jsc8116 said:

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Who do we want in 1st round, POR or PHX?

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Portland loses their first round pick if they make the playoffs. I don't think there's any way their front office is going to let them win against Phoenix.

We would obviously rather play Portland than Phoenix because we've struggled against Phoenix, but we're going to end up playing Phoenix

I actually think Portland is the tougher matchup, personally.

Only downside of Phoenix is going against Brooks who is obviously going to do some dirty ***** That kind of stuff typically motivates Wemby though.

The Spurs really messed up not winning last nights game against Denver. Had they done so, they would have sent Denver to the other bracket to face off against OKC.

Now, OKC gets a cream ride to the West Conf. finals, and we get the hard road, and will face Denver in the second round, which will be hard fought and go in tired to OKC.

Stupid.

Wemby being skinny and fragile is a bigger issue than most want to admit.

satexas said:

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The Spurs really messed up not winning last nights game against Denver. Had they done so, they would have sent Denver to the other bracket to face off against OKC.

Now, OKC gets a cream ride to the West Conf. finals, and we get the hard road, and will face Denver in the second round, which will be hard fought and go in tired to OKC.

Stupid.

Wemby being skinny and fragile is a bigger issue than most want to admit.

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Good lord dude, what a whiny little baby

satexas said:

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The Spurs really messed up not winning last nights game against Denver. Had they done so, they would have sent Denver to the other bracket to face off against OKC.

Now, OKC gets a cream ride to the West Conf. finals, and we get the hard road, and will face Denver in the second round, which will be hard fought and go in tired to OKC.

Stupid.

Wemby being skinny and fragile is a bigger issue than most want to admit.

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You realize the only reason Jokic played last night is because he HAD to in order to hit the 65 games, right? Is he skinny and fragile?

In three full seasons, the totality of Wemby's injuries:

Mild pulled calf
Bone bruise
Bone bruise

Casuals call this "injury prone" when he has not had:

1. Torn ligaments
2. Tendon damage
3. Torn muscles
4. Fractures or breaks
5. Degenerative issues
6. Sprained ligaments

Did he play, and did we win? Nope. Now the Spurs have a much more difficult path and have to face the Nuggets in a series versus avoiding them.

And don't tell me "rest", they have a week off.

It was a mistake to lose that game.

Once you see the playoffs unfold, come back and revisit my previous post and tell me I'm wrong.

You will soon figure out :

1. There are 3 legit contenders in the west : OKC, Spurs, Nuggets

2. Had we won that game, the Nuggets would be in OKC's bracket and our second series would have been far easier and capability of rest time .... while OKC battles the Nuggets. Now it's the opposite - they get an easier opponent and we will battle the Nuggets.

Wemby played the last time we faced Denver and we lost. Your entire logic doesn't hold up.

It's the Western Conference playoffs, there are no easy matchups. You have to beat good teams to win a title.

Stop being so emotional, you sound like a Mavericks fan.

Spurs just went 62-20, and we got people throwing tantrums about playoff seeding.

There is literally nothing good enough for some of you. Maybe start following Pro Pickleball or something, I don't think the NBA is for you.

The part about Wemby being fragile was certainly over-dramatic. I agree with him on us crapping the bed last night though. I think we'd all rather OKC and Denver take each other out, and we were in a prime position to be able to set that up for ourselves. Denver was even trying to help us out by resting everyone other than Joker and then shutting Joker down the second half, because they'd rather play Houston than Minny. And we still didn't come through.

Is it the end of the world? No. Is it fine to be a bit put off by it? Absolutely.

TheNotoriousP.I.P. said:

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The part about Wemby being fragile was certainly over-dramatic. I agree with him on us crapping the bed last night though. I think we'd all rather OKC and Denver take each other out, and we were in a prime position to be able to set that up for ourselves. Denver was even trying to help us out by resting everyone other than Joker and then shutting Joker down the second half, because they'd rather play Houston than Minny. And we still didn't come through.

Is it the end of the world? No. Is it fine to be a bit put off by it? Absolutely.

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This is where I am. I had given up on the chance of the Spurs being able to maneuver out of a Denver matchup in the second round, and maneuver OKC into one, only to have the possibility reemerge. And then it feels like we fumbled what would have been a potential gift.

My 2026 NBA MVP ballot:
1. Victor Wembanyama
2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
3. Nikola Jokic

I spent most of the season assuming I'd vote SGA. Then I looked closer. New column on @YahooSports: https://t.co/kCwZOHlBI0

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnor) April 13, 2026

Spurs have been so good that the crybaby nephews haven't had anything to cry about for months.

Spurs in 03 had young TimVP, a 20 yr old PG, rookie Manu, young green Stephen Jackson, young Bruce, young green Speedy, young Malik and beat the team who just won 3 straight titles with two top 12 players of all time in their primes — in the second round.

They weren’t scared.…

— Eric Salinas (@EricSal_7) April 13, 2026

The premise of that tweet ignores that our best player had already won a ship in 99 and we did at least lean on Kerr in one of those games against Dallas.

I think Denver poses the biggest threat to us. Not like it is an inevitable loss, but things got a whole heck of a lot harder having to go through them instead of LAL/HOU. They've proven to be a tough matchup in our games against them, especially in crunch time. Definitely limited sample size with 1 real matchup with both stars playing, but they've shown they can be a problem for us.

For me I think the odds of making the WCF moved from 80%+ if we went LAL/HOU to closer to 50% with Denver.

Will it be hard? Sure.

Was the 1999 path hard?

Garnett.
Kobe, Shaq, Rice
Sheed, Sabonis, Mighty Mouse

Also yes.

Are most championship runs hard? Yes.

If Minnesota is actually healthy, they are probably just as tough a matchup for us and they would have smoked the Lakers.

Mark me in the category of it being strategically dumb to not have played Wemby last night to secure the win.

I get that he's a little banged up, but I think it would have been more prudent to rest him next Sunday in game 1 than it was last night as crazy as that sounds.

What's was Kornet's deal? We needed some beef in the worst way down low last night. I think even Kornet would have been enough to get the win.

Also, let's all agree to just blame the Mavs. Them beating the lakers last week was idiotic for both their draft position and our seeding.

Denver is definitely the scariest team for the Spurs to matchup with. I'm sure everyone is aware of this and would have preferred to win last night. But it didn't work out, oh well. I guess they will need to play really well, ah shucks.

Guitarsoup said:

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Will it be hard? Sure.

Was the 1999 path hard?

Garnett.
Kobe, Shaq, Rice
Sheed, Sabonis, Mighty Mouse

Also yes.

Are most championship runs hard? Yes.

If Minnesota is actually healthy, they are probably just as tough a matchup for us and they would have smoked the Lakers.

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In my post, I wan't saying it "can't be done"... of course we can win it all this year.

But that was a bad loss, a poor choice by the franchise to not take that one as a must-win with a whole week of rest following it. The Spurs literally just chose the much harder road and softened OKC's in the process.

I do think that Denver is the tougher matchup but I was not looking forward to the Luka(if healthy) and LeBron lovefest. With it possibly being Lebrons last run, the Lakers are going to get every call in the book all playoffs. It's going to make the Kings/Lakers 4th quarter look like child's play. At least with Denver there isn't a league and media darling(Jokic is just a big oaf that bullies you around and is really good).

Poor little guy edited all his posts and went home. I didn't even disagree with him, just called him a whiny little brat.

Guitarsoup said:

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Will it be hard? Sure.

Was the 1999 path hard?

Garnett.
Kobe, Shaq, Rice
Sheed, Sabonis, Mighty Mouse

Also yes.

Are most championship runs hard? Yes.

If Minnesota is actually healthy, they are probably just as tough a matchup for us and they would have smoked the Lakers.

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The point isn't "hard vs not hard". The point is it got significantly "harder" due to the results of this final game.

I'm not even upset we benched wemby, his health is definitely the number 1 driver of our playoff success. Let him have more rest for the rib. I do wish we had played Kornet to have any semblance of a post presence.

Despite that though, the team just took for granted that Denver rested a lot of guys. It happens. Doesn't mean it won't have negative impact on our playoff success.

I don't think Denver is significantly more difficult than Minnesota if Minnesota is completely healthy. The bigger thing to me is that Oklahoma City gets a walk in the second round rather than us having to play Denver.

I think Kornet is more hurt than they have let on and he's been less effective in the second half. Glad he got the rest.

I am sure that the coaches and training staff have all taken into account what's the best thing for our playoff run in deciding who to play and who to rest. They just performed 20 games better than preseason expectations. They seem to know what they are doing.

It just sucks Fox blew and couldn't get the job done.

Beating Denver last night would have obviously been preferable but health ultimately trumps playoff matchups. Plus, Wemby playing some last night doesn't all of a sudden guarantee a victory. We were obviously already looking ahead to next week. I would argue that we probably should have rested more guys last night instead of running our guys out there like we did in a loss that is putting a bad taste into their mouth heading into post season.

Also, while I agree Denver will likely beat Minnesota... I wouldn't just count that as an automatic. Definitely seen much craizier upsets happen.

Listen up, San Antonio!! Keldon here. Since it’s almost playoff time, I wrote y’all a little something from the heart just to say what this means to me. Thanks for all the love!! https://t.co/PwexQlzia9

— The Players’ Tribune (@PlayersTribune) April 13, 2026

I know the Spurs haven't been in the playoffs in a while, so fans don't remember how this works but:

Nobody plays their stars the final game of the season if they don't have to.

He steps funny or takes an elbow or suffers any mishap and you spend the summer feeling stupid. https://t.co/6pfRPa7dm8

— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) April 14, 2026

That's a great read. Heart and soul of this team for sure!

LawHall88 said:

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I know the Spurs haven't been in the playoffs in a while, so fans don't remember how this works but:

Nobody plays their stars the final game of the season if they don't have to.

He steps funny or takes an elbow or suffers any mishap and you spend the summer feeling stupid. https://t.co/6pfRPa7dm8

— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) April 14, 2026

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Follow up:

To me the real question isn't, "Why didn't Wemby play?" It's "Why did anybody?"

I was surprised that wasn't a night off for most of the regulars.

The best way to screw up the playoffs is to have someone important get hurt before they start.

Spurs fans should remember 2011.

— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) April 14, 2026

Wemby has great skills to go with his height. I think he's going to be a 'great' when his career is done. But that doesn't mean I don't have concerns about him getting banged around - I'm glad it's 2026 when the NBA is far softer from the 80's and 90's.

I'll just say I'm NOT alone on this, and it doesn't make anyone anti-Spurs for it.

I think using Stephen A. for anything is automatic disqualification.

LawHall88 said:

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Listen up, San Antonio!! Keldon here. Since it’s almost playoff time, I wrote y’all a little something from the heart just to say what this means to me. Thanks for all the love!! https://t.co/PwexQlzia9

— The Players’ Tribune (@PlayersTribune) April 13, 2026

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Keldon has come so far this season. His transformation and embracing his role (Devin too) are a massive reason for our success.

2008and1 said:

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LawHall88 said:

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Listen up, San Antonio!! Keldon here. Since it’s almost playoff time, I wrote y’all a little something from the heart just to say what this means to me. Thanks for all the love!! https://t.co/PwexQlzia9

— The Players’ Tribune (@PlayersTribune) April 13, 2026

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Keldon has come so far this season. His transformation and embracing his role (Devin too) are a massive reason for our success.

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Thank you Corliss Williamson! Has to be a big part of it.

On the bright side, if the Spurs do win the championship this year, it'll be one of the most impressive runs ever. We might have to go through the past three NBA champs.

Denver 3 years ago
OKC last year
Boston 2 years ago

I'm too lazy to look up if anyone has ever had to knock out the past three champs, but I'll assume it's likely to have never been done before.

I don't think that Denver necessarily wanted to face Minnesota in the 1st round, that will probably be a grueling series if Edwards is fully healthy. Gobert is probably the only big in the league that matches up well with Jokic defensively and takes away his ability to play bully ball. So we'll see who comes out of that series, not at all a foregone conclusion. OKC's path though... ugh, stupidly easy to the WCF.

True on OKc for sure, lets hope at least Luca/Reeves remain out and HOU completes the sweep to not be gassed and give OKC a bit of a series.