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2mo

Kawhi Goes Down, Warriors Come Back: Today in Sports History

On May 14th, 2017, the Golden State Warriors rallied to a 113-111 win in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals after Kawhi Leonard was lost to an ankle injury in the third quarter. Leonard landed on center Zaza Pachulia’s foot after a shot attempt and re-aggravated an existing ankle injury. He exited the game, and wouldn’t return for the rest of the series. The Spurs were swept by the Warriors in four games. This injury marked the beginning of the end of Kawhi’s time in San Antonio. Leonard missed the first 27 games of the 2017-18 season with a right quadriceps injury, and then appeared in just nine games from December 12th through January 13th. On January 17th, he was ruled out indefinitely to continue rehabilitation for right quadriceps tendinopathy. The Spurs’ medical staff cleared Leonard to play, but he got a second opinion from his own doctors. In March, a players-only meeting was held, with Kawhi’s teammates asking him to return to the court, with the meeting described as “tense and emotional”. Leonard didn’t play again in the 2017-18 season, and reports surfaced in June that he had requested a trade from the Spurs. Months of tension had built over a disagreement over Leonard’s injury rehabilitation program. Kawhi specifically asked to join the Los Angeles Lakers, but the Spurs didn’t fulfill that request. In July, the Spurs traded Leonard to the Toronto Raptors for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Pöltl, and a protected 2019 first-round draft pick. Considering Kawhi’s health and only having a single season left on his existing contract, the move was seen as risky at the time. Nothing an NBA Championship can’t fix though, right? Kawhi’s ankle injury is a “what-if” scenario to be remembered. Do the Spurs pull off the series upset in 2017? Does Leonard’s rehabilitation go better? Does he ever end up a Raptor without this injury, or does he wind up in Los Angeles early? As for the Warriors, they rode the momentum to the NBA Finals, where they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games for the franchise’s 5th championship.

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Spurs Win NBA Finals: Today in Sports History

On June 14th, 2007, the San Antonio Spurs completed a 4-0 sweep against the Cleveland Cavaliers to win their fourth title in franchise history. Game 4 featured the closest matchup of the series, with the Spurs edging the Cavs 83-82 to secure the championship. In Cleveland’s first appearance in the NBA Finals, LeBron James was limited to 22 points per game. His herculean efforts were no match for the trio of Manu Ginóbili, Tim Duncan, and Finals MVP Tony Parker. Parker averaged 24.5 points, 5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists throughout the series.

@FlameRaptorRaven

Winning is Never Boring

With all the talk about LeBron and his winning, it reminded me of basketball’s greatest modern winner. It’s not LeBron, it’s not MJ and it’s not Kobe. The best winner in modern basketball history is former swimmer Tim Duncan. To prove that, it is important to remember what the Spurs were before Duncan arrived. The San Antonio Spurs drafted Tim Duncan in 1997. Prior to Duncan’s arrival, the Spurs were a competent, but generally unsuccessful franchise. That may sound mean, but there’s honestly no better way to describe the pre-Duncan Spurs. They rank 8th in wins, tied with the Philadelphia 76ers and 1 win ahead of the Atlanta Hawks. It is important to note that multiple teams below them had less than 10 seasons to work with. If we remove the expansion teams that arrived in 1988 or later, they are just as close to the middle of the pack as they are the cream of the crop. The real dividing line is playoff success. The Spurs made 3 appearances in the conference finals, but could never win more than 2 games in any of those attempts. Meanwhile, the 76ers had won a championship and been to multiple NBA finals around their 1 banner year. They had one of the worst playoff winning percentages during that span, especially for teams that had been around since the 70s. The Dallas Mavericks and Washington Bullets had a better winning percentage. If I had to place them, they’d be above average among NBA franchises. Not the worst by any means, but a far cry from the best of the best. From Duncan’s rookie season to his last one, he led the Spurs to a 50-win season every single year, except 1. 1998-99, where teams played 50 games, the Spurs finished with 37 wins (60-win pace) and won the championship. When Duncan retired, the Spurs won 155 more games than the 2nd place Mavericks. That is a greater difference than the one between the Mavs and 12th place Detroit. In playoff wins, it was a similar story. The Spurs lead the way with 25 more than the 2nd place Lakers, coincidentally the only team to win as many championships as San Antonio during TD’s career (5). The 9 best Spurs defenses (going by relative defensive rating) belong to Tim Duncan-led Spurs teams. You get the idea, but to really drive it home, I’ll end this off with my favourite Duncan stat. Tim Duncan is 4th all-time in wins and 1 of 4 to win 1000 regular season games. The others are Robert Parish, Kareem and LeBron. Of those 4, Duncan is the only guy to rack up all 1000 wins with the same team. Next closest is John Stockton with 953 and he played over 100 more games than Duncan. You may think this is more of a team accomplishment, but you would be mistaken. The next closest Spurs teammate is Tony Parker with 892 wins. No other Spurs teammate has more than 800. Duncan is also 3rd in combined regular season and playoff wins; only behind Kareem and LeBron, whom played 154 and 271 more games respectively. From beginning to end, Tim Duncan made the Spurs a championship contender. He was the ultimate winner.

@FlameRaptorRaven

Larry O’Brien Legends, Part 11: The Big Ticket and Big Balls

Despite a disappointing season, the Minnesota Timberwolves are undeniably in their best era. It’s the first time ever they have won a playoff series in 3 straight seasons and they have made more conference finals in the last 3 years than they did in the 34 seasons before. I believe it is worth revisiting the 1 season it happened. In 1995, the Timberwolves made their best draft pick in franchise history when they selected Kevin Garnett 5th overall. After a promising rookie season, Garnett quickly established himself as a young star before ascending to superstar in the 2000s. His insane intensity, prodigious defensive IQ and deep toolbox turned him into a nightmare on both ends of the floor. Sadly, because the Timberwolves were poorly ran, they struggled to build a team around KG, until 2004. They finished with 58 wins in the regular season, a franchise record to this day and the 2nd best record in the 03-04 season. Of course the biggest part of that was KG himself. The future Hall-of-Famer averaged career highs in points and rebounds while remaining a top tier defender. However, it was the supporting cast that helped the team finally ascend and it all happened thanks to 2 trades to acquire veteran Sam Cassell and the erratic Latrel Sprewell. Garnett, Cassell and Sprewell formed a formidable trio. Them along with shooting from Wally Szczerbiak and Fred Hoiburg and defense from Micheal Olowokandi made the Timberwolves a real threat. Now it was time to prove it. In the first round, the 1st seed Timberwolves faced rookie Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets. The Wolves chewed them up, spit them out and beat them in 5. Carmelo had averaged 21 points per game in the regular season and the Timberwolves held him to 15 on horrific 32% shooting. Nevertheless, this series included a 40-piece from Sam Cassell to win game 1 and a 31-point game from Sprewell to win game 2 while KG averaged 26 points and 16 rebounds throughout the series. The trio was locked in. In round 2, the Wolves met the Sacramento Kings. Forget their reputation today, back then they were one of the very best teams, often thought of as the cream of the crop in the West alongside the Lakers and Spurs. They boasted a loaded starting lineup that included Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic and the man that made it all work, Chris Webber. Garnett would be tasked with shutting down Webber. Sam Cassell put up another 40-point game in game 1 of this series, but the Kings managed to overcome it and steal a 1-0 lead. The Wolves would come back and get game 2 behind Garnett’s 28 points. After a hard-fought series, it all came down to game 7. Heading into the 4th quarter of that game, the Wolves clung to a 2-point lead thanks to a Sam Cassell 3. After a few minutes, the Big Ticket took over. He proceeded to score Minnesota’s next 13 points. It culminated with a 3-pointer to put Minnesota up 7 and then a block on Webber to keep that lead. It came down to the last possession. Kings had the ball, down 3. Garnett blocked Brad Miller’s layup attempt and Webber missed a 3 to clinch Minnesota’s first conference finals appearance. KG finished game 7 with 32 points, 21 rebounds, 5 blocks and 4 steals in a legendary performance. He is 1 of just 7 players to ever have a 30-20 game in a game 7 and the only one to do it in the 21st century. In the conference finals, the Wolves ran into the Kobe-Shaq Lakers. This was the infamous Kobe-Shaq-Mailman-Gary Payton super team. The Wolves were obviously the underdogs, but they presented a real challenge. After losing game 1, Minnesota won game 2, but at the cost of Sam Cassell. He hurt his hip literally 43 seconds in. Miraculously he played game 3, but was MIA for the rest of the series. It was a crushing blow for a team that relied on him to be the 2nd best player beside KG. KG did his part and averaged 24, 14 and 4 in the series, which included a brilliant 30-point outing in game 5 to keep his team’s chances alive. But the Wolves ultimately lost in 6 games. At the time, KG’s 2004 playoff run had the most points, rebounds, assists and blocks of any Timberwolf ever. Only the points and assists have been surpassed since, by Anthony Edwards in 2024. It wasn’t just KG setting records. Sam Cassell became the 26th player in NBA history to put up multiple 40-point games in the same playoff run… yes really. Even better, Sam Cassell’s 2004 playoff run alone gave him more 40-point games in the playoffs than the following current and future Hall-of-Famers: James Worthy, Dr. J, David Robinson, Klay Thompson, Paul George and Demar DeRozan Although this era didn’t last long, Minnesota can finally say they have a better era of Timberwolves basketball and they can look back on this season with rose coloured glasses as the year Kevin Garnett became a Larry O’Brien Legend and Sam Cassell solidified his Larry O’Brien legend in stone.