Rooting For The Spurs

by A.J. Coltrane

The San Antonio Spurs now lead the Thunder two games to none in the Western Conference Finals.

Naturally, I’m rooting for the Spurs to win, but it’s more than just vindictive in this case.

The Spurs have now won 20 in a row, and they’re doing it the “right way”, at least from a “basketball purist” perspective:  They share the rock. They play almost without ego when it comes to “who’s getting how many shots”. It’s a very international way of doing things, which makes sense, since Parker and Ginobili are both European, and Duncan grew up in the Virgin Islands.

To quote Thunder coach Scott Brooks:

“They spread you out,” Brooks said. “They put some tough decisions on the floor that you have to guard their bigs rolling, and you’ve got to protect their 40 percent 3-point shooters and you’ve got to handle the ball and looks and attack …
“They pass the ball well. Very rarely do they take one extra dribble. If a man is open, they pass.”

Emphasis mine. By contrast, the Thunder play like the AAU kids that they were growing up. Everybody pounds the ball and tries to create offense by going 1-on-1.

Tony Parker carved up the Thunder in game two using pick and rolls. Westbrook decided he had to look like a man and keep up, so he wound up jacking up a bunch of low percentage shots on isolation plays. The Spurs won simply because they shots they took were more makeable as a group.

Game 3 is Thursday. I’m going to guess that the Thunder will “get some help” and will shoot at least 7 more free throws than the Spurs. We’ll see.

I’d highly recommend watching the Spurs. The way they’re playing they may beat the Heat too. That would give Tim Duncan five championships, the same number as Kobe, and only one fewer than MJ. He’s that good.