Spurs’ Big 3 nearing another milestone
Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan are nearing yet another milestone.
San Antonio’s win in Game 1 of the NBA Finals against Miami marked the 99th time that the Spurs’ longtime trio of stars played in a postseason win together. Only one other threesome in NBA history — that being the Los Angeles Lakers’ Michael Cooper, Kareem AbdulJabbar, Magic Johnson — have ever teamed up for 100 postseason victories.
Parker, Ginobili and Duncan are always quick to give someone else the credit for the Spurs’ amazing run of success, which is probably one of the biggest reasons why success is still coming their way.
“Well, we’ve never labeled it as someone’s team,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s our team. It’s not my team or Tim’s team or Manu’s team or Tony’s team. It’s our team.”
The Spurs’ trio would have a shot next season to top the all-time mark. Cooper, Abdul- Jabbar and Johnson won 110 playoff games together in their careers with the Lakers.
GO GATORS
The last time Udonis Haslem, Mike Miller and Matt Bonner all went to a championship round together, none of them got a title.
At least one of them will this time around.
Haslem, Miller and Bonner all played for Florida in 1999-2000, the season where the Gators went to the NCAA championship game and lost to Michigan State. That was Miller’s final collegiate game; Haslem and Bonner played together with the Gators for two more seasons.
Haslem is a fan favorite in Miami for one obvious reason — it’s his hometown. And Miller has been embraced by Miami fans since his first game with the Heat, surely on some level because of his ties to the Gators.
Some former Gators play in Miami — Joakim Noah, for example — don’t get a warm reception from the crowds. But a handful of fans in Miami were directing Florida’s “chomp” toward Bonner before Game 1 of the Finals, a sure sign that Gator diehards are still thankful for what the San Antonio reserve forward did while wearing the orange and blue.