No Spurs No!
First of all, yes, I am from San Antonio and yes, I am a Spurs fan. Although I am not the biggest fan in all of fandom, I do support my local Silver and Black, and it's really neat to have such a successful basketball team in your backyard. I am glad they have advanced to the Western Conference Final, and I really do hope they beat those Jazz - I seem to remember a streak in the early/mid nineties when David Robinson lead the Spurs and Karl Malone headed up the Jazz and the two teams always seemed to knock each other out of the playoffs, hence the bitter taste in my mouth any time someone mentions the Jazz, the Mailman, or Utah in general - but I really am concerned about the lack of grace during the Suns series. I didn't get to watch the games, granted, but I have read several reports on each game and watched highlight reals and replays and sports columnists takes on the whole affair. I for one have always respected the Spurs - Robinson lead the team with grace and dignity, Avery Johnson kept us smiling, Sean Elliot always seemed underrated. The same is true of this team. Duncan plays with integrity, Ginobili seems unstoppable, and you never know when Parker will hit you. You never hear of Spurs players in trouble with the law or having big egos. Being from San Antonio I can tell you they are active in the community at many levels, including the players and coaches themselves. They always seemed like the group of guys down the street to me, who happened to win NBA championships. But from everything I have read/seen/heard about the Suns series makes me a little sad to see some negative press, not entirely undeserved at that, about my Spurs. It did seem unfair to suspend Stoudemire and Diaw, and not Duncan and Bowen, who committed the same offense earlier in the same game! Both Horry and Bowen were often too physically aggressive, and Pop didn't do anything to help the matter by excusing it as (paraphased)'nothing overtly dirty'. I am afraid the series will be looked at with the astigmatism of 'dirty calls and dirty players,' and if the Spurs do go on to win the Championship, it will still not take the sting out of the wound caused by some moments of unsportsmanlike conduct. The Spurs never seemed to think they were wrong about the 'physical style' of playing - I never read one apology or statement that indicated any admission of wrong-doing. Of course, I understand, if you're winning, why tell on yourself, but I do hope the Spurs can recover from this series and continue in (hopefully) the last two series with the same old class and hard work.