So, the first post of the sports blog that I finally decided to start writing. Who am I? I'm a college student who annoys his friend and family far too much with his constant sports ramblings, so I've joined the world of bloggers, as to annoy the entirety of the internet instead. I'm mostly an avid basketball fan, though I dabble in other sports as well. I've become a much bigger follower of baseball since joining an NL-only strat-o-matic league a year ago. Anyway, that's about it for me. I'm still looking for a good name for this, since this one sounds a bit too much like a play on Bill Simmons' "The Sports Guy" blog. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Right, now that that's done, I can go ahead and write something worth reading.
The topic on hand is the NBA Finals, also known as the Spur's victory lap. The hype in the Finals so far has revolved around Lebron's ascention and subsequent dissappointing game 1, the flop war between Ginobili and Varejao, and the fact that the Cavs have no hope. Between the Lebronapalooza and the Stoudamire/Diaw suspensions, its been lost on everybody that the Spurs are really sealing their place as the dominant team of the decade. Much like the Lakers' romp through the playoffs in 2001 (with a finals that had a ton of parallels to this one), the Spurs winning their 3rd title in 5 years (4 in 9 seasons, but we won't count the short 99 season) puts them firmly in the "dynasty" category. When you think about "dynasty" the Spurs don't pop into your head as quickly as those Lakers do, lacking the dominant on-court presence and off-court personalities of Shaq and Kobe and outside of the bright lights of LA, but they've been just as dominant and have sustained that dominance for far longer. The Shaq/Kobe Lakers team had a 5 year run (99-04) where they went to 4 finals and captured 3 straight titles, and had a 70% winning percentage. These current Spurs have had a 9 year run (from 99-07, ignoring the strike-shortened season) where they went to 3 finals and won 2 (3 if they close out the Cavs) with a 71% winning percentage. Not only that, but they show no signs of stopping. How impressive is that? Well, the Celtics dynasty that ran for 13 years (56-69) and is widely considered the greatest dynasty of all time had a winning percentage of 70.5%. Now, they also had the titles to go with it, but nevertheless, what the Spurs have done is impressive. So, while you're watching these finals and waiting for Lebron to leap into the history books, you might want to take note of how he's being shut down by one of the greatest defensive teams in the history of the game. You might want to appreciate how the underappreciated Greg Popovich adds to his Hall of Fame resume by coaching circles around Mike Brown. Lastly, you might want to take a minute to realize that you're watching the greatest power forward ever to play the game work his craft better than anyone ever has. Yeah, we all know they're good, but it's about time to give the Spurs their historical due. Tim Duncan and the Spurs are cementing their legacy, maybe Lebron can take note.