Please bear in mind in this blog that I am a Western Conference guy with a healthy respect for the east. Therefore I am rooting on the Spurs (Tho I am not a fan) in this year's NBA Finals. All that being said, I would, were I a Spurs fan, nonetheless have a few areas for concern going in to Thursday's NBA Finals.
First off, the Spurs themselves. Look at their playoffs so far this year - they have only barely been pushed to this point. Denver was barely a blip on their radar, the prospective "finals" matchup with the Suns ended up controversially in their favor and ended up being easier than anticipated, and the Jazz registered even less of a blip on their radar than Denver did. Other than having to come back from a deep deficit in game 4 against my Suns, the Spurs have not had any sort of a real challenge to this point in the playoffs.
I know, I know, this is a playoff tested team that has won 3 titles already in 8 years, they have all the pedigrees, all the playoff tests and experience, the works. That's precisely WHY I would be worried.
Now let's look at the Cavs real quick. Here is a team that flew beneath everyone's radar with the exception of a couple NBA analysts. In the playoffs they were relatively unremarkable in their opening round, did a thorough job of thrashing New Jersey, and then were pushed, and pushed HARD, by another playoff tested, veteran team that also won a title, the Pistons.
There is something that happens in all sports from time to time, the best team loses. This is most prevalent in baseball, and there are innumerable instances of teams that on paper are a total mismatch against the other, only to wind up winning in the end (anyone remember the Pirates/Yankee's from the late '50s, or even this year, who would have guessed on paper the Warriors would eject the Mavs?)
No matter how hard a team might try to convince itself that they take the opposition seriously, there creeps in a bit of ego, a bit of over-confidence, that can remove just the very finest edge off of a team's killer instinct. In all other ways the team is firing on all cylinders, but they just cannot put the other, inferior, team away.
Do I think the Spurs are vulnerable to this? Yes, I do. They show ALL the signs of this possibility, having a relative walk over the powerful Western Conference, and a team that on paper has NO business being on the court with them for the NBAs biggest team prize saddling up to take them on. The circumstances are too good for this to at least not be a consideration.
Do I think this will happen, not really. But Popovich is not infallible, no coach is, and all the Cavs have to do is hang around, hang around, hang around, avoid any blowouts or morale-defeating games, and they could strongly challenge the Spurs for a close game here n there, and put a tiny sliver of doubt on the missing edge of their killer instinct, and from there crack the Spurs wide open.
The Spurs SHOULD win this, and probably WILL win this series, but that's why they play the games, because as long as you have another game, another play, and time on the clock, you are still in the game, and the Cavs have been pushed this playoff year to remember that in ways the Spurs have not. Despite their experience, sometimes success can be your own worst enemy.
The Cav's, NBA champions? Improbable, but still possible. Watch for it...it could happen.
The Cav's where not even looked at going in to the play-offs. Hoffman said he already counted them out aginst the Pistons. I know LeBron is going to step up. He's in the finales.
Look at the Lakers vs. Pistons. The Lakers where supost to walk all over the Pistons and came in to the game playing the same way they did all year. The Pistons knew they where going to do that, so they came up with a counter plan.
I think the Spurs are just going to play the way they have been playing. No big adjustments. The Cav's on the other hand need to find a way to stop Ducan. They won't have a problem shuting down the P.G.'s they have been doing that in the play-offs. Aginst the Pistons and New Jersey. I think they need to take a page from the Jazz's game three aginst the Spurs. Have the Big man post up on Ducan and have the P.G. steal the ball. Attack the rim. Those things seam to get Ducan off his game and into foul trouble.
Are the Spurs going to double LeBron. If not its going to be LeBrons night. If they do then its going to be like the Pistons game.
We also forget to mention the Cav's are up on the Spurs 2-0 in the reg. season. That gives the Cav's the mental edge also.The Cav's belong here. They earned it. Go Cav's in 5 or 7.
Dalamar, I'm a Spurs fan and I am worried (for reasons I've stated on other posts). Nice post, but I do disagree with one part of your argument though, the playoff run comparison.
Cleveland had an easier route to the finals than the Spurs.
The teams the Cavs played had a combined 22 less wins than the teams San Antonio played. In addition, two of Cleveland's opponents were .500 teams (Wizards and Nets). Also, the Cavs played a very short-handed Wizards team (minus Arenas and Butler).
What needs to be noted is that rarely in any team sport, specifically basketball, has a player single handedly won a championship without large contributions from his teammates. a superstar like Lebron can carry his team to the finals, but with the opposition being such a complete team offensively and defensively Lebron will have a tough time even coming close to winning games without HEAVY contributions from his mates. Boobie stepping up again will not suffice. The Cavs will need at least 2 player aside from Lebron playing at their peak performance level if they hope to achieve an upset of the heavily favored Spurs.
Everything you all say is absolutely true, but I still would NOT be surprised to see a Spurs team that will not only have to deal with the Cavs, but also their own selves in these finals.
And the Cavs did NOT have an easier road to the finals than the Spurs did, are you kidding me ? The Cavs and Spurs both basically got a bye in the first round, the Cavs were pushed in the 2nd round by the Nets (all the games were close but 1 as I recall), and the Spurs had only one game that was difficult against the Suns (the Suspension game), and then basically got a bye in to the finals by having to handle a Jazz team too caught up with a "deer in the headlights" look to realize they were in the conference finals, meanwhile the Cavs had to go 6 games including a double OT game, each one a struggle except game 6 in the 2nd half, to get past the Pistons. Cavs had it easier ? Give me a break.
Both teams played 16 games so far and are sporting 12-4 playoff records. I'll give you the overtime game, as San Antonio did not play in any. You gave a nice attempt at explaining why Spurs fans should worry. The specific reasons you used are just next to impossible to quantify or qualify.
What I meant was the Spurs played collectively better (tougher) opponents than did Cleveland. I quantified it with the winning records. The Wizards, Nets and Pistons entered the playoffs with a combined 135 wins and the Nuggets, Suns and Jazz entered with a combined 157 wins.
I'll admit, win totals alone do not completely describe a team's worth, but it definitely is a big part of it.
Last edited by Swamp Buckeye on June 6th at 8:33 AM.
Swamp Dalamar prooved to you the Cav's had a harder road threw the play-offs. The Pistons. I would say they were about even but the suspentions aginst the Suns handed it to the Spur's. Just like every one els you doubt the Cav's and thats where you go wrong.
Go Cav's 5 or 7
I am a big basketball fan, tho I admit I prefer the NBA to college, mainly because the NCAA has even more stupid rules than the NBA does. I enjoy other sports as well, tho I do admit I prefer the playoffs than the regular season for most sports other than the NBA.
My favorite teams in the NBA ?
1. Phoenix Suns
2. Dallas Mavericks
3. Chicago Bulls
4. Indiana Pacers
5. Los Angeles Lakers (Tho I can't STAND Kobe)
