NBA Highlights: San Antonio Spurs Love it When they Can Stay Under the Radar

January 6, 2009

Your probabely do not thing the San Antonio Spurs can win a championship. Heres a news flash. Thats what the Spurs want you to beleieve.

NBA Sports Update: Spurs Heating Up

You’ve discounted them before. San Antonio is old. The Spurs are boring. They have already peaked out.

That’s exactly what the Spurs want you to believe. That kind of thinking is right up Greg Poppovich’s alley because he knows where that thinking will get him.

Another championship.

I remember watching the Spurs play against the Blazers earlier this year. They were good but looked slow at times and without the offensive firepower to finish enough games.

Duncan and Parker were playing great but they were receiving no consistent help. Matt Booner plays his butt off and gives it everything he has but his best does not warrant a starting sport in any NBA rotation.

Things have changed though.

Manu Ginobili is back. That’s 15-20 points a game you can count on in addition to a vast array of game changing hustle plays that always seem to dramatically change a game.

Tony Parker has been playing fantastic all season and is back after sitting out several games with an ankle injury.

I am really impressed by how Roger Mason is playing and shooting the three. He is shooting 47% from downtown and at least tries half the time to play acceptable defense.

When you add that to Michael Finley 40% three point shooting that gives you two high percentage three point shooters to put around Duncan throughout the game.

Keep in mind that Bruce Bowen is also shooting 47% from the field but his playing time has been limited lately by about 10 minutes so the Spurs can have some younger legs at the small forward position.

George Hill is an athletic young point guard who plays well but suffers from being behind one of the best point guards in the league. Even so he has managed to average 8 pts a game and really helped the San Antonio Spurs when Tony was out.

What’s my point??

Besides the Las Angeles Lakers you are looking at the best team out West.

What are they missing? Duncan still demands a double team on the block, you have at minimum three high percentage long distance shooters surrounding him, and you have two of the best players in the entire NBA at getting to the rim, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.

They play defense, make the extra pass, have experience, and are manned by one of the best coaches in the NBA.

Sounds like a winning formula to me. If they don’t win a championship you better believe that the team that will is going to have to go through them to get it.

Western Conference Finals Match-Up Prediction: Lakers vs Spurs

Count on it.

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