Yeah, the offense is definitely better than what the score has been showing. Diaw, Parker, and Splitter all had some bunnys that just rimmed out. Kawhi missed a couple gimme 3s. Once those start falling, the Spurs blow the Clippers out of the gym.

You know Manu and Parker will both be good for at least one good performance this series, so hopefully it will come in a winning effort. Although, I think Tony might be Finals 13 and 14 done. He just doesn't have anything unless he starts hitting contested jumpers off the pick and roll. He is still our most reliable ball handler though. Might be better coming off the bench.

Go.

Spurs.

Go.

My boy The Baker's Man, Patty Mills, coming up HUGE for this team at the right time.

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Griffin and Paul both choked. Griffin had big turnovers, and cp3 all of a sudden became afraid to shoot.

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Griffin had some dumb turnovers, but the Spurs also switched things up on Paul. They started with a long defender (Green or Leonard) up top and had him play high to take away the deep jumper. On screens, they switched everything, and again when the big was on Paul they played high to take away the jumper. The real key was that our second post showed on Paul to take away the drive while a wing rotated over to take away the back side lob on the Clippers second post.

It's the same defense they played in the last couple possessions of the first half. Paul bricked two jumpers off the front iron when Boris challenged his shot much more closely than Paul was expecting. He figured out what they were doing by the end of the second half, which is why you saw him try to draw our bigs deeper or plain passed out of it and reset the offense to give Griffin a postup against whoever had switched on to him.

The Clippers simplify their offense in crunch time. It means their stars have to exert a lot of energy, but it's a tradeoff they are usually willing to make on those high value possessions. Unfortunately for them, it means that they don't really take advantage of what the Spurs give them. Crawford, Reddick, and Barnes should have been going nuts against that defensive set but the Clippers never moved the ball well enough.

Expect Doc Rivers to make an adjustment here, either getting the ball to Griffin in the low post against the switch much more quickly, or kicking the ball to the shooter immediately instead of breaking off the play and trying again.

One thing that worries me is that Paul is not worried about Parker blowing past him after failed steal attempts. I'm not really a fan of the way Paul plays defense because he gambles too much, but Parker can not make him pay right now. Paul got his hands on the ball several times. If I were the Clippers I would have whoever is covering Parker reaching and gambling constantly until he makes them pay.

One other key: the Spurs had one player over 39 minutes (Tim Duncan at 44). The Clippers had four. The Spurs had 9 players with 19 or more minutes; the Clippers had just six. The Clippers want to expend a lot of energy on key possessions and beat you with their stars, but that's a lot tougher after playing 47 minutes and being involved in every possession on both ends, which is why you saw Griffin turn the ball over several times late. 47 minutes is tough any time; in the playoffs when you never get a rest against a team that moves the ball like the Spurs and goes 9 deep playing all out?

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I say start Patty in game 3 no matter what TPs status is. We need him to make the offense go. And poor Tony. You can tell he is trying so hard. But he just doesn't have it. Reminds me of seeing him in the last 2 finals. I honestly think Duncan could outlast him in terms of productiveness. He's nearing Steve Nash done status.

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Parker was actually pretty lethal in the '13 Finals.

I agree, though, it's so tough seeing him struggle.

I guess I meant by the end of those 13 Finals. My memory could be off, but it seems like by game 4 or 5 he was pretty much disabled.

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I guess I meant by the end of those 13 Finals. My memory could be off, but it seems like by game 4 or 5 he was pretty much disabled.

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Yeah, he tweaked that hammy iirc midway through the series, but still played well.

His three pointer over LeBron towards the end of game 6 should have ended up being the backbreaker.

Alas...

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This reminds me. Has anyone ever seen Timmy look tired? He didn't look tired in the infamous no AC game last year. He didn't look tired after 44 minutes against Griffin and Jordan. Forget his age, he might be the best conditioned player in the game.

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If you go back to the middle part of his career, this would happen from time to time. But that's when they rode him big minutes all the time and when the game was completely different for the Spurs (funnel everything through the post, always matching Timmy up against big bangers, etc.) Also that was when his weight was a lot higher, due to where the game was at in terms of its evolution (favoring tall and heavy PFs and Cs).

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I guess I meant by the end of those 13 Finals. My memory could be off, but it seems like by game 4 or 5 he was pretty much disabled.

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Yeah, he tweaked that hammy iirc midway through the series, but still played well.

His three pointer over LeBron towards the end of game 6 should have ended up being the backbreaker.

Alas...

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Ah. I just died inside a little more. Thanks for bringing that back up.

Timmy is a cyborg now. H doesn't get tired.

In 2013 Parker was injured a lot the last month of the season. Missed 12 of the last 22 games and was still noticeably slow early in the playoffs. However, he had 12 20+ point games including a 37 point game against Memphis and a brilliant 26 points on 71% shooting in game 5 of the Finals. The last two games of the series, it's unclear how much of his lack of success was due to re-aggravating the injury and how much was due to the Heat putting Lebron on him. I think it was a little of both.

I know he looked beat back when he was battling foot problems, but that was extenuating circumstances.

Even when that wasn't a problem, he still had some conditioning issues mainly due to his weight. Doesn't matter though, because his game has aged more gracefully than any player I've ever watched in any sport.

It blows my mind to see him dominate games at this point of his career. He's still got all his vintage moves, he's just a lot more sly about everything. It just defies logic.

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He's still got all his vintage moves, he's just a lot more sly about everything. It just defies logic.

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That's the part that's crazy. Go back and watch tape of him from a decade ago and his moves and efficiency are the same.

He's timeless.

Yay! I'll be watching this one!

I saw 500 new replies and got concerned.

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Yay! I'll be watching this one!

I saw 500 new replies and got concerned.

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Most definitely worth the watch. You will not be disappointed!

GSG

As a rockets fan I want 5 more games like that one in this series. Wow.

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Yay! I'll be watching this one!

I saw 500 new replies and got concerned.

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You and me both. Getting to the office early in eastern time means I just can't handle west coast games. I figured the 500 replies were a meltdown.

Man, it took me about an hour and a half to wind down after that one here on the east coast. I got about 2 hours of sleep, before I had to wake up for work. Pretty brutal, but so glad the Spurs pulled it out and didn't waste vintage Timmy!

Back to San Antonio with the split and at least a slightly earlier start time!

cool, popovich took all my advice i gave on page 14.

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you are right there are many adjustments and options the spurs can make to throw the clippers off. hack-a-jordan is one i expect.

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check

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maybe more post-ups for duncan and less parker pick-and-roll if he is going to be limited.

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check. definitely did more of this.

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Also popovich needs to tighten his bench. It is the playoffs and the clippers are good. 11 guys should not be getting 11+ minutes. Leonard nees to play 40 minutes, danny green 38, duncan 36,

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check again. only 9 guys with 10+ minutes instead of 11. duncan 44, leonard 39, diaw 37,

i think spurs win the series now. splitting first 2 was the key

Woke up in a great mood this AM, even though I only slept for 5 hours!! GSG!!!!

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Yay! I'll be watching this one!

I saw 500 new replies and got concerned.

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You're up at 4 am and didn't watch?

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Spoiler alert: Clippers win again.

^^
Sig bet?

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sure

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I propose the following:

Straight up, I get Spurs, you get Clippers. Sig lasts until the end of the playoffs.

If I win, your sig will read as follows:

"I am a mouth-breathing troll, the likes of which haven't been seen since the days of Simplebay. I know nothing about the Spurs dynasty, and not only do I need to get off Obi Wan's threads, I also need to get off his nuts."

Post your terms.

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Haha. I love it. Now is this just for game 2 or the series? I'm fine either way.

Your sig is simple:

"Ginosebleed is not, and never will be a Hall of Famer."

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Good thing you poosed out and changed it to a series bet after calling out the Spurs yesterday on my thread. You saved yourself until after game six when we finish the series.

I am as worried about Parker as I am excited about Timmy's performance last night.

Tim was 03-esque, and Parker was practically nonexistent.

Last night was a huge win (obviously), because we were able to steal a road game without playing very well. The clips can't afford to waste opportunities where we shoot in the low 40s and put up less than 100 in regulation. Their defense is still giving up a ton of wide open looks that we've just missed so far. We should get a few more of those shots to fall in San antonio.

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^^
Sig bet?

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sure

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I propose the following:

Straight up, I get Spurs, you get Clippers. Sig lasts until the end of the playoffs.

If I win, your sig will read as follows:

"I am a mouth-breathing troll, the likes of which haven't been seen since the days of Simplebay. I know nothing about the Spurs dynasty, and not only do I need to get off Obi Wan's threads, I also need to get off his nuts."

Post your terms.

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Haha. I love it. Now is this just for game 2 or the series? I'm fine either way.

Your sig is simple:

"Ginosebleed is not, and never will be a Hall of Famer."

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Good thing you poosed out and changed it to a series bet after calling out the Sours yesterday on my thread. You saved yourself until after game six when we finish the series.

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I know Pop is the greatest of all time, but I disagreed with the hack strategy. Why start hacking when you are up with 4 minutes left? It extends the game greatly, which is the opposite of what you want to do and it allowed the clipps to tie the game in quick order. I understand doing it if you are down, but I didn't like the strategy of doing it when up with just 4 minutes left.

Also, if yall are going to hack, they need to be careful who is fouling. Why let many take his 5th? This led to him fouling out. Duncan also took his 5th. It was insane.

Awesome game. This is the only good series of this round. I hope the Spurs win bc I hate the clipps and have money on the Spurs.

just cleaning up the thread, removing waste who make stupid ass predictions.