Greatest non-Finals teams to never win the NBA title this century
9. 2010-11 San Antonio Spurs
Gregg Popovich has never been one to oppose reinventing the wheel to aid the San Antonio Spurs’ title hopes. It’s how they’ve sustained greatness for so long, never clinging too hard to a single formula no matter how much past success it brought.
Having suffered a disheartening sweep at the hands of the Phoenix Suns in the 2010 conference semis, Pop took a page out of the Suns’ playbook to promote a style based on pace and 3-pointers. It proved to be the jolted San Antonio needed to regain their footing among the league’s elite.
Tony Parker was further prompted to command the offense where he saw fit, leading the team in scoring at 17.5 a night. His speed pushed the tempo from 23rd the previous year to 14th. Coming in right behind him at 17.4 a game was Manu Ginobili en route to his second All-Star appearance.
Related Story. Spurs: Becky Hammon was built to coach basketball. light
The Spurs were tied for fourth in 3-pointers per game and No. 1 in percentage thanks to five rotation regulars shooting north of 35.0 percent — Manu was off by .01. Three shot better than 40.0 percent, including Richard Jefferson’s career-best 44.0 percent and Gary Neal, an undrafted Summer League signee, who was at 41.9 percent.
Popovich’s adjustments paid off, resulting in an 11-game improvement to get the Spurs to the top spot in the west with 61 wins.
An end-of-season elbow injury to Ginobili clipped the Spurs heading into the playoffs, costing him Game 1 of the first round while requiring a bulky brace just to get back onto the court. It was later revealed he somehow played with a broken arm.
San Antonio’s first-round matchup did them no favors either. The Memphis Grizzlies’ bullying brand of basketball proved too much for a team that transitioned past that style, resulting in just the second eight-one series upset since the first-round was expanded to seven games.