The 30 greatest NBA team rivalries in league history
13. Best NBA rivalries of all-time: Phoenix Suns vs. San Antonio Spurs
The playoff matchups between the San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns date back as far as the early 1990s. Then, it was an absolute slugfest between David Robinson and Charles Barkley, two NBA MVPs with physically imposing styles of play that allowed them to dominate at the highest level of competition.
As the years passed, the two teams would continue to find each other come playoff time. They mostly met up in relatively low-stakes, first-round matchups. It wasn’t until the likes of Steve Nash and Tim Duncan were thrown into the mix that the games between these two began to mean just a little bit more.
The two teams may have been directly competing against each other in pursuit of championships during the mid-2000s, but how they went about it couldn’t have been more different. The Spurs were a well-oiled, proven title-winning team. Phoenix was constantly trying to prove its innovative offense could result in the ultimate prize.
Time and time again, that gap in experience would be the difference in series that mostly went to the Spurs. There may have been times when the Suns had the edge on paper. Come crunch-time, though, San Antonio was confident and precise in its playcalling, having executed such sets on the games grandest stage many times.
San Antonio’s 3-1 advantage during the Duncan and Nash era didn’t come without certain asterisks. Joe Johnson broke a bone in his eye socket in 2005, while Amar’e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were suspended for a crucial Game 5 in 2007 after stepping leaving the bench following an on-court skirmish. Both instances took place during their respective Western Conference Finals.
In fairness to the Spurs, neither of these incidents were their doing. Injuries are an unfortunate part of the game. While Robert Horry’s hip-check of Nash was certainly dirty, San Antonio’s bench seemed content to remain in place.
It was that same championship discipline that showed up again, a difference no amount of points the Seven Seconds or Less offense could make up for.