/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49368601/GettyImages-522518086.0.jpg)
Must Reads
The San Antonio Spurs have run roughshod over the Memphis Grizzlies in the first two games of their playoff series, winning by an average of 29 points. But even with the easy wins, there's been rumbling among Spurs fans about how San Antonio is winning, and how they've played most of the season. It's the absence of The Beautiful Game that the Spurs rode to victory in 2014 by moving the ball faster than the human eye could follow -- or at least faster than the Thunder and Heat could account for.
And it's the absence, or at least the scarcity, of that kind of play that has Spurs fans scratching their heads. The argument goes something like this: the Spurs have some new players on the team this season, but why should swapping Tiago Splitter for LaMarcus Aldridge make the starters completely abandon such a wonderfully pleasing style of basketball?
Well that's exactly what I talk over with Seth Warren in episode 2 of the Superfluous Poppycock podcast. First we discuss Games 1 and 2 against the Grizzlies, we argue over the team's need to galvanize vs. the importance of them getting in rhythm, I share my theory on what to expect from Danny Green in the playoffs (and what it has to do with Tim Duncan's performance in 2012-13) and then we get into the issue of the lost art of the Beautiful Game.
You can download the mp3 here or listen with the player below.
I hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave your feedback in the comments.