5. Game one, Spurs at Portland, 1993 first round. Many of the players from the great 1990 series were still in place for both teams. Portland had a lead and played sharper most of the contest, but the Spurs hung around and hung around and gritted out a tough road win. I thought of this game after the way game five versus Phoenix played out.
4. Jan. 20 (21?), 2005, Spurs at Phoenix. Fantastic regular season game that went into overtime; Manu scored 48 points on a ridiculously low number of shots. Most of those 48 were of the "OMG WTF was that??" variety.
3. Game six, Spurs at Lakers, 2003 round two. Tim Duncan put on his red cape and led the men into Staples to a dethrone-the-threepeat-bas s victory. Most of his thirty-seven came in the first three quarters; in the fourth, the rest of the team smelled the blood in the water and swarmed for a 110-82 beatdown. Kevin Willis' putback dunk at the 6:00 mark of the 4th, giving the Spurs a 20 point lead, was the cherry on that sundae. Ah, so good.
2. Game five, Spurs at Detroit, 2005 NBA Finals. After two bad -slappings at the Palace, the Spurs made their stand. Timmy settled things down in his return to form, and starting toward the end of the third quarter, Big Shot Rob turned back the clock and looked like a Larry Bird/Scottie Pippen hybrid - hitting threes and soaring above the rim with that amazing left-handed and-1 jam in overtime. Then, Rasheed Wallace left him alone at the end of OT, and that was BSR needed to make one of his trademark big shots. Tony Parker's hard-ass defense against Rip Hamilton on the last possession may go forgotten in the wake of BSR's heroics, but I won't forget it. The Spurs still needed to make a stop with six seconds left, and Parker was all over Rip in that final play.
1. Game two, Spurs versus Portland, 1999 Western Conference Finals. The game that ended one Spurs legacy and started another one. I can't think about this game or Elliott's shot without getting at least a little emotional. Pop talks about playing 48 minutes - this game was the ultimate example of playing for 48 minutes. You have to have a champion's poise to come back in a game like that, and the Spurs showed that they were not only the best team in 1999, but that they were the toughest team. So when the playoff losses of 2001 and 2002 happened, I was understandably unhappy, but I had faith. I knew this wouldn't persist with Pop and Timmy around.