San Antonio Spurs: Battle Through the Decades
By Simon Shortt
Where does Kawhi Leonard’s team this year rank among the top San Antonio Spurs teams throughout the decades? All your questions, asked and answered.
The 1992 Dream Team or 2016 squad? The 73-9 Golden State Warriors or 72-10 Chicago Bulls? And those are just comparisons thought of in the past year. Through the seasons there have been many “What Ifs” when it comes to comparing teams from different decades. Here we’ll compare some of the great San Antonio Spurs teams and the one we are currently seeing today.
We’re going to take a look at four Spurs teams. One will be this year’s team, led by Kawhi Leonard‘s MVP-caliber season to 61 wins. Out of the four teams I selected, they actually have the highest win total, so we will call them the No. 1 seed.
The No. 2 seed is the 1998-99 championship team led by a sophomore Tim Duncan and aging David Robinson. This team went 37-13 in a shortened regular season.
That win percentage puts them at 61 wins in an 82-game season as well, but we’ll give the edge to the team who actually notched that total.
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The third seed is the 2002-03 squad led again by Duncan, who had a superstar year, winning both MVP and Finals MVP. That team also got to the 60-win mark at 60-22.
Finally, our fourth seed for this piece is the 2004-05 team, which out of all San Antonio Spurs champions may have faced the toughest road.
That Spurs team took down (yet again) the very talented Phoenix Suns and dropped the defending champion Detroit Pistons in a seven-game NBA Finals.
(2) 1998-99 Spurs vs (3) 2002-03 Spurs
1998-99 Starters: Avery Johnson, Sean Elliott, Mario Elie, Tim Duncan, David Robinson
2002-03 Starters: Tony Parker, Stephen Jackson, Bruce Bowen, Tim Duncan, David Robinson
Other than the low post matchup, which we’ll get to, it’s hard to look at these lineups and not think age is on the side of the 2002-03 team. A 20-year-old Tony Parker being checked by a 33-year-old Avery Johnson does not sound like a viable plan.
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And for a 30-year old Sean Elliott, who is in the last three years of his career, to be guarded by the defensive wizard, Bruce Bowen, makes it seem highly unlikely he’ll be of much help in this series.
Then when the 2002-03 squad decides to give Elliott a break from Bowen, Elliott will have to switch gears defensively and chase around the second-year Manu Ginobili. This series is a pretty bad matchup on the perimeter for the 1998-99 team.
Down in the post, though, may be another story. Even at 33, the 1998-99 David Robinson was averaging nearly 16 points and 10 rebounds in the regular and postseason.
Being guarded by his 37-year-old self might push him back to the 22-11 (regular season) or 19-14 (postseason) guy he was just as year prior. That could be a big matchup throughout the series for the 1998-99 team with the perimeter guys struggling.
The real prize fight, and what might seal the deal, is Tim Duncan vs. Tim Duncan. Obviously second-year Timmy was great. He averaged 21.7 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.4 assists per game in the regular season.
In the playoffs he took it just a bit further with 23.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 2.5 assists.
But 2002-03 Duncan was a monster. As the regular season MVP he averaged 23.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.9 blocks per game. But it was in the postseason he dominated to the tune of 24.7 points, 15.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 3.3 blocks per game.
Those three years between give MVP Duncan the edge over his younger self.
1998-99 David Robinson will go for 25-12-4 to give his squad a W in Game 3, but it’d be their only win, with the advantages 2002-03 has everywhere else.
Result: 2002-03 in 5
(1) 2016-17 Spurs vs (4) 2004-05 Spurs
2016-17 Starters: Tony Parker-Danny Green-Kawhi Leonard-LaMarcus Aldridge–Dewayne Dedmon
2004-05 Starters: Tony Parker-Manu Ginobili-Bruce Bowen-Tim Duncan-Nazr Mohammed
The one-on-one matchup to watch in this series would be that of Kawhi Leonard vs. Bruce Bowen. Leonard’s improved offensive game since his rookie year has been well documented. But Bowen is one of the premier perimeter defensive players in history.
Kawhi has been super-effective this year, shooting better than 48 percent from the field during the regular season and 58 percent so far in the playoffs. Bowen’s job would be to try and shut him down, but ultimately limit his effectiveness and wear him out.
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The defensive matchups for our 2016-17 team would be a little more complex.
With the effectiveness of Ginobili and Parker in 2004-05 postseason (20.8 and 17.2 points per game respectively) we would see some cross matching to put the team’s best defenders on them, likely seeing Danny Green on Parker and Kawhi on Ginobili.
That would leave 2016-17 Parker to defend Bowen. This could cause a big issue for our present team.
Not because Bowen was a playmaker, but he was a knock-down shooter from deep for his career (39.3 percent). If he got going, he could easily hit five or six threes in a game over the smaller Parker which could make a big difference.
In the post, we see a similar style between these two teams. After the All-Star break, the 2016-17 team switched to a defensive-minded, low-usage center and brought Pau Gasol, an offensive-minded player, off the bench.
In 2004-05 the Spurs utilized Rasho Nesterovic (Stephen A. Smith Voice) as a starter in the regular season and Nazr Mohammed in the playoffs.
We’d see this again in this series, but as the games go on, each team would rely more and more on their offensive bigs, Robert Horry for 2004-05 and Gasol for 2016-17.
The issue with this for our current team is this: Tim Duncan was a monster on both sides of the court, meaning he would likely take either LaMarcus Aldridge or Gasol out of the game defensively, protect the rim and still get his buckets on offense.
Once you start sending Kawhi or Green to the post to help, that’s when Manu or Tony get their shots.
This would be a great series, one where Leonard and Duncan either switch off dominant performances or have equally superb showings throughout. In the end, Duncan’s supporting cast would prove too dynamic for Kawhi’s team to manage.
Result: 2004-05 in 7
(3) 2002-03 Spurs vs (4) 2004-05 Spurs
2002-03 Starters: Tony Parker, Stephen Jackson, Bruce Bowen, Tim Duncan, David Robinson
2004-05 Starters: Tony Parker-Manu Ginobili-Bruce Bowen-Tim Duncan-Nazr Mohammed
A true heavyweight bout for the ages. Prime Duncans. Prime Parkers. Prime Ginobilis. MADNESS. This series would come down to role players and in-series adjustments.
Game 1 would go to the 2004-05 squad by six in a pretty even night. But then “The Admiral” would rally the troops and fill up the stat sheet with 18-10-3-3 and win Game 2 by four.
Game 3 is the “Tony Parker Times Two Game” where each Parker trades floater for floater, free throw for free throw. With 10 seconds remaining in a tie game, Robert Horry sets a hard screen on 2002-03 Parker to try and give 2004-05 Parker a driving lane for the game winner.
With a foul to give and his teammate on the floor, Bowen wisely commits an intentional foul. Malik Rose, who was in on the play for defense, goes after Horry in retaliation. The two scuffle and are subsequently thrown out and suspended.
The 2004-05 team inbounds the ball to Parker, who this time scores at the buzzer. Game 4 would be the 2002-03 Manu Ginobili game, as Ginobili comes off the bench for 25 points to propel his team to a big win by 11.
In Game 5 we see the 2004-05 Gregg Popovich make an adjustment to have Bruce Bowen come off the bench and check the hot Ginobili. Replacing Bowen in the starting lineup is Brent Barry, who goes for 21 points on seven threes and his team wins by nine.
In his post-game interview, Barry says he’s the best shooter in the series and he’s always ready when his number is called. Stephen Jackson takes personal offense to this and goes for 26 points in Game 6. His total is made up of eight threes and a breakaway dunk on Barry’s head.
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“I make love to pressure,” Jackson obviously says after the game.
Game 7. Due to such a frenzied series both teams look to their star to win the game. Tim Duncan on Tim Duncan proves to be the best matchup in history. Trading post move for post move, bank shot for bank shot. It’s the fourth quarter, and each Duncan has 35-15-5-5.
With time for one play, the 2004-05 squad is down by two and has possession. The ball inevitably goes to Duncan in the post, who is immediately doubled. With seconds remaining Duncan launches a pass in the opposite corner to … BIG SHOT ROB!
Horry, back from suspension, nails a three at the buzzer to give his team the win and the series!!
Result: 2004-05 in 7
Did It Work?
So is the 2004-05 San Antonio Spurs team really their best team in history? They could be. But we did leave out a few other great teams in this franchise’s storied history. The true answer is we will never know and there is no way to know.
Next: 25 Greatest Individual Seasons in NBA History
But the one thing that is certain is this sort of thing will always be fun to debate about.