Top 5 Seeds in Western Conference for 2012-2013 NBA Season (Part 3) – NBA Feature
San Antonio Spurs: Seeded 3
One of the most successful NBA franchises over the past decade, the Spurs are well known for the dream combination of Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich. Duncan is arguably the best forward to have played the game and Popovich is one of the greatest coaches in NBA history. And they both have one thing in common, they like to stick to basic basketball. Add in Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili and you have a Spurs team that has won four NBA championships since 1999.
The Spurs proved their critics wrong last season by turning up the competition after the All Star break and finishing the season on a 10 game winning streak, which boosted them to the top of the Western Conference and tied with the Chicago Bulls for the best record in the league. They then swept past their first two playoff opponents, and won the first two games in their Western Conference Finals clash against the Oklahoma City Thunder, to take their winning streak to a stunning 20 wins. The Thunder finally managed to get the better of them in the next four games to take the series 4-2 and advance to the NBA Finals, but the Spurs proved that they are still a genuine title contender.
One of the main reasons for the Spurs success over the past decade or so has been the fact that Gregg Popovich has been able to change his team philosophy according to the strengths of the team. When Duncan was in his prime and had David Robinson as his front court partner, Popovich relied on a slow paced fundamental game. Now that Duncan is in the twilight of his career and cannot play extended minutes, Popovich has begun heavily relying on Parker and Ginobili, and changed the game strategy to a fast paced transition game that converts defence to offence and relies on the amazing speed and ball handling abilities of its two guards. Parker emerged as the leader of the Spurs last season, and even made it to the Most Valuable Player consideration list.
However, there is one more secret arsenal that the Spurs are building and looking to unleash sometime next season that has so far largely been ignored by the NBA world. The Spurs is a team brimming with young talent who are responding well to their legendary coach and playing alongside the team core of veterans to get the job done. Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Gary Neal, DeJuan Blair and Tiago Splitter are all young players who have impressed in the last season and even more in the preseason games.
The Spurs realize that Duncan, Parker and Ginobili are in the later parts of their career now and cannot match up with the athleticism of the Thunder, the Los Angeles Clippers or the Denver Nuggets. Hence, they are developing a young crew that will help out the veterans and slowly take responsibility from them. This speaks volumes of the player development programme that has been installed deep in the Spurs organization, and is what keeps them relevant in the NBA. Although the Spurs lack the firepower at this moment to topple the Thunder or the new look Los Angeles Lakers, they are still the third best team in the West. And if they can pull off another surprise like last season’s twenty game winning streak, they might be sitting at the top of the Western Conference again.
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