Ah, the San Antonio Spurs. Once they were great. Really, truly great. Four NBA titles great.
Now they are the biggest play-off disappointment in NBA history.
The mighty Spurs, best record in the Western Conference - best record in the league for most of the season - were summarily dismissed by a young Memphis Grizzlies team that went 46-36 in the regular season but were not scared of San Antonio, who won 61 games yet became only the second No 1 seed to get ousted in the first-round by a No 8 seed. If the Spurs were embarrassed they hid it well.
"We were hoping at some point that they would fold under the pressure, make some mistakes, and they didn't," San Antonio's Tim Duncan said. "They did the exact opposite." Duncan is one of the greatest power forwards of all time, but he is 35 and averaged just 12.7 points per game against Memphis. He looked old. The Spurs looked old, and you might think this is the perfect time for an overhaul, a reinventing of the Spurs.
Except Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Duncan and Gregg Popovich, the coach, are under contract for next season. The Spurs won 61 games. Their core returns.
But the Spurs as we once knew them, as we thought we knew them this season, are no more. They captured their last title in 2007.
Since 2009, they have a 7-14 play-off record. They have won just one play-off series in the past three years. And they just wasted a 61-win season.
sports@thenational.ae
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JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Directed by: Shaka King
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Four stars
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded