McDonald: Spurs have pieces in place to finally repeat

[Spurs Brazil]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...n.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 le.


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 les. 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 le 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 les 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 les.

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 les, 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 les in four years and produced an undisputed dynasty.

The Spurs are aging, for sure, and the window for another le 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 le 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.



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Championship Hangovers - How the Spurs fared in their first three attempts at a repeat

Web Posted: 10/27/2007 05:26 PM CDT


San Antonio Express-News

1999-2000
The team: Kept the team together for the most part, losing backup center Will Perdue to Chicago and Sean Elliott to a kidney transplant. Elliott returned to play 19 games at the end of the season. Added Terry Porter and Samaki Walker.

The season: Opened the season with a franchise-best 14-3 record before slumping in December and January. Rallied to finish 53-29 overall and second in the Midwest Division. Disaster struck on April 11, however, when Tim Duncan suffered a season-ending knee injury at Sacramento.

The playoffs: With Duncan out, the Phoenix Suns had little trouble dispatching the Spurs in the first round. It marks the only time during the Duncan era in which the Spurs failed to advance to the second round of the postseason.


* * *
2003-04

The team: David Robinson and Danny Ferry retired in the wake of the Spurs' second le. Stephen Jackson, Speedy Claxton and Steve Smith all moved on to greener pastures, precipitating the most radical post- le makeover in Spurs history. Welcome Rasho Nesterovic, Hedo Turkoglu and — in a move that would portend more les to come — Robert Horry. The team also added Charlie Ward for the playoffs.

The season: The Spurs struggled out of the gate, limping to the league's 25th best record (9-10) on Dec. 4. Starting on Dec. 5, they rattled off a 13-game winning streak and finished the season on another streak of 11 in a row. Buoyed by their hot finish, the Spurs finished 57-25, second in the Midwest Division.

The playoffs: The Spurs swept Memphis in the first round and held a 2-0 lead against the Lakers in the conference semifinals. Then, the wheels came off. With the series tied 2-2, Los Angeles' Derek Fisher capped an epic Game 5 by hitting a game-winning shot with 0.4 seconds to go. Two days later, the Lakers ended the Spurs' repeat hopes in Game 6.


* * *
2005-06

The team: Again, no major makeover. Hometown kid Devin Brown left for Utah via free agency. The Spurs added veterans Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel, and signed draft pick Fabricio Oberto.

The season: The Spurs turned in the most dominant season in franchise history, finishing with a record 63 victories and winning the Southwest Division by three games over the Dallas Mavericks.

The playoffs: But the Mavs had their revenge. The top-seeded Spurs polished off Sacramento in the first round and, due to a glitch in the playoff system, ended up meeting a Dallas team with the second-best record in the conference in the second round. The series was one for the ages, with the Mavericks stealing a Game 7 in San Antonio that needed overtime to decide a winner.

- Jeff McDonald

[1Parker1]

The only notable bauble to elude them has been back-to-back les. It is the blemish on their résumé, like the mole on the upper lip of a supermodel.

That was a weird comparison to make in a sports article.

[ShoogarBear]

A supermodel with a mole on her upper lip is a terrible thing:

[Mark in Austin]

and signed draft pick Fabricio Oberto

? Oberto wan't an Argentine the Spurs drafted.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

I'm starting to think Jeff McDonald is one of the worst writers in the country

[Quasar]

why do they repeatedly avoid 2001/2002? Do they still hate D.A?

[Joe Schmoogins]

I really like Jeff's style of writing.

[T Park]

I'm starting to think Jeff McDonald is one of the worst writers in the country

Oh please...

[boutons_]

Jeff's no Johnny Ludden, but he could be a lot worse.

like dubya, his fact-checking could be better.

Will his writing get better, or is this it?

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Jeff's no Johnny Ludden, but he could be a lot worse.

like dubya, his checking could be better.

Will his writing get better, or is this it?

but yeah, this guy's articles are terrible.


I hope he's just in preseason form or something

[Cry Havoc]

The diction and verbiage from this paper is reminiscent of an article any junior in high school would write for his local high school newspaper.