Opinion

Reborn cockroaches, Spurs back in the mix

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NEW ORLEANS — Manu Ginobili sat out then, as he will tonight. Tony Parker stood up.

Parker, nursing a sore back, chose to stand near the bench when he wasn't in the game because sitting was too uncomfortable.

Gregg Popovich, meanwhile, couldn't find any position that was comfortable. This was a season ago, in New Orleans in January. The Spurs looked old, thin and ordinary.

It was about that time, in a private moment, when Popovich admitted there were flaws that weren't going away. “But I don't want them to think that,” he said of his team.

What followed not only created last season's push, but also what comes next in the Western Conference.

This will be between three teams — Thunder, Lakers and Spurs.

This is not the way championship teams are supposed to decline. The Bird Celtics broke apart as their bodies did, for example, and the Jordan Bulls went away in unison.

The Spurs, instead, have been plugging away for as seemingly as long as the 40-year history they are now celebrating. It's been five years since the Spurs last won a title, and it seems longer. Ginobili's string of MRIs alone makes for a lengthy timeline.

The Hornets outline another. The Spurs were defending champs in 2008 when the Hornets rose to win the top seed in the Western Conference.

They were young and set, with Chris Paul in charge. The Spurs needed to squeeze the last drops of sweat from veterans such as Robert Horry to beat the Hornets in a Game 7 in New Orleans.

Afterward, from the TNT studio, Charles Barkley shook his head. “They're like cockroaches,” he said of the Spurs. “They won't die.”

While the cockroaches continue to live, the Hornets have scattered. Every player, coach, general manager and owner from 2008 is gone.

Paul? The Spurs beat another of his teams in a playoff series last spring.

The Spurs were respectable in these years, but only that. Even two seasons ago, when they also earned the top seed in the Western Conference, there was never a sense they were on the cusp of a fifth title.

They had the system and the will, but did they have enough talent anymore? That Game 7 in New Orleans came to represent the last, great moment of the Tim Duncan era.

It sure felt that way last January. The Hornets hadn't scored more than 100 points, for example, until the Spurs came to town. “We're a defensive juggernaut,” Popovich said after the game, rolling his eyes.

Parker and Duncan held the Spurs together that night. They combined for 48 points, including the final dozen for the Spurs, and Parker ended with more assists, 17, than he'd ever had.

Yet — the Spurs needed a hook shot from Duncan that even he laughed about to beat the worst team in the conference.

But changes were on the way, and some were already in play. Danny Green, filling in for Ginobili, was finding a role.

The Richard Jefferson trade brought Stephen Jackson's versatility and swagger, and it also created a starting spot for Kawhi Leonard to grow. As for the gift from free-agent heaven: Boris Diaw's dip against Oklahoma City last spring has made some forget how integral he was.

More critical, Ginobili healed, and Parker and Duncan stayed healthy. That's why last season might prove to be the best shot a Duncan team will have at another championship. It's reasonable to think they can't continue to compete at the same level.

But they have a chance to, and that's the change. Last season they were there, up 2-0 against the Thunder, and the possibilities return as the roster does. This group has more depth than the 2007 champions.

So they will begin tonight in New Orleans, reborn as cockroaches, where they looked finished a year ago.

bharvey@express-news.net

Twitter: @Buck_SA