NBA: Ranking the San Antonio Spurs' 5 Championships
The San Antonio Spurs are the crown jewel when we discuss franchises in the NBA. Since the 1997-1998 season, they have had a winning percentage equivalent to a 50 win season (this measurement is used because the 1998-1999 was shortened to 50 games due to a lockout). This year the Spurs are in real danger of failing to reach a .610 winning percentage (50 win equivalency), in large part due to Kawhi Leonard only playing nine games so far this season due to various injuries.
Still, the Spurs serve as hallmarks of consistency starting with Gregg Popovich being the coach for each of the championship seasons while being able to change their style over the last 20 years to match the new trends of the game.
They are expert at finding advantages on the margins, whether that be through player development, drafting foreign-born players before it became a trend, or finding players who specifically fit their culture.
With all this said, let's take a look back at each of the Spurs titles ranked in descending order.
#5 2007 Title vs the Cleveland Cavaliers (4-0)
This is the lowest win percentage for a Spurs championship team, they finished 58-24 (.707), but more than that, this Playoff season just freaked out. The Golden State Warriors knocked off the first seeded Dallas Mavericks in the West, clearing out the team who had beaten the Spurs in seven games in the 2006 Playoffs.
In the Conference Semifinals, Phoenix Suns' Boris Diaw and Amare Stoudemire were suspended for game 6 of the series for leaving the bench area after Robert Horry hip-checked Steve Nash into the scorer's table. When they made it to the Finals, they were facing a Cleveland Cavaliers' team led by a 22-year-old LeBron James, quite possibly the worst roster to make the Finals in the last 20 years.
Yes, the Spurs led the league in net efficiency rating and consistently kicked ass during the regular season. They had the peak combination of their championship trio everyone associates with the team, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili meshing probably as best as they ever had. The Spurs thrived on grinding the pace down and playing stellar defense using pinpoint rotations to suffocate opposing offenses into submission.
This made up for their lack of depth on the bench as they could rely on their defense to carry them when two of their stars were on the bench. Because of their path in the Playoffs, this title is knocked to the bottom of the list.