ESPN.com. Is there a picture of any of the Spurs on the homepage tonight? Is there a picture of Bruce Bowen mid-three-point shot? How about of Robert Horry sneaking in after a Spurs’ field goal to steal an inbounds pass? Or of Manu Ginobli flying out of bounds to save a possession, which turned into three points? A Tim Duncan rebound. A Tony Parker pass through the key to a driving Ginobli? They can all be caught, these pictures. And perhaps they were. But none are on display tonight on ESPN.com. Ok, then. Let’s get on with it. I don’t wanna hear another word about the Spurs being boring. Never. Ever. Every day, I go to my personalized Google ‘San Antonio Spurs’ news and I read countless articles talkin’ about ‘this is gonna be a boring series’; ‘two defensive teams playing each other in the finals can only be good for the seven or so fundamentalists out there.’ Enough. This San Antonio Spurs team, though they arrived twenty-seven years ago and have been blessed by the likes of George Gervin, David Robinson (true love right there), and Sean Elliott, and now Timmy, Manu, and Tony, is finally being recognized. They’re making shit happen. Period. Cutting through the key practically untouched, hitting (thankfully!) from the line, from beyond the arc, blocking shots, chasing loose balls out of bounds, stealin’, fakin’….Winning. The thing is, they’ve been doing it all along. Boring nothing. ‘It’s a must-win for the Spurs tonight,’ they say (yes, even David); ‘Detroit had to do this or do that’; ‘Detroit just fell apart; they were lax.’ How about giving the Spurs props for beating four games to one a Denver team that was hitting during the stretch; a Seattle team four games to two (I think) that was right up there with Phoenix and San Antonio throughout the season for the top spot; and a Phoenix team four games to one that, well, that was the best team in the league and featured the league’s MVP? And now? Up two games to none against the defending champs. Fifteen- and twenty-one point victories, respectively. I want to hear some Spurs props. I wanna hear from the Spurs players. I wanna see quote after quote from my Google news page tomorrow from Pop and Timmy, et al. And I don’t wanna hear excuses about ‘I didn’t get any good shots…it wasn’t Bowen’s defense at all.’ You’re right, Rip. It wasn’t Bowen at all. The silent stopper, the defensive specialist who chose back in college to specialize on this end of the court. He had nothin’ to do with it. I think your vision might be a little cloudy from the sweat pooling in your mask. So the boys are gonna fly to Detroit, with the knowledge that they blew a 2-0 lead last year against the Lakers in the second round. They’re going into a place that, according to Bill Walton (SHUT UP!), is the one place in all of sports that is the hardest to play for a visiting team. As respectful sportsmen do, they’re going to go in there and play as though they’re down by two rather than up. They’re going to understand that Detroit will be out for blood, unhappy with their output thus far and unwilling to be embarrassed again. They’ll just go in there and be the Spurs. They will walk into the Palace with the respect that they have for Detroit and its game. For the game. I hope the press give some of that respect back to a team that deserves it.
