Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Reasons for the Spurs winning

Years from now, people will look back and wonder why the Spurs were so good. The answer is simple, apparently, to win a championshi nowadays, you need 1. A truly great player (just one, not two anymore) 2. two way players (being great a defense doesn't mean anything if you can't do anything on offense, and vice versa), and 3. unselfish payers that are really good at one or 2 things. The Spurs definetley have this, and Greg Poppovich has the perfect plan to make this team work.
Tim Duncan is a truly great player, no argument there. He is the safety net for his perimeter defenders, and if need be, he can guard the likes of Kobe or LeBron one on one. He's also smart enough to not draw stupid fouls and get in foul trouble. He's also got an array of moves on offense, he's unselfish, can make a jump shot, hook shot, and an array of close shots.
Two way players are things the Spurs also have. Ginobli, Horry, Elson, Oberto, are all above average defenders with Duncan and Bowen being elite defenders. Are any of these players useless on offeense, at first glance, perhaps, but not really. Elson has a 15 footer than he showed several times in the Finals, Oberto is a beast inside, getting tons of offensive boards, and Bowen as a 3 point shot which is very useful for a shut down defender because both of these qualities are key but scarce for playoff teams, and he has both at the same time.
Finally, players that are extremely good at what they do. Tony Parker and Ginobli are the best finishing players in the leagues. Many players can get to the basket with the ease they do, but none can finish at such a high percentage, except for maybe Steve Nash. Bowen and Duncan are both top 5 players in defense, one on the interior, one one the perimeter. Barry, Bowen, and Ginobli are also some of the best three point shooters, and Elson and Oberto are both big guys who undertand they they're not too good, so they work on their inside hustle, 15 foot J's, and helpside defense.
Of course another reason they won was that there were only 3 real teams that could've challenged them, and they only had to beat one. The Suns could've challenged them, but defense always beats run and gun in the playoffs (at least nowadays it does). It also helped that Stern was a big dick and suspended Amare. The Mavs could've beat the Spurs, but the one team they would've had struggles with, Don Nelson's Warriors, had to oust them out of the first round. And lastly, the Pistons could've had a chance, because despite losing Ben Wallace, they still had a three headed monster of Dale Davis, Antonio McDyess, and Chris Webber to replace him, and with this, they're essentially the same team, except they have Flip Saunders as coach. Are the Spurs a dynasty? Sure why not? They didn't win after their first title because the Lakers were just better. The Lakers won three in a row, though the Spurs almost stopped them, but there's no shame in that because the Lakers are also a dynasty, and Robinson was getting old and the Spurs young guys couldn't help out yet. After that, the Pistons and the Heat broke up their other chances for repeats, and the reasons for this are the Lakers reloaded, and the Mavs just got a bit lucky. Sure they're not the Lakers and Celtics of the 80's, but all you need is one superstar nowadays, and a bunch of really good role players.

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