Tag: Spurs

Spurs sweep sets up match against either Lakers or Thunder (and we’re betting the Thunder)

“I don’t see nobody beating them,” Utah Jazz PF Al Jefferson

The San Antonio Spurs spent the weekend taking care of family business feasting on the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs for their second sweep while setting an NBA record as only the 12th team in NBA History to sweep the first two rounds as well as making the Top 10 List of NBA teams with the longest winning streak. But don’t tell Head Coach Gregg Popovich about a streak…he has no idea.

“It doesn’t exist for us,” coach Gregg Popovich said of the team’s 18th win. “We don’t talk about it. I’ve never heard anyone mention it except (in the media). It is not even a thought in our minds. Each game is a separate entity.”

The Spurs used their combination of basketball knowledge, execution and will to overcome a young Clippers squad. One thing for sure is that this Los Angeles team came to play unlike the other remaining Squad, the Lakers. The LA Clippers have played exciting basketball all year; the Lakers are hanging on by a Kobe thread and are one game away from Summer vacation.

“We had a good season,” Paul said. “I think it’s a good sign for our team, but there are no moral victories. It’s not like, ‘Oh, we made it to the playoffs and it’s all good and well.’ We feel like we should still be playing. We’re going to keep working. We’ve got some work to do. We obviously have got to get better.”

Whether the Spurs face the Los Angeles Lakers or the Oklahoma City Thunder, one thing is for sure, this Spurs club is just as good (or better) then their other championship squads and are for sure a much deeper team than those squads

“This year reminds me of when I was here the last time (2003),” said late arrival Stephen Jackson, who came in under the trade deadline. “It is a great team and great guys to be around. Nobody is worried about their personal game and everybody wants to just win. So it is still the same around here.”

The Spurs fly back home today and should arrive to a nice crowd to greet them at the San Antonio International Airport, get back home and watch the Lakers and Thunder beat each other up for the right to face them.

“I don’t see nobody beating them,” Utah Jazz PF Al Jefferson

Spurs look to experience and the deepest bench in the NBA for the Western Conference Semi’s

The San Antonio Spurs can finally work off of one game plan and as of the final buzzer on the LA Clippers/Memphis Grizzlies set out to work at their practice facility on Sunday night.

Head Coach Vinny Del Negro knows exactly what his team is facing come Tuesday night at the A T&T Center.

“Different type of team, different type of series,”  Del Negro said during the  Clippers’ postgame interviews. “San Antonio has played as well, if not the most consistently, of anybody throughout the year. They’ve won championships for a reason. They’re not going to beat themselves.”

And they won’t.  Sure there will be those folks out there that say so much time off will only hurt their game and there is something to that but this is a team that strongly remembers their exit from last year’s playoffs and rest assured they will not let it happen again. Plus, the Clippers struggled against a Memphis squad with no stars.  To the Clippers, the Spurs must look like a stellar constellation.

The Clippers, meanwhile, are ever mindful of the four-time NBA Champions and feel they have a shot and one veteran of many playoff battles, Kenyon Martin, (whom the Spurs actively pursued in the offseason) has appreciated his young team’s growth.

“The thing about Game 7 of a series, if you didn’t learn anything from Game 1, then you don’t deserve to be here in the first place,” Martin said. “I think guys really, really embrace the moment.”

Be sure to get your tickets for a potentially explosive playoff series. a

Spurs looking to close out Jazz

With the need to win game 3 in Utah, the Jazz have been taken out of their game by one of the NBA’s most fundamentally solid teams.  There are no Jazz players spouting the cliches such as “our backs are against the wall” or “we just need to hold serve.”  No instead it seems as though the Jazz are on a love fest.

“I just think we’re playing against a team that is at its peak,” Al  Jefferson said. “I don’t see nobody beating them. We ain’t given up trying. But this is a great team.”

For the Spurs, it is business as usual and the team knows just what it takes to win.  PG Tony Parker for one knows what it takes to move on.

“We can’t be satisfied with ourselves,” Parker said. “Make sure we keep the same mentality. Keep playing well. Keep playing with a lot of energy.”

Game 4 is scheduled for 8 PM Eastern time at Energy Solutions Arena is Salt Lake City.