There has been a lot made of the Spurs, and the entire NBA playoffs for that matter, have been "boring." The fact of the matter is that when the playoffs come around in basketball, and baseball and footblall for that matter, team defense, team offense and disciplined play are what brings championships. In a sense, the Spurs have the "triple crown" of those three categories. They do lack the traditional, do it all superstar that fills it up on Sportscenter's highlight reels, but they still get the job done. Coach Pops has instilled the team concept into his players and they have embraced it. Tony Parker has become one of the most exciting players in the league. Nobody can stick with the guy. His quickness and ability to finish from either side of the bucket are remarkable. His shot is quickly becoming a strength more than a liability and in the coming years when Tim Duncan starts to show his age Tony will shine even brighter than he has already.

Most of the critics that tab the Spurs as "boring" seem to think that exciting play is associated with highlight reel shots and Lebron-style dunks. To actaully sit down and pay attention to the nuances of the Spurs' offensive plays and their perfect rotations on defense is really one of the greatest things to see in sports. Before the Spurs briefly fell apart at the end of the game Tony Parker slammed the ball down in disgust after the Cavs nailed a meaningless three ball which dwindled the lead down to a meaningless twenty-something advantage. Every player out there knows his assignment as well as the others' assignment and get upset after a mere failed play in the middle of an absolute butt-kicking. That is all Pops.

Undeniably, the bulk of the scoring is going to come from the big three, but the way that the Spurs brass has brought in the pieces to complement Manu, Tony and Timmy reminds of me of the Bulls teams of the nineties. Aside from the main players, the team has the perfect pieces to comlete the puzzle of getting an NBA championship. Each team has great scorers(Jordan/Pippen-Manu/Timmy/Parker), a lock down defender or two(Jordan/Pippen/Rodman- Bowen/Duncan/ maybe Manu) and shooters that help prevent an overfocusing on their star players(Kerr/Armstrong/Paxson- Bowen/Barry/Horry). The main difference is that the Spurs have a stud at the PF position, although Horace Grant and Bill Cartright were very good in their own right.

THe point is tha even though the games thus far in the finals have not been competitive and nail biting, there have been reasons to watch the finals. Whether it is "witnessing" the emergence of Tony Parker, the clutchness of Manu, the easiness at which Duncan gets his points or just closely watching the well oiled machine that is the San Antonio Spurs, the real basketball fan should and most likely will enjoy wathing this years remaining finals games.