Gino really seemed to be laboring to get back on defense. His 3-point shot was clicking in the first half before the “fire” incident, but you would expect that an ankle and/or groin injury would effect that least. He’s not driving to the hoop with any intensity and he’s not even trying to work in his mid-range jumper, which has been particularly deadly this year. Without him operating at a very high level, and of course, Timmy being Timmy, we’ll have major problems.

The Spurs are going to the same cemetery as the Suns. Both teams are old and worn out. Have you seen Bill Simmons article on the Suns? He has a few words for the Spurs too.

Simmons:
Maybe the Suns didn’t win a championship, but we’ll remember them 100 times more fondly than the brutally efficient and hopelessly bland Spurs, who taught everyone over the years that the regular season doesn’t matter, transformed the NBA playoffs into a flopathon, revived the vile and fan-unfriendly Hack-A-Shaq strategy and did everything short of sending Bruce Bowen out on the court with a chainsaw and a taser. If the Spurs were the Team of the Decade, no wonder ratings dwindled until the league’s big comeback this season. The real shame is that all the mugging, acting, eye-rolling, flopping, rule-bending and hysterical shrugging obscured what should have been remembered as a throwback sports team, a shrewdly assembled roster of well-coached guys who played beautifully together, didn’t care about credit and revolved around the best power forward who ever played. Instead, we’ll remember them as the team that turned the NBA playoffs into the World Cup. Congratulations, fellas. More…

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080501

i was so goddamn pissed off. i was riding high on my hawks pick for game 6 and a few other bets I had made at the craps table. Overall I was up $500, and feeling great. Then I make the bet on the Spurs and the over. Surely if the Spurs didn’t win I’d cover the over (183.5).

But what the hell do you know. We score 2 points in the last 3 minutes or so, I wasn’t actually watching, I was at Supercross. The Spurs brought me badluck. I later on lost all of my winnings that night. Fucking Spurs, they better stop playing like a bunch of slack jawed yokels.

The Spurs are showing the weakness of age and small ball that I have been hacking at all season long. We were lucky to draw a team in the first round even more “F’d up then we are.

Look at Dallas and Boston. Old teams that had severe trouble with young athletic teams. The Celtics were a disgrace allowing one offensive rebound after another to the Hawks. Dallas defenders were being blown by on almost every other trip down the court both this season and last season against the Warriors.

Is there any player on the Spurs team that can dunk more than a foot away from the basket? Is there any player on on the Spurs roster who has a vertical leap of more than 3 inches? Pop’s obession with the AARP line up has doomed us. Rule #1…basketball is first and foremost a big man’s game. Small ball is a politicaly correct way of coming in way under the salary cap.

During the off season, I hope the Spurs pick up some youth and athletisicm. The past couple of drafts I have watched as Pop picks one stomach churning throw away rookie after another as younger players continue to slip through the Spurs scouting net.

Pop, you are going to have answer for what you have been doing this season. You didn’t think you could fool the Spurs fans this long did you? Pop, get in the car, don’t worry about where we are going, just get in the freaking car…. You have some explaining to do to the five familias.

Capiche?

As for Bill Simmons. Bill you are in violation of NBA pecking order ordinance 107.5B, which states, no team’s fans who are under may talk about a team that is over. You have zero championships. We have thumped you hard for the last decade. You don’t have the pedigree to talk sh#t about us. Stick to writing articles about teams that are more at your level, like the Mavericks, Jazz and Nuggets. Your out of your element douche bag and in way over your head. Us..four championships, you..monkey balls. So in summary, you are in violation of NBA pecking order ordinance 107.5B and you in danger of being fined and forfetting a couple games.