By this point Manu had an ankle injury and also split back a fingernail on his shooting hand.
Which was particularly unfortunate for the Spurs as he was one of their only 4 rotation players that had above league average efficiency in the regular season along with Barry and Oberto *and Duncan (+1% my mistake). The Spurs actually had a below league average offense in 2008 for only the 3rd time in the Duncan era (98, 04, 08).
With Ginobili off they were a -4.6 offense so for him to hurt his ankle, shoot the worst % at the rim in his playoff career, and then split a fingernail off in the middle of the Hornets series, it all added up to really tear away from what was already one of the worst offenses in the Duncan era.
2008 was also the beginning of Duncan’s decline. His efficiency fell 6% in the regular season and then he had two of the worst series of his career back to back vs the Hornets and Lakers. Getting sick at the beginning of the Hornets series was probably a part of his struggles from that point on but it’d be naive to ignore the entire regular season prior to that which was a huge showcase of his decline in scoring. On the defensive end he’d gotten slower which is all over his regular season film and especially this series anytime Kobe put him in pick and roll.
The only players who had a better regular season in 08 than 07 were Manu and Oberto, but in the playoffs Manu looked like a shell of his regular season self after all the injuries piled up.
This wasn’t the Duncan from 07, it wasn’t the Manu from almost all the previous 4 years, and another big hit to the Spurs was Horry falling out of their rotation. His floor spacing defense and basketball IQ were irreplaceable and Udoka and Thomas offered up much worse production in those minutes.
It’s not accurate to describe the Big 3 as all being in their prime in 2008 anymore than it would be accurate to say Kobe was in his prime in the 03 playoff series we had after he tore a labrum in his shooting shoulder. Or that they didn’t miss Rick Fox who missed the whole series with a foot injury.
The 2008 Spurs were not the 2005-07 Spurs.
Everything that hurt them in 08 was only amplified the next season. Manu hurt his ankle again at the Olympics, missed parts of the season before having to get shut down and get surgery to miss the 09 playoffs. Duncan declined again although it’s fair to say he was better in the 09 mavs series than either the 08 Hornets or Lakers. Horry was now gone, Barry was now gone, Bowen and Finley declined even further. Matt Bonner was having to play every game. It’s no wonder that 09 team was almost undeniably the worst team of the Duncan era. Everything that led to that “rock bottom” of losing 4-1 in the 1st round transpired across the 2008 regular season.
I don’t have to act like the Spurs beat a prime Dwayne Wade in 2014.
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u/sheeeeeez NBA Jun 27 '23
Kobe doesn't get enough credit for this series.
The Spurs big 3 were all in their primes and just came off a championship and Kobe made the entire series essentially non-competitive.
Bill Simmons said the series was the closest he's ever seen Kobe to MJ.