Spurs window closed?

[Joseph17]

They are basically the 4th best team in the NBA. They have no chance unless Durant, Lebron, and Dwight all get injured

Aside from LAL and OKC, who is better? The Grizzlies? The Mavericks? The team the Spurs swept in the playoffs?

miami and boston

Boston isn't better than them.

[Glen20]

Boston isn't better than them.

sure they are:
- better bench
- better starters
- better pg
- at this point in his career KG is better than Duncan
- better defensive team by FAR
- spurs have the better coaching

[Joseph17]

Boston isn't better than them.

sure they are:
- better bench
- better starters
- better pg
- at this point in his career KG is better than Duncan
- better defensive team by FAR
- spurs have the better coaching

Better on paper doesn't mean that they are a better team. The Clippers are arguably better than them on paper and look at how that series turned out.

[Donald Kaufman]

sure they are:
- better bench
- better starters
- better pg
- at this point in his career KG is better than Duncan
- better defensive team by FAR

Convincing points. Any actual evidence to back this up, statistical or otherwise?

[aal04]

Spurs didnt choke.

They were sweeping everyone. Even the OKC. Then OKC had stepup games from roleplayers to barely scrape by (and i mean barely) the spurs.

IMO, if the OKC roleplayers didnt go godmode and played their usual games (the ones vs LA and heat), the Spurs would have won.

It was a case of OKC roleplayers stepping up for career bests and Spurs bench (the deepest in the NBA) disappearing. VERY lucky if you're an OKC fan.

But this year id count them out. Infact id count out every team not named Lakers, Heat or OKC.

Its basically a two horse race with OKC as an outside runner.

[RRFB]

This topic is brought up every single year, and the Spurs have proven everyone wrong every single year. I refuse to count them out as long as Pop, Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker are still together.

[jr lucosa]

The Spurs are going to be right there like they always are. I will believe that until the prove that they are done on the court, because year after year they are right in the thick of things. I wouldn't call them the favorites but they are definitely contenders. Timmy, Manu and Parker get the job done still and they do a good job bringing in players who other teams seem to sleep on, and making something useful out of them.

I would put them in the top three in the west along with the Lakers and Thunder.

[Glen20]

sure they are:
- better bench
- better starters
- better pg
- at this point in his career KG is better than Duncan
- better defensive team by FAR

Convincing points. Any actual evidence to back this up, statistical or otherwise?

better bench:

- Bradley is one of the best perimeter defenders in the game and could certainly limit TP's effectiveness
- terry is a proven veteran that can hit shots in critical moments, whereas the Spurs have an unproven backcourt bench comprising of Danny Green and Kawhai Leonard
- jared Sullinger and Fab Melo are both unproven, and Tiago Splitter surely is the better player out of the three, but in terms of upside, Sullinger could certainly be a much better player
- the spurs have no size inside, whereas Fab Melo provides the Celtics with a much better PROSPECT than having Tiago Splitter playing enforcer

better starters:

- it's safe to say Rondo is better than TP , but it's close
*TP has played to his career numbers against Rondo, whereas Rondo has played better than his career per game numbers when going up against TP; this shows that Rondo is obviously unfazed by whatever defensive presence TP brings
- Manu beats out the C's starting SG
- Pierce is the superior SF
- at this stage in their careers, i feel that Duncan and KG are actually quite even and the statistics seem to show that (ppg, rpg, bpg)
- i guess it comes down to brandon bass vs dejuan blair and their's a splinter's difference between the two
* i guess the only difference is that Bass performed in the playoffs and Blair struggled

better defensive team

- boston only allowed 95 points per 100 possessions whereas the Spurs allowed 100.6
- boston averaged <90opg, whereas the Spurs averaged 96.5 opg
- Boston had the league's best perimeter shooting defense, limiting teams to 30.8% from beyond the arc
*against a team that relies alot on the deep ball, Boston would certainly limit the Spurs explosive offense
-in terms of creating turnovers, Boston caused a turnover on 14.88% of opponents' possessions, whereas the Spurs ranked 24th with a turnover rate of 12.93% of opponents possessions
- i admit that the gap isn't as big as i first throught, but Boston are clearly the better defensive team

[Donald Kaufman]

So basically, they're better because you happen to be a fan of them. Cause I'm not seeing a lot of compelling evidence there.

[Glen20]

So basically, they're better because you happen to be a fan of them. Cause I'm not seeing a lot of compelling evidence there.

im not a celtics fan at all, but seeing as you think the spurs are the better team, why don't you try and convince me
i honestly cbf going into statistical comparisons player by player, but at least point out why i should think the spurs are better

[Donald Kaufman]

Well I'm not the one making the argument. I just don't see how you can say things like Rondo is better than TP when there's really no data to back it up. To say Rondo is better is just subjective. TP was better last year and had more MVP votes, so isn't he the better player if you want to base it on that?

And how is Garnett better than Duncan now. They both had resurgent seasons last year and again I'd say that there is no overwhelming evidence to suggest that one is better than the other at this stage.

You shouldn't think the Spurs are better. You can think whatever you want, just bring something more to the table than Player X is better than Player Y because I say so.

[Glen20]

Well I'm not the one making the argument. I just don't see how you can say things like Rondo is better than TP when there's really no data to back it up. To say Rondo is better is just subjective. TP was better last year and had more MVP votes, so isn't he the better player if you want to base it on that?

And how is Garnett better than Duncan now. They both had resurgent seasons last year and again I'd say that there is no overwhelming evidence to suggest that one is better than the other at this stage.

You shouldn't think the Spurs are better. You can think whatever you want, just bring something more to the table than Player X is better than Player Y because I say so.

and thus i wont
dont criticize me for thinking the celtics are better if you can't come up with better evidence

[Donald Kaufman]

Are you really this stupid? I haven't made any claims as to which one is better. I'm simply calling you out on the fact that you make statements about the Celtics being better but no actual evidence to back it up with.

[ManuGino]

Well I'm not the one making the argument. I just don't see how you can say things like Rondo is better than TP when there's really no data to back it up. To say Rondo is better is just subjective. TP was better last year and had more MVP votes, so isn't he the better player if you want to base it on that?

And how is Garnett better than Duncan now. They both had resurgent seasons last year and again I'd say that there is no overwhelming evidence to suggest that one is better than the other at this stage.

You shouldn't think the Spurs are better. You can think whatever you want, just bring something more to the table than Player X is better than Player Y because I say so.

and thus i wont
dont criticize me for thinking the celtics are better if you can't come up with better evidence

The whole Bass is better than Blair thing just shows that you don't really pay much attention to what's going on with the Spurs.

Blair most likely be on this team at the start of the season, and even if he is, he will be our 4-5 Big in the rotation. Diaw/Duncan is our starting front court. Also, Kawhi is our starting SF, which is better than Pierce (at this point in their careers). Duncan and KG are a wash, although Duncan still scores inside, while KG has turned into a jumpshooter.

[whocurrz]

Well you did call Bradley one of the best perimeter defenders in the game and then say Kawhi Leonard was an unproven bench player. Kawhi is not only as good of a defender as Bradley, he's a better all around player.

Bradley is a good perimeter defender with a near elite supporting cast on defense when you take into account personnel and system.

And Fab Melo should not be talked about in the same sentence as Splitter. Melo was a solid player playing C in the Syracuse zone, Splitter is one of the best defensive backups in the league. He is all Euro league player and former MVP of the Spanish league. He also has a very solid DReb % and a PER of 20.5 and shot over 60% from the field while upping his FT% to almost 70%.

Me thinks you haven't seen the Spurs play if you think they have an awful bench. As someone said in the best benches thread, the Spurs bench has great chemistry and they fit within their roles. They may not have great individual players a bench is not just a sum of its parts.

And the reason DeJuan Blair "struggled" in the playoffs is because he averaged 7 minutes a game because the Spurs didn't need his offense and went with better defensive players. Although he did shoot over 60% from the field and posted a TRB% of close to 20. Hardly struggling.

[Tave]

Spurs have one of, if not the, best benches in the league, by far. Their production at the end of last year was absolutely insane. Boston's bench may or may not be strong depending on the development of their rookies and new additions. As of now they remain unproven, so you have to give the nod to the Spurs.

[Tave]

I mean it's hard to even put into words how good the Spurs bench played last season. They don't have a lot of big names but they all know their roles and execute to perfection. They were blowing out other team's starters by 20+ points regularly. I'd never seen anything like it.

[whocurrz]

I mean it's hard to even put into words how good the Spurs bench played last season. They don't have a lot of big names but they all know their roles and execute to perfection. They were blowing out other team's starters by 20+ points regularly. I'd never seen anything like it.

And this guys says "Deal with it"