An unprecedented playoffs run has taken the Spurs from rebuilding to dominating. Up next: a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals.
It's been 12 years since San Antonio last went honking downtown to celebrate an NBA championship, when Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan and company brought the city its fifth title. Now, with a young cast of stars and a new coach at the reins, the Alamo City returns to the place where Fiesta colors, culture and community glow brightest.
How they got here
Teams don't go from missing the playoffs entirely one season to winning 60 games the next merely by luck. It requires not just great basketball players, but great basketball minds in the front office that puts the team together. You can throw Victor Wembanyama on the court all you want, but if the surrounding cast doesn't compliment his skills, it's back to the lottery year after year. Here are some of the savviest decisions the Spurs have made during the rebuild to help them break their six-year playoff drought with the second-best regular season record in the league.
2023 NBA DRAFT: ROUND 1, PICK 1 - VICTOR WEMBANYAMA
By the numbers
Anyone who watched the Spurs this regular season – especially down the stretch, when they torched opponents for a 30-4 mark in their last 34 games – will tell you they looked like an NBA team on a mission to prove the only preseason expectations that truly mattered were their own. Lucky for them, we don't just have the on-court flair to go by. The numbers back up their success. As the Silver & Black prepare to embark on their first playoffs in seven years – a number San Antonio will be more than happy to see return to 0 when they tip off against the Trail Blazers on Sunday – we're breaking down the key figures that defined what was a remarkable regular season.
SPURS NBA CHAMPIONSHIPS
1999: San Antonio over New York Knicks (4-1) 2003: San Antonio over New Jersey Nets (4-2) 2005: San Antonio over Detroit Pistons (4-3) 2007: San Antonio over Cleveland Cavaliers (4-0) 2014: San Antonio over Miami Heat (4-1)
The postseason so far...
Despite their limited amount of playoff experience, San Antonio has thus far lived up to its No. 2 seed in battles against the upstart Portland Trail Blazers, physical Minnesota Timberwolves and defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Milestone moments and ascendant stars have propelled the Spurs to an 12-6 mark thus far, overcoming a Victor Wembanyama concussion in one series and ejection in another to further prove they're ready to open their championship window now and let the sunlight in. With each victory, honking has returned to Commerce Street and crowds grow at watch parties hosted by The Rock at La Cantera—resurrecting the celebratory spirit of the Big Three days as San Antonio embarks full-throttle on the Wembanyama Era.
GAME-BY-GAME RECAP
ROUND 1: Portland Trail Blazers Game 1: Spurs 111, Trail Blazers 98 (Spurs lead series 1-0) Game 2: Spurs 103, Trail Blazers 106 (Series tied 1-1) Game 3: Spurs 120, Trail Blazers 108 (Spurs lead series 2-1) Game 4: Spurs 114, Trail Blazers 93 (Spurs lead series 3-1) Game 5: Spurs 114, Trail Blazers 95 (Spurs win series 4-1)
ROUND 2: Minnesota Timberwolves Game 1: Spurs 102, Timberwolves 104 (Timberwolves lead series 1-0) Game 2: Spurs 133, Timberwolves 95 (Series tied 1-1) Game 3: Spurs 115, Timberwolves 108 (Spurs lead series 2-1) Game 4: Spurs 109, Timberwolves 114 (Series tied 2-2) Game 5: Spurs 126, Timberwolves 97 (Spurs lead series 3-2) Game 6: Spurs 139, Timberwolves 109 (Spurs win series 4-2)
ROUND 3: Oklahoma City Thunder Game 1: Spurs 122, Thunder 115 / 2OT (Spurs lead series 1-0) Game 2: Spurs 113, Thunder 122 (Series tied 1-1) Game 3: Spurs 108, Thunder 123 (Thunder lead series 2-1) Game 4: Spurs 103, Thunder 82 (Series tied 2-2) Game 5: Spurs 114, Thunder 127 (Thunder lead series 3-2) Game 6: Spurs 118, Thunder 91 (Series tied 3-3) Game 7: Spurs 111, Thunder 103 (Spurs win series 4-3)
Besting the champs
The seven-game gauntlet between the two top seeds in the West started with an instant classic – and instantly historic performance by Wembanyama – before going on to collapse any notions that the Spurs were preparing for their time instead of wielding the opportunity they have now. San Antonio not only won two straight elimination games to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals; they handed Oklahoma City their first Game 7 home loss in franchise history. At the same time, the Spurs continued to practice what they have preached all playoffs about experience... namely, that experience may not be the most essential factor when you have talent, grit and team chemistry. "You work all these hours we put in, it’s for these types of emotions," said Wembanyama after the Game 7 win. "I want to win so bad. It’s like my life depends on it.”
A city is all-in once more
The Spurs are practically inextricable from San Antonio's identity as a city. That sense of community has been on full display during the playoffs, from offers of complimentary coffee and breakfast tacos after playoffs victories to pop-up fan shops and official watch parties. And, of course, to the honking that has broken out not just in downtown, but all over San Antonio after each and every Spurs win.
On to New York
The NBA Finals brings with it more narratives than pieces of a confetti streaming out of a Fiesta casacarone. Not only is it a rematch of the 1999 Finals, when the Spurs bested the Knicks in five games to win their first title. It's also the Knicks' first trip back to the Finals since then as New York, mired in decades of not meeting the moment, hunts for its first title since 1973. A Knicks win would end a drought. A Spurs win would be a definitive and undeniable announcement that the Wemby Era has arrived not just in San Antonio, but the NBA. Rarely has a superstar taken their team to the Finals so soon, rarely has a team so young made it to the championship series, rarely in these playoffs has San Antonio felt like they don't belong. San Antonio might be the more battle-tested team, but the Knicks didn't cheat their way to the Finals. They're on a remarkable run of their own, having swept their way through the second and third rounds of the playoffs while winning games by an average margin of victory of 22.8 points. Both, one could argue, are teams of destiny. Now it's time to find out who believes it the most.
SPURS-KNICKS SCHEDULE (ALL GAMES ON ABC/ESPN APP)
Game 1: Wednesday, June 3 at 7:30 p.m. CT - San Antonio vs. New York Game 2: Friday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. CT - San Antonio vs. New York Game 3: Monday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m. CT - San Antonio at New York Game 4: Wednesday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m. CT - San Antonio at New York *Game 5: Saturday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m. CT - San Antonio vs. New York *Game 6: Tuesday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m. CT - San Antonio at New York *Game 7: Friday, June 19 at 7:30 p.m. CT - San Antonio vs. New York
*if necessary
The casual fan's guide to the Spurs playoffs return
Listen, we get it. Maybe you're relatively new to San Antonio. Maybe you're a relatively new basketball fan. Maybe all the talk about free coffee and complimentary tacos has you ready to go honking after Spurs playoffs victories. And, uh, where exactly does that happen again? Whether you haven't watched much Spurs basketball or very many minutes of NBA basketball ever, you deserve to feel like a Silver & Black hoops diehard just as much as your car-flag-toting neighbors.
Photos: AP, KENS 5 Created by: David Lynch, KENS 5 Content: KENS 5 Staff