Siete Triunfos

City of the Year - That was freaking insane. (No, I'm not talking about President Trump firing F.B.I. Director James Comey on Tuesday. While that was the desperate attempt of an unstable leader to cover up the high crimes and misdemeanors that could prove his illegitimacy and was unquestionably insane, luckily for the former reality show star who currently occupies the White House, this is a basketball blog series so, for our purposes, a reference to 45 most likely refers to Michael Jordan's post-retirment bad luck jersey number.) Of course, the insanity that I'm referring to is the madness that took place at the AT&T Center down in San Antonio on Tuesday evening or what will henceforth always be known simply as Game 5. Where to begin? I guess the obvious. Reaching deep down for my inner-Charles Barkley, "GINBOILI!" 36 hours later, I can't get enough. I've been replaying the block over and over again in my mind. The basketball IQ required to be able to anticipate from behind the play (after getting beat) the exact place where James Harden is going to shoot the ball, jump before he goes into the shot, and meet him in the air at the perfect time to block it clean as a whistle is through the stratosphere. No other basketball player that I've seen it my life could/can tap into the combination of intangibles it takes to make that play. None. What a special, special player. (Hey Brian, I know you were smiling down on your favorite player for that one.) I mean, come on. Not only the anticipation, but the utter fearlessness to even go for it. Keep in mind, with Manu, these types of things don't always work out. More than any other player in the history of the NBA, his game exemplifies the saying, "live by the sword, die by the sword." Remember, Manu cost us a series (and probably a title) when he fouled Dirk Nowitzki going for an irrational block. That foul allowed the Dallas Mavericks to tie Game 7 of the 2006 Western Conference Semifinals and send the game into overtime (where they outlasted us en route to the NBA Finals). Manu's block attempt on Tuesday night carried with it the same inherent risk. If he had come up with arm on that attempt, James Harden would have been at the line shooting three free throws and would have likely sent the game into double overtime. But alas, the combination of Manu's unequaled anticipation and fearlessness paid off on Tuesday and this time, the #BlackAndSilver lived by the sword. We lived by the sword in a big way... 

Oh, by the way...reminiscent of Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals, Manu also had a huge dunk in the second quarter of this game to help the San Antonio Spurs hang on in overtime to defeat the Houston Rockets 110-107 in Tuesday's pivotal Game 5 and take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference Semifinals. While Manu's Game 5 heroics were deservedly headline grabbing, the player of the game was Danny Green. With Kawhi Leonard sidelined with knee and ankle injuries, Danny single-handedly outscored the Rockets in overtime 7-6 hitting the two biggest shots of the series so far, a deep clutch three and a driving layup plus the foul (both times after the Rockets had threes of their own to take the lead). Danny finished the game with 16 points (4-8 behind the arc), five rebounds, three assists, and one legendary playoff performance now added to be counted among the upper-echelon of legendary Spurs playoff performances. I'll be honest, with Kawhi sidelined and LaMarcus Aldridge once again out of sorts, things weren't looking good three minutes into the overtime period. The Spurs were scoreless and seemed dead in the water after Patrick Beverley dropped a three pointer to give the Rockets the lead. Luckily, Jonathan Simmons got himself the free throw line with 1:28 left to close the gap to one point and that was enough "juice" to give the Spurs a spark so that Danny Green cold take over and bring us home. I could spend several hours writing a detailed recap of this game but unfortunately there simply isn't any time. Due to work and travel commitments, I've had precious little time over the past 36 hours to get anything down on paper and have instead been relegated simply to basking in the glory of this historic win by replaying Manu's block and Danny's clutch shots in my mind. As of the completion of this post, it is still unknown whether Coach Pop will allow Kawhi to play tonight. If it's meant to be and Kawhi takes to court at the Toyota Center in Houston, I have full confidence that he will continue accepting the passing of the torch from Tim Duncan that we talked about in Tres Triunfos by channeling TD circa 2003 with another franchise cornerstone performance to close out another hard-fought playoff series on the road in six. If, for some reason, it's not meant to be and Kawhi can't go...well, his teammates proved in overtime on Tuesday that we can still get this thing done as a team. It's easy to say "next man up" but in order to execute it to the degree that the Spurs have so far in this series, losing Tony Parker and now possibly Kawhi, it takes something more than words. It takes something that doesn't come simply from the players, or the coaches, or the franchise. It takes something that comes from the entire city. The type of thing that allows a city to keep believing even when your two best players are sidelined with injury and you've gone three and a half minutes into an overtime period without scoring a single point. You know, a certain little something that earns said community the title, City of the Year. In order to have overcome all of the adversity we've faced during this playoff series and put ourselves in a position to close out our in-state rival tonight, it has taken all of us believing whole-heartedly in what we can accomplish together. Tonight, the city of San Antonio's greatest weapon to accomplish the goal of closing out the Rockets is our faith.

#GoSpursGo

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Headline Image Source: NBASpurs on Reddit

Four Behind

Take the Power Back - I'd never spent that much time thinking about it. I never really needed to. His performance was too consistent, his presence too permanent. Few things in life were as reliable. Tim Duncan was the San Antonio Spurs and the San Antonio Spurs were Tim Duncan. It sounds so simple yet it's the simplest things that are the easiest to take for granted. Sure, the unthinkable briefly crossed my mind every now and again. An occasional wandering of thoughts is unavoidable. But those thoughts were always accompanied by distance. The type of distance that evokes flying cars or life on Mars. On the rarest of rare occasion that I pondered the end of Tim Duncan's career, it always felt sequestered. In fact, even after the flood of emotions that I experienced watching Timmy put one finger in the air as he left the court in Oklahoma City on May 12th, 2016, up until the morning of July 11th (the last hours of his status as an active NBA player) a part of me remained steadfast that his status would never change. Heading into the summer after dealing with the pain of our shocking second round playoff exit, I certainly expected Tim to return for a 20th season and at least one more run at a Jordan-tying sixth NBA championship. Perhaps for those couple of months that followed the 2015-16 season but preceded Timmy's announcement I resorted to denial as a tactic for ignoring the writing on the wall. here's no question that I had already spent years ignoring the inevitably of a pesky little truth called biological certainty. But given Duncan's stature in San Antonio and consistency on the court, what else was I supposed to do? I had nothing else to draw upon for the entirety of my adult life. Ever since the first moment I left my parent's home as a snot-nosed 18 year old college freshman, Tim Duncan has been a member of the San Antonio Spurs. In fact, Timmy and I both moved to San Antonio in the summer of 1997 (him to start his rookie season with the Spurs, me to attend Trinity University). In the 19 years that have come and gone since, I've moved away from San Antonio on three separate occasions (returning to live there again after the first two times I moved away). In 2004, I moved from San Antonio to Detroit. In 2006, I moved from San Antonio to Dallas. In 2014, I moved from San Antonio to Denver (Yes, I know I have a proclivity for moving from San Antonio to cities that start with the letter D). Timmy, on the other hand, has been in the Alamo City the entire time. Winning basketball games.

So yes, I'll admit it. I had not spent an adequate amount of time thinking about the end of Tim Duncan's basketball career to be prepared for his July announcement. I hadn't spent an adequate amount of time wondering what it would be like to watch his final game. Or where I would be when I watched it. Or how I would feel. I guess, given Timmy's personality and tendency to avoid the limelight, I assumed the possibility that I wouldn't even know for sure that I was watching his final game until after the fact. Like during Game 5 of the 2014 Finals, for example. The thought briefly crossed my mind that I could be watching Timmy's last game should he decide to follow in the footsteps of David Robinson by choosing to go out on top. Yet, even though the possibility crossed my mind, somehow I knew that the 2014 title wasn't the end. How could something so permanent as Tim Duncan's consistent greatness end? How could such overwhelming feelings of accomplishment and joy that accompanied Duncan raising a fifth NBA Championship Trophy be suddenly swapped out by the overwhelming feelings of loss and grief of a retirement announcement? In contrast, we knew prior to the 2002-03 season that it was going to be David Robinson's last year. So, having dealt with that reality in advance, the Spurs winning the title in his last game of his last year added to the sense of joy and accomplishment. Since it had been long assumed that Tim Duncan would not make any such announcement in advance of his retirement, it just seemed cruel to think that the devastating news of his retirement might come immediately on the heels of the joy of winning a title. That just wouldn't have fit his personality. Therefore, knowing that there would never be any advanced warning of Timmy's retirement, I was content to put the inevitable out of mind and blindly sip from the sweet nectar of eternal basketball life, year after year after year. In retrospect, perhaps I should have been thinking much more seriously about life after Tim Duncan. Perhaps I should have been preparing. Had I had the wisdom to not allow myself to be seduced by the mirage of permanency emanating off the horizon as I cheerfully trotted along my 19 year long Tim Duncan basketball journey, perhaps I would have been prepared for the violent swiftness with which such a journey ends and the next phase of life begins. One thing is for certain. I could have never imagined (during those wonderful years that I spent blissfully ignorant to the concept that the career of the greatest San Antonio Spurs player of all-time would eventually come to an end) where I would be on the day Timmy played his last game. I could have never imagined where the journey would end. I could have never imagined that as Tim Duncan's basketball career came to an abrupt end in early May on a Thursday night in Oklahoma City, I would be holed up watching him leave the court on a tiny television in a dreary hotel room in Boise, Idaho. 

* * *

It's rough to lose any playoff series. Losing a playoff series where two of the games were decided by questionable refereeing that benefited your opponent? That is particularly rough. Give them credit, though. Oklahoma City played well enough to win the series. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were phenomenal. But the #BlackAndSilver played well enough to win the series, as well. When two teams are that evenly matched, it is extremely disappointing to have officiating mistakes be the difference maker in who advances and who goes home. We should look very seriously at putting in place more safeguards to prevent official error from deciding NBA playoff games because mistakes of that magnitude not only affect the outcome of one game or series, they can potentially create a ripple effect that shifts the course of future NBA events for years to come. Had the two games where refereeing played a factor in the outcome broke our way instead, San Antonio probably wins the series 4-1 in five games and the landscape-altering NBA off-season that followed the 2016 NBA Playoffs may have played out quite differently. Maybe Kevin Durant makes a different free agency decision if his Thunder had lost in the Western Semis instead of blowing a 3-1 lead against the defending champs in the Conference Finals? Maybe the James-Irving-Love Cavaliers get broken up if they don't have an end to their season that is so storybook...you'd be hard-pressed to find a fiction writer who could have done a better job writing it? Maybe Timmy makes a different decision on his retirement if he had gotten closer to tasting or had even tasted his sixth NBA championship? Maybe he doesn't lift that one finger in the air while walking off the court at the Chesapeake Energy arena after Game 6?

Unfortunately, what ifs are what ifs for a reason. In this case, the reason is that no amount of protesting the karmic injustice can change the fact that official error did indeed rear its ugly head and factored massively into deciding Tim Duncan's final playoff series. There is no redemption to be had so what we are left with is the now iconic image of Timmy lifting that one finger in the air while walking off the court after Game 6. It's only fitting that Tim Duncan is the player of the game for his final game. This is not just a ceremonial selection. TD was legitimately the best Spur on the court, logging 19 points (7-14 from the field, 5-6 from the line) and 5 rebounds in his final 34 minute NBA run. Accompanying him during many of his most effective minutes of the game was fellow 40 year old, Andre Miller. Miller only played 9 minutes, but he played those 9 minutes with Timmy and dulled out 4 assists. The pair were so in sync during a brief stretch in the fourth quarter, they sparked a Spurs run that culminated in a Danny Green free throw that cut the Thunder lead to 11 with 3:45 left in the game. Given that we were blown out of the water in the second quarter and faced a deficit as large as 27 points midway through the third, obviously the overwhelming statistical probability suggested that it was too little, too late. Still, it was nice to watch the old guys lead a comeback that was meaningful and for a brief second even made me believe. That glimmer of hope was short lived, however, because after Russel Westbrook drained a three pointer with 2:25 left in the game to extend the lead back up to 14 at 104-90, it became brutally apparent that the Tim Duncan - Andre Miller led comeback was going to come up short. Nevertheless, classy as ever, Coach Pop (perhaps knowing something we didn't, perhaps just sensing the possibility of the moment) kept Tim Duncan in the game until the bitter end, playing him every second of the fourth quarter.

It's funny how, like a chameleon, a moment can be colored differently depending on the context in which it is viewed. On Thursday, May 12, 2016, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the San Antonio Spurs 113-99 in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals to win the series 4-2. While this series will be remembered as the last playoff series that the greatest Spurs player of all-time lost in his career, it should also be remembered as the last playoff series that Kevin Durant won for Oklahoma City before abdicating his opportunity to become the greatest Supersonic/Thunder player of all time. Sure, Kevin Durant decision to join the Golden State Warriors on Independence Day was his alone to make and I'm happy for him and his family if the decision yields fulfillment in his personal life. But coming from the perspective of a basketball historian, in my opinion, Kevin Durant's decision was the equivalent of strapping a suicide bomb to his legacy as a basketball player and pressing the trigger button. Sure, great players have switched teams in free agency before but joining a team that won an NBA record 73 games in the previous regular season and then went on to defeat the only team you have ever played for in the Western Conference Finals in a series that your team was up 3-1 and should have closed out? Unprecedented. With this decision, Kevin Durant gave away his opportunity to reach the level of greatness that could have one day put him in the conversation with the likes of a Tim Duncan. There is no shortcut for leading the NBA team that drafted you to the NBA mountaintop. It bestows upon a player a level of greatness that cannot be obtained by a player who wins a title after joining a ready-made NBA championship quality team in free agency. If Durant leads the Warriors to an NBA title or two, so what? They were already capable of winning NBA titles without him. Similarly, the Golden State Warriors (as a franchise) have relinquished their opportunity to enjoy the fruits of building a dynastic program from the ground up like Tim Duncan's Spurs before them. Any more titles that the Warriors can add to the one they've already won won't get to go in the same category. The first one was the work of a homegrown champion but, by adding Kevin Durant, there can now never be a homegrown dynasty. Any more championships they earn will be accumulated in the category of work done by a super team. In my opinion, any future Kevin Durant era Warriors titles will never carry with them the same authenticity of the first pre-Durant Warriors title.

Back to Durant's legacy as an individual player, the bottom line is that delivering one championship trophy to the Oklahoma City Thunder would have been more valuable than whatever number he ends up winning in Golden State. I mention all of this not to turn my Tim Duncan retirement piece into an anti-Kevin du-RANT (get it?). Rather, I mention Duran't decision as a point of comparison to underscore the scarcity of greatness on the magnitude of what Tim Duncan has been able to accomplish. Case in point, LeBron James. We just finished watching The King complete a challenge that (after taking a similar path of less resistance as Durant by choosing to chase championships in Miami for four years) was his only pathway back into the conversation of greatness on the level of a Tim Duncan. James' deliverance of a championship to the franchise, the hometown, the state he had abandoned five years earlier was a legacy-changing accomplishment. It was an unorthodox path, but he eventually delivered for the franchise that drafted him. Who knows, perhaps Kevin Durant will one day return to the Oklahoma City Thunder and follow in LeBron's footsteps to find a path back to true greatness but that seems very unlikely, at this point. While LeBron's latest heroics, indeed, elevated him back into the conversation of true greatness, it must also be mentioned that it took Cleveland landing three number one overall draft picks during his four year abandonment to give the team enough assets for LeBron to have the talent around him to deliver on that opportunity for greatness. Tim Duncan, in comparison, just kept grinding and pounding and building and winning for his program for nineteen years straight. Unlike KD, LeBron is still in the hunt but Tim Duncan's legacy is still significantly ahead. 

* * *

It was the 2003 NBA Playoffs. 98.5 The Beat held a promotion that year during San Antonio's postseason run soliciting Spurs themed songs from local artists to play on air. As huge Spurs fans, who happened to also be dope emcees, we thought that a submission could be a good opportunity to get some name recognition for our band in advance of the 2004 release of our debut studio album. After the Spurs eliminated the three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals, the entire city was lit. If you weren't there to experience it, you can probably imagine the swagger emanating out of little ole San Antone when we were the city who ended Hollywood's Shaq-Kobe dynasty. It was infectious, one of the best energies the city's ever produced. So, like any respectable artists would, we harnessed our share of it by getting in the lab.We recorded Hate Us Now [Spurs Remix] on a Saturday afternoon in late May. The following Monday, we dropped off a CD copy of the track at the radio station and promptly returned to going about our business. A couple of days later, it happened. I was flipping through the radio dial when I realized that 98.5 The Beat was playing our song. I called up Brian to let him know, he turned it on as well and we both proceeded to freak out with excitement. There's a brilliant scene in the movie That Thing You Do which magnificently captures the unadulterated joy an artist feels in the moment she/he first discovers that her/his music is playing on the radio. In the scene, the bandmates jump for joy in the appliance store owned by the drummer's family as their song first plays. This scene perfectly captures our experience. I suspect it perfectly captures the experience of many artists.As you can probably guess, after first hearing our Spurs cut on the radio, we kept our ears glued to the station. A couple of hours later, they played it again. This continued for a couple of weeks. We were ecstatic. It was the first time a Rhime Divine track had ever received what we considered real radio play. Sure, we had gotten some stuff on air a few times before on college radio. But this was The Beat. You see, in little ole San Antone, 98.5 was the big league for local hip hop artists. Being on their airwaves was validating. It proved to be an important stepping stone in our development as artists. By the time that summer was in full swing, with a song in rotation on local radio and our beloved Spurs marching towards the NBA Finals, Brian and I were on Cloud Nine. On June 4, we attended Game One of the 2003 NBA Finals at the SBC Center in San Antonio. We were in the building to witness Tim Duncan's first act in one of the most dominant individual performances in NBA Finals history. TD's performance was so dominant in that series, he would go on to cap it off with a damn near quadruple-double (21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, and 8 blocks) in Game 6 to close out the New Jersey Nets. Duncan, coming off back-to-back MVP seasons, delivered San Antonio our second championship that June. With Tim Duncan dominating the NBA and with a Rhime Divine track on the airwaves contributing to the soundtrack for a city, man...that was a good summer.

At a short press conference held at the Spurs practice facility to honor Tim Duncan on Tuesday, July 12th (the day after Timmy's retirement announcement), Gregg Popovich spoke about all of the people who had opportunity created for them because of the greatness of Tim Duncan. Coach Pop talked about all of the players, coaches, front office staffers, journalists, and so on who owe much of the opportunity they found for themselves in little ole San Antone to the greatness of TD. I'm not sure if he's aware of it, but Coach Pop can add a generation of local San Antonio hip hop artists to the list of people who had opportunity created for them because of Tim Duncan's greatness. After the 2003 Spurs song submission campaign was so successful, 98.5 The Beat decided to make it an annual tradition and kept it going for many years after. Because of Tim Duncan's greatness, the San Antonio Spurs were perennial title contenders for 19 years straight. The Beat's Spurs song submission campaign would not have been sustainable, year after year, if the Spurs weren't always in the playoffs making noise and in the hunt for championships. Because of Tim Duncan's greatness, a generation of San Antonio's local hip hop artists got to experience what it feels like to have a song get that coveted real radio play. Dozens of artists over the years felt the euphoria of landing the radio dial on their own song for the first time because of Tim Duncan. Those opportunities only came about because of his greatness.

Tim Duncan is my favorite athlete of all-time and that will never change. Brian was always a Manu Ginobili guy but (as a Spurs fan) he obviously also loved Tim Duncan. Had he still been with us, I suspect Brian would have gotten as much enjoyment out of watching the end of TD's career as I have. Perhaps he did from a different vantage point. Duncan's announcement this past July was rough. It's been really hard to say goodbye. Timmy, from one artist to another, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for the countless memories. Thank you for the championships. And thank you for giving Rhime Divine our first radio play and our That Thing You Do moment. 

* * *

I didn't get to see the first half of Game 6 of the 2016 Western Conference Semifinals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. I was obligated to settle for streaming the audio through NBA League Pass as I drove around Boise, Idaho conducting home visits as part of the union campaign I was in town to work on. Now having obtained the convenience of hindsight, I could have never imagined that instead of watching Tim Duncan's final game in undistracted solitude, I would find myself at the mercy of a situation where it was necessary for the viewing of my beloved Spurs in a playoff game to take a back seat to my obligations in the real world. As referenced earlier, I also could have never imagined that I would be in Boise, Idaho (of all places) while Timmy played his final game in the NBA. Even though I didn't know at the time that this would end up being his final game, the entire episode of being in Boise working rather than at home watching the game just felt weird and wrong. Perhaps it was my subconscious sensing trouble on the horizon but something just felt off about the game and the environment I was experiencing it in almost immediately following hearing the opening tip on the radio. As Oklahoma City exploded to a 24 point lead by halftime, I felt completely vulnerable listening along while I drove from house to house conducting my home visits. There is an extra level of helplessness I always feel when listening to the Spurs on the radio instead of watching the game on television. But in a game of the magnitude of an elimination playoff game? That feeling of helplessness was excruciating. By the time that I completed my work and was able to rush back to my hotel room, the third quarter was already underway and (one valiant Spurs comeback attempt not withstanding) the writing was already on the wall.

As the final buzzer sounded in OKC's victory eliminating the Spurs, just like Coach Pop, ESPN (who was broadcasting the game) must have sensed the possibility of the moment. The network brilliantly kept their cameras locked on Tim Duncan from the second that the clock turned to zeroes until the second that Timmy finally receded into the tunnel and out of sight of the cameras. Considering that Tim Duncan had given no indication prior to the game (one way or the other) regarding his possible retirement, the fact that Coach Pop felt compelled to play him the entire fourth quarter and that ESPN felt compelled to leave their cameras transfixed on him just in case it was his last game during a moment also significant for the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise, is a testament to Tim Duncan's enormous stature in the game of basketball. As I watched the end of the game on that tiny television in my hotel room in Boise, Idaho, it dawned on me that this moment felt different than all of the end of season moments that had come before. ESPN's cameras stayed locked on Timmy just in case it was the last time one of the greatest basketball players of all-time walked off of an NBA court. Inexplicably, tears started welling up in my eyes as transfixed, I watched my favorite player of all time dutifully congratulate his opponents and then walk stoically towards the tunnel. Of course, I still didn't know it at the time but that tunnel may as well have been the history books. When Timmy somberly lifted the single finger in the air as he approached the tunnel to acknowledge the classy OKC fans who were paying tribute to him, I must concede that in the moment, the gesture had a haunting sense of finality to it. I was so overcome with emotion as, for the first time, I truly felt the weight of the certainty that Tim Duncan's career, like all the careers of great players before his, would eventually end and may in fact have already ended. As I sat helplessly staring at the tiny television in my Boise hotel room, I knew that there was nothing to do but wait for several weeks to find out if this visceral outpouring of emotion that was washing over me was going to be validated by a retirement announcement. As the broadcast came to its conclusion, with Tim Duncan tucked away in the recesses of a Chesapeake Energy Arena locker room, not knowing what else to do, I turned off the faucet of emotions, buried my head back in the sand of believing that Tim Duncan's career would never come to an end, and got in my car and drove to the union office to get back to work. 

* * *

This Black & Silver blog series began back in 2011 with a post making the argument that Tim Duncan is the greatest player in the post-Jordan era. This summer upon announcing his retirement, Timmy left the game of basketball with that legacy in tact. With five NBA titles to Shaquille O'Neal's four, Duncan has the upper hand in that head to head. While tied with Kobe Bryant at five rings a piece, Timmy still edges out Kobe with three Finals MVPs to Kobe's two and two League MVPs to Kobe's one. After delivering a title to his native state of Ohio and the Cleveland Cavaliers (his third overall), LeBron James is certainly nipping at Tim's heels. Given LeBron's four League MVPs and astonishing seven trips to the NBA Finals (including six straight), an argument could be made to rank James ahead of Duncan should he ever secure a Duncan-tying fifth NBA Championship. While he already has three titles under his belt, LeBron still has a lot work to do to win two more. But if LeBron should eventually pass by Duncan, then Timmy will have to settle for being the greatest player of a generation. And in the annals of NBA history, that is not a shabby place to wind up.

As disappointing as the news was that Tim won't be joining his comrades in battle for a twentieth NBA campaign, his retirement does usher in an exciting new chapter of Spurs basketball. Should we be able to secure a sixth NBA championship trophy down in Titletown, TX, we would seize with it our opportunity to surpass the Chicago Bulls as the third most decorated franchise in NBA history. While the two franchises would be tied at sixth titles a piece, the difference that would give the Spurs the edge over Chicago is that we would have been able to win a title beyond the era of one transformational player. Having Michael Jordan involved in all six Chicago titles, the Bulls haven't been able to do that. Only the Celtics and Lakers have had multiple dynastic eras. This is the challenge ahead of Kawhi Leonard and company. Kawhi now has the opportunity to lead his team to a championship as the Spurs' post-Duncan era franchise player. Should he be able to accomplish this feat, Kawhi will start the long journey of building a legacy for himself that will never surpass but could ultimately rival the incredible legacy of the franchise player that came before him. I think Kawhi Leonard is driven to accept this challenge and to persevere. Only time will tell but one thing is for certain. Tim Duncan will be behind the scenes supporting him and cheering him on during every step of the journey.In the end, July 11th, 2016 was certainly a rough day. Once the news started hitting social media, I remember just sitting at my computer in a fog for the better part of an hour trying to wrap my head around the idea that an era of my life had just come to an end. Tim Duncan's retirement was a tough thing for me to wrap my head around. It felt horrible to know that the most consistent part of my adult life, having my favorite basketball player suiting up for my favorite basketball team was suddenly over. The overwhelming shower of emotions that I had briefly experienced as Tim Duncan put that finger in the air while leaving the court after Game 6 violently returned and this time, something as simple as returning back to work was not going to allow me to shake them. In the weeks that have followed the announcement, I've tried to focus on the positive memories from Timmy's career but I can't help it, I'd be lying if I tried to tell you that I haven't been in a funk all summer. Those emotions are still there and they are still raw. I really, really wanted one more year to say goodbye. I really, really wanted Tim Duncan to find a way to win that mystical Jordan-tying sixth championship. And even though I know that it isn't his style, I really, really wanted Tim Duncan to have the proverbial NBA legend's farewell tour. This sucks. Tim Duncan will always be my favorite athlete of all time. He was the best. 

* * *

I had a dream the other night. It was a great dream. It was the first game of the 2016-17 San Antonio Spurs season. I was staying late at work phone banking union households for the election, which prevented me from being home in my favorite spot on the couch ready to go at tip-off of Spurs vs. Warriors. When I eventually arrived home and turned on the game, it was about three minutes into the first quarter. Almost immediately after turning on the game, I noticed something that at first seemed mundane but quickly became astonishing. Right when I turned on the game, I saw Tim Duncan was dropping back to defend Steph Curry as the reigning MVP dove toward the rim coming off a pick set by Draymond Green. Timmy extended his arms (without jumping) and blocked Curry's layup attempt almost as soon as he started raising into the shot. After blocking the shot, Duncan grabbed the ball and fired it over to Tony Parker before embarking on a mad dash down the court. As the teams exchanged ends, Tony flipped the ball over to Kawhi Leonard on the wing as Timmy sealed Draymond behind him down in the low block. Timmy then proceeded to signal for the ball, catch the post entry from Kawhi Leonard, rise up into Green's outstretched arms, absorb the contact, finish off of the backboard as the whistle blew to indicate a foul, and then stoically walked to the foul line to shoot a free throw. After witnessing this quintessential Tim Duncan moment, I grabbed my phone frantically and went to the ESPN.com homepage to, sure enough, find the headline article stating, "At the last minute, San Antonio Spurs Future Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan decides to un-retire." I was overcome with joy for a moment until I was suddenly jarred from my sleep. When I realized that I had been sleeping, it was one of those "damn, it was only a dream" moments. Those moment are the worst. After realizing that it was a dream, I tried to fall right back to sleep in the hopes that I could re-enter my dream. It was so sweet I just didn't want it to be over. It was of no use as the dream had vanished and the reality of Timmy's retirement sunk back in. I have a sneaking suspicion that my dream was not a premonition soon to come to fruition this coming Tuesday evening. I have a sneaking suspicion that from now on, San Antonio will never ever see a four behind the screen and roll protecting the paint with a flat-footed block and then running the court in order to get in the proper position to devastate an opponent in the post the way that Tim Duncan did for 19 extraordinary seasons. It seems that seeing Tim Duncan play another basketball game in the NBA will now and forever happen only in dreams. But for the rest of the time that I'm awake, I know that I am blessed to have enough memories to last a lifetime. Thank you, Tim Duncan.‪

#GoSpursGo #ThanksYouTD

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Featured Image Source: San Antonio Express-News

Three Back

Dreamcatcher - On Thursday nights, the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the San Antonio Spurs 102-96 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio to tie the best-of-seven Western Conference First Round series at three games apiece. The decisive game seven will be played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in about two hours. The player of the game for the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night was Marco Belinelli. Marco scored 23 points (with a spectacular 6-7 from downtown) to help keep the Spurs close in a game that we (as a group) did not display the necessary effort to eliminate a team as talented and hungry as this year's Clippers. The Game 6 debacle was an uncharacteristically disappointing effort by a Spurs team who has been historically dominant in close out games at home. Rather than dwell on what might have been the other night, I have spent the entire day today making good on a promise to myself and my readers to complete one of the most arduous undertakings of my entire career as a writer and as an artist thus far. About fifteen minutes ago, I posted the final chapter of the last year's edition of the Black & Silver blog series in its entirety. It is my profound pleasure to present to you.... 

Sixteen Down [Complete]

It will be my distinct honor should you decide to find some time later to read it. As for now, I could not be more confident in the #BlackAndSilver to win tonight's decisive Game 7 on the road and advance to the 2015 Western Conference Semi-Finals. I fully expect to see the Spurs finally put The Beautiful Game band back together tonight and play our toughest, most inspired game of the season. Back-to-back championships has been an elusive dream, but I still believe that this year's Spurs squad is a dreamcatcher. 

Tonight, the defending NBA champions will remind the world of the power that is unleashed when a team (that was built for its whole to be greater than the sum of its parts) is firing on all cylinders. Tonight, the defending NBA champions will light up Los Angeles like a sky full of stars.

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: Hooped Up

Sixteen Down

Wish You Were Here - I clutched the rose on my necklace and peered blankly at the television screen. Moments earlier, I had been standing with my wife, Jenn, in the center of the living room. After screaming, receiving a spectacular hug and then exhaling when it finally happened, I subsequently retreated to the couch and sat down utterly exhausted. I couldn't move. I quickly realized that my momentary euphoria had absconded and left a foreboding cloud in its wake. Despite my tenebrous state, I knew where I was. I was back in the same vast empty space; the space that I had been in 74 days earlier while sitting in my car in the parking lot of the neighborhood basketball court. It was the first time that I had been back since that terrible Thursday evening in early April, but this time it was different. It was the same numbness, the same callosity. The difference was that this time it was familiar. I was acutely aware of it and I knew that the empty void would momentarily be engulfed.

I clutched the rose on my necklace, I peered at the television, and I focused straight ahead at the on-screen celebration. Like a dusting of snowflakes on the dreary overcast day that constitutes winter's last crescendo before gracefully submitting to the adagio exposition of a spring sonata, silver confetti danced in my field of vision. I followed one piece of confetti as it floated down from the rafters, around through the air and as it narrowly missed landing safely on the shoulder of one of the players before drifting rhythmically to a peaceful rest on the court. Like a maestro conducting the soloist in a concerto, this singular piece of confetti directed my eyes to play to its every whim. It demanded my attention and captured my imagination. This one piece of confetti seemed to control me because in that moment, and in the vast, empty space that I occupied, for whatever reason, it seemed profound. It was as if it embodied my entire universe. It was as if it were him. 

* * *

Deep in the bowels of the AT&T Center, LeBron James gathered his Miami Heat teammates in a pregame huddle before taking the court for warmups ahead of Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals. Trailing in the series 1-3, the two-time defending champions had their backs up against the ropes and LeBron knew it. Given the trajectory of the series (after James and company had punched the challengers in the nose in Game 2 in San Antonio, the Spurs caught the Heat off guard by counter punching so forcefully in Games 3 and 4 in Miami that the champs were left clutching the ropes to avoid spiraling into a free fall), LeBron understood that it was going to take a super-human effort on his part in Game 5 to fight the Heat off of the ropes and back into the middle of the ring where they could retake the offensive in their quest for a three-peat. His message to his teammates was simple, "Follow my lead."

Less than an hour after hearing these words and following their leader through the tunnel and on to the court for warmups, the Heat were thoroughly in control of the basketball game. With 5:03 left in the first quarter Miami was dominating San Antonio. LeBron, upon hearing the opening bell, had exploded into attack mode for 12 points in the contest's first seven minutes. Also working in Miami's favor was the fact that LeBron's stellar start was coupled with the good fortune that his team was going up against an over-anxious opponent (it was evident that the San Antonio Spurs had returned to their home court and began Game 5 playing like a team that was pressing to win a championship instead of playing like a team that was focused on winning a playoff game). Therefore, a perfect storm was brewing in San Antonio to provide Miami a legitimate opportunity to get back in the series. LeBron James had simultaneously put on his cape and inspired new life in his teammates which allowed the Heat to capitalize on an uncharacteristic lack of composure by the Spurs. It all added up to a 22-6 lead for the the champs.

With seven minutes elapsed in the first quarter of Game 5 and trailing by 16 points, San Antonio was in dire straights and in desperate need of a basket on the next possession to prevent LeBron and the Heat from running away and hiding without being forced to face any resistance from the 18,581 hungry Spurs fans in attendance. Because of the Heat's quick start, the fans in the building had grown anxious but they were still salivating for an opportunity to show Miami how thunderously loud the AT&T Center can get when the city is trying to release nine years of pent-up championship closeout energy. For a little one-horse town, closing in on an NBA title at home means more than it does in the big city. It just does. Sure, it took a great deal of luck for us to have the good fortune to parlay a pair of winning lottery tickets into eventually building the type of small-market basketball franchise that is in contention for an NBA championship every single season. But because of how successful the Spurs have consistently been, nine years is an awful long time to wait for moments such as the one that was before us on Sunday, June 15. This is Titletown, TX, after all and the AT&T Center (also known as the house that David Robinson and Tim Duncan built) had not hosted a home closeout game in the NBA Finals since June 23, 2005 (the 2007 championship team closed out on the road by sweeping the Cavaliers in Cleveland).

Keep in mind, the home crowd was also harboring the heartbreak of losing last year's Finals to the same opponent and the opportunity to put that excruciating pain to rest would be added fuel to get the building rocking louder than ever before should the Spurs find themselves in position to win heading down the stretch. Needless to say, it was assumed that the noise of the home crowd would be a huge advantage for the Spurs throughout the night. Nonetheless, Miami's quick start to open up a 16 point lead had successfully taken the famished and revenge-thirsty crowd out of the game and had, thus, surprisingly neutralized San Antonio's advantage. Even from across town you could feel the tension in the building permeating through the television by virtue of the absence of noise coming from a shell-shocked crowd. Indeed, the next possession was shaping up to be the critical moment of the ball game. If, on the ensuing defensive stance, the Heat were able to force another missed shot or turnover and convert the stop into another easy basket at the other end (extending their lead closer to 20), Gregg Popovich may have been ready (out of frustration and with two losses to spare) to pull the regular rotation players and give the likes of Aron Baynes, Jeff Ayers, Matt Bonner, Marco Belinelli, and Corey Joseph a prolonged opportunity to try to get San Antonio back in the game.

Looking over at Coach Pop on the sidelines, I could almost see it written on his expression. One more empty offensive trip followed by another Heat basket and, more than likely, he would have elected to bench the regulars. I'm sure he knew that it would have been a tall order to hope for the reserve unit to find success in slowing down a LeBron James freight train which had already left the station, but he would have pulled the trigger anyway. The infamous Popovich mass-substitution that was forthcoming if things continued to go south would have demoralized the crowd but it would have also been the right decision and a necessary message for the NBA Coach of the Year to send to the rotation players in order to force them to regroup and refocus (similar to the earlier surrender in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder).

The ensuing possession for the Spurs was, therefore, the critical moment of the ball game because it quite possibly could have been the last chance the regulars might have been afforded to to try and right the ship. In less than seven minutes of game action, the AT&T Center scene, which was supposed to be a coronation, had rapidly deteriorated into a dark, murky mess. We were dangerously close to the point of needing someone from the team's front office to get on the phone with a South Beach hotel and confirm our reservation for a block of rooms the following night. Indeed, gray clouds were beginning to congregate once again in the skies above San Antonio and, as Spurs fans, we were helpless to stop whatever hell the basketball gods were conspiring to unleash. It just seemed like one of those nights. Besides dealing with being unable to defend the best player in the world (playing at the peak of his game), our offense, to that point, had been abysmal. The Spurs were 1-12 from the field and once again our attack, as it had in Game 2, seemed flustered by Miami's frantic defensive pressure. The prospect of returning to Miami to face a suddenly rejuvenated Heat squad that had climbed within two victories of making NBA Finals history by becoming the first team to overcome a 1-3 series deficit was beginning to seem like a real possibility. There was no question that this next possession was the critical moment of the game. Somebody in a home white uniform needed to step up and give this lethargic Spurs team (a team that had seemed invincible 36 hours earlier) some life. We needed a spark and it had to arrive on this possession. Otherwise, there was a distinct possibility that Game 5 was already lost. 

It's always darkest before the dawn.

Like so many times before during his illustrious basketball career, when things seemed to be at their darkest in San Antonio, all of a sudden Manu Ginobili's majestic talent, in all its brilliant colors, appeared at the edge of the horizon and started rising up to fill the sky. During this possession, which doubled as the critical moment in the game, Manu sprang to life and delivered the necessary spark. Sixteen down, Ginobili put the ball on the floor, got bumped by Rashard Lewis, and finished a continuation by dropping a runner in over the top of Miami's interior defense. The whistle blew to award him the And One opportunity and the dormant crowd erupted with the fury of a thousand volcanoes. Fourteen down. Manu stepped up to the free throw line and sank the foul shot. Nothing but net. Thirteen down. Coach Pop was now relieved of the responsibility for making the decision on whether or not to pull the trigger on emptying the bench. The critical moment of the game (perhaps the critical moment of the series, the playoffs, the season, the last seven years) had just happened and Manu Ginobili, the greatest competitor to ever put on a San Antonio Spurs jersey, had delivered.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, he wasn't done. In fact, he was just getting started. On the next Miami possession, Shane Battier (desperate to get himself going in his final NBA game) became overly aggressive trying to establish position. Manu, who was guarding him, refused to give ground and Battier, in frustration, delivered a lethal elbow to Ginobili's chest. The whistle blew once again, but the confrontation continued nonetheless. Battier unrelentingly continued to throw his weight into Manu's upper body. Exacerbated, Ginobili through up his arms and ceded position. The unexpected release of opposing force caused Battier to tumble to the court and once arriving on the floor, the Miami journeyman kicked up his legs, tripping Manu and causing Ginobili to come crashing to the ground as well. Offensive foul, turnover, Spurs' ball. Battier's unwarranted aggression against the Spurs' sixth man proved to be a costly mistake. Within seven seconds of the turnover, Manu was letting a three pointer fly at the other end of the court. He buried it. Ten down. The crowd, sensing something magical was happening, was now working itself into a frenzy. Miami called timeout to try to thwart San Antonio's momentum.

Coming back out of the huddle, the Heat ran a well designed set play that resulted in Ray Allen attacking the smaller Patty Mills off the dribble. With Patty draped all over him, Jesus Shuttlesworth lowered his shoulder during his drive and dropped Mills to the hard court. This time, the referees swallowed their whistles and with no charge forthcoming, Allen dribbled into an open 16 foot jump shot. Surprisingly, the knock-down jump shooter missed and Ginobili was there to snatch a contested rebound. He dribbled down the court, commanded the attention of the Miami defense, and found a wide open Kawhi Leonard alone for another three pointer. Kawhi rose up and calmly knocked it down. Assist, Manu Ginobili. Seven down. Pandemonium in the AT&T Center. 45 seconds had elapsed off of the clock since reaching the critical moment of the game and during that time Manu Ginobili had scored six points, drawn a charge, grabbed a rebound, tallied an assist and cut a 16 point Miami lead to seven in the blink of an eye.

You would be well advised to wear sunglasses when attempting to fully take in the brilliant colors of Number 20's majestic talent. It's just that bright. When it comes to athletes, his is rarified air. The legends surrounding his feats on the basketball court are timeless. I mean, the guy swatted a flying bat right out of the air, and on Halloween no less. Playing his career during the television era has actually done his greatness a disservice because he does something magical every single night that you can only fully appreciate if you have seen it in person. Yet, even with television, these legends persist. Could you imagine them without the deterrent of cameras and replays? He would be our generation's Babe Ruth. Move over, Wilt Chamberlain and Pete Maravich. When I'm old, gray, and sitting out on the porch in a rocking chair with my grandchildren gathered round; I'm telling them stories of the times that I was in the building to see Manu freaking Ginobili.

And I tread a troubled track, my odds are stacked. I'll go back to black.

After Manu's magnificent flurry, the two teams traded baskets for the remainder of the first quarter and the Heat ended the period with a seven point lead heading into the second. To begin the next quarter, Coach Pop drew up a play that the Spurs rarely use; a play that he had added to the Spurs playbook for Richard Jefferson, once upon a time. Kawhi Leonard received the ball at the top of the key and immediately swung it over to Boris Diaw over on the left wing. He then cut hard to the basket curling off of a perfect Tiago Splitter back screen that picked off his defender, Dwyane Wade. Tiago's defender, Chris "Birdman" Andersen was slow to react and Boris delivered a perfect alley oop pass that Kawhi hammered home without breaking a sweat. Five down.

The Heat brought the ball back up the court and ran a set to get Wade a shot but as he tried to attack Danny Green off of the dribble, Danny stripped the ball from him and eventually tied him up for a jump ball. Danny went on to win the tip and the Spurs were back in attack mode. San Antonio methodically worked the ball up the court and around the horn. Tiago to Boris to Tony to Danny back to Boris to Kawhi isolated on the left elbow against LeBron James. Kawhi sized up the king, juked him once with a jab step and head fake, and then rose up and drained a 20 foot jumper right in his eye. Three down. It was beginning to seem as if the Spurs momentum was starting to flummox the Heat. You could see it on the faces of some of LeBron's teammates. They were beginning to succumb to the relentless march of inevitability. As Miami's supporting cast continued to stiffen up, it was clear that the pressure was building up like water in a dam and it was just a matter of time before it was ready to burst open.

Miami, however, was able to regroup and hold the Spurs off over the next few minutes. Wade and Chris Bosh both dropped in jump shots to get the Miami lead back to seven during a four minute stretch in which the Spurs went cold from the field. With the offense stagnating, San Antonio turned to our security blanket to operate the offense for the next few possessions. With the smaller Udonis Haslem guarding him, Tim Duncan went to work. Tony Parker fed Timmy in the post and Timmy dropped a beautiful retro 13 foot turn around fade-away over Haslem's outstretched arms. The hustle & flow of Tim Duncan's post game likens itself to a canon of literature from the Romantic Era and this particular shot was a masterpiece contribution. There was no time to dwell in art appreciation, however, as Wade came right back down, drew a foul, and made both free throws.

On the next possession, the Spurs went right back to TD in the low post. LeBron came with a double team to help Haslem so Duncan turned away from James right into Udonis hoping to draw a foul. When a foul was not granted on the body contact down low, Haslem was able to regroup and block the shot back out to the perimeter. Timmy reacted quickly to regain control of the basketball but with the shot clock winding down he had to throw up a desperation shot. The shot missed but luckily Boris was in position to grab the rebound and alertly fired it back out to Marco Belinelli. Marco pump faked a scrambling Ray Allen, took one dribble, and buried a confident 17 foot jumper that purposefully suggested that, as far as Marco was concerned, C.R.E.A.M. (championships rule everything around me). Belinelli had signed with the Spurs last summer so that he could play for a championship contender and despite limited minutes, he was delivering in his first NBA Finals.

The Heat came back down and attempted to reestablish their sputtering offense but were not patient enough to get the ball into the hands of James in one of his sweet spots. They settled instead for an open Haslem 19 foot jumper from the top of the key. After Haslem missed and Diaw secured the rebound for the Spurs, San Antonio purposefully worked the ball back in to Duncan in the post. Timmy turned, swept across the lane, and put up a running jump hook over a helpless Haslem. This shot was reminiscent of the one he had taken over the top of Shane Battier to give the Spurs a lead in the closing minute of Game 7 of last year's Finals in Miami. Last year, he back rimmed it and the rest was history. This year, he dropped it in as if he were blowing a kiss to the Spurs fans in order to reassure us that his "guarantee" would hold true and that the trophy was coming home. Miami quickly called a timeout but it seemed to be of little use in quelling San Antonio's momentum.

On the next Heat possession, Ray Allen was called for an offensive foul setting a moving screen away from the ball on Boris Diaw. Having clearly established a mismatch in Duncan's match up against the undersized Haslem, the Spurs were happy to continue exploiting it. After the Allen turnover, Tony dribbled off of a screen by Timmy, passed to Boris on the wing. Bobo hit a cutting Duncan near the rim. Tim rose up and scored over Haslem once again and drew the foul. One down. The crowd was now officially embarking on its ascension into the rafters and appeared poised to systematically remove the AT&T Center roof from the rest of the building. In other words, it was safe to say that the fans were starting to smell blood. After Timmy had dropped in his third shot int he last four possessions, LeBron James threw up is hands exasperated. Apparently he did not appreciate bearing witness to true NBA royalty as it shredded apart his team's interior defense. As much as privilege might make it hard to accept, sometimes even kings are rendered helpless and forced to sit back and watch the throne.

Even though Timmy missed the free throw that would have tied the game, it was becoming noticeably visible on the television screen that the body language of LeBron James' teammates was taking a turn for the worse. You could now unquestionably see the dejection in their faces. James would not be quite as easily discouraged, but he now seemed resigned to the fact that this was quickly becoming a contest of the best player in the world versus the best team in the world. While his teammates confidence was eroding, to his credit, the evaporation of the Heat lead only made LeBron look more determined. On the next trip down the court, however, (unfortunately for LeBron) the same could also be said about his opponents, who were oozing with defensive intensity and appeared determined to coalesce as a cohesive unit in order to deny another one-man surge. Defiantly, James attempted to attack off the dribble and was met at the rim by the four outstretched arms of Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard. LeBron missed the contested layup and there was a scramble for the loose ball that resulted in the ball cascading out of bounds off of Manu.Not to be deterred, LeBron attacked the rim again after Miami inbounded the ball. Again, he was met at the rim, this time by Timmy and Boris and again he missed the lay up. Uninterested in giving the king a third chance to get to the rim, this time Kawhi gobbled up the rebound and immediately started pushing the ball up the court.

On the break, Rashard Lewis picked up Kawhi sprinting down the middle of the court but as Kahwi approached the three point line, Lewis continued back pedaling to the free throw line. Leonard stopped his attack on a dime and rose up behind the arc to take the type of shot that only superstars dare to attempt on this big of a stage and the type of shot that he wouldn't have dreamed of taking in the 2013 NBA Finals. Not only did Kawhi rise up and attempt such a risky transition three, but in keeping with his rising stardom he had the swagger to bury that cold-blooded triple. Two up. The amassed fans in the AT&T Center lost their collective minds. The San Antonio Spurs had our first lead of Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals.

With the lead finally secured, (having already made a play in the critical moment of the game) the Spurs called on Manu Ginobili to step on the opponents' collective throats. Based upon the fire in his eyes, Manu clearly appeared to believe that he still had more to do to finish the job of redeeming himself for his 2013 NBA Finals performance. After Miami wound up with a contested Ray Allen fade away on a broken play, Patty Mills narrowly missed a three, and Rashard Lewis air balled a contested three, Manu caught the ball near the top of the key and waived off a screen to get an isolation against Lewis. Ginobili calmly dribbled the ball back out to near the half court line to set up his attack. He drove left on Lewis and as Chris Bosh came to help near the rim, Manu smoothly reversed the ball underneath the basket with his left hand and dropped it up off the backboard on the other side of the rim for a sick reverse layup. Four up. You could now hear the AT&T Center crowd from the suburbs. After Patty Mills drew a charge on Dwyane Wade on the next Heat possession, you could easily hear the crowd from San Marcos. The Spurs brought the ball back down the court and five passes later, Manu was fouled on another drive to the basket and almost converted the three point play on a runner. He uncharacteristically rimmed out the first free throw but he knocked down the second one. Five up. The crowd at the AT&T Center was going (what could only be described at this point as) bananas and you could almost see the demons of Game 6 of last year's Finals gathering their things together to get ready to leave the building.

LeBron, however, (still competing hard) drove the lane again and created a wide open three pointer for Bosh. Seemingly half-heartedly, Bosh launched the shot which rimmed out. Timmy secured the rebound and got the ball back to Manu on the outlet. With a full head of steam and that look in his eyes, Manu drove to the cup and jumped in the air for what seemed would be another spectacular reverse layup or floater. To the surprise of every member of planet Earth's basketball viewing public, Manu Ginobili didn't put the ball in position for a layup or floater. Instead he just kept rising up in the air. Up and up he went until he had the ball so high that he was at a clear advantage over Chris Bosh, who was challenging Manu at the rim. The 36 year old proceeded to slam the ball so violently into the basket directly in Bosh's face that I literally began crying tears of joy. Seven up (and I'm not talking about the soda), demons exorcised.

In my 30 years of watching the NBA, Manu Ginobili is the only player I have ever seen that has been able to do things with a basketball that have made me so full of such utter euphoria that my only recourse is to begin weeping and that is a good enough reason for me to make him the player of the game. Like the sonic boom you would imagine is created when a supernova explodes, the Spurs fans in attendance finally reached the crescendo of Titletown, TX's close-out a championship at home for the first time in nine years noise. You could hear it clear across the entire state. The noise, as predicted, was now an insurmountable obstacle for the Miami Heat to overcome. The writing was on the wall. When James (still competing, God bless him) was able to drop in a fade-away jumper to cut the lead back to five, the Spurs dribbled back down the court and even though the show was over, Manu amused the fans by granting them an encore. After a series of San Antonio Spurs passes, Manu caught the ball at the top of the key, dribbled right (using a Tim Duncan screen), stepped back off of the dribble, and drained a juicy fade away three pointer. As if it was all a dream, we were eight up, and the ball game was over. The San Antonio Spurs had a lead that we would not relinquish.

So wild international.

In the second half, the coronation was indeed on. Miami was unable to threaten to change the outcome of the game and the Spurs offense shifted naturally into cruise control. Patty Mills erupted for 14 points in the third quarter making all five of his shots including four from downtown. Needless to say, the Spurs backup point guard, who had played remarkably well throughout the playoff run, was hot in the third. In the fourth, it was the Tony Parker show. Parker, who went scoreless until the last possession of the third quarter, scored 14 points in the fourth on 6-7 shooting and 2-2 from the free throw line. It was a fitting cherry on top of the sweet and tasty championship dish for a man who had put the Spurs on his back the season before and almost carried the team to a title. You could easily sense that while Parker had put together a legendary 2013 playoff performance that had fallen only 28 seconds short of a championship, he was much happier to play a lesser role in 2014 but actually capture another ring, with a little help from my friends. With 2:12 left in the game and the Spurs ahead by 18, Gregg Popovich began substituting his star players out to give them a well deserved standing ovation.

After "having the trophy so close within reach that we could almost scrape a finger nail on it" last season, it was remarkable to see the mixture of excitement, joy, relief, and vindication expressed on the star players' faces as they fittingly took their curtain calls. The first to leave was Kawhi Leonard: The Future. Next, it was Tim Duncan: The Franchise. Then, Manu Ginobili: The Legend was pulled from the game. Finally, Coach Pop substituted for Tony Parker: The Present and Boris Diaw: The X-Factor together allowing the high school teammates the opportunity to fulfill a childhood dream. After all of the Spurs' stars had had their curtain calls, it was just a matter of watching the clock run down during garbage time.

With 42 seconds left in the game, Jeff Ayers made the last basket of the Spurs' 2014 NBA season by draining a 20 foot jumper that was assisted by The Red Mamba, Matt Bonner (the only other member of the team besides the Big Three that was already an NBA Champion). Tony Douglas came down a made a 24 foot three point jumper for the Heat with 37 seconds left and then the countdown to basketball bliss was on. Because the shot clock was running down with 14 seconds left in the game, Corey Joseph launched a half-hearted 19 foot jumper that missed. James Jones got the rebound, Miami advanced the ball, and Toney Douglas put up another three pointer with one second left for good measure. The shot missed as the buzzer sounded and the San Antonio Spurs were NBA Champions once again. The drive for five was complete. Confetti was free fallin'. Cinco.

The post-game celebration was spectacular to witness. Coach Pop sitting on the bench, looking utterly exhausted, just soaking in the excitement of his players. Tim Duncan and Mana Ginobili enjoying the moment through the eyes of their children. Danny Green running around like a kid in a candy store, manically trying to hug anyone and everyone all at once. Above all else, what stood out was the expression on Kawhi Leonard's face as the players gathered for trophy ceremony. If you've ever wanted to know what it is like to win a championship, all you would have to do is look at Kawhi's eyes during those moments. They told you, "it's good." And his smile reinforced, "it is good." As Adam Silver (the newly appointed NBA Commissioner) announced Leonard as the recipient of the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP award, the combination of unbridled joy and genuine shock was a fascinating snapshot of this entire era of San Antonio Spurs basketball. The humble glow on Kawhi's face just beamed through as if to say, "wow, this is pretty sweet, I could get used to it." Hopefully, like his teammate Tim Duncan, who won the same trophy in 1999 (at a similar age to Kawhi) he will in fact get quite used to it. Not only was Kawhi following in the footsteps of Timmy, but for the first time since Paul Pierce in 2008 and for only the fourth time in history (Dennis Johnson in 1979 and Bill Walton in 1977), the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award is going (going) back (back) to Cali. Kawhi is only the fourth native Californian to win the award joining Pierce, Johnson, and Walton.

Leonard played remarkably in Game 3-5 of the Finals. He was like a phantom of the future. Game 3: 29 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks. Game 4: 20 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks. Game 5: 22 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block. For three games, Kawhi went toe to toe with the best basketball player in the world in LeBron James and for three games, the Spurs' small forward played the king to at least a draw. Kawhi forced LeBron's game to suffer a severe case of californication. In fact, you could easily argue that Kawhi's combination of Bruce Bowen defense and Sean Elliot offense in the final three games of the series was good enough to one up LeBron.

While firmly establishing himself during these Finals as an NBA superstar, Kawhi also has karate kicked the Spurs' championship window back to wide open for several years to come. As for next year, the young nucleus of Tiago, Danny, Patty, and Kawhi represents a respectable foundation for constructing a playoff contender. Throw in the rejuvenated Boris Diaw, a still-in-his-prime Tony Parker continuing to play at an all-star level, and another year of Manu and Timmy performing at an exceptional level for their age, and there is no reason why San Antonio shouldn't be right in the mix to defend our title when the 2015 playoff roll around. This sustained run of excellence, that will seemingly continue for several years to come, has exceeded the wildness of my imagination as a young Spurs fan coming of age during the first run to the title in 1999. It is hard to fathom that here we are 16 seasons later and there is no end in sight for the Spurs playing the role of championship contender. What are the chances that your favorite team from childhood would go on to become (hands down) the best team in American professional sports for two straight decades? Not a day goes by that I don't marvel in the dumb luck of that happening to me. I'm thankful for my Spurs every day. 

We here now. It's time to stand up and elevate the game.

In this series, the #BlackAndSilver were in pursuit of achieving a human accomplishment that predates the entire history in which our species has enjoyed stewardship of the planet. In this series, the Spurs were in pursuit of achieving something primordial...redemption. It was evident from before the tip-off of the first game. You may have noticed a stark difference between the introduction of the 2014 NBA Finals from the introduction of the 2013 NBA Finals. This year's finals were not introduced with a laser and fire show as they were the year before in Miami. In San Antonio, the National Anthem was sung, the lineups were introduced, and the players took the court to jump center. It was an old-school feel. So old-school, in fact, the AT&T Center forgot to turn on the air conditioning for Game 1. The blistering playing conditions of Game 1 were emblematic of the fiery focus of a team that would not be deterred from achieving the redemption it had locked its sight on. The focus in our players' eyes was carnal and that fire burned over the course of the next five games. Without theatrics or showmanship this focused group from humble San Antonio put on their hard hats and worked the glitz and glamour Heatles into dust. Ball don't lie when the results are irrefutable. The Spurs outscored the Heat by an average of 14 points per game, the largest point differential in NBA Finals history. San Antonio not only chased redemption and captured it in the 2014 NBA Finals, but we inevitably grabbed it so hard that we squeezed the life out of the flamboyant team that we were taking it from.

Indeed, the 2014 San Antonio Spurs were among the greatest championship teams in recent memory. The way that we were able to come together to play dominant team basketball was truly remarkable. This team was better than the 2013 Heat title team. If you could catch Eric Spolstra, Pat Riley, or a member of the team in a moment of candor, I imagine that you could get any of them, to a man, to admit that they were extremely fortunate to be champions in 2013. This year's Spurs team was also better than the 2012 Heat or the 2011 Mavs. This squad would have destroyed the Kobe-Gasol Lakers. I believe they would be favored over the 2008 Boston Celtics. This current incarnation of the Spurs, while not the defensive behemoth of past title teams, was hands down the best offensive Spurs squad to win a title. And because they were sneakily above average defensively as well, they were arguably the best Spurs title team to-date. The last champion that could make a compelling case to be historically greater is probably the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers. When you factor in the redemption theme, you can, however, make a strong case that this year's Spurs team was the greatest team to win an NBA championship since the 1998 Chicago Bulls.

Speaking of redemption, while ranking the greatness of past champions is a subjective endeavor, I can say that the similarities that I outlined before these Finals started between the 1989 Detroit Pistons and the 2014 San Antonio Spurs proved to be quite accurate. Both teams lost the Finals in seven games the year before in heart-breaking fashion. Both teams also had the good fortune to get a rematch against the team that had beaten them in the Finals the year before. In 1989, the Detroit Pistons dismantled the Los Angeles Lakers in a decisive four game sweep that ultimately shut the door on the championships that were collected by the Magic Johnson / Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Pat Riley era Lakers. In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs annihilated the Miami Heat and halted the ring count bravado of the LeBron James / Dwyane Wade / Chris Bosh era. Heat at not three, not four, not five, not six, but two. Both teams ripped through their respective opponents as if they weren't even playing the rival who had bested them the year before but were rather playing a game of chess against redemption itself. It takes focus to beat redemption at a game of chess and both teams had it. It also takes an impeccable brain trust. For the 1989 Detroit Pistons, that brain trust was Hall of Fame point guard Isaiah Thomas and legendary Head Coach Chuck Daly. Thomas and Daly, while at the NBA apex for a period of only two years, were nonetheless standard-bearers for basketball excellence during the bridge between Magic's Lakers and Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. Future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan and his cantankerous partner Head Coach Gregg Popovich are clearly the brain trust of the 2014 San Antonio Spurs. Their run of basketball excellence has sustained over two decades and by taking the 2014 NBA title, Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich have further solidified their entrenchment as the standard-bearers for consistent brilliance over the last twenty years not only for the NBA, but for all of American professional sports. 

Bombs over Baghdad.

This is a public service announcement, brought to you by the good folks at theLeftAhead: Tim Duncan is NOT the greatest power forward of all-time. Is Tim Duncan greater than Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Kevin Garnett and on down the list? There is no question about it. But by boxing Timmy into a discussion about power forwards, one is robbing his legacy the opportunity to be held up and compared to other big men...the likes of Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, and on down the list. Furthermore, Timmy's place among the pantheon of great players should not be limited by position at all. Not that Tim Duncan cares about all of the lights, but we need to be discussing how he compares to Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Kobe Bryant as well. Now that Timmy has been around the block five times, I am of the opinion that he is one of the five greatest basketball players of all-time. The others on my list? Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Magic Johnson. Keep in my mind that I said the greatest basketball players of all-time not the best basketball players of all-time. Best means that one has mastered the art of playing the game of basketball; greatest means that one has mastered the art of winning at the game of basketball's highest level. So yes, Tim Duncan is one of the five greatest basketball players of all-time. Not only am I of this opinion, but I have the numbers to bare it out.

Now that the ring count is retied, it is extremely difficult for the Kobe apologists to continue to make the case that Kobe is the greatest player in the post-Jordan era. Keep in mind that Kobe won three of his five championship rings as arguably the second best player on the team, in other words as Shaquille O'Neal's sidekick. While Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and now Kawhi Leonard have all had moments during championship runs where they have asserted themselves as the Spurs number one option, there is no question that for all five championship runs, Tim Duncan was the foundation of the team and for his entire career, he has been the Spurs best player. Tim Duncan is a quintessential winner and with this title he has definitively cemented his status as the greatest NBA basketball player in the post-Jordan era. In fact, based on winning at the highest level, you can argue that Timmy is the second greatest player behind Michael Jordan to lace them up since 1980. Look at how Timmy's career performance in the NBA Finals stacks up against the other all-time great players of the last 34 years. Only Michael Jordan boasts a better career performance. 

Notable NBA Finals Career Performances Since 1980

(minimum 27 games)

Michael Jordan: 24-11 in the NBA Finals (.686), 6 championship rings (6-0 in Finals series), 6 Finals MVP's

Tim Duncan: 23-11 in the NBA Finals (.676), 5 championship rings (5-1 in Finals series), 3 Finals MVP's

Kobe Bryant: 23-14 in the NBA Finals (.621), 5 championship rings (5-2 in Finals series), 2 Finals MVP's

Shaquille O'Neal: 17-13 in the NBA Finals (.567), 4 championship rings (4-2 in Finals series), 3 Finals MVP's

Larry Bird: 16-15 in the NBA Finals (.516), 3 championship rings (3-2 in Finals series), 2 Finals MVP's

Magic Johnson: 24-27 in the NBA Finals (.471), 5 championship rings (5-4 in Finals series), 3 Finals MVP's

LeBron James: 11-16 in the NBA Finals (.407), 2 championship rings (2-3 in Finals series), 2 Finals MVP's

This 5th NBA Championship is enormous for something that Tim Duncan insists that he does not spend time thinking about but is constantly on the mind of his biggest fans...his legacy. The appointment Timmy has made to hoist a 5th banner into the rafters of the AT&T Center catapults Duncan, in my opinion, onto the Mount Rushmore of basketball players, supplanting Magic Johnson to take his place next to Bill Russell, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. By leading the Spurs to the 2014 title, the incomparable Tim Duncan aka Time's Father has left Kobe Bryant and all of his other contemporaries in his dust and ascended to the highest rung for greatness in NBA annals. Timmy now has Russell, Jordan, and Jabbar in his sights and should he capture another title before he retires he will pass by Kareem and spark quite a debate for basketball junkies such as myself because a 6th Duncan ring would invariably make the designation of Greatest Basketball Player of All-Time a three person conversation.

What is likely far more rewarding to Timmy than individual greatness, is being a part of the San Antonio big three. Duncan reveres his teammates and having a pair of them that have been by his side for the majority of this spectacular run is seemingly more rewarding to him than all of the individual hardware he has collected over the years. You need not look any further for evidence of this than Timmy's interactions with Tony and Manu while celebrating their fourth title together. Duncan couldn't seem to get enough of being near Tony and Manu and reflecting on what they had accomplished together as comrades, brothers, and friends. And indeed, what the three of them have accomplished together is truly extraordinary...four titles together spanning 12 seasons. Incredible.

If the trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili had happened to be put together for an NBA franchise in a major media market, they would be universally revered as the greatest NBA trio of all-time. For arguments sake, let’s place them in Boston. Say Rick Pitino and the Celtics had won that 1997 draft lottery after all and drafted Tim Duncan and had also had the good fortune to draft Parker and Ginobili in subsequent years. Boston fans would have forgotten about Larry Bird, Kevin McCale, and Robert Parish because Boston would now have 21 NBA titles instead of 17 with Timmy, Tony, and Manu hauling in more banners than Larry Legend did. The Spurs trio would be regarded as the kings of Boston with the city's infamous fans lining up arm in arm all along the watchtower on the off chance that they might catch a glimpse or their conquering heroes each time they were ushered inside the castle walls. Boston fans would be like, Pedro who? The pet phrase Big Papi would evoke Bostonians to think of Big Punisher not David Ortiz. I mean, Bobby Orr wouldn't even be able to get a free ride on a zambony these days in Boston if Tim, Tony, and Manu were currently playing there. In New York? Forget about it. Luckily for me and millions of other small-market Spurs fans, we rarely had to share our adoration of the greatest trio in NBA history with the rest of basketball's global fan base until recently. As much as we have enjoyed keeping Timmy, Tony, and Manu primarily to ourselves over the last 12 years, it is gratifying to see them finally getting their just do with the larger basketball audience. 

Revolution 1: The art of teamwork, perfected.

The culmination that faithful Spurs fans had been waiting for manifested in the 2014 NBA Finals. For the 2014 San Antonio Spurs, it truly was a beautiful game. The Spurs had shown glimpses of this unstoppable team basketball at times over the past three seasons. During the 20 game winning streak spanning the last ten games of the 2012 regular season and the first ten games of the 2012 playoffs, it was on display. The Spurs reached these heights at times during the 2013 Finals run, albeit too sporadically. It's almost a footnote in Spurs history now given the heartbreaking way that the 2013 Finals concluded, but the Spurs dismantled the defending champion Miami Heat by 36 points in Game 3 of that series. This season, we had a 19 game winning streak during the regular season during which we looked unbeatable at times.

This ascension back to the NBA mountain top seemed unfathomable to most of the experts. After losing Manu Ginobili to injury prior to the 2009 NBA playoffs and then inexplicably bowing out in the first round as the three seed to the sixth seeded Dallas Mavericks in 5 games, a theory emerged that the Spurs were too old to continue to compete for NBA championships. In 2010, we returned the favor to Dallas by upsetting the second seeded Mavericks as the seventh seed but we proceeded to fall apart in the second-round and let one of our other rivals from years past finally got the better of us. The Phoenix Suns exorcised some of their own demons by sweeping the Spurs out of the playoffs in that 2010 Western Conference Semi-Final series. In 2011, the Spurs temporarily quelled some of the "too old" narrative by regaining our mastery of the regular season to enter the 2011 playoffs as the one seed. Once again, however, an injury disrupted Manu Ginobili and the Spurs were embarrassingly eliminated in the first round by the Memphis Grizzlies in six games.

At this point the "too old" narrative reached its apex right before the Spurs pulled off one of the greatest draft day trades in NBA history to acquire the rights to Kawhi Leonard in exchange for sending beloved Spurs guard George Hill to his hometown Indiana Pacers. Plucking American-born Kawhi Leonard away from the Pacers began one of the most spectacular engineering projects of global collaboration in the history of industrialization that retooled the Spurs into the machine on display during these Finals. Kawhi was soon joined by fellow American Danny Green to create the toughest defensive starting wing-combination in the NBA. With that combination in place to accompany the big three, the Spurs' front office did what they do better than any other front office in the league and started globe trotting. Boris Diaw was added to the squad to join Tony from France. Tiago Splitter continued to develop his Brazilian game to complement Manu's South American flare. Patty Mills and Aron Baynes were acquired from Down Under and Marco Belinelli was brought in to add some Italian seasoning to the mix. By the time the 2012 lock out ended and the season was underway, the Spurs had remarkably found a way to put all of the pieces into place to return to seriously contending for NBA championships. It was just a matter of time before the machine became an instrument that was fine-tuned to begin playing the sweet, sweet music of The Beautiful Game.

This June, the time was finally now. Without a doubt, the 2014 San Antonio Spurs were built not bought. In fact, they were purposefully engineered in the global marketplace to outwit the discouraging trend of teams buying the greatest individual talent available in American and betting on the odds that the accumulation of individual talent would overpower the competition. This was the blueprint that the 2012 and 2013 Miami Heat borrowed from the 2008 Boston Celtics to win back-to-back NBA championships. This year, the Spurs obliterated that blueprint by building a global team whose whole was remarkably greater than the sum of its parts. The engineering of the machine was complete. The machine was a beautiful instrument and that instrument played a song so overpowering that the best basketball player in the world was powerless to silence it. The Beautiful Game performed an overpowering symphony in the 2014 NBA Finals that was so remarkably rewarding to listen to, there is only one possibility for its title. Cinco.

As I sit here beaming as one of the luckiest and happiest sports fans of a generation, I know that I should be satisfied. I know I should stop clapping and exit the theater. But against my better judgement, I can't help but wonder if the San Antonio Spurs have one more encore left for those of us still in the audience continuing our unabashed ovation. There is still one unturned stone, there is still one unaccomplished goal, there is still one dream that we have not yet been able to catch. Back-to-back. So if you need me, I'll still be here in the audience cheering relentlessly and waiting to see if the band comes back out to give that one elusive encore. If you need me, I'll still be here in the audience holding my breath waiting to see if The Beautiful Game returns to play the most spectacular symphony of my wildest dreams. Come on, San Antonio. Just one more. Play that back-to-back music to my ears. Let's go, Spurs. Just one more. Seis.

* * *

As I sat on the couch and in that vast empty space, I knew that my emotions would soon engulf me. I rested there, motionless, embracing my catatonia while fully understanding that time is the enemy. My acute awareness of an impending emotional reaction was driven primarily by my experience in April, but also partially by a prior experience with a championship clinching win by the San Antonio Spurs. As I stared blankly at the television, coincidentally on Father's Day, at this 2014 Spurs' celebration, I remembered my experience watching Game 7 of the 2005 NBA Finals and I remembered my dad. The 2005 NBA Finals series between the Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs had been a special moment in time for my father and me. Since my childhood, my dad and I had dreamed of an NBA Finals match up between our two favorite teams (Detroit was my dad's favorite team and San Antonio is obviously my favorite team) and in bitter sweet fashion, our dream came to pass in 2005 at both the best and worst of times.

In August of 2004, my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. I was living in Detroit at the time and the Pistons were fresh off of winning the title in resounding fashion by destroying the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. My dad and I had had an ongoing tradition since I was in junior high school to attend the Spurs' game in San Antonio each year when the Detroit Pistons were in town. With a couple of exceptions due to extenuating circumstances, my dad and I had attended every Detroit Pistons v. San Antonio Spurs game that took place in San Antonio since 1993. After my dad's diagnosis, he and my mom visited me in Detroit and we were able to take a trip out to the Palace at Auburn Hills (the Detroit Pistons arena) but it was during the NBA off-season so there was not an opportunity to see a Pistons' home game during their visit. Nonetheless, after I returned to Texas during the holidays, my dad and I attended one last game between the Pistons and the Spurs in San Antonio during the 2004-05 regular season. With both the Pistons and Spurs once again among the top teams in their respective conferences, I remember my dad and I discussed during the game how promising it looked that our dream of Detroit v. San Antonio matchup in the NBA Finals would be realized in June.

When June arrived and that was, amazingly, the 2005 NBA Finals matchup, my dad's disease had taken root and his mind was too far gone to be fully present with me to share the experience we had been dreaming of for so many years. I watched the Spurs defeat the Pistons in Game 2 with him in my parent's home on Sunday, June 12, 2005. My dad smiled as he peered at the television during that game. He clearly enjoyed my company but was experiencing the realization of our dream in spirit much more than he was able to experience it cognitively. By the time Game 7 arrived, and the Spurs escaped victorious from a pressure-packed fourth quarter, watching the game alone in my Dallas apartment, I remember I had had a numbness in processing the result. I had occupied a vast, empty space as the Spurs began celebrating the 2005 championship. I remember that I was emotionally exhausted and I was eerily detached from the happiness that comes with a title-clinching victory. After watching the championship ceremony and witnessing Tim Duncan receive his third NBA Finals MVP award, I called my parents on the phone to talk to my dad. He was happy to speak to me. My mom had had the game on in the house for him, but apparently he had not been able to process the results very well. When I told him that my Spurs had just finished playing his Pistons for the NBA Championship, he asked me, "who scored the most touchdowns?" That was the moment the devastatingly cruel reality of Alzheimer's disease hit home with me. Alone in an apartment in Dallas, I was no longer detached. The space I occupied was no long vast and empty. On the night of Thursday, June 23, 2005, my beloved San Antonio Spurs had just won our third NBA championship and I was alone, balling uncontrollably, engulfed in a perfect storm of agony and ecstasy. The ferocity of the competing emotions made for a piercing experience, one I assumed I was unlikely to experience again. 

Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground. Same as it ever was.

One of the last things that Brian and I had been making plans to do together was to find a weekend to get together in San Antonio and go to a Spurs game. As the season wore on and we hadn't pinned down a game we wanted to attend on a weekend that worked with both of our schedules, it seemed that the best plan might be to try to target a playoff game that would fall on a weekend. Then, on April 3 (a few weeks before the start of the playoffs), just like that, Brian was gone. When I decided to write this second edition of the Black & Silver blog series after Brian's passing, I knew that I wanted to dedicate it to my best friend. After making the commitment to the project, I experienced this calming confidence that permeated from outside of myself and that I associated with Brian's spirit. Inexplicably, I just knew that the Spurs would prevail this year.

Through out the playoff run, I carried his memory with me. The Spurs have allowed me to feel close to him. Since Brian's passing, I've worn a silver rose on a necklace as a memorial to my best friend. The rose is symbolic of a significant moment in our friendship so I have been wearing it around my neck as a tribute to him every day since April 3rd and I will continue to wear it every day for the rest of my life. As these playoffs have unfolded, I've regularly clutched the rose on my necklace in tense moments during games. After the Spurs captured the title, as I sat on the couch watching the championship ceremony unfold, the vast empty space persisted and I continued to wait patiently to be engulfed. I knew that the same mixture of emotions that I felt in 2005 were an inevitability. I also knew that there was only one thing that would release me from emptiness and into the endless depths of emotion. There was a song that I needed to hear. Holding on to the rose on my necklace I sat on the couch in my emptiness and watched to post game championship coverage until the last piece of confetti had dropped from the rafters. When the coverage was complete and the lights were turned off in the AT&T Center, embracing the darkness, I switched over from the television to our living room stereo, found the aforementioned song and pressed play. The music crashed down on my soul like a tidal wave and, as anticipated, I was finally engulfed. 

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year.

We met in seventh grade basketball tryouts. It was 1991 and I guess I was thirteen and he was twelve. Being a naturally gifted athlete, Brian was ahead of me on the depth chart. If my memory serves me, he started the season as the third string point guard on the A team and I started the season as the second string point guard on the B team. For whatever reason, quickly after tryouts had begun, we started pairing up together for drills during practice that required a partner. Maybe it was because we enjoyed each other’s company. Perhaps it was because Brian was very laid back and I lacked steady confidence in my abilities which made us a good match because some of the other point guards on the team were super competitive. I’m sure it was probably a combination of those things. Regardless, I quickly established myself in Brian’s circle of close friends.

I think that one of the reasons we ended up becoming best friends is that, while we shared similar interests with our entire group of friends such as sports, video games, clothes, and music, Brian and I seemed to have a special connection when it came to our shared interests in music and basketball. It went beyond simply enjoying the same artists and athletes. For some reason, we both had a passion to interact with the music and sport that we loved, but we always had a blast sharing music and basketball with each other. For over 22 years music and basketball were woven together throughout the majestic quilt that was my most important friendship. From creating our own pretend radio station as eight graders in 1992 to creating Rhime Divine (our own hip hop group) as college sophomores in 1998. From having a blast playing Hoop It Up together in Austin in 1994 to attending Game 1 of the 2003 NBA Finals together at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Music and basketball were omnipresent in my relationship with my best friend. This journey has taught me that they are now vehicles that I can use anytime that I want to feel close to him.

As I announced in the post after the Spurs had gone into the City of Blinding Lights and stormed the castle, the songs that appear in this year’s edition of the Black And Silver blog series originate from a playlist entitled Brian’s Cuts that I created for his memorial party. These were songs that Brian loved. I used them to honor him as I used our team as my muse to do something that he always pushed me to do more of; write. Perhaps the blogging was a coping mechanism. Perhaps it was a distraction. The pain was acute when I began this journey and sitting on the couch in that vast empty space after the journey was complete, I was utterly exhausted. I had nothing left. It has taken me a great deal of time to put these thoughts together. While the thoughts flowed freely during the journey, once it was completed, the well was empty. Now, I am finally beginning the slow process of replenishing it.

A great deal has changed since that unforgettable night in June. I now live in Denver, Colorado. LeBron James is once again a Cleveland Cavalier. And the San Antonio Spurs once again have made history by becoming the first franchise in the four major North American professional sports leagues to hire a full-time female assistant coach in Becky Hammon (one of my proudest moments as a Spurs fan). One thing hasn't changed. I miss my best friend and I think about him every day. I am continuing to use music and basketball as vehicles to feel close to him. As I had come to realize during the journey that was the 2014 San Antonio Spurs' march to a tithe title, music and basketball are woven together throughout the majestic quilt that was my most important friendship. The two fabrics complimented each other perfectly.

Sitting on that couch in that vast empty space back in June, I prepared myself for the inevitable engulfment, found the song I needed to hear and I pressed play. Wish you were here. With every ounce of my being, in that moment, wish you were here. I finally succumbed to the moment and the moment brought me peace. Brian is gone but every time I clutch my rose, I garner strength. I have our music. Every time I play one of our songs, I garner strength. I have our Spurs. Every time I reflect back on the 2014 Spurs march to the title and how close it made me fells to my best fiend, I garner strength. Wish you were here. And wishing it is torture, but through this journey I have established an unbreakable connection with the ways that you are here. Brian, I miss you. I can't wait to see you again on the other side. Until then, I won't forget to write. 

Lights out, guerrilla radio.

#GoSpursGo

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Editor's Note: An excerpt of this post was originally published on July 31, 2014. The excerpt was deleted and replaced with the completed piece on May 2, 2015 but we are choosing to keep the original publication date. The final version of this piece references the hiring of Becky Hammon by the San Antonio Spurs on August 5, 2014. That historic event, however, postdates the represented publication date of the post.

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Featured Image Source: NBA.com

Headline Image Source: El Quinto Cuarto

One Left

Juicy - It was all a dream... All thirteen players that suited up for the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the 2014 NBA Finals dotted the box score with at least two points. Yes, thirteen players scored for one team in an NBA Finals game. This has never happened before. The NBA expanded the active roster for an NBA game from 12 to 13 players during the lockout-shortened 2011-2012 season. We are currently in the third NBA Finals series played since that happened and in no contest from 2012-2014 had all 13 players scored for one team until Thursday night. The San Antonio Spurs used 40 field goals (25 of them assisted), 18 free throws, and 13 different scorers to defeat the Miami Heat 107-86 in Game 4 and for our second consecutive blowout victory on the road in this series. So many different people scored for the Spurs Thursday night, I'm pretty sure even the Coyote was in the box score with a dunk. We came back to Miami this week seeking not just a split, but rather redemption for our last two NBA Finals appearances in American Airlines Arena. And this was no easy task. The Triple A, now housing the two-time defending champions, had apparently become more intimidating than ever because the Heat were undefeated at home in the 2014 NBA playoffs heading into these Finals. We also returned to the scene of San Antonio's greatest playoff disappointment to face an opponent who had not lost back-to-back playoff games since dropping Games 3, 4, & 5 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals to the Boston Celtics. Well, we came back to Miami and, as the Spurs often do, we were able to find a way to be the team that put an end to our opponent's impressive streaks. More importantly, we also got our coveted redemption. It sure doesn't hurt, either, that we got in such emphatic fashion.

The San Antonio Spurs were able to navigate the past several weeks to arrive back in the city of blinding lights and achieve our redemption in American Airlines Arena by just continuing to play outstanding team basketball during these NBA playoffs. In fact, since May 4 when the Spurs blew out the Mavericks 119-96 in Game 7 of our first round series we have (on most nights) played some of the best basketball that the league has ever seen. During this impressive stretch, the Spurs have gone a solid 12-4 (.750 winning percentage) but have won our twelve victories by an average of 20.08 points per game (the only close contest was the Spurs' five point overtime victory to closeout the Thunder in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals). Granted, the four contest that we have lost during this stretch (by an average of 8.75 points per game) and the prior three contests that we surrendered to the Mavs (by an average of 4.67 points per game) will prevent these Spurs from having a shot at being remembered as one of the most dominant teams in NBA playoff history, but in our wins we have played impeccable team basketball. Rarely, during this stretch, has there been a victory that has been the byproduct of a signature performance by one of our star players. In last years run to the 2013 NBA Finals, the Spurs rode Tony Parker's brilliant play to many a playoff victory. While Tony, Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili have all played stellar basketball throughout this year's run, we have not needed to rely on any of our big three to put up huge numbers in order to win. We have just shared the basketball night in and night out and overwhelmed our opponents with our depth. And the Spurs are not just deep, we are Indian Ocean deep. Better yet, we are Jack Handey deep. Case in point, the aforementioned ability of this team to get thirteen players into the scoring column in an NBA Finals game is proof enough that this is an historically deep basketball club. Here is one of the Spurs player's lines from Thursday night: 20 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks. Looking at it in a vacuum, one would assume that this line probably belonged to Tim Duncan but that would be an incorrect assumption because this was the line of Kawhi Leonard: NBA superstar. Here's another line from Thursday: 14 points (on 5-8 shooting), 2 assists. Again in a vacuum, one would assume that this could be Tony's line on an efficient shooting night in a game where the defense was predicated on getting the ball out of his hands early. Again, this would be an incorrect assumption because this was Patty Mill's line which he impressively put together in 16 minutes and from his role as back-up point guard. Here's one more: 8 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal. That's Manu Ginobili's line, right? Obviously, Manu is the only Spur who is versatile enough to put together a near triple-double without having a huge scoring night. Guess again, Boris Diaw is also that versatile. By the way, on Thursday night the big three (while not needed to dominate) still contributed to the team win. Tim Duncan had 10 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 blocked shot. Tony Parker had 19 points and 2 assists. Manu Ginobili had 7 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists.

In the flow of San Antonio's team efforts, Bloriff Diaw has indeed had an astronomical impact on this series, especially since he was inserted into the starting lineup alongside Tim Duncan for Games 3 & 4 in what Coach Pop refers to as Medium Ball. In last year's Finals, Miami was able to punish the Spurs for playing our traditional lineup of Tiago Splitter and Tim Duncan because we were unable to close out regularly enough on all of Miami's shooters when they went small. When we adjusted by trying to match them with our own small lineup featuring Manu Ginobili in the starting lineup, the Heat proved to be slightly better than us at Small Ball, winning two of the final three games. Boris Diaw playing at the level he is playing at this year, with all of his versatility, changes everything. On defense, Boris has had the quickness to defend the three point line while also protecting the rim. On offense, he has had the size and low post skills to punish Miami for going small as well as the passing skills of a point guard which has allowed us to run much of our offense through him down on the block and from the point forward position. Boris Diaw's impact on this series is a testament to the Spurs depth in the respect that we have so many weapons that we can eventually devise a strategy and find one to strategically utilize in order to completely change the trajectory of a Finals series. Even though Kawhi had another monster game on Thursday night, I am giving Boris the nod as player of the game because he has been that trajectory-altering weapon for the Spurs in the past two games played in Miami.Fortunately for Spurs fans, when Heat coach Erik Spoelstra looks beyond his four future hall-of-famers and down his bench to find players who can make a momentum-changing impact on the series, to this point, he has been unable to find the weapons to match ours. Boris' ability to impact this series in drastically more ways than the fifth or sixth player on the Heat's depth chart is also a testament to the brilliance of Gregg Popovich as a basketball tactician. Employing Medium Ball has allowed the Spurs to take Miami completely out of their game. Coach Pop is generally regarded as the best basketball coach currently coaching in the NBA despite the fact that he has had some really heart-breaking playoff defeats over the years at the hands of some good but probably inferior coaches. One of the reasons why Pop garners so much respect is that he has been proven time and time again that, if you are an NBA head coach that has figured out a way to beat the San Antonio Spurs in a playoff series, you do not want to give Coach Pop a year or more to game plan how to approach a playoff rematch. He really has had the ability to look under the hood and figure out the necessary personnel moves, player development, and eventually a game plan to overcome whatever match up problems your team and your game plan had presented him with in the series that you beat him in. In the past two seasons alone, Coach Pop has already gotten revenge on Lionel Hollins and the Memphis Grizzlies for our 2011 defeat and Scott Brooks and the Oklahoma City Thunder for our 2012 defeat. This series is far from over, but it seems at this point that Miami's best hope for clawing their way back into the 2014 NBA Finals will come via a herculean effort by LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, and Ray Allen. It seems much less likely that Erik Spoelstra has the personnel nor the strategic savvy to dig his team out of this hole by making a tactical adjustment that utilizes another one of the Heat's weapons.

It appears that many among the national media covering the NBA are utterly shocked at the level of team basketball that the Spurs have been playing during these NBA Finals. It continues to be mind-boggling to me that very few of the people who get paid to report on the NBA all season didn't already know how good the Spurs are and couldn't see this coming. Before this series began, I compared these Spurs to the 1988-89 Detroit Pistons who overcame a heart-breaking seven game defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers the year before to come back and sweep the two-time defending champion Lakers out of the 1989 NBA Finals. These Spurs came within a few missed free throws in Game 2 of sweeping the two-time defending champion Miami Heat out of this years Finals. It has been quite apparent to me after watching both of these teams all season that the scenario we find ourselves in was not only a possibility but more likely a probability. Somehow (heading into this match up), the so-called experts continued to not know about the potential that these Spurs have for all-time historic greatness. ...and if you don't know, now you know.

Nonetheless, as much as I would love to definitively say that the Spurs have broken the will of the team that eliminated us from the postseason last year, I've been watching NBA basketball long enough to know that is very unlikely and that this series is, indeed, far from over. Even though it has never happened in the Finals, eight NBA teams have overcome 1-3 holes to win a playoff series. Heading into tonight's contest, it would be ludicrous to think that the two-time defending champion Miami Heat are incapable of becoming the ninth. The main reason that Spurs fans must refrain from celebrating prematurely is because LeBron James is just too good to go down without a fight. While our team play has been hitting on all cylinders these past two games, LeBron had already proven once in this series that his individual greatness can rattle our unit enough that we can still be forced into abandoning the team defense and ball movement which we must rely on in order to win games. We can also still be pushed into playing a desperate brand of basketball in which our defense takes unnecessary risks in reaction to a player of LeBron's caliber and consequently (after a player like that gets into a rhythm where he is dictating the action by creating his own offense and also setting up his teammates), Tony and Manu sometimes respond by reverting back to playing one-on-one basketball on offense in an attempt to neutralize the momentum of the other team's star player. Tonight, the greatest basketball player in the world is going to be highly motivated to impose his will in order to try to force us into playing that desperate style of basketball again. San Antonio cannot fall for the trap. If we continue to stick to our defensive principles and share the ball on offense, it will not matter what LeBron does individually to create his own offense. Even if LeBron is able to play the best scoring game of his career, as long as we do not allow him to use his offensive gifts to break down our defense to the point where he is dictating both his own offense and also getting his teammates going, the Heat will have a hard time winning (even if LeBron goes for 60). This is provided that we also don't turn the ball over repeatedly and continue to execute our ball movement on the other end. In other words, LeBron James is capable of winning tonight's ball game. He is not capable of winning it if he is not allowed to take us out of our game by reeking havoc on defense and also both scoring and getting Wade, Bosh, and Allen going as well on offense. If the #BlackAndSilver take the court tonight at the AT&T Center and proceed to use one of the deepest rosters in NBA history to play together in pursuit of Revolution 1, we will put ourselves in position to win another playoff basketball game against a great player whose team just happened to get the better of us last year. It is that simple. Sometimes the best team is simply the best team and is able to prove it more times than not against individual greatness. If we consistently play our game tonight, chances are it will be demonstrably apparent to every viewer (including those who happen to also be members of the national media) that we are indeed the better team. The Spurs did not start this transformation to becoming the best team last Tuesday or in April or even last October. Gregg Popovich has been preparing the 2013-2014 San Antonio Spurs to be the best team by equipping us to be better than the 2012-2013 Miami Heat since June 21st, 2013. Now that the transformation has taken hold, hopefully tonight is another night that we are able to prove it. 

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Wish you were here.

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: Widescreen Wallpapers

Headline Image Source: The New York Times

Two Left

City of Blinding Lights - It has been quite a long time since the San Antonio Spurs have had a superstar basketball player on our roster who was born on the American mainland. 29 years to be exact. "How could this be?" you ask. Well, Tony Parker obviously doesn't fit that criteria. He was born in Bruges, Belgium on May 17, 1982. Manu Ginobili obviously doesn't fit the criteria either. He was born in Bahía Blanca, Argentina on July 28, 1977. "Tim Duncan?" Although he was born a U.S. Citizen, it is pretty well universally known among basketball fans that he doesn't fit the criteria either. Timmy was born in Christiansted, United States Virgin Islands on April 25, 1976. "Hold on, surely David Robinson was born on the American mainland, right? After all, he postponed beginning his NBA career for two years to finish his commitment to the United States Navy. His nickname is the Admiral. He is practically Captain America." Actually, while David Robinson was born in the continental United States, even he does not fit the criteria because he was born on the island of Key West, Florida on August 6, 1965. So there you have it. The last player to fit the criteria was a nine time NBA All-Star, made the All-NBA First Team five times, and was a four time NBA scoring champion. He stopped playing for the franchise in 1985 and his number 44 jersey has been hanging from the rafters in the AT&T Center (the Alamodome and HemisFair Arena previously) for quite some time. As far as being born on the American mainland and also going on the become a superstar basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs is concerned, George Gervin, who was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 27, 1952, might finally have some company. 22 year old Kawhi Leonard, who was born in Riverside, California on June 29, 1991 (six years after The Iceman played his last game for the franchise), had a performance Tuesday night on basketball's biggest stage that just might have cemented his ascension to superstar basketball player status. Leonard scored 29 points on 10-13 shooting (3-6 from deep) in Game 3 of the 2014 NBA Finals to spearhead a 111-92 Spurs road victory over the Heat at American Airlines Arena in Miami. Thanks in large part to the performance of Kawhi, home court advantage in the series has officially been grabbed right back.

Not only did Kawhi shoot lights out, but he also collected 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocked shots while playing stellar defense the entire game on the world's best basketball player. LeBron James was limited to 22 points and committed an uncharacteristic seven turnovers with Leonard draped all over him for big stretches of the game. After two games in this series and a split at home, San Antonio Spurs fans had been worried because Kawhi's performance had not been able to rival the breathtaking showcase of his abilities as a two-way player he had unleashed during the 2013 NBA Finals (averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds). For Games 1 & 2 of the 2014 NBA Finals, Kawhi put up only 9 points and 2 rebounds in each game and was in constant foul trouble committing 9 personal fouls in 56 minutes and fouling out of Game 2. He seemed tentative with his decision making back in San Antonio and he was allowing James to be the aggressor in their one-on-one match up on both ends of the floor. It is no secret that the acquisition of the draft rights for Kawhi Leonard during the 2012 NBA draft is one of the primary reasons that the Spurs have reemerged as championship contenders over the past couple of seasons. Coming into Game 3, Spurs fans knew that it would be extremely difficult for us to win a road game against the two-time defending champions if we continued to get the tentative Kawhi from Game 1 & 2. We knew that we needed the beast-mode Kawhi from the 2013 Finals and Tuesday night we got that and then some. Whi played a breathtaking game and asserted himself as a dominant force from the jump by hitting his first six shots on his way to scoring 16 points in the first quarter and outdueling LeBron in the process (James had 14 first quarter points). Leonard, as the primary defender on James, then proceeded to hold LeBron to only eight points over the course of the final three periods. Kawhi clearly was on a mission on Tuesday to make up for his earlier struggles in the series and his superstar performance made him the runaway choice for player of the game. By the way, only two other players in NBA history have scored 29 or more points in an NBA Finals game before enjoying their 23rd birthdays. Their names? Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. Last night, Kawhi Leonard: NBA superstar may just have indeed arrived. 

* * *

Yes, the Spurs might actually have our first NBA superstar on the roster that was born on the American mainland since George Gervin in 1985. In fact, in this period that constitutes R.C. Buford's tenure running the franchise's basketball operations, I would venture with near certainty that the San Antonio Spurs have had the fewest American basketball players suit up for our team of any franchise in the league. I can't imagine that it is even close. You would be hard pressed to find a better collection of international athletic talent on display any where in the world over the past 10 years than the basketball roster that the Spurs have sent on the court night in and night out and currently have competing in the NBA Finals. Thinking about the Wild International uniqueness of the Spurs yesterday, I was reminded of a preseason game I attended a few years back with my best friend, Brian and my wife, Jenn. I knew that I had tweeted before that particular game so I used my Twitter feed to help me remember when it took place. It turns out that it was a preseason game that occurred as we were embarking upon the 2009-2010 season. On a side note, after locating the tweet I also realized just how long ago 2009 was technologically. If I had had a fully developed Twitter game back in the fall of 2009, the tweet from that day would have looked slightly different: 

Going to the Spurs game tonight. Seats on the 15th row. 2nd best seats I've ever had. Pop better play Timmy, Manu, and Tony.

— Ted James (@tedjames) October 9, 2009

After scrolling back through my Twitter feed to 2009, I almost chuckled remembering how primitive my skills at using the platform were back then. Knowing what I know now as an unverified Twitter ninja, the tweet would have probably been reworded and abbreviated so that it could have also included @thebdub and @JHook528 and #GoSpursGo. This would have made for a much more nostalgic trip back down #MemoryLane (You see what I did there? Ninja skills). At any rate, what prompted me to think about a random preseason game yesterday was that it had served as an interesting opportunity to watch the best international basketball club in the world actually play another international club. The Spurs took on Olympiacos Piraeus B.C. at the AT&T Center that night. I remember that the three of us had an amazing time watching an interesting game. What stood out to me about the game, more than anything, was that because we had been fortunate enough to have unbelievable seats on the 15th row, we were close enough to the court to hear the players communicate. To my surprise, I heard less English from the Spurs at times than I heard from the Olympiacos squad led by Josh Childress. The current version of the Spurs is even more international than those teams at the beginning of the decade. Despite all of the English As a Second Language (EASL) barriers that the Spurs have had to work around each and every season during the R.C. Buford era, it is quite obvious that basketball (at the least the way its played in San Antonio) is a universal language. The San Antonio Spurs, in the truest sense of the word, are the world's best basketball team.

As often happens, reflecting on one positive memory triggers the remembrance of another. That night, after the game, Brian came over to Jenn and my house to partake in another one of our other favorite past times along with rooting for the Spurs...barbequing. On countless occasions after Jenn and I had bought our house in 2008, Brian came back into town to kick back with us, have a few cold ones, listen to music, and eat. If we were grilling food on a Friday or Saturday night and there was any possibility that Brian could get away from Austin, he was there. Sometimes we would have large gatherings of friends over to barbeque at the house. Other times it was just the three of us. Either way, there was nothing more enjoyable than hanging out with Brian late into the night on our deck (or before we built it, in the driveway) discussing politics, music, and of course the Spurs. Brian and I were known to overdo it from time to time. Every once and a while, a few cold ones turned into a few too many. One of those nights was on the eve of the 2009 Inauguration of Barack Obama. Brian and I were so excited about the historic event we were about to witness the next morning that we just stayed up right through the night. As the sun was rising on the morning of January 20, 2009, Brian and I were wide awake, deep in conversation, and listening to music. One of the songs that I distinctly remember us listening to during that brilliant sunrise was a song that had become somewhat of an Obama for America campaign theme song: "City of Blinding Lights" by U2. Memories have a funny way of fusing together the things that you miss about the important people you have lost. I miss listening to music with my best friend. I miss watching the Spurs with my best friend. In reverence to these things that are now absent in my life, the songs that appear in this year's edition of the Black And Silver blog series originate from a playlist entitled Brian's Cuts that I created for his memorial party. 

* * *

San Antonio put on an historic exhibition of basketball on Tuesday night during the first half of a game played under the blinding lights of the city that boasted an undefeated home record in American Airlines Arena during the 2014 NBA playoffs heading into Game 3. We scored 41 points in the first quarter. We scored 71 points in the first half. We made an NBA Finals record 75.8 percent of the shots that we attempted in those two quarters. It was a beautiful display of sharing the basketball that happens only once upon a dream. As perfection is an unobtainable pursuit in an endeavor as complex as an playing an NBA basketball game, the 2014 San Antonio Spurs may never reach Revolution 1: the art of teamwork perfected, but during the first half of Game 3 we seemed hellbent on trying. That was probably about as close to a perfect display of team basketball as has ever been seen on a stage as grand as the NBA Finals. Hopefully, since we came up a little short of perfection (missing 24.2 percent of our shots by the end of the half), the Spurs can make another run at perfection tonight. We are going to have to play even better than we did on Tuesday in order to return home from Miami unscathed and to give ourselves an opportunity to close out the champs at home on Sunday. While tonight's game is a must-win for the Miami Heat, in my opinion it is also a must-win for us. Miami has proven over and over again that they will make you pay for allowing them to hang in a series in which you've had the early upper hand. Yes, it is becoming harder and harder to argue the fact that the Spurs are the best team in the NBA. San Antonio has won two games in this series by sharing the basketball and relying on our cohesion as a collection of international talent to overwhelm the Heat in those two contests. The Heat, however, still have the best basketball player in the world and were able to win Game 2 because of his determination and his brilliance. The longer a series is prolonged, the better the chance that the best player has of imposing his will to outlast the best team.

The reason for this is that the longer that the best player is able to keep his teammates afloat, the more confident they will become in their own abilities to help him persevere thus elevating their entire group closer to the level of the better team. Once the two teams are playing on closer to an equal footing, the lesser team has a much better chance of utilizing the best player in the world to steal the series. We have seen that movie before and I am not interested in seeing a sequel. The heartbreak of Game 6 much less LeBron James' series clinching jumper in Game 7 last year never happen if the Spurs had somehow found the energy and resilience to match the Heat's desperation in Game 4 and impose our will. Tonight it will be even more difficult than it was last year because Miami has the added advantage of playing Game 4 at home. We are facing an extraordinary challenge tonight against the defending champs. I believe, however, that if the #BlackAndSilver continue to play our wild international brand of basketball in pursuit of Revolution 1, we will be up for the challenge. We came to Miami this week for redemption, not for a split. The juicy gossip on South Beach is that there might be a new superstar coming to town next season. What is being overlooked in all the hysteria surrounding the possible completion of the Heatles is that, perhaps, there is a new superstar in Miami at this very moment. Even when your game is as American as apple pie and as smooth as ice, when you are quieter than Tim Duncan sometimes it takes a while for people to take notice that the thing that makes you a superstar is playing your role to help your team play winning basketball in the most hostile environments and for the biggest stakes. Kawhi Leonard, you might just be the brightest star in the city of blinding lights tonight.

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: Atchim

Four Left

Here Now - It was a devastating way to lose the NBA Finals. When you're up three games to two and you have a lead on the road in the last minute of the fourth quarter of Game 6, you have the trophy so close within reach that you can almost scape a fingernail on it. Even though no lead is ever safe in the NBA, the reason why you start sensing that you're closing in on the title is because if you're good enough to be in that position in the first place, it means that you're also good enough to make the right decisions, execute effectively, protect the lead, and closeout the game. By the time that you've gotten around to having a lead in the last minute of Game 6 of the NBA Finals, you've not only been through all of the possible late game scenarios over the course of a hundred game season, but you've established a proven track record that you can make the plays necessary to finish. In other words, a team that is good enough to make the NBA Finals is good enough to protect a lead during the last minute of a ball game nine times out of ten; perhaps even ninety five times out of a hundred. That is why it is so devastating when this happens. The question is, when you are that close and everything caves in around you, how do you respond? Do you grab on to a helping hand and live to fight another day or does your proximity to realizing your dream allow you to become so overcome with the moment that you plummet into the abyss?

Most teams would plummet into the abyss. You would more than likely be resigned to show up and get blown out in Game 7 after losing Game 6 of the NBA Finals on the road in devastating fashion. It is human nature if you are a player on a team in that situation to hang your head and feel sorry for yourself after squandering a golden opportunity to achieve your goal. Once that focus is broken and replaced by regret, it is an astronomical challenge to have the fortitude to prepare properly to turn around and bring the same energy and execution to match a team that is full of new life after enjoying some clutch plays but also a few breaks and perhaps a little luck to narrowly escape elimination. You see, the problem in this particular scenario is that your opponent has also proven over the course of a hundred game season to be good enough to be playing in the NBA Finals and now they have proven that they are also good enough to find life in the face of imminent death. All losses being equal and as the road team, you are probably better off in your pursuit of the ultimate goal of winning the title if you get blown out in Game 6 than you are losing in heartbreaking fashion when you should have won. You can chalk up a blowout defeat on the road to just having a bad night and then try to come back with better focus and energy in Game 7. If, however, you blow the lead in the last minute of Game 6, all you have is "what ifs" torturing and distracting you like an uninterrupted nightmare during the days leading up to Game 7. You've let your best opportunity slip through your fingers and the worst part is that your opponent also knows this. Considering that this Finals series is being played in the (now defunct) 2-3-2 format, regardless of whether the circumstances that led to your Game 6 demise were you choking or your opponent coming through in the clutch (or a combination of both), that other team is patiently sitting at home counting their blessings, enjoying life, and getting ready to wipe the floor with you in Game 7. As a team that is carrying all of the baggage of just having blown your shot to close out the NBA Finals on the road in Game 6, you are expected by everyone to "fold like a cheap hooker who got hit in the stomach by a fat guy with sores on his face" in Game 7.

Indeed, most teams facing those circumstances would be toast. The 1988 Detroit Pistons, however, were a team that refused to fold after coughing up Game 6 of the NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers 103-102 at the Great Western Forum in LA. Game 6 was not only a devastating loss for the Pistons but it was one of the most heartbreaking beats in modern professional sports. Detroit led Los Angeles 3-2 in the series and 102 to 99 in the final minute of the game before Byron Scott scored with 45 seconds left to cut the Piston lead to two. On the ensuing possession, Isiah Thomas missed a a baseline jumper which set up one of the most infamous plays in NBA Finals history. With 14 seconds left in the game and Detroit still leading by one, Bill Laimbeer was guarding Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as he attempted his signature skyhook shot. Kareem missed and Dennis Rodman was in position to collect the rebound and more than likely the Pistons' first championship trophy. The problem was that one of the officials had the audacity to call a foul on the shot attempt. There was minimal contact on the play (especially by late 80's standards) and this series altering call has gone down in infamy in Detroit lore as the "phantom foul." Kareem sunk both free throws to give LA the lead. On the Pistons next possession, Joe Dumars missed badly on a desperate attempt. Byron Scott collected the rebound and was fouled immediately. Although he missed both free throws, the Pistons were out of timeouts and were forced to attempt a half court shot at the buzzer.

After being so close to winning the title just to have the game taken away by a ridiculous foul call, it was hard to imagine that Detroit would be able to regroup and compete in Game 7. Everyone assumed that the Pistons would get slaughtered by Magic Johnson and the "Showtime" Lakers. Against all odds and to almost everyone's surprise, this did not happen. It turned out that the 1988 Detroit Pistons were a special basketball team. Somehow, they found the mental strength and inner fortitude to compete in Game 7 in Los Angeles until the bitter end. Down four points with six seconds left, Bill Laimbeer drained a 28 foot three pointer to cut the Laker lead to one point. Detroit went for the steal which allowed LA to advance the ball to A.C. Green who was wide open for a layup with two seconds left. As Laimbeer looked to inbound the ball so the Pistons could attempt a game tying three pointer, it became quickly apparent that the Pistons not only faced the five Laker players in the game on their final attempt but also the defense of the Laker bench as well as several dozen Lakers fans who were already storming the court. It seems mind-boggling today, but the referees made no attempt to clear the court and allow Detroit a fair opportunity to tie the game. Laimbeer, given no other option, threw the ball to the front court to Isaiah Thomas who was promptly knocked down by Magic Johnson. Shockingly, no foul was called and the game ended. Lakers 108 - Pistons 105. 

* * *

After surrendering a lead in the last minute of the fourth quarter and eventually losing Game 6 of the NBA Finals on the road, it was hard to imagine that San Antonio would be able to regroup and compete in Game 7. Everyone assumed that the Spurs would get slaughtered by LeBron James and "The Heatles." Against all odds and to almost everyone's surprise, this did not happen. It turned out that the 2013 San Antonio Spurs were a special basketball team. Somehow they found the mental strength and inner fortitude to compete in Game 7 in Miami until the bitter end. Kawhi Leonard hit a three point shot with just over one minute left in the game to cut a five point Heat lead to two, 90-88. After Shane Battier missed a three point attempt, Manu Ginobili secured the rebound with exactly one minute left on the clock and the Spurs advanced the ball with an opportunity to tie or take the lead. San Antonio worked the ball in to Tim Duncan in the post. Noticing that he had the smaller Battier defending him, Timmy drove immediately towards the middle of the paint to attempt a point blank jump hook; a shot that he had made hundreds if not thousands of times before in his career. He shot it long off of the back rim but immediately responded by attempting to tip it back up and in (something he has also done hundreds of times in his career). The tip attempt failed and Chris Bosh secured the rebound. With 28 seconds left in the game and clinging to a two point lead, LeBron James drained a clutch 17 foot jump shot to put Miami up four. After Manu Ginboli missed a three pointer on the ensuing possession, the Heat closed out the game by hitting three out of four free throws. Heat 95 - Spurs 88.

The thing about special basketball teams who have the fortitude to compete on the road in Game 7 of the NBA Finals after being less than a minute away from winning a championship in Game 6 is that they have a demonstrated ability to regroup. Sometimes 48 hours just isn't quite enough time to come all the way back from something so heartbreaking... but a year certainly is. After experiencing that and still having the fortitude to comeback and claim the best regular season record in the NBA the next season (1988-89 Detroit Pistons: league best record of 63-19, 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs: league best record 62-20), no amount of playoff adversity can seem to derail you from your quest for redemption. Last Saturday night, the San Antonio Spurs trotted out for the second half of Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals in Chesapeake Energy Arena (a building in which we had lost 9 straight times) trailing by 7 and with Cory Joseph in the game at the point guard position. It became quickly apparent that Tony Parker, our leading scorer, was out of the game due to injury. The TNT broadcasting team subsequently reported that Tony would not return. Despite this unfortunate turn of events, San Antonio (with Cory as our floor general) put together one of our most dominant quarters of the postseason. The Spurs outscored the Oklahoma City Thunder 37-20 in the period by picking the OKC defense apart with the type of precision ball movement that has been the team's trademark this season. Up ten points on the road with an opportunity to close out the Thunder heading into the fourth quarter, it seemed inevitable that league MVP Kevin Durant and his sidekick Russell Westbrook would make a run to save their season. Sure enough, they did exactly that. Oklahoma City kept chipping away at our lead throughout the fourth quarter and finally, with 32 seconds left in the period, Durant made a driving layup to give the Thunder a 99-97 lead. A year is a long time to think about redemption. On the ensuing possession, Manu Ginobili (who had missed a crucial three pointer in the last minute of Game 7 of last year's NBA Finals) came free off of a Tim Duncan pick and just buried the go-ahead three point dagger with 27 seconds left. Even still, after Kevin Durant turned the ball over and Manu split a pair of free throws, Russell Westbrook re-tied the game 101-101 by making a pair of free throws. Manu got a clean look at the buzzer to win the game, but back rimmed it.The two Western Conference heavy weights traded punches for most of the overtime period until Tim Duncan found himself in the low post with a smaller defender on him clinging to a one point lead (108-107) with less than 30 seconds left in the overtime period. A year is a long time to think about redemption. Timmy (who had missed his jump hook in the last minute of Game 7 of last year's NBA Finals with the smaller Shane Battier on him) noticing he had the much smaller Reggie Jackson on him turned to his left into a leaning jump hook with Russell Westbrook closing frantically to double team and rattled it home to earn player of the game honors. Trailing by three, Kevin Durant missed a good look at a three pointer to re-tie the game and Boris Diaw (who had a monster night with 26 points) made two out of four free throws down the stretch to secure the victory and send the #BlackAndSilver back to the NBA Finals. Spurs 112 - Thunder 107. A year is a long time to think about redemption.

We Here Now

* * *

I was hanging out in the studio the weekend that Brian and Eric recorded this song in 2005. I remember that the three of us, along with our friend Matt, went to a Spurs game that Saturday night to break up the grind of a marathon recording session. I couldn't even tell you anymore who we played on that particular night, I just know that ever since then I have associated this song with Spurs playoff runs and I guess that is the reason. After Saturday night's epic closeout victory, I blasted this song on my living room stereo and basked at what the Spurs had just accomplished while also thinking about my best friend. Indeed, we are here now with the opportunity to secure ultimate redemption for our devastating Game 6 defeat to the Miami Heat in last year's NBA Finals. This is the first rematch in the Finals since Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls defeated Karl Malone's Utah Jazz in both 1997 and 1998. The time before that? That was 25 years ago in 1989 when the Detroit Pistons were able to regroup and overcome any and all playoff adversity on their quest for redemption to set up their opportunity for a rematch with the Los Angeles Lakers. In Game 7 of last year's Finals, I witnessed the same heart in the San Antonio Spurs that I remember witnessing from the 1988 Detroit Pistons in their Game 7 against the Lakers. The '88 Pistons weren't on my mind, necessarily, when I sent out my tweet immediately following San Antonio coming up just short in Game 7 last year but the rare inner fortitude that both team's shared was and that was what gave me the confidence a bold prediction and the faith that we would be exactly where we are tonight; on the eve of our opportunity to finish off some overdue business. A year is a long time to think about redemption. Tomorrow night, the San Antonio Spurs will embark on revolution 1: the art of teamwork perfected. There is something cyclical about this beautiful game that we call basketball. I've had this feeling for a while now that the 1988-1989 Detroit Pistons and the 2013-2014 San Antonio Spurs are kindred spirits. How did the '89 Pistons fare in reaching their ultimate goal of redemption? They swept the Los Angeles Lakers out of the 1989 NBA Finals four games to zero. I'm just saying.

#GoSpursGo

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Headline Image Source: ESPN

Eight Left

B.O.B. - When the hip hop duo, OutKast, released their debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, on April 26, 1994, Tim Duncan had just wrapped up his freshman season at Wake Forest. Fast forward twenty years and OutKast is the most buzzed about act on this year's summer music festival circuit and Tim Duncan is making his twentieth appearance in the NCAA or NBA postseason. In the past 20 years, OutKast has sold more than 21 million copies of their six studio albums and Tim Duncan has been the anchor of Wake Forest Demon Deacon (NCAA) and San Antonio Spurs (NBA) teams that have won 1,168 basketball games. If you're looking for standard-bearers in the fields of mainstream hip hop and professional sports, you would be hard-pressed to come up with better examples during this era.

Sure, Jay Z has sold more records than OutKast and Kobe Bryant currently has one more championship ring than Timmy, so there are cases to be made elsewhere. Some might argue that OutKast should be disqualified because they haven't released a studio album in almost 8 years or that Duncan should be disqualified because he has never won back-to-back championships. However, OutKast has released 5 hip hop masterpieces in the last 20 years and tomorrow, Tim Duncan will be appearing in his 9th Western Conference Finals with a fantastic opportunity to finish off his 5th masterpiece NBA season. In comparison, I would argue that Jay Z has only released 3 hip hop masterpieces (Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint, and The Black Album) and Kobe Bryant has had only 8 appearances in the Western Conference Finals and won only 2 of his 5 titles while serving as the anchor of his Los Angeles Lakers teams. The Lakers have also missed the playoffs all together twice during the Kobe Bryant era whereas the Spurs have made it every single year with Timmy as the anchor and under his stewardship of the franchise. For my money, when it comes to consistent brilliance, OutKast and Tim Duncan are the clear choices as the standard-bearers for the the last twenty years.

Consistent brilliance is something that is hard to achieve in any human endeavor therefore it should be celebrated wherever it can be identified. The consistent brilliance of Tim Duncan is certainly not appreciated as much as it would have been had Timmy's Spurs caught a few breaks here or there and he had finished off more playoff runs with NBA titles. A bounce of the ball here, a different referee call there and Tim Duncan could have realistically surpassed Michael Jordan's 6 championship rings already. Had the San Antonio Spurs caught every single break in every single playoff run, it is not inconceivable that Duncan could be challenging to tie Bill Russell's 11 championship rings this season. Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs have capitalized on 4 opportunities and won four titles so far. However, they were in the mix and were serious title contenders on at least six other occasions:

1999-2000: The San Antonio Spurs were denied a realistic opportunity to defend their 1999 title when Tim Duncan missed the playoffs due to injury for the first and only time of his career to date. Because of Timmy's injury, the Spurs bowed out of the playoffs in the first round to Phoenix in 4 games. The Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant led Los Angeles Lakers went on to capture the title, but only after the Portland Trail Blazers melted down in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. Given that the Spurs had swept the Blazers and the Lakers in 1999 and the Lakers were just establishing themselves as a championship-level team during the 2000 playoff run, it is reasonable to assume that a healthy defending champion Spurs' squad led by Tim Duncan would have had a puncher's chance at fending off the up-and-coming Shaq and Kobe Lakers for one more year and might have started the San Antonio dynasty with back-to-back championships.

2003-2004: Point Four.

2005-2006: The Foul.

2007-2008: This year, Oklahoma City was given three days off by the NBA after winning a hard-fought series against the LA Clippers to advance to the Western Conference Finals. In 2008, the league did not extend the same courtesy to the Spurs after we won an epic 7 game semifinal series on the road in New Orleans on May 19th. The Spurs were expected to be in Los Angeles to play the Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on May 21st and had already had the bad luck of having spent several hours stuck on the team plane during a delay of their flight leaving New Orleans. Despite all of this, the Spurs dominated the first half of Game 1 of the WCF against the Lakers and looked primed to steal home court advantage for the series. However, the team ran out of gas in the second half and Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to a 89-85 comeback victory. The Spurs could never recover. Manu Ginobili played the series injured and Joey Crawford and company swallowed the whistle when the Lakers fouled Brent Barry on the final possession of Game 4 which could have won the game for the Spurs and tied the series at 2-2. The league later acknowledged that the foul call should have been made but it was too late for the Spurs as another title run went up in flames when the Spurs were eliminated in Game 5, losing 100-92 back in LA.

2010-2011: After securing the best record in the Western Conference, another injury sidelined Manu Ginbobili for the first game of the first round series against the Memphis Grizzlies. That small opening was all that the Grizzlies needed to take advantage and steal home court advantage in Game 1, defeating the Spurs in San Antonio 101-98 with the help of a cold blooded Zach Randolph three pointer. The Spurs, playing from behind the rest of the series, eventually bowed out in Game 6 in Memphis to become only the second number one seeded team to lose a 7 game first round series (2007 Dallas Mavericks). Had the Spurs figured out a way to get out of that first round series with Memphis, we would have had a great opportunity to win the title because our in-state rivals, the Dallas Mavericks, capitalized on the fact that the Kevin Durant led Thunder and the LeBron James led Heat were not quite ready to win a championship. As this year has proven, any playoff match-up between the Spurs and Mavericks is an all out war but given that we have gotten the upper hand (winning 4 out of 6 playoff series against the Mavs) there would have been a decent chance that we would have defeated that team in the Western Conference Finals, no matter how well Dirk was playing. Had that happened, the Spurs would have had a crack at the Miami Heat before they had obtained collective championship experience. The Spurs, just like the Mavs, would have taken advantage and won those Finals.

2012-2013: 28 Seconds Away.

In a perfect world, one that affords the San Antonio Spurs every break, every single year, Tim Duncan would currently be competing for his 11th title to tie the mark set by Bill Russell. While the world clearly isn't perfect, the fact that Tim Duncan-led Spurs teams have been serious title contenders enough times that Timmy's career could rival Russell's if the world were perfect is a testament to the consistent brilliance of Duncan. As outlined above, the San Antonio Spurs have had our fair share of bad breaks that have costs us opportunities to go out and seize opportunities to grab more rings. At this point, however, there is no need to dwell on the what ifs. I bring them up in this context simply to demonstrate how dominant of a force Tim Duncan has been in the NBA. While most NBA fans and experts give Timmy deserved praise as an all-time great player and many people even consider him the greatest power forward of all-time, I think that these bad playoff breaks have certainly caused the vast majority of the basketball public to undervalue his greatness. If the Spurs had simply capitalized on one third of the six serious opportunities to win a title outlined above, Timmy would have six rings (tied with Jordan) which would have framed this year's run as Duncan's opportunity to surpass Jordan in titles which would have forced the basketball public to view his place among the all-time greats completely differently. For Spurs fans, however, after all of the heart break we have endured, we are more than willing to be completely satisfied with just one more. Seeing Tim Duncan finally celebrate one more championship, 15 years after his first, would allow us to count our blessings and move forward into the future being completely content with the Tim Duncan era of Spurs basketball. Amazing as it might have sounded a few years ago, Timmy has yet another golden opportunity in 2014 to hoist his 5th NBA Championship trophy. Using the 5 masterpiece albums recorded by OutKast as metaphors, what follows are the 5 reasons that I feel extremely confident that Tim Duncan will seize this opportunity to finish off his 5th masterpiece NBA season.

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik: Danny Green and Kawhi Leoanard must have been really angry that the team's chances of a sweep in Game 4 were ruined by the bad karma generated from one small corner of the San Antonio Spurs blogging community (see Four Right) becauseboth players played with a chip on their shoulders in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Portland Trail Blazers to earn co-player of the game honors. Danny had 22 points on 9-13 shooting (4-6 from downtown) and added 9 rebounds. Kawhi had 22 points on 9-15 shooting (3-4 from downtown) including his most spectacular dunk of the season and he also grabbed 7 boards of his own. For the fourth time in five games the Spurs dominated the Blazers, winning Game 5 going away and closing out Portland's young up-and-coming squad 104-82 on Wednesday night at the AT&T Center. While it was a relief to get the series finished so that San Antonio would have an opportunity to get some rest before Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the fortune of an easy closeout game against the Blazers came with the cost of losing Tony Parker in the first half to a hamstring injury. Tony went scoreless in 10 minutes of play but luckily it was later determined that it was a Grade 1 strain (the least severe) and Tony has said that he expects to play in Game 1 of the WCF. The emergence of Danny and Kawhi in Game 5 against the Blazers is the first reason that I am confident in the Spurs' chances this season. If the duo can play like they did on Wednesday on both sides of the court for the duration of this playoff run, it will be virtually impossible for any of the remaining teams to stop San Antonio and our young perimeter talent from having a Player's Ball at the AT&T Center sometime next month.

ATLiens: Former Atlanta Hawk, Boris Diaw, and his cohort of alien residents who formulate the lineup within the Spurs' second unit that is otherwise referred to as the Foreign Legion played a magnificent second-round series against Portland. This lineup, consisting of Boris, Patty Mills, Marco Belinelli, Aron Baynes, and professor emeritus Manu Ginobili, was largely absent during big stretches of the first round series with Dallas. However, the Foreign Legion recovered nicely to overwhelm the Blazers' bench which was one of the weakest benches in the NBA throughout the course of the season. The San Antonio second unit outscored its Portland counterpart 220-77 over the duration of the 5 game series. This was a clear advantage. As talented as the Blazers' starting unit is, it was a tall task for them to try to keep pace with the Spurs by playing extended minutes while our starting unit was getting normal rest. The teams who are remaining in the 2014 NBA playoffs are all deeper than Portland so it is imperative to our chances for success that the Foreign Legion and the rest of our bench continue to play sharp, confident basketball for the rest of this tournament. The strong performance of the second unit during the Western Conference Semifinals is the second reason that I am confident that San Antonio will be taking Elevators (Me & You) to the top of the NBA mountain sometime in the latter part of next month.

Aquemini: One could argue that Big Boi and Andre 3000 were at the peak of their powers as a hip hop duo with the effort on display in 1998's, Aquemini. When OutKast released that album in 1998, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were four years away from becoming teammates with the San Antonio Spurs and were close to a decade away from being at the peak of their powers as a basketball duo. Now 16 years after the release of OutKast's opus and in their 12th season as teammates, Tony and Manu are still making beautiful music together on the basketball court. While these days they seem to take turns putting together dominant performances, they are still capable of obliterating the opposition by both playing at their best on any given night. This was evident once already during this year's playoff run, and at the most needed time, when the Spurs' legendary backcourt dismantled the Dallas Maverick's defense in Game 7 of the first round series, combining for 52 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, and 6 steals in a season-saving performance that resulted in a blowout victory. It should go without saying that Tony and Manu must be playing together at a high level in order for San Antonio to have a realistic shot at ending this season in a title. Late this afternoon news was released that comes as a huge relief to Spurs fans. The hamstring injury which sidelined Tony for the majority of Game 5 against the Blazers on Wednesday night is not going to keep him out of the lineup to start the Western Conference Finals as he has been cleared to play in Game 1. Unfortunately for fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder (San Antonio's WCF opponent), news this week out of their camp unfortunately went the other way as the team announced that starting power forward, Serge Ibaka, will likely be sidelined for the remainder of the 2014 postseason with a calf strain. This is a devastating loss for the Thunder and for Spurs fans like me, who always want to play our top competition at full strength, it is certainly disappointing news that the Thunder's third most important offensive player and the anchor of their defense will be sidelined for the series. Nonetheless, the Spurs cannot relax for one minute in Game 1 or throughout the series because we are still facing league MVP, Kevin Durant, and his all-star teammate Russell Westbrook in this series. Add in that Derick Fisher, who has made a career out of sticking the knife in the hearts of Spurs fans, is also on the other side of the ball and we still have our work cut out for us if we want to win the West. But if Tony and Manu can continue to set the table for the the Spurs' shooters to feast on open three pointers so that we can smoke the Thunder defense like we intend to Skew It on the Bar-B, then we should be just fine in this series. The timelessly elite combination of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in the Spurs' backcourt is the third reason that I am confident that the 2014 campaign will end with San Antonio bogging in to our favorite local cuisine for a jubilant celebration in June.

Stankonia: If you have been following this year's installment of the Black & Silver blog so far, then you are probably well aware that I have dedicated the series of posts for the 2014 postseason to my best friend Brian, who passed away shortly before the beginning of the playoffs. In October 2000, OutKast released Stankonia which was a special moment in Brian and my friendship. We were roommates at the time and we had both been waiting anxiously for weeks for the new OutKast record to drop. The day of the release, we both waited to listen to any of it until we were both home from work and or school and could listen to the entire album together. I remember that we had a spectacular listening session together that day and were blown away by the brilliance of the album. In particular, I remember that Brian could not get enough of B.O.B., the song that also bares the name of the subtitle to this blog post. The sheer creativity and innovation on display by OutKast in B.O.B. was clearly inspirational to Brian as evidenced by this. Being that Brian and I were also a hip hop duo, I always sensed that we had a special insight into the nature of Big Boi and Andre 3000's relationship as partners and friends and I was always curious to watch how the pair navigated the waters of the music industry as a group and also independently as artists. It always seemed helpful to try to attempt to relate what Brian and I went through over the course of our 16 years together as Rhime Divine to the evolution of OutKast as a duo over the same period of time. In Fifteen Left, I laid out my motivations to attempt this sequel to last year's Black & Silver blog series. At times it has been rough, but I have truly felt Brian's presence with me during the time that I have spent watching each of these Spurs playoff games. While I prefer to keep details of the spiritual effect that this journey has had on helping navigate through my grieving process private for now, I can say that there is this feeling that I am holding inside of me which is full of Brian's energy and which is telling me that this particular Spurs playoff run is going to end with San Antonio swagging So Fresh, So Clean when it is all said and done. This constant feeling of reassurance and excitement is the fourth reason why I am confident that the Spurs will be bringing the NBA Championship trophy back to Titletown, TX.

Speakerboxxx / The Love Below: In 2004, OutKast won the Grammy for album of the year becoming arguably the first rappers to win that prestigious award (Lauryn Hill won the 1999 'Album of the Year' Grammy for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, partly on the skills that she showcased as an emcee on that album). When OutKast released this classic double album where each artist was largely responsible for one disc, Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan were half way through earning the four NBA titles that they currently have together. For 17 seasons now, Coach Pop and Timmy have worked together as the driving force behind the San Antonio Spurs' sustained success. While they serve in different roles for the organization and are seemingly so different in so many ways, they also appear to be as inseparable as OutKast, with careers that are so interlinked that it almost seems incomprehensible to entertain the idea of one without the other. In other words, Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan are the OutKast of the NBA. At the beginning of this post when I compared the sustained brilliance of OutKast to the sustained brilliance of Tim Duncan and pronounced that these individuals are the standard-bearers in their given fields over the last 20 years, I purposefully left Tim Duncan's partner out of the equation. After all, that is the way that Coach Pop would want it. For his entire career, Gregg Popovich as deflected the praise that he receives for his success toward his players, specifically his artistic partner...Tim Duncan. While Coach Pop and Timmy might be recording separate discs, they are working magic together in the studio this summer trying to put the finishing touches on their 5th masterpiece NBA season. And if the #BlackAndSilver are able to complete this long, hard journey and capture the title that has alluded us for the better part of a decade now, perhaps we might even get a rare moment of positive emotion out of Coach Pop on the podium. If, indeed, the Spurs climb the mountain and we are lucky enough to have Pop give a reaction to express his excitement, I suspect he might express it in as little as two words with something like, "Hey Ya!" But we can't get ahead of ourselves just yet. Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan know better than anyone that the hardest legs of this journey are still to come. This duo has been around the block one too many times to start looking ahead of the task which is right in front of them. Right now, that is the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals tomorrow night. Coach Pop will have the team ready for that challenge and Tim Duncan will be ready to add another chapter to his historic legacy. The number one reason that I am confident that the San Antonio Spurs will be the 2014 NBA Champions is the consistent brilliance of Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan. And peering back over the last 20 years of basketball, I couldn't ask for a better reason.

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: 2DBZ

Headline Image Source: BizWEEK.US

Fifteen Left

Free Bird - On the evening of Thursday, April 3rd, I turned the television off after having watched the San Antonio Spurs' 19 game winning streak come to an end on the road and at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder. My good friend, Ryan, called me almost immediately after the game ended but I didn't answer the call because, given the fact that he is not a Spurs fan, I thought he might have randomly been calling me to talk smack about a former Texas Longhorn, Kevin Durant, and the Thunder's impressive regular season sweep of the Spurs. When I didn't answer his call, he quickly followed up with a text saying "Call me as soon as you get this." At that point, I knew that his reason for calling was more serious than the basketball game. Jenn and I were on our way out the door to go to the grocery store so I decided that, even though I was worried that returning this call could be important, I would call Ryan back from the car on our way. We hadn't even made it out of the neighborhood when Ryan hit me with the worst news I have ever received in my life. My best friend, Brian, had passed away.

As I was getting off of the phone with Ryan, in disbelief, I pulled the car into the parking lot near the basketball court in my neighborhood, parked, and peered blankly out across the neighborhood park. The initial shock lasted several minutes before Jenn was able to get me to move to the passenger's seat so that she could drive us back to our house. What has followed over the next several days and weeks has been about as difficult a period of time as I could have ever dreaded I might be presented with in life. The news of losing Brian sent me spiraling into a deep, dark hole, the likes of which I have never before had to endure during my three and a half decades of life experience. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. My productivity was debilitated upon returning to work after taking a few days off to attempt to process the news and to attend Brian's service. Finally, and relevant to the interests of this audience, I could not have cared less about the outcome of the final handful of games in the San Antonio Spurs' 2013-14 regular season. The only thing that existed in my life was pain.

* * * 

While basketball played a central role in the foundation of Brian and my friendship, we met during seventh grade basketball tryouts, it wasn't until the fall of 2000 that Brian started along his journey to becoming a die-hard Spurs fan. The reason for this would seem reasonable enough to an outsider. In the fall of 2000, Brian moved from College Station to San Antonio and became roommates with a die-hard Spurs fan. Probably as fundamental to the scientific laws governing our universe as The Einstein Theory of Relativity is The Die-Hard Sports Fan Theory of Relativity. Ask anyone who has ever lived with a die-hard sports fan and they will validate this eternal scientific truth: living with a die-hard sports fan, by the power of transitive property and in the absence of a preexisting fan allegiance, will make you also eventually become a die-hard fan of your roommate's favorite team. While Brian had always casually rooted for the Spurs, as the nearest NBA team to our hometown; it wasn't until he moved to San Antonio to become my roommate, and entered my sick and twisted world of watching an average of one hundred Spurs games a year, that he quickly began developing his own die-hard status with the team.

By the time the 2001 NBA Playoffs arrived, Brian was all in. He had watched what he previously would have considered an outrageous number of Spurs games during the regular season and he seemed completely invested in the Spurs making a playoff run towards their second NBA championship and beating the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in process. In the end, the Spurs were swept in devastating fashion by the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals and Brian seemed almost as bummed out as I was by the whole ordeal. I remember that we had just started watching The Sopranos: Season 1 on VHS during the Lakers series and after the sweep, we used binge watching the show as a way to take our mind off of how disappointed we were that the Spurs season was over. A year later, things played out rather similarly. Brian and I endured through a another painful exit to the now two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in five games, this time in the second round, and spent another summer licking our wounds. People often say that the third time is a charm, and in the case of Brian and I watching the San Antonio Spurs playoff runs together as die-hard fans, they would be correct.

In 2003, the San Antonio Spurs faced off against the now three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers for a third consecutive year. In a masterful turning-of-the-tables performance, the Spurs defeated the Lakers 4-2 in another second-round match up and in resounding fashion. This playoff series victory electrified the entire city of San Antonio and it was unlike anything we had experienced before. I cannot speak in regards to the energy in the city during the Spurs' march to the 1999 Championship because after our sophomore year in college, Brian and I had been living and working in Austin and were not present in the city to experience the latter rounds of the playoff run that resulted in the Spurs' first championship. We actually watched the Spurs clinch the 1999 NBA Finals, in Austin, while attending my brother's bachelor party. But Brian and I were there, right smack dab in the middle of it, in 2003 to soak in the sense of pride that was spreading like a wildfire throughout our community.

One of the local radio stations, The Beat 98.5, held a contest to determine the best Spurs themed rap song in San Antonio. I convinced Brian to record a Spurs song with me in order to enter the contest. We recorded and submitted this little gem which ended up being the first Rhime Divine song to get air time on terrestrial radio. Our song was a finalist in the contest and I still meet people to this day who were living in San Antonio during that magical summer and remember hearing it on the radio.

By the time that it became clear that the Spurs were going to defeat the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals (in other words, about half way through Steve Kerr's barrage of three pointers in the Game 6 comeback that Brian and I watched in a San Antonio pool hall with our good friend Matt), I knew that I wanted to try to get tickets for the NBA Finals. It had been a dream of mine since childhood to attend an NBA Finals game and this seemed like as good an opportunity as I might ever have. The instant that tickets went on sale, I went online attempting to acquire some and I was able to secure two tickets in the first row of the balcony level for Game 1 of the 2003 NBA Finals. I remember that Brian was working that morning and, rather than call him to tell him the great news, I waited until he came home from work to show him my printed receipt for the most historic basketball game that the two of us would ever attend together. He was ecstatic; for the next few days before the game, we were like two kids waiting impatiently for Christmas to arrive.

The San Antonio Spurs defeated the New Jersey Nets 101-89 on Wednesday, June 4th, 2003 and Tim Duncan, who was the league MVP that year, had a monster game with 32 points, 20 rebounds, 6 assists, and 7 blocks. More than details of the on-the-court action, the thing that I remember most about that experience is the pure joy and appreciation that Brian and I had for being there. Repeatedly throughout the game, we turned to each other to crack a smile and give each other a look as if to say, "I can't believe we are here at the NBA Finals." Because of the reverence that we held for the game of basketball and the National Basketball Association, that evening at the SBC Center (now AT&T Center) was, I feel safe in speaking for the both of us, one of the most fun and rewarding experiences that Brian and I ever had attending a game as Spurs fans.

Perhaps it was a little bit too much fun because, as the series progressed, I began coming down with a nagging cold. On Wednesday, June 11th, a week after Brian and I had attended Game 1, the Nets won Game 4, 77-76 in New Jersey and tied the NBA Finals at two games a piece. That was a devastating loss and I was so emotionally invested in the series that what should have been a normal two or three day battle with illness was likely prolonged by the amount of stress that the Finals was causing me and by Thursday evening I was severely ill. Late Thursday night, I was experiencing asthma to the point where I was unable to sleep because I was having such a hard time breathing. I decided to drive myself to the emergency room and within a couple of hours of arriving at the hospital, I was lying in a hospital bed being treated for pneumonia and bronchitis in my lungs. The next day, my parents arrived in town to look after me in the hospital where I was recovering well from the treatment I was given. As the day moved along into evening, and we were approaching the tip-off for Game 5 of the 2003 NBA Finals, it was unclear whether I would be discharged that night or be held for observation another day. I remember calling Brian and letting him know that I wasn't sure if I would be home or not to watch the game with him so I suggested that if he wanted to make plans to go out with other friends that that would probably be the best plan. He said that he didn't mind watching the game at home in case I ended up making it back there before the end. Finally, as the game was beginning, the doctor made the determination to discharge me. I remember that I watched the first half of the game in my hospital room and then had my mom rush me back to my apartment after being released from the hospital so that I could catch the end of the game at home. I opened the door to my apartment and found Brian grinning on the couch as I arrived just in time to see the Spurs clinch the victory and take a 3-2 lead in the series.

Later that night, my mom drove me back to her and my dad's house so that I could finish recuperating from my illness. In order to convince me to come back and stay with them for the weekend, my parents agreed to allow me to return to San Antonio on Sunday evening so that I could watch Game 6 in San Antonio with my friends. Under strict doctor's orders, I was forbidden to drink alcohol for a couple of weeks until I had fully recovered. Therefore, I requested that Brian, Matt, and my sister, Heather, meet up with me at Texadelphia because it was an establishment with a huge television and great food where I could watch the game comfortably without being surrounded by intoxicated Spurs fans. Once again the outcome of the game seemed in question until another barrage of three pointers, this time by Stephen Jackson, put the Spurs ahead for good. Tim Duncan had another monster game, narrowly missing a quadruple double with 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, and 8 blocked shots en route to his second NBA Finals MVP trophy. Despite the fact that I could not have a "victory" cocktail, I was ecstatic to be celebrating a championship in San Antonio while hanging out with my best friend Brian. Heather graciously offered to drive Brian and me down to Southwest Military Drive so that week could participate in the impromptu parade of vehicles cruising up and down the street while honking, smiling, high-fiving, and cheering endlessly. As we drove up and down MIlitary, I remember that Brian and I repeatedly looked at each with the same look that we had given each other two weeks earlier when we had attended Game 1 of the series. It was a look of joy that simply said, "I can't believe we just won the championship." Sharing that 2003 Spurs playoff run to the title with Brian is a fantastic memory that I reflect back upon regularly.

* * *

Throughout the last 10 years, Brian and I had continued to share our die-hard fandom of the San Antonio Spurs with each other. We had been back to attend a handful of games together at the AT&T Center, we'd watched countless others together in bars or in each other's home, and we could rarely hold any type of extended conversation during basketball season without sharing our thoughts with each other about the prospects of the squad. Now, all of that (as well as the dozens of other interests that we shared which had made us a great fit to be life-long best friends) has suddenly come crashing to a halt and I am beside myself trying to figure out how to process it. The last two and a half weeks had been a blur of sleepless confusion and acute suffering that had left me disconnected from, not only the news taking place in the world around me, but also my most beloved pastime; following the #BlackAndSilver through the game by game grind of the NBA regular season. For the first time since adolescence, I experienced a two week period where I didn't know when the next Spurs game was, I didn't know whether or not we had won or lost our last game, and I didn't care.

Then something happened this past Sunday. I had spent the morning reflecting on my grief and on the meaning of Easter and knew that I needed to try to allow my mind to escape for at least a little while. I decided that I needed to reengage in my beloved team, since the playoffs were starting, so I sat down and watched Game 1 against the Dallas Mavericks in its entirety. I watched as the Spurs struggled to find any offensive rhythm for the first three quarters and watched as we continuously blew opportunities to build a comfortable lead. I was feeling worse. I watched as the Mavericks took a commanding ten point lead half way through the fourth quarter by capitalizing on repeated San Antonio mistakes, the types of mistakes that I hadn't seen the Spurs make in a couple of months. I was feeling dreadfully worse.

All of a sudden, led by player of the game, Tim Duncan, the Spurs starting fighting our way back. I started cheering. With each made basket and defensive stop, I started cheering louder and louder. By the time we took the lead on a sweet Tony Parker spin move for a driving layup, I was jumping off of the couch screaming. As the Spurs closed the doors on a 90-85 grind-it-out victory over the Mavericks to take a 1-0 lead in the series, I realized that, for almost the first time since I had received the news about Brian's passing, I felt good. In fact, I felt great. For the first time since I had received that horrific news, there was a spark of light in the deep, dark hole that had been serving as the entirety of my existence.

Even though, I soon realized, my moment of exhilaration was fleeting, it allowed me to come to an epiphany of sorts. Because cheering for the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Playoffs had afforded me the opportunity to catch a glimpse of a spark of light, perhaps I could nurture that spark of light and create a torch, and perhaps I could use that torch to help guide me back up and out of this deep, dark hole. I won't attempt to fool myself into thinking that this will be anything other than a long, hard journey. I'm not sure if I will be able to nurture that spark to become a torch or not, yet. I do know, however, that writing this has been cathartic.

In some of the first thoughts that I was able to get down on paper about Brian's passing I wrote, "If I could have had the opportunity to ask Brian what to do to deal with the colossal amount of pain that his passing has caused me, I know exactly how he would have responded. He would have told me to write about it." I know this to be true with more certainty than anything else that I have to grasp onto right now. I felt Brian's presence when I screamed that glorious scream while watching the Spurs take the lead that we would not surrender late in the fourth quarter on Sunday. I felt Brian's presence while I wrote my memories of the time we shared as roommates and fellow die-hard Spurs fans from 2000 through the 2003 title. And I know that I feel it now as I formally announce that I intend for this to be the first post in a new edition to the San Antonio Spurs blog series that I wrote for the 2013 playoff run and that I also want to formally announce that I wish to dedicate this sequel to my best friend. I will do my best to chronicle the 2014 Spurs playoff run using the same format that I used last year while exploring even more space than before. I know that there was some unfinished business and there were some unwritten words that resulted from the heartbreaking conclusion to the 2013 NBA Finals. I fully intend to complete the job and write the final chapter. "Lord, help me, I can't change." This is for Brian.

#GoSpursGo

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