[FreeMason Jr.]

The Spurs-Nuggets matchup on Friday night will not only be a great game but an interesting one as well. From Denver’s perspective, they’re looking to take advantage of a wounded Spurs team. But it’s a little deceiving because without two-time NBA MVP Tim Duncan, the Spurs have sort of come afloat and found their way around. San Antonio’s not as wounded as lot of people think. I think they’ve proven over the years that they are a legit team and even without Duncan they can still win basketball games. They’ve had people step up. Whenever you have injuries, you have to have guys step up. Tony Parker is really playing well, so is Manu Ginobili. What I like about the Spurs is that you would think that minus Duncan in the lineup, it would become more of a perimeter game. But Ginobili and Parker are making it an inside game. They’re getting a lot of scores in the paint by penetrating.

In some ways, Duncan’s injury has helped the Spurs. Instead of them putting all their marbles in Duncan’s pocket, they’re forming an independency in terms of believing in themselves. They believe they can win games even if Tim is not there or if he’s not having a good game. The silver lining is the fact that although their key player is out, they realize they can still win. The rest of the players are responding to the challenge.

I have so much belief in the Spurs and their depth and their ability to win. Although they’re sitting on top of their division and vying for the best record in the Western Conference, I don’t think they’re resting. I think those guys have a lot to prove. They want to prove to Tim they can win without him and, at the same time, some guys who have not gotten big minutes are getting big minutes now.

Link to Article Here
I'm interested to see everyone's thoughts about this article and if ya'll agree with it.

 

[KokoTheMonkey]

Re: "Spus Can Plat Without Duncan"

Since you always point out the typos and mis-spellings of other posters, I have to call you out on this:


Spus can plat without Duncan?





Anyway, he does bring up a good point about the team depth being good, but he mentioned something like "This team has played very well without him". As we know, we've got two impressive wins in a span of 6 games (Including the Detroit game), so I would say it's more accurate that the team has played well the past two games without Duncan, but certainly not overall.




Again, I want to cite the Indiana Pacers as an example. No Jermaine O'Neal, no Artest, no Tinsley, and they are still winning mostly because of two things: The system, and depth. The "system" basically means that Carlisle has these guys playing tough defense along with team ball, and they are winning games. The same thing should apply with our team, and it has the past two games. We still have talent on this team without Duncan, but it's all wasted if the guys don't want to play great defense and team ball. Defense and depth are two huge factors in being a great team (Even though Phoenix is really going against that theory), and even without Duncan, we still can play great defense and still have pretty solid depth.

 

[TheRoc5]

they are a palyoff team with out duncan a championship team with duncan

 

[FreeMason Jr.]

Re: "Spus Can Plat Without Duncan"

Since you always point out the typos and mis-spellings of other posters, I have to call you out on this:


Spus can plat without Duncan?

I've done that like once or twice and I'm just playing. And where did I type Spus can plat? Is it in the quotes? Cause I copied that straight from the article and I noticed some typos in there.

Edit: I reread the article and my post like five times and I still can't find "Spus can plat without Duncan". Can you point it out to me? I may have overlooked it.

 

[KokoTheMonkey]

Re: "Spus Can Plat Without Duncan"

I've done that like once or twice and I'm just playing. And where did I type Spus can plat? Is it in the quotes? Cause I copied that straight from the article and I noticed some typos in there.

That's what the title of the thread said until I went in and edited it for you. No big deal, but since you like to point those things out, I did it just once. :biggrin:

 

[FreeMason Jr.]

Re: "Spus Can Plat Without Duncan"

That's what the title of the thread said until I went in and edited it for you. No big deal, but since you like to point those things out, I did it just once. :biggrin:

Oh thank you, Koko. And no I don't point these things out alot. If I did, I would point all the article titles you misspelt, but I usually keep these things to myself :biggrin:

 

[Darth Bryant]

they are a palyoff team with out duncan a championship team with duncan

Tell that to Denver. Without Duncan, Denver is gonna have there way with the Spurs.

 

[FreeMason Jr.]

Tell that to Denver. Without Duncan, Denver is gonna have there way with the Spurs.

I'm not quite sure what that had to do with TheRoc5's post or this thread... May I direct you to the Spurs vs. Denver game thread?

 

[texan]

Yeah they can play, but without TD, we are a borderline playoff team that would probably end up with a record at about .500; however, as we all know, with TD, we are championship contenders. One good thing about TD being out is that it forces players to step up and play, henceforth giving them more confidence. This should really benefit us come playoff time, b/c guys like Rasho, Barry, and Parker won't be timid about stepping up in the clutch.

 

[KokoTheMonkey]

The title of the thread should be changed to: "The Spurs Can Play Without Duncan (in the SBC Center)"

 

[FreeMason Jr.]

You gada take that up with Don Chaney.

 

[TheRoc5]

no we can play with out duncan... we would prob b the 7th seed or mybe even 6 without duncan. you c if we didnt have duncan none of this confidence thing would b a problem b/c they would already have been used to be not playing with him. we have an allstar back court that plays inconcsictent and if they can play the same gm after gm we would do alot better with that being said we have a lot of youth on this team wich is good and bad. one of the reasons i think we play at home better cause duncans there not playing but still there. just a thought

 

[Luiz_Rodrigo]

The title of the thread should be changed to: "The Spurs Can Play Without Duncan (in the SBC Center)"

Agreed.

Sorry to say that people, but without we aren´t a playoff team... Perhaps the 9th or 10th in the west.

 

[LineOFire]

I still think we would be a playoff team, a borderline one at best though. The road struggles without Tim Duncan are very glaring and would not bode well when fighting for seeding in the playoffs.

 

[FreeMason Jr.]

no we can play with out duncan... we would prob b the 7th seed or mybe even 6 without duncan. you c if we didnt have duncan none of this confidence thing would b a problem b/c they would already have been used to be not playing with him. we have an allstar back court that plays inconcsictent and if they can play the same gm after gm we would do alot better with that being said we have a lot of youth on this team wich is good and bad. one of the reasons i think we play at home better cause duncans there not playing but still there. just a thought

Exactly. The Spurs are playing this inconsistent without him because they played 62 straight games with him and grew to dependent on him. I think we would make the playoffs and get past the first round. Most likely not the second though.