So, the Spurs won it all, thanks to a 19-0 Nets collapse in the fourth. Bleah…can’t say I’m too excited about that. To my mind, San Antonio is flawed and boring. But I do find it interesting, as the Sportsguy pointed out, that either Steve Kerr or Robert Horry has won a ring each of the past ten years. With that in mind, I wonder who the Knicks’ll be drafting. Chris Kaman, perhaps?
4 thoughts on “Texas Two-Step.”
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Hey, injuries are part of the game. Choking is part of the game. Crafty age beating up on high-jumping youth in the playoffs is part of the game. I hear a lot of “if this, if that, if the other thing” from people like Rosen who think the Spurs shouldn’t have won… but what does that even mean? So the league is in a low spot talent-wise? Hey, that’s part of the game too.
The one thing I can’t understand is an aficionado saying s/he finds the Spurs boring. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time because every game was so close. Every night there was the big question of whether any of those retread Spurs could step up — it was a little bit like watching the cast of “The Wizard of Oz” play basketball. Would Jackson find his brain? Would Parker find a heart? Would Steve Kerr find some legs? In comparison, the years with truly dominating teams are boring because the outcomes are such gimmes.
And I could watch Duncan forever. I’m sorry, but anyone who finds him boring just isn’t an NBA person. I think maybe he doesn’t appeal to the young, because he’s not flashy — his audience is people who are old enough to understand how hard consistent excellence really is. It’s also amusing to be lectured about NBA history by someone like Rosen who seems to be conveniently forgetting how the “boring” label was put on Larry Bird, Bill Bradley, Jerry West, Bill Russell, and a lot of other great, fundamentally sound players of yore.
Hey, congratulations on the new “look and feel.” Definitely much easier on the eyes.
As far as the NBA Finals goes: I found the quality of play appalling for a championship series. Say what you want about the Spurs defense, by that 19-0 Net collapse, at the most critical juncture in their entire season, makes me question why any of those guys even get paid to play basketball. These are ***professional*** athletes. They couldn’t hit an open jump shot. I’ve seen high-school games that were better.
Congrats to Duncan, Robinson, and the Spurs, though. Especially Duncan: flirting with a quadruple-double … that was epic. He truly is the MVP. The Spurs made the plays when they had to. But now I understand why it’s so important to have big market teams in championships: this one was a snoozefest, both on the court, and off, since none of the participants are exceptionally interesting quote-mills. It made the whole feel of the series like, “Who cares?”
In the fantasy world, the Knicks would find a way to make a blockbuster deal with the Pistons and grab Darko and as he grows into his 7-0 frame, he’s only 18, you’ll have an incredibly gifted, athletic big man to reb-uild a team around … the more I read about this guy, the more I’m intrigued.
Boycaught, I’m with you on the finals play. It was striking how bad it was. There’s one thing to be said for great D. This was just constant choking. I’m all for a closely-matched series, but a series can be close without being badly played.
Troutgirl, I consider myself an NBA person, and I find the Spurs and Tim Duncan boring. TD is undeniably one of the best players in the league, but he has one standard move which he goes to over and over and over again. He posts up about 10 feet away, then either kicks it out (usually for a repost) or spins and shoots a bank. If anyone on the other team deigns to touch him, he goes to the line and shoots 1 for 2. (Truly great fundamentally sound players, by the way, hit their free throws much more often than does Duncan.) If not, he screams bloody murder for a foul call. Meanwhile, the rest of the Spurs just stand around and watch him work. The reason the Spurs kept blowing fourth quarter leads this year is for this very reason. Spurs would dump the ball into Duncan and wait – And since it’s much harder to get a foul called in the fourth quarter, the opposing unit would triple-team Duncan into a bad shot. The other fundamentally sound players you mentioned, with the exception of Russell, are remembered for their fluidity and movement – There’s no movement at all in Duncan’s game. It’s just getting the ball in his spot, shooting the bank, and going to the line.
Contrast with Kidd, K-Mart, and Jefferson, who all surely had terrible games in the Finals, but – when they’re on – nevertheless can still astound you with their balletic moves and court ingenuity. The only Spur close to their league in this department was Manu Ginobli – Stephen Jackson and Tony Parker just play out of control.
Calling them boring doesn’t take away San Antonio’s championship play – it just means they play boring. Enough NBA fans agree on the lameness of this Finals play to suggest that there’s a legitimate point of contention here. Also, the Spurs won this Finals because they were the better team and Tim Duncan was the best player on the floor, but let’s face it – they got there in much the same way Nixon obtained the Presidency, across a swath of fallen bodies.
Ghost: Great, trenchant summary of Duncan’s game. And don’t forget, he’s a huge-handed, wide-shouldered, quick-jumping 7-footer, so against 98% of the league, he’s got a built in physical advantage before even touching the ball. Once he’s established position, very few can match up with him … and he’s perfected the lost-art of a high arc-ing off-da-glass bank shot that’s virtually unstoppable when it’s on … sorta like Kareem’s SkyHook. What could anyone do when that thing was working?
As for Ginobli and Parker, I do think you’re looking at two future, bona fide stars. They are not “out of control” … they are “different,” having honed their fundamentals in faraway places like France and Argentina. As the influx of foreign players continues, I think we’re going to have to redefine play styles, because somethig tells me that guys coming out of Argentina, France, Yugoslavia, China, they have different measures for what a “good” baller really is. Ginobli, for his part, had a few monster reverse jams that I can remember this playoffs, that were stunning because they were so surprising. I don’t know. This is the “new” NBA we’re starting to see. Maybe the NBA will become more like World Cup soccer, where you have a “Euro style,” and a “South American” style, and an “African Style” of play,etc.
With Parker, I, for one, love that slashing “teardrop” runner … that’s a f*cking badass shot for a 6-2 guy going coast-to-coast and scoring in the paint in the NBA.
Anyway, on to the draft. Let’s see what shakes out.