Four Starboard
2019 NBA West First Round, Game 7
Like a Rolling Stone - It was a different world, it was another life. Perhaps, in a cruelly poetic way, this was the bridge from the stability of a world that had sustained for decades to the chaos of a new world that awaited on the horizon just past the point of visibility. The San Antonio Spurs fought nobly to hang on to that past stability, to the order of a world that for Lonnie Walker IV, the Spurs youngest player, was the only world he had ever known. When Patty Mills aggressively advanced an outlet pass to a streaking Bryn Forbes for a dunk that cut the Denver Nuggets' lead to two points (88-86) with 52.2 seconds remaining in Game 7, having clawed our way back from an abysmal 13 point first quarter performance and a deficit that ballooned to 17 points in the third quarter, the continuation of stability and order was well within our reach. Full stop with one stop for a chance to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals for the 17th time in 21 seasons under Gregg Popovich. Could we get just one stop? After a Nuggets timeout, we received our answer...unfortunately it was not the answer we had been hoping for and Jamal Murray, Denver's super-talented point guard, was more than happy to be the bearer of our bad news. With 36.8 seconds remaining, Murray sank a 14-foot floater to extend the Nuggets' lead back up to four (90-86). Of course, as coldblooded and devastating as Murray's dagger was, all hope was not yet lost. In his first season headlining the post-Kawhi-defection-Spurs, DeMar DeRozan had had no issues putting the team on his back in clutch situations. Nothing was about to change during a First Round Game 7. Only eight seconds later, DeMar got to "his spot" deep in the paint and rose up for a shot to cut the lead to two with enough time left (28 seconds) for us to have the opportunity to play defense without fouling. Sadly, that opportunity never ultimately came to fruition as DeMar's shot was blocked by Torrey Craig, one of Denver's better wing-defenders. Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic recovered Craig's block shot giving possession back to Denver. While the blocked shot was obviously devastating to the Spurs' chances of advancement, once again...all was not yet lost. Down four, the Spurs still had the opportunity to play the "foul game" and given the Nuggets' collective playoff inexperience coupled with the added pressure of an elimination game, it was reasonable to hope that Denver might miss free throws and help keep San Antonio's door open to make up the four point deficit in the final 25 seconds. What happened next, though, was inexplicable. For some reason, the Spurs elected not to foul and allowed Denver to run the shot clock down under five seconds before Murray ultimately shot and missed. It seemed that Coach Pop was calling for the foul from the sidelines but our players on the court seemed to just have a collective mental meltdown by allowing the Nuggets to run the clock down. Even though Murray missed, it was too late by the time DeMar got the rebound given that we were still down four points. There was only one second left when DeRozan got control of the ball and realizing that it was over, he didn't even attempt a desperation shot before time ran out and San Antonio's season was over. On April 27th, 2019, the Denver Nuggets eliminated the San Antonio Spurs in seven games (4-3), winning the decisive game 90-86 at home at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Rudy Gay was the player of the game with 21 points and 8 rebounds off the bench. Without the veteran swingman's contributions throughout the game, the Spurs wouldn't have had the opportunity to be within striking distance to steal the series down the stretch. Spurs teams past regularly came up with the stops necessary to advance in the playoffs. The 2018-19 Spurs didn't and in falling short, this group, despite their grit, finally allowed the bonds of our past to succumb under the weight of an offseason transaction that changed the trajectory of our future. The new world was no longer just past the point of visibility on the horizon, the new world was here.
Fast forward 25 months and a lot has happened. First (but not foremost), this, the Black & Silver post for the 2019 Western Conference First Round, Game 7, is brazenly pushing out the limits of what constitutes a timely game recap. If you are a regular reader of the blog series, it will probably not shock you to know that I'm unapologetically defiant (borderline gleeful) to be pushing those limits. After all, one of our guiding principles here at theLeftAhead is that time is an illusion. Of course, I wouldn't have had to push the limits out this much had an unfortunate incident of playing an uneven number of games during the pandemic resulted in the unlucky math that eliminated the Spurs from competing in the 2019-20 NBA Playoffs in The Bubble in Orlando, FL last fall and also ended San Antonio's record-breaking streak of 22 consecutive playoff appearances. Like I said, a lot has happened in the 25 months since the Spurs 2019 Game 7 defeat at the hands of the Nuggets. A new world indeed. Zoom forward a little bit more into this season and we find a couple of more examples of our beloved Spurs adjusting to the realities of this new era. The season started off on a very positive trajectory and there was hope that last season was just a blip (and not the new normal). There were positive indications that we were in position to establish our return to being a perennial postseason lock through much of the season with the team reaching a season-high mark of five games over .500 and holding the fifth-seed in the standings on Valentine's Day. Then, unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic reared its ugly head. We were never the same after losing five players to health and safety protocols in late February. To make matter worse, having had six games postponed due to protocols also meant that our schedule post-All-Star break was the most brutal in the league playing 40 games in 68 days without one instance of consecutive days off in the second half of the season. More tribulations came as the Spurs decided to buy out LaMarcus Aldridge (one of the last remaining links to the old world Spurs) on March 25th when we couldn't find a suitable trade partner before the deadline. I was happy to see LA sign with the Nets so he could have a chance to compete again for a title but then really bummed when he was abruptly forced to retire on April 15th due to a reoccurrence of his heart condition. (I enjoyed watching you go to work on the block in SA for six great years, LA. Amazing career. Health is more important than basketball so I wish you a long, healthy retirement.) As if we had not already endured enough adversity, we lost Derrick White to a season-ending ankle sprain at the end of April. All of this adversity resulted in the Spurs going from five games over .500 to six games below .500 and ending the season as the 10th seed entering the newly-created NBA Playoff Play-In Tournament. Tonight, we face a familiar division foe in the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum. The Grizzlies hold the 9th seed in the play-in tournament so they get home court advantage for tonight's game. If we win tonight, we will get to play the loser of tonight's game between the 8th seed Golden State Warriors and the 7th seed Defending Champion Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Win that game and we earn the 8th seed and get to face the Utah Jazz in the First Round of the playoffs. Quite a task in front of us but the good new is that there is no expectation for us two win two games in a row to "make the playoffs" so we might as well play loose and see what happens. In the end, we are officially in this new world of playing the underdog rather than being the perennial powerhouse and it's kind of exciting to be in this new position. There are advantages to our new world. Tonight is going to be a lot of fun. Nothing exemplifies the transition into a new era of Spurs basketball more than an event that took place this past Saturday (May 15th). If you're a reader of this blog and a Spurs plan, the aforementioned event need not be named (but I will share a video from it below). All I need to say is thank you ? thank you ? thank you ? thank you ? thank you ? Tim Duncan. And on that note, time to start preparing for the game tonight. Even as an underdog, we still have the winningest coach in NBA history in our corner (regular season and playoffs combined) so I like our chances to play loose and enjoy the "lack of expectations" and maybe get hot and shake up the 2021 Western Conference Playoff race. If we are successful in sneaking our way into a First Round series with the Utah Jazz, all I can say to the fans of the teams ahead of us who may feel that their squads were more deserving is sorry, not sorry.
B&S 20/20: 1999 NBA Finals Game 5
1999 NBA Finals, Game 5
We Are the Champions - June 24th, 1999. I'd been dreaming about this night, this game, this moment for a little over nine years. To be precise, I'd been dreaming about it ever since renewing my love for the game of basketball after returning to Texas from England as a eleven-year-old in January 1990. Let me explain. While living in England in 1989 (because my dad - a college professor - was teaching abroad), I had naturally gravitated away from basketball - my first love - to soccer - my other sport - because well, you know, "when in Rome." In fact, I was so into soccer after moving back home to Texas, that when youth league basketball tryouts started a few weeks after we got back, I had no interest in trying out because I wanted to focus on soccer. My dad (who doubled as my soccer coach) had to convince me to return to my first love and tryout for basketball. I did, had a fantastic 5th grade season in my youth league, and once restored to its original place in my heart, basketball has been my unwavering favorite sport ever since. During the very same season that I was rekindling my love affair with basketball playing in my youth league in Georgetown - just north of Austin, David Robinson was playing his rookie season for the Spurs 120 miles south of me in San Antonio. Full disclosure, during the 1980s as a young tike, I was a fan of Larry Bird and Boston during the period of time that all basketball-loving Americans had to choose sides between Bird's Celtics and Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers. But after returning to Texas and basketball from England and soccer, I fell hard for this electrifying rookie nicknamed the Admiral and the team in closest proximity to my home and since the first time I ever witnessed Robinson block a shot on one end and then sprint down the court like a gazelle past his defender to receive and hammer home a physics-defying alley oop dunk, I have been the biggest die-hard San Antonio Spurs fan on planet Earth. (Being the biggest Spurs fan in the world is a title I'm proud to have held with distinction since 1990 and for those of you who are skeptical and think that your own Spurs fandom might rival or exceed mine you are welcome to look here to verify that you are in fact mistaken and that my claim to the title is more than secure, it's a verifiable fact.). So yeah, after eight well-chronicled and brutally painful Robinson-led Spurs defeats in the Western Conference playoffs (as well as the infamous 1996-97 lottery year that landed us Tim Duncan), June 24th, 1999 was a surreal occurrence, a point in time that I'd been dreaming about daily since January 1990.
There was just one small problem. June 24th, 1999 also just so happened to be the night of my older brother's bachelor party and - as the universe we exist in is never short on irony - I was the best man. How could this be? How could an event I had been dreaming about for almost a decade be taking place on the same night as one of those rare social obligations where there is absolutely no wiggle room for giving anything less than your undivided attention? Yes, the bachelor party was taking place at a gentlemen's establishment and yes, the gentlemen's establishment was going to be showing the television broadcast of the game on their TVs but this simply further complicated my predicament. Casually following along to the game while staying fully engaged in the debauchery...I mean...festivities that I was presiding over in my role as best man was not an option for me. After all, I'm the biggest Spurs fan in the world (remember?) and my team is playing in the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden up three games to one with a chance to win a championship. Following along casually was not an option. Any diehard sports fan understands this. In a game of this magnitude being played by a team that you love, the ONLY option is to give that game your undivided attention. Keep in mind, this life-altering game was taking place in 1999 not 2019 - there was no such thing as DVRs or watching sporting events "on demand" back then. Suffice it to say, I was in a pretty tough spot. You might be wondering, "Why didn't you plan to record the game on a VCR (hey kids, VCR stands for video cassette recorder...it was a thing back then) and ignore the game at the gentlemen's establishment so that you could watch the tape after and give it your undivided attention?" Well, heading into the bachelor party that was certainly my plan but as you can probably imagine, things did not go according to plan. More on that later. For now since this is a 20th anniversary retrospective post, after all, and since I did watch the game in it's entirety later that night after concluding my duties as best man and have since watched the game in its entirety at least a dozen times over the years on VCR, followed by DVD, and most recently, digitally on YouTube, let's turn our attention to the events as they unfolded in Madison Square Garden - 1700 miles away from where I was simultaneously hosting my brother's bachelor party in Austin - on this date twenty years ago.
The scene was set. The Knick home crowd at Madison Square Garden was going crazy. Each time I've watched the game, I've focused on watching the facial expression of David Robinson and Tim Duncan as they were taking the court for the opening tip. Both displayed a frenetic nervous-excited energy in their expression but balanced that with a calm, confidence deep in their eyes. Jump ball, Game 5, Spurs won the tip and history was set in motion. Both teams traded two empty possessions each before Sean Elliott opened the scoring with two made free throws. Ironically, these two free throws were the only points Sean Elliott scored the entire night. After, two more empty possessions (one each way), Allan Houston tied the game on a floating fader. From there, the Knicks got out to a 6-4 lead but also racked up a bunch of quick, cheap fouls culminating in David Robinson getting the benefit of the doubt on a Charlie Ward block-charge call to earn a dunk and three point play which gave the Spurs a 7-6 lead five minutes in. With such a low score almost halfway through the first period, it was clear that both teams came out a little tight. Shooting was clearly an issue early. The Spurs started 2-11 from the field which, despite our opportunities, allowed New York to swing back into the lead at 9-7 with Latrell Spreewell making 3-4 on foul shots after the Robinson three-point play. Both teams started to loosen up a little and find a rhythm at that point but the Knicks increased their advantage to 15-11 on a 6-4 run. New York got two Larry Johnson post scores and a Kurt Thomas jumper during this stretch but the good news for the Spurs was that Tim Duncan countered with two midrange shots (one a patented banker). Down four, Gregg Popovich called timeout with 3:13 left in the 1st. The Spurs sputtered momentarily coming out of the timeout but after going down six, Jaren Jackson followed two Tim Duncan free throws with a huge 3-pointer to cut the lead to one with 46 seconds left in the first, 21-20. Unfortunately, a Charlie Ward lay-up closed out the 1st quarter scoring giving the Knicks a 23-20 lead after one.
Two minutes into the second quarter, it was clear that second-year phenom Tim Duncan was ready to put the team on his back in order to keep the Spurs within striking distance in the most hostile of hostile environments. Timmy's stat line was up to 10 points and five rebounds a mere 14 minutes into the game. While Duncan's dominant play accomplished the goal of offsetting a deadly New York run, the Knicks were still able to methodically increase their lead to eight, 30-22, four minutes and 30 seconds into the 2nd quarter by cobbling together a 7-0 run. The Spurs punched right back going on an 8-4 run of our own (Timmy four points, Robinson two points, and Mario Ellie two free throws) to cut the New York lead to 34-30 with 3:47 left in second. The momentum stayed with San Antonio the rest of the half as the team started showing signs of the dominance that had propelled us to a 14-2 playoff record. We closed out the half on a emphatic 10-4 run that included a Tim Duncan lay-up, an Avery Johnson jumper, a David jump hook and free throw, and finally Jaren Jackson's huge second three pointer of the half which gave the Spurs their first lead since the first quarter 40-38 heading into the locker room.
The "Remember the Alamo" Twin Tower-led Spurs ratcheted up the defense to start the second half. At the beginning of the third quarter we put together a defensive spurt that included two steals, a Duncan-Robinson block of Latrell Spreewell at the rim, and another Robinson contest at the rim that led to a transition lay-up for Jaren Jackson to increase the lead to 42-38 two minutes into the third. The excitement back home in Texas started building after the Spurs got another stop that led to Jaren Jackson draining his third three of the game. All of the sudden San Antonio had 45-38 lead thanks in large part to Jaren Jackson's 11 huge points. It didn't stop there. After Mario Ellie got fouled on a transition lay up and made two free throws, all told, the Spurs had enjoyed a 25-8 run to take a nine point lead. As expected, the Knicks were not going to allow their season to slip away without a fight. New York went on a quick 5-0 run to cut the Spurs lead to four and had the ball with momentum in a pivotal moment when Latrell Spreewell swung the rock cross court to Allan Houston for an open three (which he drained) but unfortunately for the Knicks, Houston stepped out of bounds before his shot. This was a lucky break for the Spurs in a tight game and a reminder that basketball is a game of inches, if not millimeters. Despite the setback, the Knicks kept coming at us. After the Spurs got two empty trips to the Knicks one, Spreewell elevated for a massive dunk over Jaren Jackson and got fouled. He drained the free throw to cut the lead to one, 47-46 with five minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter. Knicks were now on an 8-0 run and Madison Square Garden was going bananas. It should be noted that Spurs point guard Avery Johnson committed his fifth turnover of the game to setup the Spreewell dunk. The floodgates continued as the Spurs missed and then Spreewell hit a baseline jumper to give the Knicks back the lead. The New York lead was now 10-0. Pandemonium in the Garden.Lucky for us, we had a counter up our sleeves in the form of a two-time champion starting shooting guard (Houston Rockets, 1994 & 1995) who was clearly unfazed by the moment having been there so many times before. Mario Ellie displayed some of his Clutch City swagger on the ensuing possession, draining a three to immediately swing the lead back to the Spurs. While Ellie's dagger temporarily silenced the crowd, the Knicks came right back with another pure Spreewell jumper. The "is the moment too big for Avery Johnson?" question reared its ugly head once again as Avery committed his 6th turnover on the next possession and Charlie Ward turned it into a transition lay-up to regain the lead. Knicks were back up two, 52-50 with three minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter. At this point, the game was ground to a sudden, unexpected halt due to technical difficulties. The issue was the Spurs’ basket’s shot clock stopped working. After several minutes of officials huddling, the referee's solution was to put a shot clock on the baseline of the Spurs side since, while on offense, the Spurs weren't going to be able to look up over the basket to check the clock. But since NBA players are trained to look for the shot clock over the basket, the decision by the referees put the Spurs at a huge disadvantage since our players would have to now unnaturally look on the baseline for it instead. Coach Pop asked the refs to also turn the shot clock over the Knick's basket off to make it fair and eliminate the possibility that the referees were giving New York a competitive advantage.
After further delay, Popovich lost a ridiculous decision by the refs who ultimately ruled to allow the Knicks to continue to use their over the basket shot clock while the Spurs were being forced to use the back up shot clock on the baseline floor. After all of the negotiation and delay, the Spurs had an empty trip before Allan Houston canned a jumper and increased the Knick's lead to four, 54-50. Unfazed, Tim Duncan came right back by drawing a foul and then draining a turn around bank shot. He also made the free throw to complete a three-point play. A mono y mono theme had begun to emerge as Spreewell broke the Spurs off with another baseline jumper on the Knick's next possession. Down three, a still unfazed Tim Duncan just put his hard hat on and scored the next four points with another patented angle bank shot and then two free throws giving the Spurs the lead back by one. Sprewell, clearly the Knicks go-to player at this point in the game, also showed no signs of slowing down. He hit another 10-foot fade away jumper. San Antonio responded and worked it back to a one point lead with Malik Rose and Timmy both splitting a pair of free throws each to close the third quarter. After three, the Spurs were clinging to a 59-58 lead.The referees finally evened the playing field for the fourth quarter by turning off the Knick’s basket clock and having both teams use a shot clock on the baseline floor. After the teams traded empty possessions to start the fourth, Timmy hit a world class ridiculous fading bank shot jumper to open fourth quarter scoring. Not ready to let the Knick’s season end, Spreewell came right back with quick 5-0 run on a lay-up and then a three-point play (getting fouled on a jumper and then making the free throw) that gave New York the lead back by two. At this point, there's no other way to put it: Tim Duncan and Latrell Spreewell were officially dueling with 26 points each. On cue, Timmy spun in an "anything you can do, I can do better" baseline jump hook to re-tie the game at 63 a piece. After watching the Spurs' power forward regain the upper hand in the Spreewell duel, 28-26, the New York Knickerbockers called timeout.NBC, the network that had the broadcast rights to the NBA Finals in the late 1990s, came back from this particular commercial break to what would later, for people re-watching the telecast, prove to be and eery visual. Obviously, the game was played at Madison Square Garden in New York and just as obviously, the Spurs featured a pair of seven foot all-stars nicknamed the Twin Towers. Those two things being obvious, it was a no brainer that at some point during the broadcast, NBC would come back from commercial with an areal shot of the actual Twin Towers standing tall above the Manhattan sky line. Perfectly sensible at the time, but in retrospect, this shot has proven to be quite solemn and a little spooky knowing this was a mere 15 months before 9/11. I just wanted to acknowledge that and the victims before moving ahead with my recap of the game.
Heading into the timeout, if you remember, Tim Duncan had a 28-26 lead in his personal duel with Latrell Spreewell. Well, on the ensuing possession after the timeout, Spreewell said "not so fast," when he canned a three pointer to take the scoring lead right back from Duncan, 29-28, and, more importantly giving his Knicks the overall lead back, 66-63. If you haven't caught on to our mini-theme, I guess it will be a spoiler to tell you that on the next possession, Timmy worked the Knick’s in the post swinging back the lead in the duel, 30-29, and cutting the Spurs' overall deficit back to a single point. What happened next? You guessed it. Sprewell came right back with a turn around jumper. 31-30 in the duel, 68-65 Knicks on the score board. Bob Costas and Doug Collins, NBC's broadcasters for the game, shrewdly invoked the duel between Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkens in th 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Given the back and fourth between Duncan and Spreewell, this was a nice comparison, the major difference being, however, Duncan and Spreewell weren't matched up regularly guarding each other as Bird and Wilkens were in 1988. So, sure, was the comparison less than perfect? Yes, but to witness two players carrying their teams while going mono y mono in Game Five of the NBA Finals was, nonetheless, an incredible sight to behold.
On the next possession, the mono y mono duel was momentarily tempered when one of the other eight players on the court took it upon himself to forge the audacity to attempt a shot. That player was Spurs point guard, Avery Johnson. He connected on a lay up putting San Antonio back within one. After the Knicks advanced back to their end, David Robinson stole the ball and got to the line, making the first of two and tying the game at 68. The Admiral missed the second and Sean Elliott got the offensive rebound but the Spurs small forward missed the put back attempt and the Knicks regained possession. Back down the court, the Spurs were hit with a second illegal defense (and a technical foul) but Houston missed the free throw. After inbounding again after the miss at the line, Sprewell passed out of a double team and found a cutting Camby for a bucket and an "and 1." Knicks had regained the lead by three.
The two teams then traded empty possessions triggering a timeout. After the break, David Robinson got fouled rebounding a Jaren Jackson miss. He made both and once again cut the Spurs' deficit to one point. Back down the court after Robinson's free throws, Marcus Camby once again dunked, this time on a set up from Larry Johnson. The Admiral came right back with the and 1 but missed the free throw. Still a one point game, 73-72 Knicks. Some great defense by Mario Ellie on Sprewell during the next possession forced him to pass out to a desperation Larry Johnson three that missed. On the other end, Ellie couldn't capitalize on his defensive effort, missing a fade-away jumper. Spreewell marched right back down, rose up and canned another jumper over Elliott. 75-72 Knicks. (33-30 Spree over Timmy in the personal duel.) On the next possession, Mario Ellie was ready to shoot and redeem himself for the poor shot selection on last time down. Out of the double of Timmy, Clutch City came through again as Mario Ellie drained the straightaway three. Tie ball game! The Texas night electric in anticipation.Back on the other end of the court, Timmy got cross matched on Spree (the mono y mono match up we wanted) but unfortunately Timmy fouled. Spreewell made both increasing his advantage in the one-on-one dual to 35-30. More importantly, his two free throws put the Knicks back on top on the scoreboard by 2. After the next offensive possession sputtered, Timmy attempted a desperation 3 that was way off but luckily the Spurs secured the offensive rebound and worked it back to Timmy in the post where he is fouled by Larry Johnson. Timmy made one of two, cutting the dual deficit back down to four (35-31) and the team deficit on the scoreboard back down to one.The next possession proved NBC's earlier cutaway to the Twin Towers clairvoyant in that Timmy and Big Dave combine to make the first in a series of clutch defensive plays. Robinson and Duncan blocked Sprewell at the rim causing the ball to get pinned for a jump ball. NY won the tap and the Knick’s called timeout with 2:05 remaining and New York clinging to a one point lead. After the break, Duncan once again found himself cross- matched on his mono y mono rival Latrell but this time Timmy forced Spreewell to pass out to Charlie Ward for a desperation three that didn’t hit the rim. The second year Spurs superstar once again demonstrated his all world defensive talent to force a shot clock violation and also prompting one of the most beautiful phrases in the English language...Spurs ball!Unfortunately the good guys were unable to capitalize on the ending critical possession as Robinson missed a jump hook. The Knicks rebounded the miss with 1:26 remaining. If this game, this first-ever Championship was going to be won, it was going to be won at the defensive end of the court. New York orchestrated a clever play to get Avery pinned by their hot hadn't, Sprewell in the post. Timmy doubled to force Sprewell to pass out for a wide open Larry Johnson three. Fortunately, though, Grandmama missed and Ellie rebounded to give San Antonio another chance to take the lead.As any credentialed Spurs fan knows, what came next is not only history but probably the most iconic Spurs moment for all-time: Timmy, doubled in the post, passed out to Sean Elliott. Sean pump faked and drove. Avery Johnson’s man, Chris Childs had moved out to guard Sean on the switch out of the double team so Timmy screened to hold off both Larry Johnson and Spreewell. Sean Elliott hits Avery in the corner and Avery rose up confidently to release a baseline jumper. Spoiler alert: the Little General, the point guard Damon Stoudamire had infamously declared would never lead a team to an NBA Championship, drained the biggest shot in franchise history. Spurs lead! Spurs lead! 78-77. All of the eyes of Texas are emphatically fixated on Madison Square Garden.
The Spurs were still exactly 47 seconds away from heaven at this point and the victory was far from secured. After a timeout, Sprewell, still leading the mono y mono duel with Timmy 35-31 decided to go into full hero ball mode but missed a fade-away jumper over Elliott. Avery skied in for the rebound putting us one possession closer to euphoria with 27 seconds left. SPURS BALL!!!
Needing to both nurse the clock and get a quality shot to extend the lead and provide us with some breathing room, we worked the ball into David. He elevated and missed badly but he missed so badly that the ball didn’t hit the rim. Somehow Robinson got his own rebound. With the shot clock ticking down, Big Dave fired the ball back out to Elliott who swung it over to Avery. Johnson had no choice but to chunk up a desperation 28 footer to beat the shot clock. The Knicks rebounded the miss and called timeout. While to objective of padding the lead had failed miserably, the objective of milking the clock had been accomplished. The Knicks had only 2.1 seconds left to score and send the series to Game 6. If they failed, Madison Square Garden was about to be generously hosting a party for some out-of -town guests.I wonder who would be getting the ball? Charlie Ward, the Heisman winning college football quarterback at Florida State, was chosen to inbound just passed midcoast on the New York side. The accomplished Quarterback fired a go route pass to Sprewell streaking towards the basket. Sprewell caught the ball in stride, pump faked and then realized the he was under the basket with Sean on him. He spun out baseline to the other side of the rim only to be met by the four outstretched arms of the Twin Towers of Duncan and Robinson. The intimidating defensive tandem had one more shot to intimidate. Latrell Spreewell rose up and shot a floater over the tree of arm but wasn't able to get enough on the shot to get it over them and on a trajectory to fall back to earth over the basket. Air ball. IT'S ALL OVER! SPURS WIN! SPURS WIN! SPRUS WIN THEIR FIRST EVER NBA CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!
Back in Austin at the gentlemen's establishment, performing my duties as Best Man at my brother's bachelor party had inevitably taken a back seat on my priority list somewhere around the two minute mark in the fourth quarter. My Uncle Bob, who is also a huge Spurs fan and had taken me to my first ever Spurs game against Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics in the late 80's prior to my family's move to London, and I had gravitated to the bar area at the gentlemen's establishment to watch our team try to seal its first championship on the television screen overlooking the bar--the foolish notion of thinking I could avoid the score in order to watch my VHS recording of the game in its entirety at home later that night scrapped as soon as I accidentally discovered we were SO CLOSE to REALIZING THIS DREAM down the stretch. I remember us standing there at the bar completely locked in and hanging on every possession with destiny almost within our grasp. When Avery Johnson hit the go-ahead baseline jumper, Uncle Bob and I exploded in excitement and celebration causing such a ruckus that more of our party joined us at the bar to watch the final minute. As you can imagine, when Latrell Spreewell's final shot went up high in the air to avoid the four extended massive arms of the Twin Towers it felt like an eternity before it dropped short and pandemonium ensued, Uncle Bob and I hugging and celebrating with others from my brother's bachelor party. It felt unreal. It felt amazing. THE SAN ANTONIO SPURS WERE WORLD CHAMPIONS. I don't remember much about the rest of the bachelor party. Most of the details from my brother's wedding the next day are pretty fuzzy 20 years later. But the moment my favorite team won its first ever NBA title is constantly with me. In this regard, a moment of pure joy makes me believe that time is merely an allusion. The moment the San Antonio Spurs won the 1999 NBA Championship was then, is now, and will always be.
Featured Image Source: Air Alamo
Headline Image Source: DefineARevolution
B&S 20/20: Memorial Day Miracle
1999 NBA Western Conference Finals, Game 2
Lose Yourself - Damon Stoudamire, Arvydas Sabonis, Rasheed Wallace, Brian Grant, Isaiah Rider, Stacey Augmon, Jim Jackson, Walt Williams, Jermaine O'Neal, and Greg Anthony came to play that day. As we knew they would. After all, every higher-seeded playoff team understands that stealing one of the first two games on the road as the underdog increases your chances of winning the series astronomically. Having lost 80-76 in the grind fest that was Game 1, the two-seeded Portland Trail Blazers, a healthy mix of talented budding superstars and savvy established veterans, were a confident (bordering on cocky) bunch that had every intention of advancing to the NBA Finals and, as a stepping stone towards that end, had every intention of winning Game 2 of the 1999 Western Conference Finals at the Alamodome in San Antonio against the one-seeded Spurs. Led by Mike Dunleavy, an experienced coach who already had one NBA Finals appearance under his belt (1991, as coach of the last Magic Johnson-led Los Angeles Lakers team to reach basketball's ultimate stage), the Blazers came into the game that Memorial Day afternoon poised and prepared to do what it would take to seize a home-court-advantage-stealing victory.
After one quarter, Portland was well on its way. The Blazers came out focused, shot well, and bullied their way to an early 31-20 eleven point lead after one. The second quarter slowed down to a sluggish stalemate as each team tried to impose their defensive will. When the dust settled on the first half, Portland had increased their lead by 14, out-grinding the Spurs 17-14 in the second period and taking a 48-34 advantage with them into the locker room. Part of the Blazer's recipe for holding San Antonio to a 34 point first half was keeping the Spur's young superstar Tim Duncan in relative check. Timmy seemed to get lost in the shuffle of the first half, missing a few free throws and battling the Blazers big men with less than his normal aggressiveness down low. Overall, the Spurs just seemed to be a step slow like we were stuck in cement. Boasting a seven-game playoff winning streak, I remember it being tempting down 14 at the half to just assume we were overdue for bad game and assume this just wasn't meant to be our afternoon. Certainly, the Blazers were counting on as much.
After halftime, the third quarter started with more of the same as the Blazers extended their lead to 18 points. Things started looking up when Sean Elliott made a three pointer that ignited a run for the Spurs to get back in the game. Everything finally just started clicking. Mario Ellie provided much needed energy to give the Spurs some life, David Robinson anchored the defense to give us some transition opportunities, Timmy started looking like Timmy, and Sean Elliott was hitting crucial three point baskets. By the end of the third, the home team had cut the halftime deficit in half, winning the quarter 26-19 and only trailing Portland 67-60 heading into the final frame. The Spurs continued their comeback push into the fourth quarter but each time we were able to cut the lead down to a two possession lead or less, Portland seemed to have an answer to continue to hold us at bay. Despite the improved second half play, things were still looking pretty grim with 1:05 left to play. We were still down six, 84-78. Luckily, we had possession of the ball coming out of a timeout and having demonstrated an ability to score in spurts during the second half, we still had a glimmer of hope. The ball was inbounded to Avery Johnson and our floor general ran a pick and role with The Admiral and, coming off the screen, fired the ball out to Sean Elliot on the left wing. Without hesitation, Sean rose up and buried his fifth three pointer of the game to cut the lead in half. With Portland now feeling a newfound sense of pressure nursing a one-possession lead, Jimmy Jackson caught the inbound pass, came back down, ran some clock, and got the ball to Rasheed Wallace on the left elbow. Wallace looked down into the low block where Jackson had established post position. He picked up his dribble to drop the ball in the post with Robinson draped all over him. As he tried to pass the ball, Big Dave got a finger on the pass and intercepted it. He quickly spotted Mario Ellie sprinting down the court and fired the outlet to him. Ellie caught the ball and drove hard into the paint, drawing a foul on the layup attempt. Mario, a two-time champion (Houston Rockets, 1994 & 95) and highly experienced playoff veteran calmly sank both foul shots cutting the lead to one, 84-83. Their statement road victory, now in catastrophic jeopardy, Portland called a timeout to regroup. Coming out of the timeout, the Blazers inbounded the ball to Wallace who immediately got it to Damon Stoudamire in order to set up a pick and role. Stoudamire came off of the Wallace screen and shot an elbow jump shot that clanked off of the rim. Unfortunately, the Spurs were unable to secure the rebound as Walt Williams rose up and snagged it. He got the ball back out to Wallace who fired it over to Jimmy Jackson and, now under 24 seconds left in the game, San Antonio was forced to foul. Sean fouled Jackson with 12.4 seconds left but, unable to catch a break, we weren't in the penalty yet. The Blazers took the ball out on the side and got it in to Stoudamire who was fouled immediately by Avery with 12.0 seconds remaining. With Mighty Mouse now facing two high-pressure shots one thing was clear: barring an offensive rebound on the second attempt, the Spurs were going to have a chance to either tie or win the game on their next possession.
Damon Stoudamire walked up the line to take what would prove to be the biggest free throw shots of his career and, after methodically dribbling the ball four times, misfired on the first attempt. A slight hint of dejection on his face, he went back into his routine and then made the second attempt to increase Portland's lead to two, 85-83. After the second shot went through the net, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called timeout to draw up a play. San Antonio came out of the timeout with 12 seconds left in the game and lined up a play that had Mario Ellie inbounding the ball. After seeing how the Spurs were set up, Portland used a delay of game warning to make the Spurs reset the inbound play. Using Steve Kerr as a decoy on the strong side, the Spurs ran Sean Elliott off of a David Robinson screen. Sean gained a hint of daylight on his defender Stacey Augmon coming off of Big Dave's screen and so Mario Ellie fired the ball to him in the corner. Augmon gambled by going for the steal and when he missed it, he was effectively out of the play. Rasheed Wallace alertly started coming over to help as Sean caught the ball on his tippy toes in the corner. He was so close to the sidelines that had he put his heels down on the ground, he would've been out of bounds. Maybe he was aware of his proximity to the sideline or maybe it was simply fate but instead of bringing his heels down, he turned and fired a three off of his tippy toes and over the closing outstretched long arms of Rasheed Wallace and buried the Memorial Day Miracle with nine seconds left to give the Spurs an improbable 86-85 lead.
Forty seven minutes and fifty one seconds. Once again, after trailing for the first forty seven minutes and fifty one seconds of the game, Sean Elliott’s miracle, tippy-toe, rainbow three over the outstretched fingertips of Rasheed Wallace gave the San Antonio Spurs their first lead of the game. Our first lead of the game would also prove to be the final score as Portland was unable to get a clean look in the final seconds coming out of a timeout. After the Spurs returned the favor using their delay of game, Portland inbounded to Jimmy Jackson who drove and attempted a shot that was blocked. The blocked shot popped back out to Walt Williams who fired a desperation attempt that unsuccessfully bounced off the backboard and the rim. After a scramble for the rebound, Avery Johnson came out of a scrum with the basketball and the miracle comeback was complete. The Spurs won the game in unbelievable heroic fashion, 86-85.
I remember watching Sean's shot go in and believing for the first time, after years of agonizing playoff heartbreak, that my Spurs could and would win a championship. In many ways, the Memorial Day Miracle was the spark that ignited a basketball revolution in South Texas that continues to burn true to this very day. The five NBA championships, six conference championships, perennial playoff appearances, the universal recognition as the NBA’s model franchise, all of it can be traced back to Sean’s shot. To this day, it is still probably the most memorable moment in franchise history and one that Spurs fans have come to cherish. Considering that Sean Elliot has spent the better part of the last twenty years as the Spurs' color television analyst, it's probably also the most shown highlight in team history. Season after season, Sean is always more than happy to talk about the shot during Spurs broadcast anytime the Fox Sports Southwest team feels compelled to show the replay.
The player of the game was, of course, Sean Elliott. After draining the biggest shot in franchise history, the most beloved Spurs small forward of all-time finished 6-7 from downtown (8-10 overall) to come up with his 22 huge points. He also chipped in two rebounds, two assists, and a steal towards the mesmerizing comeback victory. After a quiet start in the first half, Tim Duncan finished the game with impressive numbers, as well. Timmy finished with 23 points (8-11 shooting), 10 rebounds, five blocks, and two assists. Last but not least was David Robinson's impressive stat line. The Admiral finished with 14 points (6-10 shooting), seven rebounds, two assists, and three huge steals (the last of which gave the Spurs the two Mario Ellie free throws that put them in position to win the game). As you might've guessed, the Trailblazers were unable to recover from the devastating loss dropping both home games in Portland. The sweep in the 1999 Western Conference Finals sent the San Antonio Spurs to their first-ever NBA Finals to face the New York Knicks. It's incredible to think about the fact that it's been 20 years since the Memorial Day Miracle. Since theLeftAhead wasn't established until 2011 and the Black & Silver blog series didn't exist for the first four Spurs championships, in keeping with the practice of featuring a blog post about each episode of Friends on the 20th anniversary of it's airing with Friends 20/20, I'm really excited to relive some of the most important moments in the first four Spurs title runs on the 20th anniversary of important playoff games through this new mini-series, B&S 20/20. What better place to start than the Memorial Day Miracle. See you next month for the 1999 NBA Finals.
Featured Image Source: Jesse on Pinterest
Headline Image Source: San Antonio Express-News
Thirteen Port
2019 NBA West First Round, Game 6
Things Done Changed - Gregg Popovich is 3-3 coaching in Game 7s. He won his first at home on basketball's biggest stage in an 81-74 defensive masterpiece against the Detroit Pistons to closeout the bloodbath that was also known as the 2005 NBA Finals and capture our third NBA title. Manu Ginobili, the most beloved Spur that Pop has ever coached, was magnificent in the championship-clinching victory tallying 23 points (8-13 from the field, 5-5 from the line), five rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Coach Pop lost his second Game 7 the following season again at home, this time battling our Texas arch rival Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 Western Conference Semifinals. In that series, we stormed back from being down three games to one and would've closed out the Mavs with a Manu three in the last minute, except for future Hall-of-Famer Dirk Nowitzki having other ideas. We dropped a heartbreaker that night in overtime 119-111 largely due to Nowitzki's heroic 37 points, 15 rebound, three assist, one block, and one steal performance. Popovich coached his first-ever road Game 7 in his third winner-take-all contest in the 2008 Western Conference Semifinals against the New Orleans Hornets. After being 0-3 playing in New Orleans heading into Game 7, the Spurs closed out the Chris Paul-led scrappy Hornets 91-82. Manu once again led the way with 26 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Back on basketball's biggest stage, Coach Pop came up short in his second road (fourth overall) Game 7 in the 2013 NBA Finals, losing the game and the title 95-88 to the Miami Heat. Considering we'd just experienced the most painful loss in franchise history 48 hours earlier, it was a masterful coaching effort by Pop and a valiant effort by the Spurs but, ultimately, LeBron James' 37 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steal were just too much to overcome. In Pop and the Spurs very next playoff series, we served our rivals from Dallas some revenge for 2006, winning Pop's 5th Game 7 at home 119-96 in the 2014 Western Conference First Round against the Mavericks. Tony Parker played a dominant offensive game scoring 32 points en route to series win and ultimately our 5th title. The next season, once again in a Western Conference First Round Game 7 situation, Coach Pop and the Spurs, this time on the road (after dropping from the 3-seed to the 6-seed on the final day of the regular season with a no-show performance ironically in New Orleans) dropped another heartbreaker 111-109 to the Los Angeles Clippers. Chris Paul capped his 27 point, six assists performance with the game winner, a shot that was literally millimeters away from being blocked. So yes, all told, Coach Pop is 3-3 in Game 7s. The more perceptive among you may have noticed a pattern to Pop's 3-3 Game 7 record. For those of you that don't want to take the time to go back and re-read the paragraph in order to figure out the pattern, here it is: winning then losing then winning then losing then winning then losing. I'm no master code cracker, but it seems to me that according to the pattern, Gregg Popovich's next Game 7 should be a win. Of course (full disclosure), there was one constant in all of Coach Pop's previous six Game 7's that will unfortunately be noticeably absent for his seventh: The Greatest Power Forward of All-Time. Let's pause for a moment and pay our respects...
Tim Duncan - Career Game 7 Performances
2005 NBA Finals Game 7 - Detroit Pistons @ San Antonio Spurs
25 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks - 6/23/2005
2006 Western Conference Semifinals Game 7 - Dallas Mavericks @ San Antonio Spurs
41 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal - 5/22/2006
2008 Western Conference Semifinals Game 7 - San Antonio Spurs @ New Orleans Hornets
16 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal - 5/19/2008
2013 NBA Finals Game 7 - San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat
24 points, 12 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, 1 block - 6/18/2013
2014 Western Conference First Round - Dallas Mavericks @ San Antonio Spurs
15 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist - 5/4/2014
2015 Western Conference First Round - San Antonio Spurs @ Los Angeles Clippers
27 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist - 5/2/2015
Career Game 7 Averages
24.7 points, 12 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 1 steal per game
Happy Birthday, TD! I hope you had an awesome b-day on Thursday. How'd you like the party the San Antonio Spurs threw for you at the AT&T Center Thursday night? I know, right? That party was lit. Anyway, I actually have something else to discuss with you. I know you have the 21 USVI Duncan Relief Fund, your auto shop, kickboxing, and your wonderful family keeping you busy, but just in case all of that isn't adequately filling up your retirement calendar, I know of a nice little pickup basketball game that some of your friends will be playing here in Denver tonight. I'm sure they'd be happy to get the help of a 24.7 point, 12 rebound, 2.7 assist, 1.3 block, 1 steal power forward performance during tonight's Mile High run. So do you wanna come through? What's that? You're not going to be able to get here to Denver on short notice? Okay, gotcha. No worries, I totally understand. I know you're super busy. It was worth a shot, though, right? It's still all good that you can't get up here in time because one of your former teammates told me that as a belated b-day gift, he's going to honor you with his best attempt at an impersonation and put everything he's got into channeling your greatness from the moment the first ball gets checked until we turn out the lights because there's no challengers left to get next. Speaking of which, LA also asked me to tell you, "Happy Birthday, Old Man." Okay, cool. I'll let him know you said, "thanks." Alright, Timmy. It's been good catching up. Sorry to let you go but I've got a blog post to finish writing. Enjoy the rest of your birthday celebration. Let's talk again soon but in case we don't cross paths before it, I'm looking forward to seeing you the September after next in Springfield, MA.
* * *
On Thursday night, the heirs to Tim Duncan's San Antonio playoff fortress gave the former king of Texas postseason basketball a spectacular 43rd birthday present, defeating the visiting Denver Nuggets 120-103 at home in Timmy's house (aka the AT&T Center) to keep the season alive and force the first Game 7 of the post-Duncan era. With our backs against the wall and when we needed it the most, we finally got solid performances up and down the roster. As has often been the case in this series, our two stars led the charge. LaMarcus Aldridge came out of the gate in beast mode, scoring 13 points in the first quarter while setting the tone for the game with his intensity. LA finished his night with 26 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. Not to be outdone, DeMar DeRozan (mostly a facilitator in the first half) aggressively attacked the heart of Denver's defense with an array of spectacular drives and pull up mid-range jumpers to score 12 points in the third quarter. DeMar finished with 25 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. The player of the game, however, was Rudy Gay. Coming off the bench, Rudy had his best performance of the series contributing 19 points, four rebounds, and two assists in 28 tough-nosed minutes. Rudy's production was so critical, he got the POTG nod but I really want to emphasize that this was special all-around team elimination game performance. All five starters shot better than 50 percent from the field (DeRozan [12-16], Aldridge [10-18], Forbes [5-8], Poeltl [4-6], and White [4-7]) and for the first time since Game 1 of this series, our bench outscored the Nuggets' bench (36-13). Also for the first time since Game 1 of this series, the Spurs outshot Denver from deep going 10-24 (41.7 percent) compared to the Nuggets 6-24 (25 percent). While our shooters (with the exception of Patty [0-7]) made a marked improvement on three-point production (Rudy Gay [3-3], Derrick White [2-3], Bryn Forbes [2-4], Marco Belinelli [2-4]), I wouldn't exactly call it the break-out three-point shooting performance that we're overdue for in this series. That is good news heading into tonight. If things keep regressing to the mean (as they should) in Game 7, we can feel good that our shooters will make a huge impact from behind the arc in tonight's winner-take-all contest. Now more overdue for a breakout performance than any other Spurs marksman, I fully expect Patty Mills to be leading that charge.
There is nothing else in basketball quite like a Game 7. The pressure and the intensity are impossible to replicate so until a player has actually been through one, it's impossible for that player to truly know what to expect and fully appreciate the stakes. So how do the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets stack up as far as prior Game 7 experience? I was curious to have the answer to this question so yesterday I did a little bit of research. First for the Spurs, DeMar DeRozan has the most Game 7 experience of any player in the series. For the 2014 Toronto Raptors, DeMar had 18 points (5-12 shooting) in 45 minutes in a First Round Game 7 loss to the Brooklyn Nets. In 2016, DeMar led the Raptors to a First Round Game 7 victory over the Indiana Pacers scoring 30 points (10-32 shooting) in 40 minutes. In the very next round, DeMar scored 28 points (12-29 shooting) in 35 minutes for the Raptors in a Eastern Conference Semifinals win over the Miami Heat. For the 2012 Memphis Grizzlies, Rudy Gay scored 19 points (7-15 shooting) in 40 minutes in a First Round Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. In the same game, Quincy Pondexter came off the Grizzlies' bench scoring three points (1-2 shooting) in 13 minutes and Dante Cunningham also came off the Grizzlies' bench scoring two points (1-2) shooting in three minutes. Quincy was also on the roster for the 2014 Memphis Grizzlies First Round Game 7 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, but was not active (out-for-the-season with a right foot injury). For the 2013 Chicago Bulls, Marco Belinelli had 24 points (8-14 shooting) in 41 minutes in a First Round Game 7 win over the Brooklyn Nets. In our infamous 2015 First Round Game 7 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Marco had two points (0-2 shooting) in 18 minutes off of the bench. Patty Mills had six points (2-6 shooting) in 16 minutes off of the bench in the same game. Patty was also on our roster during the 2013 NBA Finals but was not active for Game 7. Donatas Motiejunas was on the 2015 Houston Rockets roster when they won a Western Conference Semifinals Game 7 over the Los Angeles Clippers but he did not play (out-for-the-season with a back injury). Funnily enough, in his 13-year NBA career, LaMarcus Aldridge has never played in a Game 7. Tonight will be his first.
The only rotations players on the Nuggets roster with Game 7 experience are Paul Millsaps and Mason Plumlee. As a rookie for the 2007 Utah Jazz, Millsaps scored two points in seven minutes off the bench in a First Round Game 7 win against the Houston Rockets. For the 2014 Atlanta Hawks, Millsaps scored 15 points (6-21 shooting) in 44 minutes in a First Round Game 7 loss to the Indiana Pacers. As a rookie, Plumlee logged scored two points and logged 5 minutes for the 2014 Brooklyn Nets in their Western Conference First Round Game 7 victory over DeMar's Raptors. Outside of the Nuggets' rotation, a pre-injury Isaiah Thomas scored 29 points (9-21 shooting) in 40 minutes for the 2017 Boston Celtics in an Eastern Conference Semifinal Game 7 win against the Washington Wizards. Trey Lyles was on the roster of the 2017 Utah Jazz who won a First Round Game 7 against the Los Angeles Clippers but Trey did not enter that game. And that's it. For most of Denver's core of young players who are playing in their very first playoff series, obviously tonight is going to be their first Game 7 experience. All told, the Spurs have 15 Game 7s under our belt (counting Pop's six) to the Nuggets four. Our players have logged 251 Game 7 minutes and scored 114 Game 7 points (led by DeMar's 120 minutes and 76 points). Denver's players have logged 96 Game 7 minutes and scored 48 Game 7 points (29 of those by Isaiah Thomas who is unlikely to see action tonight). When it comes to Game 7's, the San Antonio Spurs have a distinct experience advantage over the Denver Nuggets.
Unfortunately for us, the Nuggets have their own advantage tonight; this Game 7 is being played in Denver. Coming off of his monster 43 point, 12 rebound, and nine assist performance in a Game 6 losing effort, I'm sure Nicola Jokic is expecting to pick up right where he left off, this time with the luxury of a rowdy Pepsi Center crowd cheering him on. Much like Game 6, it may be part of Coach Pop's game plan to continue to allow the Joker to get his points but try to take away his cutters and shooters in order to throw Denver out of its offensive rhythm. Then again, the Michael Malone-tagged Bobby Fischer of basketball may attack the Nugget's king with a completely different strategy. Either way, the key to neutralizing Denver's homeport advantage is for us to slow down the pace, protect the ball, and (no matter how well Jokic plays carrying his team) limit the Nugget's fast break opportunities. I sat among the Denver fans last Tuesday during Game 5. There was a lot of nervous silence in the stands at the beginning of the game when we got out to a 9-4 lead. As soon as the Nuggets converted their first fast break and subsequently parlayed it into one of their lethal offensive blitzes the building erupted in noise and confidence. We can't allow that to happen again tonight. Instead, if we can limit fast break opportunities, the pressure and stakes of needing to rely on superior half court execution to prevail should weigh on Denver's young players and provide for a nervous rather than raucous Pepsi Center crowd. We need to set a tone that establishes the game will played at our pace from the opening tip tonight. Because we decisively control the experience advantage, the Nuggets may very well (in their lack of Game 7 experience) allow us to establish our pace. If they don't, we need to use our experience-advantage to force them into it because their home-court advantage becomes infinitely more powerful when they're allowed to get out and run. The crowd feeds off of pace and in return Denver plays better when they're able to feed off of the crowd. If we allow Denver to turn this into a track meet, we're probably in for a very long night. It's going to be interesting to see what ultimately wins out between our experience advantage and their home court advantage but because this is the first Game 7 for seven of the Nugget's nine rotation players compared to only four of our eight, I really like our chances to be the 29th team in league history to win Game 7 on the road.
The formula for completing the upset tonight and extending our season has three main ingredients. First, LaMarcus Aldridge needs to control the paint on both ends of the court the way Tim Duncan did in his first-ever Game 7. (You know, that one against the Pistons to win the 2005 title that we talked about earlier.) A trip to visit his former employer out in the Pacific Northwest is within reach and since I know that a trip down memory lane would be a lot of fun for LA, I'm confident he's going to rise to the challenge. The second ingredient is DeMar DeRozan using his series-high three Game 7s of experience to impose his will on the Denver Nuggets by attacking down hill, drawing fouls, and knocking down his patented turnaround jumpers. Despite being on a two-game Game 7 winning streak (and being the best player in both of those games), there is an existing narrative that DeMar DeRozan is a playoff choker. Most of that criticism comes from DeMar's Raptors repeatedly falling short against LeBron James, the game's greatest active player. So while, in my opinion, the narrative is unfair, but it exists nevertheless. Tonight, free of the pressure that comes with putting an entire nation on your back, DeMar can silence the choker narrative and cunningly pass it along to Denver's young superstars to see how they handle the annoyances that come with failing to meet expectations. After a season of getting to experience the competitiveness of Double D, I know he's preparing to do exactly that. Finally, there's Coach Pop. Nothing would be more Popiavellian (yes, with all respect due to Niccolò Machiavelli, I'm stealing this) than to devise a gameplay for tonight that steadily applies atmospheric pressure to Denver's playoff oxygen until it eventually evaporates into the Mile High air. The old ball coach has seen and prevailed in every imaginable situation (including this one) and has had an entire season now to teach his first Duncan-Parker-Ginobili-less group of players since the 1996-97 season that the key to playoff success is to continue pounding the rock until it breaks. Tonight, with the greatest coach of all-time manning the sideline, the #BlackAndSilver will have the formula for breaking the formidable Denver Nugget rock into a thousand tiny pebbles. And if we follow that formula with attention to detail, competitiveness and execution, we will get to savor in the experience of watching every single last pebble drop from the highest-elevated Rocky Mountain peak back down to earth like a rolling stone.
Featured Image Source: Beats from Beijing
Fourteen Port
2019 NBA West First Round, Game 3
Ticket to Ride - When Number Two sat down in an undisclosed private dining room this past summer with Popo, the best weapon in the organization told his general that he wanted out. He confessed, "This isn't the life I want anymore. I've got my family to think about." Popo tried to talk him out of it but there was no changing Number Two's mind. The silent assassin looked his teacher squarely in the right shoulder and timidly mumbled, I'm grateful for all of the time you invested in developing my talent, but in the end, man, I just want to go home. I'm paraphrasing, of course. Number Two has never said that many words in one day, much less in one conversation. With a poker face that would make Doyle Brunson blush, Popo stared directly into Number Two's eyes and pierced them so deep, it was as if he had launched into a flawless cliff dive into Number Two's soul. After pausing long enough to have taken a bath in his soldiers's deepest insecurities, Popo chuckled softly to lighten the mood and then chased his silence-breaker with a warm smile. He asked his pupil, "Do you like the wine?" Number Two answered, "Honestly, Popo, I couldn't care less about the wine. I just want to go home. Will you please just send me home to California?" Popo, still smiling warmly, looked down at his wine glass as if it had just asked him a more urgent question than the man sitting across the table from him. He picked up the glass, sniffed it longingly and then swirled the blood red liquid with the precision of a sommelier. With his smile still intact, Popo glanced back up at Number Two and then abruptly returned his attention to his glass, taking it to his lips and slowly drinking it dry. After returning his glass to the table, the aging general leaped up out of his seat with the exuberance of a man half his age. Popo walked across the table, patted his soldier reassuringly on the shoulder, leaned down to his ear and answered, "I'll see what I can do. Let me get back to you in a few weeks." With that, he was walking for the exit. Before reaching out to open the door to leave, Popo paused, turned, looked at Number Two, and gave the now disgruntled student whom he'd once loved like a son one final order. "Pay the check."
Outside the restaurant, Popo's second-in-command Robert Canterbury was waiting in an unmarked black sedan. Popo jumped in the passenger seat and said, "Hey, Robby. Let's go." Unable to hide his anticipation, Robert Canterbury nervously asked, "Well, what happened?" Popo replied, "He wants us to send him to California." His face sinking, Robert Canterbury nervously said, "So it's as bad as we had feared. This is a major setback. It's going to take years to develop another solider to replace what we're losing from Number Two. So do you want me to contact the organizations in Los Angeles?" Ignoring the question, Popo instead instructed his subordinate, "I want you to get Number Five on the phone. I want to start working on training him as Number Two's replacement tomorrow." Robert Canterbury replied, "Done. I'll let him know as soon as we get to the airport." Popo continued, "It's not going to take years to replace Number Two. I'll have Number Five ready by next April. And to answer your earlier question, we're not sending Number Two to Los Angeles. He wants to go home? Not on my watch. We're sending him as far away as possible. Make a call to the organization in Canada. We're sending him to Toronto."
Five months later, it seemed like everything was progressing perfectly in Number Five's development. He had worked night and day all summer on the covert operation to replace Number Two as Popo's greatest combination of offensive and defensive weapon. The skill set he was unleashing during his rigorous training exercises had everyone in the organization buzzing and the other asset Popo had deported out of the country in August was quickly becoming a distant memory. Then, out of nowhere, disaster struck. On October 7th, during a simulation drill, Number Five was severely injured. The following day, it was determined that the weapon Popo had invested the entire summer in (to replace what had been lost when Number Two absconded his position) would be unable to participate in the entire upcoming campaign while rehabbing a torn ACL. Everyone inside and outside the organization assumed all was lost. The organization would need a year to regroup and the immediate campaign it was preparing for was a lost cause that would surely end in brutal defeat.
Everyone, except Popo. The day of Number Five's injury, the old pedagogue spent the morning in his office alone, reflecting on it in silence; not to bemoan the problem but rather to construct its solution. After a few hours alone with his thoughts, Popo abruptly stood up, left his office, and started walking over to the organization's training facility. As he expected, the person he was going to speak to was in the weight room, diligently preparing for the upcoming campaign. When the soldier stood up from the weight bench after noticing that his general had entered the room, Popo walked up and greeted him with a fatherly embrace, putting his arm over his pupil's shoulder. Popo asked, "How are you?" He was answered with a nod that revealed the soldier's concern for his wounded brother. Popo continued, "Look, the news is as bad as we'd feared. Number Five is out indefinitely." Popo removed his arm from his pupil's shoulder as the younger man raised his hands to cover his face in disbelief. Trying to quickly move past his pupil's display of emotion, Popo said, "There's no time for that. What's happened is in the past and we still have a mission to complete. I want you to take his place. We are going to put you through Number Five's training regimen, only, you're going to have to go through it while also leading our platoon out in the field every other night because summer is over and the campaign begins in two weeks. Learning on the job while simultaneously performing Number Five's training regimen is going to be brutal. It's going to damn near break you. But if you're willing to accept the challenge and unequivocally commit to everything I'm going to ask you to do, I give you my word that I will have you ready to do everything we were planning to ask of Number Five by next April." Skeptical, the soldier protested, "That's impossible, Popo. Number Five has been working towards this assignment for two years already. I mean, it took Number Two four years of training before he was ready to take on that responsibility." Popo shot him a determined glare and countered, "Well we don't have four years, son, we have six months. Look, I know I'm asking you for a huge commitment but the reason I'm asking is because I know you're capable of rising to the challenge. I see something in you. Same as Number Five. More than Number Two. Why don't you sleep on it and if you're willing to accept the challenge, meet me here tomorrow morning at 4:00 am and we'll begin your preparation. And soldier, don't show up tomorrow unless you believe in yourself as much as I believe in you and unless you're ready to work." With that, Popo turned and walked out of the training facility in search of a nice afternoon glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. The next morning, Popo arrived at the organization's training facility at 3:30 am expecting to have a half an hour to prepare for the arduous road ahead. To his amusement but not to his surprise, his pupil was already in the weight room working out. The soldier turned to greet his general and said, "Hey, Popo. I do believe in myself and I will do every last thing you ask of me every single day for the next six months to be ready for April or I will break my back trying." Nodding in approval, Popo pulled his whistle out of his pocket and responded, "Okay. Let's get started, Number Four."
* * *
Last night, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Denver Nuggets 118-108 in front of a raucous, Fiesta-immersed crowd at the AT&T Center to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven first round matchup. Do I even need to announce who was the player of the game? If you're reading this post and you don't already know, that would mean you know nothing about the Spurs or the results of last night's contest and are just reading this because you enjoy the brilliance of my writing. On second thought, my writing is kinda brilliant so there's a decent chance you are reading this despite not having any knowledge of Game 3. As I was saying, the player of the game was Derrick White. Number Four was flat-out sensational. So much so that last night, he was the best player on the court. Our second-year point guard lit up the Alamo City with a career-high 36 points on 15-21 shooting. Most of those shot attempts were at the rim as Derrick got wherever he wanted on the court facilitating a masterpiece offensive performance that also included five assists and only one turnover. Derrick was equally dominant on the defensive end, grabbing five rebounds, collecting three steals and adding a block for good measure. The most impressive indication of his defensive impact was his performance as the primary defender on Denver's second leading scorer and Game 2 hero, Jamal Murray. Murray finished with an underwhelming six points on 2-6 shooting.
After Derrick obliterated the Nuggets for 26 points in the first half, Denver made the adjustment of putting Gary Harris (their best perimeter defender) on him in the third quarter. The focus on slowing down White allowed DeMar DeRozan to go nuts in the period, enjoying the freedom to unleash his offensive arsenal against single-coverage from lesser Denver defenders than Harris. DeMar had 19 of his 25 points during the third frame and finished the game shooting an efficient 9-18 from the field and 7-8 from the line. Back to Derrick, I'm still in awe of what he did last night after having nearly 24 hours to process it. His development this season has been astonishing and last night he put everyone in league and casual basketball fans around the globe on notice: another two-way star has arrived in San Antonio.
Given everything that has transpired in the last twelve months, from Kawhi Leonard's abandonment of his teammates and inexplicable trade demand, to also losing our next best perimeter defender Danny Green in the trade with Toronto, to losing our next best perimeter defender and best prospect to replace Leonard's two-way abilities on the court Dejounte Murray to a season-ending injury in October, I'm equally in awe of Coach Pop. Everyone in the basketball-viewing world believed the Kawhi Leonard trade was utterly devastating for the Spurs. Everyone, except Gregg Popovich. That's the magic of being the greatest coach in the history of the game of basketball. It's not devastating to lose a disgruntled superstar when you're the one who turned that raw, athletic wing-defending prospect without a jump shot into Kawhi Leonard. While everyone else was bemoaning the loss of a player of Leonard's caliber, Coach Pop was focused on developing another one in Dejounte Murray. While everyone else was bemoaning the bad luck of Dejounte's preseason injury and the loss of a player of Murray's caliber for a year, Coach Pop simply started over again in with Derrick White. Through three games, Derrick White has been the best player in the series and maybe the best two-way player in the 2019 NBA Playoffs thus far. He plays with a poise beyond his years and is doing things Leonard could have only dreamed about during his second season with the Spurs. Derrick White is becoming an NBA superstar before our very eyes and it only took Coach Pop six months to orchestrate a solution for the giant two-way hole in our lineup that was created when he was forced to ship a disgruntled superstar (one who would likely not be an NBA superstar at all but rather playing in China right now had the Spurs not decided to give him the golden ticket of seven years of Pop's coaching when we traded beloved Spur George Hill for his draft rights). And guess what Spurs fans? The silver lining in Dejounte's injury is that with Derrick's development, next season we will have two budding two-way superstars in our backcourt in Murray and White. The silver lining in Leonard's trade is DeMar DeRozan will be lining up alongside them. The future is bright and as long as Coach Pop is roaming the sidelines, a bright future is eternal.
For now, however, we can't look ahead. The Denver Nuggets are coming back tomorrow afternoon for another crack at pooping the Fiesta-Coming-Out party Derrick White started yesterday at the AT&T Center. The Nuggets will be angry and desperate tomorrow. If we let up, even a smidge, they are going to be ready to capitalize on the opportunity to even this series up before returning home to Denver. Jamal Murray in particular has accepted the challenge to answer Derrick's answer to his Game 2 fourth quarter heroics and will be poised to repeat them in our building if given the opportunity. Something tells me Derrick is going to be ready for Murray's answer to his answer. If the #BlackAndSilver come out prepared to protect the home court advantage we worked so hard to secure in Game 1 and follow the lead of our starting point guard and our newest budding NBA superstar, we will make tomorrow Derrick White's curtain call for the Fiesta-Coming-Out party he threw yesterday. Derrick said in his first-ever trip to the postgame press conference last night, "I'm just trying to stay in the moment." I have full confidence he can and if he does, I like our chances to continue the job of defending our home court as if it were the Alamo. After all, the moment Derrick is trying to stay in is ascending to NBA superstardom and the best way to stay in it is for him to take the court tomorrow night and ask himself one simple question: "Who Gon Stop Me?"
Featured Image Source: The Spectrum
Headline Image Source: StatMuse
Fifteen Port
2019 NBA West First Round, Game 1
Eternal - Oh how I love this time of year. I love the way a perpetual immersive tension is perfectly counterbalanced by an efficacious radiating exhilaration so that my resulting disposition is a delicious zen, a refreshing calm. I love the way my artistic senses are heightened, permeating my creativity like rich, dark ink saturating my quill. This time of year, melodies dance with prose through my mind in rebellious defiance of their forbidden love. They waltz with precision through my memories and leave me salivating for new ones. I love the way the air tastes better, as does the beer. This time of year, I'm more present in every breath, more thoroughly quenched by every sip. I love the way the blues and yellows and reds and greens of ordinary day-to-day concerns fade into the background as the blacks and silvers of one larger purpose move acutely into focus, front and center, all-consuming. This time of year, there's only one thing that is multiple things that are many things which is everything. One mission. Four series. Sixteen wins. One title. Have you heard the good news? The playoffs are here. All things former have come to pass and we begin anew in the steadfast faith that anything, everything, all things are possible. Indeed, the delicious, refreshing, permeating, saturating, all-consuming playoffs are here. Oh how I love this time of year.
For those of you who have the privilege of living in the meritorious Alamo City, let me begin by wishing you and yours a happy and intoxicating Fiesta 2019! May all of your oysters be baked and all of your Niosas be dressed in salt of the earth laughter and fellowship. I wish I could be there right now to celebrate with you. Perhaps next year? I'm going to make a mental note to make getting back to San Antonio for Fiesta next year a priority. Fiesta 2020 has a nice ring to it, don't you think? I need to be a part of it. It's been too long. Especially to be missing out on the greatest party on Earth on nights like Saturday night. How exhilarating was that? Seven months of hard work and consistent effort devoted to climbing the mountain up to home court advantage and the West's second seed only to have it stolen in the blink of an eye. Derrick Freaking White.
In a thrilling feeling-each-other-out slugfest, the San Antonio Spurs stole home court advantage away from the team with the NBA's best regular season home record (34-7) on Saturday night, defeating the Denver Nuggets 101-96 at the Pepsi Center here in my hometown of Denver. A couple of housekeeping notes: 1) Yes, we're thrilled that, in the fifth year of playoffs after Jenn and I made our move from San Antonio to Denver, the dream of the Spurs playing the Nuggets in the playoffs (providing us with the opportunity to attend a Spurs road playoff game) has been realized. 2) No, we didn't attend Game 1 and no, we will not be attending Game 2. If Game 5 becomes necessary, we are planning to purchase tickets to attend Game 5. With that out of the way, the Game 1 victory was huge. It was a massive accomplishment to walk out of the NBA arena in which visiting teams have had the least amount of success this season with the road win that is necessary in order to advance. While I recognize that this was a huge push forward (and I'm ecstatic about it) we are still an entire ocean's voyage away from winning this series. Look, this was the first playoff game for most of Denver's rotation players and it clearly showed. No knock on their preparation, it's to be expected that a team led by a group of players experiencing their first playoff game ever are going to underperform. It was widely believed heading into the playoffs that Denver might be vulnerable in Game 1 because of their collective lack of experience. That being the case, and with the Spurs consistently holding a slim lead for most of the first three quarters, it became glaringly clear by early in the fourth that this was a must-win for the Spurs. We could not afford to squander away the opportunity to steal a road win against a team whose stars had no playoff experience because tomorrow night, that team ceases to exist. Tomorrow, this talented group of lethal offensive weapons will suit up with playoff experience and you better believe the next chance Nikola Jokić has to start serving up his shooters with open looks, his teammates will start knocking down some shots. It only gets harder from here. So, yes, given the opportunity that was presented to us on Saturday night, it was critical that we were able to secure a victory in what was more-than-likely our best opportunity to steal a game in the toughest road arena in the NBA. It was the push forward we absolutely needed but series are never won in Game 1. We are still an entire ocean's voyage away from advancing to the next round. We need to get mentally prepared for a more confident Denver Nuggets team for the rest of the series and we need to play much, much better starting tomorrow.
I want to single out DeMar DeRozan's performance in his first playoff game as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. While DeMar didn't have a great shooting game (6-17 from the field), he played an excellent all-around game pouring in a team high 18 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, and one block. After taking the court in the 2018 playoffs undermanned, it was really refreshing to have such dynamic, unselfish star suiting up in the spot that was abandoned last season by a player who quit. While Double D was deserving, the player of the game was Derrick White. It's safe to say the Denver-native was comfortable at home. It's also safe to say, Number 4 has arrived. Derrick was sensational, filling the stat sheet with 16 points, five assists, three rebounds, and one victory-clenching steal.
Congratulations to Coach Pop on becoming the National Basketball Association's all-time winningest coach (regular season and playoffs combined). The Game 1 victory was Pop's 1413th of his career and moved him past the 1412 combined regular season and playoff wins of former SuperSonics, Trail Blazers, Cavaliers, Hawks, Raptors, and Knicks coach Lenny Wilkens. This is a tremendous accomplishment, one that every Spurs fan should be proud of and celebrate. Much like the tide, #BlackAndSilver is eternal. The biggest reason why is our coach. As Gregg Popovich enters immortality in the record-books, there is unquestionably nothing further from his mind than his own accolades. It's almost self-evident. He entered immortality in the record books not by seeking it but rather by focusing squarely on what is in front of him and then bulldozing it down. Yes, we are eternal and yes, the biggest reason why is our coach. He's also the biggest reason why we will take the floor at the Pepsi Center tomorrow with the focus, the appropriate fear, and the fire to give ourselves a chance to win Game 2.
Featured Image Source: Cee So Dope
Headline Image Source: Pounding The Rock
Four Saṃsāra
2018 NBA West First Round, Game 5
All Night - In his late-14th Century poem “Troilus and Criseyde,” Geoffrey Chaucer penned the phrase, “All good things must come to an end.” The poem is about the tragic love story of Troilus and Criseyde and is set against the Siege of Troy as a backdrop. As with every good thing that has come before, one could assume the love affair between the city of San Antonio and winning at the highest level in the NBA has finally come to an end against the backdrop of the Siege of Uncle Dennis. Coming into the 2018-19 season, many of the so-called experts were salivating with delight to make this assumption. There was a healthy trend among the handsomely paid prognosticator lot to pick the San Antonio Spurs to finish 9th, 10th, or even 11th in the Western Conference standings for the 2018-19 season. After all, more than a few of these so-called experts have already been predicting our demise for going on a decade or more now. You might think that year after year of being proven wrong time and time again might humble these so-called experts and perhaps even push them to feel the human emotions that we, the self-aware Homo sapiens, call embarrassment and shame. Unfortunately, should you think this, you'd eventually come to discover that our NBA prognosticator friends are callously devoid of these human emotions. As it turns out, being a so-called NBA expert requires one to suffer from a quite vicious personality disorder: talking-out-of-your-assicissism. Every season, something in the so-called NBA expert's gut tells him or her that this will be the year that the San Antonio Spurs run of sustained excellence will end and his or her ego implores him or her to make this prediction as loudly and flamboyantly as possible, evidence be damned. Isn't it funny how we never (ever ever ever) hear an acknowledgment of getting it wrong from the so-called NBA expert when the season ends and the Spurs have qualified for the postseason once again? In fairness, who has time to admit a mistake when you've got a busy schedule of cashing your lucrative "expert" checks and polishing your precious talking points so they're ready to be recycled for the next season. It is a little known fact that in every broadcast journalism program in the country a class is offered called "How to Be an NBA Expert For Dummies 101." In this class, future prognosticators are taught by their esteemed instructor Jeff Van Lundy (it's an online class, so yes, JVG teaches it everywhere) to take a lesson from the saying that Austrian writer Marie von Ebner-Eshenback is credited with penning: even a broken clock is right twice a day. This is surely sound advice for almost every NBA prognostication a future so-called expert will be asked to make during his or her career. Unfortunately for Van Gundy's students, there is one glaring exception. When it comes to the San Antonio Spurs run of sustained excellence and the so-called experts who cover us, the broken clocks are never right.If you're reading this and asking in your head, "But Ted, what about last season? The Spurs were merely first-round fodder for the eventual-champions. How does that count towards sustained excellence?" Of course we all remember when on April 25th of last year, the San Antonio Spurs were eliminated by the "gluttony of more" Golden State Warriors 99-91 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. (The player of the game was LaMarcus Aldridge with a workman's 30 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists.) I would argue that the defeat came with a huge asterisks. For the first time since the Spurs drafted David Robinson in 1987, a Spurs franchise player put himself ahead of the team. And not only did this player put himself ahead of the team, make no mistake about it, he flat out quit on the team in mid-March. Setting aside for a moment the fact that Kawhi Leonard abandoned the franchise that helped develop him from a raw wing-defending prospect into an NBA superstar, San Antonio still won 47 games and entered the postseason with a roster (on paper) that was equipped to compete for a championship. Keep in mind that Stephen Curry was injured and ruled out for our first-round series against his Warriors. Now pick back up that Kawhi thing. Had the medically-cleared-to-play Leonard possessed the integrity and competitive spirit to set his aside his ego and instead earn his paycheck, the Spurs / Curry-less Warriors first round matchup would've been a toss up. Trust me, had Leonard played, there would've been a googolplex of Silicon Valley tech geeks sweating through their Kevin Durant Warriors jerseys so profusely, you'd've been able to see the purple bleeding through from the Kobe Bryant Lakers t-shirts they wear underneath. (Yes, this is descriptive writing calling out Warriors fans for being bandwagon converted Kobe-era Lakers fans.) The bottom-line? Had even a rusty Leonard chosen to play in the first round matchup with the Curry-less defending champion Warriors, I believe the Spurs win the series in 6. Last season's inability on the part of the Spurs to overcome being ghosted by Kawhi Leonard and consequently bowing out in the first round to the defending champs in five games is simply a bad luck break. When you field a championship-caliber roster every single damn season, you're going to have a few of those seasons end because of bad breaks. 2018 was no different than 2009 (when Manu was out for the playoffs due to injury) or 2000 (when Timmy was out for the playoffs due to injury). Sure, in this case, we were dealing with a pampered star who could've played and chose not to whereas those other players were stars because they were willing to give their left nut (in Manu's case, literally) for the opportunity to compete for a championship. But in the end, it's nearly impossible to legitimately compete for a ring when one of your best players misses the playoffs and effectively, that truth is what sealed our 2018 fate. This, friends, brings me full circle to my original point. SCORE BOARD ALERT: The San Antonio Spurs have been in title contention for over two decades and have booked the following results:
1998: 56 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
1999: 37 wins, NBA Champions
2000: 53 wins, Western Conference Quarterfinalists
2001: 58 wins, Western Conference Finalists
2002: 58 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
2003: 60 wins, NBA Champions
2004: 57 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
2005: 59 wins, NBA Champions
2006: 63 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
2007: 58 wins, NBA Champions
2008: 56 wins, Western Conference Finalists
2009: 54 wins, Western Conference Quarterfinalists
2010: 50 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
2011: 61 wins, Western Conference Quarterfinalists
2012: 50 wins, Western Conference Finalists
2013: 58 wins, NBA Finalists
2014: 62 wins, NBA Champions
2015: 55 wins, Western Conference Quarterfinalists
2016: 67 wins, Western Conference Semifinalists
2017: 61 wins, Western Conference Finalists
2018: 47 wins, Western Conference Quarterfinalists
2019: 48 wins, To be determined...
Somehow, we continue to defy Marie von Ebner-Eshenback's logic (which just so happens to be backed by the scientific laws of physics) that even a broken clock is right twice a day. The so-called NBA experts predict our demise year over year and year over year Coach Pop leads the Spurs back to the playoffs and makes them look foolish. With all deference to the wisdom in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, all good things mustn't come to an end. One good thing continues to persevere. The Spurs enter the 2019 NBA playoffs with a roster equipped and in position to make another deep postseason run. To tie a bow on this thought, I see the writings of Ebner-Eshenback and Chaucer and raise you the writings of the incomparable Mark Twain. Paraphrasing Twain, reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated.
* * *
Hello, Mr. Leonard. Can I call you Mr. Leonard? I know I used to call you Kawhi. But I used to think we were (Spurs) family. I also used to think you were the Chosen One. I used to believe in you so much, you're tagged in the Black & Silver blog series more times than Tim Duncan for Pop's sake. But that was then and this is now. Given what’s transpired, I feel much more comfortable calling you Mr. Leonard, if it’s all the same to you. Oh, and I fully plan to rectify the tagged-more-times-than-Timmy problem before the completion of the 2019 installment.
Think whatever you want about the way the Spurs handled your injury, the bottom line is that you quit on the team. As far as I’m concerned, your choice to abandon your team during the 2018 playoffs is a black mark on your career that will permanently be a part of your legacy. As far as I’m concerned, you can now never earn a place in the history books among the fiercest competitors, best players, or greatest champions. No matter how many accolades you rack or how much adulation is showered upon you moving forward by Raptors fans, or Clippers fans, or Lakers fans, you will always be remembered in my book as Kawhi Leonard: Quitter or Kawhitter for short. I know last time we spoke during the Golden State series, I defended your choice to err on the side of caution with your injury and sit out. What I’ve come to understand is that by late-March of 2018, I was already in the grieving process for coping with your betrayal but at the time of the Golden State series (late-April 2018), I did not know it yet because I was smack dab in the middle of the denial phase.I always knew that the Big Three era of Spurs basketball would eventually come to an end. But your decision to put yourself ahead of the team sure did have a way of ensuring that the end came with guillotine precision. Four-time Champion Tony Parker: signed to the Charlotte Hornets. Four-time champion Manu Ginobili: retired. God damn, Mr. Leonard. What, did you stop by and egg Tim Duncan’s house on your way out of town too?
There was so much I wanted to say to you after the trade last July. I was filled with so much anger, hurt, confusion over your betrayal I was ready to write a novel about it. Frankly, after reflecting on things for eight months now, I no longer feel you're worth the energy it would take me to spend 10,000 words excoriating you. Look, we have an NBA regular season of separation now from the divorce. Time and distance really do make a difference. I don’t know if I’ll ever really know your reasons for asking for the divorce and for as long as I live, I know I’ll occasionally circle back to ponder what might have been, what should have been had Zaza Pachulia not wrecklessy ended your 2016-17 season in Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals and set into motion this “Back to the Future Part II” alternate reality that has you playing the role of pampered superstar for another NBA franchise instead of continuing to accept the challenge of replacing Tim Duncan as the Black & Silver face of the franchise and raising more banners into the AT&T Center rafters. But time and distance have allowed me to really appreciate the fact that I get to watch DeMar DeRozan every single night. DeMar is one of the most electrifying scorers and playmakers to ever take the court in a Spurs uniform. From an entertainment standpoint, give me DeMar's silky-smooth 360 spin move to the rack that results in an improbable kick out to a wide-open shooter in the corner over your methodical, deliberate, tunnel-vision turnaround jumper every single day of the week. Of course Demar is not the defensive player that you were for us. I'm okay with that, though, because Derrick White and DeJounte Murray have the potential to be and when both of them finally have the opportunity to take the court together alongside DeMar, Aldridge, and Poeltl I'm happy with our chances to once-again field an elite defensive lineup for the 2019-20 season.
Anyway, I guess that's it, Mr. Leonard. I don't want to keep you. I'm sure Uncle Dennis has a New Balance commercial shoot he needs you to bring your personality-less personality and creepy Grandpa laugh to as soon as we wrap up. Oh wait, there he is now pulling back into the parking lot in his new 2020 limited-edition Mercedes Coattails 500. Man, that's a nice ride. He deserves it, though. He's put it a lot of long, hard, laborious hours converting you to the Dark Side of the Force. Closure really is a wonderful thing, isn't it, Mr. Leonard? You see how closure is allowing us to joke again? Look, you're even smiling. As much as I appreciate your smile...wait, please don't laugh. Save it for the New Balance commercial. Whew, that was a close call. In all seriousness, Mr. Leonard, thank you for your contribution to the San Antonio Spurs. Thanks for your role in raising that fifth championship banner into the AT&T Center rafters. I wish you nothing but the best of luck with the rest of your career (except against the San Antonio). Please tell Danny we miss him.
* * *
Tim Duncan had brief flirtation with the Orlando Magic in the summer of 2000. I remember in my heart at the time, I didn’t think he would leave. Don’t get me wrong, I remember being scared shitless and a nervous wreck for several weeks, but deep down I believed unequivocally in his loyalty to my team and city. The day it was announced he was re-signing with San Antonio, I remember thinking, “there is no longer any doubt that he will be a Spur his entire career.” And, as it turned out, I never once had to go back and question that thought during the final sixteen years of Timmy's career.
There was a brief 48-hour period during the summer of 2016, when ex-Spurs assistant coach Brett Brown and his Philadelphia 76ers made a strong play to acquire Manu Ginobili with a massive two-year $30 million contract offer, that I was forced to entertain the idea that the most beloved Spur of all-time might not play his entire NBA career for the franchise. I remember not having to dig as deep as I did during Timmy’s 2000 free-agency to find the confidence to believe in Manu’s loyalty. In the end, as I expected, the Spurs ponied up some overdue extra cash to a legend who had been underpaid the previous year (a measly 2.8 million) and re-signed #20 to a one-year $14 million contract putting the uncomfortable contemplation of having to see Manu in another jersey to bed quickly. 48 hours of minimal doubt over the span of a 16-year career ain’t bad. You couldn’t ask for less discomfort.
Of the Spurs legendary “Big Three,” Tony Parker was the only one that forced me to regularly contemplate the idea of him taking the floor at the AT&T Center as a visitor at some point in his career. The “Tony Parker might not re-sign” rumors started as early as 2009. After losing in five games during the first round as the three-seed in the 09 Playoffs to the sixth seeded and rival Dallas Mavericks, Tony Parker started giving quotes about how the Spurs were no longer at a championship-caliber level. For the next three years, rumors swirled on San Antonio’s local sports talk radio about Tony jumping ship. From his initial comments until the unraveling of his marriage to actress Eva Longoria, the specific rumor was that Tony would eventually leave the Spurs to go play with Kobe Bryant out in Los Angeles for another hated-rival, the Lakers. Once he was divorced from Longoria and the Hollywood lifestyle, that rumor slowly faded but Tony continued to talk openly about eventually leaving the Spurs for another NBA club until the Spurs were rebuilt to go on another three-year-long championship hunt from 2012-14. After the Spurs were bounced in the first round of the 2015 playoffs in a hard-fought seven game slugfest of a series with the L.A. Clippers, Tony restarted public contemplation of ending his career for another NBA team and added a new wrinkle. He threw in the possibility of finishing his career playing professionally in his native France for the EuroLeague club he owns, Villeurbanne. Suffice it to say, of the Spurs’ “Big Thee,” Tony Parker is the one who, in regards to his legacy, seemed the least concerned about playing his entire career in Black & Silver.
The announcement on July 7th, 2018 that Tony Parker would sign a two-year $10 million deal with the Charlotte Hornets was not shocking, but it was still surprising and it coupled as utterly gut-wrenching. After 17 seasons at the helm of our ship, it was hard to imagine TP in another uniform. So yes, it was weird when the first photos of TP wearing Purple and Teal surfaced on Twitter. And yes, it was uncomfortable to watch him come off the bench at the Amway Center in Orlando on October 19th, 2018 and lay a goose egg on 0-5 shooting in 16 minutes for the Charlotte Hornets in his first NBA game not playing for San Antonio (he did have six assists, though). And, of course, it was flat-out weird to watch Tony return to the AT&T Center on January 14th to help his Hornets defeat our Spurs 108-93 with eight points and four assists in 19 minutes off the bench. All of this was tough. All of this was weird. But given the history of Tony speaking openly for a decade about the possibility of leaving the Spurs that's documented above, none of it was shocking.
As we struggled with the weirdness of Tony toiling away as a mentor and role player for a middling squad in the Eastern Conference, thankfully there was closure to be had and it came late in the season in the form of Manu Ginobili's jersey retirement ceremony. As luck would have it (or perhaps this was intentionally planned), the Spurs play the Hornets in Charlotte the game before Manu's jersey retirement night. With permission from the Hornets, Tony flew back to San Antonio from Charlotte on the Spurs' team plane to attend the ceremony. During the game, he was spotted sitting next to Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili in the stands. By the time Tony delivered his hilarious and fitting tribute to Manu during the ceremony, it felt as if he never left. In that moment, not only did I get closure from the weirdness of Tony Parker: Charlotte Hornets Back-Up Point Guard, I realized the deeper context driving the closure. TP's new identity as a journeyman is a technicality. Tony Parker is a Spur for life.In thinking about the quintessential Tony Parker moment, I remember too many dagger pull-up jumpers to seal a playoff win to name or count. The one play that seems to stand out was from Game One of the 2013 NBA Finals. Even though we ultimately did not win that series, the play epitomizes the craftiness, fearlessness, resilience, and perseverance that Parker played with throughout his entire 17-year Spurs career. I'm just going to leave the clip of that shot right here and end these reflections by saying, #MerciTony.
* * *
It was about this time of year. I remember feeling hyped for the postseason. We were heading into the playoffs as the three seed but that was of no matter. After all, we had just one the title two years earlier from the very same position as a three seed. I got up on an early-April morning daydreaming about how we were about to be going on a tear back to the NBA Finals (and getting some Western Conference Finals revenge on the Los Angeles Lakers in the process) when I checked my phone only to discover that the top headline in the San Antonio Express-News was that Manu Ginobili would miss the playoffs due to injury. In an instant, right then and there, I knew we would not be making that tear back to the Finals. For all intents and purposes, the season was over. Sure enough, we were upset by the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the first round.If I could sum up Manu Ginobili in one word, it would be hope. As long as Manu Ginobili was suiting up for the San Antonio Spurs, I had hope that the last game of each season would end with the Black & Silver hoisting a trophy. Only the fiercest of the fierce competitors genuinely illicit hope on that level. The Larry Birds. The Michael Jordans. The Kobe Bryants. Manu Ginobili belongs right alongside these players on the pantheon of the NBA’s greatest competitors. Coach Pop expressed this exact sentiment in a video tribute that was played during Manu's jersey retirement ceremony on March 28th. No matter what the situation, no matter how big the odds stacked against us, as long as there was time left on the clock and Number 20 was on the court, Spurs fans could always bask in the eternal warmth of hope. There was always a chance because of Manu Ginobili's competitiveness.
I'll be honest, I'm feeling overwhelmed trying to write this Ginobili retirement piece and put into words what Manu has meant to me as a life-long Spurs fan. I summed Manu (the player) up in one word: hope. I'll respectively sum up my experience as a fan watching his entire NBA career in one word as well: joy. The competitiveness, the creativity, the basketball intellect, the relentless will to win; all such a joy to watch night after night, year after year. Reflecting on the fact that I no longer get to watch the most beloved Spur of all-time play basketball doesn't make me sad. I set out into my reflection thinking that it will but the instant a vision of Manu Euro-stepping through traffic to finish at the rim or Manu throwing a bounce pass to a cutter between his defender's legs appears in my mind, I become consumed with joy. There's no way around it. Every memory that I have of Manu playing basketball makes me happy. The way he played the game was so joyous, even in the past-tense there is simply no room for sadness. Every season. Every game. Every moment bring a smile to my face. None so more than this:
I watched the aforementioned Manu Ginobii retirement ceremony from my hotel room at the Rome Cavalieri. I think there was something poetic and fitting about me getting to watch Number 20 go up into the AT&T Center rafters from Italy, the country Ginobili left (after playing two seasons's of professional basketball for Basket Viola Reggio Calabria) when he moved to San Antonio, Texas in 2002 to begin his NBA career. It was cool to celebrate the end of Manu's NBA journey from the place in which it began. I imagine Italy danced through Manu's mind more than a few times during that ceremony. When reflecting back upon a journey, it's only natural to think of its origin. The idea that Manu was peering back to Italy that night, peering back to the beginning, and I was able to experience Italy peering forward and back around the globe to reflect with him in San Antonio makes the notion of Manu's career cyclical and renders beginnings and ends obsolete. In other words, Manu's career is timeless and to be celebrated as a living, breathing fierce part of the present in perpetuity.
The game started at 1:30 am local time, so by the time the post-game retirement ceremony had concluded, it was almost time for the sun to rise over Rome. I figured Alba di Roma was something worth putting off a little extra sleep in order to experience so I decided to stay awake for it. I waited out on the terrace of my hotel room and watched as the colors slowly started rising from the silhouettes of the mountains behind the city. Out on that terrace, I watched the sun rise in all of its newness and spectacular beauty with my mind still on Manu and his career. I thought about the timelessness of Manu Ginobili the basketball player and how I will continue to experience his career body of work it in all of its newness and spectacular beauty for as long as I breathe (and probably beyond).Revisiting that terrace in Rome as I write these words todays brings me comfort and relieves me of the burden of feeling overwhelmed in writing this piece. I have forever to get my thoughts down on paper regarding Manu Ginboili's retirement and what his career meant to me and since all good things mustn't come to an end and the Spurs will continue making the playoffs forever, I'll have endless opportunities to revise these thoughts as part of the Black & Silver blog series. That being the case, let me end with this: #GraciasManu. It was an absolute privilege to watch you play basketball for my San Antonio Spurs de principio a fin.
* * *
Alotta the so-called experts predicted the #BlackAndSilver to miss the playoffs. They never learn. The irony? Even if the "experts' pooled their money, bought the team, got rid of the current roster and made themselves the replacements, so long as Coach Pop is still manning the bench, he would still drag them to the playoffs. As I'm putting the finishing touches on this, one of the most important Black & Silver posts to-date, the San Antonio Spurs are preparing for Game 1 of our first round matchup for the 2019 NBA Playoffs, our NBA record-tying 22nd consecutive appearance in the postseason. More on that tomorrow. For now, it's clear that a lot of things have changed in San Antonio since I wrote One Nirvana 355 days ago. A lot has changed but one thing remains the same. The San Antonio Spurs are in the playoffs and (broken clocks beware) are a threat to win the title. Much like the sunrise or the brilliance of Manu Ginobili's career, the sustained excellence of the San Antonio Spurs is eternal. We've merely experiencing a Black & Silver: Reincarnation. All good things mustn't come to an end. Reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated.
Video Source: NBA on YouTube
Three Saṃsāra
2018 NBA West First Round, Game 3
I Won't Back Down - Don't worry. I'm not gonna to do what you all think I'm gonna do, which is, you know, FLIP OUT AND PREDICT WE'RE GONNA COMEBACK AND WIN THE SERIES. Can I be Phoebe Buffay's little brother? Can I be Frank? Frankly, I don't have the energy. It's been a long, long week and there's no other way to put it, I'm tired. And as I said to close Two Saṃsāra, our purpose here "seems embarrassingly trivial now when juxtaposed against humanity and mortality in such an acute, piercing way." As a devoted Spurs fan, my focus is not on what happened in Game 3 or what is going to happen in Game 4. My focus continues to be on Coach Pop, his family, and the journey that they were enjoined to begin on Wednesday. Grief is a difficult peregrination. My heartfelt advice during moments like these? When we walk, we walk towards our memories.
The player of Game 3 was Tony Parker. Not for the 16 points (6-12 shooting) in 17 minutes that Tony contributed during his best on-court performance in weeks. But rather for his off-the-court performance leading the team through tragedy and during a period of mourning. Even though the Golden State Warriors defeated the San Antonio Spurs 110-97 on Thursday night in the AT&T Center, the grace through exceptional heartbreak that Tony Parker and his teammates demonstrated was an incredible victory. I think as a #SpursFamily, we all knew that we'd be measuring success differently this postseason, but even that has taken on new meaning since Wednesday evening. When asked during the Game 3 postgame press conference about the normally embarrassing prospect of getting swept on our homecourt, Tony said, "It's hard to think about that for me personally right now because there's other stuff bigger than basketball."
Amen, Tony. And while I'd have felt comfortable ending this post with that sentiment, for historical purposes, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least acknowledge that once again tomorrow, as we had to last year in Game 4 of our series against the Warriors, we must brace for the possibility that Manu Ginobili is playing his last game. Having now pointed that out, I'll close by allowing the other leader of the #BlackAndSilver to provide even more clarity for the moment we're in. Manu said this morning that this is "a very unique situation. I've never been through something like this. You know, how important Pop is, not only for us players, the whole organization, the whole NBA, and seeing or feeling the way he should be feeling at this point, it hurts. We are struggling a little bit." So no, today I'm not gonna do what you all think I'm gonna do and predict the first 0-3 comeback in NBA history. Today, I'm going to pray.
Featured Image Source: WOAI
Headline Image Source: Basketball Fever
Two Saṃsāra
2018 NBA West First Round, Game 2
Wonderwall - Dear Kawhi, isn't it funny how so many of these so-called experts and insiders have filled your silence with so much noise? I'll be honest. As a die-hard fan, it's been a really hard year. Knowing your competitive spirit, I can't even begin to try to imagine how hard the year has been for you. But as a die-hard fan, believe me, I'm trying to imagine it. I'm trying to imagine your frustration and your uncertainty. I'm trying to imagine your isolation and your pain. I'm trying really hard to imagine what you must be experiencing to be deciding to stay away from the game and your team when the organization has medically cleared you to play. I say this not with judgement or condemnation but with utter bafflement because, knowing what I know about you, I simply can't imagine what you're experiencing to need to be in New York right now instead of San Antonio. I'm trying hard to imagine, but I just can't seem to fill the vacuum that is your silence. Even though I can't fill the void in my own mind, knowing what I know about you, one thing I can say is that most of this noise coming from the pundits to fill the void is laughable. You and I know that these noise-makers, these so-called experts aren't interested in knowing what's in your head right now. They're interested in figuring out what they can say about what's in your head right now that will generate clicks and traffic. In other words, they're not interested, given your quiet nature and your consistency in avoiding the media like the plague throughout your nine-year history as a public person, in taking your March statements at face value. They're interested in generating profits through sensationalism. Silence is boring but speculation sells. A hundred trade scenarios dissected by a thousand blog boys will generate a million clicks and voilà...everybody is making money off of your silence (including the moms who provide their blog boy sons with basements). You and I both know this that his is how the internet works in 2018 and that is why I return time and time again to your March statements as my quiet place to try to block out the noise. I'm not panicking because I know you too well to believe any of this hype. The so-called experts would have Spurs fans believe that they have miraculously established in 2018 some secret back channel (that has never, ever existed before this season) and have penetrated the Fort Knox vault that is the Spurs organization's inner-circle to get the inside scoop on what is happening between you and the team. Sure. We both know that the pundits' conspiracy theories on you are faker than Donald Trump's conspiracy theories concerning illegal voter fraud during the 2016 election. You and I both know that the notion you're sitting out the 2018 playoffs and foregoing one of the precious few chances you'll get to compete for a championship in this fleeting thing we call an NBA career because you're worried about jeopardizing a super-max contract offer this summer is such a joke, it's actually insulting. We both know you don't play the game for money. You play the game for the love. You play the game to win. You play the game to be the best. You and I also know that the notion that you're sitting out right now because your relationship with your team's front office is so broken, you're angling to force a trade during this offseason is equally ridiculous. We both know that you put the game of basketball before the business of basketball. We both know you would never pass up the opportunity to force Kevin Durant into a live ball turnover so that you could take the opportunity to force R.C. Buford into turning over his franchise cornerstone during the offseason. You and I further know that the notion that you're sitting out right now because of a players' only meeting or because of something that Gregg Popovich, or Tony Parker, or Manu Ginobili said about your injury to the media is the biggest whopper of them all. You spilled blood, sweat, and tears together with these men for six years. You died together in Game 6. You were resurrected together a year later. You've been in the trenches with this general and these brothers through all of the battles and all of the wars but the so-called experts would have us believe that you're sitting out because of hurt feelings? Because the most professional, tight-nit locker room in modern American sports has inexplicably deteriorated this season into a junior high lunch room? You and I know know that's not how the Spurs were built and it's certainly not how you're wired. I don't blame you for not dignifying these so-called experts and their overloaded wheel barrels of horse manure speculation with answers. Having said that, what about us Kawhi? What about the die-hard fans? I mean no disrespect but now that we're in the playoffs, don't we deserve a press conference? A statement? Don't we deserve to know whi our 2018 championship dreams are likely shattered? Can you imagine our frustration and uncertainty? Can you imagine our isolation and pain? Don't we, the die-hard fans who have allowed you to go about your craft quietly in our city in a way you would never have been allowed to do in Los Angeles, or New York, or Boston, or Philadelphia at least deserve a sentence from you regarding your playoff status? I have been a die-hard Spurs fan since David Robinson's rookie season in 1989 or since about 20 months before you were born and I've gotta tell you, I've endured more anxiety as a Spurs fan this season over the uncertainty surrounding your injury and the delicate state in which it has left our championship aspirations than I have in the previous 29 years combined. Sure, the 1996-97 season was tough, but that year was propped up by the hope that landing a franchise cornerstone from the Virgin Islands could be on the horizon. This year, our season has been haunted by the dark cloud of terror of losing a franchise cornerstone from Los Angeles, CA could be on the horizon. Even though I return day after day, week after week to your March statements as my quiet place and my shelter from this dark cloud of terror, the noise has become impossible to block out because you have chosen to remain silent since the playoffs have begun. So here's a simple, humble request to you, Kawhi, from a die-hard fan (and when I say die-hard fan I mean of both yours and the special, special little South Texas basketball powerhouse for which you have the privilege of playing): consider coming back to help us win this championship, this year. And if that is not possible, let us, the die-hard fans know whi. Because I don't believe the so-called experts' speculation that is now churning at a fever pitch speed and continues to increase each pitch, I think it's fair for me to give you my best guess as to whi you remain out even though the organization has medically cleared you to play. My guess is that you don't want to become Bill Walton, Grant Hill, Isaiah Thomas. My guess is that you are such a fierce competitor and your love for the game is so strong that, as much as it hurts to sacrifice this season, that pain pails in comparison to the pain you would feel to lose the prime of your career to a chronic injury and you're simply not willing to take that risk. When Zaza Pachulia stepped on your foot in Game 1 of last year's Western Conference Finals, I believed, without qualification, that you had ascended to the mountaintop and grabbed the title of best basketball player on the planet. My guess is that you're dying to get back to that level and you are not willing to take any amount of risk that this injury will rob you of your opportunity to climb that mountain again. If I'm guessing correctly, that is completely understandable. Die-hard Spurs fans will understand. All you have to do is let us know. Even if you choose to keep your silence all the way into the offseason, I may be baffled but I won't be angry. I will continue to support you because that's what die-hards do and until you break your silence, I will continue to try to block out the noise. Another thing die-hards do? Hope. As long as our 2017-18 season and this playoff run are alive, I will continue to hope for your return to the court as starting small forward for the #BlackAndSilver. Whi?
Because maybe you're gonna be the one that saves me.
* * *
We played well enough to win. We made every single adjustment we needed to make. We lured the Warriors into 15 turnovers while only committing nine ourselves. Our defense was ferocious and our intensity exceeded our opponents. Most importantly, LaMarcus Aldridge was a beast. The player of the game punished Golden State with 34 points (11-21 from the field, 12-12 from the stripe) and 12 rebounds. We led by six at halftime. We led by one with 4:44 left in the third. We were right there. Sometimes you can do everything you need to do and it's still not enough. Asterix Champion Kevin Durant and Proven Champion Klay Thompson combined for 63 points on 22-39 shooting. The Warriors as a team went a sharp 15-31 from deep while we went a putrid 4-28. Sometimes shots don't fall and you simply can't win in the playoffs (especially against the champs) shooting the basketball like that. What're you gonna do? Back in Silicon Valley at Oracle on Monday night, the San Antonio Spurs fell once again to the Gluttony of More Golden State Warriors 116-101 to fall into an 0-2 hole in our Western Conference First Round series.
The bottom line is that if we had hit more of our wide-open threes in Game 2 and if Bryn Forbes hadn't committed that bone-headed "clear path" foul that set Klay Thompson off on his own personal 6-0 run early in the fourth quarter, the Spurs would've won Game 2 and the entire complexion of this series would be looking entirely different right about now. As far as I'm concerned this is a relatively evenly matched series. Both teams are missing a superstar. LaMarcus is playing at such a high-level right now, he basically cancels out Durant. Is Klay better than anything we have as a second option? Sure, but I'll put the collective experience of Coach Pop, Parker, Ginobili, Gasol, Mills, and Danny Green up against Steve Kerr, Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguadola, Sean Livingston, and David West and really like our chances. We are a really good home team so if we can figure out a way to take care of business down in the Alamo City tomorrow and Sunday (while Fiesta is conveniently popping off with Oyster Bake), all of the pressure shifts back to Golden State for Game 5. What part of die-hard don't you understand? I will never stop believing. I will never give in. I won't back down.
* * *
I was in the final stages of editing this post when the news broke of Erin Popovich's passing. This is such devastating news. Coach Pop kept his family life extremely private but from all that I've read and heard over the years, Erin was remarkable person. I want you, the readers, to know that everything I had previously written for this post (the Kawhi letter, the Game 2 analysis, the unwavering confidence in our chances to turn the series around) seems embarrassingly trivial now when juxtaposed against humanity and mortality in such an acute, piercing way. This has been such a tough week. Already this week I've been reflecting upon the passing of a close family friend in Texas, a colleague of mine in Germany, and former First Lady Barbara Bush. It is only Wednesday. Rest in peace, dear Erin Popovich. My heart goes out to you and your family, Coach Pop. May the outpouring of support from the NBA community and your #SpursFamily bring you some comfort.
Featured Image Source: ClutchPoints
Headline Image Source: Pounding the Rock