San Antonio Spurs: The Truth Behind The Spurs’ Even-Year Curse
Tim Duncan and his four championship banners. But none of them came in consecutive years. So what’s the story of the Spurs’ even-year curse? (Photo Credit/Remembergoliad/Flickr.com)
As most NBA fans will tell you, luck, good or bad, plays a significant role in each team’s successes or failures. But, what is a team’s fan base supposed to make of a significant and repeated run of bad luck for their team? Is it merely bad luck or is there something more sinister involved? The San Antonio Spurs have made all five of their finals appearances in odd numbered years, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2013. The Spurs have failed to defend all four of their titles in the following even-numbered years. It has become San Antonio Spurs folklore that the Spurs are cursed from reaching the NBA Finals in the even-numbered year following their odd-numbered year Finals appearances. Is this just a preposterous notion a dejected fan base has used to rationalize the pain of loss or … does this curse truly exist? The following is an analysis of the even-numbered years the Spurs have failed to defend their championships. Hopefully this analysis will reveal the truth behind the existence of the Spurs’ even-year curse.
2000
The Spurs won their first title in the lockout-shortened season of 1999. Even though David Robinson was beginning the twilight of his career, the way the Spurs tore through the playoffs set the stage for the Spurs’ twin-tower based team to dominate the league. However, the next season, the twin towers were not even given the chance to defend their title. Tim Duncan suffered a season-ending knee injury right before the playoffs and the Spurs lost in the first round to the Phoenix Suns.
2004
After their 2003 title, the Spurs experienced an unusual amount (but not this unusual) of turnover for a team that just won the Larry O’Brien Trophy. David Robinson retired after winning his second championship; integral role players such as Stephen Jackson and Steve Kerr had left the team. The Spurs were full of new faces such as Rasho Nesterovic, Robert Horry and Hedo Turkoglu. While it took this Spurs team a while to jell, they caught fire late in the season, going on a 17-game winning streak (11 games in the regular season, six in the playoffs) to go up 2-0 on the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals. The Lakers came back to even the series at two games apiece. Then came Game 5 and the shot that will forever haunt all Spurs fans. Even though the Lakers actually won the series in Game 6, that Derek Fisher shot (ON THE SPURS HOME COURT, NO LESS) was the final nail in the coffin. Bad luck or Derek Fisher’s stupid luck brought the Spurs 2004 championship defense to an end.
2006
For the 2005-06 season, the Spurs had added the not-yet-ancient Michael Finley and the very ancient Nick Van Exel, creating the most loaded Spurs team ever. The Spurs went 63-19 in the regular season but struggled against the rugged Sacramento Kings in the first round of the playoffs, taking six games to dispatch them. Then the Spurs faced a fearsome Dallas Mavericks team in the Western Conference semifinals. Over the first four games of the series, the Mavericks had their way with the Spurs, pushing them to the brink after taking a 3-1 series lead. But, the Spurs would rally and force one of the greatest Game 7s in NBA playoff history. The Spurs would lose in overtime on their home floor. Tim Duncan may never have played a better playoff game. As painful as it is for Spurs fans to admit, the Mavericks were a better team for most of the series and a bad match-up for the Spurs’ aging role players.
2008
The 2007-08 season was almost oxymoronic for the Spurs. The 2008 Spurs may have been their worst title defense team, yet it was the closest the Spurs got to repeat Finals appearances. The Spurs beat Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs. The Suns had traded for Shaquille O’Neal in a very misguided attempt to contain Tim Duncan. It did not work. The Spurs took care of the Suns in a gentleman’s sweep (went up 3-0, allowed the Suns one game and then finished them off). This series did contain one of the greatest double overtime thrillers in recent NBA playoff history. The Spurs then won a tough seven-game series against a very good New Orleans Hornets team before getting hammered by Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. While you could say that the Lakers were too big and athletic for the Spurs and Kobe Bryant was too determined, all of which was true, the Spurs did choke a 2o-point lead away in Game 1 and Manu Ginobili was a shell of himself that series after injuring his ankle in the previous round.
It is safe to say that the Spurs’ 2000 and 2004 title defenses were cut short due to bad luck. Injuries are inherently unlucky and that Derek Fisher shot could only have been the result of a curse. While Spurs fans point to the no-call on Duncan at the end of regulation of Game 7 of the 2006 Western Conference semifinals, that if called, would have put Duncan on the free-throw line for the win, the Mavericks were the better team. It was clear from watching the series. One could also say the Lakers were the better team in the 2008 Western Conference Finals; however, I believe with a healthy Ginobili the teams would have been much more evenly matched. Again, injuries in sports are tantamount to bad luck, regardless of the cause. So, looking at the data presented, the Spurs do seem to run into to some rather bad luck when attempting to make back-to-back Finals appearances. Does this bad luck mount to the level of a curse? Well if you are a San Antonio Spurs fan, then yes, it absolutely does.