Only road-block for Phoenix is San Antoinio in my opinion. They just don't match up well with them for some reason. Suns will have more trouble with Spurs than Miami if they end up facing the Heat in the end. If Phoenix somehow ends up in the Finals against Detroit, the Pistons don't stand a chance. Yes, they have a solid defense, but all that will account for is knocking Phoenix from scoring 110-125 down to 100-110 range. That's still far too many points for the Pistons to compete........
suns aren't deep, don't have any defense, don't have a legit big man to guard duncan (look what the big guy in dallas did when he stayed out of foul trouble), and you think the spurs are false favorites? i thought people were smart on this site.
Spurs in 5
As far as the heat and pistons go, it all depends on SHAQ. If shaq is 80 percent or better, heat will win
Heat and Spurs
then flip a coin
Spurs in 5
As far as the heat and pistons go, it all depends on SHAQ. If shaq is 80 percent or better, heat will win
Heat and Spurs
then flip a coin
Camocazie.......
I have the Suns at 33-1 to win the title. As much as I want to believe they can attain that goal, the Spurs are the one team I am concerned about. They don't match up with them well for some reason, but I don't think it has as much to do with Duncan as it does with Ginobili and Tony Parker. I do think San Antonio can win the series over Phoenix, but no way they do it in 5 games with Phoenix having home court.......
I have the Suns at 33-1 to win the title. As much as I want to believe they can attain that goal, the Spurs are the one team I am concerned about. They don't match up with them well for some reason, but I don't think it has as much to do with Duncan as it does with Ginobili and Tony Parker. I do think San Antonio can win the series over Phoenix, but no way they do it in 5 games with Phoenix having home court.......
The Suns match up fine with the Spurs. They blew the second game of the year at home only because Nash came off an injury and ran out of gas late, leading to the blown lead. I don't buy into the bad matchups argument. The teams are fairly even, doing different things better than the other. The Spurs three best defenders generally will guard lesser Suns options on offense. The two big threats, Nash/Stoudamire, will be matched mostly by Parker and Mohammed. Duncan will get his points, so will Stoudamire. Nash won't be bothered too much by the defense, but will have to find ways to keep his teammates in good spots to shoot. The Spurs will do lots of on the fly doubling so the Suns will have to hit open 3's. On the other side, Ginobili has to attack the basket with no abandon. Duncan needs to dominate the boards more than score a lot of points. Both benches will be called on to come up with bonus points. Its an incredibly even series, I am not even venturing a guess as to who comes out on top. Besides the best team doesn't always win a short series, so a few breaks or key clutch baskets could decide it. No matter what, I think the winner has to be a pretty good favorite over the East. Certainly not as big as in recent years, but still the West has the two best teams.
WildBill said:
How have you been Bill? Good I hope.......
Pretty good writeup above, but I kindly disagree with 2 things....
1st, there are such things as matchup differences/problems when any 2 specific teams face each other. Secondly, I do not think the Spurs should be heavy favs against either Eastern team. Detroit could definitely defeat San Antonion in a series, and I think Miami would.........
Of course there are matchup issues, but good teams such as those at this level give as many problems as they take. Each has something they do well enough they can compensate. I find it funny when people talk so much about how are the Suns going to cover Duncan. Why don't they ever ask that about Stoudamire? He has killed the Spurs this year, his worst game he scored 35 points. Duncan got 30 and 16 in the two wins he played in.
I just think people looking at the series are entering it with biased minds. Maybe defense wins championships, but not always. Maybe championship experience is better, but not always. Fact is people are making broad assumptions about these teams and assuming they hold. So many pundits and even coaches are convinced you beat the Suns playing a methodical pace, but anyone who does 5 minutes of work can see that is just not the case. I guess from my perspective, I hope people keep up with the faulty assumption.
If the Spurs are going to win this series they are going to have to run at times. They are going to have to play at a higher pace than they did in the first two rounds. If the Suns are going to win, they are going to have to rebound better than they did against Dallas. Both teams are capable of doing those things. I just think with all this in mind the result will come from one team getting some breaks and maybe just finding a way to accentuate their positives a bit more.
As for East versus West, its just my opinion. I think both Western squads are loaded with better talent. Better teams don't always win though and sure either one could lose in the Finals. I think we all can agree the Lakers had slightly better talent last year, but an injury to Malone and a bad run of games for the rest of the Lakers spelled doom.
I just think people looking at the series are entering it with biased minds. Maybe defense wins championships, but not always. Maybe championship experience is better, but not always. Fact is people are making broad assumptions about these teams and assuming they hold. So many pundits and even coaches are convinced you beat the Suns playing a methodical pace, but anyone who does 5 minutes of work can see that is just not the case. I guess from my perspective, I hope people keep up with the faulty assumption.
If the Spurs are going to win this series they are going to have to run at times. They are going to have to play at a higher pace than they did in the first two rounds. If the Suns are going to win, they are going to have to rebound better than they did against Dallas. Both teams are capable of doing those things. I just think with all this in mind the result will come from one team getting some breaks and maybe just finding a way to accentuate their positives a bit more.
As for East versus West, its just my opinion. I think both Western squads are loaded with better talent. Better teams don't always win though and sure either one could lose in the Finals. I think we all can agree the Lakers had slightly better talent last year, but an injury to Malone and a bad run of games for the rest of the Lakers spelled doom.
