NBA: The ‘San Antonio’ Spurs are not boring

If you google ”The San Antonio Spurs are,” “boring” is the first suggested auto-fill that you get.

Anybody who understands the concepts of team basketball to a decent extent, and has watched some of the Spurs’ matches closely (though, I seriously doubt that most people do that), know one thing for sure – Spurs are not boring.

Basketball has, over the years, developed from sports to business, the game has developed from high socks players playing serious team basketball to players wearing a custom designed sneakers playing superhero basketball and high-flying their way to stardom.

I’m not arguing that is a bad thing. Without this change, we, living here, 1000 miles from all the action, might still haven’t known NBA, but the fact that the always elegant and effective Spurs has gone so under-appreciated for such a long time, just goes beyond me.

Sure, they don’t have the athleticism of the Miami Heat or Los Angeles Clippers, they don’t even have a Kobe or Durant to put on a show every night; heck they don’t even have a John Wall or Kyrie Irving to entertain you.

But the x-factor Spurs have is their system – a system that made by the wizard that is Gregg Popovich, a system that has thrived and dominated the NBA for the last 15+ seasons, a system that is build around finding and trusting the open man. It is the system of true basketball or as you should call it, the Spurs system.

For a NBA band-wagoner, these winners Spurs might be boring, but for a true basketball fan, the Spurs are a delight to watch.

Let’s take a weird example - TED or F&F Six might be the most entertaining movie you have ever seen, but you know that there is not even one in a trillionth chance that they’ll get the Oscars. There always be a Argo or Zero Dark Thirty to bag it. The Spurs represent these Argo’s and Lincoln’s; sure they might seem boring at the first look but if you follow the movie closely you realize that you are watching a masterpiece (told you, weird example).

Still, for the sake of it, here are few reasons that make the case for Spurs as true basketball entertainers.

THE ASTONISHING PLAYS

Gregg Popovich is the best coach in the NBA right now, if not the best ever.

Under his guidance, the Spurs run some of the most beautiful plays ever. Sure they don’t look anything special to a naked eye, but if you look the game in tape, in slow motion, you’ll have a smile on your face.

Given below is example of a typical Spurs play called the Hammer Action - In this play, the primary ball-handler will pass the ball to a cutting player who would go on a baseline drive accompanied by a shooter getting free on the weak side. The ball-handler will then pass the ball to the weak side positioned men who would shoot a wide open 3.

This is just one of several Spurs trademark plays and an example of how exciting the Spurs are. (for more of these type of plays you can search “Spurs outstanding play” on YouTube and you will get hundreds of results)

Now, give me a reason why these near-impeccable plays are called “boring” and a superstar “iso plays” called exciting.

COACH POP

Most of us San Antonio fans’ worries end with this phrase “We got Pop, he’ll figure out something” and he has never disappointed. In his ongoing decade long stint with the Spurs, there’s hardly any time when the master has done anything wrong, from developing young Parker into a beast he is now, to developing role players such as Danny Green and Gary Neal, Pop has done it all.

The most entertaining thing about him is his in-game interviews (which Marc Stein of ESPN wrote a wonderful piece on). The conclusion of the article was similar to what I think, that Pop don’t like entertainment taking over the sports, he doesn’t seem to understand why, just for the sake of it you have answer a couple of question in-between games. His no-bulls*** attitude is what makes him so polarizing.

Still what might be the reason behind it, his interviews are instant classics. There are times when you just want the first half to end quickly so that you could watch Pop’s sarcastic answers. How many other coaches do that ?

After all, he is nasty.

THE TRIO

Manu Ginobili: Last game versus Miami, Manu split opened the defense and went in for a simple layup and astonishingly he came up short. This is the same Manu that used to dunk on 4 players and the same Manu that made Charles Barkley scream “GINO-BUH-LEEEEE” a zillion times on TNT.

The present Manu is old, he can’t jump anymore, he is not the entertaining machine he once used to be. Still, each game he finds a way to make you go WHOA!, like this touch-between the legs pass to Cory Joseph for the easy layup in the conference finals.

Seriously, who else could do that, he is probably the most innovative passer in the NBA since Pistol Pete last played and still you somehow he gets tagged as “boring”.

Tim Duncan: OK, Tim Duncan doesn’t have the most entertaining game but it’s not boring either, I agree the bank isn’t much exciting, but when he seem to make it continuously for a zillion times it’s a little interesting and when he makes that over athletic guys 10 years younger than him, its just a masterpiece.

Take for example; the first half buzzer beater he scored against Miami in Game 1

0.8 seconds left on the clock, Timmy comes in, catches the ball and hits the mid-range jumper and walks back. Nothing like a buzzer beater, but still a one, wonder how does he that ?

Also, he somehow makes the outlet pass look sexy:

Off the court he has a better dressing sense than ……..nobody :

He has the weirdest tattoos ever (google it up) and is the only human that hangs out with the whales :

And the way he took revenge from Ref Joey Crawford (who once ejected him for laughing) is just priceless….

This isn’t boring

Tony Parker:

Tony Parker is probably the most underrated player ever. In the first finals game, where you have Wade and LeBron – the human highlight machines – Tony Parker still had the two most amazing plays; first with Spurs leading 79-78, Tony Parker got the ball off a Kawhi Leonard steal and he did his trademark spin move around Norris Cole and made it a 3-point game.

Then with 0.1 seconds left on the short clock and 5.2 overall, he performed “The South Beach Stumble” – the most amazing play of the finals in last few years. Just ask yourself – how many times do you see a point guard dribble around the best team in the NBA, fall down, get up and ice the game winner over LeBron? Not many times.

Off the court, he’s cheated his wife with his teammate’s wife and somehow got hit by a bottle in a Chris Brown and Drake brawl. What else?

Oh, and he has that nasty floater.

ENDING NOTE

The Spurs are a model of consistency. They have a winning percentage of more than 61 percent since they drafted Duncan – they have struck with a program since then and produced the same output again and again.

Sure, they are not what you call “flashy’, but when they play they are a poetry in motion. You might not the understand the lines of the poem till you read the summary, but you are sure going to enjoy it.

I’m so happy that a Spurs – Heat finals happened. It’s probably the first time that the world will seriously watch the Spurs at their best (most of their previous finals trips had the lowest TV ratings ever) and I’m pretty sure it will change “the Spurs are so boring” notion for a lot of them.

Also, to be noted, they had 4 of the Top 5 plays of the Game 1 versus Miami, so that’s a good start.

The world might be too late to recognize them but you know as the saying goes “Better late then never“.