It is absurdly early, hopelessly premature and overheated rhetoric to discuss the San Antonio Spurs running the table in the National Basketball Association post-season.
But let's do it anyway. Let's do it because they're 10-0 in the playoffs, and opponents are starting to remind you of a bug getting in the way of a speeding windshield.
Because the last time the Spurs lost a basketball game, the baseball season had just started and the Texas Rangers were 4-2. Now they're 31-19.
Because a perfect post-season has one thing in common with a championship by the Toronto Raptors. Neither has been seen in the history of the NBA.
Can it happen now? It shouldn't. That'd be shooting not for the moon, but Jupiter. The Spurs would have to take two games in the Oklahoma City hothouse this weekend, and then sweep the NBA final, probably needing a couple of wins in LeBron James' kitchen.
No way. You'd think. And yet, the fact that we can discuss the possibility and keep a straight face is an unmistakable sign something very special is going on in San Antonio.
Since April 11, the Spurs have won 20 consecutive games against 10 different opponents. They are 9-0 on the road. Everything is in place. Confidence. Experience. Balance.
Even a catchphrase for the June moment of truth: "I want some nasty," Gregg Popovich implored his troops during a Game 1 rally against Oklahoma City, and now those words are on T-shirts on sale throughout San Antonio.
The Spurs have been too relentless to let deficits get in their way. They trailed the Los Angeles Clippers by 22 points in the first half last round, and Oklahoma City by nine points in the fourth quarter in Game 1, and blew past both.
They are too complete - so far - to let anybody's off shooting game stop them. Tim Duncan was 2-for-11 against the Thunder in Game 2. San Antonio built a 22-point lead, anyway. The offence often has the choreography of a Broadway musical. Every performer in his assigned place, ready for the pass that is nearly always made.
Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Popovich. You could make a case that four future Hall of Famers are leading these Spurs. Why should anyone be surprised they're really, really good?
The issue is if they can be so good not to lose any of the next six games. Unlikely, but more imaginable by the day. The Spurs avoid such silly talk, thinking only of a championship, by how many ever games it takes. That, as Ginobili pointed out the other day, would "accomplish something way bigger than a streak."
"We're not worried about records or anything else," Duncan told reporters after the Game 2 win against Oklahoma City.
The guess is the streak ends this weekend. But the Spurs are on a roll, and maybe taking their league with them.
GAME DAY
San Antonio at Oklahoma City
Spurs lead Western final 2-0 7 p.m., Chesapeake Energy Arena TV: TSN
© Copyright (c) McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
No comments:
Post a Comment