Spurs $250k fine was about TV ratings

NBA commissioner David Stern knows that the San Antonio Spurs are an old team. He also knows that head coach Gregg Popovich will rest his aging starters from time to time.

Stern even admitted as much by saying that he has no problem with teams resting their starters. But when it comes to the Spurs playing in a nationally televised game, he expects all the stars to be playing.

Could the San Antonio Spurs thwart another title run by LeBron James?

In the 2007 NBA playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James blazed through the Eastern Conference on their way to what many people thought would be the first of many NBA Finals appearances for the league’s most talented and most beloved superstar.

James looked very Jordan-esque as he willed the Cavaliers past the lowly Washington Wizards in four easy games, fought past the New Jersey Nets in six games and then bested the Detroit Pistons in the most epic battle of the entire playoffs setting them up for a Finals’ showdown versus Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

Spurs following same path as their ’99 championship season?

There are a lot of similarities with this San Antonio Spurs team and their team from the last lockout-shortened season back in 1999.

Both ended the regular season with the best record in the Western Conference, both were anchored by an aging center near the end of his career and both teams rode their younger players through the regular season in order to keep their veterans fresh for a strong playoff run.

Discipline, experience keeping the Spurs on top

Name another team in the league with a superstar tandem that has played together as long as Tony Parker and Tim Duncan have played with the San Antonio Spurs. It’s rare these days to find a team with one superstar that has played ten or more years with the same team, much less two.