With Parker and Gino out Roger Mason should get a lot of opportunities on offense. The Spurs have gotten off to a slow start, I wonder if they make a move at some point to take pressure off Duncan. If he has to shoulder the load with Parker & Ginobili out, he's going to breakdown himself.
Yeah... Spurs are really struggling out of the gate. They needed like super human like performance by Tony Parker to defeat the Timberwolves in 2OT, their only win of the season so far. I don't see the Spurs being much of a hassle in the west this season. They'll create problems, but I no longer view them as an elite team. The Celtics, Lakers, and Rockets are the big three. I'm not even sure if the Spurs are that much better than the Hornets. They've definitely been very disappointing so far. Manu or not, I never expected they would struggle this much. Things don't look good for the next couple of weeks either.
If you didn't expect a struggle out of them you're kinda crazy. Manu is hands down their best scorer, and losing him hurts A LOT. It really stagnates the offense and forces people in to a position that they shouldn't be in. It also takes away the one guy not named Tony Parker who can create for himself in the backcourt. Beyond that, with him lurking the perimeter, teams had to be more careful about when to double team Timmy and it also made Tony's life a little easier out there too, because he had someone taking attention away from him, allowing him to slither to the basket a little easier. I digress though...I still think the Spurs will be ok. They're going to struggle right now and were going to struggle whether or not Parker got hurt. If anything, this could almost be viewed as a blessing in disguise, much like the Arenas injury was last year. It's going to force people to step it up and play a bigger role than what they would initially be accustomed to, and if they're successful, it does a couple things. First, it gives them more confidence, knowing that they can produce when called upon. And number two, it gives the coach more confidence in them, because he knows that if they can produce in a situation like now, when there's more pressure on you to provide for the loss in scoring, that they'll be able to produce in less pressure filled situations when Manu and Tony are back. So, while the injuries hurt like hell right now (no pun intended), the team could really benefit by playing through this adversary.
Well good points Moo. I know Manu means a lot to the team, but even then, they have probably one of, if not the best bigs in the league in Tim Duncan. Not to mention one of the top point guards in Tony Parker. When I looked at the Spur's situation currently, I just remember a couple of seasons ago when we (Lakers) started the season off without Kobe. Even though we lost the best player in the league, we still managed to hold down the fort, terrifically, may I add, with scrubs like Smush, Luke, and Kwame starting for us, and Lamar being the focal point of the offense. I guess just from that experience, I expected a little more.
I hope San Antonio doesn't freak at this early letdown and make random trades left and right. That would be horrible.
If Parker is out 2 to 4 weeks he's going to miss 8 to 15 games. The Spurs play in the toughest division in the Western Conference and it will be tough to gain ground on Rockets, Hornets, & Mavericks.
