The San Antonio Spurs finally knocked the NBA on its asterisk.
Long doubted because of their good-guy image and occasionally questioned because their lone title had come in the lockout-shortened 50-game season in 1999, the Spurs finished an impressive playoff run with a more impressive 88-77 victory Sunday night over the New Jersey Nets.
Rallying from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, the Spurs prevailed four games to two in the best-of-seven NBA Finals. They opened the champagne bottles for the second time in five years and closed the mouths of those who questioned their resolve, determination, talent and timing.
The asterisk, that annoying little punctuation star associated with the Spurs’ championship, disappeared because of a big star. Tim Duncan was named Finals MVP with one of the most impressive and dominant performances not only in NBA Finals history but in the history of the league.
Duncan came within two blocks of the rare quadruple-double with 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists and eight blocks, the latter adding to a Finals series record for blocks at 29.
“The guys were incredible,” Duncan said after registering the first Finals triple-double in 10 years. “We played the whole way through.”
Ending the run of probably the greatest dual-center combination in NBA history, David Robinson returned to his form of a decade ago with 13 points and 17 rebounds in his final NBA game.
“How could you walk away any better than this?” Robinson said. “This is awesome.”
The Spurs were as well, overwhelming a gutsy Nets team with a stunning 30-point fourth quarter. Beleaguered guard Stephen Jackson contributed three three-pointers to a 19-0 run with which the Spurs wiped out a 69-59 deficit early in the fourth quarter. They outscored New Jersey 31-14 in the final quarter.
“We talked about just grinding it out,” Robinson said. “I was just trying to give us what energy we could. Everyone hung in there, and finally we got some shots to go in the fourth quarter and we just turned it around.”
It was a remarkable turnaround after a sluggish three quarters that had the Spurs looking at a seventh game. But the Nets, with Kenyon Martin at his worst, missed eight straight field goals and two free throws as the Spurs pulled away.
Martin, who criticized Keith Van Horn last year for poor play in the Finals, was miserable. He shot 3-of-23 and scored six points.
Jason Kidd led the Nets with 21 points and seven assists but might have played his final game with the Nets in his free-agent season.
“We gave everything we had,” Kidd said. “We weren’t up to it. You don’t want to lose. Hopefully we can get back and win another one. The basket got big for them and they made it.”
Kidd refused to speculate on his future.
“The door is open,” he said. “I have to play my free agency out. I have to look at all my options.”
The No. 1 option looked like a Game 7 as the Nets surprised the Spurs early, leading by eight after one quarter, by three at halftime, by as many as 12 midway through the third quarter and by 10 early in the fourth.
That’s when Jackson, pulled a few minutes into the game for poor play, hit his three-pointers. Speedy Claxton was playing for Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili was in for Bruce Bowen as the Spurs rallied.
But it was Duncan and Robinson, the urgency showing in Robinson’s farewell game, clogging the middle, pushing the poor-shooting Nets to the outside, blocking every penetration and sending the Spurs to victory. It was the fifth straight NBA title for a Western Conference team.
Robinson pumped his fist repeatedly with time running out and the Spurs taking their rightful place as the best in the basketball world.
They ended the Lakers’ three-title run in the conference semifinals last month.
“We might not have the best record, but when it comes to guts, when it comes to just being gritty and never giving up, there’s not a team better than us,” said Richard Jefferson, who helped the Nets get off to their fast start with 10 first-quarter points.But the Nets could never solve Duncan’s dominance. They doubled him constantly and he found cutters for easy baskets. He stepped outside for jumpers and sent the Nets’ slashers running for cover with his defense.
“We didn’t want to let it slip by,” Duncan said.
Tim Duncan’s game-by-game in the Finals
GAME MIN FGM-A FG PCT. FTM-A FT PCT. BLK REB AST PTS
GAME 1 44 11-17 .647 10-14 .714 7 20 6 32
GAME 2 43 8-19 .421 3-10 .300 3 12 3 19
GAME 3 45 6-13 .461 9-12 .750 3 16 7 21
GAME 4 39 10-23 .435 3-3 1.000 7 17 2 23
GAME 5 46 10-18 .556 9-10 .900 4 17 4 29
GAME 6 46 9-19 .474 3-5 .600 8 20 10 21
TOTAL 263 54-109 .494 37-54 .685 29 102 32 145
AVG. 43.8 9.0-18.2 — 6.2-9.0 — 4.8 17.0 5.3 24.2
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