Eleven Ahead
2016 NBA Western Conference Semifinals, Game 1
Gotta Lotta - Every available player entered the game for the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of our Western Conference Semifinals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder last night. Not only did all thirteen players enter the game, but impressively, all thirteen players scored at least one field goal during the contest. When it was all said and done, the Spurs had compiled a combined 51 made field goals in the dominating 124-92 Game 1 victory over the Thunder. Considering that Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili (the greatest trio in NBA history) only scored 16 of the 124 points that we put up last night, I think it's safe to say that we've gotta lotta weapons. Indeed, it was an all around impressive performance as the #BlackAndSilver combined to shoot 60.8 percent from the field while holding OKC to 41.2 percent shooting. As overwhelming as our depth proved to be on Saturday night, there was also a pleasant surprise that helps explain how San Antonio separated ourselves so dramatically (leading by as many as 43 points) from Oklahoma City in Game 1. That pleasant surprise was the extent to which our dynamic duo outshined the Thunder's dynamic duo throughout the night. There's no other way to spin it. Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge looked like bigger superstars (granted for one game) than Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Kawhi and LA combined for 68 points on 28-36 shooting while Durant and Westbrook combined for 30 points on 11-34 shooting. In other words, Kawhi and LaMarcus generated 38 more points on two more shot attempts than the two OKC superstars. It was a masterful display of locked in basketball that Leonard and Aldridge served up for the frenzied AT&T Center crowd. From the opening tip until both players were relieved from duty in the third quarter, you could see form the concentration in their faces. These two stars came to play. Take the Spurs' first possession, for example. Now this is how you set the tone for a playoff series.
Having a lot of weapons means you're often burdened because you've gotta lotta candidates for player of the game. When the Spurs have a night like last night, it can be conflicting to choose. (Yes, I hear the groans coming from fans in the twenty something NBA markets that don't seem to have this problem. But trust me, Sacramento fans, these player of the game decisions are hard when you've got seven or eight players that are capable of balling on the same level as Boogie Cousins on any given night.) I mean, last night Tony Parker was amazing. He only took three shots in 27 minutes but he ran the offense (and specifically the pick and roll with Aldridge) masterfully, tallying a healthy 12 assists in the process. Also, Danny Green showed up in a big way. Danny rained down bombs all night from beyond the arc, shooting 5-6 on three pointers (6-7 overall) for 18 points. Oh by the way, on the other end of the court he drew the main defensive assignment on Kevin Durant and harassed OKC's best player into a 6-15 shooting night. This was the type of Danny Green playoff performance we'd come to take for granted during previous Finals runs (and the type we're going to need to see regularly to get where we want to go this year). Of course, there's also Kawhi Leonard. Ho hum, Kawhi went for 25 points (on 10-13 shooting) in only 22 minutes. That's ridiculous efficiency. And, as we discussed earlier in the post, he redefined the meaning of a tone setter with his dunk to open the game. Also, you guessed it, on the other side of the ball the Defensive Player of the Year disrupted much of what superstar Russell Westbrook wanted to accomplish, shaking him into a 5-19 shooting night. But, alas, on a night where we gotta lotta star performances, there was one of the lotta who stood out above the rest. LaMarcus Aldridge was simply off the charts spectacular last night and has thus earned player of the game honors for the second consecutive contest. Marv Albert, who announced the game for TNT, described LA's performance by saying it was like watching him play a game of Pop-A-Shot. Albert's observation wasn't far from accurate. LaMarcus dropped what felt like a hundred shots from all over the court. In actuality, he went 18-23 from the field (including his first three of the season) in only 30 minutes of action. LA was able to get whatever he wanted against OKC's formidable defensive front court tandem of Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams. This was, hands down, LaMarcus Aldridge's best performance in a San Antonio uniform. And we're going to need him to continue this type of dominating play throughout the rest of this series. As convincing as the Spurs' Game 1 performance was, we have to keep perspective and remember that it's just one game. We don't get to take a 32 point lead into the start of Game 2 tomorrow night. To paraphrase Coach Pop, last night was just one of those nights where our shots went in and OKC's shots didn't which is something that happens in the NBA. The Thunder have proven in past series that they are capable of taking a whooping from the Spurs, making the necessary adjustments and finding a way to get the win that shifts momentum back in their favor. I don't care if we had won Game 1 by 100 points; if we stop fearing a team that rolls out Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook every night, we do so at our own peril. Hopefully the Spurs will come out tomorrow night with the same focus and sense of purpose that was on display last night. Game 2 is a huge opportunity for us to protect home court and take another step ahead in this season's journey to land in that place where the musical notes necessary to remix The Beautiful Game are uncovered. Just as much as before the series began, the Oklahoma City Thunder are an obstacle in completing that journey and rediscovering basketball perfected. Just as much as before the series began, OKC is something in the way.
Featured Image Source: Rap Basement
Headline Image Source: Pop-A-Shot
Video Source: NBA, playoff 2016 on YouTube
Twelve Ahead
2016 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 4
The Background - It was the Fourth of July around 10:00 am when I heard the news. My wife and I were getting ready to head up into the mountains to visit with family and celebrate the holiday. Despite the fact that we were running late, as soon as the texts started popping up on my phone I had to stop packing my bag and investigate for myself. Sure enough, I was immediately able to confirm what multiple friends had already been texting to me. On his Twitter account (which is currently deactivated), LaMarcus Aldridge aka the top free agent available on the 2015 open market wrote, "I'm happy to say I'm going home to Texas and will be a Spur!! I'm excited to join the team and be close to my family and friends." Bam, just like that with this one simple tweet, the San Antonio Spurs' championship window was yanked back to being more wide open than a refrigerator in the Inside the NBA break room thirty seconds after the show wraps. Wait a second, I'm understating the magnitude of LaMarcus' tweet. Not only was the Spurs' proverbial championship window reopened, but the screen and glass were completely removed from it so that the winds of triumph could continue to flow freely into the AT&T Center for the next four seasons to come. Indeed, this one simple tweet paved the way in allowing a transition for Tim Duncan aka Time's Father (the greatest winner in the modern NBA) to move quietly into the background this year (along with perennial running mates Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker) while LaMarcus and Kawhi Leonard took over center stage in putting together what would later prove to be the winningest season in franchise history. Given that I had been tempering my optimism about our chances of landing LaMarcus during the free agency courting period (the Spurs had never signed a free agent of Aldridge's caliber in franchise history), that moment on the Fourth of July where I heard the good news engendered a simply amazing feeling. It was a grand mixture of disbelief, excitement, and of course (being that it was Independence Day) patriotism. Yep, it's safe to say that I was bouncing off the walls elated that morning. The Spurs were back. Granted, this would be a new remixed version of my beloved team, but we were definitely back. As my wife and I finished packing and got on the road, I couldn't wait to get up into the mountains so that our elevation would match my mood. When we finally reached our destination, I got out of the car and breathed in a deep breath of the crisp mountain air and coupled it with the world class fireworks show that was popping off in my chest. Cloud nine. Man, what an amazing morning that was. Oh, and the phenomenal barbecue feast we had up in those mountains later that evening wasn't too shabby, either. God bless America.
LaMarcus Aldridge to sign with the San Antonio Spurs. God bless America! #LAtoSApic.twitter.com/npBk0VU2Pj
— Ted James (@tedjames) July 4, 2015
This past Sunday, LaMarcus and Kawhi indeed took center stage as the San Antonio Spurs completed a sweep of the depleted Memphis Grizzlies at the FedExForum in Memphis. After a competitive first half, the Spurs made quick work of the Grizzlies in the second half and won the game and series going away 116 to 95. The karmic powers that be in Tennessee (yep, that rhymes) must have seen the writing on the wall because they attempted to turn the lights out on the Grizzlies season a couple of hours too early. LaMarcus and Kawhi (the one-two punch of the remixed Spurs) amassed 36 points and 17 rebounds in only 54 minutes of combined game action while securing the victory as well as the welcomed six days of rest that came with it. Considering that we are the oldest team in the field, completing a sweep in Memphis and becoming the first team to advance to the second round (giving us more rest at this point than any of our potential opponents) could prove to work to our advantage in the coming weeks as the competition gets stiffer. While LaMarcus and Kawhi had equally dominant outings closing things out at The Grind House in Game 4, LaMarcus edges out Kawhi to earn his first ever Black & Silver player of the game honors. LA earns the honors not only for his Game 4 double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds) but also in recognition of the stellar defense he played the entire series on Zach Randolph. LaMarcus' length frustrated the Grizzlies best available player and prevented him from being able to put together a signature performance in any of the four games. While everyone has been focused the entire season on how LaMarcus Aldridge fits into our offense, it is the way that LA has seamlessly plugged into our defense that has probably been his biggest contribution in helping to transform the #BlackAndSilver into a 67 win juggernaut. Sure, no one would have labeled LaMarcus a defensive stalwart back in his Portland Trail Blazers days. He was certainly a serviceable, but no one was mistaking him for the second coming of Hakeem Olajuwon (or Tim Duncan for that matter). However, when you put his length and quickness next to Timmy and a certain Defensive Player of the Year named Kawhi Leonard, all of a sudden you have one of the most formidable defensive front courts in NBA history. The numbers bare it out. San Antonio league best defense was not only vastly better than the next best defense in the league this year, it was historically great. Back to LaMarcus' offense for a second. With less touches and less minutes this season, a lot has been made of the slippage in LaMarcus' offensive numbers playing for the Spurs. Numbers can be deceiving. A lot of that slippage had to do with LaMarcus learning how to find his spots in the Spurs offensive system early in the season. A lot more of it has to do with him adjusting to our "good to great" unselfishness as a group. Make no mistake about it, though. LaMarcus Aldridge is still one of the most dangerous post weapons in the entire NBA. His ability to get buckets in the low block and on put backs is a huge safety net that we did not have last year.
After the Memphis Grizzlies were dispatched last Sunday in what proved to be a record-breaking ninth sweep for head coach Gregg Popovich, the Spurs returned home to get some rest and also to prepare for our good friends Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Starting tonight, the two teams will square off in the playoffs for the third time in the past five seasons. With the Thunder taking the 2012 Western Conference Finals and the Spurs returning the favor to win the 2014 Western Conference Finals (both series ending in six games), it's fitting that we are being treated to this postseason rubber match. Fitting, but considering that OKC boasts two of the leagues six or seven best players (yes Mark Cuban, Russell Westbrook is a superstar and tests confirm that Kevin Durant is correct, you're an idiot), this is a very scary second round matchup. It is going to take the Spurs playing disciplined, focused basketball to take care of business in this series. We need to limit OKC's fast break attempts and force them into half court sets as much as possible. Whether Scott Brooks or now Billy Donovan, the Thunder are not known for picking teams apart through complicated half court offensive wizardry. That is why limiting OKC's opportunities to use Durant and Westbrook's speed and athleticism as a way to push the tempo will be crucial to our game plan. Sure, the Thunder are bringing two incredible weapons into the AT&T Center this evening but one of our biggest advantages in this series is that, overall, we boast a much deeper arsenal. Depth is a huge advantage for us against OKC. Players three through ten on the Spurs' depth chart include future hall-of-famers Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili. Once you get past Durant and Westbrook, the Thunder simply can't match our firepower. On July Fourth, the San Antonio Spurs landed a major weapon in LaMarcus Aldridge. What made the signing so spectacular, however, was placing LA in the mix with the incredible arsenal of weapons we were already stockpiling deep in the heart of Titletown, TX. It's true that we are facing an incredible challenge in this series because of the scope of the two huge guns our northern neighbors will be deploying in the Alamo City tonight, but hopefully the Spurs will prevail in this series because, when it comes to weapons, we don't have to just rely on LaMarcus and Kawhi. When it comes to weapons, we've gotta lotta.
Featured Image Source: The Morning Call
Thirteen Ahead
2016 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 3
Thieves in the Temple - Friday was Earth Day. One day after the passing of Prince, the world was still blanketing itself in purple showers. A resplendent purple Earth. At least that's how I imagined our beautiful planet might have looked on Friday from outer space. I spent a fair amount of my day that day thinking about that sort of thing. Thinking about the precious gift that is our natural habitat and how heartbreaking it is that we are destroying it while also thinking about the music of a prince and the color purple. On Friday evening, as I was taking a light rail train to Denver International Airport during RTD's grand opening of Train to the Plane, I looked off towards the mountains as the sun was setting to witness some spectacular purples in the sky. Many other passengers on the train were looking over at the sunset as well. Some were taking pictures of it on their phones. There was a communal feel to the moment. On that train we were a group of strangers, yet the desire to discover beauty that is part of our common humanity fortified a bond, admittedly fleeting, but one that gave each of us common inspiration to carry on the airplanes that would leave DIA and disperse us from a singular group of people who had captured a glimpse of beauty together on a train's passenger car in Denver, Colorado to our varied and unique destinations around the world. Sure, the idea of a purple earth is metaphorical. But to me, the communal experience of discovering beauty with a group of people that then disperse apart and consequently spread the inspiration carried from that shared discovery of beauty across the globe is how and why our planet was purple on Earth Day 2016. We, the passengers of that compartment of that train, took in a little light together while watching the sun rest in purple behind the mountains of the Denver sky and then we traveled into the night to spread our individual flicker of purplish joy around the world.
Around the same time that purple hues were lighting up the Denver sky, the San Antonio Spurs were in Memphis tipping off a game of basketball against the Grizzlies. I must admit, while I was absorbing in the beauty of a magnificent Denver sunset, I was doing so with WatchESPN streaming Game 3 of a certain Western Conference First Round series on the iPhone in my hands. (Hey, just because you're a deep thinker with a profound appreciation for artistic beauty doesn't preclude you from having the ability to multitask. Particularly during a Spurs playoff game.) To say I was multitasking on my now infamous RTD voyage to the airport is an understatement. Not only was I taking in the sunset and streaming the game, but I was also reviewing the transcript from a piece of audio collected by one of theLeftAhead's field reporters earlier on Friday in the Memphis hotel that the Spurs were staying at. Since our resources are very modest here at theLeftAhead, rather than hire a full time sports writer to cover the Spurs playoff run in person, I sent Ken Adams (our Pop Culture writer and currently my only full time employee) to Memphis to cover the series. Ken had to amazing good fortune to somehow get the room right next to Gregg Popovich's room at the hotel in Memphis where the team was staying. Around 2:00 pm on Friday, Ken also had the amazing good fortune to realize that the walls in this hotel were incredibly thin and he could hear everything that was being said next door in Coach Pop's room. Being the smart reporter that Ken is, after realizing his good fortune, he immediately hooked up a USB microphone to his computer, put it up against his shared wall with Coach Pop's room, and started recording audio. The following is a transcript of what he captured on the recording:
-- Begin Transcript of Recording --
Coach Pop: Okay Darryl, yeah I know it would mean a lot to you but no, I'm not going to do it. I don't care how badly you think you need this. (pause) Trust me, nobody is going to buy a 54 year old making a comeback to pitch in the Majors. If I give you the beans so that you can try to make a comeback with the Mets, our cover will be blown. It's too big a risk to national security for me to allow it. (pause) Sorry Darryl. (loud banging). Okay Darryl...I've got to get off the phone. There's someone at my door. (pause) Let me know what you find out about the Vladimir Putin operation. (pause) Okay, talk to you later. (pause) Come in.
Kawhi: (barely audible) Hey coach.
Coach Pop: Hey Kawhi, I'm a little busy, what's up?
Kawhi: (again barely audible) I just wanted to let you know that my shot felt really off at shoot around this morning. In fact, this is the worst I've ever felt about my shot in my career heading into a playoff game. I know winning this Game 3 is really important so that we can get Timmy, Manu, and Tony some extra rest. I was talking to Danny after shoot around and telling him how my shot felt off and he told me to come and ask you if I could have some magic "irrational confidence" beans?
Coach Pop: Dammit, Kawhi. You're currently one of the three best basketball players on the [bleeping] planet. There is absolutely nothing about your confidence that is irrational. No, you can't have any mother [bleeping] beans. Go out there tonight and just let it fly.
Kawhi: (still, barely audible) Okay, thanks Coach. I feel better already.
Coach Pop: Okay, good. Get the hell out of here.
Kawhi: (you guessed it...barely audible) Hey Coach, why is there a painting of Vladimir Putin hanging in your hotel room?
Coach Pop: Mind your business, Kawhi. (Door shutting) [Bleepity bleep bleep].
-- End Transcript of Recording --
Kawhi Leonard was red hot on Friday night, shooting 6 for 9 on threes and scoring 32 points (matching his playoff career high) to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 96-87 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. When you factor in the 5 blocks and 4 steals that Kawhi registered on the defensive side of the ball, this easily ranks as one of his best playoff performances to date and earns him player of the game honors in the tough nosed, street brawl that was Game 3 of our First Round series. By going into the Grindhouse temple, absorbing haymaker after haymaker from our undermanned opponent, yet still thieving a victory, the #BlackAndSilver now have a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. Today's game begins in just a few minutes and we can expect the same type of physical, desperate opponent this afternoon that we faced on Friday night. Despite being undermanned, the healthy Grizzlies players still have a great deal of pride and will do everything in their power to avoid having the city of Memphis face the embarrassment of getting swept out of the 2016 playoffs. It is going to take a focused, disciplined effort but if we play Spurs basketball the way we have all season long, in a few hours (like the purple hues behind the mountains of a Denver sunset) we can put this First Round series in the background.
Fourteen Ahead
2016 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 2
Idioteque - Ice age coming, ice age coming. Let me play both sides, let me play both sides. The NBA has been put on notice. The Spurs are coming. Not only are we coming, but (over this past season) our starting small forward completed his mutation from an ordinary White Walker into the best two-way player in the game. It has been quite a transformation for the quiet, humble kid from Riverside, California. To put it mildly, The Klaw is a beast. It's safe to say that Kawhi Leonard is now grown. During the 2015-16 season, his game undoubtedly demonstrated most of its growth on the offensive side of the ball where he averaged 21.2 points per game to lead the Spurs in scoring for the second consecutive season (a 4.7 points per game improvement, however, over the 16.5 he averaged during the 2014-15 season). Boasting one of the most complete offensive games in the NBA is what's new. What we already knew was reaffirmed this past Monday as Kawhi solidified his reputation as the best defensive player in the world by earning his second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year award. Congratulations are in order to Kawhi. With a NBA Finals MVP, two DPOY awards, and having made his first All-Star team this past February, Mr. Leonard seems to be locking down awards these days with the same ferocity that he puts on display while locking down the likes of LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Kawhi's transcendence from a player chosen outside of the lottery to the franchise player of the most successful NBA team to lace 'em up over the past 20 years is one of the biggest reasons the Spurs were able to post a franchise best 67 wins this season. If asked about why he put in all of the extra work it must have taken to transform from quiet Riverside kid into Kawhi Leonard: NBA Superstar, I can only speculate that his answer would probably be, Manu made me do it.
On Tuesday, Kawhi, Manu, and the rest of the Spurs had the challenge of not allowing complacency to set in after a dominating Game 1 performance over a depleted First Round opponent. Luckily, the Spurs have an anti-complacency device that is omnipresent in the locker room and its name is Gregg Popovich. True to form, the #BlackAndSilver responded to whatever crotchety pre-game message Coach Pop delivered and eliminated any possibility that we would fall victim to complacency by playing suffocating defense once again against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night at the AT&T Center. By all objective accounts, we Grit & Grinded our poor challengers down to sawdust and when all was said and done and the dust had cleared, the Spurs had once again defeated the Grizzlies. This time, by a score of 94-68 in front of 18,418 raucous fans. In Game 1, San Antonio held Memphis to 39.2 percent shooting. In Game 2, we ratcheted the defensive intensity up another notch to hold the Grizzlies to a torturous 32.6 percent shooting. So far in this series, the Grizz are so overmatched that it just doesn't seem fair. Nonetheless, the Spurs must continue to resist complacency's temptation and go into Game 3 in Memphis tonight with the appropriate fear necessary to take a 3-0 series lead. While a sweep is never easy against any playoff opponent, if the Spurs can find a way to pull one off against the undermanned Grizzlies, we could give ourselves an added rest advantage over potential future playoff opponents Oklahoma City and Golden State (who have both already lost one game in their First Round series). Our Game 2 player of the game is Patty Mills. Patty was throwing mad shrimp on the barbie Tuesday night, shooting a blistering 4-6 from deep en route to 16 points off the bench. Good on ya, mate. That type of shooting from our back-up point guard is a critical ingredient to the formula necessary for the Spurs to make the type of deep playoff run we're all hoping for this season.
Let me conclude my thoughts by mentioning that it was hard to write yesterday after hearing the news about Prince. I was hoping to complete this post and check it off my to do list yesterday, but after hearing the news I knew that that would be a futile endeavor. I find as an artist, when the light of one of the greats is extinguished in its physical form, rather than create, I'm drawn to basking in the light of the art itself, at least at first. Prince was a genius. Yesterday was not a day for creating. Yesterday was a day for walking outside and submitting to the showers of majestic purple that were lighting up skies around the world and allowing them to rain down upon you. In the inaugural installment of the Black & Silver blog series, the genius of Prince inspired to serve as the theme for one of my 2013 Finals posts. Funny that the 1999 themed Fourteen Down just so happened to be the most creative post of the series to date. I encourage you to go back and read the delightfully hilarious fictitious account of what led the Spurs to achieve one of the greatest three point shooting performances in NBA Finals history during Game 3 of the 2013 Finals. For the life of me, I don't know what possessed me to write that post. It was a total deviation from everything that I had written prior in the blog series. Perhaps the mere act of choosing a Prince song as the theme of the post and then listening to it a few times in preparation played a role in the spectacular down pouring of creativity that washed over me that night when I sat down at my computer to write. After hearing yesterday's heartbreaking news, at least I'd like to think so. That's one of the magical things about the few among us who fall into the category of creative genius. Their creativity is infectious. Without question, Prince infected millions upon millions of people with his creativity for the better part of 40 years and the world is a better place because of the music he showered us with. Tonight, purple rain will continue to pour down from above. Also tonight, a band of black and silver outlaws will enter the FedEx forum in Memphis and attempt to steal a victory like thieves in the temple. Rest in peace, sweet prince.
Fifteen Ahead
2016 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 1
Ignition (Remix) - Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines a remix as "a variant of an original recording (as of a song) made by rearranging or adding to the original." As a musician, I love remixes because they have a funny way of making things you've heard dozens (or even hundreds) of times before feel fresh and exciting. When we parted ways this past July, I left with this feeling that I get when I first hear a remix to one of my favorite songs. While the third installment of this blog series had undoubtedly ended in abrupt, disappointing fashion, there's also no question that it ended by striking a chord that (despite the agony of defeat) made things feel fresh and exciting. I had this overwhelming sense of anticipation because, as we parted ways this past July, we did so with the knowledge that our beloved San Antonio Spurs had landed LaMarcus Aldridge, the biggest free agent signing in franchise history. Combine that with having a young Defensive Player of the Year on a trajectory that the league hasn't witnessed in a very long time (perhaps since the emergence of Scottie Pippen), a trajectory that's ascendence is only heading toward's one place: Kawhi Leonard: NBA Superstar. Oh, and throw in that same old, same old of three hall of fame players and a hall of fame coach. Ladies and gentleman, as we parted ways last July, we had our selves the potential to turn the 2015-16 NBA season into a serious recording session. As expected, our remixed Spurs did not disappoint and were phenomenal in the regular season en route to amassing a franchise record 67 wins. Throughout the course of this installment of the Black & Silver blog series, we will dive deep into all of the nooks and crannies of the 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs spectacular season. Nevertheless, it's my intention to ease our way into this playoff run. We're going to slowly build some speed in order to make sure this mack truck is barreling down the highway by the time May rolls around in a couple of weeks. Still wanting just a little bit more? Now usually I don't do this, but go ahead and break 'em off with a little preview of the remix.
On Sunday night in front of a lively Fiesta crowd at the AT&T Center, the #BlackAndSilver obliterated the Memphis Grizzlies 106-74 to take a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference, First Round series. The poor, undermanned Grizzlies didn't stand a chance against a team that had just tied the 1985-86 Boston Celtics' NBA record of only yielding one home defeat all season to finish 40-1 at home. It's bad enough for any team to go up against the biggest home court advantage in NBA history but let's face it, with Marc Gasol and Mike Conely (arguably the Grizzlies two best players) unavailable for the postseason due to season-ending injuries, the task of repeating their 2011 magic and upsetting the Spurs seems dangerously close to hopeless. The remixed Spurs sure made it seem so in Game 1. Using a well rounded attack (five players in double figures), the Spurs carved the Grizzlies defense apart to shoot 51.9 percent from the the field and hold Memphis to 39.2 percent shooting. Kawhi Leonard takes home our player of the game honors for his work on both ends of the court. The Klaw poured in 20 points (8-13 shooting) on offense and paired that with four steals and three blocks on the defensive side of the ball. It was quite the stellar performance, indeed. One fitting of the magical first weekend of Fiesta. There is no better time of year and no better place to be than San Antonio during Fiesta to witness the Spurs home playoff opener and soak in all that Fiesta Oyster Bake has to offer. On a side note, happy 100th anniversary to Oyster Bake. While I couldn't be in San Antonio myself to take in the festivities, I can imagine that the beer was flowing and the turkey legs were plentiful. Speaking of turkey legs, a wise sage named Russel Westbrook once said, "The Spurs are coming." I'm happy to report that it once again, it feels that way down in Titletown, TX. It feels the same, but also fresh and new. Look out NBA, the Spurs are definitely coming. Idioteque.
Featured Image Source: Slate
Headline Image Source: NBA Passion
Four Back
2015 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 7
A Sky Full of Stars - Give hime credit. Chris Paul hit the shot of his life. The ball left his hand and passed by Tim Duncan's finger tips (as the greatest active basketball player on the planet was closing quickly to block it) by the width of a piece of paper, but somehow it got by. The rejection of not only a basketball shot but also of Chris Paul as a clutch playoff performer was avoided as the ball amazingly slipped by Duncan's fingers. It floated softly towards the backboard, bounced off, and dropped down through the net. One home cooked scorer's table error and one Hail Mary inbounds attempt later, our season was over. Yes, the Spurs should have never been in that position. (We should have closed out at home in six.) Yes, San Antonio should have played smarter basketball down the stretch. (We should have protected our precious lead better late in the fourth quarter.) Yes, the Clippers's scorers table screwed us out of running the play that could have gotten one of our shooters a final look at a three pointer to win the series. (If we get a clean look at a three in the final second, we would have buried it and the Clippers along with it.) Yes, two of the best four teams in the league should have never been playing in the first round to begin with. (If we had played an easier first round opponent, we probably would have been sharper and healthier by the time we met an opponent of the Clippers caliber in the conference semi-finals.) But give him credit. Chris Paul hit the shot of his life.
Unfortunately, this meant that (when I first started writing this three months ago) I was begrudgingly tasked with needing to report that the Los Angeles Clippers had advanced past the San Antonio Spurs. In typical Black & Silver fashion, (rather than simply ripping the band-aid off) I once again elected to take my precious, sweet time in finishing the last post of the season. Despite the fact that it is still hard to wrap my brain around twelve weeks later, the Clippers did indeed outlast the Spurs 111-109 in Game 7 of the Western Conference First Round series. The player of the game for the Spurs was the incomparable Tim Duncan who (at 39 years old) came up huge in a big playoff game for the billionth time in his career. Timmy amassed 27 points and 11 rebounds to put the Spurs one possession away from winning a second Game 7 on the road against a Chris Paul led opponent (they beat the New Orleans Hornets in Game 7 of the 2008 Western Conference Semi-Finals in New Orleans). In 117 Game 7s played in NBA history prior to this series, the road team has won only 24 times (21 percent). The Spurs faced a tall order attempting to do it for a second time in eight seasons. It makes it that much more painful to swallow when considering that we came so close but couldn't finish off becoming the 25th team to climb that mountain. Oh, and did we ever have our chances? With 5:28 left in the game, San Antonio had a five point lead. This possession in the game is burned into my permanent memory. Chris Paul missed an 18 foot jumper and Tony Parker came up with the long rebound and sprinted down to get a fast break layup with only Chris Paul to beat. A healthy Tony easily extends the lead to seven in that situation but unfortunately that was not the player that was pushing a one man fast break in the guts of the biggest game of the season. The hobbled Tony that was playing that night lost the ball out of bounds and within 28 seconds, the Clippers had scored five straight to tie the game. It was a dogfight from there. Had Tony pulled back in that moment, ran some clock, and set up an offensive set, perhaps the outcome of the series would have been different. And there it is...the tortuous dissection of what could have been. After a year's reprieve, Spurs fans like myself had once again been sentenced to a summer of what ifs with the ghosts of another playoff run cut short haunting our waking life and our dreams alike. Down the rabbit hole we go.
Were the Spurs good enough to win a championship this year? I think so. I know that the Golden State Warriors were counting their blessings when the Clippers ensured that Dub Nation would not have to face the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. San Antonio was the only team in the league to win the season series with Golden State and in my opinion they were the team best equipped to upset the Warriors in the 2015 playoffs. There is not a perimeter defensive tandem in the league that had more capacity to lock up Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson than Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. These two perimeter defenders are special as a tandem. With a few more years playing together, they could very easily prove to be the best defensive duo at the shooting guard and small forward position to play together since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Should Danny and Kawhi have gotten their shot to go up against Curry and Thompson in the Western Conference Finals, even with all the other injuries the Spurs were playing through I believe that we would have had a 50/50 chance to win the series. Had the Spurs had had the opportunity to defend their championship healthy, there is no doubt in my mind that the Warriors would not have had the necessary experience to dethrone us. Nonetheless, San Antonio was not healthy and did not hold up our end of the bargain. Perhaps we will get our shot at the Golden State Warriors in next season's playoffs, but until then...they are the champs. Despite my strong feelings on how a hypothetical Spurs vs. Warriors 2015 Western Conference Finals would have turned out, I take nothing away from Dub Nation. Golden State earned their championship and should be congratulated.
They should enjoy it too. Steph Curry, Steve Kerr and company will soon find that defending an NBA title is an entirely different proposition than winning the first one. Repeating is never easy, but it seems it will be unusually difficult next year when you peer out over this summer's post-free agency NBA landscape. Cleveland will be better than last year just by getting healthy and also by adding back court depth with their Mo Williams signing. The Clippers have improved by adding Paul Pierce and Lance Stephenson and because the organization collectively sent DeAndre Jordan a Check Yes or No note to ask him to freeze out his new girlfriend, Mark Cuban, and meet up in the middle school cafeteria to get back together. Memphis is still Memphis, ever present...lurking in the weeds. Houston kept most of its core together to remain a fringe contender. And then there is the #BlackAndSilver. I spent the first part of my summer hoping that the greatest shot of Chris Paul's life wouldn't turn out to be the final sentence in the final chapter of one of the greatest storybook runs in the history of professional sports. My fear that the Big Four (Gregg Popovich, Time Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili) had participated in their final NBA basketball game together was not only terrifying but it was also legitimate. Worst case scenario: Pop, Timmy, and Manu retire leaving Tony and probably Kawhi to lead a (Danny Green-less) fringe playoff squad coached by Ettore Messina.In full disclosure, I wasn't actually worried about this doomsday scenario. I was fairly confident that Coach Pop and Tim Duncan were coming back but I was petrified that the Big Four era would end upon the announcement of Manu's retirement. Under this scenario, even if we had re-signed Danny, the Spurs would have been a lock for a playoff spot but probably not a championship contender. Another likely scenario is that the Spurs could have brought the 2014 title team back together for one more run since injuries derailed our title defense last season. Had this happened we would have still been a fringe title contender but probably not one of the favorites. There was also a dream scenario for this off-season. A scenario so rapturous, it seemed preposterous to even contemplate. Therefore, I dared not even fantasize about the perfect off-season during May and June, but then July rolled around. Sometimes life is but a dream, because (and pinch me if this isn't real and I need to wake up) this actually happened...
Yahoo Sources: Kawhi Leonard, Spurs agree to framework of a maximum contract extension. http://t.co/f1738GRRli
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 1, 2015
Looks like I'm back for four more years SA!!! #210
— Danny Green (@DGreen_14) July 1, 2015
Straight from Tim Duncan: "I'll be on the court next year" ... story coming soon on http://t.co/LMDPrVQ6z4
— Mike Monroe (@Monroe_SA) July 2, 2015
I'm happy to say I'm going home to Texas and will be a Spur!! I'm excited to join the team and be close to my family and friends.
— Lamarcus Aldridge (@aldridge_12) July 4, 2015
ESPN sources say that Gregg Popovich, as of now, is intent on coaching out his entire five-year contract that he signed last summer
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 4, 2015
Happy to announce that I'm coming back next season. #gospursgo#TDwouldvemissedmetoomuch.
— Manu Ginobili (@manuginobili) July 6, 2015
Free agent forward David West has agreed to terms with the Spurs, per league sources.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 6, 2015
You've gotta love summertime. The addition of LaMarcus Aldridge and David West combined with the resigning of Timmy, Manu, Kawhi, and Danny plus the commitment of Pop to keep coaching equals the execution of an offseason perfected. It is almost not fair. Almost. Not only are we still title contenders but the Spurs perfect offseason has elevated Black & Silver: Reloaded to title favorites. With Aldridge and West, San Antonio won on the free agency market for the first time in franchise history. As important as it is to build a bridge to the post-Duncan era, I am most excited that these signings have added fire power for The Big Four to write another chapter in fairy tale that refuses to end. These historic figures still have one extraordinary epilogue in them which they will collaborate to write. There is no question that Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker have at least one more run left in them as a group. SIX in SIX-teen has a mighty fine ring to it, don't you think? Thankfully, in the end, Chris Paul's shot has proven to have just ruined a season rather than killed a dynasty. I'll be spending the rest of my summer counting my blessings that we got all four back. And then some.
Featured Image Source: Mustark on Tumblr
Headline Image Source: Sports Illustrated
Three Back
2015 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 6
Dreamcatcher - On Thursday nights, the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the San Antonio Spurs 102-96 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio to tie the best-of-seven Western Conference First Round series at three games apiece. The decisive game seven will be played at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in about two hours. The player of the game for the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night was Marco Belinelli. Marco scored 23 points (with a spectacular 6-7 from downtown) to help keep the Spurs close in a game that we (as a group) did not display the necessary effort to eliminate a team as talented and hungry as this year's Clippers. The Game 6 debacle was an uncharacteristically disappointing effort by a Spurs team who has been historically dominant in close out games at home. Rather than dwell on what might have been the other night, I have spent the entire day today making good on a promise to myself and my readers to complete one of the most arduous undertakings of my entire career as a writer and as an artist thus far. About fifteen minutes ago, I posted the final chapter of the last year's edition of the Black & Silver blog series in its entirety. It is my profound pleasure to present to you....
It will be my distinct honor should you decide to find some time later to read it. As for now, I could not be more confident in the #BlackAndSilver to win tonight's decisive Game 7 on the road and advance to the 2015 Western Conference Semi-Finals. I fully expect to see the Spurs finally put The Beautiful Game band back together tonight and play our toughest, most inspired game of the season. Back-to-back championships has been an elusive dream, but I still believe that this year's Spurs squad is a dreamcatcher.
Tonight, the defending NBA champions will remind the world of the power that is unleashed when a team (that was built for its whole to be greater than the sum of its parts) is firing on all cylinders. Tonight, the defending NBA champions will light up Los Angeles like a sky full of stars.
Featured Image Source: Hooped Up
Three Forward
2015 Western Conference First Round, Game 5
Over - I'm living life right now, man, and this what I'mma do 'til it's over...'til it's over. It's far from over. In One Back (my first blog post of these 2015 playoffs), I predicted that "there are going to be moments of panic and moments of doubt for Spurs fans" during this title defense journey. Man, I wasn't lying. Last night was intense. I have never been to Disneyland, but somehow I feel like I've become a regular visitor after enduring a second roller coaster ride out in Los Angeles in less than a week. My emotions swung back and forth so many times last night that I'm not entirely convinced in the accuracy of what I'm about to report, but somehow, someway the San Antonio Spurs outlasted the Los Angeles Clippers 111-107 at the Staples Center yesterday in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round series to take a 3-2 lead and put the Clips on the brink of elimination. They say that football is a game of inches. Apparently basketball can be a game of millimeters. There is no question that Bill Kennedy and crew made the correct call in disallowing the tip-in by DeAndre Jordan of a Blake Griffin shot as the ball hung above the cylinder during an opportunity for the Clippers to take a 109-108 lead with 4.7 seconds left in the game, but let's be honest...that was a lucky break for the Spurs. Both teams played determined, focused basketball and both teams were equally brilliant in last night's game. We could just as easily have been the team to catch a bad bounce that would have resulted in us being the ones feeling the heartbreak that comes with facing elimination in a close series. Luck was certainly on our side last night. Having said that, we have absolutely nothing to apologize for. Luck is a part of the equation when two evenly-matched opponents square off. It always has been and it always will be. In the end, luck has a funny way of gravitating to the more deserving team. After squandering the home court advantage that we stole on our last trip to Cali in an uninspired Game 4 performance, the Spurs regrouped and earned the opportunity to be in a position for luck to help us steal it right back in last night's gritty Game 5 escape. It takes remarkable composure to play that well in that environment in that situation. We earned the victory and we earned the opportunity to finish off this series at home. On Thursday night, let's hope we are ready to capitalize on the remarkable opportunity that we earned last night (more on that later).
Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today. It's coooold out there every day. The player of the game last night was Tim Duncan. What else is there to say about the old man? He never ceases to amaze. Timmy (continuing to upstage Bill Murray in his ongoing portrayal of the Phil Connors character from Groundhog Day) came up huge with a monster 21 points (8-13 from the field, 5-6 from the line), 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and an enormous blocked shot in the guts of the game. With 59 seconds remaining and San Antonio clinging to a 107-105 lead, Blake Griffin got to one of his sweet spots to launch an eight foot leaner (the type of shot that he has been making routinely throughout the series). He was met at the summit by Duncan, who again stripped Griffin after Blake recovered the blocked shot and attempted to reload for another. Boris Diaw snatched the ball after Timmy's strip and J.J. Redick subsequently fouled out of the game trying to subdue Tony Parker. Tony hit one of his two free throws to put the Spurs up three, which proved to be huge in keeping the Spurs at an advantage once clock management became a factor in determining the outcome of the game. It can't be overstated how consequential Timmy's block was in giving us a 3-2 series lead. In the biggest moment of another huge postseason game, the greatest NBA player since Michael Jordan came through in the clutch...again. Groundhog Day.
As we start preparing for Game 6 tomorrow night back home in the comfy confines of the AT&T Center, let us have the wisdom to remember the horrendous effort we put forth in Game 4 and use it as a teachable moment. Our blowout Game 3 victory baited us into assuming that we had broken the spirit of the Los Angeles Clippers. That assumption proved to be disastrous. We didn't break their spirit then (after winning Game 2) and we haven't broken their spirit now (after winning Game 5). The Clippers are not only capable of coming right back and taking Game 6 in San Antonio, I'm certain that their mindset is such that they intend to do exactly that. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and company will not play themselves out of the 2015 NBA Playoffs tomorrow night, we have to go out and execute our most focused basketball of the season for 48 minutes and eliminate them. The assumption that we can just show up and we will win because we are at home and we're the Spurs is as ludicrous as Doc Rivers' assumption that every single member of the basketball viewing public didn't simultaneously roll our eyes last night during his post game press conference when he stated, "I don't complain much." The dream of back-to-back Spurs championships has been a torturously elusive one. Each and every Spurs title defense prior to this year has gone down in flames in heartbreaking fashion. From losing Timmy for the playoffs in 2000, to .04 in 2004, to Manu's foul on Dirk in 2006, to the league admission of a missed foul call on Brent Barry in 2008, San Antonio fans know that we are far from out of the woods when it comes to an opponent as talented as our current one. Tomorrow night, we cannot face the Clippers as a team that we have gotten the better of over the past five games. We must face them as the gatekeepers standing in between a city and its pursuit of a dream. The #BlackAndSilver have a dream to catch for the Alamo City and as deserving as Los Angeles is of taking the next step as a franchise, if we play with one goal and one mind tomorrow night, the Clippers' evolution will have to wait for at least one more year. If the Spurs can channel The Beautiful Game and come together for a single purpose in Game 6, then the Clippers faithful will wake up on Friday and have to come to grips with the fact that they simply just had the dumb luck of running into a dreamcatcher in the first round. Tomorrow, we need to forget about merely chasing this elusive dream. Tomorrow, we need to go out there and start our sprint to catch it.
Featured Image Source: The Hype Factor
Headline Image Source: Yahoo Sports
Two Back
2015 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 4
Pompeii - Against my better angels, I did it. I'll admit it. I know better, but somehow it still happened. I've been to this rodeo way too many times and yet I still couldn't help myself. How does the proverb go? As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. Yep, that about sums it up. I allowed myself to get overconfident after the 27 point blowout victory in Game 3, so I let my guard down for Game 4 and then bam. Just like that, the Clippers hit us right back like a mack truck. So long, euphoria. Hello, misery. In what felt like the blink of an eye this afternoon, a lethargic crowd at the AT&T Center watched a lethargic San Antonio Spurs squad get out worked by the Los Angeles Clippers and lose 114-105 to squander an opportunity to put a stranglehold on this Western Conference First Round series. After the incredible effort put forth to "get the one we needed" in California last Wednesday night, we've now allowed ourselves to fall back into a position where we need to get yet another victory in La La Land in order to win the series. Chris Paul (coming off the worst playoff game of his career) matched his spectacular Game 1 play with 34 points and 7 assists. Blake was a beast again too with 20 points and 19 rebounds. Finally, give the Clippers bench credit. They wouldn't have been in such a strong position heading down the stretch in the fourth quarter had it not been for excellent play from Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers (yes, I know...I couldn't believe it either) giving them a boost every time the Spurs looked poised to go on a run. On our side, the player of the game was once again Kawhi Leonard. Whi posted 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists in the losing effort.
So how concerned am I over the squandered opportunity? I am concerned but not panicked. This had all of the makings of a grind-it-out series from the get go. When we went up two games to one in dominating fashion, it seemed like the Clippers might break if we had had the wherewithal to jump on them early today. And perhaps they would have but unfortunately, we'll never know because (give them credit) they came ready to play this afternoon. We never had an opportunity to set the tone. In the end, the visions of an easy five game series running all over Cliff Paul and the State Farm Assist Team were just that...visions. Demented little visions, tempting me all weekend and successfully baiting me into overconfidence. Well, you were able to momentarily dupe me once again (you hideous demented little visions) but my lesson learned. Overconfidence has officially left my psyche for the rest of the 2015 playoff run. So yes, I'm concerned but not panicked. The Spurs have been in this position before. Home, away, first round, NBA Finals, it doesn't matter. We've seen it all and faced every difficult scenario imaginable. More often than not, the #BlackAndSilver respond excellently following a disappointing loss in the playoffs. We have the necessary experience to regroup from this poor showing, respond with a vengeance in Game 5, and snatch home court advantage back just in time to force Los Angeles into playing a road elimination game. You don't have to worry about me either. Come Tuesday night, I will be cheering with the appropriate level of fear. I'm over overconfidence. But confidence? That's far from over.
Featured Image Source: Mashable
Two Forward
2015 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 3
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.
Featured Image Source: Street Khemistry
Headline Image Source: San Antonio Express-News
One Forward
2015 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 2
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.
Featured Image Source: Smash the Club
Headline Image Source: Sportal
One Back
2015 NBA Western Conference First Round, Game 1
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.
The San Antonio Spurs Visit the White House
President Obama honors the 2014 NBA Champions and commends “the beautiful game.”
On Monday, January 12, 2015, the San Antonio Spurs were invited to the White House by President Barack Obama for a ceremony in the East Room honoring the team's 2014 NBA Championship. This is the fifth White House ceremony for the Spurs as an organization spanning 15 years and three U.S. presidents. Head coach Gregg Popovich and power forward Tim Duncan, having been in those roles for all five championships, have now participated in ceremonies hosted by Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. This was President Obama's first time honoring the Spurs and he used the opportunity to praise the team's ability to help players succeed, stating that "they find folks who didn’t have a chance someplace else and suddenly they figure out a way to make them shine as part of a team. And in that sense, they’re a great metaphor for what America should be all about." President Obama also spoke about the role the Spurs have played in globalizing NBA basketball as well as their commitment to selfless team play. He observed that, "this is an international team. It's the U.N. of basketball teams. And it shows the way that this wonderful sport has become an international sport. Some people have, rightfully, started calling it -- the Spur’s style of basketball “the beautiful game.” And when you look at the passing and guys back-cutting the hoop and sharing the basketball, you see basketball the way it should be played. And I was telling these guys you can now see everybody around the league actually stealing, first of all, assistant coaches who then become coaches and then start applying that style of play all around the league. And it's made the game better." You can watch the video of the entire White House ceremony below.
Source: The White House on YouTube
Spurs Special Forces
"This show is about the truth: the San Antonio Spurs are actually a team of covert international commandos."
A new and exciting vehicle for expressing adoration for the professional basketball franchise located in San Antonio, TX has emerged on the blogosphere over the past couple of years. What, you ask, is this new phenomenon that I'm referring to? I guess I would most accurately describe it as Spurs Fan Fiction. It is, indeed, a quite recent phenomenon thats arrival I would best pin point to the summer of 2013 during the team's march back to the NBA Finals for the first time since wining the championship in 2007. In the beginning, much of the fan fiction seemed to have been centered around bloggers using their creativity to poke fun at Coach Gregg Popovich's cantankerous and sometimes mysterious persona. It seems to have branched out from there to draw inspiration from some of the idiosyncarcies of the Spurs' Big Three; legends Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili. We here at theLeftAhead have even dabbled in some Spurs Fan Fiction, most prominently with Fourteen Down. The genre seems to be gaining tremendous steam and we couldn't be happier about it. The latest contribution to this emerging subculture hit the web yesterday and has been turning a few heads. The premise is spectacular. Quoting the video description on YouTube, "This show is about the truth: the San Antonio Spurs are actually a team of covert international commandos." After reading that, I couldn't have been more excited about pressing play. But after watching it, I felt that the plot fell a little flat but I'll let you judge for yourself. It appears this might become a recurring series so, if that is the case, I'm not going to worry too much about the story line of this "pilot" not being able to match a promising premise and solid animation. I'm still sold. So check it out and see if you're sold too. Should this, in fact, become a recurring series, I'll add the subsequent videos in the comments section of this post. Until next time.
Source: Matt Hill on YouTube
Sixteen Down
2014 NBA Finals, Game 5
Wish You Were Here - I clutched the rose on my necklace and peered blankly at the television screen. Moments earlier, I had been standing with my wife, Jenn, in the center of the living room. After screaming, receiving a spectacular hug and then exhaling when it finally happened, I subsequently retreated to the couch and sat down utterly exhausted. I couldn't move. I quickly realized that my momentary euphoria had absconded and left a foreboding cloud in its wake. Despite my tenebrous state, I knew where I was. I was back in the same vast empty space; the space that I had been in 74 days earlier while sitting in my car in the parking lot of the neighborhood basketball court. It was the first time that I had been back since that terrible Thursday evening in early April, but this time it was different. It was the same numbness, the same callosity. The difference was that this time it was familiar. I was acutely aware of it and I knew that the empty void would momentarily be engulfed.
I clutched the rose on my necklace, I peered at the television, and I focused straight ahead at the on-screen celebration. Like a dusting of snowflakes on the dreary overcast day that constitutes winter's last crescendo before gracefully submitting to the adagio exposition of a spring sonata, silver confetti danced in my field of vision. I followed one piece of confetti as it floated down from the rafters, around through the air and as it narrowly missed landing safely on the shoulder of one of the players before drifting rhythmically to a peaceful rest on the court. Like a maestro conducting the soloist in a concerto, this singular piece of confetti directed my eyes to play to its every whim. It demanded my attention and captured my imagination. This one piece of confetti seemed to control me because in that moment, and in the vast, empty space that I occupied, for whatever reason, it seemed profound. It was as if it embodied my entire universe. It was as if it were him.
* * *
Deep in the bowels of the AT&T Center, LeBron James gathered his Miami Heat teammates in a pregame huddle before taking the court for warmups ahead of Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals. Trailing in the series 1-3, the two-time defending champions had their backs up against the ropes and LeBron knew it. Given the trajectory of the series (after James and company had punched the challengers in the nose in Game 2 in San Antonio, the Spurs caught the Heat off guard by counter punching so forcefully in Games 3 and 4 in Miami that the champs were left clutching the ropes to avoid spiraling into a free fall), LeBron understood that it was going to take a super-human effort on his part in Game 5 to fight the Heat off of the ropes and back into the middle of the ring where they could retake the offensive in their quest for a three-peat. His message to his teammates was simple, "Follow my lead."
Less than an hour after hearing these words and following their leader through the tunnel and on to the court for warmups, the Heat were thoroughly in control of the basketball game. With 5:03 left in the first quarter Miami was dominating San Antonio. LeBron, upon hearing the opening bell, had exploded into attack mode for 12 points in the contest's first seven minutes. Also working in Miami's favor was the fact that LeBron's stellar start was coupled with the good fortune that his team was going up against an over-anxious opponent (it was evident that the San Antonio Spurs had returned to their home court and began Game 5 playing like a team that was pressing to win a championship instead of playing like a team that was focused on winning a playoff game). Therefore, a perfect storm was brewing in San Antonio to provide Miami a legitimate opportunity to get back in the series. LeBron James had simultaneously put on his cape and inspired new life in his teammates which allowed the Heat to capitalize on an uncharacteristic lack of composure by the Spurs. It all added up to a 22-6 lead for the the champs.
With seven minutes elapsed in the first quarter of Game 5 and trailing by 16 points, San Antonio was in dire straights and in desperate need of a basket on the next possession to prevent LeBron and the Heat from running away and hiding without being forced to face any resistance from the 18,581 hungry Spurs fans in attendance. Because of the Heat's quick start, the fans in the building had grown anxious but they were still salivating for an opportunity to show Miami how thunderously loud the AT&T Center can get when the city is trying to release nine years of pent-up championship closeout energy. For a little one-horse town, closing in on an NBA title at home means more than it does in the big city. It just does. Sure, it took a great deal of luck for us to have the good fortune to parlay a pair of winning lottery tickets into eventually building the type of small-market basketball franchise that is in contention for an NBA championship every single season. But because of how successful the Spurs have consistently been, nine years is an awful long time to wait for moments such as the one that was before us on Sunday, June 15. This is Titletown, TX, after all and the AT&T Center (also known as the house that David Robinson and Tim Duncan built) had not hosted a home closeout game in the NBA Finals since June 23, 2005 (the 2007 championship team closed out on the road by sweeping the Cavaliers in Cleveland).
Keep in mind, the home crowd was also harboring the heartbreak of losing last year's Finals to the same opponent and the opportunity to put that excruciating pain to rest would be added fuel to get the building rocking louder than ever before should the Spurs find themselves in position to win heading down the stretch. Needless to say, it was assumed that the noise of the home crowd would be a huge advantage for the Spurs throughout the night. Nonetheless, Miami's quick start to open up a 16 point lead had successfully taken the famished and revenge-thirsty crowd out of the game and had, thus, surprisingly neutralized San Antonio's advantage. Even from across town you could feel the tension in the building permeating through the television by virtue of the absence of noise coming from a shell-shocked crowd. Indeed, the next possession was shaping up to be the critical moment of the ball game. If, on the ensuing defensive stance, the Heat were able to force another missed shot or turnover and convert the stop into another easy basket at the other end (extending their lead closer to 20), Gregg Popovich may have been ready (out of frustration and with two losses to spare) to pull the regular rotation players and give the likes of Aron Baynes, Jeff Ayers, Matt Bonner, Marco Belinelli, and Corey Joseph a prolonged opportunity to try to get San Antonio back in the game.
Looking over at Coach Pop on the sidelines, I could almost see it written on his expression. One more empty offensive trip followed by another Heat basket and, more than likely, he would have elected to bench the regulars. I'm sure he knew that it would have been a tall order to hope for the reserve unit to find success in slowing down a LeBron James freight train which had already left the station, but he would have pulled the trigger anyway. The infamous Popovich mass-substitution that was forthcoming if things continued to go south would have demoralized the crowd but it would have also been the right decision and a necessary message for the NBA Coach of the Year to send to the rotation players in order to force them to regroup and refocus (similar to the earlier surrender in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder).
The ensuing possession for the Spurs was, therefore, the critical moment of the ball game because it quite possibly could have been the last chance the regulars might have been afforded to to try and right the ship. In less than seven minutes of game action, the AT&T Center scene, which was supposed to be a coronation, had rapidly deteriorated into a dark, murky mess. We were dangerously close to the point of needing someone from the team's front office to get on the phone with a South Beach hotel and confirm our reservation for a block of rooms the following night. Indeed, gray clouds were beginning to congregate once again in the skies above San Antonio and, as Spurs fans, we were helpless to stop whatever hell the basketball gods were conspiring to unleash. It just seemed like one of those nights. Besides dealing with being unable to defend the best player in the world (playing at the peak of his game), our offense, to that point, had been abysmal. The Spurs were 1-12 from the field and once again our attack, as it had in Game 2, seemed flustered by Miami's frantic defensive pressure. The prospect of returning to Miami to face a suddenly rejuvenated Heat squad that had climbed within two victories of making NBA Finals history by becoming the first team to overcome a 1-3 series deficit was beginning to seem like a real possibility. There was no question that this next possession was the critical moment of the game. Somebody in a home white uniform needed to step up and give this lethargic Spurs team (a team that had seemed invincible 36 hours earlier) some life. We needed a spark and it had to arrive on this possession. Otherwise, there was a distinct possibility that Game 5 was already lost.
It's always darkest before the dawn.
Like so many times before during his illustrious basketball career, when things seemed to be at their darkest in San Antonio, all of a sudden Manu Ginobili's majestic talent, in all its brilliant colors, appeared at the edge of the horizon and started rising up to fill the sky. During this possession, which doubled as the critical moment in the game, Manu sprang to life and delivered the necessary spark. Sixteen down, Ginobili put the ball on the floor, got bumped by Rashard Lewis, and finished a continuation by dropping a runner in over the top of Miami's interior defense. The whistle blew to award him the And One opportunity and the dormant crowd erupted with the fury of a thousand volcanoes. Fourteen down. Manu stepped up to the free throw line and sank the foul shot. Nothing but net. Thirteen down. Coach Pop was now relieved of the responsibility for making the decision on whether or not to pull the trigger on emptying the bench. The critical moment of the game (perhaps the critical moment of the series, the playoffs, the season, the last seven years) had just happened and Manu Ginobili, the greatest competitor to ever put on a San Antonio Spurs jersey, had delivered.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, he wasn't done. In fact, he was just getting started. On the next Miami possession, Shane Battier (desperate to get himself going in his final NBA game) became overly aggressive trying to establish position. Manu, who was guarding him, refused to give ground and Battier, in frustration, delivered a lethal elbow to Ginobili's chest. The whistle blew once again, but the confrontation continued nonetheless. Battier unrelentingly continued to throw his weight into Manu's upper body. Exacerbated, Ginobili through up his arms and ceded position. The unexpected release of opposing force caused Battier to tumble to the court and once arriving on the floor, the Miami journeyman kicked up his legs, tripping Manu and causing Ginobili to come crashing to the ground as well. Offensive foul, turnover, Spurs' ball. Battier's unwarranted aggression against the Spurs' sixth man proved to be a costly mistake. Within seven seconds of the turnover, Manu was letting a three pointer fly at the other end of the court. He buried it. Ten down. The crowd, sensing something magical was happening, was now working itself into a frenzy. Miami called timeout to try to thwart San Antonio's momentum.
Coming back out of the huddle, the Heat ran a well designed set play that resulted in Ray Allen attacking the smaller Patty Mills off the dribble. With Patty draped all over him, Jesus Shuttlesworth lowered his shoulder during his drive and dropped Mills to the hard court. This time, the referees swallowed their whistles and with no charge forthcoming, Allen dribbled into an open 16 foot jump shot. Surprisingly, the knock-down jump shooter missed and Ginobili was there to snatch a contested rebound. He dribbled down the court, commanded the attention of the Miami defense, and found a wide open Kawhi Leonard alone for another three pointer. Kawhi rose up and calmly knocked it down. Assist, Manu Ginobili. Seven down. Pandemonium in the AT&T Center. 45 seconds had elapsed off of the clock since reaching the critical moment of the game and during that time Manu Ginobili had scored six points, drawn a charge, grabbed a rebound, tallied an assist and cut a 16 point Miami lead to seven in the blink of an eye.
You would be well advised to wear sunglasses when attempting to fully take in the brilliant colors of Number 20's majestic talent. It's just that bright. When it comes to athletes, his is rarified air. The legends surrounding his feats on the basketball court are timeless. I mean, the guy swatted a flying bat right out of the air, and on Halloween no less. Playing his career during the television era has actually done his greatness a disservice because he does something magical every single night that you can only fully appreciate if you have seen it in person. Yet, even with television, these legends persist. Could you imagine them without the deterrent of cameras and replays? He would be our generation's Babe Ruth. Move over, Wilt Chamberlain and Pete Maravich. When I'm old, gray, and sitting out on the porch in a rocking chair with my grandchildren gathered round; I'm telling them stories of the times that I was in the building to see Manu freaking Ginobili.
And I tread a troubled track, my odds are stacked. I'll go back to black.
After Manu's magnificent flurry, the two teams traded baskets for the remainder of the first quarter and the Heat ended the period with a seven point lead heading into the second. To begin the next quarter, Coach Pop drew up a play that the Spurs rarely use; a play that he had added to the Spurs playbook for Richard Jefferson, once upon a time. Kawhi Leonard received the ball at the top of the key and immediately swung it over to Boris Diaw over on the left wing. He then cut hard to the basket curling off of a perfect Tiago Splitter back screen that picked off his defender, Dwyane Wade. Tiago's defender, Chris "Birdman" Andersen was slow to react and Boris delivered a perfect alley oop pass that Kawhi hammered home without breaking a sweat. Five down.
The Heat brought the ball back up the court and ran a set to get Wade a shot but as he tried to attack Danny Green off of the dribble, Danny stripped the ball from him and eventually tied him up for a jump ball. Danny went on to win the tip and the Spurs were back in attack mode. San Antonio methodically worked the ball up the court and around the horn. Tiago to Boris to Tony to Danny back to Boris to Kawhi isolated on the left elbow against LeBron James. Kawhi sized up the king, juked him once with a jab step and head fake, and then rose up and drained a 20 foot jumper right in his eye. Three down. It was beginning to seem as if the Spurs momentum was starting to flummox the Heat. You could see it on the faces of some of LeBron's teammates. They were beginning to succumb to the relentless march of inevitability. As Miami's supporting cast continued to stiffen up, it was clear that the pressure was building up like water in a dam and it was just a matter of time before it was ready to burst open.
Miami, however, was able to regroup and hold the Spurs off over the next few minutes. Wade and Chris Bosh both dropped in jump shots to get the Miami lead back to seven during a four minute stretch in which the Spurs went cold from the field. With the offense stagnating, San Antonio turned to our security blanket to operate the offense for the next few possessions. With the smaller Udonis Haslem guarding him, Tim Duncan went to work. Tony Parker fed Timmy in the post and Timmy dropped a beautiful retro 13 foot turn around fade-away over Haslem's outstretched arms. The hustle & flow of Tim Duncan's post game likens itself to a canon of literature from the Romantic Era and this particular shot was a masterpiece contribution. There was no time to dwell in art appreciation, however, as Wade came right back down, drew a foul, and made both free throws.
On the next possession, the Spurs went right back to TD in the low post. LeBron came with a double team to help Haslem so Duncan turned away from James right into Udonis hoping to draw a foul. When a foul was not granted on the body contact down low, Haslem was able to regroup and block the shot back out to the perimeter. Timmy reacted quickly to regain control of the basketball but with the shot clock winding down he had to throw up a desperation shot. The shot missed but luckily Boris was in position to grab the rebound and alertly fired it back out to Marco Belinelli. Marco pump faked a scrambling Ray Allen, took one dribble, and buried a confident 17 foot jumper that purposefully suggested that, as far as Marco was concerned, C.R.E.A.M. (championships rule everything around me). Belinelli had signed with the Spurs last summer so that he could play for a championship contender and despite limited minutes, he was delivering in his first NBA Finals.
The Heat came back down and attempted to reestablish their sputtering offense but were not patient enough to get the ball into the hands of James in one of his sweet spots. They settled instead for an open Haslem 19 foot jumper from the top of the key. After Haslem missed and Diaw secured the rebound for the Spurs, San Antonio purposefully worked the ball back in to Duncan in the post. Timmy turned, swept across the lane, and put up a running jump hook over a helpless Haslem. This shot was reminiscent of the one he had taken over the top of Shane Battier to give the Spurs a lead in the closing minute of Game 7 of last year's Finals in Miami. Last year, he back rimmed it and the rest was history. This year, he dropped it in as if he were blowing a kiss to the Spurs fans in order to reassure us that his "guarantee" would hold true and that the trophy was coming home. Miami quickly called a timeout but it seemed to be of little use in quelling San Antonio's momentum.
On the next Heat possession, Ray Allen was called for an offensive foul setting a moving screen away from the ball on Boris Diaw. Having clearly established a mismatch in Duncan's match up against the undersized Haslem, the Spurs were happy to continue exploiting it. After the Allen turnover, Tony dribbled off of a screen by Timmy, passed to Boris on the wing. Bobo hit a cutting Duncan near the rim. Tim rose up and scored over Haslem once again and drew the foul. One down. The crowd was now officially embarking on its ascension into the rafters and appeared poised to systematically remove the AT&T Center roof from the rest of the building. In other words, it was safe to say that the fans were starting to smell blood. After Timmy had dropped in his third shot int he last four possessions, LeBron James threw up is hands exasperated. Apparently he did not appreciate bearing witness to true NBA royalty as it shredded apart his team's interior defense. As much as privilege might make it hard to accept, sometimes even kings are rendered helpless and forced to sit back and watch the throne.
Even though Timmy missed the free throw that would have tied the game, it was becoming noticeably visible on the television screen that the body language of LeBron James' teammates was taking a turn for the worse. You could now unquestionably see the dejection in their faces. James would not be quite as easily discouraged, but he now seemed resigned to the fact that this was quickly becoming a contest of the best player in the world versus the best team in the world. While his teammates confidence was eroding, to his credit, the evaporation of the Heat lead only made LeBron look more determined. On the next trip down the court, however, (unfortunately for LeBron) the same could also be said about his opponents, who were oozing with defensive intensity and appeared determined to coalesce as a cohesive unit in order to deny another one-man surge. Defiantly, James attempted to attack off the dribble and was met at the rim by the four outstretched arms of Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard. LeBron missed the contested layup and there was a scramble for the loose ball that resulted in the ball cascading out of bounds off of Manu.Not to be deterred, LeBron attacked the rim again after Miami inbounded the ball. Again, he was met at the rim, this time by Timmy and Boris and again he missed the lay up. Uninterested in giving the king a third chance to get to the rim, this time Kawhi gobbled up the rebound and immediately started pushing the ball up the court.
On the break, Rashard Lewis picked up Kawhi sprinting down the middle of the court but as Kahwi approached the three point line, Lewis continued back pedaling to the free throw line. Leonard stopped his attack on a dime and rose up behind the arc to take the type of shot that only superstars dare to attempt on this big of a stage and the type of shot that he wouldn't have dreamed of taking in the 2013 NBA Finals. Not only did Kawhi rise up and attempt such a risky transition three, but in keeping with his rising stardom he had the swagger to bury that cold-blooded triple. Two up. The amassed fans in the AT&T Center lost their collective minds. The San Antonio Spurs had our first lead of Game 5 of the 2014 NBA Finals.
With the lead finally secured, (having already made a play in the critical moment of the game) the Spurs called on Manu Ginobili to step on the opponents' collective throats. Based upon the fire in his eyes, Manu clearly appeared to believe that he still had more to do to finish the job of redeeming himself for his 2013 NBA Finals performance. After Miami wound up with a contested Ray Allen fade away on a broken play, Patty Mills narrowly missed a three, and Rashard Lewis air balled a contested three, Manu caught the ball near the top of the key and waived off a screen to get an isolation against Lewis. Ginobili calmly dribbled the ball back out to near the half court line to set up his attack. He drove left on Lewis and as Chris Bosh came to help near the rim, Manu smoothly reversed the ball underneath the basket with his left hand and dropped it up off the backboard on the other side of the rim for a sick reverse layup. Four up. You could now hear the AT&T Center crowd from the suburbs. After Patty Mills drew a charge on Dwyane Wade on the next Heat possession, you could easily hear the crowd from San Marcos. The Spurs brought the ball back down the court and five passes later, Manu was fouled on another drive to the basket and almost converted the three point play on a runner. He uncharacteristically rimmed out the first free throw but he knocked down the second one. Five up. The crowd at the AT&T Center was going (what could only be described at this point as) bananas and you could almost see the demons of Game 6 of last year's Finals gathering their things together to get ready to leave the building.
LeBron, however, (still competing hard) drove the lane again and created a wide open three pointer for Bosh. Seemingly half-heartedly, Bosh launched the shot which rimmed out. Timmy secured the rebound and got the ball back to Manu on the outlet. With a full head of steam and that look in his eyes, Manu drove to the cup and jumped in the air for what seemed would be another spectacular reverse layup or floater. To the surprise of every member of planet Earth's basketball viewing public, Manu Ginobili didn't put the ball in position for a layup or floater. Instead he just kept rising up in the air. Up and up he went until he had the ball so high that he was at a clear advantage over Chris Bosh, who was challenging Manu at the rim. The 36 year old proceeded to slam the ball so violently into the basket directly in Bosh's face that I literally began crying tears of joy. Seven up (and I'm not talking about the soda), demons exorcised.
In my 30 years of watching the NBA, Manu Ginobili is the only player I have ever seen that has been able to do things with a basketball that have made me so full of such utter euphoria that my only recourse is to begin weeping and that is a good enough reason for me to make him the player of the game. Like the sonic boom you would imagine is created when a supernova explodes, the Spurs fans in attendance finally reached the crescendo of Titletown, TX's close-out a championship at home for the first time in nine years noise. You could hear it clear across the entire state. The noise, as predicted, was now an insurmountable obstacle for the Miami Heat to overcome. The writing was on the wall. When James (still competing, God bless him) was able to drop in a fade-away jumper to cut the lead back to five, the Spurs dribbled back down the court and even though the show was over, Manu amused the fans by granting them an encore. After a series of San Antonio Spurs passes, Manu caught the ball at the top of the key, dribbled right (using a Tim Duncan screen), stepped back off of the dribble, and drained a juicy fade away three pointer. As if it was all a dream, we were eight up, and the ball game was over. The San Antonio Spurs had a lead that we would not relinquish.
In the second half, the coronation was indeed on. Miami was unable to threaten to change the outcome of the game and the Spurs offense shifted naturally into cruise control. Patty Mills erupted for 14 points in the third quarter making all five of his shots including four from downtown. Needless to say, the Spurs backup point guard, who had played remarkably well throughout the playoff run, was hot in the third. In the fourth, it was the Tony Parker show. Parker, who went scoreless until the last possession of the third quarter, scored 14 points in the fourth on 6-7 shooting and 2-2 from the free throw line. It was a fitting cherry on top of the sweet and tasty championship dish for a man who had put the Spurs on his back the season before and almost carried the team to a title. You could easily sense that while Parker had put together a legendary 2013 playoff performance that had fallen only 28 seconds short of a championship, he was much happier to play a lesser role in 2014 but actually capture another ring, with a little help from my friends. With 2:12 left in the game and the Spurs ahead by 18, Gregg Popovich began substituting his star players out to give them a well deserved standing ovation.
After "having the trophy so close within reach that we could almost scrape a finger nail on it" last season, it was remarkable to see the mixture of excitement, joy, relief, and vindication expressed on the star players' faces as they fittingly took their curtain calls. The first to leave was Kawhi Leonard: The Future. Next, it was Tim Duncan: The Franchise. Then, Manu Ginobili: The Legend was pulled from the game. Finally, Coach Pop substituted for Tony Parker: The Present and Boris Diaw: The X-Factor together allowing the high school teammates the opportunity to fulfill a childhood dream. After all of the Spurs' stars had had their curtain calls, it was just a matter of watching the clock run down during garbage time.
With 42 seconds left in the game, Jeff Ayers made the last basket of the Spurs' 2014 NBA season by draining a 20 foot jumper that was assisted by The Red Mamba, Matt Bonner (the only other member of the team besides the Big Three that was already an NBA Champion). Tony Douglas came down a made a 24 foot three point jumper for the Heat with 37 seconds left and then the countdown to basketball bliss was on. Because the shot clock was running down with 14 seconds left in the game, Corey Joseph launched a half-hearted 19 foot jumper that missed. James Jones got the rebound, Miami advanced the ball, and Toney Douglas put up another three pointer with one second left for good measure. The shot missed as the buzzer sounded and the San Antonio Spurs were NBA Champions once again. The drive for five was complete. Confetti was free fallin'. Cinco.
The post-game celebration was spectacular to witness. Coach Pop sitting on the bench, looking utterly exhausted, just soaking in the excitement of his players. Tim Duncan and Mana Ginobili enjoying the moment through the eyes of their children. Danny Green running around like a kid in a candy store, manically trying to hug anyone and everyone all at once. Above all else, what stood out was the expression on Kawhi Leonard's face as the players gathered for trophy ceremony. If you've ever wanted to know what it is like to win a championship, all you would have to do is look at Kawhi's eyes during those moments. They told you, "it's good." And his smile reinforced, "it is good." As Adam Silver (the newly appointed NBA Commissioner) announced Leonard as the recipient of the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP award, the combination of unbridled joy and genuine shock was a fascinating snapshot of this entire era of San Antonio Spurs basketball. The humble glow on Kawhi's face just beamed through as if to say, "wow, this is pretty sweet, I could get used to it." Hopefully, like his teammate Tim Duncan, who won the same trophy in 1999 (at a similar age to Kawhi) he will in fact get quite used to it. Not only was Kawhi following in the footsteps of Timmy, but for the first time since Paul Pierce in 2008 and for only the fourth time in history (Dennis Johnson in 1979 and Bill Walton in 1977), the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award is going (going) back (back) to Cali. Kawhi is only the fourth native Californian to win the award joining Pierce, Johnson, and Walton.
Leonard played remarkably in Game 3-5 of the Finals. He was like a phantom of the future. Game 3: 29 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks. Game 4: 20 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks. Game 5: 22 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block. For three games, Kawhi went toe to toe with the best basketball player in the world in LeBron James and for three games, the Spurs' small forward played the king to at least a draw. Kawhi forced LeBron's game to suffer a severe case of californication. In fact, you could easily argue that Kawhi's combination of Bruce Bowen defense and Sean Elliot offense in the final three games of the series was good enough to one up LeBron.
While firmly establishing himself during these Finals as an NBA superstar, Kawhi also has karate kicked the Spurs' championship window back to wide open for several years to come. As for next year, the young nucleus of Tiago, Danny, Patty, and Kawhi represents a respectable foundation for constructing a playoff contender. Throw in the rejuvenated Boris Diaw, a still-in-his-prime Tony Parker continuing to play at an all-star level, and another year of Manu and Timmy performing at an exceptional level for their age, and there is no reason why San Antonio shouldn't be right in the mix to defend our title when the 2015 playoff roll around. This sustained run of excellence, that will seemingly continue for several years to come, has exceeded the wildness of my imagination as a young Spurs fan coming of age during the first run to the title in 1999. It is hard to fathom that here we are 16 seasons later and there is no end in sight for the Spurs playing the role of championship contender. What are the chances that your favorite team from childhood would go on to become (hands down) the best team in American professional sports for two straight decades? Not a day goes by that I don't marvel in the dumb luck of that happening to me. I'm thankful for my Spurs every day.
We here now. It's time to stand up and elevate the game.
In this series, the #BlackAndSilver were in pursuit of achieving a human accomplishment that predates the entire history in which our species has enjoyed stewardship of the planet. In this series, the Spurs were in pursuit of achieving something primordial...redemption. It was evident from before the tip-off of the first game. You may have noticed a stark difference between the introduction of the 2014 NBA Finals from the introduction of the 2013 NBA Finals. This year's finals were not introduced with a laser and fire show as they were the year before in Miami. In San Antonio, the National Anthem was sung, the lineups were introduced, and the players took the court to jump center. It was an old-school feel. So old-school, in fact, the AT&T Center forgot to turn on the air conditioning for Game 1. The blistering playing conditions of Game 1 were emblematic of the fiery focus of a team that would not be deterred from achieving the redemption it had locked its sight on. The focus in our players' eyes was carnal and that fire burned over the course of the next five games. Without theatrics or showmanship this focused group from humble San Antonio put on their hard hats and worked the glitz and glamour Heatles into dust. Ball don't lie when the results are irrefutable. The Spurs outscored the Heat by an average of 14 points per game, the largest point differential in NBA Finals history. San Antonio not only chased redemption and captured it in the 2014 NBA Finals, but we inevitably grabbed it so hard that we squeezed the life out of the flamboyant team that we were taking it from.
Indeed, the 2014 San Antonio Spurs were among the greatest championship teams in recent memory. The way that we were able to come together to play dominant team basketball was truly remarkable. This team was better than the 2013 Heat title team. If you could catch Eric Spolstra, Pat Riley, or a member of the team in a moment of candor, I imagine that you could get any of them, to a man, to admit that they were extremely fortunate to be champions in 2013. This year's Spurs team was also better than the 2012 Heat or the 2011 Mavs. This squad would have destroyed the Kobe-Gasol Lakers. I believe they would be favored over the 2008 Boston Celtics. This current incarnation of the Spurs, while not the defensive behemoth of past title teams, was hands down the best offensive Spurs squad to win a title. And because they were sneakily above average defensively as well, they were arguably the best Spurs title team to-date. The last champion that could make a compelling case to be historically greater is probably the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers. When you factor in the redemption theme, you can, however, make a strong case that this year's Spurs team was the greatest team to win an NBA championship since the 1998 Chicago Bulls.
Speaking of redemption, while ranking the greatness of past champions is a subjective endeavor, I can say that the similarities that I outlined before these Finals started between the 1989 Detroit Pistons and the 2014 San Antonio Spurs proved to be quite accurate. Both teams lost the Finals in seven games the year before in heart-breaking fashion. Both teams also had the good fortune to get a rematch against the team that had beaten them in the Finals the year before. In 1989, the Detroit Pistons dismantled the Los Angeles Lakers in a decisive four game sweep that ultimately shut the door on the championships that were collected by the Magic Johnson / Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Pat Riley era Lakers. In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs annihilated the Miami Heat and halted the ring count bravado of the LeBron James / Dwyane Wade / Chris Bosh era. Heat at not three, not four, not five, not six, but two. Both teams ripped through their respective opponents as if they weren't even playing the rival who had bested them the year before but were rather playing a game of chess against redemption itself. It takes focus to beat redemption at a game of chess and both teams had it. It also takes an impeccable brain trust. For the 1989 Detroit Pistons, that brain trust was Hall of Fame point guard Isaiah Thomas and legendary Head Coach Chuck Daly. Thomas and Daly, while at the NBA apex for a period of only two years, were nonetheless standard-bearers for basketball excellence during the bridge between Magic's Lakers and Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. Future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan and his cantankerous partner Head Coach Gregg Popovich are clearly the brain trust of the 2014 San Antonio Spurs. Their run of basketball excellence has sustained over two decades and by taking the 2014 NBA title, Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich have further solidified their entrenchment as the standard-bearers for consistent brilliance over the last twenty years not only for the NBA, but for all of American professional sports.
This is a public service announcement, brought to you by the good folks at theLeftAhead: Tim Duncan is NOT the greatest power forward of all-time. Is Tim Duncan greater than Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Kevin Garnett and on down the list? There is no question about it. But by boxing Timmy into a discussion about power forwards, one is robbing his legacy the opportunity to be held up and compared to other big men...the likes of Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neal, and on down the list. Furthermore, Timmy's place among the pantheon of great players should not be limited by position at all. Not that Tim Duncan cares about all of the lights, but we need to be discussing how he compares to Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Kobe Bryant as well. Now that Timmy has been around the block five times, I am of the opinion that he is one of the five greatest basketball players of all-time. The others on my list? Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Magic Johnson. Keep in my mind that I said the greatest basketball players of all-time not the best basketball players of all-time. Best means that one has mastered the art of playing the game of basketball; greatest means that one has mastered the art of winning at the game of basketball's highest level. So yes, Tim Duncan is one of the five greatest basketball players of all-time. Not only am I of this opinion, but I have the numbers to bare it out.
Now that the ring count is retied, it is extremely difficult for the Kobe apologists to continue to make the case that Kobe is the greatest player in the post-Jordan era. Keep in mind that Kobe won three of his five championship rings as arguably the second best player on the team, in other words as Shaquille O'Neal's sidekick. While Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and now Kawhi Leonard have all had moments during championship runs where they have asserted themselves as the Spurs number one option, there is no question that for all five championship runs, Tim Duncan was the foundation of the team and for his entire career, he has been the Spurs best player. Tim Duncan is a quintessential winner and with this title he has definitively cemented his status as the greatest NBA basketball player in the post-Jordan era. In fact, based on winning at the highest level, you can argue that Timmy is the second greatest player behind Michael Jordan to lace them up since 1980. Look at how Timmy's career performance in the NBA Finals stacks up against the other all-time great players of the last 34 years. Only Michael Jordan boasts a better career performance.
Notable NBA Finals Career Performances Since 1980
(minimum 27 games)
Michael Jordan: 24-11 in the NBA Finals (.686), 6 championship rings (6-0 in Finals series), 6 Finals MVP's
Tim Duncan: 23-11 in the NBA Finals (.676), 5 championship rings (5-1 in Finals series), 3 Finals MVP's
Kobe Bryant: 23-14 in the NBA Finals (.621), 5 championship rings (5-2 in Finals series), 2 Finals MVP's
Shaquille O'Neal: 17-13 in the NBA Finals (.567), 4 championship rings (4-2 in Finals series), 3 Finals MVP's
Larry Bird: 16-15 in the NBA Finals (.516), 3 championship rings (3-2 in Finals series), 2 Finals MVP's
Magic Johnson: 24-27 in the NBA Finals (.471), 5 championship rings (5-4 in Finals series), 3 Finals MVP's
LeBron James: 11-16 in the NBA Finals (.407), 2 championship rings (2-3 in Finals series), 2 Finals MVP's
This 5th NBA Championship is enormous for something that Tim Duncan insists that he does not spend time thinking about but is constantly on the mind of his biggest fans...his legacy. The appointment Timmy has made to hoist a 5th banner into the rafters of the AT&T Center catapults Duncan, in my opinion, onto the Mount Rushmore of basketball players, supplanting Magic Johnson to take his place next to Bill Russell, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. By leading the Spurs to the 2014 title, the incomparable Tim Duncan aka Time's Father has left Kobe Bryant and all of his other contemporaries in his dust and ascended to the highest rung for greatness in NBA annals. Timmy now has Russell, Jordan, and Jabbar in his sights and should he capture another title before he retires he will pass by Kareem and spark quite a debate for basketball junkies such as myself because a 6th Duncan ring would invariably make the designation of Greatest Basketball Player of All-Time a three person conversation.
What is likely far more rewarding to Timmy than individual greatness, is being a part of the San Antonio big three. Duncan reveres his teammates and having a pair of them that have been by his side for the majority of this spectacular run is seemingly more rewarding to him than all of the individual hardware he has collected over the years. You need not look any further for evidence of this than Timmy's interactions with Tony and Manu while celebrating their fourth title together. Duncan couldn't seem to get enough of being near Tony and Manu and reflecting on what they had accomplished together as comrades, brothers, and friends. And indeed, what the three of them have accomplished together is truly extraordinary...four titles together spanning 12 seasons. Incredible.
If the trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili had happened to be put together for an NBA franchise in a major media market, they would be universally revered as the greatest NBA trio of all-time. For arguments sake, let’s place them in Boston. Say Rick Pitino and the Celtics had won that 1997 draft lottery after all and drafted Tim Duncan and had also had the good fortune to draft Parker and Ginobili in subsequent years. Boston fans would have forgotten about Larry Bird, Kevin McCale, and Robert Parish because Boston would now have 21 NBA titles instead of 17 with Timmy, Tony, and Manu hauling in more banners than Larry Legend did. The Spurs trio would be regarded as the kings of Boston with the city's infamous fans lining up arm in arm all along the watchtower on the off chance that they might catch a glimpse or their conquering heroes each time they were ushered inside the castle walls. Boston fans would be like, Pedro who? The pet phrase Big Papi would evoke Bostonians to think of Big Punisher not David Ortiz. I mean, Bobby Orr wouldn't even be able to get a free ride on a zambony these days in Boston if Tim, Tony, and Manu were currently playing there. In New York? Forget about it. Luckily for me and millions of other small-market Spurs fans, we rarely had to share our adoration of the greatest trio in NBA history with the rest of basketball's global fan base until recently. As much as we have enjoyed keeping Timmy, Tony, and Manu primarily to ourselves over the last 12 years, it is gratifying to see them finally getting their just do with the larger basketball audience.
Revolution 1: The art of teamwork, perfected.
The culmination that faithful Spurs fans had been waiting for manifested in the 2014 NBA Finals. For the 2014 San Antonio Spurs, it truly was a beautiful game. The Spurs had shown glimpses of this unstoppable team basketball at times over the past three seasons. During the 20 game winning streak spanning the last ten games of the 2012 regular season and the first ten games of the 2012 playoffs, it was on display. The Spurs reached these heights at times during the 2013 Finals run, albeit too sporadically. It's almost a footnote in Spurs history now given the heartbreaking way that the 2013 Finals concluded, but the Spurs dismantled the defending champion Miami Heat by 36 points in Game 3 of that series. This season, we had a 19 game winning streak during the regular season during which we looked unbeatable at times.
This ascension back to the NBA mountain top seemed unfathomable to most of the experts. After losing Manu Ginobili to injury prior to the 2009 NBA playoffs and then inexplicably bowing out in the first round as the three seed to the sixth seeded Dallas Mavericks in 5 games, a theory emerged that the Spurs were too old to continue to compete for NBA championships. In 2010, we returned the favor to Dallas by upsetting the second seeded Mavericks as the seventh seed but we proceeded to fall apart in the second-round and let one of our other rivals from years past finally got the better of us. The Phoenix Suns exorcised some of their own demons by sweeping the Spurs out of the playoffs in that 2010 Western Conference Semi-Final series. In 2011, the Spurs temporarily quelled some of the "too old" narrative by regaining our mastery of the regular season to enter the 2011 playoffs as the one seed. Once again, however, an injury disrupted Manu Ginobili and the Spurs were embarrassingly eliminated in the first round by the Memphis Grizzlies in six games.
At this point the "too old" narrative reached its apex right before the Spurs pulled off one of the greatest draft day trades in NBA history to acquire the rights to Kawhi Leonard in exchange for sending beloved Spurs guard George Hill to his hometown Indiana Pacers. Plucking American-born Kawhi Leonard away from the Pacers began one of the most spectacular engineering projects of global collaboration in the history of industrialization that retooled the Spurs into the machine on display during these Finals. Kawhi was soon joined by fellow American Danny Green to create the toughest defensive starting wing-combination in the NBA. With that combination in place to accompany the big three, the Spurs' front office did what they do better than any other front office in the league and started globe trotting. Boris Diaw was added to the squad to join Tony from France. Tiago Splitter continued to develop his Brazilian game to complement Manu's South American flare. Patty Mills and Aron Baynes were acquired from Down Under and Marco Belinelli was brought in to add some Italian seasoning to the mix. By the time the 2012 lock out ended and the season was underway, the Spurs had remarkably found a way to put all of the pieces into place to return to seriously contending for NBA championships. It was just a matter of time before the machine became an instrument that was fine-tuned to begin playing the sweet, sweet music of The Beautiful Game.
This June, the time was finally now. Without a doubt, the 2014 San Antonio Spurs were built not bought. In fact, they were purposefully engineered in the global marketplace to outwit the discouraging trend of teams buying the greatest individual talent available in American and betting on the odds that the accumulation of individual talent would overpower the competition. This was the blueprint that the 2012 and 2013 Miami Heat borrowed from the 2008 Boston Celtics to win back-to-back NBA championships. This year, the Spurs obliterated that blueprint by building a global team whose whole was remarkably greater than the sum of its parts. The engineering of the machine was complete. The machine was a beautiful instrument and that instrument played a song so overpowering that the best basketball player in the world was powerless to silence it. The Beautiful Game performed an overpowering symphony in the 2014 NBA Finals that was so remarkably rewarding to listen to, there is only one possibility for its title. Cinco.
As I sit here beaming as one of the luckiest and happiest sports fans of a generation, I know that I should be satisfied. I know I should stop clapping and exit the theater. But against my better judgement, I can't help but wonder if the San Antonio Spurs have one more encore left for those of us still in the audience continuing our unabashed ovation. There is still one unturned stone, there is still one unaccomplished goal, there is still one dream that we have not yet been able to catch. Back-to-back. So if you need me, I'll still be here in the audience cheering relentlessly and waiting to see if the band comes back out to give that one elusive encore. If you need me, I'll still be here in the audience holding my breath waiting to see if The Beautiful Game returns to play the most spectacular symphony of my wildest dreams. Come on, San Antonio. Just one more. Play that back-to-back music to my ears. Let's go, Spurs. Just one more. Seis.
* * *
As I sat on the couch and in that vast empty space, I knew that my emotions would soon engulf me. I rested there, motionless, embracing my catatonia while fully understanding that time is the enemy. My acute awareness of an impending emotional reaction was driven primarily by my experience in April, but also partially by a prior experience with a championship clinching win by the San Antonio Spurs. As I stared blankly at the television, coincidentally on Father's Day, at this 2014 Spurs' celebration, I remembered my experience watching Game 7 of the 2005 NBA Finals and I remembered my dad. The 2005 NBA Finals series between the Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs had been a special moment in time for my father and me. Since my childhood, my dad and I had dreamed of an NBA Finals match up between our two favorite teams (Detroit was my dad's favorite team and San Antonio is obviously my favorite team) and in bitter sweet fashion, our dream came to pass in 2005 at both the best and worst of times.
In August of 2004, my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. I was living in Detroit at the time and the Pistons were fresh off of winning the title in resounding fashion by destroying the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. My dad and I had had an ongoing tradition since I was in junior high school to attend the Spurs' game in San Antonio each year when the Detroit Pistons were in town. With a couple of exceptions due to extenuating circumstances, my dad and I had attended every Detroit Pistons v. San Antonio Spurs game that took place in San Antonio since 1993. After my dad's diagnosis, he and my mom visited me in Detroit and we were able to take a trip out to the Palace at Auburn Hills (the Detroit Pistons arena) but it was during the NBA off-season so there was not an opportunity to see a Pistons' home game during their visit. Nonetheless, after I returned to Texas during the holidays, my dad and I attended one last game between the Pistons and the Spurs in San Antonio during the 2004-05 regular season. With both the Pistons and Spurs once again among the top teams in their respective conferences, I remember my dad and I discussed during the game how promising it looked that our dream of Detroit v. San Antonio matchup in the NBA Finals would be realized in June.
When June arrived and that was, amazingly, the 2005 NBA Finals matchup, my dad's disease had taken root and his mind was too far gone to be fully present with me to share the experience we had been dreaming of for so many years. I watched the Spurs defeat the Pistons in Game 2 with him in my parent's home on Sunday, June 12, 2005. My dad smiled as he peered at the television during that game. He clearly enjoyed my company but was experiencing the realization of our dream in spirit much more than he was able to experience it cognitively. By the time Game 7 arrived, and the Spurs escaped victorious from a pressure-packed fourth quarter, watching the game alone in my Dallas apartment, I remember I had had a numbness in processing the result. I had occupied a vast, empty space as the Spurs began celebrating the 2005 championship. I remember that I was emotionally exhausted and I was eerily detached from the happiness that comes with a title-clinching victory. After watching the championship ceremony and witnessing Tim Duncan receive his third NBA Finals MVP award, I called my parents on the phone to talk to my dad. He was happy to speak to me. My mom had had the game on in the house for him, but apparently he had not been able to process the results very well. When I told him that my Spurs had just finished playing his Pistons for the NBA Championship, he asked me, "who scored the most touchdowns?" That was the moment the devastatingly cruel reality of Alzheimer's disease hit home with me. Alone in an apartment in Dallas, I was no longer detached. The space I occupied was no long vast and empty. On the night of Thursday, June 23, 2005, my beloved San Antonio Spurs had just won our third NBA championship and I was alone, balling uncontrollably, engulfed in a perfect storm of agony and ecstasy. The ferocity of the competing emotions made for a piercing experience, one I assumed I was unlikely to experience again.
Once in a lifetime, water flowing underground. Same as it ever was.
One of the last things that Brian and I had been making plans to do together was to find a weekend to get together in San Antonio and go to a Spurs game. As the season wore on and we hadn't pinned down a game we wanted to attend on a weekend that worked with both of our schedules, it seemed that the best plan might be to try to target a playoff game that would fall on a weekend. Then, on April 3 (a few weeks before the start of the playoffs), just like that, Brian was gone. When I decided to write this second edition of the Black & Silver blog series after Brian's passing, I knew that I wanted to dedicate it to my best friend. After making the commitment to the project, I experienced this calming confidence that permeated from outside of myself and that I associated with Brian's spirit. Inexplicably, I just knew that the Spurs would prevail this year.
Through out the playoff run, I carried his memory with me. The Spurs have allowed me to feel close to him. Since Brian's passing, I've worn a silver rose on a necklace as a memorial to my best friend. The rose is symbolic of a significant moment in our friendship so I have been wearing it around my neck as a tribute to him every day since April 3rd and I will continue to wear it every day for the rest of my life. As these playoffs have unfolded, I've regularly clutched the rose on my necklace in tense moments during games. After the Spurs captured the title, as I sat on the couch watching the championship ceremony unfold, the vast empty space persisted and I continued to wait patiently to be engulfed. I knew that the same mixture of emotions that I felt in 2005 were an inevitability. I also knew that there was only one thing that would release me from emptiness and into the endless depths of emotion. There was a song that I needed to hear. Holding on to the rose on my necklace I sat on the couch in my emptiness and watched to post game championship coverage until the last piece of confetti had dropped from the rafters. When the coverage was complete and the lights were turned off in the AT&T Center, embracing the darkness, I switched over from the television to our living room stereo, found the aforementioned song and pressed play. The music crashed down on my soul like a tidal wave and, as anticipated, I was finally engulfed.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year.
We met in seventh grade basketball tryouts. It was 1991 and I guess I was thirteen and he was twelve. Being a naturally gifted athlete, Brian was ahead of me on the depth chart. If my memory serves me, he started the season as the third string point guard on the A team and I started the season as the second string point guard on the B team. For whatever reason, quickly after tryouts had begun, we started pairing up together for drills during practice that required a partner. Maybe it was because we enjoyed each other’s company. Perhaps it was because Brian was very laid back and I lacked steady confidence in my abilities which made us a good match because some of the other point guards on the team were super competitive. I’m sure it was probably a combination of those things. Regardless, I quickly established myself in Brian’s circle of close friends.
I think that one of the reasons we ended up becoming best friends is that, while we shared similar interests with our entire group of friends such as sports, video games, clothes, and music, Brian and I seemed to have a special connection when it came to our shared interests in music and basketball. It went beyond simply enjoying the same artists and athletes. For some reason, we both had a passion to interact with the music and sport that we loved, but we always had a blast sharing music and basketball with each other. For over 22 years music and basketball were woven together throughout the majestic quilt that was my most important friendship. From creating our own pretend radio station as eight graders in 1992 to creating Rhime Divine (our own hip hop group) as college sophomores in 1998. From having a blast playing Hoop It Up together in Austin in 1994 to attending Game 1 of the 2003 NBA Finals together at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Music and basketball were omnipresent in my relationship with my best friend. This journey has taught me that they are now vehicles that I can use anytime that I want to feel close to him.
As I announced in the post after the Spurs had gone into the City of Blinding Lights and stormed the castle, the songs that appear in this year’s edition of the Black And Silver blog series originate from a playlist entitled Brian’s Cuts that I created for his memorial party. These were songs that Brian loved. I used them to honor him as I used our team as my muse to do something that he always pushed me to do more of; write. Perhaps the blogging was a coping mechanism. Perhaps it was a distraction. The pain was acute when I began this journey and sitting on the couch in that vast empty space after the journey was complete, I was utterly exhausted. I had nothing left. It has taken me a great deal of time to put these thoughts together. While the thoughts flowed freely during the journey, once it was completed, the well was empty. Now, I am finally beginning the slow process of replenishing it.
A great deal has changed since that unforgettable night in June. I now live in Denver, Colorado. LeBron James is once again a Cleveland Cavalier. And the San Antonio Spurs once again have made history by becoming the first franchise in the four major North American professional sports leagues to hire a full-time female assistant coach in Becky Hammon (one of my proudest moments as a Spurs fan). One thing hasn't changed. I miss my best friend and I think about him every day. I am continuing to use music and basketball as vehicles to feel close to him. As I had come to realize during the journey that was the 2014 San Antonio Spurs' march to a tithe title, music and basketball are woven together throughout the majestic quilt that was my most important friendship. The two fabrics complimented each other perfectly.
Sitting on that couch in that vast empty space back in June, I prepared myself for the inevitable engulfment, found the song I needed to hear and I pressed play. Wish you were here. With every ounce of my being, in that moment, wish you were here. I finally succumbed to the moment and the moment brought me peace. Brian is gone but every time I clutch my rose, I garner strength. I have our music. Every time I play one of our songs, I garner strength. I have our Spurs. Every time I reflect back on the 2014 Spurs march to the title and how close it made me fells to my best fiend, I garner strength. Wish you were here. And wishing it is torture, but through this journey I have established an unbreakable connection with the ways that you are here. Brian, I miss you. I can't wait to see you again on the other side. Until then, I won't forget to write.
Editor's Note: An excerpt of this post was originally published on July 31, 2014. The excerpt was deleted and replaced with the completed piece on May 2, 2015 but we are choosing to keep the original publication date. The final version of this piece references the hiring of Becky Hammon by the San Antonio Spurs on August 5, 2014. That historic event, however, postdates the represented publication date of the post.
Featured Image Source: NBA.com
Headline Image Source: El Quinto Cuarto
One Left
2014 NBA Finals, Game 4
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.
* * *
Wish you were here.
Featured Image Source: Widescreen Wallpapers
Headline Image Source: The New York Times
Two Left
2014 NBA Finals, Game 3
City of Blinding Lights - It has been quite a long time since the San Antonio Spurs have had a superstar basketball player on our roster who was born on the American mainland. 29 years to be exact. "How could this be?" you ask. Well, Tony Parker obviously doesn't fit that criteria. He was born in Bruges, Belgium on May 17, 1982. Manu Ginobili obviously doesn't fit the criteria either. He was born in Bahía Blanca, Argentina on July 28, 1977. "Tim Duncan?" Although he was born a U.S. Citizen, it is pretty well universally known among basketball fans that he doesn't fit the criteria either. Timmy was born in Christiansted, United States Virgin Islands on April 25, 1976. "Hold on, surely David Robinson was born on the American mainland, right? After all, he postponed beginning his NBA career for two years to finish his commitment to the United States Navy. His nickname is the Admiral. He is practically Captain America." Actually, while David Robinson was born in the continental United States, even he does not fit the criteria because he was born on the island of Key West, Florida on August 6, 1965. So there you have it. The last player to fit the criteria was a nine time NBA All-Star, made the All-NBA First Team five times, and was a four time NBA scoring champion. He stopped playing for the franchise in 1985 and his number 44 jersey has been hanging from the rafters in the AT&T Center (the Alamodome and HemisFair Arena previously) for quite some time. As far as being born on the American mainland and also going on the become a superstar basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs is concerned, George Gervin, who was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 27, 1952, might finally have some company. 22 year old Kawhi Leonard, who was born in Riverside, California on June 29, 1991 (six years after The Iceman played his last game for the franchise), had a performance Tuesday night on basketball's biggest stage that just might have cemented his ascension to superstar basketball player status. Leonard scored 29 points on 10-13 shooting (3-6 from deep) in Game 3 of the 2014 NBA Finals to spearhead a 111-92 Spurs road victory over the Heat at American Airlines Arena in Miami. Thanks in large part to the performance of Kawhi, home court advantage in the series has officially been grabbed right back.
Not only did Kawhi shoot lights out, but he also collected 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocked shots while playing stellar defense the entire game on the world's best basketball player. LeBron James was limited to 22 points and committed an uncharacteristic seven turnovers with Leonard draped all over him for big stretches of the game. After two games in this series and a split at home, San Antonio Spurs fans had been worried because Kawhi's performance had not been able to rival the breathtaking showcase of his abilities as a two-way player he had unleashed during the 2013 NBA Finals (averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds). For Games 1 & 2 of the 2014 NBA Finals, Kawhi put up only 9 points and 2 rebounds in each game and was in constant foul trouble committing 9 personal fouls in 56 minutes and fouling out of Game 2. He seemed tentative with his decision making back in San Antonio and he was allowing James to be the aggressor in their one-on-one match up on both ends of the floor. It is no secret that the acquisition of the draft rights for Kawhi Leonard during the 2012 NBA draft is one of the primary reasons that the Spurs have reemerged as championship contenders over the past couple of seasons. Coming into Game 3, Spurs fans knew that it would be extremely difficult for us to win a road game against the two-time defending champions if we continued to get the tentative Kawhi from Game 1 & 2. We knew that we needed the beast-mode Kawhi from the 2013 Finals and Tuesday night we got that and then some. Whi played a breathtaking game and asserted himself as a dominant force from the jump by hitting his first six shots on his way to scoring 16 points in the first quarter and outdueling LeBron in the process (James had 14 first quarter points). Leonard, as the primary defender on James, then proceeded to hold LeBron to only eight points over the course of the final three periods. Kawhi clearly was on a mission on Tuesday to make up for his earlier struggles in the series and his superstar performance made him the runaway choice for player of the game. By the way, only two other players in NBA history have scored 29 or more points in an NBA Finals game before enjoying their 23rd birthdays. Their names? Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. Last night, Kawhi Leonard: NBA superstar may just have indeed arrived.
* * *
Yes, the Spurs might actually have our first NBA superstar on the roster that was born on the American mainland since George Gervin in 1985. In fact, in this period that constitutes R.C. Buford's tenure running the franchise's basketball operations, I would venture with near certainty that the San Antonio Spurs have had the fewest American basketball players suit up for our team of any franchise in the league. I can't imagine that it is even close. You would be hard pressed to find a better collection of international athletic talent on display any where in the world over the past 10 years than the basketball roster that the Spurs have sent on the court night in and night out and currently have competing in the NBA Finals. Thinking about the Wild International uniqueness of the Spurs yesterday, I was reminded of a preseason game I attended a few years back with my best friend, Brian and my wife, Jenn. I knew that I had tweeted before that particular game so I used my Twitter feed to help me remember when it took place. It turns out that it was a preseason game that occurred as we were embarking upon the 2009-2010 season. On a side note, after locating the tweet I also realized just how long ago 2009 was technologically. If I had had a fully developed Twitter game back in the fall of 2009, the tweet from that day would have looked slightly different:
Going to the Spurs game tonight. Seats on the 15th row. 2nd best seats I've ever had. Pop better play Timmy, Manu, and Tony.
— Ted James (@tedjames) October 9, 2009
After scrolling back through my Twitter feed to 2009, I almost chuckled remembering how primitive my skills at using the platform were back then. Knowing what I know now as an unverified Twitter ninja, the tweet would have probably been reworded and abbreviated so that it could have also included @thebdub and @JHook528 and #GoSpursGo. This would have made for a much more nostalgic trip back down #MemoryLane (You see what I did there? Ninja skills). At any rate, what prompted me to think about a random preseason game yesterday was that it had served as an interesting opportunity to watch the best international basketball club in the world actually play another international club. The Spurs took on Olympiacos Piraeus B.C. at the AT&T Center that night. I remember that the three of us had an amazing time watching an interesting game. What stood out to me about the game, more than anything, was that because we had been fortunate enough to have unbelievable seats on the 15th row, we were close enough to the court to hear the players communicate. To my surprise, I heard less English from the Spurs at times than I heard from the Olympiacos squad led by Josh Childress. The current version of the Spurs is even more international than those teams at the beginning of the decade. Despite all of the English As a Second Language (EASL) barriers that the Spurs have had to work around each and every season during the R.C. Buford era, it is quite obvious that basketball (at the least the way its played in San Antonio) is a universal language. The San Antonio Spurs, in the truest sense of the word, are the world's best basketball team.
As often happens, reflecting on one positive memory triggers the remembrance of another. That night, after the game, Brian came over to Jenn and my house to partake in another one of our other favorite past times along with rooting for the Spurs...barbequing. On countless occasions after Jenn and I had bought our house in 2008, Brian came back into town to kick back with us, have a few cold ones, listen to music, and eat. If we were grilling food on a Friday or Saturday night and there was any possibility that Brian could get away from Austin, he was there. Sometimes we would have large gatherings of friends over to barbeque at the house. Other times it was just the three of us. Either way, there was nothing more enjoyable than hanging out with Brian late into the night on our deck (or before we built it, in the driveway) discussing politics, music, and of course the Spurs. Brian and I were known to overdo it from time to time. Every once and a while, a few cold ones turned into a few too many. One of those nights was on the eve of the 2009 Inauguration of Barack Obama. Brian and I were so excited about the historic event we were about to witness the next morning that we just stayed up right through the night. As the sun was rising on the morning of January 20, 2009, Brian and I were wide awake, deep in conversation, and listening to music. One of the songs that I distinctly remember us listening to during that brilliant sunrise was a song that had become somewhat of an Obama for America campaign theme song: "City of Blinding Lights" by U2. Memories have a funny way of fusing together the things that you miss about the important people you have lost. I miss listening to music with my best friend. I miss watching the Spurs with my best friend. In reverence to these things that are now absent in my life, the songs that appear in this year's edition of the Black And Silver blog series originate from a playlist entitled Brian's Cuts that I created for his memorial party.
* * *
San Antonio put on an historic exhibition of basketball on Tuesday night during the first half of a game played under the blinding lights of the city that boasted an undefeated home record in American Airlines Arena during the 2014 NBA playoffs heading into Game 3. We scored 41 points in the first quarter. We scored 71 points in the first half. We made an NBA Finals record 75.8 percent of the shots that we attempted in those two quarters. It was a beautiful display of sharing the basketball that happens only once upon a dream. As perfection is an unobtainable pursuit in an endeavor as complex as an playing an NBA basketball game, the 2014 San Antonio Spurs may never reach Revolution 1: the art of teamwork perfected, but during the first half of Game 3 we seemed hellbent on trying. That was probably about as close to a perfect display of team basketball as has ever been seen on a stage as grand as the NBA Finals. Hopefully, since we came up a little short of perfection (missing 24.2 percent of our shots by the end of the half), the Spurs can make another run at perfection tonight. We are going to have to play even better than we did on Tuesday in order to return home from Miami unscathed and to give ourselves an opportunity to close out the champs at home on Sunday. While tonight's game is a must-win for the Miami Heat, in my opinion it is also a must-win for us. Miami has proven over and over again that they will make you pay for allowing them to hang in a series in which you've had the early upper hand. Yes, it is becoming harder and harder to argue the fact that the Spurs are the best team in the NBA. San Antonio has won two games in this series by sharing the basketball and relying on our cohesion as a collection of international talent to overwhelm the Heat in those two contests. The Heat, however, still have the best basketball player in the world and were able to win Game 2 because of his determination and his brilliance. The longer a series is prolonged, the better the chance that the best player has of imposing his will to outlast the best team.
The reason for this is that the longer that the best player is able to keep his teammates afloat, the more confident they will become in their own abilities to help him persevere thus elevating their entire group closer to the level of the better team. Once the two teams are playing on closer to an equal footing, the lesser team has a much better chance of utilizing the best player in the world to steal the series. We have seen that movie before and I am not interested in seeing a sequel. The heartbreak of Game 6 much less LeBron James' series clinching jumper in Game 7 last year never happen if the Spurs had somehow found the energy and resilience to match the Heat's desperation in Game 4 and impose our will. Tonight it will be even more difficult than it was last year because Miami has the added advantage of playing Game 4 at home. We are facing an extraordinary challenge tonight against the defending champs. I believe, however, that if the #BlackAndSilver continue to play our wild international brand of basketball in pursuit of Revolution 1, we will be up for the challenge. We came to Miami this week for redemption, not for a split. The juicy gossip on South Beach is that there might be a new superstar coming to town next season. What is being overlooked in all the hysteria surrounding the possible completion of the Heatles is that, perhaps, there is a new superstar in Miami at this very moment. Even when your game is as American as apple pie and as smooth as ice, when you are quieter than Tim Duncan sometimes it takes a while for people to take notice that the thing that makes you a superstar is playing your role to help your team play winning basketball in the most hostile environments and for the biggest stakes. Kawhi Leonard, you might just be the brightest star in the city of blinding lights tonight.
Featured Image Source: Atchim
Seven Right
2014 NBA Finals, Game 2
Starin' Through My Rear View - The Miami Heat lead the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals five to four after coming into the AT&T Center last night and stealing Game 2 of this year's series 98-96 in front of 18,581 properly cooled off Spurs fans. My fear coming into last night was that the Heat were capable of stealing Game 2 by forcing the Spurs into committing an uncharacteristic number of turnovers and then converting those into fast break points at the other end of the court. To my complete and utter shock, Miami indeed proved capable of stealing Game 2 but not through the formula that I believed to be their only path to victory. San Antonio only committed 11 turnovers last night which Miami converted into an uneventful five points. If I hadn't been allowed to watch the game and was only allowed to look at one statistic from the box score after the game to try to determine whether or not we had won, I would have looked at the Spurs' turnovers. The way that we have been playing at home this postseason, having seen those numbers, I would have assumed that we probably cruised to another double-digit victory at the AT&T Center. And, indeed, we were well on our way to doing just that for the first 14 minutes of the game. The Spurs were ahead of the Heat by 11 (30-19) when, for some inexplicable reason, Ray Allen was able to fake both Marco Belinelli and Boris Diaw into believing he was going to pass the ball to a cutter while standing at the three point line. Both Marco and Boris bit on the pump fake pass leaving Allen wide open behind the arc. Ray Allen drained the triple to cut the Spurs lead to eight and in doing so, completely shifted the momentum in the game. Miami finished the second quarter on a 24-13 run to tie the game at halftime and were able to get the best player in the world going in the process. During that run, LeBron James scored 11 points and established a rhythm in the game that would come back to haunt the Spurs in the second half.
In the third quarter, James gave San Antonio a flashback of the nightmares we had all of last summer by shooting the basketball like he did in Game 7 of last year's Finals; except this time he did it in our building. James shot 6-7 in the period (including a pair of three pointers) for 14 points. All of his baskets in the third came over the top of the defense from the perimeter. Yet despite LeBron taking over the game on the offensive end, the Spurs hung tight in the period and even took a one point lead into the final frame when Tony Parker hit a shot on our last possession to put us back ahead. The fourth quarter was back and fourth again as the Heat pretty much relied on James to create all of their offense by facilitating at the top of the key. LeBron was brilliant again scoring another eight points in the period and creating a wide-open three pointer for Chris Bosh to give Miami a two point lead with 1:17 left in the game. After Manu Ginobili committed the most costly of our 11 turnovers on the ensuing possession trying to force it into Tim Duncan on the post (to be fair, Manu was poked in the eye at the top of the key which should have been called a foul giving Manu two free throws), Kawhi Leonard fouled out of the game trying to defend LeBron's drive to the basket. James split the pair of free throws and then Manu missed a jumper from 19 feet. The Heat rebounded the ball, gave it to LeBron at the top of the key where he was able to create a hockey assist by passing to Bosh who then hit a cutting Dwyane Wade under the basket to take a five point lead with nine seconds left. After a timeout, the Spurs ran a decent play to get Boris Diaw a look at a three pointer but he decided to drive and kick when a Miami defender rushed towards him. He got the ball to Manu, who drained the triple, but the play took too long to develop and time expired.
While LeBron James put on a masterful 35 point, 10 rebound, 3 assits Game 2 performance that put his team in a position to win an NBA Finals game on the road, the San Antonio Spurs beat ourselves. To my surprise it wasn't turnovers that did us in last night. Instead, another nemesis of ours (that hadn't reared its ugly head in quite a while) made an unfortunate and untimely cameo in the 2014 NBA Finals: missed free throws. The Spurs went 12-20 from the charity stripe in Game 2 including a brutal possession in the guts of the game in which we went 0-4. With 6:43 remaining in the fourth quarter, Mario Chalmers was flagged with a flagrant foul when he hit Tony Parker in the chest with a vicious elbow underneath the Heat's basket as he tried to free himself from Tony off of his dribble penetration. This gave the Spurs two free throw attempts and possession of the basketball. Tony missed both and on the ensuing play, Chris Andersen fouled Tim Duncan for two more free throw attempts. Timmy also missed both. That wasted opportunity, ladies and gentleman, is the difference between being up 2-0 in the NBA Finals and now needing a victory in Miami in order to win the series. Despite the missed foul shots, Timmy was once again the player of the game putting up 18 points, 15 rebounds and tying Magic Johnson for the most double-doubles in NBA playoff history during the loss.
As heartbreaking of a defeat as last night's ball game was, I'm extremely confident that it was an anomaly rather than what is to be expected as we move further into this series. LeBron James played about as well as you could ask him to play and it still took a Spurs meltdown in the fourth quarter for Miami to secure the victory. Granted, there will be a smaller margin for error once we get back to the circus-like atmosphere of American Airlines Arena in Miami (and all of its pyrotechnic glory) but the Spurs are equipped for the challenge. If we figure out a way to make LeBron work a little bit harder to manufacture the Heat's offense and if we get back to our patented ball movement and rely on our deeper bench, we will put ourselves in a position to bounce right back from last night's disappointment. One man can always win a basketball game against any opponent, but the 2014 San Antonio Spurs are too good to be beaten in a series by any one player; even one as gifted as LeBron James. If the Heat offense continues to be as reliant on James as it was last night, the odds are that Miami will prove to be the team with the smaller margin for error moving forward in this series. Yesterday, was a tough day at the office. The #BlackAndSilver need to forget about it and simply focus on what's next. After all, we have been invited to host a passing clinic tomorrow evening down in the city of blinding lights which is providing us with an excellent opportunity to move one step closer to writing these San Antonio Spurs into the history books as one of basketball's finest teams.
* * *
City of Blinding Lights
The city took something from me, it took something from all of us.
Upon arriving on our maiden voyage, we battled masterfully.
We were not distracted by the shimmer, we were not intimidated by the lights.
We saw those gaudy displays of opulence as hubristic,
The last gasps of an overextended empire, bumptiously unaware of its vulnerability.
We know that the fall is coming.
It will happen, it just didn't happen then.
We had advanced swiftly but as we moved into position to trample the throne,
The city, intoxicated in its excess, found favor with the gods.
Through the ostentatious worship of its false idols,
It seduced a fleeting moment of commotion that neutralized our resolve
And fire reigned down from the heavens like spears on our heads.
Blinded, we left wounded and empty handed.
But now we will return to the city once again, with our vision restored.
We will arrive on this voyage wiser, bonded by the fellowship of our noble scars.
We are still not distracted by the shimmer, we are still not intimidated by the lights.
After rebuilding the strength of our core, we are more resolute in our preparedness to persevere.
The city, more overextended than ever, relies now almost completely on the strength of its king.
We know that the fall is coming.
It will happen, and we know that is has to happen now.
We have advanced again swiftly and moved back in position to trample the throne.
With the grace of a thousand stars we will embrace our chance at redemption
And working together we will use our wit to overwhelm the the city's aggressive defenses.
While the spoils of a prolonged period of decadence are the desire of most challengers,
We return not in pursuit of the city's abundance of treasure.
Just to rip the crown jewel from the king's bare hands.
Written June 2014 in San Antonio, Texas
Featured Image Source: Sporting News
Headline Image Source: ClipArt ETC
Three Left
2014 NBA Finals, Game 1
Revolution 1 - "You say you got a real solution, well you know, we'd all love to see..." the fan. "You ask me for a contribution, well you know, we're all doing what we can." It is true. The San Antonio Spurs had not paid the electric bill for the power used at the AT&T Center in almost a year. However, this is not a story about a sports franchise that is too broke to pay its bills. This is a story that is much more inspiring than that. This is a story about an NBA owner standing up on principle against one of the most sinister types of people that exists in our American democracy: the braggadocious, crass, smack talking Miami Heat fan. Let me explain. To put everything in context, I'll need to start with the NBA Finals Game 1 post game press conference; near the end of the story when San Antonio Spurs head coach and world renowned no-nonsense badass Gregg Popovich got involved by attempting to play peace-maker in a long running feud. Determined to help mediate a solution between Spurs Sports & Entertainment Chairman Peter Holt and CPS Energy President Doyle Beneby, late on Thursday night Coach Pop surmised, "Hopefully we can pay our bills." Rewind to the beginning and we discover that Holt has been suspicious of Beneby ever since the latter's arrival in San Antonio at CPS Energy in 2010. The reason for Holt's suspicion is that Beneby, who earned a masters degree at the University of Miami - School of Business in 1996, just so happens to be an unapologetic Miami Heat fan. Ever since The Decision, Beneby had been flaunting his love of LeBron James and the Heat to Holt every time that these two titans of industry crossed paths. To make matters worse, when Holt invited Beneby to a meeting to discuss San Antonio's energy future last summer (a few weeks after the 2013 NBA Finals), Beneby showed up for the meeting looking like this. When, during the meeting, Beneby made repeated references to the miracle working grace of Jesus Shuttlesworth's corner three point jumper, it was the final straw for Peter Holt. Since that day, he had vowed to never pay another dime to CPS Energy (regardless of how many bills he received for the power supplying the AT&T Center) until Beneby apologized.
Beneby never offered the desired apology so Holt began to rack up past due notices on his CPS Energy bill month after month. Even though CPS Energy has an outstanding reputation for giving its customers ample time to catch up on payments before cutting their power, Beneby had grown increasing leery of Holt's astronomical past due balance (which as of his June statement) had reached $3,274,895.65. The AT&T Center is a large building to power and Holt had not paid a bill since last July. Although Beneby would have been within his right to pull the plug on the AT&T Center power months ago, he decided to bide his time and wait for a great opportunity to do it when he could really embarrass Holt. On Thursday afternoon, Beneby knew he had just that type of opportunity and took action against Holt by cutting off the power supply for the AT&T Center's cooling system. Rather than cutting power to the entire building, Beneby thought he could stick it to Holt even more by just cutting the power supply to the air conditioning system so as to embarrass him on the biggest possible stage, the NBA Finals. By just cutting power to the AC supply, Beneby cunningly predicted that the NBA would not cancel the event (which they would obviously be forced to do if the entire building was without power). Cutting only the AC supply, therefore, allowed Beneby to pursue the objective of embarrassing Holt in front of a global audience. Ironically for the CPS Energy President, as it turns out, he did not think his sinister plan all the way through because the person most affected by the lack of air conditioning in the building on Thursday night was Beneby's beloved LeBron James. With James sidelined for the final four minutes due to heat exhaustion and muscle cramping, the San Antonio Spurs pulled away from the Miami Heat to take Game 1 of the NBA Finals 110-95. Having gotten the last laugh in the feud with Beneby (for now) and because he always makes it a point to heed the advice of Gregg Popovich (his most valued confidant), after the game Peter Holt found some spare change in his sofa cushions and paid his three and a quarter million dollar past due balance with CPS Energy. He also made a sizable donation to REAP. Now that his bill is current; CPS Energy has restored the electricity powering the air conditioning unit at the AT&T Center. theLeftAhead has reached out to Doyle Beneby for comment on his decision to cut AC power at the AT&T Center, but like any typical braggadocious, crass, smack talking Miami Heat fan, he was no where to be found and was not heard from after the loss. TMZ is reporting, however, that he has been spotted outside of LeBron James' hotel room apologizing profusely and offering James a CPS Energy tote bag along with flowers and candy as an apology for his blunder.
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All kidding aside, Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals produced an amazing story about heat for the basketball public to digest. Unfortunately, it is not the story about heat that is currently dominating the news. If you love basketball and haven't been living under a rock these past couple of days, you are already well aware that Game 1 is being dubbed The Cramp Game and most of the analyses in its aftermath is being focused on LeBron James. Is it unfortunate that the air conditioning was broken and that the temperature in the building reached 90 degrees during the game? Yes, it is unfortunate. But what is getting lost in all of the hysteria surrounding the incident that made #LeBronning go viral Thursday night is who the real victims were of the unfortunate conditions. The players surely weren't the real victims. They all played in the same conditions therefore the heat was not unfortunate for either team. The lack of air conditioning did not give one team an advantage over the other. As many of the players noted during postgame interviews, if you want to make it all the way to the NBA then at some point during your basketball development you are probably going to have to learn to play the game in heat. The lack of AC in the building did not cause LeBron's body to shut down. It is something in his genetic makeup that predisposes him to this recurring problem that is to blame for him being the only player in the game that was not able to finish. Sure, you could argue that San Antonio benefited indirectly from the heat in the building because we are a deeper team than Miami. But our depth in the series is an advantage that we have regardless of the playing conditions. Also, winning an NBA Championship is supposed to be hard and requires having the ability to overcome adversity in the NBA Finals (however it presents itself). Miami has proven to have that ability for the past two seasons in a row (they lost Game 1 of the Finals both times and came back to win the series). Game 1 is just one game. They are more than capable of overcoming adversity and a 0-1 series deficit again. No one should be feeling sorry for LeBron James and the Miami Heat. Having key players affected by injuries and ailments is part of basketball. The lack of air conditioning in the building was not unfortunate for the Miami Heat. On this particular night, they just got beat.
The people that the lack of AC was actually unfortunate for were the Spurs fans attending the game at the AT&T Center. NBA Finals tickets are obnoxiously expensive and many basketball fans dream of the opportunity to attend an NBA Finals game. For some die-hard fans of modest means this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I know that I enjoyed every second of the NBA Finals game that I attended (Game 1 of the 2003 NBA Finals) because I knew that I might never get a chance to have that experience again. The uncomfortable temperature in the building was unfortunate for Spurs fans, especially the ones who were fulfilling a dream to attend their first and possibly only NBA Finals game, because they had to spend what should have been a magical evening in prolonged discomfort. These fans in particular, who had been waiting a lifetime for this opportunity, are the unfortunate victims of the malfunctioning AT&T Center air conditioning system. I contemplated purchasing tickets for Game 1 when they went on sale on Tuesday, but decided against spending the money. In retrospect, I'm glad that I watched the happenings at the AT&T Center from the comfort of my temperature controlled living room.
But, of course, the media has spent the past couple of days fixated on how the heat affected the Heat. This is disappointing because they are depriving themselves and their audience of an opportunity to celebrate an actual amazing story about heat in Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals. What the media should be covering is he hottest thing that was in the building on Thursday night: the fourth quarter offensive attack of the San Antonio Spurs. Over the course of the final quarter of play in Game 1, the San Antonio Spurs took a positive step towards Revolution 1: the art of teamwork perfected. The Spurs put on a masterful performance in the fourth, outscoring the Heat 37-16 in the period while overcoming a four point deficit entering the final frame. San Antonio overpowered Miami with our ball movement and precision shooting to blitz the Heat with 14-16 from the field in the period and an astounding 12 of the made baskets coming off of an assist. When it was all said and done, we had blown open the four point deficit that we were facing with six minutes left in the game into another comfortable 15 point home victory. How did this happen? It seems that Miami has a short memory because for some reason they forgot that Danny Green loves animals and Danny Green gets buckets. In the course of three minutes of play, Danny turned a terrible performance through the first three quarters and a half quarter around by erupting for 11 points off of three triples and one vicious dunk. As spectacular as Danny's performance was in the final six minutes, it was not enough to put him into the running for player of the game honors. Here are some other Spurs players lines from Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals: Boris Diaw (2 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists), Tiago Splitter (14 points, 4 rebounds), Tony Parker (19 points, 8 assists), and Manu Ginobili (16 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block). This was a complete team effort with each of these players worthy of player of the game honors but none of them were able to quite outshine the indelible Tim Duncan, aka Time's Father. Timmy led the Spurs with 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists and he is now just one double double away from tying Magic Johnson for the most in NBA playoff history. At age 38, his performance the other night was simply stated: spectacular.
While San Antonio had a vintage performance in Game 1 that seemed reminiscent of the old Boston Celtics teams, in both the way we shared the basketball and also in that playing a game without the air conditioning was a notorious Red Auerbach trick (enter conspiracy theorists stage left), we cannot let our guard down for even a split second. Miami is the two-time defending World Champions and, as stated earlier, they have lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals two years in a row and stormed back to win the series. Last year, we were in an even greater position than we are now after the first game considering that we stole that one on the road. We all know how that series turned out for us. The good news is that there is plenty for us to concentrate on in order to keep our focus. In fact, there is one blatant aspect of our Game 1 performance that we must improve upon drastically in order for us to have any hope of winning Game 2. We committed 22 turnovers in Game 1 which is like playing with a hornets nest against the Miami Heat; we were just asking to be stung. San Antonio is extremely fortunate that Miami was unable to capitalize on our turnovers (most of which occurred in the first three quarters) to blow us out of our own gym before our fourth quarter blitz was even able to develop. If we give LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and company another crack at that many turnovers, they will certainly make us pay. On each and every possession of the game tomorrow night, if I were a Spurs player, I would be looking left, looking right, and starin' through my rear view before attempting each and every pass. I know that the ball has got to zip around the perimeter in order to capitalize on our precision offensive attack, but protecting the basketball against the Miami Heat is just as important. Their defense is built upon creating turnovers. If we do not turn the ball over, it will be extremely difficult for them to beat us, especially at home. We are the superior half court defensive team, we are the superior offensive team, and we are the deeper team. If the #BlackAndSilver protect the basketball tomorrow night like it is our essence then we can take another step towards Revolution 1: the art of teamwork perfected and our offense will remain the hottest thing in the AT&T Center.
Featured Image Source: Rolling Stone
Headline Image Source: SA Express-News
*The Peter Holt and Doyle Beneby depicted in this blog post are fictional.
Four Left
2014 NBA Western Conference Finals, Game 6
Here Now - It was a devastating way to lose the NBA Finals. When you're up three games to two and you have a lead on the road in the last minute of the fourth quarter of Game 6, you have the trophy so close within reach that you can almost scape a fingernail on it. Even though no lead is ever safe in the NBA, the reason why you start sensing that you're closing in on the title is because if you're good enough to be in that position in the first place, it means that you're also good enough to make the right decisions, execute effectively, protect the lead, and closeout the game. By the time that you've gotten around to having a lead in the last minute of Game 6 of the NBA Finals, you've not only been through all of the possible late game scenarios over the course of a hundred game season, but you've established a proven track record that you can make the plays necessary to finish. In other words, a team that is good enough to make the NBA Finals is good enough to protect a lead during the last minute of a ball game nine times out of ten; perhaps even ninety five times out of a hundred. That is why it is so devastating when this happens. The question is, when you are that close and everything caves in around you, how do you respond? Do you grab on to a helping hand and live to fight another day or does your proximity to realizing your dream allow you to become so overcome with the moment that you plummet into the abyss?
Most teams would plummet into the abyss. You would more than likely be resigned to show up and get blown out in Game 7 after losing Game 6 of the NBA Finals on the road in devastating fashion. It is human nature if you are a player on a team in that situation to hang your head and feel sorry for yourself after squandering a golden opportunity to achieve your goal. Once that focus is broken and replaced by regret, it is an astronomical challenge to have the fortitude to prepare properly to turn around and bring the same energy and execution to match a team that is full of new life after enjoying some clutch plays but also a few breaks and perhaps a little luck to narrowly escape elimination. You see, the problem in this particular scenario is that your opponent has also proven over the course of a hundred game season to be good enough to be playing in the NBA Finals and now they have proven that they are also good enough to find life in the face of imminent death. All losses being equal and as the road team, you are probably better off in your pursuit of the ultimate goal of winning the title if you get blown out in Game 6 than you are losing in heartbreaking fashion when you should have won. You can chalk up a blowout defeat on the road to just having a bad night and then try to come back with better focus and energy in Game 7. If, however, you blow the lead in the last minute of Game 6, all you have is "what ifs" torturing and distracting you like an uninterrupted nightmare during the days leading up to Game 7. You've let your best opportunity slip through your fingers and the worst part is that your opponent also knows this. Considering that this Finals series is being played in the (now defunct) 2-3-2 format, regardless of whether the circumstances that led to your Game 6 demise were you choking or your opponent coming through in the clutch (or a combination of both), that other team is patiently sitting at home counting their blessings, enjoying life, and getting ready to wipe the floor with you in Game 7. As a team that is carrying all of the baggage of just having blown your shot to close out the NBA Finals on the road in Game 6, you are expected by everyone to "fold like a cheap hooker who got hit in the stomach by a fat guy with sores on his face" in Game 7.
Indeed, most teams facing those circumstances would be toast. The 1988 Detroit Pistons, however, were a team that refused to fold after coughing up Game 6 of the NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers 103-102 at the Great Western Forum in LA. Game 6 was not only a devastating loss for the Pistons but it was one of the most heartbreaking beats in modern professional sports. Detroit led Los Angeles 3-2 in the series and 102 to 99 in the final minute of the game before Byron Scott scored with 45 seconds left to cut the Piston lead to two. On the ensuing possession, Isiah Thomas missed a a baseline jumper which set up one of the most infamous plays in NBA Finals history. With 14 seconds left in the game and Detroit still leading by one, Bill Laimbeer was guarding Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as he attempted his signature skyhook shot. Kareem missed and Dennis Rodman was in position to collect the rebound and more than likely the Pistons' first championship trophy. The problem was that one of the officials had the audacity to call a foul on the shot attempt. There was minimal contact on the play (especially by late 80's standards) and this series altering call has gone down in infamy in Detroit lore as the "phantom foul." Kareem sunk both free throws to give LA the lead. On the Pistons next possession, Joe Dumars missed badly on a desperate attempt. Byron Scott collected the rebound and was fouled immediately. Although he missed both free throws, the Pistons were out of timeouts and were forced to attempt a half court shot at the buzzer.
After being so close to winning the title just to have the game taken away by a ridiculous foul call, it was hard to imagine that Detroit would be able to regroup and compete in Game 7. Everyone assumed that the Pistons would get slaughtered by Magic Johnson and the "Showtime" Lakers. Against all odds and to almost everyone's surprise, this did not happen. It turned out that the 1988 Detroit Pistons were a special basketball team. Somehow, they found the mental strength and inner fortitude to compete in Game 7 in Los Angeles until the bitter end. Down four points with six seconds left, Bill Laimbeer drained a 28 foot three pointer to cut the Laker lead to one point. Detroit went for the steal which allowed LA to advance the ball to A.C. Green who was wide open for a layup with two seconds left. As Laimbeer looked to inbound the ball so the Pistons could attempt a game tying three pointer, it became quickly apparent that the Pistons not only faced the five Laker players in the game on their final attempt but also the defense of the Laker bench as well as several dozen Lakers fans who were already storming the court. It seems mind-boggling today, but the referees made no attempt to clear the court and allow Detroit a fair opportunity to tie the game. Laimbeer, given no other option, threw the ball to the front court to Isaiah Thomas who was promptly knocked down by Magic Johnson. Shockingly, no foul was called and the game ended. Lakers 108 - Pistons 105.
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After surrendering a lead in the last minute of the fourth quarter and eventually losing Game 6 of the NBA Finals on the road, it was hard to imagine that San Antonio would be able to regroup and compete in Game 7. Everyone assumed that the Spurs would get slaughtered by LeBron James and "The Heatles." Against all odds and to almost everyone's surprise, this did not happen. It turned out that the 2013 San Antonio Spurs were a special basketball team. Somehow they found the mental strength and inner fortitude to compete in Game 7 in Miami until the bitter end. Kawhi Leonard hit a three point shot with just over one minute left in the game to cut a five point Heat lead to two, 90-88. After Shane Battier missed a three point attempt, Manu Ginobili secured the rebound with exactly one minute left on the clock and the Spurs advanced the ball with an opportunity to tie or take the lead. San Antonio worked the ball in to Tim Duncan in the post. Noticing that he had the smaller Battier defending him, Timmy drove immediately towards the middle of the paint to attempt a point blank jump hook; a shot that he had made hundreds if not thousands of times before in his career. He shot it long off of the back rim but immediately responded by attempting to tip it back up and in (something he has also done hundreds of times in his career). The tip attempt failed and Chris Bosh secured the rebound. With 28 seconds left in the game and clinging to a two point lead, LeBron James drained a clutch 17 foot jump shot to put Miami up four. After Manu Ginboli missed a three pointer on the ensuing possession, the Heat closed out the game by hitting three out of four free throws. Heat 95 - Spurs 88.
The thing about special basketball teams who have the fortitude to compete on the road in Game 7 of the NBA Finals after being less than a minute away from winning a championship in Game 6 is that they have a demonstrated ability to regroup. Sometimes 48 hours just isn't quite enough time to come all the way back from something so heartbreaking... but a year certainly is. After experiencing that and still having the fortitude to comeback and claim the best regular season record in the NBA the next season (1988-89 Detroit Pistons: league best record of 63-19, 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs: league best record 62-20), no amount of playoff adversity can seem to derail you from your quest for redemption. Last Saturday night, the San Antonio Spurs trotted out for the second half of Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals in Chesapeake Energy Arena (a building in which we had lost 9 straight times) trailing by 7 and with Cory Joseph in the game at the point guard position. It became quickly apparent that Tony Parker, our leading scorer, was out of the game due to injury. The TNT broadcasting team subsequently reported that Tony would not return. Despite this unfortunate turn of events, San Antonio (with Cory as our floor general) put together one of our most dominant quarters of the postseason. The Spurs outscored the Oklahoma City Thunder 37-20 in the period by picking the OKC defense apart with the type of precision ball movement that has been the team's trademark this season. Up ten points on the road with an opportunity to close out the Thunder heading into the fourth quarter, it seemed inevitable that league MVP Kevin Durant and his sidekick Russell Westbrook would make a run to save their season. Sure enough, they did exactly that. Oklahoma City kept chipping away at our lead throughout the fourth quarter and finally, with 32 seconds left in the period, Durant made a driving layup to give the Thunder a 99-97 lead. A year is a long time to think about redemption. On the ensuing possession, Manu Ginobili (who had missed a crucial three pointer in the last minute of Game 7 of last year's NBA Finals) came free off of a Tim Duncan pick and just buried the go-ahead three point dagger with 27 seconds left. Even still, after Kevin Durant turned the ball over and Manu split a pair of free throws, Russell Westbrook re-tied the game 101-101 by making a pair of free throws. Manu got a clean look at the buzzer to win the game, but back rimmed it.The two Western Conference heavy weights traded punches for most of the overtime period until Tim Duncan found himself in the low post with a smaller defender on him clinging to a one point lead (108-107) with less than 30 seconds left in the overtime period. A year is a long time to think about redemption. Timmy (who had missed his jump hook in the last minute of Game 7 of last year's NBA Finals with the smaller Shane Battier on him) noticing he had the much smaller Reggie Jackson on him turned to his left into a leaning jump hook with Russell Westbrook closing frantically to double team and rattled it home to earn player of the game honors. Trailing by three, Kevin Durant missed a good look at a three pointer to re-tie the game and Boris Diaw (who had a monster night with 26 points) made two out of four free throws down the stretch to secure the victory and send the #BlackAndSilver back to the NBA Finals. Spurs 112 - Thunder 107. A year is a long time to think about redemption.
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I was hanging out in the studio the weekend that Brian and Eric recorded this song in 2005. I remember that the three of us, along with our friend Matt, went to a Spurs game that Saturday night to break up the grind of a marathon recording session. I couldn't even tell you anymore who we played on that particular night, I just know that ever since then I have associated this song with Spurs playoff runs and I guess that is the reason. After Saturday night's epic closeout victory, I blasted this song on my living room stereo and basked at what the Spurs had just accomplished while also thinking about my best friend. Indeed, we are here now with the opportunity to secure ultimate redemption for our devastating Game 6 defeat to the Miami Heat in last year's NBA Finals. This is the first rematch in the Finals since Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls defeated Karl Malone's Utah Jazz in both 1997 and 1998. The time before that? That was 25 years ago in 1989 when the Detroit Pistons were able to regroup and overcome any and all playoff adversity on their quest for redemption to set up their opportunity for a rematch with the Los Angeles Lakers. In Game 7 of last year's Finals, I witnessed the same heart in the San Antonio Spurs that I remember witnessing from the 1988 Detroit Pistons in their Game 7 against the Lakers. The '88 Pistons weren't on my mind, necessarily, when I sent out my tweet immediately following San Antonio coming up just short in Game 7 last year but the rare inner fortitude that both team's shared was and that was what gave me the confidence a bold prediction and the faith that we would be exactly where we are tonight; on the eve of our opportunity to finish off some overdue business. A year is a long time to think about redemption. Tomorrow night, the San Antonio Spurs will embark on revolution 1: the art of teamwork perfected. There is something cyclical about this beautiful game that we call basketball. I've had this feeling for a while now that the 1988-1989 Detroit Pistons and the 2013-2014 San Antonio Spurs are kindred spirits. How did the '89 Pistons fare in reaching their ultimate goal of redemption? They swept the Los Angeles Lakers out of the 1989 NBA Finals four games to zero. I'm just saying.
Headline Image Source: ESPN