2003 Championship Team

[byrdman31]

NBA Finals 2003
Antonio Spurs Roster
http://www.nba.com/media/nbav2/blank.gif NO.
NAM

WT
BORN
FROM
YRS.
12
Bruce Bowen (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/bruce_bowen/index.html)
F
6-7
200
6/14/71
Cal State Fullerton '93
6
10
Speedy Claxton (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/speedy_claxton/index.html)
G
5-11
166
5/08/78
Hofstra '00
1
21
Tim Duncan (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/tim_duncan/index.html)
F-C
7-0
260
4/25/76
Wake Forest '97
5
35
Danny Ferry (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/danny_ferry/index.html)
F
6-10
235
10/17/66
Duke '89
12
20
Emanuel Ginobili (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/emanuel_ginobili/index.html)
G
6-6
210
7/28/77
Argentina
R
3
Stephen Jackson (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/stephen_jackson/index.html)
G-F
6-8
220
4/05/78
Oak Hill (VA)
2
25
Steve Kerr (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/steve_kerr/index.html)
G
6-1
180
9/27/65
Arizona '88
14
9
Tony Parker (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/tony_parker/index.html)
G
6-2
180
5/17/82
France
1
50
David Robinson (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/david_robinson/index.html)
C
7-1
250
8/06/65
Navy '87
13
31
Malik Rose (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/malik_rose/index.html)
F
6-7
255
11/23/74
Drexel '96
6
8
Steve Smith (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/steve_smith/index.html)
G
6-8
221
3/31/69
Michigan State '91
11
42
Kevin Willis (http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kevin_willis/index.html)
C
7-0
245
9/06/62
Michigan State '84
17
http://www.nba.com/media/playoffs2003/spurs_playoffs2.gif Head Coach
Gregg Popovich (http://www.nba.com/coachfile/gregg_popovich/index.html)
Assistants
P.J. Carlesimo (http://www.nba.com/coachfile/pj_carlesimo/index.html)
Mike Budenholzer (http://www.nba.com/coachfile/mike_budenholzer/index.html)
Mike Brown (http://www.nba.com/coachfile/mike_brown/index.html)


i was just watching nba tv. they had a few clips of the team.. i miss kerr and jackson.. we had a great core of guys :hatjust though id refresh everyones minds, for no reason:toast

[Hemotivo]

in a new stadium

[bdictjames]

Technically we didn't have any rookies.. Manu was basically a veteran back then. Best championship team of the four.

[mookie2001]

manu basically sucked back then and played 40 seconds at a time

[duncan228]

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x282/duncan228/champion/2003Spurs.jpg

[Russ]

manu basically sucked back then and played 40 seconds at a time

Actually, he had the critical steal in the 4th quarter of the clinching game vs. the Nets.

Richard Jefferson was bringing the ball up court against Manu's defense and Manu stole the ball before he got much past mid-court.

One of my favorite Spurs plays of all time. :)

[Cry Havoc]

Technically we didn't have any rookies.. Manu was basically a veteran back then. Best championship team of the four.

Personally I think it was the weakest of the four. David was on the tail-end of his career, Speedy Jax was good but Parker was still in his infancy as a developing player, Manu hadn't exploded to be a superstar force yet, and they needed Kerr to save them nearly single-handedly. Danny Ferry? Malik Rose? Kevin Willis?

A healthy team this year would run rings around that squad. Parker was perhaps a C+ or B- point then, now he's a solid A and 2nd or 3rd best in his position in the league. Manu is, when healthy, unguardable. Duncan is still in his prime as he has displayed already this season. And we have a ton of young talent so far this year, three very solid players with bright futures.

Basically that team had S-Jax and David, and that's it. The West just wasn't as deep as it is now.

[Cry Havoc]

the Nets.

My point exactly.

[duncan228]

'05 is my favorite of the 4 titles, but Duncan was out of his mind in '03.

[lefty]

I miss Jax :depressed

http://chaunceybillups.blogspot.com/jackson.jpg

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/00x73NTc4Mer8/340x.jpg

[Russ]

the Nets


My point exactly.

Okay, how about stopping the Lakers' four-peat?

[Fermixalot]

Who doesn't miss S-Jax? But at least he gets to wear those sweeeeeeeeeeeet throwback jerseys at Golden State.

I personally like 2005 the best of the four simply because the Finals in 05 was amazing. The only series that came close to that one was the 06 classic against the Mavs, which would be the greatest series in Spurs history had Diop not taken advantage of a gassed Tim in OT.

03 was awesome though since D-Rob got to end his career in the best way possible.

[lefty]

2005 was the best team
2003 was the most talented

[HarlemHeat37]

2003 was our worst title team, although my favorite with 2005..

it was Tim at his absolute peak, where he was undoubtedly the best player in the NBA and the most dominant player in the league on both sides of the floor..the rest of our team was role players at the time, although it's probably one of the best roster of role players in NBA history..

we had great contributions when we needed them though..Parker and Ginobili had their moments..Kerr's legendary performance..Jackson was always clutch..David came up big at the end..

[MI21]

I don't think 2003 was the best of the championship squads, but it was my favourite. I have so many moments from that championship run burned into my memory...

Dave having a 13/17/2 final game
Dave's almost flying Dunk from dotted circle against NJ
Timmy with the 21/20/10/8
Timmy with the 37/16 against Shaq in Game 6
Timmy in general. One of the best playoffs by anybody, ever.
Tony outplaying All-Star Steve Nash (signs of the future :))
Tony putting it to Jason Kidd through 3 games.
Tony getting over his demons and playing well against Marbury.
Manu's 18 first half points against Mavs including flying tip in.
Manu's clutch baseline floater @ NJ (signs of the future :))
Manu's juke on Shaq
Manu's steal on Jefferson
Malik with 25 against Mavs and that block on Bradley and 27/13 against Suns
Malik's dunk on Dikembe
Malik getting smacked in the back of the head by Dirks knee and showing up next game
Danny Ferry stepping up with 10 boards in Game 2 against Suns in absense of D-Rob
Stephen fucking Jackson against Suns, in Game 6 @ Dallas, Game 6 against Nets
Stephen Jackson's inside out dribble against K-Mart (shouldn't of been a charge)
Stephen Jackson in general
Speedy Claxton stepping up at some important times against Suns and Nets
Steve Kerr in Game 6 against Mavs and Game 5 against NJ.

fuck, there is so many great moments from that run, I could keep going all day.

[spurs1990]

My all time favorite Spurs game I've watched since 1990 was Game 6 against the Lakers in the 2003 Western Semi's.

We were hanging even with them until the last mins of the 3rd qt when we built a 9 pt lead, and then the 4th we dominated and won by 110-82, ending the Lakers' 3 year championship run. I watch that on the DVD all the GD time, better days.

[mystargtr34]

2005 was the best team
2003 was the most talented

Most talented? That was the least talented squad, and the weakest of the four teams. Duncan was head and shoulders the best player in the league at that time. That, along with Hakeem's second title team, was probably one of the weakest supporting casts for a star player to win a ship.

[mystargtr34]

I don't think 2003 was the best of the championship squads, but it was my favourite. I have so many moments from that championship run burned into my memory...

Dave having a 13/17/2 final game
Dave's almost flying Dunk from dotted circle against NJ
Timmy with the 21/20/10/8
Timmy with the 37/16 against Shaq in Game 6
Timmy in general. One of the best playoffs by anybody, ever.
Tony outplaying All-Star Steve Nash (signs of the future :))
Tony putting it to Jason Kidd through 3 games.
Tony getting over his demons and playing well against Marbury.
Manu's 18 first half points against Mavs including flying tip in.
Manu's clutch baseline floater @ NJ (signs of the future :))
Manu's juke on Shaq
Manu's steal on Jefferson
Malik with 25 against Mavs and that block on Bradley and 27/13 against Suns
Malik's dunk on Dikembe
Malik getting smacked in the back of the head by Dirks knee and showing up next game
Danny Ferry stepping up with 10 boards in Game 2 against Suns in absense of D-Rob
Stephen fucking Jackson against Suns, in Game 6 @ Dallas, Game 6 against Nets
Stephen Jackson's inside out dribble against K-Mart (shouldn't of been a charge)
Stephen Jackson in general
Speedy Claxton stepping up at some important times against Suns and Nets
Steve Kerr in Game 6 against Mavs and Game 5 against NJ.

fuck, there is so many great moments from that run, I could keep going all day.

03 was my favourite for nearly all of those exact reasons, but mianly because Tim was so damn unstoppable, he put up 28-15-5-4 or something crazy like throughout the playoffs and set a Finals record for blocked shots, i think he averaged like 5.5 a game againstt he Nets.

And it was fun havingh young studs like Manu, Tony and Jax on the team, andd of course D - Rob

2003
2005
2007
1999

I dont remember much of 1999 i was a bit young.

[barbacoataco]

Everyone is forgetting that Bowen was also at his best in 2003, including the job he did on Kobe. By 2005 he had lost 1/2 step and then 2007 quite a bit.

So in 2003 Duncan and Bowen were at their best. Parker was coming in to his own, though still erratic. Ginobili was not as good as he would be in 2005, but he had his moments, and SJax was also there. DRob was holding on, but still capable of playing good defense at times, with Malik to back him up.

It is impossible to compare the championship teams because they faced different competition in the playoffs. Were the 2003 Lakers better than the 2005 Pistons? That is why I gave up trying to decide which Spurs championship team was the best. I like them all.

[td_tp_manu]

Bowen scored sth. like 27 pts in Game 2 vs. Lakers
Basically it's only since then I, and everybody around me, start to know him