The San Antonio Spurs Will Be the 2012 NBA Champions.

I will admit though, I am disappointed he chose not to give an actual argument. Dropped/Conceded Arguments: Regular Season Performance 1. Season Record 2. PPG 3. Points allowed 4. Win Margin 5. FG% 6. 3-pt % 7. APG 8. Last 10 games 9. 18 (now 19) game win streak Post-Season Performance 1. PPG 2. Win Margin 3. FG% 3. 3-PT % 4. Record 5. APG 6. Perfect Playoff Record (extended last night with a win against OKC) Coaching 1. 2012 Coach of the year 2. Spoelstra's inability to control his players 3. Spoelstra's inability to finish key series 4. Popovich's experienceDepth of the Bench 1. PPG 2. RPG 3. APG 4. SPG 5. BPG 6. FG% 7. 3-PT% 8. FT% 9. Minutes Played 10. Miami's dependence on their two bigs 11. Lack of performance from Miami's bench Yes. .. .those are just the arguments my opponent ignored. Yes. He dropped 29 of my points. Now for my defenses. Defenses: Contention 1: Miami's win percentage Con states: "Miami's defense is far superior to the Spurs, only allowing 85 points per game while their offense averages 98. " Con gives no source for this false claim. Upon verification, that statistic is a lie. Miami does average 98.4 points per game; however, their opponents average 92.5 PPG for a win margin of 5.99 PPG. [1] San Antonio has an average win margin of 7.16 points. This contention falls flat. Contention 2: Rebounding Con states: "The edge in rebounding was arguably what led Miami over the Pacers in the final 3 games of the series, so taking rebounding as a meager stat (especially compared to blocks) is simply being ignorant. " There are problems with this contention: 1. This claim has no justification in fact, nor has Con given any 2. Even assuming veracity: a. This performance is not consistent b. They had the edge over the Pacers, not the Spurs Contention 3: Spurs Playoff Streak "The fact that the Spurs have made the playoffs 15 years in a row is completely irrelevant as to whether or not they would win the title. " It demonstrates the Spurs' ability, more so than any other team in the league, to make it to the playoffs and to do well in them. This also relates to the coaching of Popovich, who has been the coach of the Spurs each of those 15 years. His experience, not only in coaching (most of any of the 4 major sports), but with the Spurs, and with the Spurs during the playoffs gives them an advantage Contention 4: Athletic Ability "They're age will make it tough to keep pushing through for the rest of the playoffs as younger and quicker teams (like the Thunder) run the court against them. " HA! The Spurs beat OKC last night (with old man Ginobli adding 26 points). I don't need to say more. My Opponent's Argument: "When ESPN ranked the top 500 NBA players, they ranked Lebron #1 and Wade #3. The best player the Spurs have? 34-year-old Manu Ginobili, ranked 18th. " You are comparing the rank of the best player on the Heat to the third best player on the Spurs. .. .and this is a fair comparison? And what justification does this comparison have? Upon what grounds can you say that LeBron and Wade alone can carry the team to victory, something they failed to do last year? "You don't win an NBA title when your best player is worse than 17 other NBA players, especially when your competition has 2 of the top 3 players. " You're right. You win it for the 29 reasons I mentioned and Con ignored. "Miami has youth. As I touched up on, the Heat are young and the Spurs are old. " See above. "but when you have what should be a long series against a great young team like the Thunder and THEN try to play another young team like the Heat, you're oldies are gonna get worn out. " HAHA! This is too funny. . http://scores.espn.go.com... Listen to the first part of that: "So what you're saying is that the only difference between these two teams is youth vs. experience? " SA won. "Miami has better defense. This is a no-brainer, the Heat allowed only 85 points per game while scoring 95. " If only that statistic were true. .. "Also, as I said, they have better rebounding, which is a stat that far too many fans overlook as oftentimes it is key in not only a game but a series. " The regular season difference in rebounding between the two teams was marginal. But SA's bench is 4th in rebounding, compared to Miami's 15th. "The Spurs have no "go-to"" Tony Parker. Tim Duncan. Manu Ginobli. For threes, Matt Bonner. Even Gary Neal can step up. The entire SA bench. "But when was the last time you saw Manu make a clutch buzzer beater or Duncan put the team on his back in the final two minutes? " HAHA! Spurs were down by 9 at the end of the third last night. They scored 39 points in the fourth quarter to win. 39 points. And when was the last time Wade made a clutch game-winner? He is notorious for his inability to make those shots. Conclusion: Con drops virtually every one of my arguments. His contention fall flat and his arguments are unjustified. He gives no sources and gives inaccurate stats. The way to vote is obvious. ______________________________ Extend sources. Numerical citations apply to sources from Round 2.