How Do the San Antonio Spurs Spell "Miracle" in 2009?

It will take a San Antonio Spurs “miracle” to beat the LA Lakers in the playoffs this year.  A miracle only accomplished by avoiding the physically stronger New Orleans Hornets and not facing the dominating Lakers until the Western Conference Finals.

In 2008, the Spurs defeated both Western Conference teams with heavyweight athletic centers—Phoenix and New Orleans—while the Lakers cruised through lightweight un-notable centers of Denver and Utah.

The physical pounding on Tim Duncan by Shaquille O’Neal and Tyson Chandler, a ridiculous NBA travel policy, combined with a well-rested and more talented Lakers team, easily defeated the Spurs. This was the result NBA officials had wanted to see.

The Spurs have great difficulty matching up with the New Orleans Hornets and suffered three away losses of 18, 19, and 22 points. While Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler may be contained, no Spurs player can stop David West from scoring at will.

The Spurs losses were actually much worse than indicated, approaching 30-point deficits before mercy prevailed by resting the starters.

A Spurs 2009 “miracle” is possible only if a late roster addition plays with Texas-chainsaw-murderer intensity to rebound and score like an all-star. The improbable “miracle” is spelled “G-o-o-d-e-n,” an athletic power forward.

Drew Gooden, a 6’10” inside banger, possesses playoff experience with the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2007 NBA Finals against the Spurs.

Gooden’s experience under former Spurs assistant Mike Brown allows a seamless transition into the Spurs defense since Cleveland played a similar defense.

However, there are three big “If’s.”

1) If Gooden can remain injury free in the playoffs.

2) If Gooden slows down West and

3) the Lakers’ Lamar Odom.

West and Odom were two physical forces Spurs found unstoppable in 2008. If Gooden can achieve these three things, then a Spurs miracle is possible.

After six teams in seven years, Gooden risks a punch drunk boxer’s fate: staying longer than his skills should allow.

“I’m ready to find a home,” Gooden has said. “I think I’ve been a casualty of the business, now of basketball. It’s seems like almost the game has turned into fantasy basketball, but reality.”

The Spurs may not win with Gooden, but they have no championship chance without him.

Winning teams know how to beat the Spurs: wear Tim Duncan down and watch the Spurs fold. The Spurs are just a .500 team playing against teams with winning records.

Gooden is an athletically stronger body than Duncan and may front Paul Gasol and O’Neal, taking pressure off Duncan. A workman’s game with 13.1 points and 8.7 rebounds, Gooden may fill in nicely for the oft-injured “Argentine Comet,” Manu Ginobili, at the end of his meteoric career. 

Lakers head coach Phil Jackson has the highest winning percentage by far in NBA history, and a record-tying 9 NBA Championship rings. Jackson built his Lakers to beat the Spurs.

Jackson’s coaching strategy is simple: build a team to beat the most powerful team in your conference then neutralize an opposing team’s strengths in the NBA Championship Finals.

After the Chicago Bulls lost to Detroit in the 1989 Eastern Conference Finals, assistant coach Jackson built complex game plans around superstar players like Michael Jordan, O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

In 2008, Jackson failed to win his record 11th Championship ring in a career that began with the Bulls’ first three-peat NBA Championship, dethroning the Detroit Pistons in 1990.

The Spurs suffer from OMS—“Old Man Syndrome.” A few Spurs actually fought in the Alamo. Duncan is 33 next month, Ginobili 31. Kurt Thomas and Michael Finley are 36 and Bruce Bowen is 37.

The 2009 Spurs’ new starters are Roger Mason, Jr. and Matt Bonner. Both are young three-point experts yet neither a power forward. The “baby” of the team, Tony Parker, is a seven-year veteran at 26.

The Spurs are the NBA’s oldest team and regularly lapse into OMS, a four-to-eight minute fourth quarter scoreless span. Look at the Spurs’ one-point home victory over the Lakers this year.

The exhausted Lakers were playing a back-to-back when the Spurs suffered OMS, blew a double-digit fourth quarter lead to fall behind. Mason, a replacement to “Big Shot” Bob Horry, bailed them out on Derek Fisher’s game-gifting foul.

NBA hierarchy hates the colorless Spurs and boring “team” basketball. There is no megastar on the team and San Antonio has a tiny TV market. Advertisers drop national ads when the Spurs play.

After the Spurs won a seven-game series in New Orleans, the Spurs plane mysteriously stalled for hours on the runway. The Spurs played the game one with the Lakers less than 20 hours after being in New Orleans! NBA scheduling stupidity strikes again!

The Spurs held an eight-point lead, until a typical four minute fourth quarter OMS lapse gave LA the game.

The Lakers have the best coach in NBA history and Bryant, the best NBA player for the last decade and greatest fourth quarter player in NBA history. The team has NBA officials in their pockets salivating for a Lakers-Celtics rematch.

Spurs have Geritol, a “maybe” miracle, and a very over-rated head coach. 

Can the Spurs win the 2009 NBA Championship? Only if the Spurs “Remember the Alamo” and the word “miracle” is spelled “G-o-o-d-e-n.”

Even then, their championship chances look slim to none. LA plays the Spurs on a back-to-back tonight in SA. Expect the tired Lakers to win anyway.