Tim Duncan Let Me and Eva Down

True. All the girl could talk about on Oprah and Letterman was her beloved Tony and his Spurs (ehem, not that "spur" if you know what I mean). And I, for that matter, was counting on a back-to-back. I had all the reason in the world to feel confident about it, I mean the team added Finley and Van Exel, subtracted only bit players in their bid for a repeat. How could that have possibly gone wrong? Simple. Tim Duncan let me down. The guy had the ball several times during the clutch when winning was within his grasp but he either shot an awkward-looking semi-hook at one game, or didn't get up hard enough for a follow-up after an offensive rebound on a buzzer-beating, waning moments, occasion on another game. Disbelief, I'm sure, overcame those who counted on the Big Fundamentals to bail out the Spurs. And now it's all over for them, props to the Mavericks for putting the Spurs in place. Now on to...

...the Phoenix Suns. "Small ball" is slowly taking over the pro game. If one would look closely, teams are scampering all over the court in souped up tempo trying to outscore one another, playing more like the Suns and less like the Pistons and Spurs. Granted that they won't reach the Finals this year, watch out when Amare comes back in full health. I can't wait...