NBA: Spurs, the 2013/14 Championship Team // MLB: Tony Gwynn, Star Hitter; the Standings

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner . . . // . . NBA: San Antonio Spurs, Champions--2013/14 // MLB: Tony Gwynn, Star Hitter; The Standings. . . // . NBA--- THE San Antonio Spurs 4-1 defeat of the Miami Heat in the best of seven NBA 2013/14 Finals is more than the crowning of a championship team for a single NBA season. The Gregg Popovich-led Spurs tore into and weakened considerably the notion that a trio of perhaps the best players in basketball will always prevail against five+1 of less but still above-the-margin skills. More precisely, the Spurs killed the idea that a few superstars will always dominate a team consisting of only one star or of none, but which is still a competent force. When learned a few years ago that LeBron James, D. Wade and Chris Bosh would be the Heat’s “Tres Amigos” it was feared that they’d be cleaning house and clocks wherever they’d play, and that teams without comparable superstars would deflate and form a junk heap. Not so in the Western Conference with former Denver Nuggets Head Coach George Karl putting his no-star Denver Nuggets into the post-season year after year, and recently HC Doc Rivers bringing the L.A. Clippers into ascendancy. Not so in the East, either, when comparing the Heat and Indiana Pacers regular season records. Anyway, this year the Spurs brought it home---evidence that “team ball” prevails. The Heat numbed from it in the year’s Finals and lost two games at home, then a third at San Antonio, two of them near-massacres, Game Five was a final put down, 104-87, locking the Spurs to an NBA championship title for the fifth time in franchise history, while preventing the Heat from owning a third-in-a-row NBA championship. So, how did the Spurs pull it off, how did they cause the Heat to be at the effect of their skills when the Heat’s James, Wade, Bosh have remained a trio that few can reckon with easily? Oh! Add the Heat’s Ray Allen. Of course, the Spurs found victory from an overall “guerrilla” strategy set by Popovich, and from the tactics applied for that strategy to succeed, tactics that are probably the only actions that could neutralize, if not overcome the likes of a James, Wade, Bosh + Allen challenge. A list of these tactics would surely include speed in transitioning from the offense to defense and vice versa, especially re. fast breaks for lining up lengthy exploitation of the 24-second shot clock so that best positioning for the best shot taken could happen, and it happened often for the Spurs in four of the Finals games. Add, a “thinking” rotational defense, not just in your face coverage---note that James scored 31 points in Game Five, which hadn’t helped the Heat much because coverage of the other Heat shooters was usually very tight, allowing only two other Heat players to score in double-digits, best the 13 points accrued by the Heat’s Bosh. And, the Spurs offense mantra seemed to be “never set a pattern,” that is, “keep the Heat guessing,” e.g., Will the Spurs get into the paint again? Will they drive to the basket as in the last turnover? Will they shoot from the corners once more? Will they go for the three-pointer from the center as they did less than a minute ago? and so on), essentially “a being where the opposition can’t get to you offense and then doing the unexpected anyway.” Hey, the Spurs mixed it up, the Heat thinking that Tony Parker and Tim Duncan would be the main characters of their blockbuster movie in scene after scene, all other Spurs in support, and then it was the Spurs Danny Green and Khawi Leonard saving the day (Leonard was selected Finals MVP). On Sunday, Popovich joined Phil Jackson (Bulls/Lakers), Red Auerbach (Celtics) and Pat Riley (Lakers, Heat) among HC’s having steered teams to five or more NBA championships . . . MLB---(“He can tailor his swing to the situation”---George Will, Columnist, TV pundit and author of baseball classic, “Men At Work”)---THE good hero can die young while some very bad people can live into their 90’s. Tony Gwynn, former San Diego Padres star hitter, passed on early at age 54 just the other day, having succumbed to cancer. Ballplayers and fans grieve when this happens, as if their sport got punctured by a meteor that no-one saw coming and a big hole can’t be covered over. Lasting, of course, will be memory of Gwynn’s on and off-the-field demeanor, his character, his dedication to his sport. Gwynn was liked, he couldn’t make enemies, he couldn’t be sad for long, he was usually upbeat no matter the situation, and always empathic. And, Gwynn’s work ethic stood out and above that of most other ballplayers, he was among the first hitters to study game film over and over, and he underwent batting practice almost every day as if doing so were a necessity similar to eating and needing water. He saw hitting as a science to be examined, understood and mastered, and that is what happened for him. The record speaks to this: 3,141 career hits, a career batting average of .348, and only 434 strikeouts from 9,288 at-bats. He was an All Star selectee 15 times, and were there no players strike in 1994 shutting down baseball, Gwynn would probably have finished the year with an over .400 BA, first to do so since Ted Williams achieved the feat in the 1940’s. Gwynn’s hitting ability was of such control, he could place the ball numerous times to left field between outfielder and shortstop, or close to that third base line. He could exploit the pitch being given if he wanted to, as if every pitch was an associate of his, the ball almost a friend wanting to go wherever Gwynn wanted it to go. Maybe the quality of a shorter life trumps the length of many longer ones, it certainly seems that way when reviewing the life and career of Tony Gwynn. . . . CURRENT STANDINGS---WITHIN the National league, the NL West is still led by the 43-27 S.F. Giants, though in a week the Giants haven’t added a win, they are now of a six game lead over second place team, the 37-34 L.A. Dodgers, instead of having the nine game lead posted on June 10. In the NL Central, the 41-29 Milwaukee Brewers are still atop second place team, the 37-32 St. Louis Cardinals but by four wins instead of the five of a week ago. Within the NL East, the 36-32 Atlanta Braves are still one win above now number two team, the 35-33 Miami Marlins, which held third place a week ago behind then second place team, the Washington Nationals. . . Within the American League, the 42-27 Oakland A’s are still the AL West’s number one franchise, they are ahead of number two team, the 37-31 L.A. Angels, this by four wins as it was on June 10, and in the AL Central the 36-29 Detroit Tigers are leading second place franchise, the K.C. Royals, by one win and not the two of a week ago, and the AL West’s 41-30 Toronto Blue Jays are atop the Baltimore Orioles by four wins instead of last week’s five wins. Above both leagues re. number of won games are the S.F. Giants---43; next the A’s with 42 won games, then the Brewers and the Blue Jays, each with 41. None of the remaining 27 MLB franchises have won more than the 37 won games each that was posted today by the Dodgers, the Cardinals and the L.A. Angels respectively. In other words, only the S.F. Giants have a commanding division lead. . . .Biggest falls of the seven day period, that’s the NL East’s Washington Nationals dropping from second to third slot, and the AL Central’s 33-37 Chicago White Sox going from third to last position. Still worst in the NL are the 28-39/.418 Chicago Cubs, and in the AL and worst re. both leagues are the AL East’s 27-43/.386 Tampa Bay Rays, the only MLB team of 30 that’s remained below .400. Of the 30, 17 are above .500 today. . . Best leap forward since June 10 belongs to the now 34-35/.493 Colorado Rockies. Though still in third place of the NL West, the Rockies went from being 11 games behind first place team, the S.F. Giants, to eight wins back, this from a five game winning streak after a dismal homestand, a streak that included a three-game sweep of the Giants. END/ml