How do we feel about this year's Spurs chance to beat the Dubs?

[davidfr94]

If the trio of dedmon/gasol/Aldridge plays well offensively and destroys them on the glass both offensively and defensively with kawhi having a great series there is a small chance the spurs might upset them.

But Lamarcus has been so desappointing this season that i am not that confident.

[Edrees]

I'd also give them a 20% chance

[Wigginstime]

As great as the Pop and the Spurs are there is no way around the defensive mismatch of Parker/Gasol trying to guard Curry/Green in a pick and roll situation

[Manute Lol]

As great as the Pop and the Spurs are there is no way around the defensive mismatch of Parker/Gasol trying to guard Curry/Green in a pick and roll situation

It's more the problem of having nowhere to hide Parker anymore. Teams used to be able to hide their weakest defender on Barnes and be done with it, but who does Parker cover now...Klay? That won't end well. Steph will probably draw Green most of the time and KD will get Kawhi, but the Spurs in that situation have no one equipped to challenge Thompson.

[jbk1234]

What are the chances that Green kicks someone in the nuts and gets suspended for two games?

[Froob]

What are the chances that Green kicks someone in the nuts and gets suspended for two games?

Pretty low, he plays by his own rules. He's the new Wade.

[Manute Lol]

What are the chances that Green kicks someone in the nuts and gets suspended for two games?

A lot lower than the chances that Draymond steals Aldridge's lunch money and the baboons at Spurstalk come up with a new, insulting nickname for their own starting power forward.

[MoMan24]

Listen if the Spurs could not beat KD and Russ with Duncan I don't think its even possible they can beat Curry, Green, Klay and KD with all due respect. As mentioned Parker will be a liability on defense as will Gasol and probably LA was well. If your best player is Kawai at SF and he is your MVP and only high level performer and the other team has a better SF you in trouble. Honetsly the only team with a chance at GSW is a healthy Cavs team with James, Irving, Love, Smith, TT, Frye, Shump and now with Korver and D-Will giving them more help. They still need a veteran backup PG or backup big to have a shoot. Everyone else is so far away on on pure talent alone that to me its not even a chance. Injuries are the only thing that prevent a Cavs GSW finals.

[zimpy27]

I think it's possible but Spurs bench will have to come out firing and the starters will have to grind the dubs starters down.

[baller16]

Zero to none. They simply don't have enough talent to compete with the Dubs.

[sanitylaker]

Nobody has a chance against them if they're healthy. Last season, Curry was playing shot, Iggy and Bogut went down with injuries and DG was kicked out from game 5 and the Cavs barely beat them in 7 games.

If think they might lose 1 or 2 games at most in the playoffs.

[SK21209]

20% seems about right. Guard play isn't good enough and LMA/Gasol couldn't be on the floor together.

[RaptorsLife]

Very very little. You need talent they have average sg and pg

[OrangeBlueSkies]

The same way last years "record-setting" Warriors couldn't be beat by the Cavs... I think the Spurs, Cavs, and even the Grizzlies all pose a threat to the Warriors.

[Chinook]

I'm not a fan of predictive probability. Things either happen or they don't. I wouldn't be surprised if the Spurs win. It's clear as day how that would happen.

LMA would have to be is regular self against GS. People forget that the Warriors historically haven't done a great job guarding him. Forcing GS to play a guy like McGee or Zaza whenever Aldridge is out there would be a huge blow to them, since that means Gasol gets to stay on the floor, which makes the Spurs' offense that much better.

Kawhi would have to outplay KD. Enough said there.

GS would have to be too focused on trying to exploit Parker. If Warriors fans think the Spurs are trying to hide Tony in the series, they have a poor memory. The Spurs aren't hiding Tony on Klay when they do that cross-match. They are purposefully goading the Warriors into running their team through their third option. Thompson certainly has the talent to blow a game open by himself. But provided Tony follows a basic game-plan. It will be hard for Klay to get the PPP he needs to to make letting Curry or KD back into the picture a better option.

Danny Green's going to have to show up. Danny plays like he did against OKC last year, and the series is completely different. He played great defense on every guy he guarded and hit his shots to relieve pressure from the others. You get a Green that averages 12-16 ppg in that series, and Spurs are much harder to beat.

Another guard stepping up. It doesn't have to be the same guy every game, but at least one of Parker, Mills or Manu (or I guess Simmons) has to perform to a third-option standard to really give the team a chance. All four are capable.

The bench bigs have to dominate. The basic gameplan against a team like GS is to limit possessions on their side, get extra possessions on your side and to make the most out of yours while making the least out of theirs. Really that's just basketball. Getting offensive rebounds was a huge part of the Spurs blowing the game open on GS this season, as was the amount of good shots they got. As the SAS/OKC series showed, O-boards can swing games. Against a strong defensive team like the Spurs (especially since SAS prevents the three at a high level), it's going to be hard for them -- yes, even them -- to score efficiently enough to make up for losing a lot of possessions. If the Spurs' front court dominates the rebounding battle, most of GS' advantages are blunted.

People won't assign credibility to my opinion, but we haven't begun to see how this will shake out yet. There are signs that GS still struggles boarding, and that's letting lesser teams hang around with them far too long. While they'll clean that up with more effort in the playoffs, teams will spend more effort into breaking that open. GS is more talented this season for sure, but the hole in their armor is more glaring than ever.

[Mylie10]

Spurs could do it. This won't be their first rodeo, and things happen. I would be pissed, but not completely surprised.

[Hellcrooner]

They ARE going to beat them.

Just because no one seems to think they can.

That if Warriors survive Denver :p

[GM Wotsup]

Kawhi and LMA going off are the keys tbh. Good luck to ZaZa, JaVale and Draymond stopping those 2 as we saw early in the season. As good as the Dubs are they find it tough against the right mixture of bigs. Boogie, Jokic, Gasol, LMA. Dubs still seriously lack big man muscle. Interesting to see what they do about that.

[ropjhk]

Small chance. It wouldn't be the biggest upset ever seen in the NBA if they did beat them.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Spurs looked much better last year. But they couldn't even get past the Thunder.

Could see them giving the Warriors a scare though.

IF they do end up winning, it will be Pop pulling off some magic.