Spurs are out!

As well they should be. The Lakers are a better team. To be fair, the Hornets were probably a better team as well. San Antonio has a lot of work to do.

It is a little strange. One of the main characteristics of San Antonio over the last ten years is that they have always made the hard decisions. When a player started to decline, the Spurs let him go. When a young guy had a good season and wanted a pay day he didn't deserve the Spurs let him go, preserving cap flexibility. But last summer, the Spurs let sentiment get the better of them. The expected Horry, Finley, and Bowen, who were clearly on the decline, to be able to step up in the playoffs. They couldn't, and now the Spurs have to use that cap flexibility to rebuild this team around Tony Parker, who is still only 25, and clearly represents the future of the franchise.

Spurs Win!

Finally.  But not for a dodgy plane they would be up 2-1 in this series. Ginobilli looks to have overcome his injuries, which has put the Spurs back on track.  If Manu is hurt, it is almost better that he doesn't play, because he takes so many shots and spends so much time with the ball.

The Lakers' role players are so much better than the Spurs' that if Parker, Manu, or Duncan are off, they can't win.  Guys like walton, Farmar, Fisher, Odom, and Turiaf are younger, more athletic and hungrier than the Spurs supporting cast.  Finley and Barry can still hit a few shots, and Bowen still does a decent job on Kobe, but Horry is done, Vaughn has always been crap, Oberto and Thomas can't guard Odom, Gasol, or Radmonovic, and Damon Stoudamire might as well not come to the gym.  

It was nice to get a big contribution from Brent Barry though, I think he is finally healthy after that calf injury, and is probably the Spurs fourth best offensive player.  Just like the New Orleans series, San Antonio need to win at home and steal one game in LA.  It doesn't matter if that is game 5 or game 7.  

In the other series, I think Detroit will win tonight to even the series at 2 games a piece.  I still don't trust these Celtics on the road.  

I think both conference finals will go seven games, and game 7 is a crapshoot, you never know what is going to happen.   

Alamo Revisited

I got it wrong, the Suns looked terrible in Game 3, and the Spurs went up 3-0.  But my prediction about the talking heads was right, because now that the Suns won game 4, the boys at ESPN are all saying the Spurs could be in trouble, the series should be 2-2, if the Suns win game 5 they can bring the series back to Phoenix, etc.

Here is my analysis of game 4; The Spurs expected to lose.  I thought the refs would be terrible, because there was no way the NBA and ABC were going to allow this series to be a sweep, but the officiating was OK.  The Spurs seemed to expect the same thing.  Every time a questionable foul was called, Popovich sort of smirked and looked at his assistants, who nodded as if they were expecting it.  Duncan shook his head and smiled, the jogged back downcourt.  I think Brent Barry actually shared a laugh with Manu at one point.  

I'm not worried about the Spurs play, the Suns are too good a team to be swept anyway.  The starters didn't play many minutes, and guys like Horry and Barry got a good run in, which should help us as we go deeper into the playoffs.