THE so called mighty West is full of fake championship contenders.
Starting with the Mavs, moving onto Phoenix, NO may win a round or two but the cream is still San Antonio.
Look for a Boston San Antoni finals. The Lakers are a year away frm claiming the west supremacy but not this year. If we want the championship we have to go through San Antonio.
Pretenders
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leper-con
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CavemanDoctor
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Mahoney_jr
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I'm worried about Popovic. Just read a posting on a german board that he did a "Sepp Herberger"* on the Suns. Didn't play Pick'n Roll at all against Nash and Shaq in the regular season, and now he's calling the play several times a game and destroys the Suns at their weak spot in the defense.
Popovic will have a surprising strategy against us. We know that Garnett doesn't like contact in the post. We know that our post-scoring consists of Pierce and Powe, who's undersized. We know, that Rondo is just a sophomore in the league. We know that Perkins is a walking turnover and tends to get in foul trouble. Popovic knows, too.
That's the "glass-half-empty" side of me. Popovic makes me nervous ;)
*Sepp Herberger was the coach of the german soccer team during the 1954 world championships. When they played Hungary in the preliminary round, Herberger chose to not play his best players (like Fritz Walter, Helmut Rahn, Max Morlock among others), because he knew that Hungary was the best team in the world and if Germany would get in the finals, they would have to face them again. Herberger lost 8:3.
But somehow Germany won their next games and managed to get into the final where they beat the vastly superior Hungarians with 3:2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepp_Herberger
Popovic will have a surprising strategy against us. We know that Garnett doesn't like contact in the post. We know that our post-scoring consists of Pierce and Powe, who's undersized. We know, that Rondo is just a sophomore in the league. We know that Perkins is a walking turnover and tends to get in foul trouble. Popovic knows, too.
That's the "glass-half-empty" side of me. Popovic makes me nervous ;)
*Sepp Herberger was the coach of the german soccer team during the 1954 world championships. When they played Hungary in the preliminary round, Herberger chose to not play his best players (like Fritz Walter, Helmut Rahn, Max Morlock among others), because he knew that Hungary was the best team in the world and if Germany would get in the finals, they would have to face them again. Herberger lost 8:3.
But somehow Germany won their next games and managed to get into the final where they beat the vastly superior Hungarians with 3:2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepp_Herberger
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cfan79
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thebirdman wrote:I still feel lakers are the team to beat in the west, although spurs play in their 3 games has really been impressive.
I think the Lakers are just OK. They look better then they actually are because they are facing the enver Nuggets(no D). The C's would wipe the floor with either of them.
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canman1971
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I think a Celtics/Spurs final would be brutal. And I mean a lot of contact. I still don't see how the Lakers would beat the Cs. The Cs handled them quite easily during the season and I know what many would say, without Pau, but he doesn't play the greatest defense and KG will eat him alive. Celtics/Spurs I feel would go 7. Celtics would beat the Lakers in 6. I still think Utah might have some say out West, but we'll see.
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humblebum
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I will personally be shocked if the Spurs aren't in the finals this season. Duncan is the best player in the world and Ginobli is at the top of his game right now. Parker is always in attack mode and Bowen, Thomas, Oberto, and Finley are all solid, solid role players. They play great team defense, their intense, they score in so many different ways and can play all different styles of offenses. They don't allow transition baskets and they know how to tighten things up and make timely plays in raucous environments. They are easily one of the best NBA teams of all time and their still doing it at such a high level.
When you look at the Lakers they just don't have enough weapons to match San Antonio (or Boston for that matter) and they aren't a great defensive team. Duncan will destroy Gasol while Bowen, Ginobli, Finley and Udoka all chip away at Mr. Bryant. I don't see the Lakers having an answer for Tony Parker. The Spurs will restrict the Lakers to the half court and force them to take contested jumpshots while on the other end the Spurs will methodically dismantle the Lakers so so defense. The Spurs have the added benefit of having Kurt Thomas to defend Gasol allowing Duncan to become more of a roamer on defense. The only chance LA would have is for Lamar Odom to play like a super-star all series long and I frankly don't see that happening.
I'm not personally worried about the Spurs because I believe that the Celtics have the more athletic team and we have solid defensive players for all of the Spurs big time scorers. KG, Perk, and Big Baby are all solid options to defend Duncan. Rondo is tailor made for Parker. Ray and Tony can do a reasonable job on Ginobli. On the other hand I don't think the Spurs have a real answer for Pierce who's too big and strong for Bowen, too quick for Finley, and too crafty for Udoka. Not to say that the C's would definitely beat the Spurs but I think the Celtics would have a good shot at it.
When you look at the Lakers they just don't have enough weapons to match San Antonio (or Boston for that matter) and they aren't a great defensive team. Duncan will destroy Gasol while Bowen, Ginobli, Finley and Udoka all chip away at Mr. Bryant. I don't see the Lakers having an answer for Tony Parker. The Spurs will restrict the Lakers to the half court and force them to take contested jumpshots while on the other end the Spurs will methodically dismantle the Lakers so so defense. The Spurs have the added benefit of having Kurt Thomas to defend Gasol allowing Duncan to become more of a roamer on defense. The only chance LA would have is for Lamar Odom to play like a super-star all series long and I frankly don't see that happening.
I'm not personally worried about the Spurs because I believe that the Celtics have the more athletic team and we have solid defensive players for all of the Spurs big time scorers. KG, Perk, and Big Baby are all solid options to defend Duncan. Rondo is tailor made for Parker. Ray and Tony can do a reasonable job on Ginobli. On the other hand I don't think the Spurs have a real answer for Pierce who's too big and strong for Bowen, too quick for Finley, and too crafty for Udoka. Not to say that the C's would definitely beat the Spurs but I think the Celtics would have a good shot at it.