Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Staff Writer: Ryan Ward

Over the past decade or so there have only been two teams in the NBA that have really made what you would call an NBA dynasty. When you think of the dynasty in professional sports you think of teams that can dominate for an extended period of time and most importantly win titles and championships consistently.

In the NBA, there’ve only been a few dynasties with only a handful of franchises labeled with that distinction. Back in the 90s it was the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan leading the way as they won three titles in a row, had a two-year layoff, then won three more titles. If Michael Jordan stayed with the team during the two-year period where he chose to try baseball instead, the Bulls might have one eight titles in row.

The Boston Celtics were also one of these teams that have been called an NBA dynasty as they absolutely dominated the sport throughout the late 50s and 60s with head coach Red Auerbach and some of the greatest players of all-time in point guard Bob Cousy and center Bill Russell. This NBA franchise at one point absolutely dominated for about a 13 year span where they won 11 NBA titles.

Along the Boston Celtics, their hated rival in the Los Angeles Lakers have also had multiple dynasties during the franchise’s history with hall of famers and future hall of fame players like Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant dominating the sport in different eras.

Over this past decade the two teams that did dominate in dynasty like fashion in the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs. It was just title after title for these two teams as they battled back and forth for this distinction of the best team in the NBA at the start of the last decade.

This season the San Antonio Spurs, despite signs of slowing down, have shown that they might be able to contend for a title this season as they are giving the second-seeded Dallas Mavericks all they can handle in the first round of the playoffs.

Coming into the playoffs, the Dallas Mavericks were thought to be the one team in the Western Conference that have the best chance of dethroning the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. That still might be true, if the Lakers can get past the Thunder that is, as Dirk Nowitzki and company are as resilient as they come in the West, but they will first have to get passed Greg Popovich’s squad who are really making them work in the first round.

In game one of this series the Dallas Mavericks got out to a 1-0 series lead and with their impressive play it looked like they would most likely be the team to advance, but in games two and three the San Antonio Spurs got back on the board and to control the series going up 2-1.

Now anything can happen in this series in the Dallas Mavericks could very easily turn things around, but with the way the Spurs are playing in the experience they have in the playoffs I believe Tim Duncan and company will be the team to advance to the second round.

Staff Writer: Ryan Ward

The defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers are without a doubt the two teams favored to advance to the NBA Finals during these NBA playoffs. Not many people would argue the chances of these two NBA heavyweights meeting when it is all said and done, but with the defending champs looking a little banged up the Dallas Mavericks could end up being the team to come out of the West.

Obviously there are still two more rounds of playoff series to go before the NBA Finals are set, but that will never stop the people from speculating how things will finish in the two conferences.

Coming into the playoffs the Dallas Mavericks had arguably the biggest challenge of any of the high seeds in the Western Conference. The San Antonio Spurs have been arguably one of the most successful NBA franchises in the last decade or so as they have won three NBA titles in the last ten years and a total of four in the last 11.

That kind of success will never go unnoticed and is definitely something in that back of the mind of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during this first round playoff series. In game one of this series, the Mavs dominated as predicted, but game two was another story altogether as Dirk Nowitzki and company struggled in the loss that evened up the series at 1-1.

Despite the game two victory by the San Antonio Spurs, the Dallas Mavericks are still favored to win this series and for good reason. Even though the Spurs have the titles, the Mavs have the talent and are arguably the hungrier team right now as they have their sights set on the NBA Finals.

The Spurs do have the big name talent in Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and especially Tim Duncan, but the Mavs have the better all around squad in this series in my opinion. The bench play in this series will be huge as the Mavs have arguably the deepest bench the league with Jason Terry leading the way.

With that being said, I believe the Dallas Mavericks being as deep as they are will be the turning point this series from here on out. The Spurs aren’t getting any younger, they may have promising young talent in rookie DeJuan Blair and point guard George Hill, but their veterans are starting to show signs of age and that will become apparent in the final games of this series.

Even though the San Antonio Spurs always seem to put a great team on the floor, the success and longevity has to end sometime and I believe that time is now as I can’t see them beating the Mavs in this seven game series.

The only way I see the Spurs gaining an edge in this series is if Richard Jefferson and Manu Ginobili start to dominate in the next couple of games. When these two players get hot, the Spurs are extremely tough team to beat and that was obvious in game two.

Ultimately though, the Dallas Mavericks will advance as the Spurs will not be able to contain the Mavs multiple weapons on offense.