Uneducated fans have tagged the San Antonio Spurs boring, which has always irked me. As a true basketball fan, what could be better than watching pure, fundamental basketball played on the highest of high levels for 17 years?
That period of time coincides with two people – Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan. Pop comes across as a gruff, testy character. A former member of the US Air Force, he has based his coaching on defence and integrated a wide range of players, skills and nationalities across this tenure.
To say he belongs in the conversation of the greatest NBA coach in history is understating things. He deserves to be included in the discussion of all-time great North American sporting coaches. At 65, he wants to go on and who would doubt he can do it all again? Doris Burke might be the only person who doesn’t want to see Pop go around one more time.
Them we come to Tim Duncan aka Timay aka the Big Fundamental. Without a trace of arrogance or conceitedness, Duncan has displayed exemplary leadership and been the face of the franchise since his rookie year. He is the best big man of the generation and by any measure an all-time, top 10 player.
While he has deferred to the younger Spurs, he remains the guy they turn to and continues to deliver despite being 38-years-old. Power forward or centre, the man from the Virgin Islands may slip out the back door of the NBA world when he retires, but he will be sorely missed.
Manu Ginobili stunk it up in last year’s finals, and his sole contribution in the deciding Game 7 was to turn the ball over and over again. Rather than slink away or retire, he faced the challenge head on and will leave the game as arguably the greatest second round draft pick in history. Manu seems to take the tough option rather than the easy one and has lost a step, but he ability to reinvent himself has been compelling viewing.
The discussions related to the best point guard in the NBA rarely include Tony Parker, but they should. Parker is not only an offensive maestro, but a big game player who has continually proven to be the perfect fit for the Spurs’ system. Parker’s injury in last year’s Finals was a turning point, but as luck would have it he was on the right side of the ledger this season.
Kawhi Leonard is from all reports an introverted young man, blessed with famously huge hands and enviable defensive talent. His offensive game has blossomed, so much so that he is now an NBA Finals MVP who played the greatest player on the planet to a virtual draw on both ends of the floor.
His last three games in the series were as brilliantly efficient and effective on both ends of the floor. Since James’ clinic against Oklahoma City in 2012, there have been few other performances in that stratosphere in the last decade.
Conditioning is seen as being a key component to being a professional athlete, but two Spurs have provided evidence for either side of the argument.
On one hand we have Boris Diaw, who has always shows glimpses of talent but in his time at the Spurs that he has transferred his Phoenix Suns success to the grandest stage of them all. If one were to describe Diaw’s talent and conditioning on a primary school report card they would say ‘Boris has considerable talent but could work harder’.
If he worked harder he could have averaged a triple double in the Finals, but I am sure he will live with being arguably the second-most valuable player in the series.
Meanwhile, Patty Mills has learnt that not everyone is like Diaw, and there often isn’t a spot at this level when you are a ‘fat arse’. With improved conditioning came a breakout year and there are few more explosive offensive players coming off the bench in the league than Mills.
All that aside, his impact on this series was astounding – how many basketball fans (even us one-eyed, patriotic Aussies) would have thought he was capable of this. C’mon let’s be honest, even Patty himself would have been caught off guard by how good he was!
Above everything else, the one thing that strikes you about the Spurs is how classy they are. Respecting of their opponent, they refused to get into any kind of gamesmanship. Today’s NBA tends to be about the bright lights, the endorsements, the adulation and the tendency to overrate and overhype young players before they have done anything if substance.
Miami’s Big 3 have dominated the floor over the past three years, and may feel vindicated by the way they handled The Decision and most situations since. But for pure basketball fans who appreciate the purities of the game, when they were thoroughly outplayed and overmatched by the most ‘boring’ team in basketball.
It couldn’t have been more enjoyable viewing.
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