This is not a championship caliber team. Not now, anyway. They could develop into one. But with the stunts they have pulled the last several nights - the unforced errors in crunch time? Not a chance. And the most disturbing part is that a lot of the worst mental errors are being committed by their best players.
Tonight they had a 5 point lead, and possession of the ball, with about 1:10 left. Instead of running off some time and looking for a high percentage shot late in the clock, they tried to force an alley-oop on a damned fast break, and used up what? Four seconds? Stupid.
And can they really be so casual in overtime that they fail to bring the ball across mid-court within 8 seconds? Seriously? In overtime, with the game on the line? I know Parker is talented, and he was a beast - in the fourth quarter especially. But every team has talented players, who can dominate quarters. Championship teams have a sense of urgency. Runner-up teams look back on all the opportunities they missed throughout the season.
You could argue that the Spurs keep finding some way to come out on top. You could - but it would be a ridiculous argument. Only the fact that Memphis is a young, sub-.500 team allowed the Spurs to even get to overtime. The Spurs did everything they could to give the game away, and any better team would have said "Thank you" and gone home with a W. The previous two games required miracle plays by Manu. But when you look at how close Manu's last shot in Denver came to rolling out, or how close his last shot against Milwaukee came to being a travel, you have to recognize that the Spurs could just as easily be sitting on a 3 game losing streak. As good as Manu and Tony played at the end of those games, the W's are still a matter of luck.
Championships aren't won on luck. The Spurs have quite literally thrown away three games in a row with stupid, lackadaisical play down the stretch. The fact that the basketball gods chose to go dumpster diving and give the games back doesn't mean a thing. The basketball gods take the months of May and June off.
The Spurs have the talent, now, to win another championship. They have a better bench than they have had in years. And any of their Big 3 can rise to the level of hero on any given night. But even that won't be enough to overcome the kind of stupid unforced errors they have committed in the last few games. They began the season believing that they needed to get off to a fast start. Lately they seem to have gone back to the at ude that a loss or two, here and there, is no big deal. Losing a few games won't kill them - but the at ude will. There are no gimmes in the NBA, and every game along the way is important. Championship teams live and breath that.