Spurs NBA Finals Retroactive Game Balls: Who Gets Them?

[SRJ]

(Sorry, this is going to be long. Hope you enjoy it anyway, and please participate; in this yellow and green haze we're all having to deal with, I'm in the mood to reminisce)

For me, one of the highlights of the Spurs' celebration of le number four came when the team awarded Michael Finley the Game Ball. I thought it was a nice gesture by the team; an appropriate gift for a great veteran who had busted his ass for so long in pursuit of a le. I hope the Spurs have established the Finals Game Ball as an annual tradition. If not, I hope the Spurs award one every time they win a le.

Suppose you were in charge of awarding retroactive Finals Game Balls for 1999, 2003, and 2005. Who deserves a Game Ball in each of those seasons? I look at Michael Finley as a sort of template for this exercise: veteran player, not one of the team's two or three best players, a player who paid his dues and was a consummate professional, known and respected throughout the league.

Here are my selections:

2005 - Brent Barry. From a pool of Nazr Mohammed, Rasho Nesterovic, Robert Horry, Tony Massenburg, Glenn Robinson, Brent Barry, and Beno Udrih. Mohammed and Robinson came in during the season so they're out; Massenburg barely played, Nesterovic was a low-profile journeyman, Robert Horry already had a load of rings - let somebody else have something, and Beno Udrih was a rookie.

2003 - Kevin Willis. From a pool of Willis, Malik Rose, Danny Ferry, Manu Ginobili, Steve Smith, Speedy Claxton, and Steve Kerr. If I gave out mulitple Game Balls I would give them out to Willis, Danny Ferry, and Steve Smith; but I'm limiting myself to only one, and Ferry and Smith didn't play much (though Ferry was great in game two versus Phoenix). Rose was the sixth-man and a fan favorite, but nothing more; Ginobili was a rookie, Speedy Claxton was basically a rookie, and I would exclude Kerr for the same reason I excluded Horry in 2005.

1999 - This is the tough one for me.

The first championship is in many ways the hardest one to get, so the rules should be a little different. (Frankly, I'm tempted to just say "David Robinson" and be done with it; it's probably what the team would have done if they thought about it then) Because the first championship incorporates a good chunk of franchise history along with it, I would include more front line players into the pool of nominees. Let's look at them one by one and examine their case for the 1999 Game Ball.

C - David Robinson - 10-year veteran, 1990 ROY, 1995 MVP, 1988, 1992, and 1996 US Olympian, 1992 DPOY...the list of accomplishments is lengthy. For that reason, and that reason only, I wouldn't give him the Game Ball. Everyone knew who David Robinson was and what that championship meant to him, so giving him the Game Ball would be superfluous. Of course, I wouldn't have minded at all, but it doesn't quite fit IMO

PF - Tim Duncan - 1999 Finals MVP. He was already the team's best player; unless the cir stances are especially unique, the best player should not get it

SF - Sean Elliott - we'll get back to him

SG - Mario Elie - I like him a lot, but for that first championship I'd rather give the game ball to a long-time Spur

PG - Avery Johnson - and we'll get back to him

C - Will Perdue - for rationale, see Mario Elie

PF - Malik Rose - too young and untested

PF - Gerard King - who?

SF - Jerome Kersey - see Elie again; if this was the Spurs' 2nd championship I would give it to this guy

SG - Jaren Jackson - journeyman and a pretty good story, but not the right guy

PG - Antonio Daniels - see Malik Rose

PG - Steve Kerr - see Mario Elie one more time

So by my rationale, the finalists for the 1999 Game Ball are Sean Elliott and Avery Johnson. Two longtime Spurs who had seen it all in their 15+ seasons in the Silver and Black. I can't give out two.

Sean Elliott was a more decorated NBA player than Avery Johnson, a two-time All Star; Avery's rags to riches story, his underwhelming physical stature, and his series-winning shot seem like really compelling reasons to give the 1999 Game Ball to him. What's more, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Avery. However, my Game Ball goes to Sean Elliott. My rationale for doing so is tied into Spurs history:

The Spurs team I watched when I first started watching basketball were, for those who don't remember, basically the Phoenix Suns of their time (without all of the media fellatio, of course). They scored lots of points and were fun to watch - they were also routinely dismissed from the playoffs by the best team in basketball, Magic Johnson's Lakers. After George Gervin left, there were several tough seasons to endure until a lean, athletic seven-footer named David Robinson arrived on the scene. Everyone marveled at Robinson's abilities - Pat Riley, during his TV stint on NBC, predicted Robinson would be the Player of the Decade for the 1990's.

As we know, it didn't transpire that way. The franchise was besieged by inept management running a coaching carousel and untimely injuries to players slotted to aid Robinson's ascent. The pattern of good regular seasons leading to early playoff exits turned the Spurs from a promising young team into a soft team - a team that folds and shrinks when the pressure of the playoffs escalates. For the casual observer, the Spurs were with Robinson the same team they were with Gervin - they could never be anything else. They play in a small market. They're too nice. They don't have heart, fire, or passion.

Even the first year of the Duncan era began in the same way - a quick, noiseless exit at the hands of the Utah Jazz. So when the Spurs ended the 1999 campaign with the league's best record, many were still unconvinced. Lo and behold, the Spurs lost game two - a home game - in the first round to the lowly, eighth seeded Minnesota Timberwolves. Same old Spurs? Granted, a second-round sweep of the LA Lakers quieted some critics, but many were convinced Shaquille O'Neal was a playoff choker himself. (To that point in his career, O'Neal had not won a single championship and was swept from the playoffs five times in six trips to the playoffs)

Enter the 1999 Western Conference Finals. For only the second time in franchise history, the San Antonio Spurs won two playoff rounds in a single tournament. They finished the year on a blistering tear, 31-5, and were 7-1 in the playoffs. But Portland was a formidable young squad, deep and well-balanced. They had just taken a mighty big scalp in the second round - the Spurs 1990's nemesis, the Utah Jazz. Could the Spurs finally get over the hump?

Game one was a close one - the Spurs won by just four points. But game two, early on, was a disaster - a nightmare coming true. Portland came out looking for blood. They were a step quicker and more precise than the Spurs. At one point, Portland's lead swelled to eighteen points. It looked like history was rearing its ugly head; if the Spurs were Cinderella, the Conference Finals always took place at midnight.

But someone turned back the clock.

Sean Elliott, perhaps more than the average NBA player, had knee troubles. By the end of the 1990's, Elliott was missing games left and right - in 1997 and 1998, Elliott played in 75 out of 164 games, missing the 1998 playoffs altogether. He bounced back strongly in 1999, playing in all 50 games. And in 32 glorious minutes during game two of the Western Conference Finals, Sean Elliott was at the top of his game. Elliott scored 19 points on 7-9 shooting, including five three-pointers as the Spurs clawed their way back into the contest.

But the Spurs still trailed with just over thirteen seconds remaining in the contest. It appeared that the heat of the playoffs was getting to the Spurs and that they were going to go on the road to have to regain the homecourt advantage they played so brilliantly to gain. Was this the same old Spurs?

Not anymore.

Elliott, who craved a championship more than anyone knew (a guarded secret about an ailing kidney kept him on the court), made the play known today as the Memorial Day Miracle - the biggest play in the biggest game of his life.

But for Spurs history, the shot had a much greater significance. Portland suc bed quickly and the Knicks were soundly defeated in the Finals. Nine years later, the Spurs trail only the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Chicago Bulls in championships won. After 1999, critics may not have cared for the San Antonio Spurs, but no one ever questioned their heart, their toughness, or their mettle ever again.

So my Game Ball goes to Sean Elliott. Because Sean Elliott was the player who provided this franchise with the shot that ended one Spurs legacy and started a new one.

[Marcus Bryant]

Ok, I'll be honest, I haven't read it all yet. I will.

First reaction. 1999 Game Ball goes to Super Mario. He set the tone. He brought the confidence to the team that hadn't been there before. I think he said it himself...he always wondered how the Spurs never won a championship before with the talent they had.