Follow Club Spurs on Twitter
Samr<br>
SpursCentral.com<br>
April 24, 2005<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Amare Stoudemire had banked in his three. Stephon Marbury had heaved his half-court shot through the net at the buzzer. It was hard not to believe that such a game was governed by fate. Miracles like that simply did not happen without the hand of some higher power. It was hard to understand that such a thing could happen to such a team. God, after all, was a Spurs fan. Right? <br>
<br>
The Suns ran off the court, a screaming mass of overenthusiastic players. I stood up in my seat. I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to ride home. I didn’t want to deal with the awkward silence that accompanies filing out of the SBC center- like a funeral, only worse. I wanted to be down there on the court. I wanted to be the one guarding Marbury. I was convinced I could have changed fate. I could have stopped him. But there was nothing I could do anymore. So I turned around, looked at the usher, and walked. Out into the SBC Center halls, with 18,979 of my closest friends.<br>
<br>
The silence was painful- like a bunch of tiny Marbury daggers stabbing you with every beat of your heart. But it was not without words. People spoke, you just couldn’t hear it. Every usher, every SBC Center staff, any one courageous enough to look you in the eye spoke. “Oooohhhhh man. We’re through.” Eye contact, the simplest form of communication, was all we needed. We knew the stats. No one needed to remind us. The Spurs were exceptionally bad at overcoming game-1 defeats. The odds of doing so was overwhelming. We would not sleep that night. Would the Spurs?<br>
<br>
What followed was nothing short of a miracle. As David’s back failed and Kevin Willis’s elbow flailed, Danny Ferry was required to step into the big man roll- a proposition as scary for the fans as it was for him. But he overcame it, just as the Spurs overcame the Suns in game 2. Home court advantage would be regained in Phoenix as the Spurs plowed through the opposition with a 4:2 win ratio per series. It was a team of destiny; they were something special. But they proved to the city that such feats were possible.<br>
<br>
As the Spurs fell to the Nuggets, the route to the championship narrowed just a bit. To end the regular season on a two-game losing streak, effectively killing all momentum gained from the two double-OT games, was not a good strategy. To lose the first game of the series, against the most dangerous underdog in the 2005 playoffs, is not a step in the right direction. But it is by no means the beginning of the end. It is not the first nail in the coffin, nor is it the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s simply another weight on the machine. The Spurs need to work harder, that’s true. They need to put all their energy into the next push, because to add yet another weight without first lifting the original would be devastating.<br>
<br>
Each of the two championship teams have had some definitively dominating characteristic. Whether it was the inexplicable blend of talent, leadership, and chemistry; or whether it was the fighter mentality, the confidence that they would survive no matter how bleak their future looked- the championship squads had something special. You could not ignore it. It smacked you upside the head like a Kevin Willis elbow in game one of the Phoenix series. The Spurs have it this year. The ability to survive despite injuries to Tim Duncan, Devin Brown, Rasho Nesterovic, and Manu Ginobili. In one night. The ability to overwhelm teams when running on all cylinders and the ability to overcome teams when not, will prove to be the winning asset. But while that could help them overcome the Nuggets in the first round, they are still one assist shy of a triple-double. They need something else, and no amount of Manu heroics can bring it to them. <br>
<br>
It’s not time to hang our heads. It’s not time to get down, depressed, or worried. We’re only one miracle away from a championship. So start praying now.<br>
<br>
<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>“Don’t you EVER underestimate the heart of a champion.”</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> –Rudy Tomjanovich<br>
<p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p204.ezboard.com/bsanantoniospurs62937.showUserPublicProfile?gid=samr@sanantoniospurs62937>Samr</A> at: 4/24/05 10:01 pm<br></i>
