What did the 2003 Spurs do to beat that Good Lakers Team?

[sportsfan76]

I still am shocked to this day and would probably have to watch the series again to refresh my memory. Was it Bowen and Duncan? What did they do to contain Shaq?

[Droid101]

Lakers never retooled. Role players and older players decline. You have to keep stuff fresh.

See: Ray Allen on Heat.

[sportsfan76]

Lakers never retooled. Role players and older players decline. You have to keep stuff fresh.

See: Ray Allen on Heat.


But I believe they still had Horry right? And Fox

[SavageMode]

Ko-clonk.

[rzp]

Slava Medvedenco was a starter...

Robert Horry missed a 3-point shot at the buzzer at crucial game 5 (series tied 2-2), it happens, but could have changed everything.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

But I believe they still had Horry right? And Fox

Rick Fox was pretty much done IMO after that 2002 championship. They started off 11-19 in 2003 mostly due to the fact Shaq sat out in the beginning of the season. Kobe had to carry the team with pretty much weak production across the board from his role players. Shaq kind of ruined team chemistry by delaying his way back to the game. Kobe couldn't do it all by himself.

Ending the season 50-32 after three seasons of 67-15, 56-26 (arguably could have been 60+ if kobe didn't ballhog in the beginning of the season, huge kobe fan but this stuff did happen. He blew a few games away. Two come to mind: the 50 pt game against the warriors and the one against the Pacers where he took an ill advised attempted game winner), then 58-24 (they started off really well but injuries kicked in).

The team was a lot weaker and I never really understood why they didn't try to keep Tyrone Lue. The dude was a good defender, didn't give you much offense but he gave you a lot of activity.

[lakerspng]

Robert horry went something like 2-40 in the series. He was terrible and missed almost every single shot he took. The role players really didn't play well

[T_L_P]

Lakers' role players were off. I mean, most of the players were pretty shit but the Lakers almost took game 5.

Just goes to show how vital superstars are.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Lakers' role players were off. I mean, most of the players were pretty shit but the Lakers almost took game 5.

Just goes to show how vital superstars are.

And also how Bowen was playing Kobe very well to close out the series in game 6 I believe

[Milbuck]

The Lakers role players were just utter shit that series. Shaq and Kobe both showed up - Shaq put up 25/14/4/3/1 on 59% TS, while Kobe put up 32/5/4/1 on 54% TS. But San Antonio did a great job on the role players, who were already slumping, and that just eliminated any semblance of good support for Shaq and Kobe. Horry in particular was awful. He had a good game 3, in which he had 13 points and 12 rebounds on 5/11 shooting. But in the other 5 games of the series he averaged 2.6ppg on 19% shooting (6/31 FG).

[T_L_P]

Give credit to Duncan though, he had an incredible series. When he started taking it to Shaq, I think the big guy knew it was Timmy's turn.

Duncan's passing abilities -- particularly out of the double team -- was one of the big reasons why his team won. If you went with single coverage he'd just back you down in the post. If you doubled he'd kick it the open man, with scary precision.

[Ne 1]

Let's not forget, the Spurs won 60 games while the Lakers won 50. Also, Shaq showed up to training camp overweight and out of shape that year.

Personally, I don't think Kobe played that well vs the Spurs in '03, but aside from Shaq that Laker team was really weak.

Rick Fox was injured and didn't play in the series and his backup, the great Devean George, missed a game with an injury. While Robert Horry also couldn't hit a shot to save his life. He shot 26.2% from the field, 57.1% at the line and he was 0/18 on 3s.

Brian Shaw was getting 21.5 mpg for the Lakers that series and he averaged just over 3 ppg and he shot 27.6% from the field, 20% on 3s and 50% from the line.

The Spurs were just a better team. They had the best player in the league, home court advantage, Tony Parker, Stephen Jackson and at times Manu Ginobili were scoring threats, Bruce Bowen was the best perimeter defender at the time , they always had a solid big man next to Duncan whether it be Rose or Robinson and they had one of the great coaches of all time.


And despite that, if Horry's 3 doesn't rim out at the end of game 5, they go back to Staples Center with a 3-2 lead.

[Ne 1]

They started off 11-19 in 2003 mostly due to the fact Shaq sat out in the beginning of the season. Kobe had to carry the team with pretty much weak production across the board from his role players. Shaq kind of ruined team chemistry by delaying his way back to the game.
"I got hurt on company time, I'll heal on company time."

[finchyyy]

Pick and Roll.

[iBandwagon]

Give credit to Duncan though, he had an incredible series. When he started taking it to Shaq, I think the big guy knew it was Timmy's turn.

Duncan's passing abilities -- particularly out of the double team -- was one of the big reasons why his team won. If you went with single coverage he'd just back you down in the post. If you doubled he'd kick it the open man, with scary precision.

2003 Duncan was damn near 2000 Shaq, just with a different playing style.

[1987_Lakers]

I still remember how devastated I was when Horry missed that game winning shot in game 5.

[Upgrayedd]

Wasn't Rick Fox injured that series?

[T_L_P]

2003 Duncan was damn near 2000 Shaq, just with a different playing style.

Two of the all time great Playoff runs. Both were damn-near unstoppable.

[Lebron23]

Championship Fatique. Shaq was missing several games. The Spurs were hungry for an NBA Championship

[ImKobe]

Horry choked in Game 5 and they ran out of gas

[WhiteKyrie]

They didn’t retool the roster around their big two alphas. And Shaq was petty and delayed his return to the team and took awhile to work himself into shape, as usual.

[ShawkFactory]

There are usually several things that happen in every relatively evenly-matched series that sway it in a certain direction. Some have already been mentioned.

Duncan coming out and dominating from the jump in game 6 was another factor.