SA and pro game...

[njcuse]

I don't often watch pro ball, but I watched these finals. Such a pleasure to watch SA play on both ends. They really play as a team. The chemistry, flow, passing, on offense is a pretty thing. The same team continuity on defense; working together. Reminded me a bit of the championship Knick teams.

 

[RF2044]

I don't often watch pro ball, but I watched these finals. Such a pleasure to watch SA play on both ends. They really play as a team. The chemistry, flow, passing, on offense is a pretty thing. The same team continuity on defense; working together. Reminded me a bit of the championship Knick teams.

From a basketball purist standpoint, it was beautiful to behold.

And I think that in no small part it was a by-product of having so many international players. In the US, there is an emphasis on making athletic, highlight reel plays--which has taken its toll to some extent on certain fundamentals. In the international game, there is much more of an emphasis on shooting, passing, ball handling, moving without the ball, and making the simplest plays [two points are two points, after all].

Great coaching, but great players too who bought into the system.

 

[newmexicuse]

I don't often watch pro ball, but I watched these finals. Such a pleasure to watch SA play on both ends. They really play as a team. The chemistry, flow, passing, on offense is a pretty thing. The same team continuity on defense; working together. Reminded me a bit of the championship Knick teams.

As a Knick fan it sticks in my craw to say this, but they actually remind me more of the old Celtic teams rather than those old Knick teams. However, the Spurs, old Celts, and old Knick teams all have a high degree of teamwork and making the sum of the parts exceed the individual pieces in common.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

The amazing thing is, Diaw, Ginobili, Belinelli, etc. log big minutes for them and none of those guys have reps as being good defenders, but it works because their team defense is predicated on making the offense make choices instead of shutting everything down.

As an aside, I love Splitter's game around the basket. It's so quirky, but it works.

 

[Knicks411]

I think over the last 3 games (minus the first quarter last night), the Spurs basically perfected offensive basketball.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I think over the last 3 games (minus the first quarter last night), the Spurs basically perfected offensive basketball.

So... Lebron looked unstoppable in the 1st quarter last night and had the Spurs on the run. Then 2nd quarter he shoots 1-4, 3rd shoots 2-5, 4th shoots 2-4.

What happened? He came out fired up but it only lasted for one quarter?

 

[skurey]

Yeah why didn't he score 17 every quarter?