Nice article in the L.A. Times this weekend about the San Antonio Spurs and their overall success in the last 10 years. They are one of only four NBA teams to win four titles in nine years, with the others being the 60's Celtics, 80's Lakers, and 90's Bulls. Their success, according to this article, is based on persevering through the ups and down of any season:Other teams get giddy when they win and disconsolate when they lose.Whatever happens, the Spurs do the same thing: They persevere.
"We've had several years when we started slowly," coach Gregg Popovich said.
The Spurs don't boast, feud, blame referees, say the word "disrespect," protest at being called a boring team that murders TV ratings.They don't say anything too colorful, or face the Wrath of Pop. If one ever ripped a teammate, Popovich might tear the S-A-N A-N-T-O-N-I-O off his warmups.
The article goes on to talk about the "Spurs Way", which is a set of prinicpals some of which including putting the team first and playing defense. As the article says:
Their entire philosophy comes from a quote from 19th Century social activist Jacob Riis, which Robinson (Former Spur David Robinson) found and is now posted in the dressing room in English, French, Spanish, Serbian and Turkish.
Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two. . . . It was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
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Their overall philosophy is simple: Through the ups and downs of any season, if you stick to the fundamentals and the core principals of the team concept, things will work out for them.
Keep playing hard, keep playing smart, and keeping playing together!
