NBA Hoop Thread (Non-Fro Dog Edition)

[Internet Apex]

So obviously that's exactly what's going to happen this year. My bad.

My thought, and it could be completely wrong in the end, is that the Spurs are the team to beat in the West because of their experience, their coaching and their intelligence. The rigors of the schedule have most teams in disarray. Riddled by injury and fatigue, unable to practice regularly, teams are struggling to find an identity and play anything resembling consistent NBA-caliber team basketball. The Spurs are affected less by those factors because of the continuity of the roster, the experience of their star players in the post-season and the ability of their coach to mold them into his system on the fly. When you watch them play at something close to full-strength right now, they look calm, collected and deadly in crunch time. Their record bears that out.

I will either be right or wrong about this. I don't really care which.

My point, from the beginning of this now-terrible argument (that is officially too long to post now), is that this team that you're pimping is essentially exactly the same as the last two years and both times they've had quick exits from the playoffs.  

All the reasons you're citing as evidence for why they're the team to beat in the West (experience, coaching, intelligence) have proven to be wholly insufficient for four years running, as the last time they made the finals was 06-07.

You're neglecting the part of my posts where I keep saying that the lockout makes this year different from previous years because of the schedule and that the above factors make the Spurs uniquely qualified to take advantage. I don't know why you keep doing that. But you're right, this argument sucks.

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

That's what you were doing? I had no idea.

Ok. To simplify:

Apex: "The Spurs are going to win the West because they're better than everyone else this year."
Others: "No they're not, they're going to lose again."
Fro Dog: "Something."
TDubbs: "Something."

Moving on...

[BH]

So obviously that's exactly what's going to happen this year. My bad.

My thought, and it could be completely wrong in the end, is that the Spurs are the team to beat in the West because of their experience, their coaching and their intelligence. The rigors of the schedule have most teams in disarray. Riddled by injury and fatigue, unable to practice regularly, teams are struggling to find an identity and play anything resembling consistent NBA-caliber team basketball. The Spurs are affected less by those factors because of the continuity of the roster, the experience of their star players in the post-season and the ability of their coach to mold them into his system on the fly. When you watch them play at something close to full-strength right now, they look calm, collected and deadly in crunch time. Their record bears that out.

I will either be right or wrong about this. I don't really care which.

My point, from the beginning of this now-terrible argument (that is officially too long to post now), is that this team that you're pimping is essentially exactly the same as the last two years and both times they've had quick exits from the playoffs.  

All the reasons you're citing as evidence for why they're the team to beat in the West (experience, coaching, intelligence) have proven to be wholly insufficient for four years running, as the last time they made the finals was 06-07.

You're neglecting the part of my posts where I keep saying that the lockout makes this year different from previous years because of the schedule and that the above factors make the Spurs uniquely qualified to take advantage. I don't know why you keep doing that. But you're right, this argument sucks.

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

That's what you were doing? I had no idea.

Ok. To simplify:

Apex: "The Spurs are going to win the West because they're better than everyone else this year."
Others: "No they're not, they're going to lose again."
Fro Dog: "Something."
TDubbs: "Something."

Moving on...

The Spurs have moxy, zazz AND an identify. Crown them.

[Eli]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument. Teams aren't getting very much practice time this year, so it's reasonable that the Spurs might have an advantage because of their continuity. It's certainly a more logical concept than Pen's theory of "Defeated by Phoenix in 2010: Why the Spurs Will Fail in 2012" and BH's "I Wish I Could Post a FroDog Quote Right About Now."

Don't let anyone get you down, Apex.

[BH]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument.

Reasonable. And still wrong.

[Internet Apex]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument.

Reasonable. And still wrong.

[PenPho]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument. Teams aren't getting very much practice time this year, so it's reasonable that the Spurs might have an advantage because of their continuity. It's certainly a more logical concept than Pen's theory of "Defeated by Phoenix in 2010: Why the Spurs Will Fail in 2012" and BH's "I Wish I Could Post a FroDog Quote Right About Now."

Don't let anyone get you down, Apex.

Continuity seems like a reasonable argument for the regular season and a weak argument for playoff success.  

AS HAS BEEN ILLUSTRATED FOR FOUR YEARS RUNNING.

[CT III]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument. Teams aren't getting very much practice time this year, so it's reasonable that the Spurs might have an advantage because of their continuity. It's certainly a more logical concept than Pen's theory of "Defeated by Phoenix in 2010: Why the Spurs Will Fail in 2012" and BH's "I Wish I Could Post a FroDog Quote Right About Now."

Don't let anyone get you down, Apex.

Continuity seems like a reasonable argument for the regular season and a weak argument for playoff success.  

AS HAS BEEN ILLUSTRATED FOR FOUR YEARS RUNNING.

You're also neglecting the fact that as far as Apex is concerned, the NBA didn't exist before last season and thus anything that happened prior is null and void.

[Internet Apex]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument. Teams aren't getting very much practice time this year, so it's reasonable that the Spurs might have an advantage because of their continuity. It's certainly a more logical concept than Pen's theory of "Defeated by Phoenix in 2010: Why the Spurs Will Fail in 2012" and BH's "I Wish I Could Post a FroDog Quote Right About Now."

Don't let anyone get you down, Apex.

Continuity seems like a reasonable argument for the regular season and a weak argument for playoff success.  

AS HAS BEEN ILLUSTRATED FOR FOUR YEARS RUNNING.

You're also neglecting the fact that as far as Apex is concerned, the NBA didn't exist before last season and thus anything that happened prior is null and void.

Considering that their experience and success both in the regular season and playoffs are the basis of my argument, I don't understand this Frogument at all. If you want to say that they're old and injury-prone and going to fall apart under the weight of the schedule, that's fine. It's reasonable. I know that Popovich is taking measures to avoid the probability and I believe the team is playing as well as anyone in the Western Conference at present. If they all get hurt or die, I'll admit that I was wrong. If they go to the playoffs healthy and lose to some other younger, less-experienced team, I'll admit I was wrong. Until then, I'm not doing that.

[CT III]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument. Teams aren't getting very much practice time this year, so it's reasonable that the Spurs might have an advantage because of their continuity. It's certainly a more logical concept than Pen's theory of "Defeated by Phoenix in 2010: Why the Spurs Will Fail in 2012" and BH's "I Wish I Could Post a FroDog Quote Right About Now."

Don't let anyone get you down, Apex.

Continuity seems like a reasonable argument for the regular season and a weak argument for playoff success.  

AS HAS BEEN ILLUSTRATED FOR FOUR YEARS RUNNING.

You're also neglecting the fact that as far as Apex is concerned, the NBA didn't exist before last season and thus anything that happened prior is null and void.

Considering that their experience and success both in the regular season and playoffs are the basis of my argument, I don't understand this Frogument at all.

Come on, you have to admit that was a quality stickpoke.

[Slaky]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument. Teams aren't getting very much practice time this year, so it's reasonable that the Spurs might have an advantage because of their continuity. It's certainly a more logical concept than Pen's theory of "Defeated by Phoenix in 2010: Why the Spurs Will Fail in 2012" and BH's "I Wish I Could Post a FroDog Quote Right About Now."

Don't let anyone get you down, Apex.

Continuity seems like a reasonable argument for the regular season and a weak argument for playoff success.  

AS HAS BEEN ILLUSTRATED FOR FOUR YEARS RUNNING.

You're also neglecting the fact that as far as Apex is concerned, the NBA didn't exist before last season and thus anything that happened prior is null and void.

Considering that their experience and success both in the regular season and playoffs are the basis of my argument, I don't understand this Frogument at all.

I don't think you should be sweating the Spurs this much. I don't have any analysis around this other than the Thunder are really good and would probably beat their dicks in in a seven game series with home court.

[Internet Apex]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument. Teams aren't getting very much practice time this year, so it's reasonable that the Spurs might have an advantage because of their continuity. It's certainly a more logical concept than Pen's theory of "Defeated by Phoenix in 2010: Why the Spurs Will Fail in 2012" and BH's "I Wish I Could Post a FroDog Quote Right About Now."

Don't let anyone get you down, Apex.

Continuity seems like a reasonable argument for the regular season and a weak argument for playoff success.  

AS HAS BEEN ILLUSTRATED FOR FOUR YEARS RUNNING.

You're also neglecting the fact that as far as Apex is concerned, the NBA didn't exist before last season and thus anything that happened prior is null and void.

Considering that their experience and success both in the regular season and playoffs are the basis of my argument, I don't understand this Frogument at all.

I don't think you should be sweating the Spurs this much. I don't have any analysis around this other than the Thunder are really good and would probably beat their dicks in in a seven game series with home court.

I guess I'm not worried or sweating them. I'm actually just enjoying an NBA season for the first time in a decade and I have several teams I like to follow. If the Heat are my favorite, it's only because they're the most fun to watch and have my favorite player, who is, like all great players (especially Kobe and MJ) a colossal douchecannon. When the Heat lost in the Finals last year, I was pissed. I swore at the TV. In terms of sports disappointments in ranked right up there with a random Marmol blown save in July. This year, I've invested a lot of time in the season but I'm following several teams including New York, Indiana, Chicago, LAC, San Antonio and Golden State. It's been a fucking blast. And I didn't realize how much I've missed it.

[Slaky]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument. Teams aren't getting very much practice time this year, so it's reasonable that the Spurs might have an advantage because of their continuity. It's certainly a more logical concept than Pen's theory of "Defeated by Phoenix in 2010: Why the Spurs Will Fail in 2012" and BH's "I Wish I Could Post a FroDog Quote Right About Now."

Don't let anyone get you down, Apex.

Continuity seems like a reasonable argument for the regular season and a weak argument for playoff success.  

AS HAS BEEN ILLUSTRATED FOR FOUR YEARS RUNNING.

You're also neglecting the fact that as far as Apex is concerned, the NBA didn't exist before last season and thus anything that happened prior is null and void.

Considering that their experience and success both in the regular season and playoffs are the basis of my argument, I don't understand this Frogument at all.

I don't think you should be sweating the Spurs this much. I don't have any analysis around this other than the Thunder are really good and would probably beat their dicks in in a seven game series with home court.

I guess I'm not worried or sweating them. I'm actually just enjoying an NBA season for the first time in a decade and I have several teams I like to follow. If the Heat are my favorite, it's only because they're the most fun to watch and have my favorite player, who is, like all great players (especially Kobe and MJ) a colossal douchecannon. When the Heat lost in the Finals last year, I was pissed. I swore at the TV. In terms of sports disappointments in ranked right up there with a random Marmol blown save in July. This year, I've invested a lot of time in the season but I'm following several teams including New York, Indiana, Chicago, LAC, San Antonio and Golden State. It's been a fucking blast. And I didn't realize how much I've missed it.

This is all good news and I wish to encourage this.

[Tonker]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument. Teams aren't getting very much practice time this year, so it's reasonable that the Spurs might have an advantage because of their continuity. It's certainly a more logical concept than Pen's theory of "Defeated by Phoenix in 2010: Why the Spurs Will Fail in 2012" and BH's "I Wish I Could Post a FroDog Quote Right About Now."

Don't let anyone get you down, Apex.

PRACTICE?

[Internet Apex]

A shortened, demanding schedule helps an old as hell, injury proned team how?

I just explained how.

And I, for one, thought it was a reasonable argument. Teams aren't getting very much practice time this year, so it's reasonable that the Spurs might have an advantage because of their continuity. It's certainly a more logical concept than Pen's theory of "Defeated by Phoenix in 2010: Why the Spurs Will Fail in 2012" and BH's "I Wish I Could Post a FroDog Quote Right About Now."

Don't let anyone get you down, Apex.

PRACTICE?

Practice!

[Internet Apex]

Knicks at Miami this evening on TNT. Magic Johnson on ESPN last night said that the Heat will likely be angry about an upstart Knicks squad boasting a hot streak and a new "superstar" invading their space. He predicted a Miami blowout. As do I - not just for the reasons Magic stated but because the Knicks just played the Hawks last night while Miami was sitting at home annihlating its pud and watching the LINsanity unfold on teh flatscreen.

Miami by a dozen and I'll bet anybody in the world a jar of spaghetti sauce on the point spread.