From dull to darlings
The San Antonio Spurs are perhaps the best run organization in all of North American sports. Since 1998 they have been among the elite in the NBA. 4 titles since that time, and I don’t know if anyone realizes how close they were to winning 5 in a row. Crazy to think considering they’ve never won back to back titles, but they won 3 in 5 years (03, 05 and 07). In 04, Derek Fisher hit a MIRACLE shot for the Lakers to steal a game in their series vs the Spurs. Had he not hit that shot, the Spurs probably take that series in 7 and go on to beat Detroit in the finals.
Then in 06, they lost game 7 at home to Dallas in the West semi final in O.T. They close the Mavericks out in that game, once again they likely beat the Miami Heat and win the NBA title. It’s been a pretty amazing run during the Tim Duncan era.
But as good as they’ve been, they’ve been flat out boring. The TV numbers in the states reflect that, the Spurs have never been the darlings of the NBA. Myself, I’ve never liked the Spurs. They were always just too robotic for me and especially in the NBA I like the teams that have style. Jordan’s Bulls always had style, as did the Showtime Lakers, the Kobe/Shaq Lakers, the 06 Heat, hell even the Pistons of the late 80’s/early 90’s were boring to watch but they had style…they were the bad boys!
Spurs always have lacked it, but they’ve always done it the right way. But this year, they might go from the team nobody wants to watch, to America’s favorite sons! Even though as I type this the Spurs are only up 2-1 and got blown out in game 3, and the Heat were downed last night in their game 3, that is still the likely NBA finals matchup. The Heat aren’t boring in any way, but they’re despised in every way!
What a PERFECT NBA finals it could be. You get the small market veteran team that is all about playing a team game, not craving the spotlight, built it the right way, on and on and on. And to face them you get the big market cocky team that has the 3 superstars (only 2 if Bosh can’t come back), 1 of which is seen as conceeded, a choke artist, a back stabber, a prima donna, yet he is also the best player on the planet who most hope falls on his sword for a 3rd time in the finals. You may or may not be an NBA fan, but I urge you to watch this series should it happen. I don’t think it could be scripted any better and would be intrigue at its finest.
It is a very weird way to happen really, but should the Spurs get the Heat I have no doubt they will all of a sudden finally start seeing the recognition they have deserved all these years. I guess it doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as you get there.
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