Basketball: Two Billboards Tell the Story of the NBA Finals

June 13 (Bloomberg) -- You don't need an off-the-charts basketball IQ to understand the dynamic of these National Basketball Association Finals.

Heck, no.

Only two simple things are required to figure out what's what:

1) A car.

2) The ability to crane one's neck.

Let me explain.

The most-direct route to the AT&T Center from downtown San Antonio requires a short drive along Interstate 35 heading north. On your left, way up high, there's a billboard promoting the city's basketball team, the Spurs.

It reads: ``Team Is Everything.''

That's it. It would be a mistake to dismiss that proclamation as some marketing slogan contrived in the executive suite. It's more. Around San Antonio, it's a how-to-play, how-to- win-it-all mantra.

No photos of Tim Duncan or Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili. The face of the franchise is the championship trophy.

There's a billboard in Cleveland, too, adjacent to Quicken Loans Arena, or, as the locals refer to it, the Q.

It's big. Really big. Ten stories tall, to be exact.

Only it delivers a different message than its Texas counterpart.

If the Spurs are defined by an all-for-one motto, then the Cavaliers are all about one.

The Cleveland billboard, erected by Nike, shows LeBron James, in flight, right arm cocked, about to dunk the basketball. Funny, but through the first three games of the Finals LeBron has dunked the basketball a grand total of, let's see now, once.

One Against Five

The billboards provide the perfect metaphor for what we're seeing in the series.

It's one against five.

Last night in Cleveland they played Game 3, a quagmire the Spurs won, 75-72, equaling the second-lowest-scoring game in championship-series history.

``We set the western world of offensive basketball back 10 years,'' was the assessment of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, whose team can celebrate its third championship in five seasons with a win tomorrow night.

Yes, it was ugly. It bordered on unwatchable at times, which helps to explain the plunging television ratings. There were turnovers. And missed shots. And blown layups. You name it. Aesthetics were absent.

In Cleveland they're fond of saying ``Rise Up'' when talking about their Cavaliers, who are making their first appearance in the championship round. Pack up is more like it.

Go It Alone

But something tells me we'll be seeing this team on this stage again.

No single player, no matter how big, fast or strong, can beat the Spurs alone. Some other teams, maybe. Not San Antonio.

If Duncan doesn't beat you, Parker will. If not Parker then Ginobili. Or even Bruce Bowen, who is expected to stuff LeBron, not the stat sheet.

Bowen not only harassed the NBA's golden goose into yet another mediocre shooting night, he added 13 invaluable points, hitting four of five 3-point attempts on a night when there seemed to be a lid over the baskets. LeBron even missed layups, ``chippies,'' he called them.

LeBron finished with 25 points on 9-of-23 shooting. He also had five turnovers. Worse, down by two and with less than 15 seconds left LeBron inexplicably passed to Anderson Varejao -- a rebounder, not scorer -- who tossed up an awkward looking shot that never had a chance.

Now's the Time

If ever there was a time for selfish, do-it-yourself LeBron to emerge that was it. Lose and learn.

Kudos to the unsung hero of the series, Bowen, who has made the Man look mortal.

``Brucey was unbelievable. He did everything for us,'' Duncan said of Bowen's Game 3. ``He'll get it done, and it doesn't matter if he gets one shot or eight shots. He's going to be in the same place at the same time. He's going to do the same thing. That's what defines our team, what he does.''

Perhaps someday the basketball-watching world will appreciate these Spurs for their commitment to defense, fundamentals and selflessness. It's doubtful, but you never know.

You have to, on some level, feel for LeBron, who is being hounded by double- and triple-teams. If it seems like he is, at times, alone out there it's because he is.

``This is all about them,'' LeBron said of San Antonio's ability to impose its will. ``It's all about me not trying to force anything and to try to go for it when I can.''

How They Do It

Perhaps next time the Cavs reach the Finals, when management adds a reliable shooter or two, someone who can make a collapsing defense pay for ganging up on LeBron, they'll actually win it.

For now let's celebrate what the Spurs are about to accomplish. Not only what they do, but how they do it.

After the game someone told Duncan the national media seems to be leaning toward naming Parker as Finals Most Valuable Player. Back in San Antonio -- it was pointed out -- polls show Duncan as the overwhelming favorite.

Would Duncan vote for Parker?

``Sure,'' he said, smiling. ``As long as we get to four that's all that matters.''

Team Is Everything.

(Scott Soshnick is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 13, 2007 09:39 EDT

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