Saturday, March 10, 2007 Sayson: Why I’m liking the Spurs even more By Homer Sayson Second Overtime
CHICAGO - Dallas logs a 50-9 won-lost slate, head and shoulders above the NBA field of 30 teams. Phoenix is only second at 47-14, but the Suns are peerless when it comes to likability, style and ability to run.
If, however, the playoffs were to begin today, I pick the 44-18 Spurs to survive the tough West Conference, before eventually winning their fourth championship since 1999.
Dallas and Phoenix average 100.4 and 110.6 points per game respectively.
Both teams could light New Year’s eve with their firepower. San Antonio, meanwhile, norms 98.4 for the season, and on some nights, the Spurs offense couldn’t light a birthday cake.
In an age where scoring by the bundle is the fashion, going against the Mavs and the Suns seem irrational.
Not really. Picking the Spurs isn’t nonsense. It only makes a lot of sense.
You see, while the Suns and the Mavs are superior when it comes to putting points on the board, their defense is vastly inferior to the Spurs, whose parsimony and tenacity in disallowing points is unrivaled in the league.
I’m an old fart at 38, aching and wrinkling everywhere. Bursting at the seams. But wisdom comes with old age, plus a healthy dollop of stubbornness. So I’m sticking with I know best: Defense still wins championships.
If you don’t believe me, look back at the 2005-06 Mavs. Averaging 99.1 points per game during the regular season, they razed through the playoffs like wildfire, destroying every team in its path.
But when all the marbles were on the line last June, Dallas’ offense got short-circuited by Miami, whose defense was so pshysical it bordered on the criminal.
Against Shaq and D-Wadea, whose will to win was intense as a first love, the Mavs wilted, losing the NBA Finals 4-2 after leading 2-0. In a collapse that was huge as the fall of the Berlin Walls, Dallas averaged just 91.8 points and shot only 42.2 percent from the field.
And this brings me back to the Spurs, who just won 11 in a row after beating the Kings, 100-93, last night at the Arco Arena.
Unlike the Mavs and Suns, the Spurs are winning with defense.
In their streak, the Spurs have surrendered no than 94 per game. Four of their victims scored 74 or less, while seven were beaten by at least 10. They haven’t lost since Feb. 11 and their last four wins were on the road, wreaking havoc in Houston, Los Angeles, Portland and Sacramento.
The scariest part about these Spurs is that they do have enough weapons on offense to complement their defense. The Kings made that harrowing discovery last night when Manu Ginobili sizzled with 31, while Tim Duncan and Tony Parker combined for another 31.
The Spurs started the contest with a 25-17 run. And they finished it with a 9-0 spurt, a blast that put the game away for good after the Kings retook the lead, 86-85, following a Mike Bibby triple with 3:07 to go.
Kevin Martin led the Kings with 26, while Bibby had only 12 on 4-of-14 shooting. The Kings shot just 35 of 81 field goals (43.2 percent). They missed 12 of 20 treys and the Spurs hounded them for 19 turnovers.
During his team’s visit here last Jan. 15, coach Gregg Poppovich told me and a throng of reporters that it would require at least a “couple of months” before the Spurs would blossom into the elite club that they were the last few years.
It’s only been 54 days since Pop made that assessment, which means the Spurs are slightly ahead of schedule. With the playoffs right around the corner, isn’t that perfectly fine?
