Where’s the love?
If I were to ask you right now, who has the best record in the NBA, how many of you would be able to answer my question correctly? I am willing to guess that less than half of you would be able to tell me the correct answer. But I can’t blame you. If you were to say the Heat or even the Thunder, you would be incorrect, but most of you would probably answer that way. Let me tell you why most of you would give that answer.
This archived article was written by: Hayden Peterson
If I were to ask you right now, who has the best record in the NBA, how many of you would be able to answer my question correctly? I am willing to guess that less than half of you would be able to tell me the correct answer. But I can’t blame you. If you were to say the Heat or even the Thunder, you would be incorrect, but most of you would probably answer that way. Let me tell you why most of you would give that answer.
ESPN gives a lot of love to the Heat and Thunder because of the All-Stars on their squads, but just because they get all of the media attention doesn’t always give them the best record. Now, there are probably a few of you who would actually get the answer correct and answer my question by saying the team with the best record in the NBA is the San Antonio Spurs. Yes, the team with that really old guy named Tim Duncan, the Argentine Manu Ginobli and the point guard who everyone seems to forget exists in Tony Parker. Yes, the Spurs actually do have the best record in the NBA right now.
Even with the aging roster, Coach “Pop” manages to put one of the most competitive teams in the league on the court night after night, season after season. In my mind I don’t know how he isn’t in the running for coach of the year every year. Last year, the Miami Heat’s coach, Eric Spolstra, won the honor of coach of the year, but what coach couldn’t lead the Heat with all of their superstars to the playoffs and even the finals? That might honestly be the easiest and best-paid job on this planet.
The job qualifications for his job probably consist of the ability to travel out of your home state for road games, two hands that can form a “T” to be able to call time outs and occasionally tell LeBron James when he needs to start taking over. Now onto the job requirements for the Spurs’ head coaching job,. First of all, you need to be able to manage minutes of an aging Duncan, also the minutes of your shooting guard who is coming back from injury in Ginobli and maybe the most difficult part is matching your squad up night after night knowing you are probably less talented the deeper you go into your roster.
That being said, there are plenty of teams worthy of some loving, but aren’t receiving any because there are bigger stories according to the press and media. Take for example the Indiana Pacers. Yes, the team that Reggie Miller used to play for. In fact, that was probably the last time the Pacers received any loving. Well, that is about to change right now. I am going to give the Pacers some love right now. The Pacers are second in the East and have beaten the Heat twice already this year, both times by more than 10 points. If there is a team that causes match up problems for the Heat, it is the Pacers. The Pacers are well coached and have athletes who play for the love of the game and work well as a group.
This just proves once again that everything you see on TV isn’t always the complete story. In the last two weeks, I guarantee you can find more stories about the Heat, Thunder and even the ninth place Lakers on Sports Center then you will read about the Spurs or Pacers.
One final thought: being a week full of surprises, my heart goes out the Laker family as a whole as they lost Jerry Buss after an 18-month struggle with cancer. Buss was 80 years old and has now gone on to manage a new team with some old friends. I will catch you next week, until then don’t forget to love those who deserve some loving.
