Tomorrow, April 20th, marks the 10th anniversary of the Spurs' first game in the 2014 playoffs. We know how that season ended (spoiler alert: fortunately), but they entered the 2014 playoffs with fresh, painful memories of the 2013 Finals in their minds. I have come. The Spurs and their fans knew the team faced a very tough road back to the Finals, and that LeBron James and the defending champion Miami Heat would likely be waiting. In retrospect, the Spurs' “Beautiful Game” championship seems inevitable today. But when the playoffs began on April 20, 2014, a victory parade for the Spurs was by no means a certainty, or even a possibility.
The Spurs' 2013-14 regular season was unique. Despite being the top-scoring team in the league with a 3-point shooting percentage of 39.7%, no player averages 20 points in the regular season, compared to Ui's Frenchman Tony Parker, who averaged 16.7 points per game. No other team came close to it. Despite a good passing team that led the league in assists, no player averaged more than six assists, but Parker once again led the team with 5.7 assists per game. Despite being an excellent rebounding team, not a single player averaged double digits. The great Tim Duncan, who turned 38 during the playoffs, averaged 9.7 points per game. Even more surprising, and perhaps explaining his numbers so far, he was the only player on the Spurs to average more than 30 minutes per game. By spreading out their minutes, the Spurs were able to have six different players average double-digit points. Nine A player who averages 8 points or more per game. Oddly enough, bench player Marco Belinelli was one of his double-digit players, and 2013 Finals star Danny Green was one of them as well. He only averaged nine points per game.
The Spurs finished the regular season with a record of 62 wins and 20 losses, the best in the league. They finished sixth in both offense and defense, not the best, but that combination gave them the best point differential in the league, outscoring their opponents by an average of eight points per game.
Despite their success in the regular season, the Spurs had a very difficult road ahead if they wanted to return to the Finals. The Western Conference has a very impressive top eight teams, with seven teams that have won at least 50 games as potential obstacles to the Finals (listed in order of seeding).
2. 59-23 Oklahoma City Thunder, led by MVP Kevin Durant.
3. 57-25 LA Clippers led by Chris Paul and Blake Griffin Clippers
4. 54-28 Portland Trail Blazers, led by LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard.
5. 54-28 Houston Rockets, led by James Harden and Dwight Howard Rockets
6. 51 wins, 31 losses The Golden State Warriors, led by the young Stephen Curry/Klay Thompson/Draymond Green trio, and…
7. 50-32 Grit and Grind Memphis Grizzlies, led by Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, and Tony Allen.
Notably, the first six of those seven teams had better point differentials than every team in the East, including the Heat. The Spurs knew that if they won their first round matchup, they would have to defeat two of these teams to advance to the finals. The top two teams will likely be picked as these teams would have beaten the other teams to get to the Spurs.
The Spurs started the first round of the playoffs on a high note against the No. 8 seed in the West. That team, the Dallas Mavericks, was 49-33, just one game shy of 50 wins. This record would have placed the Mavs in 3rd place in the East, but they finished 8th in the West. It's as tough a first-round matchup as a top seed could hope for. Meanwhile, the top team in the East (Indiana Pacers, not the Heat) will open the playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks, who finished the season with a record of 38 wins and 44 losses.
The Mavs quickly proved their mettle against the Spurs. In the first game, the Spurs narrowly won the game with a 90-85 victory. The Mavs held the Spurs, who lead the league in 3-point percentage, to 3-of-17 from three, with all three 3-pointers made by My Man Manu Ginobili. The Spurs were 11-0 the rest of the way. Patty Mills and Boris Diaw, two players who would later become key players in the Spurs' Finals, combined for six goals.
In Game 2, the Mavs defeated the Spurs 113-92, tying the series at one game apiece. The loss meant the Spurs, who had spent the season gaining home court advantage in the playoffs, lost that advantage in just two games. The Spurs' road to the 2014 NBA championship was anything but avoidable, especially in April 2024, when they boarded a bus to head to Dallas for Game 3 of the season opener, not knowing what to expect. It wasn't something I couldn't do.
