B&S 20/20: Memorial Day Miracle
1999 NBA Western Conference Finals, Game 2
Lose Yourself - Damon Stoudamire, Arvydas Sabonis, Rasheed Wallace, Brian Grant, Isaiah Rider, Stacey Augmon, Jim Jackson, Walt Williams, Jermaine O'Neal, and Greg Anthony came to play that day. As we knew they would. After all, every higher-seeded playoff team understands that stealing one of the first two games on the road as the underdog increases your chances of winning the series astronomically. Having lost 80-76 in the grind fest that was Game 1, the two-seeded Portland Trail Blazers, a healthy mix of talented budding superstars and savvy established veterans, were a confident (bordering on cocky) bunch that had every intention of advancing to the NBA Finals and, as a stepping stone towards that end, had every intention of winning Game 2 of the 1999 Western Conference Finals at the Alamodome in San Antonio against the one-seeded Spurs. Led by Mike Dunleavy, an experienced coach who already had one NBA Finals appearance under his belt (1991, as coach of the last Magic Johnson-led Los Angeles Lakers team to reach basketball's ultimate stage), the Blazers came into the game that Memorial Day afternoon poised and prepared to do what it would take to seize a home-court-advantage-stealing victory.
After one quarter, Portland was well on its way. The Blazers came out focused, shot well, and bullied their way to an early 31-20 eleven point lead after one. The second quarter slowed down to a sluggish stalemate as each team tried to impose their defensive will. When the dust settled on the first half, Portland had increased their lead by 14, out-grinding the Spurs 17-14 in the second period and taking a 48-34 advantage with them into the locker room. Part of the Blazer's recipe for holding San Antonio to a 34 point first half was keeping the Spur's young superstar Tim Duncan in relative check. Timmy seemed to get lost in the shuffle of the first half, missing a few free throws and battling the Blazers big men with less than his normal aggressiveness down low. Overall, the Spurs just seemed to be a step slow like we were stuck in cement. Boasting a seven-game playoff winning streak, I remember it being tempting down 14 at the half to just assume we were overdue for bad game and assume this just wasn't meant to be our afternoon. Certainly, the Blazers were counting on as much.
After halftime, the third quarter started with more of the same as the Blazers extended their lead to 18 points. Things started looking up when Sean Elliott made a three pointer that ignited a run for the Spurs to get back in the game. Everything finally just started clicking. Mario Ellie provided much needed energy to give the Spurs some life, David Robinson anchored the defense to give us some transition opportunities, Timmy started looking like Timmy, and Sean Elliott was hitting crucial three point baskets. By the end of the third, the home team had cut the halftime deficit in half, winning the quarter 26-19 and only trailing Portland 67-60 heading into the final frame. The Spurs continued their comeback push into the fourth quarter but each time we were able to cut the lead down to a two possession lead or less, Portland seemed to have an answer to continue to hold us at bay. Despite the improved second half play, things were still looking pretty grim with 1:05 left to play. We were still down six, 84-78. Luckily, we had possession of the ball coming out of a timeout and having demonstrated an ability to score in spurts during the second half, we still had a glimmer of hope. The ball was inbounded to Avery Johnson and our floor general ran a pick and role with The Admiral and, coming off the screen, fired the ball out to Sean Elliot on the left wing. Without hesitation, Sean rose up and buried his fifth three pointer of the game to cut the lead in half. With Portland now feeling a newfound sense of pressure nursing a one-possession lead, Jimmy Jackson caught the inbound pass, came back down, ran some clock, and got the ball to Rasheed Wallace on the left elbow. Wallace looked down into the low block where Jackson had established post position. He picked up his dribble to drop the ball in the post with Robinson draped all over him. As he tried to pass the ball, Big Dave got a finger on the pass and intercepted it. He quickly spotted Mario Ellie sprinting down the court and fired the outlet to him. Ellie caught the ball and drove hard into the paint, drawing a foul on the layup attempt. Mario, a two-time champion (Houston Rockets, 1994 & 95) and highly experienced playoff veteran calmly sank both foul shots cutting the lead to one, 84-83. Their statement road victory, now in catastrophic jeopardy, Portland called a timeout to regroup. Coming out of the timeout, the Blazers inbounded the ball to Wallace who immediately got it to Damon Stoudamire in order to set up a pick and role. Stoudamire came off of the Wallace screen and shot an elbow jump shot that clanked off of the rim. Unfortunately, the Spurs were unable to secure the rebound as Walt Williams rose up and snagged it. He got the ball back out to Wallace who fired it over to Jimmy Jackson and, now under 24 seconds left in the game, San Antonio was forced to foul. Sean fouled Jackson with 12.4 seconds left but, unable to catch a break, we weren't in the penalty yet. The Blazers took the ball out on the side and got it in to Stoudamire who was fouled immediately by Avery with 12.0 seconds remaining. With Mighty Mouse now facing two high-pressure shots one thing was clear: barring an offensive rebound on the second attempt, the Spurs were going to have a chance to either tie or win the game on their next possession.
Damon Stoudamire walked up the line to take what would prove to be the biggest free throw shots of his career and, after methodically dribbling the ball four times, misfired on the first attempt. A slight hint of dejection on his face, he went back into his routine and then made the second attempt to increase Portland's lead to two, 85-83. After the second shot went through the net, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called timeout to draw up a play. San Antonio came out of the timeout with 12 seconds left in the game and lined up a play that had Mario Ellie inbounding the ball. After seeing how the Spurs were set up, Portland used a delay of game warning to make the Spurs reset the inbound play. Using Steve Kerr as a decoy on the strong side, the Spurs ran Sean Elliott off of a David Robinson screen. Sean gained a hint of daylight on his defender Stacey Augmon coming off of Big Dave's screen and so Mario Ellie fired the ball to him in the corner. Augmon gambled by going for the steal and when he missed it, he was effectively out of the play. Rasheed Wallace alertly started coming over to help as Sean caught the ball on his tippy toes in the corner. He was so close to the sidelines that had he put his heels down on the ground, he would've been out of bounds. Maybe he was aware of his proximity to the sideline or maybe it was simply fate but instead of bringing his heels down, he turned and fired a three off of his tippy toes and over the closing outstretched long arms of Rasheed Wallace and buried the Memorial Day Miracle with nine seconds left to give the Spurs an improbable 86-85 lead.
Forty seven minutes and fifty one seconds. Once again, after trailing for the first forty seven minutes and fifty one seconds of the game, Sean Elliott’s miracle, tippy-toe, rainbow three over the outstretched fingertips of Rasheed Wallace gave the San Antonio Spurs their first lead of the game. Our first lead of the game would also prove to be the final score as Portland was unable to get a clean look in the final seconds coming out of a timeout. After the Spurs returned the favor using their delay of game, Portland inbounded to Jimmy Jackson who drove and attempted a shot that was blocked. The blocked shot popped back out to Walt Williams who fired a desperation attempt that unsuccessfully bounced off the backboard and the rim. After a scramble for the rebound, Avery Johnson came out of a scrum with the basketball and the miracle comeback was complete. The Spurs won the game in unbelievable heroic fashion, 86-85.
I remember watching Sean's shot go in and believing for the first time, after years of agonizing playoff heartbreak, that my Spurs could and would win a championship. In many ways, the Memorial Day Miracle was the spark that ignited a basketball revolution in South Texas that continues to burn true to this very day. The five NBA championships, six conference championships, perennial playoff appearances, the universal recognition as the NBA’s model franchise, all of it can be traced back to Sean’s shot. To this day, it is still probably the most memorable moment in franchise history and one that Spurs fans have come to cherish. Considering that Sean Elliot has spent the better part of the last twenty years as the Spurs' color television analyst, it's probably also the most shown highlight in team history. Season after season, Sean is always more than happy to talk about the shot during Spurs broadcast anytime the Fox Sports Southwest team feels compelled to show the replay.
The player of the game was, of course, Sean Elliott. After draining the biggest shot in franchise history, the most beloved Spurs small forward of all-time finished 6-7 from downtown (8-10 overall) to come up with his 22 huge points. He also chipped in two rebounds, two assists, and a steal towards the mesmerizing comeback victory. After a quiet start in the first half, Tim Duncan finished the game with impressive numbers, as well. Timmy finished with 23 points (8-11 shooting), 10 rebounds, five blocks, and two assists. Last but not least was David Robinson's impressive stat line. The Admiral finished with 14 points (6-10 shooting), seven rebounds, two assists, and three huge steals (the last of which gave the Spurs the two Mario Ellie free throws that put them in position to win the game). As you might've guessed, the Trailblazers were unable to recover from the devastating loss dropping both home games in Portland. The sweep in the 1999 Western Conference Finals sent the San Antonio Spurs to their first-ever NBA Finals to face the New York Knicks. It's incredible to think about the fact that it's been 20 years since the Memorial Day Miracle. Since theLeftAhead wasn't established until 2011 and the Black & Silver blog series didn't exist for the first four Spurs championships, in keeping with the practice of featuring a blog post about each episode of Friends on the 20th anniversary of it's airing with Friends 20/20, I'm really excited to relive some of the most important moments in the first four Spurs title runs on the 20th anniversary of important playoff games through this new mini-series, B&S 20/20. What better place to start than the Memorial Day Miracle. See you next month for the 1999 NBA Finals.
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Eight Left
2014 NBA Western Conference Semifinals, Game 5
B.O.B. - When the hip hop duo, OutKast, released their debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, on April 26, 1994, Tim Duncan had just wrapped up his freshman season at Wake Forest. Fast forward twenty years and OutKast is the most buzzed about act on this year's summer music festival circuit and Tim Duncan is making his twentieth appearance in the NCAA or NBA postseason. In the past 20 years, OutKast has sold more than 21 million copies of their six studio albums and Tim Duncan has been the anchor of Wake Forest Demon Deacon (NCAA) and San Antonio Spurs (NBA) teams that have won 1,168 basketball games. If you're looking for standard-bearers in the fields of mainstream hip hop and professional sports, you would be hard-pressed to come up with better examples during this era.
Sure, Jay Z has sold more records than OutKast and Kobe Bryant currently has one more championship ring than Timmy, so there are cases to be made elsewhere. Some might argue that OutKast should be disqualified because they haven't released a studio album in almost 8 years or that Duncan should be disqualified because he has never won back-to-back championships. However, OutKast has released 5 hip hop masterpieces in the last 20 years and tomorrow, Tim Duncan will be appearing in his 9th Western Conference Finals with a fantastic opportunity to finish off his 5th masterpiece NBA season. In comparison, I would argue that Jay Z has only released 3 hip hop masterpieces (Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint, and The Black Album) and Kobe Bryant has had only 8 appearances in the Western Conference Finals and won only 2 of his 5 titles while serving as the anchor of his Los Angeles Lakers teams. The Lakers have also missed the playoffs all together twice during the Kobe Bryant era whereas the Spurs have made it every single year with Timmy as the anchor and under his stewardship of the franchise. For my money, when it comes to consistent brilliance, OutKast and Tim Duncan are the clear choices as the standard-bearers for the the last twenty years.
Consistent brilliance is something that is hard to achieve in any human endeavor therefore it should be celebrated wherever it can be identified. The consistent brilliance of Tim Duncan is certainly not appreciated as much as it would have been had Timmy's Spurs caught a few breaks here or there and he had finished off more playoff runs with NBA titles. A bounce of the ball here, a different referee call there and Tim Duncan could have realistically surpassed Michael Jordan's 6 championship rings already. Had the San Antonio Spurs caught every single break in every single playoff run, it is not inconceivable that Duncan could be challenging to tie Bill Russell's 11 championship rings this season. Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs have capitalized on 4 opportunities and won four titles so far. However, they were in the mix and were serious title contenders on at least six other occasions:
1999-2000: The San Antonio Spurs were denied a realistic opportunity to defend their 1999 title when Tim Duncan missed the playoffs due to injury for the first and only time of his career to date. Because of Timmy's injury, the Spurs bowed out of the playoffs in the first round to Phoenix in 4 games. The Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant led Los Angeles Lakers went on to capture the title, but only after the Portland Trail Blazers melted down in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. Given that the Spurs had swept the Blazers and the Lakers in 1999 and the Lakers were just establishing themselves as a championship-level team during the 2000 playoff run, it is reasonable to assume that a healthy defending champion Spurs' squad led by Tim Duncan would have had a puncher's chance at fending off the up-and-coming Shaq and Kobe Lakers for one more year and might have started the San Antonio dynasty with back-to-back championships.
2003-2004: Point Four.
2005-2006: The Foul.
2007-2008: This year, Oklahoma City was given three days off by the NBA after winning a hard-fought series against the LA Clippers to advance to the Western Conference Finals. In 2008, the league did not extend the same courtesy to the Spurs after we won an epic 7 game semifinal series on the road in New Orleans on May 19th. The Spurs were expected to be in Los Angeles to play the Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on May 21st and had already had the bad luck of having spent several hours stuck on the team plane during a delay of their flight leaving New Orleans. Despite all of this, the Spurs dominated the first half of Game 1 of the WCF against the Lakers and looked primed to steal home court advantage for the series. However, the team ran out of gas in the second half and Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to a 89-85 comeback victory. The Spurs could never recover. Manu Ginobili played the series injured and Joey Crawford and company swallowed the whistle when the Lakers fouled Brent Barry on the final possession of Game 4 which could have won the game for the Spurs and tied the series at 2-2. The league later acknowledged that the foul call should have been made but it was too late for the Spurs as another title run went up in flames when the Spurs were eliminated in Game 5, losing 100-92 back in LA.
2010-2011: After securing the best record in the Western Conference, another injury sidelined Manu Ginbobili for the first game of the first round series against the Memphis Grizzlies. That small opening was all that the Grizzlies needed to take advantage and steal home court advantage in Game 1, defeating the Spurs in San Antonio 101-98 with the help of a cold blooded Zach Randolph three pointer. The Spurs, playing from behind the rest of the series, eventually bowed out in Game 6 in Memphis to become only the second number one seeded team to lose a 7 game first round series (2007 Dallas Mavericks). Had the Spurs figured out a way to get out of that first round series with Memphis, we would have had a great opportunity to win the title because our in-state rivals, the Dallas Mavericks, capitalized on the fact that the Kevin Durant led Thunder and the LeBron James led Heat were not quite ready to win a championship. As this year has proven, any playoff match-up between the Spurs and Mavericks is an all out war but given that we have gotten the upper hand (winning 4 out of 6 playoff series against the Mavs) there would have been a decent chance that we would have defeated that team in the Western Conference Finals, no matter how well Dirk was playing. Had that happened, the Spurs would have had a crack at the Miami Heat before they had obtained collective championship experience. The Spurs, just like the Mavs, would have taken advantage and won those Finals.
2012-2013: 28 Seconds Away.
In a perfect world, one that affords the San Antonio Spurs every break, every single year, Tim Duncan would currently be competing for his 11th title to tie the mark set by Bill Russell. While the world clearly isn't perfect, the fact that Tim Duncan-led Spurs teams have been serious title contenders enough times that Timmy's career could rival Russell's if the world were perfect is a testament to the consistent brilliance of Duncan. As outlined above, the San Antonio Spurs have had our fair share of bad breaks that have costs us opportunities to go out and seize opportunities to grab more rings. At this point, however, there is no need to dwell on the what ifs. I bring them up in this context simply to demonstrate how dominant of a force Tim Duncan has been in the NBA. While most NBA fans and experts give Timmy deserved praise as an all-time great player and many people even consider him the greatest power forward of all-time, I think that these bad playoff breaks have certainly caused the vast majority of the basketball public to undervalue his greatness. If the Spurs had simply capitalized on one third of the six serious opportunities to win a title outlined above, Timmy would have six rings (tied with Jordan) which would have framed this year's run as Duncan's opportunity to surpass Jordan in titles which would have forced the basketball public to view his place among the all-time greats completely differently. For Spurs fans, however, after all of the heart break we have endured, we are more than willing to be completely satisfied with just one more. Seeing Tim Duncan finally celebrate one more championship, 15 years after his first, would allow us to count our blessings and move forward into the future being completely content with the Tim Duncan era of Spurs basketball. Amazing as it might have sounded a few years ago, Timmy has yet another golden opportunity in 2014 to hoist his 5th NBA Championship trophy. Using the 5 masterpiece albums recorded by OutKast as metaphors, what follows are the 5 reasons that I feel extremely confident that Tim Duncan will seize this opportunity to finish off his 5th masterpiece NBA season.
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik: Danny Green and Kawhi Leoanard must have been really angry that the team's chances of a sweep in Game 4 were ruined by the bad karma generated from one small corner of the San Antonio Spurs blogging community (see Four Right) becauseboth players played with a chip on their shoulders in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Portland Trail Blazers to earn co-player of the game honors. Danny had 22 points on 9-13 shooting (4-6 from downtown) and added 9 rebounds. Kawhi had 22 points on 9-15 shooting (3-4 from downtown) including his most spectacular dunk of the season and he also grabbed 7 boards of his own. For the fourth time in five games the Spurs dominated the Blazers, winning Game 5 going away and closing out Portland's young up-and-coming squad 104-82 on Wednesday night at the AT&T Center. While it was a relief to get the series finished so that San Antonio would have an opportunity to get some rest before Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the fortune of an easy closeout game against the Blazers came with the cost of losing Tony Parker in the first half to a hamstring injury. Tony went scoreless in 10 minutes of play but luckily it was later determined that it was a Grade 1 strain (the least severe) and Tony has said that he expects to play in Game 1 of the WCF. The emergence of Danny and Kawhi in Game 5 against the Blazers is the first reason that I am confident in the Spurs' chances this season. If the duo can play like they did on Wednesday on both sides of the court for the duration of this playoff run, it will be virtually impossible for any of the remaining teams to stop San Antonio and our young perimeter talent from having a Player's Ball at the AT&T Center sometime next month.
ATLiens: Former Atlanta Hawk, Boris Diaw, and his cohort of alien residents who formulate the lineup within the Spurs' second unit that is otherwise referred to as the Foreign Legion played a magnificent second-round series against Portland. This lineup, consisting of Boris, Patty Mills, Marco Belinelli, Aron Baynes, and professor emeritus Manu Ginobili, was largely absent during big stretches of the first round series with Dallas. However, the Foreign Legion recovered nicely to overwhelm the Blazers' bench which was one of the weakest benches in the NBA throughout the course of the season. The San Antonio second unit outscored its Portland counterpart 220-77 over the duration of the 5 game series. This was a clear advantage. As talented as the Blazers' starting unit is, it was a tall task for them to try to keep pace with the Spurs by playing extended minutes while our starting unit was getting normal rest. The teams who are remaining in the 2014 NBA playoffs are all deeper than Portland so it is imperative to our chances for success that the Foreign Legion and the rest of our bench continue to play sharp, confident basketball for the rest of this tournament. The strong performance of the second unit during the Western Conference Semifinals is the second reason that I am confident that San Antonio will be taking Elevators (Me & You) to the top of the NBA mountain sometime in the latter part of next month.
Aquemini: One could argue that Big Boi and Andre 3000 were at the peak of their powers as a hip hop duo with the effort on display in 1998's, Aquemini. When OutKast released that album in 1998, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were four years away from becoming teammates with the San Antonio Spurs and were close to a decade away from being at the peak of their powers as a basketball duo. Now 16 years after the release of OutKast's opus and in their 12th season as teammates, Tony and Manu are still making beautiful music together on the basketball court. While these days they seem to take turns putting together dominant performances, they are still capable of obliterating the opposition by both playing at their best on any given night. This was evident once already during this year's playoff run, and at the most needed time, when the Spurs' legendary backcourt dismantled the Dallas Maverick's defense in Game 7 of the first round series, combining for 52 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, and 6 steals in a season-saving performance that resulted in a blowout victory. It should go without saying that Tony and Manu must be playing together at a high level in order for San Antonio to have a realistic shot at ending this season in a title. Late this afternoon news was released that comes as a huge relief to Spurs fans. The hamstring injury which sidelined Tony for the majority of Game 5 against the Blazers on Wednesday night is not going to keep him out of the lineup to start the Western Conference Finals as he has been cleared to play in Game 1. Unfortunately for fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder (San Antonio's WCF opponent), news this week out of their camp unfortunately went the other way as the team announced that starting power forward, Serge Ibaka, will likely be sidelined for the remainder of the 2014 postseason with a calf strain. This is a devastating loss for the Thunder and for Spurs fans like me, who always want to play our top competition at full strength, it is certainly disappointing news that the Thunder's third most important offensive player and the anchor of their defense will be sidelined for the series. Nonetheless, the Spurs cannot relax for one minute in Game 1 or throughout the series because we are still facing league MVP, Kevin Durant, and his all-star teammate Russell Westbrook in this series. Add in that Derick Fisher, who has made a career out of sticking the knife in the hearts of Spurs fans, is also on the other side of the ball and we still have our work cut out for us if we want to win the West. But if Tony and Manu can continue to set the table for the the Spurs' shooters to feast on open three pointers so that we can smoke the Thunder defense like we intend to Skew It on the Bar-B, then we should be just fine in this series. The timelessly elite combination of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in the Spurs' backcourt is the third reason that I am confident that the 2014 campaign will end with San Antonio bogging in to our favorite local cuisine for a jubilant celebration in June.
Stankonia: If you have been following this year's installment of the Black & Silver blog so far, then you are probably well aware that I have dedicated the series of posts for the 2014 postseason to my best friend Brian, who passed away shortly before the beginning of the playoffs. In October 2000, OutKast released Stankonia which was a special moment in Brian and my friendship. We were roommates at the time and we had both been waiting anxiously for weeks for the new OutKast record to drop. The day of the release, we both waited to listen to any of it until we were both home from work and or school and could listen to the entire album together. I remember that we had a spectacular listening session together that day and were blown away by the brilliance of the album. In particular, I remember that Brian could not get enough of B.O.B., the song that also bares the name of the subtitle to this blog post. The sheer creativity and innovation on display by OutKast in B.O.B. was clearly inspirational to Brian as evidenced by this. Being that Brian and I were also a hip hop duo, I always sensed that we had a special insight into the nature of Big Boi and Andre 3000's relationship as partners and friends and I was always curious to watch how the pair navigated the waters of the music industry as a group and also independently as artists. It always seemed helpful to try to attempt to relate what Brian and I went through over the course of our 16 years together as Rhime Divine to the evolution of OutKast as a duo over the same period of time. In Fifteen Left, I laid out my motivations to attempt this sequel to last year's Black & Silver blog series. At times it has been rough, but I have truly felt Brian's presence with me during the time that I have spent watching each of these Spurs playoff games. While I prefer to keep details of the spiritual effect that this journey has had on helping navigate through my grieving process private for now, I can say that there is this feeling that I am holding inside of me which is full of Brian's energy and which is telling me that this particular Spurs playoff run is going to end with San Antonio swagging So Fresh, So Clean when it is all said and done. This constant feeling of reassurance and excitement is the fourth reason why I am confident that the Spurs will be bringing the NBA Championship trophy back to Titletown, TX.
Speakerboxxx / The Love Below: In 2004, OutKast won the Grammy for album of the year becoming arguably the first rappers to win that prestigious award (Lauryn Hill won the 1999 'Album of the Year' Grammy for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, partly on the skills that she showcased as an emcee on that album). When OutKast released this classic double album where each artist was largely responsible for one disc, Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan were half way through earning the four NBA titles that they currently have together. For 17 seasons now, Coach Pop and Timmy have worked together as the driving force behind the San Antonio Spurs' sustained success. While they serve in different roles for the organization and are seemingly so different in so many ways, they also appear to be as inseparable as OutKast, with careers that are so interlinked that it almost seems incomprehensible to entertain the idea of one without the other. In other words, Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan are the OutKast of the NBA. At the beginning of this post when I compared the sustained brilliance of OutKast to the sustained brilliance of Tim Duncan and pronounced that these individuals are the standard-bearers in their given fields over the last 20 years, I purposefully left Tim Duncan's partner out of the equation. After all, that is the way that Coach Pop would want it. For his entire career, Gregg Popovich as deflected the praise that he receives for his success toward his players, specifically his artistic partner...Tim Duncan. While Coach Pop and Timmy might be recording separate discs, they are working magic together in the studio this summer trying to put the finishing touches on their 5th masterpiece NBA season. And if the #BlackAndSilver are able to complete this long, hard journey and capture the title that has alluded us for the better part of a decade now, perhaps we might even get a rare moment of positive emotion out of Coach Pop on the podium. If, indeed, the Spurs climb the mountain and we are lucky enough to have Pop give a reaction to express his excitement, I suspect he might express it in as little as two words with something like, "Hey Ya!" But we can't get ahead of ourselves just yet. Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan know better than anyone that the hardest legs of this journey are still to come. This duo has been around the block one too many times to start looking ahead of the task which is right in front of them. Right now, that is the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals tomorrow night. Coach Pop will have the team ready for that challenge and Tim Duncan will be ready to add another chapter to his historic legacy. The number one reason that I am confident that the San Antonio Spurs will be the 2014 NBA Champions is the consistent brilliance of Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan. And peering back over the last 20 years of basketball, I couldn't ask for a better reason.
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Four Right
2014 NBA Western Conference Semifinals, Game 4
Santeria - It was just one of those things. On the way to the Moda Center for Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals, a Portland TriMet bus came out of no where to inappropriately violate the space of one of the Spurs' team buses. Or maybe the driver of the Spurs' bus simply swerved after seeing that a snake was suspiciously slivering right smack dab down the center of the road. Either way, a minor accident caused a delay in the arrival of some of the Spurs players to the arena. While we have no way to substantiate it, it has been brought to our attention that the following conversation was overheard between Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard on the bus during the delay as they attempted to kill time waiting to arrive for the game.
Danny: Hey Whi, this is crazy. I can't believe we're stuck here just waiting to get to the game. I'm bored. What are you reading?"
Kawhi: Man, I'm reading that Black & Silver blog. It's good.
Danny: Nice. I love reading that Black & Silver, our team gets mad karma when people share those blog posts online. Someone should start sharing the Black & Silver blog series on the Spurs' reddit page and we will mos def get the karma we need to close out the Blazers tonight.
Kawhi: I don't know, D. The good people that are over there running our page on that website seem to care way more about "karma" points than they care about real karma for our squad.
Danny: That's too bad. Hopefully that type of nonsense doesn't mess up our karma tonight and we can still go out there and get this sweep.
* * *
After finally arriving at the arena, the San Antonio Spurs gave away a magnificent opportunity to punch our ticket to the Western Conference Finals last night by allowing the Portland Trail Blazers to get loose for a massive third quarter. The Blazers outscored the Spurs 35-20 in the third which provided them with the cushion that they needed to keep our reserves at bay in the fourth and defeat the Spurs by a final score of 103-92 in Game 4 of this Western Conference Semifinal series. Player of the game, Boris Diaw, had 12 points on 6-8 shooting but that was the one bright spot for a Spurs squad who collectively had an abysmal shooting night, going 39-88 from the field including 3-18 from downtown while also balancing out Game 3's perfect free throw shooting performance by shooting an inadequate 11-19 last night. While LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard clearly looked more comfortable and had their best combined shooting night of the series thus far as a duo (a combined 19-37 from the field), it was an all-around team effort by the Blazers that made Spurs fans' hopes for a sweep fall apart quicker than a Donald Sterling damage control interview. The Blazers supporting cast combined for 59 points and were instrumental in turning a close ballgame into a blowout during the third quarter. While the floodgates opened when Nicolas Batum converted a four point play that doubled the Blazer lead from four to eight, the overall second half catalyst for the Blazers was little-used Will Barton who filled the Moe Williams' role of Spur-killer who comes off the bench to torch our squad. With Williams out for the second straight game due to injury, Barton scored 17 points on 7-13 shooting and capped off his night by beating on his chest while hanging on the rim after converting an alley-oop dunk against the Spurs' third stringers in garbage time. While there is certainly no need to panic yet down here in South Texas, the #BlackAndSilver need to regroup after a bad shooting night and come out refocused and re-energized so that we can play Game 5 back here at home tomorrow night as if it were another Game 7 and we are facing elimination again. Portland will be itching to capitalize on their newly found rhythm and, with nothing to lose, they will be ready to hoop free and loose at the AT&T Center; and playing with that type of swagger is potentially when they are at their most dangerous. The longer that this series drags out, the more confident the young Blazers will become and the last thing that we need is to have to scratch and claw our way into the conference finals. We need our sharp shooters to get back to being comfortable so that we can get the Portland defense back on their heals and in a constant bob and weave as they scramble to defend our three point bombs over Broadway. If the Spurs get back to playing our game, we can and should turn the lights out on a fine Portland Trail Blazers season tomorrow.
* * *
Danny: Man, Whi. Now we have to go back home and try to close out the Blazers on Wednesday night. You really got me thinking about this Black & Silver blog before the game and how much karma our team gets when people show love and share the Black & Silver series in pursuit of the greater goal of working together as a community to try to win this chip.
Kawhi: It is good.
Nine Left
2014 NBA Western Conference Semifinals, Game 3
Time Is The Enemy - At the St. Mary's University graduation ceremony yesterday, one of the graduates ripped off his robe after walking the stage to reveal that he had written "Go Spurs Go" on his chest. Now, besides being hilarious, that was just about as #BlackAndSilver...#playoffs as it gets and, as it turns out, it was also just about the most dramatic thing that happened yesterday with regards to the San Antonio Spurs Western Conference Semifinal match up with the Portland Trail Blazers. For the third time in a row in this second round series, the Spurs did our best to mimic the performance that we had in Game 7 of our first round series with the Dallas Mavericks by pummeling Portland 118-103; this time on their home turf in front of more than 20,000 desperate Blazers fans at the Moda Center. Tony Parker continued to set the tone by jumping on the Blazers early, scoring 8 points on 4-5 shooting in the first few minutes of the game. Because of Tony's hot shooting at the start, Portland was unable to use the energy of the crowd to establish an offensive rhythm for the game that might have allowed them the opportunity to play from ahead for the first time in the series. While the Blazers led briefly in the first quarter, the Spurs didn't seem to have a problem reestablishing a lead and once again were able to blow the game open in the second quarter. When it was all said and done, Tony Parker (who was once again the player of the game) had put together another MVP caliber stat line with 29 points on 12-20 shooting and 6 assists.
Even though Portland was able to once again play measurably better in the second half, they were never able to really put the outcome of the game in jeopardy. One of the reasons that the Blazers were never able to turn the corner is that, while they took a page of the Mavericks defensive playbook and used committing a lot of hard fouls as a tactic in trying to slow down the Spurs offense, San Antonio uncharacteristically caught fire from the charity stripe. The Spurs tallied a perfect 25-25 from the free throw line last night which allowed us to fend off the runs that the Blazers were able to put together and maintain a comfortable lead on the score board throughout the second half. In the post game press conference, a befuddled Tony remarked in reference to the Spurs' perfect free throw shooting, "That's not going to happen again. We're one of the worst teams in free throws, ya know?" Whether or not the Spurs might be able to repeat that free throw shooting performance later on during this year's playoff run, it certainly helped San Antonio put Portland on the brink of elimination heading into tomorrow night's Game 4. While Portland is capable of putting together a performance tomorrow that would allow them to avoid the embarrassment of a sweep, I'm sure most Spurs fans are well aware of the statistics that the Blazers are facing having dug themselves a 0-3 hole in the series. Even though pretty much every San Antonio fan probably believes that this series is over because no NBA team has ever comeback from down 0-3 in an NBA playoff series, we can also rest assured that these statistics do not comfort Coach Pop and his players one bit and that they are going to show up tomorrow evening focused and determined to go ahead and take care of business in Game 4 so that we don't have to risk any possibility that we might become the first team to blow a 3-0 lead in an NBA playoff series. Hopefully the Spurs will continue to remain locked into this spiritual plane of basketball Santeria that we have channeled in order to play our best basketball of the season over the course of the last week. After the grueling demands of a seven game war with the Mavericks in the first round, and given that the match up on the other side of the bracket between the Thunder and the Clippers could produce a long, hard fought series, it would benefit the Spurs a great deal to take care of business tomorrow and give ourselves some much needed time of to recuperate and prepare for the Western Conference Finals. With Coach Pop serving as our Babaaláwo, or father who knows the secrets, there is no reason to think that the San Antonio Spurs can't continue down our path of righteousness and find one more dominant performance tomorrow night to put this series to rest and give ourselves some in the process.
Featured Image Source: The Music Pool
Headline Image Source: News 4 San Antonio on Facebook
Ten Left
2014 NBA Western Conference Semifinals, Game 2
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.
Featured Image Source: Loyal K.N.G.
Headline Image Source: The Fan Manifesto
Eleven Left
2014 NBA Western Conference Semifinals, Game 1
Public Service Announcement - "Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is..." Marc - O, B to the Elinell - E, I used to move them J's by the O-Z. I guess even back then you could call me, CEO of the T-R-E. When Marco Belinelli hit two long jumpers curling off of screens to score five points during the fourth quarter of the San Antonio Spurs blowout Game 7 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, I remember making a mental note that, even though these buckets came during garbage time, they could prove huge moving forward through the playoffs. Marco had been largely absent from the Spurs' first round series and I knew that in order for us to compete for a championship, we are going to need him performing at a high level off of the bench moving forward. Two days later, San Antonio got exactly what I was hoping for coming off of Marco's confidence boosting garbage time buckets in Game 7 against Dallas. A rejuvenated and confident Belinelli, after seeing the ball go in the basket on Sunday, came off the bench last night to play 28 minutes and score 19 points on 7-9 shooting and earn player of the game honors in the San Antonio Spurs 116-92 blowout victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals. Tony Parker also picked up where he left off on Sunday with another dominant performance last night while squaring off against one of the league's up and coming star point guards in Damian Lillard. Tony amassed 33 points on 13-24 shooting and added 9 assists to boot. In comparison, Lillard was only able to put together 17 points on 6-15 shooting and compiled most of those points after the game was already out of reach. While it is only one game, and Lillard remains one of the most dangerous weapons left in the 2014 playoffs, Tony Parker (whether intentionally or not) made an emphatic statement last night on how the two players should currently be compared in regards to the pecking order of the NBA's elite point guards.
For the first time since our 19 game winning streak was snapped at the beginning of April by the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio has put together two dominant performances in which we have played Spurs basketball on both offense and defense for 48 minutes each night. For fear of jinxing our newly found momentum, there is not a whole lot to add about the performance that the Spurs put together last night. It was a complete team effort in which our bench was a decided advantage outscoring the Blazer's bench 50-18 and we even received an impressive contribution from an unlikely source in Aron Baynes who came up with 10 points and 7 rebounds in 15 minutes of action. Portland, who had not played in a Western Conference Semifinal game in 14 years until last night, will come back with a much better effort in Game 2 after taking one on the chin for, seemingly, not being ready for the intensity of second round playoff basketball. Lillard and Texas native, LeMarcus Aldridge, are one of the most talented tandems in the NBA and we should fully expect them to respond as if their backs are against the wall tomorrow evening at the AT&T Center. The Trail Blazers are fully capable of making the adjustments to steal Game 2, and also home court advantage in the series, if we let our guard down in the slightest. But if the Spurs come to the arena tomorrow to play together with the same purpose and intensity as we did last night, it seems that regardless of the talent on the other side and the adjustments that the Blazers make, the #BlackAndSilver will put ourselves in a strong position to enjoy our time spent over the weekend on heirplanes flying above the Pacific Northwest en route to Portland, Oregon with a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
Featured Image Source: MTV
Headline Image Source: Marco Belinelli (the real) on Facebook