Culture of Hoops

San Antonio Spurs up 3-0, Portland Trail Blazers peering over the edge

Image courtesy  of Keith Allison/Flickr.

Image courtesy of Keith Allison/Flickr.

Occam’s Razor is a scientific principle that, all things being equal, the simplest answer is usually the correct one. And in the world of the NBA, where frozen factoids are flopped about in a dramatic fashion, the principal holds water when it comes to the San Antonio Spurs: all things being equal, the Spurs are just THAT good. Plain and simple, love it or hate it.

The Portland Trail Blazers (along with their predecessors, the Dallas Mavericks) hate it. However, Portland appears to have decided to stay in the bent over position after dropping the soup, whereas Dallas put up one hell of a fight. This is unfortunate for fans, who would rather experience something more pleasant (like an acid bath) instead of witnessing FEMA declare the Moda Center in Portland a disaster area, like they did Saturday night when San Antonio bitch-slapped the Blazers 118-103.

Tony Parker, being Tony Parker, put on a clinic with his 29 points and six assists, while forward Tim Duncan made his own waves by adding 19 points and seven rebounds to the board. Portland now stands on the brink of elimination, and the Spurs are just itching to push them over in front of their home crowd. There was a sliver of hope in the first quarter when the Blazers led 13-12 for all of 17 seconds after going on a 10-2 run, but that was quickly dashed thanks to the supreme offense of the visiting team. Portland guard Wesley Matthews attempted to boost the team with his 22 points, but they were already DOA.

Portland is running around the court visibly frustrated when they can’t shave off a 20 point deficit, and it reflects in their play. Is it possible to come back from that large of a gap? Yes. But it’s not plausible when a team becomes so flustered with irritation that they forget how to throw a basketball. Given, it’s frightening when the opposing team is shooting 48.3 percent from the field and is 25-for-25 from the foul line (yes, even more terrifying than that snake the slithered into the Trail Blazer’s locker room in San Antonio right before Game 2) but not “forget where the hell we are” frightening.

But then again, all things being equal, the Spurs are just that good.

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