Following up last week's post, here is part two of our guest column by Javier Perez (click here to see him in action, for real this time, promise). Hopefully this will make everyone forget about those games against the Lakers, Kings, Jazz, and Suns.
Now to the Countdown:
#5 2005 vs. Seattle- Game 5
More personal bias! Elliot and I went to this game. I bought the tickets fairly early so after two games of this series, we were wondering if there was even going to be a Game 5. After Duncan missed a shot to win Game 3, we figured that Game 5 would close out the series. Then, in Game 4, Ray Allen took over and tied it at 2-2. After the game, Jerome James was interviewed and emphatically said that they didn't give the Spurs any respect, "NONE!" But he had a place to talk, what with his 4 pt. 0-6 performance.
So all of a sudden, Game 5 is the most important game of the series. And of course, to shake things up, Pop started Manu. He started Game 1 of the playoffs in a loss to Denver, and ever since then, he'd been coming off the bench for Brent Barry. After 2 straight losses to a team they should've closed out much earlier, Pop put him back in the starting lineup and it paid off.
Things started off well with the Spurs grabbing a lead in the 1st quarter. But a strong 2nd quarter tied the game up at the half at 50 all. So there we were. Through 4 1/2 games, we were still all tied with one half to decide which team would face elimination first. And that's when Manu took over.
From the 1st quarter, we knew this was going to be a memorable performance for him. He was knocking down his shots and getting to the line and his energy carried on defense and to the rest of the team. Probably the most memorable play came in the 2nd half. He was driving across the lane and got fouled. Falling to his left and shooting to his right, he somehow put up a one-handed shot that went in.
What kills me, on a totally selfish level is that he scored 39. Spurs fans remember that game and generically say, "Manu up 40-something didn't he?" and I have to correct them. No. It was 39. Damnit.
#4 2003 vs. LA- Game 2
This was a great series to watch and it included some great games that were also considered for this list. Game 5 was an exciting game, but the Spurs nearly collapsed in the 4th quarter as Kobe closed a huge deficit. And the only reason that the Spurs won was because Robert Horry actually MISSED a big-time 3 that rattled in and out. All Spurs fans reacted the same after that game, with sighs of relief, ZERO celebration. And of course "The Last Night of the Lakers Dynasty" was a Game 6 blowout. While it was memorable to knock out the Lakers, it wasn't a great game. Plus the Lakers weren't a dynasty. They won 3 championships in a row and didn't do much more than that. That's not a dynasty, but I digress.
In this series, Game 1 was a tight win for San Antonio. And most thought this would be the first of 7, but the Spurs came out and shocked everyone with their Game 2 performance. And the most shocking performance came from Bruce Bowen, who matched the machine he was assigned to shut down, Kobe Bryant.
The funny thing is that there was no other Spur that scored more than 17 points. Often when talking about these big performances, there was much more to it. But much like Number 5 on this list, Ginobili scored 39 (damnit), but Duncan was the next highest scorer on the team with 20.
To the surprise of no Spurs fans, Bowen did most of his damage from behind the three-point line, breaking the franchise record for 3's in a playoff game previously held by Jaren Jackson and Sean Elliott. And while it's often thought that Bowen outscored Kobe, he actually scored as many points: 27. But here's why that legend started: Kobe took 24 shots to get to 27. Bowen only took 12. 12!
#3 2005 vs. Seattle- Game 6
Great players step up in the 4th quarter, no matter how they've played in the rest of the game. And their greatness is more apparent when those 4th quarter take-overs happen despite poor performance the rest of the game. Game 5 of the LA series in 2003 is Kobe's big example. San Antonio had done an excellent job of shutting him down, and then he just took over in the 4th quarter, and nearly led the Lakers to a win. Game 6 vs. Seattle was one of the many Tim Duncan examples.
Of course, 2005 was a year that Duncan missed a lot of time because of an ankle injury suffered in the 4th quarter of a game against their future Finals opponent, the Detroit Pistons. The game was nationally televised on ABC and I remember watching it happen and feeling sick as soon as I saw it. Maybe the coolest thing about that injury was Duncan's return. Allen Iverson was also coming back from injury at the time and refused to come off the bench when he was working his way back because he felt like it was beneath him or something. Meanwhile, Duncan was more than willing to come off the bench in his limited time on the floor to work his way back.
Neither team led by very much in this game, so it was going to come down to the 4th quarter, which is where Duncan usually shines. But with about 8 minutes left, Duncan was fouled and he stayed on the floor, grabbing that same ankle and in pain. There was a very small sense of relief when Duncan attempted to walk it off and was only on the bench for a minute, but even the most hard core Spurs fans and Duncan believers had their doubts about his effectiveness the rest of the way. But he gutted it out and was there for the biggest moment of the game.
I watched this game at Shakespeare's on 6th street in Austin. It had kinda become my good luck place to watch Spurs games and there was a small group of people watching with me. Most Spurs fans in Austin were at bigger and better places to watch a sporting event. With 14 seconds left in a tied game, Manu took the pass at half court and held on to the ball. And held on. I was expecting his move to start with about seven seconds left, so when he was still sitting there I started yelling "MAKE YOUR MOVE! NOW! GO!" With about four seconds left he made his move, found Duncan underneath and Tim hit the high shot off the glass with less than a second left.
The story goes that Manu was supposed to drive all the way and then dish to Duncan if he was open when the defense collapsed on him. But at the last second, Pop yelled at Duncan to flash to the other side, where Manu found him open for the go-ahead bucket. The scary thing is that Ray Allen nearly hit a 3 at the buzzer to give them the win which would've been a terrible combination of the Derek Fisher shot and the Memorial Day Miracle. But luckily, he missed and the Spurs advanced.
#2 2003 vs. Dallas- Game 6
The Stece Kerr game.
While this will forever be known for the seasoned vet stepping up and hitting 4 big three-pointers, (I hate to say it, but) Kerr gets way too much credit for the 4th quarter comeback. But first, let's set it up.
As many people remember, 2003 was known for San Antonio's 4th quarter collapses. Game 1 against Phoenix in the first round (on my birthday, damnit), Stephon Marbury hits a near half-court shot to take the opener. In the LA series, San Antonio led by 16 in Game 4, but the Lakers came back to tie the series at 2. The Spurs even nearly blew Game 5 of that series.
And then there was the conference finals against the Mavs. San Antonio grabbed a huge lead in Game 1. Remember? San Antonio started so hot that even Nelly was calling timeouts to slow things down. But Dallas played hack-a-Bowen to put him on the line and break the momentum. They completed the comeback and took a 1-0 series lead.
Going back and remembering that, is it really all that surprising that the first 8-1 playoff upset in a seven-game series was led by Don Nelson?
The Spurs responded by winning the next three games, with a little help from Dirk Nowitzki, who was lost to injury. San Antonio was supposed to close things out at home in Game 5 but, once again blew a big lead and all of a sudden Dallas had all the momentum, which culminated in the Mavs taking a 13-point lead into the 4th quarter.
First to dispel a few myths from this game. Kerr didn't come in and just start knocking down 3's like gangbusters. He actually was brought in late in the 3rd quarter. Tony Parker had been ineffective, suffering from the effects of food poisoning. It was actually Stephen Jackson and Manu Ginobili that made this a game. San Antonio cut the lead to 3, and those two scored all ten of those points. On top of which, it wasn't like the Spurs went on an unstoppable run like they did in Game 1 vs. Phoenix in 2005 when they scored 41 points. It was a fairly average 4th quarter offensively, but the defense as a team was absolutely clamp-down. Dallas nearly set a playoff record for offensive futility.
But it all comes back to Kerr. In a two-minute span, starting at the 7:00 minute mark, Kerr hit four 3's. That plus a Tim Duncan fallaway put San Antonio up 8 and they never looked back. At the 4:00 minute mark, Kerr checked out. He was spent. It was the most minutes he'd spent on the floor in a long long time, and he wasn't just sitting back. He played great defense in that final period.
I think all Spurs fans remember where they were when this game happened, specifically when Kerr started knocking them down. I was at home, hosting a barbecue with a bunch of friends. Some of them were actually rooting for Dallas, but most of us were for San Antonio. And we reacted just like the San Antonio bench did: we were jumping up and down, screaming and celebrating, not believing what we were seeing.
Kerr's own words after the game summed it up best:
"There's always a chance to have a moment. Just one moment."
#1 1999 vs. Portland- Game 2
The Memorial Day Miracle. It's the greatest shot in the history of the San Antonio Spurs. I don't care what NBA.com says. They put Horry's dunk and 3 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals ahead of Sean Elliott on their list, but come on, none of that could've happened if Elliott hadn't hit that 3.
Horry's shots were big, no doubt. But he hit an open 3 when Rasheed Wallace stupidly left him alone, in a tight game in overtime that was close the whole way. And everyone watching knew it was going in.
In Game 2 of the 1999 Western Conference Finals, the Spurs had been left for dead. Down by as many as 18 in the 2nd half, Sean Elliot led the comeback.
(This is why it's so weird to see Damon Stoudamire as a Spur. In Game 2, he couldn't miss, and wielded the biggest shovel that dug the Spurs such a huge hole. Subsequently, he had the best face of reaction after Elliott hit the shot.)
To go back to my point about how this shot affected the future and bucked the trends of the past, think about what the Spurs had done in the playoffs in previous years, specifically the David Robinson era. Only once, before 1999, did Robinson's Spurs get to the conference finals. And that was in 1995, The Admiral's MVP year, when Hakeem Olajuwon torched San Antonio and the future NBA champs took down San Antonio in 6. Go back before Robinson, the Spurs could never get over the hump, and the playoff losses came mostly at the hands of the Showtime Lakers.
Elliot's shot wasn't supposed to go in. He shouldn't have even got it off! Stacey Augmon did everything he could to deny him the ball. Rasheed Wallace flew at him with his long arms and should've had the block. He nearly went out of bounds shooting the ball. He shouldn't have even been playing basketball. His kidney disease should've been treated much sooner, which would've made him miss the game.
If you've ever seen replays of the game, look at the crowd! If you've ever been to a basketball game, when a player launches a three, you can hear the crowd rumble, ready to explode when it goes in. There was no rumble in San Antonio. Just silence. Because even the most die hard Spurs fans were waiting for the other shoe to drop with this team. Because that's what happened every year with San Antonio.
But the impossible happened. The shot went in. The crowd went wild. And everything changed in San Antonio as the Spurs went on to win their first title.
The lasting memory that all Spurs fans will have of David Robinson comes from that day. He ran off the court with a huge smile on his face, high-fiving fans on his way to the locker room, exemplifying the absolute joy that all Spurs fans felt at the moment.
Ironically, the shot and the Spurs run that year could be simply put into four words that appeared on a poster that a Spurs fan held up in New York after the Spurs clinched the title. It was accompanied by a picture of the Alamo, perhaps for humorous effect, but the picture might as well have been a Spurs logo. And it read...
This Time. We Win.
BONUS: I somehow found the original NBC gamecast of Elliot's shot and the ending of the game. It was obviously transfered from a low-quality VCR recording. It's not a full-game DVD, but it's still an awesome watch: http://www.clubspurs.com/memorial-day-miracle-a-great-day-for-spurs-fans/
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