How to beat the Spurs?

[old rem]

Try to push the pace without getting sloppy... And then run them out of the building. Duncan is somewhat like 39, Ginobili 37 and West also 35... Parker north of 30 as well and constantly hobbled.
If the game gets too much into those half court sets, Spurs will take it easily.

I quite agree. Execute..move the ball...no turnovers..make the shots. RUN,move the ball...push tempo. Use the depth edge. Run those old spurs till their pacemakers run out of batteries. run them till their toes cramp up.

[ChuckDurn]

I expect Green/Kawhi to guard Steph/Klay and LA/Duncan to guard Green/Bogut.

Pop's gonna leave Parker on Barnes and say go beat us.

Then on the bench we have Livingston, Iguodala, Speights, and Ezeli plus a starter against Manu, Mills, Diaw, West, and a starter.
I don't mind that on talent - Manu can't guard anyone at this age, Mills is small, Diaw is old, slow and fat. West is a rugged defender but getting old as well.

In the end - its about execution and shot making. The talent and coaching is close. If we play with our heads up our ass and turn the ball over stupidly then we get run. If we take care of the ball then it'll be a great game. Same as always.

LA spends alot of time on the perimeter, and even if he extends out to the 3P line, Green is plenty mobile enough to cover. I ain't really scared about LA in the post against Green either, and I'm totally fine with Bogut guarding Duncan straight up.

so again, execution. Blowing rotations, careless passes, grabbing loose balls and rebounds, all the stuff we can control, we gotta take care of business. The margin of error is pretty low.

Duncan/Parker/Ginobili aren't playing 30 min a game in the regular season tho, so we gotta contain Kawhi. Iggy time.

I generally agree. (Though I think we'll hardly ever see Speights and Ezeli on the floor together. But that's a trivial difference.)

To me it comes down to health. Popovich is going to have to seriously limit minutes with 5 of his top 9 guys being 33 or older (Duncan 39, Ginobili 37, West 35, Parker and Diaw both 33). If those guys are all healthy heading to the playoffs, they're going to be a really tough out. But that's also a really big "if".


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[Money_]

I'm not more or less concerned about the Spurs with their adds. They will always be in contention as long as they are healthy and Pop is coaching. They will be a tough match up no matter what. Age is definitely a factor, now more than ever. Let's hope it actually starts to work against them this season...

[and1GS]

We go as Steph goes until Klay proves he can step into that #1 role whenever it's needed - not just when he's warmed up and in a good, confident rhythm.

Kawhi on Steph concerns me the most. They'd be asking Klay to beat them - you confident he can do that for 4 games?

Thats providing Kawhi even stops him....

Right, which I don't think is likely. Just saying that if Steph is totally off his game it's really tough for us to get a W unless Klay goes white hot as he's known to do.

[NBAfan3024]

We go as Steph goes until Klay proves he can step into that #1 role whenever it's needed - not just when he's warmed up and in a good, confident rhythm.

Kawhi on Steph concerns me the most. They'd be asking Klay to beat them - you confident he can do that for 4 games?

Thats providing Kawhi even stops him....

Right, which I don't think is likely. Just saying that if Steph is totally off his game it's really tough for us to get a W unless Klay goes white hot as he's known to do.

Maybe so...As good as spurs are I think they will depend on Kawhi alot this year even with LA on board with TD and Parker getting even older.

[and1GS]

Thats providing Kawhi even stops him....

Right, which I don't think is likely. Just saying that if Steph is totally off his game it's really tough for us to get a W unless Klay goes white hot as he's known to do.

Maybe so...As good as spurs are I think they will depend on Kawhi alot this year even with LA on board with TD and Parker getting even older.

That's an interesting point - Kawhi's role will continue to expand on offense, but I'm not sure if on a consistent basis he can keep that up.

[NBAfan3024]

Right, which I don't think is likely. Just saying that if Steph is totally off his game it's really tough for us to get a W unless Klay goes white hot as he's known to do.

Maybe so...As good as spurs are I think they will depend on Kawhi alot this year even with LA on board with TD and Parker getting even older.

That's an interesting point - Kawhi's role will continue to expand on offense, but I'm not sure if on a consistent basis he can keep that up.

Suppose it depends how much he will need to be so good defensively..as it does take away from his offense i'm sure.

[Warriorfan]

Duncan Parker Diaw and Manu are age where they can age a lot in one off season.

Warriors Curry Klay Green Ezelli are entering their prime. Barnes s couple yrs away.

Playing small gang rebounding Swarming Team D and more efficient offense because of better 3 balling should rule the day over post scoring of Spurs. Plus if Kwame has to carry more of an offensive burden D may be affected

[AdonalFoyle4Prez]

Duncan Parker Diaw and Manu are age where they can age a lot in one off season.

Warriors Curry Klay Green Ezelli are entering their prime. Barnes s couple yrs away.

Playing small gang rebounding Swarming Team D and more efficient offense because of better 3 balling should rule the day over post scoring of Spurs. Plus if Kwame has to carry more of an offensive burden D may be affected

Post scoring of Spurs? Kwame carrying more of the offensive burden? Which sport are you watching, haha?

[SF_Warriors]

Its going to be tough.

I am still waiting for both TD and manu's games to completely fall off the cliff. If TD's game really drops off at age 39, we may have a shot. He was still a top tier rebounder and shot blocker last season, though and still effective on offense.

Small ball will not be as effective against them because TD/LMA/West is way, way more skilled than mozgov,TT

And even if we do force them to go small, kawhi at PF and LMA at C will be tough as well.

I think we need to try and exploit parker on the defensive end, try switching klay, HB, or andre to him. Guys wont be able to leave steph to help.

Dray is really going to have to be sharp from the perimeter to be able to space the floor.
The entire team must be on top of their game and unselfish as hell in order for us to win a series against a healthy spurs squad.

We would have to win the rebounding game as well in order to be able to get out and run. Unfortunately, the spurs seem to have better rebounders at every position save PG.

If we can get kawhi in foul trouble, that would be huge.


the spurs I see have the best frontcourt rotation in the league, if not that, easily top 3.
They have lockdown wings as well, and parker of course is always a threat to score.

[AliG1488]

Duncan Parker Diaw and Manu are age where they can age a lot in one off season.

Warriors Curry Klay Green Ezelli are entering their prime. Barnes s couple yrs away.

Playing small gang rebounding Swarming Team D and more efficient offense because of better 3 balling should rule the day over post scoring of Spurs. Plus if Kwame has to carry more of an offensive burden D may be affected

Post scoring of Spurs? Kwame carrying more of the offensive burden? Which sport are you watching, haha?

Kwame Brown can be a BEAST in the post...might be difficult to stop...especially if we have to guard him with Damon green

[NBAfan3024]

Parker and manu looked as close to done as possible this past year

[Left*My*Heart]

Another year of this team together is huge IMO. That's the Spurs model, keep the core--which includes the main bench guys--together and expand the playbook. Remember, we scrapped a good amount of the playbook early in the season when we were playing sloppy, turnover prone bball.

I'm excited because the way you beat a team like SAS is by playing your game rather than doing what they force you to do. That and ball movement - the confidence to do both comes with time.

I keep harping on this point as well. The triangle is extremely complicated and though Kerr utilizes a hybrid T, he has only been able to scratch the surface. We didn't need to make a lot of splashy trades to improve, the team will be better offensively by just playing another year in this system. The defense will also improve because that a lot of our defense is predicated on our offense.

Spurs are a concern, but I wouldn't match up with them, but make them match up to us. Run them out of the gym with our small ball lineup.

Here is some info on the triangle for others:

http://www.quora.com/Why-dont-more-NBA-teams-run-the-triangle-offense-considering-how-many-titles-have-been-won-using-it

[cladden]

I have a theory that because this team relies on a lower probability-higher reward shot, we're more likely to lose games than, say, the '01 Lakers, but the games we win are more likely to be blowouts. So the way to beat the Spurs if this theory is true would be to tire them the hell out so the series has to go 7 games.

It seems like a fair point to me. We did however prove a lot more consistent in the regular season than them which might just be because we're so damned good. I do still feel that we're a little bit vulnerable when the outside shots aren't falling. Having someone who could consistently either, A) Get to the rim, B) Get fouled or C) Be at an advantage in the low post would have been a nice safety valve.

Someone like say, 12-13 Landry might have been a nice addition when we struggle scoring.

That being said we dominated from start to finish last season so no need to upset the apple cart.

[cladden]

Its going to be tough.

I am still waiting for both TD and manu's games to completely fall off the cliff. If TD's game really drops off at age 39, we may have a shot. He was still a top tier rebounder and shot blocker last season, though and still effective on offense.

Small ball will not be as effective against them because TD/LMA/West is way, way more skilled than mozgov,TT

And even if we do force them to go small, kawhi at PF and LMA at C will be tough as well.

I think we need to try and exploit parker on the defensive end, try switching klay, HB, or andre to him. Guys wont be able to leave steph to help.

Dray is really going to have to be sharp from the perimeter to be able to space the floor.
The entire team must be on top of their game and unselfish as hell in order for us to win a series against a healthy spurs squad.

We would have to win the rebounding game as well in order to be able to get out and run. Unfortunately, the spurs seem to have better rebounders at every position save PG.

If we can get kawhi in foul trouble, that would be huge.


the spurs I see have the best frontcourt rotation in the league, if not that, easily top 3.
They have lockdown wings as well, and parker of course is always a threat to score.

Have a shot? We're the champs. They're old. I consider us the clear favorites against the Spurs. Sure they could upset us because they have a lot of experience and a great coach/system but really. They should be more worried about us than the other way around.

Cavs scare me a lot more but I think that's no worse than 50/50 either. We're likely still the best defense in the league and all of our best offensive players are young and should expand their games.

[Kuya]

Bogut on Timmy
Draymond on LaMarcus
Iguodala on Kawhi/Manu
Klay on Danny Green/Tony Parker
Steph on Tony Parker

[SF_Warriors]

Its going to be tough.

I am still waiting for both TD and manu's games to completely fall off the cliff. If TD's game really drops off at age 39, we may have a shot. He was still a top tier rebounder and shot blocker last season, though and still effective on offense.

Small ball will not be as effective against them because TD/LMA/West is way, way more skilled than mozgov,TT

And even if we do force them to go small, kawhi at PF and LMA at C will be tough as well.

I think we need to try and exploit parker on the defensive end, try switching klay, HB, or andre to him. Guys wont be able to leave steph to help.

Dray is really going to have to be sharp from the perimeter to be able to space the floor.
The entire team must be on top of their game and unselfish as hell in order for us to win a series against a healthy spurs squad.

We would have to win the rebounding game as well in order to be able to get out and run. Unfortunately, the spurs seem to have better rebounders at every position save PG.

If we can get kawhi in foul trouble, that would be huge.


the spurs I see have the best frontcourt rotation in the league, if not that, easily top 3.
They have lockdown wings as well, and parker of course is always a threat to score.

Have a shot? We're the champs. They're old. I consider us the clear favorites against the Spurs. Sure they could upset us because they have a lot of experience and a great coach/system but really. They should be more worried about us than the other way around.

Cavs scare me a lot more but I think that's no worse than 50/50 either. We're likely still the best defense in the league and all of our best offensive players are young and should expand their games.

I appreciate the enthusiasm, but they were the champs before us and although a bit older, they've reloaded with two quality all star caliber bigs while only losing one decent big. I'm not saying they would beat us easily, if at all. it would be a dog fight either way. They have more than enough talent to win the chip and if you don't believe that, you are a homer straight up.

[cladden]

Its going to be tough.

I am still waiting for both TD and manu's games to completely fall off the cliff. If TD's game really drops off at age 39, we may have a shot. He was still a top tier rebounder and shot blocker last season, though and still effective on offense.

Small ball will not be as effective against them because TD/LMA/West is way, way more skilled than mozgov,TT

And even if we do force them to go small, kawhi at PF and LMA at C will be tough as well.

I think we need to try and exploit parker on the defensive end, try switching klay, HB, or andre to him. Guys wont be able to leave steph to help.

Dray is really going to have to be sharp from the perimeter to be able to space the floor.
The entire team must be on top of their game and unselfish as hell in order for us to win a series against a healthy spurs squad.

We would have to win the rebounding game as well in order to be able to get out and run. Unfortunately, the spurs seem to have better rebounders at every position save PG.

If we can get kawhi in foul trouble, that would be huge.


the spurs I see have the best frontcourt rotation in the league, if not that, easily top 3.
They have lockdown wings as well, and parker of course is always a threat to score.

Have a shot? We're the champs. They're old. I consider us the clear favorites against the Spurs. Sure they could upset us because they have a lot of experience and a great coach/system but really. They should be more worried about us than the other way around.

Cavs scare me a lot more but I think that's no worse than 50/50 either. We're likely still the best defense in the league and all of our best offensive players are young and should expand their games.

I appreciate the enthusiasm, but they were the champs before us and although a bit older, they've reloaded with two quality all star caliber bigs while only losing one decent big. I'm not saying they would beat us easily, if at all. it would be a dog fight either way. They have more than enough talent to win the chip and if you don't believe that, you are a homer straight up.

They probably do have the talent to win. So do we however and I actually believe we're a fair bit stronger on paper.

David West is far from an All-Star at this point. If they can make LaMarcus fit in well that's definitely a big plus for them and should make them quite a bit better but let's face it. They were pretty crappy last year. Pedestrian regular season (even if they caught a little bit of fire after the all star break) and deserved (though even) 1st round exit against a Clippers team that I honestly believe we would have clobbered if we'd had the chance. Barring injuries or higher than expected drop-off from Duncan/Parker I would imagine that they're better this year. How much remains to be seen.

[SF_Warriors]

Have a shot? We're the champs. They're old. I consider us the clear favorites against the Spurs. Sure they could upset us because they have a lot of experience and a great coach/system but really. They should be more worried about us than the other way around.

Cavs scare me a lot more but I think that's no worse than 50/50 either. We're likely still the best defense in the league and all of our best offensive players are young and should expand their games.

I appreciate the enthusiasm, but they were the champs before us and although a bit older, they've reloaded with two quality all star caliber bigs while only losing one decent big. I'm not saying they would beat us easily, if at all. it would be a dog fight either way. They have more than enough talent to win the chip and if you don't believe that, you are a homer straight up.

They probably do have the talent to win. So do we however and I actually believe we're a fair bit stronger on paper.

David West is far from an All-Star at this point. If they can make LaMarcus fit in well that's definitely a big plus for them and should make them quite a bit better but let's face it. They were pretty crappy last year. Pedestrian regular season (even if they caught a little bit of fire after the all star break) and deserved (though even) 1st round exit against a Clippers team that I honestly believe we would have clobbered if we'd had the chance. Barring injuries or higher than expected drop-off from Duncan/Parker I would imagine that they're better this year. How much remains to be seen.

Yea, my main concern against them is their upgraded depth up front
Their age to TD and manu are huge concerns IMO, but they also had some injuries last season, mainly kawhi who missed about 20 games and splitter and mills were out significant parts of the season as well. They will be a handful but I too think they can be beat.

This year is going to be great. Seeing our squad defend their title,
okc with KD back, a reloaded spurs, a slightly better clips squad, HOU with ty, Cleveland healthy
then you have teams like minny who will be fun to watch, I really like the heat and bucks (from entertainment standpoint) this season as well.
I am also looking forward to seeing the lakers implode again as well.

Going to be a fun season, hope we win b2b.

[NBAfan3024]

Its going to be tough.

I am still waiting for both TD and manu's games to completely fall off the cliff. If TD's game really drops off at age 39, we may have a shot. He was still a top tier rebounder and shot blocker last season, though and still effective on offense.

Small ball will not be as effective against them because TD/LMA/West is way, way more skilled than mozgov,TT

And even if we do force them to go small, kawhi at PF and LMA at C will be tough as well.

I think we need to try and exploit parker on the defensive end, try switching klay, HB, or andre to him. Guys wont be able to leave steph to help.

Dray is really going to have to be sharp from the perimeter to be able to space the floor.
The entire team must be on top of their game and unselfish as hell in order for us to win a series against a healthy spurs squad.

We would have to win the rebounding game as well in order to be able to get out and run. Unfortunately, the spurs seem to have better rebounders at every position save PG.

If we can get kawhi in foul trouble, that would be huge.


the spurs I see have the best frontcourt rotation in the league, if not that, easily top 3.
They have lockdown wings as well, and parker of course is always a threat to score.

Have a shot? We're the champs. They're old. I consider us the clear favorites against the Spurs. Sure they could upset us because they have a lot of experience and a great coach/system but really. They should be more worried about us than the other way around.

Cavs scare me a lot more but I think that's no worse than 50/50 either. We're likely still the best defense in the league and all of our best offensive players are young and should expand their games.

I appreciate the enthusiasm, but they were the champs before us and although a bit older, they've reloaded with two quality all star caliber bigs while only losing one decent big. I'm not saying they would beat us easily, if at all. it would be a dog fight either way. They have more than enough talent to win the chip and if you don't believe that, you are a homer straight up.

2? Only LA is

West is not close to all star quality anymore.hes also 35