FanPost

I'm ticked off

When the Spurs lose I feel like I didn't do enough to help them win. I feel apart of this team as any irrational fan would so when the team loses, I feel like I failed. I failed Pop. I was the one who let Timmy down when he stepped up to help out on the pick and roll. I was the one who didn't set a proper screen for Tony. I was the one who didn't match Manu's heart and shrank from the moment. I was the one trying to get Kawhi to smile instead of focusing on the game. Now we've lose HCA and game 5 and I'm majorly ticked off.

I'm ticked off at Bill Simmons who declared us to be the last savior of team basketball. The team he compared us to? The f---ing '06 Mavericks. Yes, the team that went up 2-0 against the Miami Wades and then lost the next 4 due to shoddy officiating (don't worry I'm going to get to that). He declared the Spurs to be the best team since the '86 championship team effectively jinxing us for the next 20 years. Thanks you asshat.

I'm ticked off at the f---ing Thunder. The only one I have any amount of respect for is Durant. Well, maybe Brooks... he's done phenomenally this postseason. But Westbrook reminds me too much of LeBron. Harden is a punk who runs into people on purpose, especially short fuses and tries to act innocent. Sure, all is fair in love and war, but he's easily turned into one of those special players who is the epitome of douche baggery. Ibaka needs to learn some respect. The dude is 22 (maybe) and is clowning at Duncan and Manu. If the refs called goaltends correctly, Game 5 would've been won by the Spurs and Ibaka would be on the short list of "When will he get his head screwed on properly" i.e. the McGee list. I can't stand that Perkins thinks he's the sh*t when he gets bailed out by the refs time and time again.

I'm so ticked off at the Spurs crowd. I watched the game for 2 quarters and there was no energy from the crowd. How can you let these guys down so harshly? I just don't understand. They say that familiarity breeds contempt, but I would change it to complacency. Take a lesson from the Thunder crowd and get behind your players for once.

I'm extremely ticked off at the Thunder crowd. I know... I know.. Hypocrisy and all that, but it irritates me so much that anytime a foul is called on the Thunder at home, the entire crowd spends the next 5 minutes booing. Does it get the referees in your pocket? You're damn right it does, but it also raises you on terrible basketball knowledge. It's something I expect from a Miami crowd who clearly don't care to be there, or a Laker crowd because half of them are there promoting some PoS new comedy series about banging cleaning ladies.

I'm so very ticked off at the Spurs players. I understand missing shots. I understand shooting slumps. What I don't understand is why only Manu shows up for a game 5 at HOME in the WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS. You should be dying to be there. You should be fired up so much that Kawhi actually sweats. You should be diving for a loose ball like your life depends on it. What I see is a team that is running through the motions. They've already been beaten in their minds and they just seem to want the season over.

Lastly, and definitely not least, I'm ticked off at the refs. I'm so tired of people coming onto PtR and commenting saying, "The refs didn't make Neal miss all those shots." While you're absolutely right, they have completely effected (affected?) the outcome of the last 3 games. If a player doesn't get the pass in his normal spot, it could be just enough to throw off the shot. And that's exactly what the Thunder have been doing. It's exactly what Boston did to the Spurs in the 2nd half earlier this season. When the refs allow hand-checking (otherwise known as blatant pushing) the Spurs offensive attack, that relies on less talented players, suffers. There's a reason that the NBA slogan is "You need a superstar to win" and that is because those players can fight through those handchecks. But when you have a smallish point guard, a center on the wrong side of 85 and a guard who can't get a foul call to save his life going up against 3 players under 25... you're going to have a bad time. All I've noticed is that when the officials allow for a more physical game, the Spurs lose. When the officials call it semi-tightly, the Spurs win. So far, the chips have fallen for the Thunder 3 games in a row, and if you don't think that the officials are the #1 reason the Spurs didn't win one of the last 3, you either don't know much about basketball, or you haven't been watching the games. There have been countless times that calls have swung OKC's way, not to mention the numerous goaltending calls that would be automatic 2 points (note to the refs: if the ball touches the glass first... it's an automatic goaltend). There have been numerous suspect foul calls in Game 5 alone, namely the 2 on Duncan that started the OKC run. You'd have to be blind to tell me that the biggest reason the Spurs got into that big hole wasn't because Duncan was on the bench early. Not to mention that about half the turnovers in the first quarter were directly a result of the Spurs getting bumped off their route thus gumming up the offense.

Spurs teams of old times were able to change their game depending on how the officials were calling the game. They could play physical or finesse. So far, this team can only play finesse and at the moment, the officials (yes... this is about 75% on the officials at this point) are calling it physical which is CLEARLY benefiting the OKC playstyle of hack the shit out of every Spur and expect to get called on it 1 out of every 5 times, but also expect Harden and Durant to get FTs whenever they damn well please.

I didn't watch all this game. I didn't have to. I saw the writing in the stone about 3 minutes left in the first half and went for the "I'm angry because the Spurs lost" run. This will be the first time that I've ever watched the NBA where I felt like the better team was losing the series. Not like Memphis last year, where I thought we were the better team, but ended up playing worse for that series. I've watched all these games and I truly believe that SA has the better team. Unfortunately for them, the refs (through no conspiracy) have decided to call the style of the game in favor of OKC.

I've watched a lot of Spurs games over the last 3 years. The most frustrating thing of all is that none of the Spurs seem to care. None of them have any heart the last 3 games. Where is the fire that showed by the bench coming back against Dallas? Where is the pride shown when LA crushed us at home, and we decided to show them what's what? Where is the heart that only Manu seems to show right now?

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