Snooze on the Spurs, and you lose
Posted: Thursday, May 24, 2007 7:36 PM
When the Spurs finish off the Jazz and arrive in the NBA Finals, you’re going to see any number of columns whose 800-odd words can be reduced to one: “boring.”
And if Detroit comes out of the East, you’ll also read about how awful it’s going to be for the ratings, because, as everyone knows, the quality of the ratings is more important than the quality of the basketball.
This is neither true nor fair. Teams get to the finals because they’ve proved on the court that they’re the best. And only someone who believes style is more important than substance – I think that covers much of America – would say that’s boring.
Besides, the Spurs aren’t boring. Tony Parker is an exciting point guard. Plus, whenever he’s in the game we get to look at his sweetie, Eva Longoria, cheering him on. And Manu Ginobili is a slashing, dashing thrill show.
But, someone will say, what about Tim Duncan? He may be a great player, but he’s duller than a Penn State football uniform. No strutting. No rim-hanging. No finger pointing. No reverse slams. Where’s the fun in that?
It’s pathetic that we can say things like that about one of the greatest players the game has ever seen. It’s equally sad that we criticize teams for being everything we say we want them to be – reasonably well-behaved, respectful of the game, preferring team play to individual glory.
You can say the same things about Detroit: they win because they are a team, not a bunch of flashy individuals. If Cleveland beats the Pistons, everyone will get excited – as they should – about LeBron James getting to the finals. But if they don’t, it will be a victory for team over individual. We should applaud rather than yawn.
But let’s get back to Duncan. Better yet, get yourself over to to this column by Adrian Wojnarowski. (Just call him “Woj.” It’s a lot easier, and it’s what he answers to.) Duncan, says Woj, is the league’s MVP. No one else need apply. But he’s so consistently great in such an unassuming way he never gets the credit he deserves.
Duncan is 31 and has three rings. No other NBA team has won more titles over the past ten years than the Spurs. Since 1996, the Bulls have three, the Lakers have three and the Spurs have three. This year, the Spurs will almost certainly make it four.
That is a dynasty. And when you look at what the Spurs have done, it’s even more remarkable than what the Lakers and the Bulls did. Both of those teams won their championships consecutively. The Bulls have only now returned to competitiveness – it took nearly a decade to get over Michael Jordan’s departure. The Lakers have struggled ever since Shaq left.
But the Spurs are consistently excellent. Their titles were spread over seven years. If they win this year, it will be four in nine years. To win, fall back a little, come back and win again, then repeat the process is hard to do. And it means an organization is doing all the right things at all levels – drafting, trading, signing free agents, coaching.
So they’re not Show Time. Big deal. If you want to see one person put on a clinic on how to play his position just about every single game, just watch Duncan. He does everything right. Positioning. Footwork. Blocking out. Setting picks. Passing out of the double-team. He’s not great on free throws until it gets to the end of a tight game. Then it seems he can’t miss.
The Spurs are like the old New York Giants of 1986-1990 were in the NFL and like the Devils have been in the NHL. They don’t do flash. They do the game and the team thing. They just win.
And winning isn’t boring. So the ratings are down? Big deal. The NBA will survive. And if you tune in for a bit, you may just find you’re seeing basketball played the way you always say you wish people would play it. The team way.
