FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Everyone is calling the Spurs dirty right now well I don't beleive this is true. This form of play is something I call good defence. The Spurs are coached by a great old school coach good old Pop. Now anyone who knows anything about the late 80's to early 90's times of basketball in which Pop coaches from it was a very physical defensive based world centered around the big Cetlics the Bad Boyz of Detroit and large banging players such as the begining of Shaq Hakeem Olajawuan, David Robinson, and Dennis Rodman. These players are who the Spurs model themselves from good solid passionate players all not wanting to score but shut the other team down. The perimeter defenders on the Spurs such as Manu and Bowen are the kind of players who think breathing room is pointless they will be in your face all around you suffocating you. I f they are gaurding you they are withen 2 inches of your body shadowing each movement you do. Anyone who has ever played a player like this knows its very frustrating and hard to play and concentrate at this and at a what is now considered a low contact position in the game contact is caused because if you move they are so close to you you willl end up hitting them. Another player doing this is the current Nash issue Nash was right up on Bowen and when your that close contact will happen its just an unusual form of defense not seen by the more timid gaurds of today. Probably the greatest player at doing this along with Bruce is that of Lindsey Hunter the way he shadows and hits the ball out never giving his opponent a moment of rest. Then we get down into the lower post handeled by Timmy D. The area down here wich is my personal favorite seeing as its my position is a phyiscal one solid defensive players down here such as Ben Wallace Marcus Camby and Tim Duncan all play physical you can not even get position without expecting bumps and bruises and when fighting for the rebound your fighting for your life there will be bumps and contact. Well to some it up the NBA is currently in a world where defense goes unnoticed until the physicallity involved comes out. This happens mainly in the Playoffs the Nuggets-Spurs matchup is one of the most physical brutal matchup I have seen becuase both solid old school defensive set teams fighting for the crown. And if the Spurs continue and face the Pistons there will be no whining but bumps bruises and contacts. Well basically defense is a lost art that players need to learn they need to work hard and listen to the great coaches who all say defense wins championships and you got to play a physical hard game to win.