I'm not sure it was toughness that separated this team from last year. Last year, the Spurs looked nothing like a le team until the Denver series, then something fell into place and they righted the ship.
This year, they looked okay winning 63, but rarely looked like a dominant team at their peak. When they got to the playoffs, something was missing, but I'm not sure it was toughness. They fought like champions to stay in the Mavs series -- they mounted a ton of late comebacks, even in the games they didn't win. But they never quite gelled into a great team, and the Mavs were better over seven games.
Maybe it was personnel, some people obviously think it was coaching, maybe it was just bad fortune that they didn't gel at the right time. But whatever it was, I'm just not seeing that it was toughness.

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