pivotal regular season spurs games of all-time

[violentkitten]

1. spurs blow out rockets 99-82 in houston on march 3, 1999 after starting the season 6-8. spurs go on to capture the top playoff seed and win their first nba championship. this win was also significant because pop was in very real danger of getting canned and that the rockets were regarded as being the odds on favorites to win it all that season. this win was also gratifying to spurs fans because it marked the beginning of a period of outright ownership of the houston rockets for 3 or 4 seasons.

2. i know i am forgetting some but i would add the last regular season meeting between the rockets and spurs at the dome later on in that season. that was when elie nailed that 3 at the end of the game.

[spurschick]

Memorial Day Miracle

[cherylsteele]

Kitten said REGULAR SEASON.

The last game in 1989-90 vs Utah to win the Midwest division.

[Boulevard1]

The back-to-back-to-back wins over Portland, Utah and Portland in the final stretch of the '99 regular season (to secure homecourt throughout the playoffs) was pretty big.

[violentkitten]

The back-to-back-to-back wins over Portland, Utah and Portland in the final stretch of the '99 regular season (to secure homecourt throughout the playoffs) was pretty big.

yeah, i remember that. though i thought golden state was in the mix?

i rank that win against houston higher because the spurs could've easily dropped pop and hired doc rivers. no pop and spurs history probably would've been somewhat different...

[Mark in Austin]

I agree with vk. The Houston game was just huge. It was a big come from behind victory, too. You could actually see the lightbulbs going on above all the Spurs' heads as they started to climb out of that hole. THAT would be a great effing game to have on DVD. Anybody know any legal sources for something like this?

[Chris]

Memorial Day Miracle

Wasn't that Elliot in the playoffs?

[bigbendbruisebrother]

3. and 4. I've gotta go with this season's back to back double overtime victories against the Clippers and Warriors with no Tim, no Rasho, and in GS game, with no Manu. I think those games gave the team the confidence to not give up, even when Tim isn't around. To that point, things were not going well for the Spurs after Tim's injury (remember the Dallas ass whipping?).

5. My third nominee is also from this season, and it's the overtime victory over Phoenix. I think that game solidified the feeling for the Spurs that they owned Phoenix--something that showed big time in the Western Conference finals.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

5. My third nominee is also from this season, and it's the overtime victory over Phoenix. I think that game solidified the feeling for the Spurs that they owned Phoenix--something that showed big time in the Western Conference finals.


I agree. I was on the second row of that game, and it was awesome to see. Phoenix looked totally deflated after that game, and the Spurs were equally elated. Probably the best regular season game I've ever attended. It was a great night to be a Spurs fan on the road.

[KevinTheWrench]

My pick would be the final game against Phoenix this year. The Suns had that game marked on the calander. They wanted to prove they were legit by finally beating the big boys in town

What did the Spurs do? They rester Tim and Manu, in the process completely deflating the Suns anticipation for the game. On top of that, Phoenix barely won with the Spurs not having their two best players. Which was double as deflating.

The WCF series was essentially won on that night.

Probably the postseason for the next few years actually

Pop you dog :lol

Out...

[bigbendbruisebrother]

I agree. I was on the second row of that game, and it was awesome to see. Phoenix looked totally deflated after that game, and the Spurs were equally elated. Probably the best regular season game I've ever attended. It was a great night to be a Spurs fan on the road.

Man, that would've been great to see in person. That's awesome that you got to see it up close, too.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

There was a game in early Jan 2003, maybe the 5th at the Clips or 8th at Seattle, when Tony Parker lit up for 29pts (I think) and finally looked like he had his game under control. It was a turning point for him, and he went on to destroy the rest of the regular season.

He never really looked shaky again until Game 4 of the Finals, although having Speedy behind him did help (man, I loved Speedy as the backup PG).

[tophy7]

http://www.basketballreference.com/teams/boxscore.htm?yr=2001&b=20020417&tm=UTA

This game where Parker went coast to coast to make a layup that won the game against Utah also giving Spurs the division title in 02 over the Mavs.

[SpursFanInAustin]

I recall those 3 regular season games in 2003 right after the all-star break during the first rodeo road trip. Winning big road games in Portland, and in LA, and in Sacramento. Gave the team confidence they needed to win on the road in the playoffs. I believe before the rodeo road trip, the Spurs were below .500 on the road.

[spurster]

All those games the Spurs lost when DRob was injured so that they got Duncan in the draft lottery.

[Spurminator]

The most memorable to me was the game against Utah in 1999 (second to last game of the season?) which gave the Spurs the division lead heading toward the Playoffs. The whole season had been an uphill climb until that point, and in the absence of a Playoff series against the Jazz, that game was where the Spurs exorcized their demons and were no longer intimidated by the Jazz.

[1Parker1]

3. and 4. I've gotta go with this season's back to back double overtime victories against the Clippers and Warriors with no Tim, no Rasho, and in GS game, with no Manu. I think those games gave the team the confidence to not give up, even when Tim isn't around. To that point, things were not going well for the Spurs after Tim's injury (remember the Dallas ass whipping?).

5. My third nominee is also from this season, and it's the overtime victory over Phoenix. I think that game solidified the feeling for the Spurs that they owned Phoenix--something that showed big time in the Western Conference finals.

Yup. Couldn't agree more. That Suns game was crazy! As was the double OT wins!

[FromWayDowntown]

Hard to say with regular season games. Does a game count as pivotal in a non-championship season? I'd think not, and impressive wins aren't necessarily pivotal ones. So, the 2001 stretch where the Spurs won 4 in 5 nights on the West Coast, beating Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, and LA, while impressive in its own context, certainly wasn't pivotal for anything.

Given 3 seasons to choose from, I'd say that 1999 had more pivotal games than any other, just because that win in Houston was vital (had they lost that game, Pop likely would have been fired within the week), the closing home weekend with an OT win over Portland on Saturday followed by the MVP-maker game for Timmy against Utah on Sunday were about as clutch as you could get, and the wins at Portland and Golden State on the last two nights of the season assured HCA, which begot the Memorial Day Miracle.

Still, I thought, perhaps the most important game the Spurs won that season was their only game in Utah in late April, where they walked into their den of horrors and just spanked the Jazz 83-69 on their home floor -- it was truly the first time that I thought the Spurs could win a title. Utah had been ridiculously hot, was leading the division by at least 4 games with about 2 1/2 weeks to go, and were about invincable at home. The Spurs went in and just killed them while David struggled and was in foul trouble. That win, I thought, propelled the Spurs into the last stretch of the season, where they clinched the division and HCA.

In 2003, I always thought that the end of the RRT, the wins in LA and Sacramento were huge, but I'll never forget the Spurs beating the Mavericks in an overtime game in Dallas in March of that season, when Parker hit a teardrop with about 1 second left, floating it over Bradley and LaFrentz IIRC. Every win that season was vital, but that win kept the Spurs from losing the tiebreaker to Dallas and brought them back into the division race.

In 2005, it's really hard to ignore that 2nd Phoenix game; in fact, the only other game that jumps out in my memory is the last Houston game (played in SA without Tim) where the Spurs were in a bad way, having lost 3 straight on the road. They came home and beat Atlanta, but were staring danger in the face with Houston coming in, but Ginobili, Barry, and Rasho all played big games and Parker got hot late to get a crucial win and restore some confidence.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

in 2003 at the beginning of the road trip we played orlando and mcgrady hit a long jumper with like 5 seconds to go and had that cocky look on his face as if he'd proven something then we call time out and give it to duncan, duncan misses, gets his rebound, tips it in and wins the game, his 2nd game winner in like 5 games, and that started our road trip win streak which helped our team to get into a juicy rhythm for the playoffs

[Leetonidas]

in 2003 at the beginning of the road trip we played orlando and mcgrady hit a long jumper with like 5 seconds to go and had that cocky look on his face as if he'd proven something then we call time out and give it to duncan, duncan misses, gets his rebound, tips it in and wins the game, his 2nd game winner in like 5 games, and that started our road trip win streak which helped our team to get into a juicy rhythm for the playoffs

Timmy had like 48 points in the game, no?