Four Saṃsāra

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.

#GoSpursGo

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Video Source: NBA on YouTube

Two Saṃsāra

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.

#GoSpursGo

* * *

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.

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Featured Image Source: ClutchPoints

Headline Image Source: Pounding the Rock

Two Forward

Deliver - ¡Viva la Fiesta! Going into the AT&T Center in San Antonio as the road team and winning a playoff game is a difficult proposition. Going into the AT&T Center as the road team and winning a playoff game during Fiesta? There are few things harder in the NBA. Obviously, it is not impossible. Last year, the Dallas Mavericks came into our home during Fiesta and stole Game 2 of the 2014 Western Conference First Round series in convincing fashion winning 113-92. The Mavericks, however, had experience on their side. Dallas had been playing road playoff games in San Antonio during Fiesta for years. They knew what to expect. Last night, the same could not be said for the Los Angeles Clippers. Unfortunately for the Clips, not only was last night a road playoff game in San Antonio during Fiesta, but it was a road playoff game in San Antonio on the 2nd Friday of Fiesta and a young Spurs superstar was accepting the Defensive Player of the Year trophy from the greatest player in franchise history before the game. Poor L.A. never stood a chance. The San Antonio Spurs annihilated the Los Angeles Clippers 100-73 in front of 18,582 Fiesta-rowdy Spurs fans last night at the AT&T Center. The entire team seemed to feed off of the energy of Tim Duncan presenting Kawhi Leonard with the DPOY trophy before the tip-off. It was a spectacular team defensive performance. The Spurs held the Clippers to 34.1 percent shooting for the game (29-85) and bottled up Chris Paul (7 points [3-11], 6 turnovers) and Blake Griffin (14 points [6-15], 3 turnovers). It was a complete dismantling of the best offense in the NBA and the fewest points scored by LAC in a playoff game in franchise history.

The Defensive Player of the Year was determined to make sure and remind us that he plays both sides of the court. Forget Bruce Bowen and move over Scottie Pippen because last night the Claw was trying to reincarnate the way a young Michael Jordan played both sides of the ball early in his career with the Chicago Bulls. Kawhi was sensational on the offensive end, scoring a career high 32 points (13-18 from the field). He added 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks for good measure. It wasn't just the scoring proclivity or efficiency, it was the types of shots Kawhi was taking to score the basketball that harkened back to his Airness in his prime. Leonard destroyed the Clippers on multiple occasions with turn-around fade away jumpers over the double team. Who else in today's NBA has that patented Michael Jordan weapon in their offensive arsenal? Kobe Bryant, and that's pretty much it. It was a strange site to see. A young superstar playing the game of basketball like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in a San Antonio uniform and while staying within the flow of the Spurs' offensive system, no less. Utterly incredible. Not only was the player of the game being like Mike with the fade-away mid-range jumpers, but he went 3-5 from deep (Bulls vs. Blazers, 1992 Finals anyone?), oh... and this happened. 

Because of the spectacularly embarrassing performance last night, the Clippers could prove to be an extremely dangerous wounded animal come tomorrow afternoon. I fully expect the same type of bounce-back performance from Los Angeles in Game 4 as San Antonio put together for Game 2. If the #BlackAndSilver are prepared for the desperation that is sure to come from our opponent and we are able to play the same type of focused team ball tomorrow that we played last night, I'm hard pressed to see how the Clippers (as a team) could play at a level that could add their names to the short list of teams who have come into the AT&T Center and beaten the Spurs in the playoffs during Fiesta. Chris Paul and Blake Griffin can play at the necessary level, but who else can join them at that level on the road? While it is hard to see the scenario where DeAndre Jordan, J.J. Redick, and Jamal Crawford all play at the necessary level tomorrow to beat the champs in our building, I'm certainly not ruling it out. As I've said before, there is no doubt that the Clippers are a talented and dangerous group. Even after last night's performance, I'm still sticking to the notion that this is the best first round opponent the Spurs have faced in the Gregg Popovich/Tim Duncan era. We must come out tomorrow afternoon with a sense of desperation and play like we are the team in this series that is playing from the 1-2 hole on the road. But with Kawhi Leonard's superstardom currently feeding off of the energy of Fiesta and erupting like Mount Vesuvius to rain scorching lava down on the NBA city of Pompeii...I mean L.A., I think I like our chances in Game 4.

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: Street Khemistry

Headline Image Source: San Antonio Express-News

One Forward

Ready or Not - Whew. Let me catch my breath. It's been almost 48 hours, but I'm still feeling the effects of all the nervous energy it took to watch the most entertaining game of the 2015 NBA Playoffs thus far. That was big. On the verge of falling into a disastrous 0-2 hole on Wednesday night in Los Angeles at the Staples Center, the defending champion San Antonio Spurs edged out the Los Angeles Clippers in overtime 111-107 in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round to tie the series at one game apiece. Clippers winning streak snapped. Home-court advantage snatched. Now that we've escaped, sleepwalkers awake. All of the pressure in this series has shifted to the third seeded Clippers and their superstar point guard who is desperately hoping to silence his critics by making the first deep playoff run of his 10 year NBA career. Chris Paul did all he could in Game 2. Blake Griffin, his sidekick, also played phenomenally once again save for one costly turnover in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter with a two point lead. That turnover allowed Patty Mills to streak down the court, get fouled, and sink two clutch free throws that tied the game, sending it into overtime, and gave new life to the Spurs in the process.Up 10 points after a spectacular Kawhi Leonard fade-away jumper with 6:41 left in the fourth quarter, San Antonio seemed poised to bully our way into a comfortable road playoff win. But a combination of Hack-A-Jordan, mindless Spurs turnovers, and going cold from the field at an inopportune time allowed L.A. to claw their way back into the game over the final few minutes and take the aforementioned two point lead. There was a terrible sinking feeling in my gut as we squandered away the lead that harkened back to some of the Spurs' playoff road meltdowns against the Shaq and Kobe Lakers in the early part of the previous decade. While the contest on Wednesday took place in that same building, this time we stayed the course, kept the faith, and persevered. Patty was spectacular. Playing heavy minutes to help fill a gaping hole caused by losing Tony Parker to an injury and compounded by losing Manu Ginobili on an uncharacteristically boneheaded choice to stop a fast break with a foul when he already had five at the 3:51 mark in the fourth quarter, Mills went 5-9 from the field and a potential season-saving 6-6 from the free throw line for 18 points.

The player of the game, however, was none other than Time's Father himself, Tim Duncan. Timmy just keeps adding to the legend, earning his 100th career post season double-double with 28 points (14-23) and 11 rebounds. He added 4 assists, two steals, and a block to boot. Duncan set the tone early which allowed the Spurs to play with a lead for most of the game. He also helped get San Antonio over the hump in OT with a vintage runner right in DeAndre Jordan's eye to put us up 101-98 with about three minutes left.Patty hit four more clutch free throws down the stretch in OT to seal the game. My heart was pounding on each one. This victory was huge for the #BlackAndSilver because now, if we can take care of business at home, we have the inside track to defeat the toughest first round opponent of the Gregg Popovich/Tim Duncan era. I'm looking forward to our first opportunity to defend our home court tonight back in the cozy confines of the AT&T Center. I'm getting ready to get in my zone and make sure we deliver. But before I do, one more thing. Yesterday, Kawhi Leonard was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year. While he seemed like a dark horse candidate given that he had missed 18 games due to injury, the honor is well-deserved because at this point there is absolutely no doubt. The man is the greatest defensive basketball player on the planet, hands down. If you don't think so, you're either fooling yourself or you're simply not watching. Congratulations, Whi. Spurs fans everywhere will be hoping you bring your defensive A game tonight. Against this talented opponent, we're going to need it. 

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: Smash the Club

Headline Image Source: Sportal

One Back

What's Up? - As my good friend and bombastic pop culture writer, Ken Adams, might say: howdy boys and girls. Welcome to the third installment of the Black & Silver blog series. I'm thrilled to be embarking on yet another San Antonio Spurs playoff run with all of you, the loyal readers. What an exciting time. It's spring, it's Fiesta back home in San Antonio, and the Spurs are defending an NBA Championship. I love this time of year in San Antonio. Unfortunately, I will be observing the show from afar this time around. About a month after the Spurs won the title last summer, my wife and I moved to Denver, Colorado. Geography, however, has not deterred me from continuing to be one of the biggest Spurs fans on the planet and over the next couple of months, I intend to prove it to you. So let’s get right down to business. First things first. I know. I know, I know, I know. I feel terrible, but yes...as of the writing of this first post in the third edition of Black & Silver, Sixteen Down is still incomplete. While it would be easy for me to make excuses for not finishing the sequel before starting the third leg of a trilogy (and while you can probably make a guess at sizing up the colossal challenge to finishing such a piece given last year's theme), I'm not going to make excuses. Let me just say that Sixteen Down has been worked on all year long. It is already close to 10,000 words and in a nutshell… it is my blogging masterpiece so I don't want to publish the final version until it is perfect. You have my solemn word, though, that I will complete it during the course of this playoff run and you will not be disappointed despite the obnoxiously long wait.

Now that that is out of the way, I wish I could turn to breaking down the Spurs first playoff victory of 2015 but unfortunately, that was put off (for at least a couple of days) by an impressive showing by the artists formerly known as Lob City. On Sunday night (practically Monday morning on the east coast), the Los Angeles Clippers shellacked the San Antonio Spurs 107-92 at the Staples Center in L.A. While the Clippers punched us squarely in the nose in Game 1 of this "first round" series, there is absolutely no reason to panic. After dropping the last game of the regular season to a desperate New Orleans Pelicans team and falling from the 2nd seed to the 6th seed in the Western Conference, we knew that this series was going to be a dog fight. My takeaway from Game 1 was that L.A. played about as well as they could possibly play and we played about as poorly as we could possible play. If the Spurs had made half of the wide open jump shots and free throws that we missed on Sunday night, it would have been a completely different ball game. More importantly to the trajectory of this series, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and the rest of the Clippers top 6 players had to expend a noticeably excessive amount of energy during the game in order to play at that level. It was to the point that Chris Paul could barely stay on his feet as the final buzzer sounded. Are the Clippers top 6 players good enough to beat the Spurs on any given night? Absolutely. We just witnessed the evidence of that. Are the Clippers top 6 players physically capable of expending the energy it will take to beat the Spurs four times in two weeks? I hate to break it to our good friends in La La Land, but probably not. In other words, I wouldn't bet on it. The difference in this series will prove to be the Spurs' depth. The Spurs are twelve deep and the Clippers are only six deep and boast one of the worst benches in NBA history (I'll save my Austin Rivers jokes for later in the series). If the NBA still had the best-of-five format for the first round, I would be much more worried about our chances in this series. But asking 6 players to play roughly 280 minutes of playoff basketball at the level it would take to eliminate the defending champions is probably too tall of an order. So, in a nutshell, I still like our chances.

The player of the game was Kawhi Leonard. While less than spectacular given his recent heroics, Kawhi put together an efficient 18 points (7-12 shooting), 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 assists. If the #BlackAndSilver can come out with a sense of urgency and a little bit of desperation and channel it into a playoff road win tonight in Game 2, all of the pressure in the series will shift to the Clippers. I fully expect this to happen and I fully expect that pressure to be more than the fragile albeit talented team from Los Angeles is capable of handling. There is no question, however, that because the Spurs are going to have to potentially win three straight road series in order to make a third straight trip to the NBA Finals, there are going to be moments of panic and moments of doubt for Spurs fans. In those moments and throughout this playoff run, I want you to keep the following quote in your mind, your heart, your soul...

Don't ever underestimate the heart of a champion. - Rudy Tomjanovich (Coach of the 1995 6th seeded defending NBA champions)

History sometimes has a funny way of repeating itself. I'm looking forward to the journey to see if this is one of those times. Ready or not, here I come.

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: LA Times

Headline Image Source: Urban Ink

One Left

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

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

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

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

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

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Wish you were here.

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: Widescreen Wallpapers

Headline Image Source: The New York Times

Two Left

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

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

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

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

— Ted James (@tedjames) October 9, 2009

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

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

* * *

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

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

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: Atchim

Ten Left

Heirplanes - In another brilliant performance, two-time NBA all-star and first-time MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard took the air out of the Staples Center last night with a suffocating all-around display of his versatile skills as a basketball player. The Los Angeles Lakers seemed flabbergasted with their inability to contain Leonard on either end of the court as Kawhi, who is this generation's closest attempt at reincarnating the talents of Scottie Pippen, went for 24 points on 8-12 shooting, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 steals, and 5 blocked shots in 38 minutes of play. The San Antonio Spurs now have a commanding 3-1 lead in this Western Conference Semifinal series, defeating the Lakers 107-89, and Kobe Bryant's hopes of having one more opportunity to return to the NBA Finals (before his impending retirement at the end of this season) with newly acquired teammates Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook seem to be slipping away. The Spurs, on the other hand, are rounding into playoff form once again and, thanks to the emergence of Leonard, have an excellent opportunity to make what most experts six months ago would have dismissed as another improbable run at capturing the 2016 NBA Championship. 

We are phantoms of the futureOrdinaries from the super but we are highSing your anthems to your rulersDisconnect from their medullas and be alive

Ladies and gentleman, I've just been afforded the rare opportunity to peer into the future and what I have seen could shake the foundation of the conventional wisdom that the NBA Analyst Industrial Complex was built upon. What I have seen could very well threaten the very existence of any future relationship between the two concepts "NBA Expert" and "Credibility." What I have seen, ladies and gentlemen, which could potentially burst the entire NBA 'talking heads' bubble which has been expanding year after year to allow more and more participants to amass huge piles of cash simply by regurgitating the lazy and baseless argument that the San Antonio Spurs are too old, is that THE FUTURE IS NOW. In another brilliant performance, future NBA all-star and future MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard electrified the AT&T Center crowd last night with a breathtaking all-around display of his versatile skills as a basketball player. The Portland Trail Blazers, who opted to try to contain Tony Parker by guarding San Antonio's all-world point guard with the bigger Wesley Mathews, were punished for the decision by Leonard who punched the clock to collect 20 points on 8-9 shooting (4-4 from downtown), 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocked shots, and player of the game honors in only 28 minutes of play. In large part because of the performance of the third-year future superstar, our old-as-dirt Spurs (who most experts predicted would run into problems with Portland's youth and athleticism) recorded our third blowout victory in a row defeating the Blazers 114-97 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Semifinal series.

While this series is far from over, and the Blazers are perfectly capable of using the energy from their own frantic crowd and their imposing home court advantage at the Moda Center to return the favor by winning both of their home games, could we at least please pass a law that bans NBA analysts from continued employment if they keep insisting on regurgitating this tired argument that the Spurs are old? It is simply not true. Yes, Tim Duncan (a.k.a. Time's Father) and Manu Ginobili (a.k.a. Time's batshit crazy uncle) are "old" by NBA standards but they are both playing exceptionally well during this playoff run and are extremely energetic right now because they just finished their fifth regular season in a row where they were provided with measured rest. Tony Parker is still in his prime at age 32 and The Big Three is surrounded by young talent. Of the other Spurs who are playing major minutes in the playoffs, Boris Diaw is 32, Tiago Splitter is 29, Marco Belinelli is 28, Danny Green is 26, Patty Mills is 25, and Kawhi Leonard is freaking 22 years old. The San Antonio Spurs are not an old basketball team. The average age of the Spurs is 28.5 which, by comparison, makes a Miami Heat team practice (with the Heat's average team age of 30.3) look like an AARP convention. Combine that with the fact that the Spurs rotation players played the fewest minutes of any team in the league in 2013-14 with no player on the squad averaging even 30 minutes a game and you have yourself a situation where the vast majority of the national media members who cover the NBA professionally have exactly no idea what they are talking about with regards to this squad when factoring age into our title prospects.

As stated above, the Blazers are a talented group that have the physical talent to get right back in this series over the next few days. However, if the #BlackAndSilver can weather the initial burst that Portland will come out with tomorrow night from the urgency of playing with their back up against the wall and because they will be fueled with extra adrenaline from the energy of their home crowd, the best road team in the NBA will have a reasonable opportunity to impose our will over the course of the 48 minute game and put ourselves in the position to erase any of our opponent's belief that they can still win the series by taking a commanding 3-0 lead. The future is now and if Kawhi Leonard can spend the next few days continuing to take positive steps in his inevitable development into becoming an NBA superstar, the Spurs will simply put one too many weapons onto the court for the Blazers to have the ability to stop. Sure, in the end, the NBA analysts are right; time is the enemy. But it works both ways. The Portland Trail Blazers may just be too inexperienced to be ready for a moment that they might very well be ready to thrive in after a couple more trips to the playoffs and a couple more years down the road. So sure, time is the enemy and one day time will catch up to Tim Duncan and the Spurs, too. But for right now, during the 2014 NBA playoffs, I think that it is much more the enemy of the good folks who are getting ready to host their first Western Conference Semifinal game in 14 years tomorrow evening up in the Pacific Northwest than it is for those of us who will be down here sipping margaritas on the River Walk in preparation for the game. Time is certainly more the enemy, this season, of our good friends who will be slamming Jager Bombs on South Beach this weekend than it us for those of us over here in South Texas who know a little secret; when that inevitable day does come that time finally starts tapping Timmy on the shoulder, it will simultaneously be getting left in Kawhi's perennial all-star dust. Sure, time is the enemy. But for the 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs, perhaps this time it is our greatest ally.

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: Loyal K.N.G.

Headline Image Source: The Fan Manifesto

Six Up

Shake It Out - Intellectually, I understand the merits of the worldview that argues that it is irrational for me, as a spectator, to get emotionally invested in the outcome of a sporting event when it does not have a direct impact on my own life. I understand the rationale behind treating sports as escapism, as a distraction from the rigors of everyday life, and to enjoy the injunction from personal stress that rooting for a favorite team provides but to do so while remembering that what I am participating in is just a game and should not hold relevance to my personal happiness because it exists tangentially to the circumstances of my life and the societal forces which are influencing it. After all, my desired outcome for the 2013 NBA Finals would not have lessened the remaining balance on my home's mortgage nor would it have accelerated the recovery of the San Antonio housing market from the 2008 collapse that occurred within six months of my wife and me purchasing our first home; a collapse that has subsequently caused us to spend the duration of our marriage digging out of the financial hole that we were left to manage given that our home was rendered chronically underwater and we've been too responsible to walk away but also too financially limited to maneuver our way out of the unfortunate bad luck of investing in the housing market at literally the worst possible time in the last 50 years. My desired outcome for the 2013 NBA Finals would not have increased the size or scope of the across-the-board pay raise that was recently fought for and won by the members of Texas State Employees Union, a group of people that I am privileged to work closely with every day, in an effort to force the Texas legislature to address a systemic problem, front-line state employee salaries in Texas have lagged dangerously behind inflation for decades which has severely eroded their buying power in relation to the cost of living; a problem that the power brokers in Texas would have been more than happy to ignore completely, this past legislative session, if they had been left to their own devices. My desired outcome for the 2013 NBA Finals would not have repaired strained relationships in my personal life, it would not have afforded me more free time to devote to completing the manuscript for my first book, and it would not have provided the clarity for my wife and me to definitively answer an on-going question, "when in the journey towards establishing our careers is the best time to start our family?" [Note: any comments in response to this post which attempt to compare us to the characters Carol and Trevor from the movie Idiocracy, no matter how humorous and well intentioned, will not be received favorably since poor Trevor dies childless as a result of a tragically embarrassing episode]. Yet despite all of the merits of the worldview I have just described, a worldview that carefully places one's spectator sporting allegiances on the peripheral of the forces being exerted upon one's pursuit of personal happiness, as a die-hard Spurs fan, I have no choice but to unequivocally reject it. Despite my attempts to intellectually rationalize to myself the worldview that basketball is just a game, that the successes and failures of my favorite team are inconsequential to the forces which are creating the tapestry of my personal happiness, it has been more than a month since the completion of the 2013 NBA Finals and I remain utterly heartbroken that the Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 in Game 7 on June 20th.Perhaps the reason for this is that the intellectual worldview is inherently incapable of accounting for an indispensable variable factoring into the experience of a die-hard sports fan such a myself. That is, the rooting interest has developed organically out of deeply personal experiences and in care of immeasurably valued relationships over an extended period of time. For a die-hard sports fan, each opportunity to root for the favorite team does not occur independently in a vacuum, but rather occurs on the top of a mountain of memories and experiences that have not only contributed to a lifetime of both happy and sad moments but also have played a significant role in determining the trajectory of the individual's life and consequently, have indeed made a substantial contribution to personal happiness. In other words, for a die-hard sports fan, the obsessive participation in spectator sports is an outward projection of meaningful experiences and relationships which cut to the core of the fan's sense of self. When a significant collection of memories that help piece together one's understanding of the experiences and relationships that bring meaning to life are stitched together through the common thread of a sporting interest, one's allegiance to the success of that sporting interest naturally becomes very central to one's sense of self. This mountain of memories collected in pursuit of cheering for one's favorite team are valuable not only in there relevance to organizing the team's successes and failures in ones' mind, but more importantly they are important as bookmarks of one's own personal experiences and vessels for cherishing one's most meaningful relationships. Where is it that we begin to formulate our sense of self and our conditions for happiness if not through our own memories?

My Uncle Bob took my brother, Chris, and me to see the Spurs play Larry Bird and the Celtics at the old Hemisfair Arena for our first NBA game. From around 1994 to 2005, I went to see the Spurs play the Pistons in San Antonio with my father almost every single year. One year, the Pistons beat the Spurs at the buzzer and I'm pretty sure Dad was the only person in our entire section that was cheering. While on a college visit to Trinity University with my mom in 1996, we went to a Spurs game while in town and I decided that night to apply for early admission. I was at Tim Duncan's first home game as a rookie in 1997 at the Alamodome with my friend, Yousif. When the Spurs used to practice at Trinity, I was playing pick-up basketball on the outdoor courts when David Robinson was walking to his car one day. You better believe, I dribbled right up to him and crossed him over, he couldn't stop chuckling all the way to his car. I was at the first game that Tony Parker started in his career in 2001. I was in building at the AT&T Center when Tim Duncan received his 2nd NBA MVP trophy, the Spurs beat the Shaq and Kobe Lakers that night. My friend, Brian, and I were at Game 1 of the 2003 NBA Finals. I watched Game 2 of the 2005 NBA Finals between the Spurs and the Pistons with my dad in Georgetown, TX. I watched the Spurs play the Pistons with Dad in Georgetown again that fall, our last game. My wife, Jenn, has continued the tradition with me, we still try to go to see the Spurs play the Pistons every year. I was at my brother's bachelor party when the Spurs won their first title in 1999. I was out with my sister, Heather, and Brian in San Antonio when they won in 2003. We did the celebratory drive down Military. I watched Game 7 of the Finals alone in my Dallas apartment when the Spurs beat the Pistons in 2005, I can only describe it as bitter sweet. I watched the Spurs win in 2007 in Dallas with Jenn as we were literally packing our things to move to San Antonio.

These memories and the experiences and relationships that are represented within them are catalogued then preserved carefully and done so in close proximity to the core of who I am as a person. In my own weird way, because the San Antonio Spurs are so intrinsically woven into my entire life experience, I internalize the success of the team as barometer of my sense of self and a validation of the people and memories that I hold dear. Admittedly irrational, each victory and defeat is a deeply personal experience despite the fact that my role as a spectator is marginal and removed from directly impacting the results. Is this healthy? Perhaps not, but this deep personal connection and investment in the team is, indeed, one that I hold for better or for worse.In Five Up, I wrote about the cruelty of "having the trophy so close within reach we could almost scrape a finger nail on it." Obviously, this was written before Game 7, when I was still filled with hope that the Spurs would bounce back to ultimately win the title anyway. In hindsight, after witnessing Miami edge out San Antonio in the fourth quarter of the decisive game, while I remain pleased with the way that I constructed that sentence as a writer, I am personally haunted by the excruciating imagery of my own prose. Reliving that dreadful Tuesday evening at the AT&T Center has proven to be utter torture. The incomprehensible sequence of events that led to our Game 6 defeat played over and over in my mind for days after Game 7. The nightmare still pops into my head, as if from out of no where, at any random moment to prompt a queasy sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. 28 seconds to go in Game 6, the Spurs were ahead by 5 points and closing in on the 5th championship in franchise history. Over the course of the last 28 seconds, 5 basketball plays occurred that adversely affected the Spurs. Miami secured an offensive rebound off of a missed shot, LeBron James buried a three pointer, Kawhi Leonard missed a free throw, Miami secured an offensive rebound off of a missed shot, Ray Allen buried a float back to the line off balance three pointer with his feet flirting dangerously with the out-of-bounds line. What if even one of those five actions had gone the other way? The San Antonio Spurs would have been the 2013 NBA Champions. And this only scratches the surface of the Pandora's Box that randomly bursts open in my brain like a sinister jack-in-the-box at some point on a daily basis. Left to my own devices and with time alone inside my own head, 'what if' scenarios bounce around my brain like a pinball. What if the NBA had not rejected the 7 year, $100 million contract that the Miami Heat signed Juwan Howard to in 1996? The Miami franchise would have been irreversibly crippled from having signed a mediocre player to a superstar contract, would have likely not have been in the same position to build a championship contending team around Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade a decade later, and the San Antonio Spurs would have probably been the 2013 NBA Champs. What if Ray Allen hadn't betrayed his loyalty to Kevin Garnet and Paul Pierce and hadn't left the Boston Celtics to go and sign with the enemy? He would have never hit the dagger three pointer at the end of regulation in Game 6 and the Spurs would have probably been the 2013 NBA Champs. What if LeBron James hadn't betrayed his loyalty to Cleveland in 2010 and had had the fortitude to continue to trust his own ability by believing that if he remained on the journey to fight to the top of the mountain top with his own teammates, his own franchise, his own city that he would one day persevere? Instead, he took the easy way out by becoming Dwyane Wade's more talented sidekick. In order for LeBron James to become a champion, he chose to take shortcuts. Had LeBron James had the competitive integrity of Michael Jordan, for example, the match up with the Miami Heat would have never happened and the San Antonio Spurs would have probably been the 2013 NBA Champs. There are hundreds of 'what if' scenarios that haunt me into searching for pathways through which the Spurs could have won this year's championship, but the person that this 'what if' scenario will likely wind up haunting the most in the long run is LeBron James, himself. There is a reason why 49 out of 50 states were rooting for the allegedly boring Spurs to win the 2013 NBA Finals. Taking shortcuts in life is not an endearing quality, especially in an all-time great basketball player. All-time great athletes, much like U.S. Presidents, can really only be judged accurately through the prism of history. I suspect that no matter how many championships LeBron James wins as a member of the Miami Heat, history will remember him unfavorably in comparison to the other all-time great champions that he will be measured against because of the shortcuts that he took and I suspect that after his playing days are long behind him, the decision to leave the Cleavland Cavaliers will haunt him immeasurably. Nonetheless, the image of an old LeBron James being tormented by regret as he sits in the rocking chair on his porch is of little consolation right now because in the end, we did lose to that player and that team which makes this defeat even more traumatic to deal with. With the whole country finally squarely behind the small market Spurs, a franchise that genuinely conducts its business the right way, building a team from the ground up and going through the painstaking effort to develop players year after year to remain competitive, it is heartbreaking to lose to a franchise that leveraged all of the space within the salary cap rules to it's advantage in order to shortcut its way back into contention.

Despite my personal animus with LeBron James' decision and the way that the Miami Heat put together a championship caliber ball club, give them credit. In a tightly contested Game 7, the Spurs were led by Tim Duncan's 24 points and 12 rebounds and my player of the game Kawhi Leonard's 19 points and 16 rebounds, but in the end it was not enough to match the brilliance of James and Dwyane Wade. LeBron scored 37 points and collected 12 rebounds and Wade scored 23 points and collected 10 rebounds. Most importantly, however, the duo made clutch shots in the final moments of a gut wrenching fourth quarter and on the other end of the floor, the Spurs did not. Tim Duncan, one of the most consistently unflappable all-time great players basketball has ever seen, inexplicably missed a bunny of a jump hook over Shane Battier with around a minute left and an opportunity to tie the game. On subsequent Spurs possessions, the physical breakdown of the body of San Antonio's most beloved player caught up with the Spurs once again as Manu Ginobili was unable to be Manu Ginobili and physically execute the basketball plays that his fearless and brilliant basketball mind was asking him to execute. Furthermore, my predicted ascension of Tony Parker into the conversation of best basketball player in the world hit a speed bump as Tony was unable to assert his will over the outcome of Game 7 up to the level of the lofty standards that that title would expect. Sometimes basketball is just that simple. There is no rational explanation for why, but when two teams are evenly matched, one team executes and the other doesn't. On the court, the Miami Heat earned the title by being the better team in the fourth quarter of the last game of a series where two teams played each other to a draw in the previous 27 quarters. Congratulations, Miami. And as heartbreaking as this defeat in the NBA Finals was, I'm thankful for having had the experience. The journey to and the experience of having my beloved #BlackAndSilver back in the NBA Finals was such a joy. San Antonio is a special place and I feel truly blessed to have gotten to experience this amazing run with my community. This journey, despite all of the pain which has resulted from its difficult conclusion, has given me a unique opportunity to reflect upon the relationships and memories that have made being a San Antonio Spurs fan such an integral part of my life as well as live new experiences with loved ones and create new memories. Despite the irrationality of it all, I welcome the pain of losing the 2013 NBA Finals in heartbreaking fashion because in the end, being a die-hard Spurs fan is as central to who I am and is a force in my life that contributes as much to my personal happiness as the forces that influence my residence, my career, my friendships, and my family. After all, some more than others, but where I live, the types of people that I work with, who my friends are, and how I relate to my family are all aspects of my personal happiness that have been influenced by my die-hard affinity for the San Antonio Spurs. So, I'll relish this pain right now and learn to cherish it at some point down the road, but I'm already beginning to feel some of the heartbreak begin to get squeezed out of me by anticipation of the future. I still believe that Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker will raise another banner in the AT&T Center. I couldn't have higher hopes for the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013-14 NBA season. Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, and Tiago Splitter will be one year further into their development and therefore more seasoned come playoff time. Couple that with the fact that Timmy, Manu, and Tony were, are, and will always remain true champions. Each time that they have experienced a crushing playoff defeat which has arguably cost them a championship [see 2004, 2006], they never jumped ship, nor did the franchise back up a Brink truck to lure in reinforcements, instead they regrouped and came back with the same core group to win the title the next season. It's always darkest before the dawn. We've got next.

#GoSpursGo

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Featured Image Source: Promo News

Headline Image Source: Texas Non Profits

Eight Down

Back to Black - The San Antonio Spurs are heading back to the Western Conference Finals for the eighth time during the Tim Duncan era after eliminating the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals on Thursday night. The Spurs defeated the Warriors 94 to 82 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California to win a hard fought series and squelch the infectious hopes of a nation to see a miracle run by the Warriors to the NBA Finals. The execution of suffocating defensive pressure to win tough close-out playoff games on the road was a staple of the #BlackAndSilver during the team's dynastic period from 1999 to 2008. During that time, the Spur's were able to go into an opponent's building and eliminate said opponent from the playoffs on 14 different occasions. The last of these close outs, eliminating the Hornets in Game 7 of the 2008 Western Conference Semi-Finals in New Orleans, was the last time the Spurs had played elite defense in the NBA playoffs; until Game 5 and Game 6 against the Warriors this week. Back to black, indeed.

Kawhi Leonard was once again my player of the game. Continuing as the primary defender on Klay Thompson in Game 6, Kawhi held him to 10 points on 4-12 shooting. Not only was his defense outstanding for the second game in a row, Leonard did multiple things well throughout the game to make a positive impact. He shot an efficient 6-13 from the field for 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the team, had two timely steals that resulted in transition points, rebounded his own missed three pointer for an emphatic dunk, and he made a cold blooded three pointer in the guts of the fourth quarter with the game on the line and with the Warriors surging on another late game rally. Kawhi has an innate ability to let the game come to him and make an impact in the flow of the offense and he is unquestionably disruptive for opponents on defense. I could not be more thrilled with his development this year and his performance in his second playoff run as an NBA player. Defensively, we need him to keep maturing into the second coming of Bruce Bowen, a defensive stopper who can make the opponent's best perimeter player work for 48 minutes to put up points. It would be foolish, though, to set the limit on his potential value to this franchise moving forward as only a defensive stopper. Kawhi has the athleticism and the skill set to become a two-way player in the mold of Scottie Pippen. Don't worry, Mark Jackson, I'll continue to leave the premature anointing of young, talented players to you. I'm not suggesting that Kawhi Leonard will develop into a player on the level of Scottie Pippen, I'm just proffering that he has the natural ability and skill set to play a two-way game that reminds me of the way Pippen played the game. Kawhi Leonard's future is blindingly bright and he has the realizable capability to prove himself to be a future cornerstone of this franchise.

There is no rest for the weary as the Western Conference Finals begin tomorrow afternoon back home at the AT&T Center against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Russel Westbrook injury proved to be too much for Oklahoma City to overcome, which has robbed the Spurs of the opportunity to avenge last year's heartbreaking collapse in the conference finals to the Thunder. This doesn't mean that redemption won't be in the air this weekend in San Antonio. San Antonio has an opportunity to emphatically put the heartbreak of blowing a 2-0 series lead with home court advantage last year behind them, no matter who this year's opponent is. Asked during the post-game press conference Thursday night about the Spur's auspicious opportunity to redeem themselves, Tony Parker said, "We were two games away from the Finals, and this year we have another opportunity to...go to the Finals." It appears that Tony and his teammates will be mindful of last year's collapse and be determined to execute better throughout the duration of this series. After this grind-it-out series with Golden State, San Antonio is already better prepared to handle adversity at this stage of the playoffs than they were last year. Persevering through an early-round test was something that I truly believed that the Spurs needed to get back to championship-contending form. We've had that now.

The Memphis Grizzlies will come to town this weekend bringing with them their own playoff redemption motivation for the Spurs. Memphis shocked the Spurs in the first round of the 2011 playoffs, eliminating San Antonio 4-2. After stealing Game 1 that year against a Manu-less Spurs squad, the Grizzlies became only the second team in NBA history to upset a one seed as the eight seed in a best-of-seven first round series. Manu Ginobili should be healthy and ready to go for Game 1 tomorrow, which makes the Grizzlies task of attempting to steal home court advantage vastly more difficult than it was two years ago. Nonetheless, Memphis has proven to be an outstanding playoff team and is always a bad match up for the Spurs with their interior dominance. This series is going to be a slug fest. Tiago Splitter is going to have to play at an extremely high level for the duration of the series to try to neutralize Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph as much as possible. It will also be critical for Boris Diaw and Matt Bonner to consistently knock down perimeter jumpers to force one of the two Memphis big men away from the basket. The key to the series will be whether or not the Spurs can continue to play Back to Black suffocating defense night in and night out against Memphis and keep the Grizzlies from dominating the glass and getting second-chance opportunities. While Memphis is an elite defensive team, if the Spurs can match their defensive intensity and rebound the basketball, we should be able to grind out enough low scoring tough playoff victories against them to hopefully control the series because we have more offensive firepower. This series will be ugly, but that makes it even more exciting to me. Something feels different with this playoff run than last year. I'm not just saying that as means to psyche myself into hoping for a different result. The Spurs feel like they are getting back to who they were when they used to average under 90 points a game and win playoff games with their defense. After spending the better part of a month out in California getting reacquainted with our heart and soul as a team, the San Antonio Spurs are coming home.

#GoSpursGo

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One Up

I’m On Fire (Kawhi's Quest to Curry Favor as the Second Coming of Bruce Bowen [A Novel]) - Kawhi Leonard's ability to defend Stephen Curry will be a key factor in whether or not the Spurs will prevail in this series. Last night, in chapter two of this saga, Kawhi did an admirable job limiting Curry to 22 points on 7-20 shooting. I can only recall a couple of times that Curry scored when Kawhi was matched up on him in isolation. Kawhi earned my player of the game with his defense on Curry and by having a solid offensive night while pounding the boards to post his first double-double of this year's playoffs. The problem last night, however, was that Klay Thompson was playing video game basketball in the first half. I felt like I was watching myself play NBA 2K13 and Klay Thompson was a custom player who was created with 100 percent three point ability. It was unreal how he was able to just pull up from anywhere and drain shot after shot. Of course, it didn't help that (in keeping with this video game scenario) it looked as if the defensive settings for the Spurs had been adjusted to the beginner level. Thompson torched the Spurs for 29 points and 7 three pointers before halftime putting San Antonio in the precarious position of needing to overcome a massive deficit at home for the second game in a row.

The #BlackAndSilver once again did an admirable job in the second half of getting back in the game, cutting the Golden State lead to as few as 6 with a few minutes left. If a couple more three pointers had gone down in the closing minutes, the Warrior's inability to hold leads under playoff pressure would continue to be a top national sports story. As it stands, San Antonio suffered our first playoff defeat of 2013 losing to the Golden State at home 100 to 91 and the Warriors are back to being the underdog darlings of the NBA playoffs having stolen home-court advantage from the Spurs. The Warriors are now 1-30 in San Antonio during the Tim Duncan era and we are officially now in a fight to win this series. I take comfort in the fact that the Curry performance in Game One and the Thompson performance in Game Two were more than likely aberrations that will be difficult to repeat as the pressure mounts and the intensity in the series builds. If these playoff first-timers can continue to replicate those types of performances, hats off to them and the Spurs are going to likely need another miracle to get out of Oracle Arena with a victory.

I'm fully confident that Danny Green can match Kawhi's playoff level defensive pressure and San Antonio will be able to contain both Curry and Thompson to the extent necessary to leave the Bay Area with either one or two victories over the weekend. In Three Down, I had wished for the Spurs to face more adversity than we did last year in the early rounds of the playoffs. Sweeping through the first 10 games last year left us ill-prepared when we finally faced adversity against Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals. Seemingly, I have gotten my wish. The Spurs face an unbelievably hostile environment over the weekend but if we want to be champions we are going to have to win tough games on the road. Past championship-winning Spurs squads have thrived under these circumstances and I'm fully confident that this current group can do it as well. I'm looking forward to the weekend. We're going (going) back (back) to Cali.

#GoSpursGo

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