NBA Postseason Graveyard: San Antonio Spurs
Welcome, to the NBA Postseason Graveyard on The 12th Man, the NBA Hoops feature for Technorati! During the postseason, when a team gets eliminated, we will take a look back at their season, and what do they do for the future to get better. There are 15 graves here, and this past Friday night, the biggest upset of the postseason happened. We take a look back at the San Antonio Spurs.
2010-11 San Antonio Spurs
Record: 61-21 (1st, West)
Playoff result: lost conf. quarterfinal (Grizzlies 4-2)
The San Antonio Spurs got off to the best start of the NBA season, winning 13 of the first 14 games, and rolling off to the 46-9 start through 55 games. Then they went on 15-11 slide after the All-Star Break due to injuries to key players Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. However it was a first-round exit that are making many insiders wonder if this is the end of an era.
The Spurs got off to a great start mainly because their big three were healthy, and their role players were stepping up, and had some very hot outside shooting for the season, as three players shot over 40 percent for the season (Matt Bonner, Richard Jefferson, and rookie Gary Neal). Tim Duncan was able to get more rest with the emergence of DeJuan Blair and Antonio McDyess (who may have played his last season in the NBA). When healthy, the Spurs were the best team in the NBA, but the injury bug returned at the wrong time, and the Spurs were derailed and ultimately they became the fourth #1 seed in NBA history to lose to a #8 seed. Aside from the New York Knicks winning in 1999 in a NBA-lockout shortened season, all three times this has occured in a full season has came from a team out in the Western Conference.
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