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http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/show...t=71447&page=1
Read this trash, wow! He is now on my PUNCH ON SITE list.
JASON WHITLOCK COMMENTARY
NBA FINALS GAME FOUR | San Antonio 83, Cleveland 82COMMENTARY
Toast of Texas
Spurs are a dynasty, sort of
San Antonio’s Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan celebrated their team’s sweep of the Cavaliers on Thursday. It was the Spurs’ fourth NBA le in nine years. Duncan contributed 12 points and 15 rebounds in game four.
CLEVELAND | Fine, call these Spurs a dynasty. They’ve earned it, winning four NBA les in nine years, mastering the art of team defense, sacrificing individual ego for team glory.
Call the Spurs the Patriots of basketball, a model of consistency, decorum, chemistry and economic sanity.
The Spurs, with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Eva Longaria, are the envy of the sports world. Thursday night they finished their sweep of the Cavaliers, brushing LeBron James and friends aside 83-82 in game four of the NBA finals at Quicken Loans Arena, and putting themselves in rare company.
Only the Celtics, Lakers and Bulls have more NBA les than San Antonio. Maybe the small-market Spurs are the Green Bay Packers of hoops and San Antonio will be given the nickname “ le Town II.”
But there’s something different about these Spurs, something that stops them from impressing and captivating people the way the Celtics, Lakers, Bulls, Patriots, Packers and Yankees did.
Tim Duncan is an awesome player, Gregg Popovich’s coaching resume is as good as gets, Tony Parker won the finals MVP award with an Isiah Thomaslike performance, and Robert Horry has more rings than any player who didn’t ride Bill Russell’s coattails.
So why don’t the Spurs connect? Why were these finals a TV ratings disaster and a challenge to watch?
Because sports fans aren’t stupid. They can sniff an impostor even when we in the media try to convince them otherwise.
Duncan is a cut below Bird, Magic and Jordan. As good as Duncan is, he’s a cut below Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and a few of the other big men who once elevated the league.
And Popovich is no Red Auerbach, Pat Riley or Phil Jackson. Pop lacks their personality, aura and offensive system. Basketball is a game that is defined by a team’s ability to score the ball. Pop’s Spurs win with suffocating defense. His teams don’t excite.
This will sound terrible, and it will sound as if I’m trying to diminish the Spurs’ tremendous accomplishment, but it’s the truth: Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant built San Antonio’s dynasty and accelerated the NBA’s fall from grace post-Michael Jordan.
The Kobe-Shaq spat tore apart the Lakers’ dynasty and opened the door for the Spurs to win les in 2005 and 2007.
Had Shaq not grown content and lazy and had Kobe kept his ego under control, the Lakers would still be the dominant team in basketball. They would be the team beating up horrible Eastern Conference pretenders and keeping the NBA relevant.
Instead we’re treated to the very boring San Antonio Spurs, a team that struggled to finish the poor-shooting Cavaliers in games three and four.
The Spurs were terrible Thursday night. Duncan didn’t score a basket in the first half. He missed all five of his shots. He finished the game shooting four of 15 from the field. He shot 10 of 32 in two games in Cleveland.
San Antonio shot 42 percent on Thursday and let the Cavaliers climb back into the game in the fourth quarter despite LeBron James missing 20 of 30 shots and turning the ball over six times.
This series might be more remembered for James’ struggles and what those struggles say about his future than the Spurs’ legacy. Throughout the series “The Next Michael Jordan” demonstrated just how much work must be done before he’s the next Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley or Isiah Thomas.
Yes, LeBron needs a better supporting cast. He also needs a jump shot.
Maybe the Cavaliers force their opponents down to their level of play. You could make an argument that even though the Cavs were swept, they imposed their will on this best-of-seven series. They turned the series ugly.
It’s difficult to stake a dynasty claim when you’ve just completed the worst NBA finals series in history.
To reach Jason Whitlock, call 816-234-4869 or send e-mail to [email protected]. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.
Been posted in this thread
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/show...t=71447&page=1
Whatever. I've always like Whitlock, too. He, Simmons, and Easterbrook were the only reason to look at Page 2. But he's wrong. I don't care what he says, anyway.
How can he claim Duncan isn't as good as Malone? WTF?
Well, I guess there's only so many articles that can be written on how good they actually are. Someone's got to get in there and stir the pot.
Picture of Whitlock - enough said...
Seriously, this guy is a joke. Anytime he has written a local story about a situation that I have had a little bit of information on beforehand, I have found his articles to be totally off-base and completely missing the point.
Meh, I still like him.
History is not going to remember what Jason Whitlock thought about the 2007 Spurs.
Picture of Whitlock - enough said...
Gorda..
Whitlock hates everything Texas, he has written the same crap about the Texas Longhorns and the Big 12 South. He advocates kicking the Texas teams out and going back to the greatness that is the Big 8, never mind that the Big 8 was going to fold had they not created the Big 12.
The guy is all about Texas hate and everything that comes from Texas.
I too respect Whitlock, but he needs to shut his fat ass up.
I don't like him or respect him. That article was crap from beginning to end.
What a ing moron!
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