Everyone Loves and Upset

Everyone loves and upset.  That is unless you're a fan of the favored team...in this case it's the San Antonio Spurs and the Orlando Magic.  The first round of this year's playoffs featured 2 upsets.  One wasn't entirely unexpected as the #5 Hawks eliminated the #4 Magic.  The other one however was a big time shocker.  The #8 Memphis Grizzlies knocked off the #1 overall San Antonio Spurs.

It doesn't happen very often that the number # seed in the entire NBA goes down in the first round.  Especially against an inexperienced and young team like the Grizzlies.  The Grizzlies hadn't won a playoff game in their entire history, let alone a playoff series.  It could be due to the young athleticism of Memphis.  It's a pretty well known fact that the Spurs are getting old.  Tim Duncan is admittedly one of the best players at his position ever, but he just couldn't handle Zach Randolph for the duration of the series.

 
Zach Randolph has had a bit of a shaky career.  In the post game interview he gave he was asked how it is that he came to fit in at Memphis after jumping around from one team to another for most of his career.  His answer was "This is a blue collar town.  I'm a blue collar player.  Nothing came to me easy, and nothing came to this town easy.  For that I love them, and they love me."  And as was stated at the end of the game, after his performance in this series they will love him even more.


But now the question comes up "Is this the end of an era in the NBA?"  Duncan is quickly losing his effectiveness.  He had career lows in every statistic.  But in his tenure, the Spurs won 4 NBA Titles and they went to the playoffs all 14 years, winning 55games every year.  That is practically unheard of, and the question has been a extremely popular the last several days.

My opinion on the situation is that this is the end of the Duncan Era.  It is not the end of the Spurs Era.  They may need a year or so to rebuild at some point, but they are too well run to be out of the running in the Western Conference for long.  Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have several good years left in each of them.  And Greg Popovich is a fantastic coach.  So, unless the team completely splits up like the Bulls did when Jordan left for good, they will be around and contending in the Western Conference for a long time.

Why are the Spurs so Good?

So, I've never been a fan of the Spurs.  To me, they've always been a boring team to watch.  Slow, methodical, defensive, fundamental...etc.  (Not to mention they have Manu Ginobili, one of the biggest floppers and fakers in the NBA.  Must be an Argentinian thing...)  But they've been a very good team for a long time.  Probably because of all those things I just listed off.  But this year they are super good.

At them moment (I say at the moment because they are playing Miami right now, and all of this could change) they are leading the NBA by 6 games over the nearest competitor, Boston.  That is a huge lead this late in the season.  They rank in the top 10 in PPG, APG, and RPG, and 12th in the NBA in points allowed per game, which is really strange because their offense seems to be better this year than their defense.  For awhile they were on pace to match 95-96 Bulls with the best record in NBA history at 70-12.

So why are they so good?  I look at that team and I see a bunch of aging stars.  Players past their prime.  Tim Duncan is 34 for crying out loud and in his 14th season.  Ginobili is 33, Richard Jefferson is 30, and Tony Parker is a little younger; he's 28.  But then again, maybe that's it.  The main 3 players, Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili, have been playing together for a lot of seasons, and there's something to be said for that kind of experience.  Also, there's no "Big 3."  There's no big hype around the team, leading to very few distractions.

Normally these kind of things would make me a fan of the team.  But there's something about the Spurs that I just don't like.  I'm hoping that this jinxes them tonight against the Heat, so that they can't tie the Bulls for the best record.