Many think San Antonio isn’t pretty at all. In fact, nobody can deny that, it’s true.
But the fact that the Spurs don’t care at all about being pretty is also true.
They weren’t after the Best Looking title after all. The only attribute they eagerly strived for was Most Likely to Succeed.
The San Antonio Spurs won over the Cleveland Cavaliers 83-82 on Thursday to seize their third NBA championship in five years with a 4-0 finals series sweep.
The score was tied at 66 with four minutes left of the game, when the Spurs stepped up and with a decisive 8-0 run rallied past the Cavaliers to win it.
Of course, there was no confetti in Quicken Loans Arena marking the anticlimactic end of the 2007 NBA finals. The spurs didn’t care though, this was their moment to savor.
“We find a way to get it done when it’s time to get it done,” said Spurs forward Tim Duncan (12 points), the only Spurs player who has won four titles. “That’s what this team is all about.”
Duncan, last year’s finals MVP, gladly passed on the honor to team mate Tony Parker. ,,It’s just unbelievable,” said Parker on the podium and then added what can be considered the motto of the Spurs team: “I want to thank my teammates.”
Parker earned the finals MVP title scoring 24 points on a 10-of-14 shooting on a variety of jumpers and drives to the basket.
"It's great, just unbelievable," said Parker about being named MVP.
"I'm speechless. When I look at that trophy I'm going to wake up tomorrow and it's still going to be a dream.”
"European basketball is improving every year. You've got Dirk Nowitzki (of Dallas) the (league) MVP for the first time and now the MVP finals. There's going to be more. I'm on the list now."
Manu Ginobili, ,,an ultimate competitor” as coach Greg Popovich described him, scored 27 points, 13 of them in the fourth quarter when the Spurs needed it most. The Argentinean converted all six of his free throws in the final 24 seconds including two with 1.9 seconds left that gave the Spurs an 83-79 lead.
“Any time you get an opportunity to finish off a team, you got to take it,” Ginobili said. “I think we showed our experience in the last five minutes.”
The San Antonio Spurs join a very select company as they enter the club of NBA's greatest franchises. With their fourth title since 1999, their third in five years, they join the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls as the only teams in NBA history to win four titles.
They truly are the team of the 21st century and one of the most synchronized groups of athletes in all of sports.
Cleveland’s LeBron James shot only 10-of-30 as he scored 24 points.
He was only 35 percent throughout this series, including just 4-of-20 from three-point range.
"If I don't play well, our team is not going to have a good chance to win. I've got a lot of things to work on to get better for next year," said James showing a positive attitude.
