When asked recently at the U.S. A. Olympic Training Camp if it bothered him that the Spurs were never dubbed a super team? Popovich responded, “Nah, I just count Championships”. That was classic Pop, and very much the Spurs way of responding. When Popovich took over for Bob Hill, the Spurs had a history of being a good regular season team, but would falter in the playoffs.
You could say the same about last year’s team that won 67 games, but the reality is LaMarcus Aldridge had his jersey grabbed and held under the basket in the waning seconds of Game 2 trailing by one point, and Tony Parker missed a free throw and two open jumpers in the final minutes of Game 5 that could have given the Spurs a win.