8:30 tip Thursday. TNT/FSSW

How much are you wishing the Spurs had that 1 seed. Portland and then either Utah or Clippers without Griffen. Golden State has a cakewalk.

Utah would have Joe Johnson or Boris Diaw or Gordon Hayward or Derrick Favors guarding Kawhi.

Clippers would have Mbah a Moute or Reddick or Pierce or Crawford.

Guitarsoup said:

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How much are you wishing the Spurs had that 1 seed. Portland and then either Utah or Clippers without Griffen. Golden State has a cakewalk.

Utah would have Joe Johnson or Boris Diaw or Gordon Hayward or Derrick Favors guarding Kawhi.

Clippers would have Mbah a Moute or Reddick or Pierce or Crawford.

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Definitely this. Avoiding Houston in round 2 was the reward for the 1 seed. Man I wish we could've gotten it done.

Maybe Timmy will come out of retirement to play Houston.

Eh, I prefer avoiding the Clippers honestly. Then again the Grizz are not a good matchup either.

But I put them about the same level of wanting-to-avoid-ness.

I think Utah is tough.

If the Spurs can close out Memphis, then playing Houston will feel like a day at the spa. Sure, Houston is tough to hold down but they aren't going to be as uncomfortable to play as Utah or the Clips.

I think Memphis would beat Houston right now if they were to beat San Antonio and play GS tough

Y'all are overstating Memphis and underselling Houston. Harden and to a lesser extent Beverly will give us the same fits that Conley has done.

Memphis torched us at home for 50% shooting and 40% from 3 last night. They are not an offensive juggernaut like Houston, but have still looked great offensively against us for 3 straight games. Luckily our 3s fell last night. We are making ZBo and a 40 yo Carter look great, not to mention the Griz no name role players shooting 50% and hitting big buckets.

Now hopefully we can just dominate the boards against Houston and get more efficient play from our bigs by going against Capella, Anderson and Nene vice Gasol and ZBo. With that said, our bigs really haven't shown the ability to consistently get on the block and dominate so it might not be as easy as it looks on paper. When Houston is hitting 3s and Harden is getting the cheap calls from the refs they will give the Spurs fits.

I think this one is going 7 games and it's a coin flip on who wins. I'm going with the Spurs because of Kawhi but it won't be easy. I think Houston will be as tough as GSW, personally. If the Spurs dominate Houston then I like their chances vs GSW.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, have to win one more tough game first.

Historically, Pop has done pretty damn well against DAntoni. This year, Spurs were 3-1 against Houston and all 4 games were close.

Harden will get his. No one else can create, no one else gets an open look.

In those four games, Rockets shot

42%/29% with 21.8 FTA/game. They averaged 26.5fta for the season. They also had more turnovers against us.

So keep with the same plan. They have Nene, Capella and Ryan Anderson to guard LMA/Gasol. We need to attack that. Get one or two of those guys in foul trouble and Houston is in for a world of hurt.

I hope you are right. But the way Green is playing, I see some real struggles on defense for the Spurs. Williams, Gordon, Beverly and Ariza are at least decent shooters and better shooters/scorers than the guards on the Griz outside of Conley. Harden against our pick and Roll defense is going to be painful.

And despite OKC major advantage down low with Gibson and Adams, Houston has actually out rebounded OKC.

Hopefully the Spurs offense takes off against a lesser defensive opponent in Houston, but our defense has been the major problem and is cause for concern.

Maybe I'm underselling just how good Conley has been playing. Maybe Harden can't be as productive and efficient.

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Williams, Gordon, Beverly and Ariza are at least decent shooters and better shooters/scorers than the guards on the Griz outside of Conley.

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Ariza has been trash in this series. 3-16 from three. Williams and Beverley have shot well and Gordon will hit open shots, but Tony Parker can guard Gordon. Just need a hand in his face.

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Harden against our pick and Roll defense is going to be painful.

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Harden is going to create great problems for anyone and everyone. The good thing is he turns the ball over on 21% of his pick and rolls plays, which is among the worst in the NBA.

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And despite OKC major advantage down low with Gibson and Adams, Houston has actually out rebounded OKC.

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OKC hasn't been playing to their strengths at all.

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Hopefully the Spurs offense takes off against a lesser defensive opponent in Houston, but our defense has been the major problem and is cause for concern.

Maybe I'm underselling just how good Conley has been playing. Maybe Harden can't be as productive and efficient.

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Conley has been fantastic. Harden will be great against us as well, we just need to maximize on his turnovers, get him to pout for not getting calls when he jerks his head back and keep Williams/Gordon/Ariza/Anderson from getting open looks.

Out of curiosity, what's your series prediction? I still think Spurs in 7 games, coming down to pretty much a coin flip in the end.

GatorAg03 said:

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Out of curiosity, what's your series prediction? I still think Spurs in 7 games, coming down to pretty much a coin flip in the end.

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I think it will be close, but the Spurs will win.

James Harden is actually pretty terrible in clutch situations and that will be magnified in the playoffs when the refs are letting teams play more than in the regular season.

I agree that people are building up Memphis too much mostly on the basis of how hard they are pushing the Spurs this series. Unfortunately, I think it's more an indication about the quality of the Spurs than the Griz.

Holy crap, Kawhi's stats in the 4th (and OT) this series:

34 Minutes
44 Points
FG 15-22 (68.2 %)
3P 5-6 (83.3 %)
FT 9-9 (100 %)

Wesbtrook's for comparison:

45 Minutes
51 Points
FG 14-49 (28.6 %)
3P 4-21 (19.0 %)
FT 19-27 (70.4 %)

https://theringer.com/2017-nba-playoffs-kawhi-leonard-kobe-bryant-san-antonio-spurs-347adceee0

Before you reject the Kawhi-Kobe comparison, read the article.

There's already a lot of Houston talk. Did the Spurs series against Memphis turn into a best of 5 or did I miss something?

I agree that writing off Memphis is premature.

Yep, game 6 will be a grind for sure.

Are the rockets today = to the suns of the past? It's like Harden = Amare/Nash combo. Amare's and-1s probably = harden's 3 pointers too. It was always fun to watch us beat them at their own game back then. I'm worried we don't have the same ability this year. But a yeah, beat grizz first anyway.

How have the Rockets guarded Kawhi in the past?

How much does he cover Harden?

My guess is Green gets first shot at Harden and then Kawhi in crunch time or if Harden gets hot.

Green had been terrible the last couple games against Memphis (almost unplayable) so hopefully he turns it around.

Can y'all a least wait until tomorrow to discuss the Rockets???

9:30 ET tipoffs

Yep, NBA TV last game and a late tip off tonight for the best series in the playoffs thus far! Life of a Spurs fan!

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19241483/gregg-popovich-spurs-20-year-playoff-run-numbers

Spurs D has been top 3 in 16 of the last 20 years.

That's the one that impressed me the most.