The Last Caul
by MARK CAUL
Like peanut butter and chocolate, they are two great teams that taste great together.
Particularly during the playoffs, where the Spurs and Lakers have faced each other five times since the 2000 season.
As I grabbed my overpriced soft drink and candy and hurriedly made my way to my courtside seat in anticipation of last week’s match-up between LA and San Antonio at the AT&T Center, I felt the intensity level simply wasn’t quite as high as in past clashes between these teams.
What was different this time around? Had my beloved Lakers become “fat cats” after snagging the world championship trophy last June and become complacent? Or had the home-standing Spurs simply fallen below the championship level that their fans have grown accustomed to seeing?
Maybe it was a combination of both.
For the Spurs, who are currently in the fight of their lives to just make the playoffs this season, it has been a plethora of things.
Superstar guard Tony Parker’s hand injury had many wondering if the Spurs would miss the postseason, which would be unthinkable for a Gregg Popovich-led squad. Popovich hasn’t missed the playoffs once during his 14 years at San Antonio’s coaching helm.
But the Spurs have gone 9-5 during the stretch since Parker went down, and look like they will at least qualify for the playoffs.
Another couple of positives that stood out as I watched the two rivals battle is that Manu Ginobili’s post-All Star break resurgence has been phenomenal, George Hill’s rise to the level of a bonafide NBA starter and new Spur Richard Jefferson is finally beginning to look at home in the San Antonio offense.
As for the negative, we’ve been told all season long by various pundits in the sporting world that Tim Duncan has clearly lost a step or two, but in the same sentence they remark that the future Hall-of-Famer has been quietly putting up an MVP-caliber season.
Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? Recently, I heard a commentator describe Duncan as bothered more by defenders of length more than someone with a big body. I found this interesting, and after paying attention on this particular night, fairly accurate.
With Lakers starting center Andrew Bynum out with another injury, Duncan spent the game largely checked by the rangy power forwards Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. Together, they limited him to a staggering six point-output, which was the third lowest scoring night of his career.
My take is, yes, Tim Duncan is still one of the best big men in the game – and he’s still a championship-level centerpiece. But Duncan does seem to be bothered by defenders with length more now than ever before.
It also appears to me that San Antonio lacks an interior defensive presence beyond Duncan. Hoping Duncan can do everything alone inside defensively is too much to ask of a player his age.
The bottom line is, the Spurs of the past used to hang their hat on playing stout defense. That was the cornerstone of their four championship runs. San Antonio can’t count on that kind of smothering defense night in and night out anymore.
For some strange reason, Popovich seems to think Bruce Bowen’s replacement is Keith Bogans. But in reality, Spurs basketball is altogether void of a wing stopper.
On this night, Kobe Bryant got WHAT he wanted, WHEN he wanted it and nobody on the Spurs was good enough defensively to offer him any resistance.
In a nutshell, I believe the chances of a title run with this core group of Spurs is minimal, and the team must start rebuilding with youth while Parker is still in his prime.
Look for Duncan to play another three seasons or so before riding off into the sunset and taking Popovich along with him.
I still feel pretty comfortable that my Lakers will win the West and face off with Cleveland in the NBA Finals and I don’t think San Antonio will have much to say in that conversation.
Still, the Spurs are playing their best basketball of the season over the last month, and they’re flirting with being a good team. If they can draw Denver in the first round, they might make noise all the way to the Western Conference Finals.
But I’d be very surprised if the Spurs of today could come close to frightening the Lakers like the San Antonio teams of just a few years ago did.
