Oh how the mighty have fallen:
Over the decade the spurs have been the most consistent and poised team in the league. . This decade they have brought us 3 championships in 03,05, and 07. They were successful over those years because of a simple formula.  It would be Tim and Bowen who would set the defensive tone thorough games. Then Parker and Ginobili did what they did best slashing to the basket and scoring in the clutch. Any team facing the spurs knew that if they weren't scoring you weren't either. Recently though the sad truth is that we suck and cant execute the ball as well down the stretch plus our defense sucks. Whatever it may be chemistry,bad rotations, overall we are just playing bad and need to improve.

What is going wrong?

• Defense sucks
• Parker fighting injures
• Don't have a stable lineup yet
• To much pressure on Ginobili

 Coming in we were expected to be so good that some sport analyst had us winning the championhsp already.  Well BS that's not going to happen any time soon. As you can see it is a number of things that have doomed us so far this season. Lets take a closer look at these problems now.

Defensive problems:

The spurs calling card has always been defense. This season their calling card has been giving up big leads and incapable of playing 48 min a game. A huge reason to that is because of how our defense just seems to disappear and lets teams come back. Were are currently 7th in opp ppg, and 13th in opp FG%. Those are horrible numbers or at least in spurs standers. We wont win a championship with that kind of defense. I think most of you are to hard on the front court. We don't need a trade for a big. We need a defensive wing stopper. The reason our front court is having problems this season is because of how bad our perimeter defense is. Long story short our defense needs improvement.

Tony Parker's Injury:

Pakrer was coming off a career year and it seemed liked he would only get better. Then he went to play for France and injured his ankle. Parker and the spurs said he would be fine. As the season went on though he seemed a step slower and some of us wonder why. Then reports came out that Parker had plantar fasciitis. It will probably stay with Parker but he is still capable of scoring and play making. What worries me is that come playoff time when his min increase he will run out of steam. If parker does come healthy to the playoffs that could be a major boost to the spurs playoff run.

Don't have a stable lineup:

One reason why the spurs have had so much trouble this year is because of chemistry issues. Players on this team just dont seem to know what their role is.  One night Roger mason can be given huge min the next day he doesn't get any. That has been the story all season long. Pop has been trying to find the best lineup to work with. We are in February and still don't have a stable lineup. Not to mention that we have Theo Ratliff coming in and out of the lineup. All these changes are just going to make this team have more trouble gelling. I wont be surprised if pop try's another lineup change when Ratliff starts to get more min in march and april.  I think if we would stay with one consistent lineup this team overall would start to play better. 

To much pressure on Ginobili:

 Im not buying into you  fan's that say Ginobili is done and old. He is the same player he use to be just on a different team than he is use to. With Parker injured and Jefferson not scoring like he should that puts more pressure on Ginobili to score more.  In the 4th quarter this year manu has not been himself and I will tell you why. Because his teammates let the lead go away and miss the open shots he gives them. By the time he try's to score and bring them back  it is to late the other team has already came back and has the momentum. Ginobili keep saying in interviews we are a contending team but need to play better as a team. That is why in the first half of the season Ginobili would pass first then shot and drive less often. As of late though he has been getting to the rim and finishing lately. He just needs to get his stroke back from the the 3 and he will be fine

 What needs to go right

• less small ball
• Defense must improve
• team needs to play 48 min a game
• Stable lineup

My Conculsion:

I believe in this team and do see our team as a contending team but facing reality is tough. There are only 32 games  left and this team has been inconsistent down the stretch executing. The defense is not what it use to be in the championship runs. Tony Parker is fighting with the PF and probably will contuie so into the playoffs.  We have 22 road games left and only 12 home games left. Out of the 39 games 22 are against teams with a record of 500 or better. I think the team we have now is capable of winning a championship but the time to right the ship is now. The once mighty spurs might just be fighting for a playoff spot if they continue playing the way they are. In the long run looking back if it is over thanks for the memories spurs.