Board up the Alamo, rope off the river walk, put that horizontal wooden beam down on the farm door, there’s a bunch of San Antonians ready to party. The Spurs accomplished what few believed possible, to defeat the mighty Heat in a seven game series, just one year after losing to them in devastating fashion. For many a basketball purist, vindication is the feeling du jour. The presumably unbeatable Heat featured an offense comprised primarily of one Lebron James, two fading stars and reasonable role players (All of whom have been relegated to “scrub” status now that Lebron has been defeated and, “He’s still waiting for his Scottie Pippen” to ride or die with. He’s got enough, we can only take so many “The Decisions.”). Nonetheless the Heat have an aura about them, an aura that says we know you’re a better team, but we have Lebron and we’ll show up in the clutch. Not in 2014. This year, a team made of multiple international players, an extremely aged star, a young up-and-comer and the best coach in all of the sport, struck back and landed a blow for fans of team basketball everywhere.
There’s nothing like a dunk in traffic, a broken ankle off the dribble, an ill advised shot sent into the stands to make the crowd go bananas. The Spurs are the only team capable of eliciting such a reaction by the crispness of their passing and the sheer magnitude of their ball movement. There is nothing like seeing an offensive set where the ball never touches the ground. It’s an old adage that you can’t move faster than the ball, witnessing a defender hopelessly chasing an ever redirecting target, is easily recognizable as basketball perfection. Perhaps the greatest respect inducing attribute of the Spurs, is the fine wine like aging of their perennially stoic talisman and coach.
An absolute match made in heaven. Duncan proved once again that if you can control the post, you can control the game. Every year more and more big men decide to take the leap and become the “point-forward,” or “three point shooting center.” Look no further than the team with five championships in fifteen years for the true, big man prototype. It’s the little things, the way Duncan never gathers after a rebound and simply goes right back up, never allowing smaller defenders to strip him, the way he outlet passes, his defensive positioning, the way he always squares his shoulders on his shot. There are few more efficient basketball weapons ever in the history of the NBA.
We’ve all heard the saying, “So-and-so is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.” Well if Gregg Popovich is playing Chess, the rest of the coaches in the league are struggling with tic-tac-toe. In every game, the wizardry employed by Pop is absolutely astounding. The lineup adjustments, the management of older players’ minutes, the schemes run out of timeouts, all the work of a roundball virtuoso. To get so many players from oppising team’s scrap heaps, build them back up, and reutilize them as effective members of San Antonio’s basketball society, is a talent possessed by few in the NBA. Pop’s insertion and reliance on Kawhi Leonard into his championship squad is a site rarely seen. Far too often coaches wait too long for their future star to ripen, Kawhi was ready and Pop saw it and drew it out.
Parker, Ginobili, Diaw, Mills, Green, Splitter, some of those are names more commonly recognizable than others, but each player contributed at key points in the series. Thus we have unfurled the wondrous tapestry that is the San Antonio Spurs. They are the deepest team in basketball and they all play with an identical goal and mindset. They are a basketball machine. When asked why the Spurs are so hard to defend against, Lebron James himself said, “Because everyone is live.” No one could have said it better, the Spurs are game-plan-proof, if you manage to nullify one player or strategy, another will surely take it’s place.
Speaking of the “Chosen One,” seems like there may be a bit of turmoil brewing down in South Beach.
I’m sure we’re in for a summer chock full of speculation and conjecture, posturing and rumoring, tampering and eventually decisioning. For now though, let’s all just enjoy the peaceful, calm, drama free nature of our NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs. You simply will not see better basketball played anywhere on Earth.
