well said..I don’t even know if I want to watch the next game…Manu is injuried, Horry and Finley suck ass, Tim and Tony can’t do it all by themselves! I love this team, but having no bench other than Barry stepping up would eventually cost us.

Wow..what a long season it has been..I will root for them, but I just don’t think they can do it, because they absolutely no rest in between games!

I can’t believe Kurt didn’t get any minutes again..what the fuck is the matter with Pop?

I expect a good game 5.

Wow I really respect that analysis. I don’t know if I could have written something like that if my team got screwed like that. I agree that the Lakers outplayed the Spurs for most of the game and you are correct about those missed calls on Fisher and Odom. This shows me what I have always thought, which is that Spurs fans have a lot of class.

Hopefully this series will be decided on the court from now on and not with the whistles.

I was going to copy and paste what I wrote down in a response to pslakerfan but it’s just as wise that I don’t, for obvious reasons. So I’ll just leave it at this :

I hope you guys in Cali now understand why we at PtR were so skittish regarding this game. This analysis hits it right on the head, we played like crap. At least give the Spurs cred for not blaming anything on that…thing. We need to emulate them and lose with the same class we profuse to have when we win.

Good win Laker fans. You guys earned it. And truth be told, even though we are on opposite sides…should Thursday be the last time our two beloved teams clash this year, please don’t make yourselves scarce. It has been an immense pleasure talking to each and every one of you, save for the Truth fellow (who I don’t think is a Laker fan anyways). Let us know from time to time what’s going on over there, and we will do the same :)

Are you talking about a guy named “Laker Truth” If you are I think he crashes the Laker blog as well and I think you are right he is just an idiot in general.

But I really really think he’s GS (aka Ginobili Sucks)...someone we seemed to have picked up in the NO series, or earlier…just hangs around gloating/critisizing (sp?) in the worst way. Watch some of these threads tomorrow, I’m sure you’ll see him :/

Anyways, night to you good sir, I need the rest. At least today/tonight was good, until I got home and saw the travesty :/

there was contact there but your right there were a lot of factors that went into this game. although i would love to drive a stake in the heart of the spurs, i can’t stop from feeling nervous. i mean, there was no reason for the spurs to even be close in this game. and there they were. with a chance to win it and tie the series at 2-2. i’d love to gloat. but i’m too damned scared to do so. maybe after game 5. if the lakers win. as the spurs are packing up to head back to SA. maybe then. but not a minute sooner. lol.

Not just this post, but the Spurs organization in general, and the players and coaches in particular. This reputation that the Spurs have like they’re the Darth Vader of the NBA is crap, and you need just look at how they lose to see it. No excuses from any of them. Not one. Pop saying if he was a ref he wouldn’t have called that a foul either (even after Phil Jackson said it was a bump that didn’t get called)... just 100% class all around, and it continues here on this site.

The downside to being a championship team is that it’s far too hard to drop a bunch of the roster to reload, even if a lot of the guys are clearly well past their prime. There’s always a feeling that champions should have a chance to defend their title, and it’s inevitably why dynasties have a lull following their successful period. While the Spurs are definitely a long way from being at the conclusive end of their dynasty, I think they’re definitely nearing the end with a number of their fixture roll players. I would only assume that guys like Finley and Horry will be gone next year, as the Spurs will no doubt reload with great new talent. You can’t help but wonder if the Spurs hadn’t won last year if there would have been a spot on the roster this year for Scola, but that’s neither here nor there right now. This summer some roster spots will be opened up for the fresh new talent that the Spurs seem to be masters at uncovering. I expect them to be back next year with fresh, young legs to help support the Big Three, who are all still in their primes.

This series is a long way from being over, but if it does come to an end on Thursday at least every San Antonio fan can take some solace in knowing that next year things will be very different when you look down that bench.

Thank you, WY, especially for not writing the Spurs off just yet: we don’t need obituaries, right now.

The Spurs ar going to be different, next year, some of the older players won’t be playing anymore, and some younger blood will be injected in the roster during the offseason. Will they be better? Will they have someone capable of scoring, outside Timmy, Manu and TP? I don’t know, but I don’t see how their supporting cast could get any worse.

But, RIGHT NOW, we have at least another game, two days from now, and regardless of the result, I want to see the Spurs play their best basketball on thursday. I want to see them try harder, don’t make unforced mistakes, rebound and hustle, and I want to see Manu throw his body towards the basket over and over again.

Have the Spurs come back from a 3-1 series hole before? Yes. Can they do it now, against this Lakers team? Of course they “can”: game 1 and 4 were damn close, after all, and the Spurs won in a blowout on Sunday so, even if the Lakers have been generally better so far, it’s not like the Spurs have no chance whatsoever of going back to SA for a game 6.

It might be “hope”, rather than “confidence”, but I’m still not ready to give up. Not by a long shot.

“It’s time to say goodbye”? WTF?

I agree with most of the post, but we really don’t need this attitude facing 3 elimination games. I plan to stay positive somehow until the announcer says we lost this effing series, or we’re 20 points down with 3 minutes to go.

Spurs blogs should be the one place where people aren’t trying to “keep it real”.

Well said Matt. The reliance on Finley and Horry is beyond vexing. What the hell has Popovich been watching this season? Oh well, I don’t want to sound like a spoiled fan because it’s just a game.

welp, if the spurs can do the amazing, each game will be a “last shot” attempt to get to the finals. anything can happen right? right?

Is anyone else starting to feel really….dirty, with all of these laker compliments and appreciation? Don’t get me wrong, I value a classy fan’s feedback (what we see here- avoiding ridicule/gloating and showing sportsmanship) but this is starting to feel really weird. Let’s save all the “SPURS are so cool” talk until after we win or lose, mmmkay? It’s not over. We might just still beat you, and I don’t need all this love clouding my focus on hating you and your team.

If I remember correctly, didn’t you move last year about this time? Where to now?

I just threw in my mouth a little. I hadn’t really paid attention to the stats this postseason, but Robert Horry is shooting 19.4%!!!!! this postseason, and yet he is still in the rotation’s top 8. Yikes!!!

There have been many excellent post this season about how Pop has gone with old guys to avoid having to deal with the headache of bringing along younger players. He plans to ride Timmeh until his tank is dry and then retire. Pop can be and has been a great coach, but this is a shit bag move. What a selfish bastard. The way he took this season off has been disgraceful. I couldn’t believe all the coaching he was doing last night, picking the guys up, taking strategic time outs. Where in the living fuck has that been?

His Lombardi like obsession with playing defense and collecting rebounds has been replaced by his new obsession of dealing with older players and avoiding hassles. Stomach turning. Why don’t we have a Stucky or Brandon Bass? Where are all the great foreign players we were getting for a while? Has the scouting department been shut down?

I know I am not the only one who remembers when no player dare go down the center of the lane on the Spurs. Pop would call an immediate time out and rip somebody’s ass. Now, it is no big deal to have some chump dribble right down the paint and shoot a layup. Remember when we had athleticism and height? Anyone notice how Timmeh has begun to struggle with wicked double teams because we don’t have that second big guy? Somebody has to answer for these holes. I know I am not the only one who saw them at the start of the season. When Tony goes out of the game, the whole game changes. JV and Stoudamire fire up the opponents because they know they can take these midgets to school. They are like energy boosters for the Lakers.

Spurs leadership has been the model of a dynasty and the greatest of the great. Key word is “has been”. They way they have handled the game and the players this last season is unacceptable. Talk about going through the motions. This is Rudy T all over again. We don’t need a repeat of the Rockets demise. Member when they brought in Barkley and he looked like bowl of warm dog shit? All the while, Rudy T kept screaming, “We got the heart of a champion!” I do not want to see the Spurs doing that. I swear, if they bring in some old coot like Grant Hill, I am going to blow my brains out.

One more change needs to be made for next season….firing Joey Crawford and banning him for life. He needs the Pete Rose treatment.

Joey Crawford is a pig. He is a half aborted fetus that lived. He is an enemy of Pops, he is an enemy of Tim Duncan and he is an enemy of the Spurs. When he officiates a Spur game, the Spurs have an extra opponent on the floor. He is crooked. He is an egomaniac..he is a meglomaniac. He is a hermaphodite who compensates for his minature balls by bullying players and coaches. His skin is like an alien egg sack. His voice is like a cheese grate covered with cut glass. His mind has developed a leak and needs to be shut down. Beating him with a baseball bat would improve his looks. He should be sent to Iraq to serve as a camel fluffer. Joey Crawford is a failed experiment of putting together a human and a squid. Ban him for life.

I just want to give it up for the best perimeter defender in the National Basketball Association, Mr. Bruce Bowen. He’s been draining shots this series (he even hit a runner last night, a small miracle) and playing fantastic defense on the Colorado Casanova. Maybe the ref stuff was haywire last night but Kobe went to the line 0 times last night. That has to be a record. Somewhere. Round of applause for Mr. Bowen.

Out of curiosity, who guards Kobe when the Pistons play the Lakers?

Pistons look real solid in Boston tonight and their young guys are playing great.