San Antonio Spurs: 2012 Isn't the Last Hurrah for Gregg Popovich and the Big 3

The San Antonio Spurs are the hottest team in the NBA right now, having won 16 consecutive games including last night's 105-88 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

There are two commonly-used words thrown about when describing the Spurs—old and boring. If being aged and uninteresting equates to victories and a potential fifth NBA Title since 1999, Gregg Popovich and Co. could care less about what the naysayers are spewing.

General manager R.C. Buford has done a brilliant job in assembling a collection of role players to complement the team’s stars in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

In a time where organizations will stop at nothing to construct the next Dream Team, the Spurs find solace in a fundamental brand of basketball on the court and a formula for success in how the team is constructed off of it.

Sure, age factors into one’s ability to perform at a peak physical level, but basketball is probably the one sport where the fundamentals reign supreme, as there has been no significant innovation to how the game is played over the years. There is only a certain numbers of ways the ball can be put through the hoop, and the four-point shot is never going to be one of them.

Even as Father Time has his way with the Big Three, Popovich has done a marvelous job over the years of limiting their exposure while maintaining a winning organization.

The Spurs have endured 13-consecutive seasons of 50-plus wins. The only seasons preventing that number from being 19 (dating back to 1993-94) is the strike-shortened 1998-99 campaign, during which they captured their first of four NBA championships, and the 1996-97 season that afforded them the rights to draft Duncan, the key figure during their amazing string of success.

However, no single player can be entirely credited with such a run. But as the working parts around Popovich, Duncan, Parker and Ginobili continue to be modified, expect much of the same as long as these four are manning the Alamo.

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