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And so do I (even if he has a foot and a half on me).  Why “wore”? Because tonight after seeing the San Antonio Spurs FINALLY finish off the Phoenix Suns, the camera’s panned to Spurs great David “The Admiral” Robinson and he looked like he’s packed on a few.  That’s to be expected as Robinson is surely enjoying retirement after an illustrious (albeit underwhelming due to his talent never fully grasped personally) career.  A 7 footer that could move like The Admiral, shoot, rebound, and defend at an alarming clip is a a virtual lock for the unofficial moniker of a top 5 NBA player of ALL TIME, yet his personality ultimately kept him from being as such.  A thoroughly good man of strong faith and even stronger convictions, Robinson infamously lacked that killer instinct and competitive drive to be the best.  In truth He was more content with using basketball as a platform (and means) to reaching out in his community and helping those less fortunate.  In the end, David Robinson was who he was, and no one can expect him to be anyone but the grinning-larger-than-life public figure that America cherished but San Antonio more so than the rest.  Everyone has their agenda, and Robinson chose his like Charles Barkely with his blunt honesty layered with political satire and Michael Jordan’s M.O. in upholding Western Capitalism.   In that, this endearing-too-nice personality-instead-of-I-should-be-the-biggest-baddest-mofo-with-a-basketball-attitude was what drew me to first being a Spurs fan in an era where despite 2/3 of my favorite teams residing in the Dallas area, I could not bring myself to support the Mavericks.

As a sports fan, its important to lay some roots in picking your favorite team, certainly its not life or death but in terms of communal respect from fellow sports fans one cannot be a bandwagon or worst a fair weather fan.  You can, but its one of the finer details of fandom that’s deeply appreciated when the camaraderie of watching sports with your friends comes into play.  So when it came to the great Dallas Mavericks renaissance in the early 2000s with Steve Nash, Michael Finley, Dirk Nowitski and of course Shawn Bradley, I was more than happy to cheer on the Mavs but ultimately my loyalties lay with the Spurs.

If this piece sounds like the Spur’s swan song, thats because I am preparing for it as such.  Even though San Antonio dispatched Phoenix in 5 games (a series that most picked Phoenix to win, or the series to go to 7 games or 6 games at worst), it was draining and almost downright (with the exception of game 3 for the Spurs) uncomfortable.  It took everything for the Spurs and some luck to take that series.  Sadly this was dubbed the best of all the match-ups in the playoffs, and to an extent it was but in the scope of things: 3 close games, and 2 blowouts for an evenly matched seeding that only went to 5 games ended up being more of a conundrum than a memorable series.  Game 1 was and will be on ESPN Classic for years to come, but that’s all that can be taken from a face off that had a weird plucky feel to it rather than a heavyweight bout.  Maybe I and others in the (real) media hyped it up so much that we overlooked how sound the Spurs are in terms of their playoff acumen compared to the Sun’s inability to hurdle their longtime nemesis.

The keys to this series hinged on the Suns not being able to contain Tony Parker, Tim Duncan simply being his BMF self in the playoffs despite his detractors (or ignorers more like it), the Spurs having no answer for Amare Stoudemire yet the Suns apparently did not either as his potential has yet to be met in my opinion on the biggest of stages.  The coaching again cannot be emphasized enough.  In a blowout win in game 4, Coach D’Antoni left in his starters Stoudemire and Diaw in a 20+ point lead with only 2 minutes left to play.  Out of fear of losing another big lead, or just mediocre player management, he risked injury or suspension (circa 2007 playoffs aka infamous Horry-hip-check-on-Nash).  Even though neither happened, the fact that the possibility existed is of merit while his counterpart pulled his starters at the end of the 3rd waving the white flag.  Coach Popavich is known for doing this to preserve his veteran players whenever he feels his chances of a comeback are next to nil.  However the fact that the Spurs’ scrubs got to play was important last Sunday afternoon because Robert Horry who had been out a long time was able to log 20+ minutes of garbage time to get his legs under him.  He even was quoted before the game as marvelling how much playing an extended amount of time in game 4 did wonders for a crusty old veteran who hadn’t played much all year.  As a result in game 5 tonight, Horry hit a 3, had 2 rebounds pedestrian stats at best but most importantly of all he had a key steal against Nash late in the game to help the Spurs seal the game.  Also of note in this overall series is how Steve Nash was more of a scorer than a distributor, how in their 2nd elimination game (game 5) the whole Sun’s offense was fueled mainly by Boris Diaw.  Though he punished them tonight to the tune of 22/8/8, his two late turnovers in the crucial waning moments of the 4th quarter sealed Phoenix’s fate.  Besides when your main offensive weapon/distributor was your 7th man off the bench all year with weapons such as Nash, and Stoudemire roaming the court non-involved in the biggest game of your season so far much is left to be desired…  and questioned.

So San Antonio gets to breathe for a few days, and strangely enough their road to the Finals will get harder with the upstart New Orleans Hornets on deck, and a possible throwdown against the mighty Los Angeles Lakers on the horizon (if the dominoes fall right).  The 2nd round in the Western Conference surely has to be closer competitively from an overall series standpoint than previously thought.  Despite many people (including yours truly) attesting the competitiveness, and insane talent of teams in the Western Conference as being “stacked”; after two weeks we can safely say that we were looking at the wrong conference.  With the Denver Nuggets swept, the Mavericks taking another fishing trip after round 1 losing 1-4 to the  Hornets, and the Suns following suit 1-4 to have only the Houston Rockets versus the Utah Jazz being the closest series so far, the hope remains that we will see more than 1 series go to 6 games or 7.  As the San Antonio/Phoenix series has proven however it is possible to have one team dominate the number of games won but not necessarily the games themselves.

The Eastern Conference on the other hand has stepped up themselves and produced not only several close extremely competitive series (with the exception of Orlando and possibly Cleveland), but weird subplots such as the Atlanta Hawk’s possible monumental upset of the Boston Celtics, the Detroit Pistons inexplicable yet predictable coasting of games and lack of focus as well as DeShawn Stevenson becoming a household name due to his “beef” with LeBron James.  Sprinkled in with the tension inflamed by Jay-Z “dissing” Stevenson in a rap song, you have a full-fledged-circus-drama-Hollywood-style with a touch of NBA basketball. 

So while the Lakers are waiting for the survivor of the Rockets and Jazz as the Spurs are soaking their geriatric bodies in hottubs in anticipation of the young eager Hornets, the Celtics are still duking it out with the Hawks, the Cavaliers look to put away the pesky Wizards, and the Pistons are still on cruise control (yet fully capable of winning) against the Sixers.  Meanwhile, the Magic are waiting in the wings with their leader, Dwight Howard who based on his personality and physical presence could be mistaken for David Robinson back in his heyday.  Only difference is Robinson had a more versatile, varied offensive game at his age, and Howard more than likely doesn’t wear Levi Silvertabs 32W-50L.  Then again neither do I.  I wear Jordache ;)