first with cavs and now all the heat hype with the big 3 thing etc...

no doubt a lot of that 6ers series was ugly ball...ugly...i see more beating and banging in the east than the west and that's always an entertaining brand of ball for me...but i also thought the heat dallas final last year was terrific and i expect this final will be the same...the scoring and fast paced game of the west vs the defense and half court muscle game of the east

personally i see it the reason being "the big ticket" playing in a larger market and people enjoying drama queens, as the reason anyone gives a **** about garnett or the so called entertainment value the celtics bring.

when the spurs played that brand of basketball you are talking about,they were called "boring".hey at least it got them 4 rings.what do they call the celtics?

[dreday]

I tend to agree with hoops more often than not - whether it's football or basketball - but I disagree about the Spurs being a difficult watch. They're the closest thing the NBA has to NFL level precision. The game of basketball doesn't force people to do the little things the way the NFL does. But the teams that do the little things will come out on top - if the talent level is similar. That's the problem. Most talented teams just kind of do what they do, and they're too talented for teams who "play the game" better. For instance: those Sacramento Kings teams that always lost to the Lakers in the Conference Finals. They utilized their talents much better than said LA teams . . . but they just had no answer for Shaq, and Kobe was also better than anyone on that team. The reason I love the NFL over any other team sport: the consistency with which players do the little things. When I see teams in other sports approaching that level of execution, it's very exciting. I think OKC is by far the most talented team in the NBA, but they still have to learn how to win. Going to be a tough series for them.

to add to that you will NEVER hear anything about an NFL team being "unwatchable" or "boring" after winning 19 straight,inclusive of a playoff run.on top of that being the 2nd highest scoring team in the league.i dont care how small a market or socially unexciting their players are.

after watching film or tape,those 72' dolphins werent exactly "entertaining".defensive minded,and not really scoring a ton of points,people loved the phins because they were winning.how anyone can say winning is unwatchable or boring just baffles me.

[dreday]

didn't expect this from him at all but here goes:

The biggest lie in sports is that the San Antonio Spurs are boring. Winning is never boring.


Golf is boring. But when Tiger Woods was winning every third tournament he played and making a bid to obliterate all of Jack Nicklaus’ records, golf was more spellbinding than porn.

Women’s basketball is boring. But when the media pretended Connecticut women’s basketball was going to surpass John Wooden’s UCLA winning streak, women’s hoops flirted with relevancy.

Horse racing is boring. But we’re suckered into the sport every time a 3-year-old puts together a two-race win streak that includes the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

Winning is the ultimate aphrodisiac. It always creates excitement, draws interest.

The Spurs are far from boring. Sunday evening, in the opener of the Western Conference finals, the Spurs stretched their playoff winning streak to nine games, their overall winning streak to 19, with an impressive 101-98, come-from-behind victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in San Antonio.

Boring? Hardly. Manu Ginobili came off the Spurs bench and unleashed a dizzying array of twisting runners at the rim, fallaway jumpers from beyond the arc and midrange floaters that eventually overwhelmed the Thunder.



Boring? Hell no. The Spurs trailed by nine after three quarters. Fellow reserves Tiago Splitter and Gary Neal got the Spurs back into the game early in the fourth, sparking a 9-2 run to open the quarter.

The Spurs aren’t remotely boring. They’re poorly marketed by a commissioner and a league that overdosed on Michael Jordan and the celebration of individual over team. They’re poorly defined by media that are gutless, politically correct and lazy.

The popular theory is that a Miami-OKC, LeBron James-Kevin Durant NBA Finals is what is best for the league. The popular theory is wrong.

San Antonio-Miami is the culture-war showdown that could build on the momentum of last year’s terrific NBA Finals. San Antonio-Miami would represent team vs. stars, diligence and patience vs. instant gratification, humility vs. hype, international basketball culture vs. American basketball culture.

Tim Duncan (Virgin Islands), Tony Parker (France) and Manu Ginobili (Argentina), the San Antonio-drafted foundation of the Spurs team, did not grow up a part of traditional American basketball culture. Duncan grew up dreaming of being an Olympic swimmer. He stayed all four years at Wake Forest. Parker and Ginobili grew up playing international basketball.





NBA PLAYOFFS
Stay up to date with all the matchups at Playoff Central.

San Antonio’s “Big Three” is quite a contrast to Miami’s. James, an Akron, Ohio, native, never attended college and orchestrated his move to Miami after seven seasons with the Cavaliers. Bosh, a Dallas native, left Georgia Tech after one season and bolted to Miami after seven seasons in Toronto. Dwyane Wade, a Chicago native, played two seasons at Marquette and was drafted by the Heat.

The Spurs share the ball and the scoring load, rely on a 10-man playing rotation and run an exquisitely precise offense. James and Wade, with the exception of the last three games against the Pacers, mostly go one-on-one for their points. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili rarely dunk. James and Wade are featured on "SportsCenter" nightly.

San Antonio-Miami could be a dream matchup. The NBA hasn’t had anything like this since Magic Johnson and Larry Bird clashed. There were racial undertones to those battles and the media were not afraid to explore those undertones. We were less politically correct in the 1980s.

The Spurs and their multiple championships on the backs of Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and coach Gregg Popovich are a repudiation of American, AAU basketball culture. James, Wade and Bosh are the ultimate manifestation of American, AAU basketball culture. They learned the game while being seduced by the shoe companies that finance summer basketball. The teenage summer circuit is what has made the modern American player value friendship more than competition. The best players now dream of teaming together rather than out-dueling each other.

They want to be like Nike . . . I mean Mike.

Who can blame them?



David Stern and his television partners have convinced the world that Michael Jordan invented basketball, that the individual player is far more valuable than a team.

The Spurs should be the NBA’s version of the Green Bay Packers. Yes, the Cowboys are more glamorous and the Steelers and the 49ers have won more titles. But little old Green Bay is “Titletown.” The Packers are a huge national television draw. No one would call the Packers boring.

The Spurs are not boring. Greatness is never boring. And if these Spurs go on to win the title, there will be no denying they’re one of the greatest teams in NBA history.

[dreday]

ive always said the spurs were poorly marketed,and now you have one of the most controversial pundits ever saying so.

go figure..

but i am a senior analyst (not sports),but that has to stand for something.
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heres the link to that article...


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[hooshoops]

i can't stand jason whitlock...but i can see where off her doll is coming from...the execution on offense of the spurs is top notch...and they are getting max results from the talent they have...pops getting the most out of his players...


all that said i could easily see ok city taking game 2 and coming back to san antonio up 3-1...i'm not sure i buy the barkley talk that the spurs took a while to get used to the thunder speed...