nick! for me, it was great last night. i really like the spurs. and i really like tim duncan.

i love that he is about as normal a guy as you can be and be a multimillionaire basketball player. and i love that he is the most unselfish superstar since bill russell.

he hit so many big shots in the 3rd qtr--almost any other big-time player in the league would have pushed it in the 4th. but he saw the pistons collapsing on him, so he just drew the double teams and hit wide-open guys on the perimeter. beautiful.

detroit, great team

i won't argue that ginobili doesn't act a bit, but he's also one of the most fearless and therefore bruised-up players in the NBA. i would act too if i drew that kind of contact on a regular basis.

both of these teams are largely without the bullshitty posturing and mindless ego that can ruin the fun of the NBA. i enjoyed watching them beat the hell out of each other.

when the series started, i was looking forward to it but didn’t really care who won. after games 1 & 2, i thought it was over. after detroit stomped them in 3 & 4 it was on. i started then to remember why i loved them so much last year in the finals. they were tough and had the right kind of attitude. i’m sad they lost but it might have more to do with the fact that san antonio is such an awful city.

did you hear the introduction song for the spurs at all of their home games? gay disco is no way to introduce a team in it’s home arena.

i’m sad that i will no longer see m-m-m-m-mason introduce the pistons.

tim duncan, whom i like but could never get fully behind, saved his legacy last night. i have to give him credit when he was nailing all of his free throws when they were needed. but really, why was he the finals mvp???

waltermalling wrote:tim duncan, whom i like but could never get fully behind, saved his legacy last night.

takes more than a couple subpar games to take down a guy with two finals mvps

but really, why was he the finals mvp???

tends to happen when you average 20 and 14, shut down the middle, and take up most of the other team's defensive effort. and lead your team to a win in game 7.

hi midgett. i pretty much agree with you why he was the mvp. i should’ve worded it differently. what i was trying to say that in all the years past, the finals mvp has always really stood out through the whole series and i don’t think duncan did that. probably has a lot to do with both teams playing a more team oriented game.

duncan’s great, but don’t forget, he pretty much lost game 6 for them. and, i think if he would of shot free throws the same way he did the whole series, he would’ve heavily contributed to them losing last night. but he made them and you have to give him credit.

where is larry brown coaching next year?

i say, if he doesn’t take a year off cause of health, he’ll be in new york with the knicks.

i grew up in michigan, so have to root for detroit. i have fond memories of being a kid in the glory days of isiah, joe dumars, etc...

but, if i didnt have that bias, i could totally see the san antonio thing. they have a great story and played well.

i really liked duncan too. he had a great line the other night after the game in detroit about just having fun, and remembering why you started playing ball in the first place. maybe after hearing that i projected this on him, but last night he seemed to be outside of the game - unfazed by the hoopla surrounding, as if it were just him and the hoop.

i will say i really enjoy saying the names "chauncey billups" and "rasheed wallace" - they are both cool, fun names. i felt bad for the pistons, it just seemed an insurmountable task to upset them on thier turf. they killed in detroit, it was awesome.

nick92675 wrote:i really liked duncan too. he had a great line the other night after the game in detroit about just having fun, and remembering why you started playing ball in the first place. maybe after hearing that i projected this on him, but last night he seemed to be outside of the game - unfazed by the hoopla surrounding, as if it were just him and the hoop.

yeah, he was great, esp in the 2nd half

the thing about duncan is that everyone expects 20/10 from him at a bare minimum. like, anything less is a somewhat disappointing game from him. i guess that's true with a lot of big guys--certainly shaq, maybe kevin garnett....

duncan's weird--he isn't demonstrative but he still manages to wear his heart on his sleeve somehow. and yet he is also very, very tough. popovich had a good line after game 2--'i just ignore him.' he basically just brushed off duncan and praised ginobili to the skies. he knew duncan didn't need it and didn't care.

if tim duncan was, say, 6'8", and all fiery and shit, people would talk about his fighting spirit etc., instead of debating whether he's soft. i can't believe people still say that. it is based purely on personality. he's about as soft as a sidewalk.

i will say i really enjoy saying the names "chauncey billups" and "rasheed wallace" - they are both cool, fun names. i felt bad for the pistons, it just seemed an insurmountable task to upset them on thier turf. they killed in detroit, it was awesome.

billups could retire today, and he'd always have last year's finals to hang his hat on

rasheed is hilarious

any other matchup, i'm rooting for detroit

midge, do you think miami, with a healthy shaq, would have done as well as detroit against san antonio?

the crazy thing is duncan, ginoboli and parker are all signed through 2010!

waltermalling wrote:midge, do you think miami, with a healthy shaq, would have done as well as detroit against san antonio?

the crazy thing is duncan, ginoboli and parker are all signed through 2010!

with a healthy dwayne wade, i think the heat would have been playing san antonio

it's hard to say how the heat would have done

san antonio can play every style. they brushed off a young team with a couple good big guys (denver), chased around a small team (sonics), they ran with the nba's supreme running team (suns), and they ground it out against the best defense in the league.

i like your knowledge midgett!

that’s right. i forgot about wade having issues late in that series. i think the most impressive thing about the spurs is that they adapted to so many different styles of play to make it to the championship.

even though i’m not a big san antonio fan at all, i really, really like popovich.

any thoughts on mason?

waltermalling wrote:Matthew, do you think miami, with a healthy shaq, would have done as well as detroit against san antonio?

I think the Spurs would have run the hell out of Shaq and the Heat, then defended the hell out of them with mostly single coverage. The Spurs have a larger, deeper, more experienced bench than the Heat and would have thrown every one of them at Shaq.

All this crap before the last nights game of Duncan's legacy is absolutely ridiculous, the guy is only 29 years old.

So Walter you ready to pay up my man?