Spur-ned

The San Antonio Spurs have become the red-headed stepchild of the blogosphere. It seems like nobody wants to see them in the NBA Finals and I include myself in that group of playa hatas. I started analyzing why I feel that way and realized my reasons for wanting the Spurs to lose the series were not completely founded on their on the court product.

Contrary to prevailing opinions, the Spurs don't play an inherently boring brand of basketball. They have guys who can penetrate and slash (Parker and Ginobili), shoot (Bowen), and feature arguably the second-best player of the post-Jordan era in Tim Duncan (Shaq being the best). Even with Duncan dominating the low post, the team moves the ball extremely well, which I think is the most exciting part of half court basketball. The team is a nice blend of skill players and blue collar types, plays defense so well that Larry Brown no longer needs to watch German Scheizer (sp?) vids, and is generally efficient in both open and half court settings.

I'm also surprised by the general ambivalence shown towards the Spurs. They have three very hateable players- Ginobili and Oberto (based on their Eurotrash looks and playing style), and Bruce Bowen, who would've been right at home playing for the Bad Boy Pistons. Those three alone should generate enough heat to where the Spurs are one of the biggest heels in the league, but for some reason this has not yet occurred.

My only real explanation for the attitude toward the Spurs is boredom. Boredom based not necessarily how they play, but because they have been so good for so long there is simply nothing interesting about them. NBA fans have seen Duncan, Parker, and company countless times in this situation. At least the Cavs-Pistons series has some cache because it's Bron Bron's first time in the Conference Finals. For the Spurs there are simply no new angles. No player captures the imagination and attention of viewers. There is surely a sizable black lash against the Spurs because of the way they beat the Suns, but I believe that even if the suspensions had not occurred and the Spurs had still won, the public attitude would still be the same. After beating the Suns, there was initially a small sentiment of outrage, but those emotions have morphed into were ambivalence. It's more of a statement on human nature than on the Spurs basketball aptitude.