Quote:
Originally posted by goddfather40
To answer all your questions:
Two Championships since West's departure is not my idea of going downhill. And they are almost the same team from the past couple years depth wise. They have secured the key reserves over the championship run. They lost Ty Lue, and that is really it. The role players played like shit this year and that was the difference. Devean George is going to be a solid NBA starter someday. He is better than Rick Fox in every category but defense and 'intagibles.'
As for the Spurs, the Western Conference is too deep for anymore three peats. They are bound to get tripped up in the next three years if the Phoenix series was any indication. If they sign Jason Kidd, I see maybe a back to back, but no three peat. Tim Duncan may be the MVP and the best player in the playoffs; I was very impressed at his performance, but he is definitely not the most dominant player as long as Shaq is around.
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Each championship was harder to win than the next. That is my idea of going downhill. In the first title run, Horry and Fisher were coming off the bench. This year they both started. That is my idea of losing depth. What exactly was wrong with the Phoenix series? Game 1 was taken by the Suns because a power forward hit his second three of his career. Other than that, San Antonio soundly beat them, although Parker was outplayed by Marbury. Parker can and will improve because he is young. The Spurs are insanely young to be running this deep into the playoffs. Ginobli is a rookie, Jackson an NBA journey man, and Parker a 20 year old second year player. The Spurs currently have nothing but upside to them.
I'm also sick of hearing about how dominant Shaq is. A 40 year old third string center (Kevin Willis) shut him down in the fourth quarter when he should have been playing at his best. I don't call that dominant. Shaqillle O'Neal isn't even the best player on his team anymore. Kobe Bryant easily surpassed him this year. Shaq doesn't have the competitve drive to be dominant anymore and the Spurs exposed his weakness. Did you see how he reacted when players actually challeneged him? Duncan scored on him through the end of the third and into the fourth. Ginobli took it right at him and Shaq lunged like an uncorrordinated third grader playing dodge ball. I don't want to sound like that shaq=ignorance fool. He's just a bandwagon jumper, probably cheered the Lakers onto their first title. I've been in love with the Spurs ever since Robinson began playing in 1989 and I have to say I'm loving every minute of finally seeing them on top of the league.