Photo: Sports Illustrated
That’s how many points three future Hall of Famers scored in a professional basketball game.
They only scored 10 points!
You would think a team with three future Hall of Famers scoring 10 total points would mean a loss for sure. Usually when that happens, a team doesn’t end up winning by 18.
But these Spurs, man.
It only took 1,360 games for a team to figure out how to keep Timothy Theodore Duncan from scoring. Considering that the Big Three were held to a pathetic 10 points in total, I’d say the Rockets broke the code.
Unfortunately for them, Houston gave up 64 points combined to the likes of a “super bust” in Kawhi Leonard, a guy who can’t fit in the Spurs system in LaMarcus Aldridge, and table scraps wingman Danny Green.
Yep. Just stop the Big Three and you’ll beat the Spurs.
There are a ton of cliches in Spurs Nation, most of which I hate…
“Well-Oiled Machine”
“Father Time”
“Small Market”
“Pounding the Rock”
“The Spurs Way”
“Top-Shelf” (by Sean Elliott in particular)
“In Pop We Trust”
But most of all, I despise the phrase, “Big Three.”
It’s ludicrous and it represents everything the Spurs oppose. Nothing about this team suggests that its centered around a big three. Yet, because three guys have been the face of the organization, we somehow believe otherwise.
As Spurs fans, we often forget that. We think that because ESPN tells us that we have a Big Three, that we actually do. We think because we see stats about the winningest trio, that the success of the Spurs are centered around TimParkU. And we think because these guys refuse to retire, that the only reason the Spurs are still good is because of them.
I’m going to go out on a limb here: I don’t know if any of the so-called Big Three are even one of the best three players on the current Spurs roster.
Relax. Let me, explain.
The reason the Spurs are a well-oiled machine is because of what the Big Three don’t do. In their primes, the TimParkU were merely really good players individually, save Duncan who is without question the greatest power forward of all time. But Manu and Tony were never great individually. They were just really good players who did a few things great and played great in a system together.
Personally, I don’t think Parker is a top 50 player all time. Not even close. Nor is Manu, and frankly, I don’t know if either of them would have had the career they have had if they had been drafted to play for the Wizards or the Jazz.
The term Big Three is almost insulting when you think of it. The Spurs success has always been centered on these guys, but it was the supporting cast who helped win championships…
- Steve Kerr going bonkers against Dallas.
- Robert Horry running circles around the Wallace brothers.
- Stephen Jackson looking like Craig Hodges.
- Boris Diaw
- Mario Elie
- Danny Green
The fact is, having a big three is not the reason why five banners hang from the AT&T Center’s rafters. It’s because of the other guys.
As Spurs fans, we severely underestimate our player development program. I would argue that no one uses the D-League better than the Spurs. Sending Ray McCallum to Austin for a few games is typically ignored by the average Spurs fan. But it might be one of the smartest moves made in a single game. Cory Joseph became CoJo because of the D-League.
And don’t even get me started on the scout team. Johnny Simmons is a huge find. Boban is a huge find. Tiago Splitter was a huge find. Fabricio Oberto was a huge find. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were huge finds.
We also take for granted the value of Chip Engelland. Go back and look at Tim Duncan’s shot 13 years ago. (I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence). Look at it now and notice the hand placement of the ball and the arc of the ball when it leaves his fingers.
Look at Patty Mills’ jumper in Portland and look at it now. And if you need a better example, just read Kawhi Leonard’s draft scouting report, watch his first few NBA games and then look at him now.
All Chip, bro.
And finally, if you don’t know who Will Sevening is, then you better get familiar. He has squeezed more juice out of 35 year old players than Dr. Oz. Trust me, it’s not Tim Duncan’s knee brace that keeps him trucking this long.
To suggest that the Spurs have a Big Three means that there must be a Little Three. It means that you are dividing the Spurs into special treatment plans for individual players.
Look, Tim Duncan won Saturday night’s game against the Rockets. Not with his point totals, but with his salary. With his belief that there is no such thing as a Big Three. Lamarcus Aldridge would have never scored 24 points and had nine boards if Duncan thought as a member of the Big Three he deserved to make $5.2 million a year.
The Spurs are a “well-oiled machine” because there is no Big Three. There is a Big 12 and everyone is an equal. That’s why Pop rides these guys like he’s a high school coach, angry he has to grade papers after the game.
Because there is no Big Three, the Spurs can find a way to hold Father Time at bay in a small market. And it doesn’t matter if the Spurs are “pounding the rock,” or Kawhi is “going top shelf” (someone please tell Sean to stop) – the Spurs can win.
“The Spurs Way” is not the Big Three way. If we truly believe it when we say, “In Pop we Trust,” then we can’t accept that there is ever a Big Three, because that’s not how Pop coaches.
I don’t know if the Spurs are going to win a sixth championship this year. But I do know that this Spurs team is going to be good for a long time because there is no Big Three. Aldridge, Green and Kawhi are not the Next Three, regardless of what Fran Blineburry writes on NBA.com.
I mean, good Lord: what happened to Miami after LeBron left, or the Bulls when Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis “the Worm” Rodman left?
Good grief, the Mavs beat the pants off the Warriors without Steph Curry.
Yikes, I don’t ever want a Big Three.
Maybe it’s not about a Big Three.
Maybe it’s not about a Big One.
Maybe it’s not about a coach, or a market, or a tradition of winning.
Maybe it’s just about…
the Spurs.
