San Antonio entered the playoffs as the team most feared by the top seeds in the Western Conference.
They had playoff savvy, the league’s best coach and four NBA championships in the past 12 years. And they backed up their reputation by defeating the No. 2-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round.
But any thought of one final championship run ended Sunday night as San Antonio was swept by the Phoenix Suns — a team the Spurs defeated four times in the playoffs from 2003-09.
San Antonio may have a couple years left of being a threat in the early rounds of the postseason, but their days of winning championships are over.
Tim Duncan, 34, has logged 13 seasons and 6,740 playoff minutes — already 15th most in NBA history. This season he posted career lows in points, rebounds and blocks per game.
And the Spurs’ other two stars are injury prone. Manu Ginobili, 32, has missed 77 games the last five seasons and Tony Parker, 27, missed 49 games in the past three.
San Antonio’s style changed this season as well. The Spurs turned lock-down defender Bruce Bowen into scoring swingman Richard Jefferson. On paper this looked like a move that would vault the Spurs back into title contention. But while San Antonio averaged more than 100 points a game, they also allowed 96.3 points — the highest since drafting Duncan in 1997.
The aging Spurs opted to play a more up-tempo, high-scoring style than the slow down, half-court methodic approach that won them four championships. Although it meant the Spurs were more enjoyable to watch, it didn’t translate into a title.
Next year, the Spurs will reload. They will give George Hill and DeJuan Blair more minutes and larger roles. But the most underrated dynasty in the NBA — defined by class, hard-nosed defense and grit — has come to an end.
