Part 1.
A few weeks ago, Elliot Cole (the creator of this blog) and I watched Game 1 of the 1999 NBA Finals. The Spurs released the full game broadcasts of every NBA Finals game they've ever won. This just kind of felt wrong. I thought it was every game from the playoffs, and I said: "Let's watch Game 6 of the '03 Conference Finals!"
I forgot that it wasn't the playoff wins, just the Finals wins. The Spurs have had a lot of playoff wins that have been more memorable than the majority of their Finals victories.
I enjoy thinking historically about the Spurs and their championship runs, mostly because I've been able to watch the Spurs religiously since the early 90's and enjoy looking back at how great those rides were, so it's been really fun for me to put this list together.
San Antonio's Top 5 Best Non-Finals Wins in Championship Seasons
Catchy title, I know.
But before that, here are some finals losses I would've liked to see in the aforementioned DVD set because these were great games too:
2003 vs. New Jersey- Games 2 and 4
Few people watched this series, which got ridiculously low ratings, which is a shame because a lot of people missed some good basketball. The Nets won these two games by a combined three points, and the Spurs had shots to win or tie them both at the end. Game 4 is an interesting watch too because it was really the first sign we had of how senile Jerry Crawford would become.
2005 vs. Detroit- Game 6
Of course, the first four games were complete blowouts, but the last three were absolute classics. I was at this game, and after the way Horry won Game 5, a lot of people thought that this one would close things out. But it was a tight game the whole way, and Rasheed Wallace took over in the 4th quarter to force a Game 7. And we all know what happened there.
Borrowing from one of my favorite shows (The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame...), we'll start with The Best of the Rest:
1999- Game 3 vs. Minnesota
How many times can you remember David Robinson playing pissed? Yeah, it happened in this pivotal game that changed the course of the series. Joe Smith starts a shoving match with him and Robinson goes off and slams home four or five baskets before San Antonio pulls away to take a 2-1 series lead and erase any hopes of a 1-8 upset. Ed. A great account of this game can be found right here. The best quote came from Mario Elie: "I was watching that on TV and I said, 'Is that David Robinson on our team ready to fight?'"
1999- Game 1 vs. Portland
Elliot and I always talk about how good this Portland team was. They were loaded and deep. After Game 1, I'm sure a lot of people thought that it would just be the first of seven. The two teams just traded punches all night and David Robinson had one of his best offensive outputs of the playoffs, matching Duncan's team-high 21. Of course it was highly overshadowed by Game 2...more on that later.
2005- Game 1 vs. Phoenix
The final "Best of the Rest." Game 1 on the road. Not something the Spurs have had to do very much in the playoffs. Do you remember the hype coming into this game? No one thought the Spurs could hang with the vaunted run-and-gun offense that Phoenix played. But everyone forgot Phoenix can't play defense. So when you've got a quality team like San Antonio and you don't play defense, they're gonna put some points up too. This game was huge for Manu. Started the game with a dunk and finished the half with a half-court shot at the buzzer. San Antonio trailed by a few points going into the final quarter, but then lit up Phoenix for 43 points to finish with a comfortable win. And that's when the Suns knew they were in trouble.
Look for Part 2, "The Countdown", soon...
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