Spurs Brazil
10-27-2007, 09:16 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA102807.02M.BKNspurs.main.262b9f8.html
Spurs have pieces in place to finally repeat
Web Posted: 10/27/2007 05:03 PM CDT
Jeff McDonald
Express-News
The confetti had already dropped. The first champagne corks had long since popped. The Spurs had just won their fourth championship in nine years in June and the party was already under way somewhere in the bowels of Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena.
Then came the question, aimed at Gregg Popovich, the man at the helm for each title.
Do you think your team needs to win back-to-back championships at some point to cement itself as a true NBA dynasty?
Leave it to a notebook-wielding killjoy to ruin Popovich's buzz. He answered in the only manner true to himself: brutally honest, and a tad profane.
"I don't give a (expletive)," he told a room full of reporters, not to mention millions watching live on national TV.
Five months later, with the Spurs' latest quest for two in a row set to embark with Tuesday's season opener against Portland, Popovich still doesn't give a (expletive) when it comes to talk of a dynasty.
"I think the repeating thing is sort of overdone," Popovich said. "When a team repeats, everybody goes gaga. I think it's kind of neat, and it's hard to do, but I don't think it's any more impressive than winning over a 10-year period and being good every year."
In the decade since Tim Duncan arrived on the scene and Popovich arrived on the bench, the Spurs have been pro sports' winningest franchise.
The only notable bauble to elude them has been back-to-back titles. It is the blemish on their résumé, like the mole on the upper lip of a supermodel.
Make no mistake: The Spurs want to win it all this season.
When it comes to the high-minded concept of creating a dynasty, however, Spurs players tend to echo their coach. They don't give a (expletive), either.
Says reigning Finals MVP Tony Parker: "We don't care about what people say. It's for us. We have to do it for us."
This season, the Spurs appear more poised than ever to make a run at a repeat.
Taking a page from the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix it philosophy, the Spurs brought back all 12 players who were active during last season's postseason run. That should serve them well.
"It's always a tough year after winning a championship," says Duncan, the only player to win four rings with the Spurs. "No matter what you do, there are a lot of down nights. When you walk into that gym, you're the defending champions. It's always a tougher year."
Used to be, NBA champions viewed a repeat as a birthright.
Between 1987 and 1998, every team that won a title won at least two in a row.
Chicago won three straight on two separate occasions during that span. After the Spurs broke the repeat streak by failing to do so in 2000, the Los Angeles Lakers went back-to-back-to-back.
That the Spurs have struggled to repeat is mildly surprising.
In the end, perhaps it all comes down to luck. The Spurs' previous attempts at back-to-back titles have been a seminar in close-but-no-cigar.
In 2000, they were thwarted when Duncan injured his knee the final week of the regular season, making them easy pickings for Phoenix in the first round.
Their 2005 hopes ended, for all intents and purposes, when Lakers guard Derek Fisher drained a miracle shot with 0.4 seconds remaining to beat the Spurs in a pivotal Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals.
In 2006, it took overtime of Game 7 against Dallas in the conference semifinals to end the Spurs' bid for back-to-back titles.
Had it not been for any one of the above, there's a distinct chance the Spurs dynasty chatter would already be moot. They might already have back-to-back titles, and hence, they might already have their dynasty.
If you ask Miami Heat coach Pat Riley, the man who once guaranteed and delivered a repeat for the Lakers, the Spurs have a golden chance to right that wrong and then some.
When he looks at the Spurs, he sees visions of his old Lakers squad from the 1980s — a team that won three titles in four years and produced an undisputed dynasty.
The Spurs are aging, for sure, and the window for another title is closing quickly. But their best players — Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili — are still in their prime.
As a result, Riley says, the Spurs could have more than just one more title in them.
"They could have a long run in them and do something incredible," Riley said. "I think they know that."
The Spurs, most assuredly, do know that.
They would love to hang a fifth championship banner in the AT&T Center some day. If it happens this season, great.
And if not?
"I'm still going to drink wine with my dinner and sleep well at night," Popovich said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]
Spurs have pieces in place to finally repeat
Web Posted: 10/27/2007 05:03 PM CDT
Jeff McDonald
Express-News
The confetti had already dropped. The first champagne corks had long since popped. The Spurs had just won their fourth championship in nine years in June and the party was already under way somewhere in the bowels of Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena.
Then came the question, aimed at Gregg Popovich, the man at the helm for each title.
Do you think your team needs to win back-to-back championships at some point to cement itself as a true NBA dynasty?
Leave it to a notebook-wielding killjoy to ruin Popovich's buzz. He answered in the only manner true to himself: brutally honest, and a tad profane.
"I don't give a (expletive)," he told a room full of reporters, not to mention millions watching live on national TV.
Five months later, with the Spurs' latest quest for two in a row set to embark with Tuesday's season opener against Portland, Popovich still doesn't give a (expletive) when it comes to talk of a dynasty.
"I think the repeating thing is sort of overdone," Popovich said. "When a team repeats, everybody goes gaga. I think it's kind of neat, and it's hard to do, but I don't think it's any more impressive than winning over a 10-year period and being good every year."
In the decade since Tim Duncan arrived on the scene and Popovich arrived on the bench, the Spurs have been pro sports' winningest franchise.
The only notable bauble to elude them has been back-to-back titles. It is the blemish on their résumé, like the mole on the upper lip of a supermodel.
Make no mistake: The Spurs want to win it all this season.
When it comes to the high-minded concept of creating a dynasty, however, Spurs players tend to echo their coach. They don't give a (expletive), either.
Says reigning Finals MVP Tony Parker: "We don't care about what people say. It's for us. We have to do it for us."
This season, the Spurs appear more poised than ever to make a run at a repeat.
Taking a page from the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix it philosophy, the Spurs brought back all 12 players who were active during last season's postseason run. That should serve them well.
"It's always a tough year after winning a championship," says Duncan, the only player to win four rings with the Spurs. "No matter what you do, there are a lot of down nights. When you walk into that gym, you're the defending champions. It's always a tougher year."
Used to be, NBA champions viewed a repeat as a birthright.
Between 1987 and 1998, every team that won a title won at least two in a row.
Chicago won three straight on two separate occasions during that span. After the Spurs broke the repeat streak by failing to do so in 2000, the Los Angeles Lakers went back-to-back-to-back.
That the Spurs have struggled to repeat is mildly surprising.
In the end, perhaps it all comes down to luck. The Spurs' previous attempts at back-to-back titles have been a seminar in close-but-no-cigar.
In 2000, they were thwarted when Duncan injured his knee the final week of the regular season, making them easy pickings for Phoenix in the first round.
Their 2005 hopes ended, for all intents and purposes, when Lakers guard Derek Fisher drained a miracle shot with 0.4 seconds remaining to beat the Spurs in a pivotal Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals.
In 2006, it took overtime of Game 7 against Dallas in the conference semifinals to end the Spurs' bid for back-to-back titles.
Had it not been for any one of the above, there's a distinct chance the Spurs dynasty chatter would already be moot. They might already have back-to-back titles, and hence, they might already have their dynasty.
If you ask Miami Heat coach Pat Riley, the man who once guaranteed and delivered a repeat for the Lakers, the Spurs have a golden chance to right that wrong and then some.
When he looks at the Spurs, he sees visions of his old Lakers squad from the 1980s — a team that won three titles in four years and produced an undisputed dynasty.
The Spurs are aging, for sure, and the window for another title is closing quickly. But their best players — Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili — are still in their prime.
As a result, Riley says, the Spurs could have more than just one more title in them.
"They could have a long run in them and do something incredible," Riley said. "I think they know that."
The Spurs, most assuredly, do know that.
They would love to hang a fifth championship banner in the AT&T Center some day. If it happens this season, great.
And if not?
"I'm still going to drink wine with my dinner and sleep well at night," Popovich said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]