DieMrBond
06-28-2005, 03:35 AM
Pretty much the same as all the other 'spurs are built to last articles' but... written by someone else!
The Spurs are built to last
By Sean Deveney - SportingNews
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=thespursarebuilttolast&prov=tsn&type=lgns
When it was over, after 341 minutes of grinding, brute-force basketball, there was revelry beneath the stands of the SBC Center in San Antonio.
There was former Spurs center David Robinson, smiling broadly, heaving a sigh of relief and saying, "I never thought I would know stress like that again once I retired."
There was rookie guard Beno Udrih, bearing a hand-held camera, zooming in on forward Robert Horry, causing Horry to laugh and say, "Beno, get that thing out of my face. You think you're ever actually going to sit at home and watch that tape?"
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There was guard Manu Ginobili, wearing the Argentine flag like a two-tone kilt, shouting, "I love you!" to gathered Spurs fans.
There was point guard Tony Parker and friends, including his brother, T.J., spraying water and beer, singing "We Are The Champions" in French, causing Parker's girlfriend, television star Eva Longoria, to frown and fix her moistened mascara in the reflective glass of a nearby framed photograph.
Two days later, in the dusk of a brutally hot Texas afternoon, the Spurs bobbed down the San Antonio River on boats to show off their championship loot to the city and their fans. Horry, now the winner of six NBA championships -- two with the Rockets, three with the Lakers and one with the Spurs -- was asked to reflect on his bounty of rings.
"Now I got six, so maybe I can start feeling good about myself," he said. "I mean, I could do this every year."
Well, then, stick around San Antonio, Bob, because the way things are shaping up, the Spurs figure to have a few more floating parades in the coming years.
The franchise, guided by coach Gregg Popovich, has won two of the past three NBA championships and three in seven seasons and has compiled the best regular-season record, 438-186, in the NBA over the past eight years -- in fact, the Spurs' .702 winning percentage during that span is the highest of any team in major pro sports.
But this championship is different. Despite their consistency, there has been a sense of unpredictability about the Spurs, whose roster has featured constant overhaul. Only one player -- star forward Tim Duncan -- was around for the 1999 title. Only four -- Ginobili, Parker, Duncan and Bruce Bowen -- remain from the championship team in 2003, and back then Ginobili was a wild rookie and Parker was an inconsistent second-year playmaker who was rattled easily.
"That was a different team," Bowen says. "That was a team that was still finding its way, but now, all these guys, they've come into their own. This is a tougher, more mature team."
And it's going to be around for a while. Last summer, the Spurs locked up their future by giving six-year contracts to Ginobili, who is 27, and Parker, 23. The team has Duncan, 29, signed through 2010. Bowen is signed through 2006, and key reserves Brent Barry and Udrih should be around through 2007. The Spurs have been careful about the commitments they make to players -- they passed on keeping guys such as Derek Anderson, Stephen Jackson and Hedo Turkoglu -- and that care is paying off. The Spurs, already a dominant team, look ready to put together a dynasty.
"In years past, we've lost six, seven, eight, nine guys in a year and rebuilt," Duncan says. "I think we've really got a core here that we're in love with, that obviously is a pretty decent core, and we're going to have it together for a couple of years."
And then Duncan offers this rather ominous assessment, at least as far as the rest of the league is concerned: "We can play a lot better, and that's something horrible to say right now as we're sitting up here as NBA champs. But we have years to do that, and I think that's the greatest feeling in the world."
Should the Spurs go on to collect more banners in the coming years, this will be the Duncan Dynasty -- here's a player who already has collected three rings and three Finals MVP trophies. Still, he endured heavy criticism heading into Game 7 of these Finals, having flopped badly in the fourth quarters of Game 5 -- a Spurs win, thanks to a 3-point bomb by Horry -- and Game 6 -- a Spurs loss in which Duncan missed two key shots inside and was just 3-of-6 from the free throw line. Even the choice of Duncan as the series MVP has drawn questions, given his shooting from the field (41.9 percent) and the free throw line (66.7 percent).
But what gets lost in such criticism is Duncan's willingness to cede control to teammates, to simply be part of the team rather than forcing himself on the game -- much as Robinson did when Duncan arrived in San Antonio in 1997. It's plays such as the one with a little more than a minute to go in the second quarter of Game 7 that so many of Duncan's critics overlook. Detroit coach Larry Brown, hoping to preserve fouls for big men Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace, brought in slow-footed 36-year-old Elden Campbell to guard Duncan. The athleticism of Detroit's two Wallaces caused problems for San Antonio all series -- when the Spurs ran their favored pick-and-roll plays, Detroit's big men were quick enough to step out and guard Duncan and still get back to protect the basket against drives by Parker.
As soon as Campbell came in, the Spurs ran a pick-and-roll. Duncan stepped back to the free throw line, taking Campbell with him, and Parker had an easy lane to the basket for a lay-in. Two points for Parker and no stat for Duncan -- but the basket was as much his as it was Parker's.
"You can't really measure what Timmy does for all of us," Parker says. "I don't think people know how much better he makes everyone else on the team."
When it came time for Duncan to take over, he did. Detroit defended Duncan with great energy and toughness, but he seemed, in the end, to wear down the Pistons.
He struggled at the start of the second half in Game 7 but wound up with 12 points in the third quarter and, more important, commanded double-team attention. In the fourth quarter, Duncan killed the Pistons with his smarts, recognizing the double-teams and dishing to wide-open teammates. Bowen delivered a dagger 3-pointer with 6:11 to play, giving the Spurs a 6-point lead (assist, Duncan). Ginobili, too, hit a big 3-pointer with 2:57 to put the Spurs up by seven. Care to guess who got the assist?
"He was special throughout the entire playoffs," Popovich says. "When he did have a bad game, he always figured out some time in the series to come back and lead us to where we needed to be, and everybody follows him. He sets the tone for all of us, our staff, myself; he's unbelievably incisive, mature and always steady."
Of course, there are others who deserve the nod for this championship, including the increasingly mature Ginobili and Parker. Bowen, too. Detroit had built a 9-point lead in the third quarter of Game 7 when Popovich decided to switch the bigger, stronger Bowen onto Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups. That knocked the Pistons' offense out of sorts, and when Billups attempted to bring the Pistons back into the game on a 3-point try with just under a minute to play, Bowen blocked it.
Still, the series belonged to its MVP, Duncan. And now that San Antonio has found a comfortable group of players to put around him, there likely will be more rings -- and, possibly, more MVP trophies -- in Duncan's future.
That will give San Antonio more time to perfect the championship celebration, which drew complaints from Popovich. When asked what sort of wine he might celebrate this title with, he replied, "It's not going to be the champagne in the locker room. My eyes are burning, so it's pretty cheap stuff, so we have to find something different."
Next year, perhaps.
The Spurs are built to last
By Sean Deveney - SportingNews
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=thespursarebuilttolast&prov=tsn&type=lgns
When it was over, after 341 minutes of grinding, brute-force basketball, there was revelry beneath the stands of the SBC Center in San Antonio.
There was former Spurs center David Robinson, smiling broadly, heaving a sigh of relief and saying, "I never thought I would know stress like that again once I retired."
There was rookie guard Beno Udrih, bearing a hand-held camera, zooming in on forward Robert Horry, causing Horry to laugh and say, "Beno, get that thing out of my face. You think you're ever actually going to sit at home and watch that tape?"
ADVERTISEMENT
There was guard Manu Ginobili, wearing the Argentine flag like a two-tone kilt, shouting, "I love you!" to gathered Spurs fans.
There was point guard Tony Parker and friends, including his brother, T.J., spraying water and beer, singing "We Are The Champions" in French, causing Parker's girlfriend, television star Eva Longoria, to frown and fix her moistened mascara in the reflective glass of a nearby framed photograph.
Two days later, in the dusk of a brutally hot Texas afternoon, the Spurs bobbed down the San Antonio River on boats to show off their championship loot to the city and their fans. Horry, now the winner of six NBA championships -- two with the Rockets, three with the Lakers and one with the Spurs -- was asked to reflect on his bounty of rings.
"Now I got six, so maybe I can start feeling good about myself," he said. "I mean, I could do this every year."
Well, then, stick around San Antonio, Bob, because the way things are shaping up, the Spurs figure to have a few more floating parades in the coming years.
The franchise, guided by coach Gregg Popovich, has won two of the past three NBA championships and three in seven seasons and has compiled the best regular-season record, 438-186, in the NBA over the past eight years -- in fact, the Spurs' .702 winning percentage during that span is the highest of any team in major pro sports.
But this championship is different. Despite their consistency, there has been a sense of unpredictability about the Spurs, whose roster has featured constant overhaul. Only one player -- star forward Tim Duncan -- was around for the 1999 title. Only four -- Ginobili, Parker, Duncan and Bruce Bowen -- remain from the championship team in 2003, and back then Ginobili was a wild rookie and Parker was an inconsistent second-year playmaker who was rattled easily.
"That was a different team," Bowen says. "That was a team that was still finding its way, but now, all these guys, they've come into their own. This is a tougher, more mature team."
And it's going to be around for a while. Last summer, the Spurs locked up their future by giving six-year contracts to Ginobili, who is 27, and Parker, 23. The team has Duncan, 29, signed through 2010. Bowen is signed through 2006, and key reserves Brent Barry and Udrih should be around through 2007. The Spurs have been careful about the commitments they make to players -- they passed on keeping guys such as Derek Anderson, Stephen Jackson and Hedo Turkoglu -- and that care is paying off. The Spurs, already a dominant team, look ready to put together a dynasty.
"In years past, we've lost six, seven, eight, nine guys in a year and rebuilt," Duncan says. "I think we've really got a core here that we're in love with, that obviously is a pretty decent core, and we're going to have it together for a couple of years."
And then Duncan offers this rather ominous assessment, at least as far as the rest of the league is concerned: "We can play a lot better, and that's something horrible to say right now as we're sitting up here as NBA champs. But we have years to do that, and I think that's the greatest feeling in the world."
Should the Spurs go on to collect more banners in the coming years, this will be the Duncan Dynasty -- here's a player who already has collected three rings and three Finals MVP trophies. Still, he endured heavy criticism heading into Game 7 of these Finals, having flopped badly in the fourth quarters of Game 5 -- a Spurs win, thanks to a 3-point bomb by Horry -- and Game 6 -- a Spurs loss in which Duncan missed two key shots inside and was just 3-of-6 from the free throw line. Even the choice of Duncan as the series MVP has drawn questions, given his shooting from the field (41.9 percent) and the free throw line (66.7 percent).
But what gets lost in such criticism is Duncan's willingness to cede control to teammates, to simply be part of the team rather than forcing himself on the game -- much as Robinson did when Duncan arrived in San Antonio in 1997. It's plays such as the one with a little more than a minute to go in the second quarter of Game 7 that so many of Duncan's critics overlook. Detroit coach Larry Brown, hoping to preserve fouls for big men Rasheed Wallace and Ben Wallace, brought in slow-footed 36-year-old Elden Campbell to guard Duncan. The athleticism of Detroit's two Wallaces caused problems for San Antonio all series -- when the Spurs ran their favored pick-and-roll plays, Detroit's big men were quick enough to step out and guard Duncan and still get back to protect the basket against drives by Parker.
As soon as Campbell came in, the Spurs ran a pick-and-roll. Duncan stepped back to the free throw line, taking Campbell with him, and Parker had an easy lane to the basket for a lay-in. Two points for Parker and no stat for Duncan -- but the basket was as much his as it was Parker's.
"You can't really measure what Timmy does for all of us," Parker says. "I don't think people know how much better he makes everyone else on the team."
When it came time for Duncan to take over, he did. Detroit defended Duncan with great energy and toughness, but he seemed, in the end, to wear down the Pistons.
He struggled at the start of the second half in Game 7 but wound up with 12 points in the third quarter and, more important, commanded double-team attention. In the fourth quarter, Duncan killed the Pistons with his smarts, recognizing the double-teams and dishing to wide-open teammates. Bowen delivered a dagger 3-pointer with 6:11 to play, giving the Spurs a 6-point lead (assist, Duncan). Ginobili, too, hit a big 3-pointer with 2:57 to put the Spurs up by seven. Care to guess who got the assist?
"He was special throughout the entire playoffs," Popovich says. "When he did have a bad game, he always figured out some time in the series to come back and lead us to where we needed to be, and everybody follows him. He sets the tone for all of us, our staff, myself; he's unbelievably incisive, mature and always steady."
Of course, there are others who deserve the nod for this championship, including the increasingly mature Ginobili and Parker. Bowen, too. Detroit had built a 9-point lead in the third quarter of Game 7 when Popovich decided to switch the bigger, stronger Bowen onto Pistons point guard Chauncey Billups. That knocked the Pistons' offense out of sorts, and when Billups attempted to bring the Pistons back into the game on a 3-point try with just under a minute to play, Bowen blocked it.
Still, the series belonged to its MVP, Duncan. And now that San Antonio has found a comfortable group of players to put around him, there likely will be more rings -- and, possibly, more MVP trophies -- in Duncan's future.
That will give San Antonio more time to perfect the championship celebration, which drew complaints from Popovich. When asked what sort of wine he might celebrate this title with, he replied, "It's not going to be the champagne in the locker room. My eyes are burning, so it's pretty cheap stuff, so we have to find something different."
Next year, perhaps.