Maybe they'll finally get a challenge this time.
Maybe they'll finally get a challenge this time.
Champions don't pass the torch when an up-and-comer nips at their heels, eager for a taste at the summit. Contenders must snatch the crown and pry it away from seasoned winners.
Down 2-0 against the San Antonio Spurs, the Los Angeles Clippers face the tough task of needing two victories at home to keep pace with the NBA's hottest team. Making things worse are injuries to Chris Paul and Blake Griffin that have robbed the superstars of their effectiveness.
Gregg Popovich can't win like the old days. No longer can the San Antonio Spurs simply feed Tim Duncan the ball, let their defense do the rest and ride that game plan to NBA championships.
Tony Parker scored 28 points and the San Antonio Spurs won their first playoff opener in four years, beating the Utah Jazz 106-91 in Game 1 of their first-round series Sunday.
As this lockout-condensed NBA season winds down, with its rat-a-tat schedule and heightened sense of urgency, look who's sitting on top in the West.
Three men seemingly out of pop culture time, they come to us clean-cut and edge-free, dripping with sincerity, owing more to Christopher Reeve's straight-arrow Man of Steel than to Christian Bale's brooding Dark Knight. Fashionable as George Will and as ironic as Ward Cleaver, they're the kind of characters former New York Yankees manager Billy Martin derided as "milkshake drinkers."
Dirk Nowitzki's streak survives, despite one of the worst seasons of his career.
