The San Antonio Spurs do not buy into this deluded notion that their 2015-16 season was a flop just because they failed to reach the Western Conference Finals.
Sure, their second-round exit was unsettling and unforeseen. They imploded. The Oklahoma City Thunder played pretty good defense and hit the boards hard, disrupting the Spurs’ offensive flow to demonstrative degrees. But San Antonio beat itself just as much as Oklahoma City did. And now, with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili possibly on the verge of retiring, there’s a sense of finality to the Spurs—to these Spurs, as they are right now.
But these Spurs aren’t about to get down on themselves because of expectations unfilled and a future uncertain. No, they’re going to celebrate their 67 regular-season wins, and their subsequent status as one of the best regular-season teams in NBA history. They are actually already celebrating, as Boris Diaw kindly relayed via his Instagram account:
So many questions.
For starters, where’s Boban Marjanovic? After an in-depth scan of the picture, it doesn’t appear he’s present. I initially thought he was the monstrous pharaoh, but that’s just Manu Ginobili looking awesome. And tall.
I’m going to assume it’s Boban or Timmy standing in the upper left-hand corner with a mask on, though I’m not sure which. Duncan would be the obvious choice, because he doesn’t seem like he’d want his picture taken. But the distinct ears lead me to believe it could, quite possibly, be Boban.
And if you’re asking about Kawhi Leonard, I don’t know where he is, either. There are, however, two working theories here at The Friendly Bounce.
First, he could be the pimp holding the diamond-topped cane. And if that’s not him, our own Ian Dougherty has another idea:
Since we’re sitting here, trying to figure out the identities of these masked men—David West is adjacent the Boban-or-Timmy figure, looking like a Marvel villain—that probably means this was a good party. The wine and Ensure were probably flowing, the instant oatmeal desserts plentiful, the music dialed up to a reasonable volume.
Good on the Spurs for cutting loose at all. The season didn’t end as planned, but that’s neither here nor there. Sixty-seven wins allows you to channel your inner teenager whenever you damn please.