Patty Mills is two games away from a title ring

How about that?

 

McGrady never made it out of the 1st round of the Playoffs until this year.

 

He was on the rockets team that beat us in 2009, even if he was out for the year.

 

Semantics I suppose but stats and inc considers this the first year that he (not his team) has made it out of the 1st round of the playoffs.

 

Well deserved! Patty has had to carry those aging stars all season long.

 

I posted about the international make-up of this team in the OT forum a while ago, and this is really comparable this is like a Euroleague vs. NBA championship.

3 French
2 Aussies
1 Canuck
1 Argentinian
1 Brasilian
1 Virgin Islander
_______________
9 foreign-born players on a 15 man roster


The Miami Heat on the other hand have one lone international player, in Canuck Joel Anthony.

This series really has a USA vs. the World vibe to me... the only problem is that I'm rooting for "the World."

 

Tim Duncan isn't foreign born. He was born and grew up in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He has been an American (U.S. citizen) since birth. So, that's 8 international players on the Spurs roster.

Yes, I'm cheering for the Spurs to win, too. Not because of their international roster. To me, it's drama queens vs. lunch pail guys. The Spurs just show up to work and do their job without holding a press conference every time their star player takes a shit. They don't refer to themselves in the third person, or compare themselves to the Beattles - even though they've already won 4x as many NBA titles as the other team's star player. They just show up and play drama free team basketball. I find that refreshing.

BNM

 

I was a Mills fan all along and wanted him to stay to be our backup PG. Still haven't anyone to compare to him for that role.

 

Repped. We hear about super teams like Miami & Lakers, and no one else can win because everyone wants to play there blah blah blah. San Antonio is not a glamour team or a glamour city or even a big media market. Just a smart organization. Brains over glitter. Geeks rule! Also like the international makeup, we call NBA and other U.S. sports champions "world" champions, rather arrogantly. At least the Spurs contain a bit of the world.

 

Patty is a stud. Great guy.

 

Yet another terrific reason to root for the Spurs.

 

Cheerleader? IMO Maynor > Mills

 

Did you know that the US Virgin Islands has its own national team? That has competed against the US in international competitions? Funny that you don't see that happen with, say, Kansas.

Duncan is about as "American-born" as Jose Juan Barea.

 

Um, I love Patty and all, but Maynor is much better. Patty is a pint-sized gunner. But he has no peer as a "lockerroom guy".

 

Great BLOKE.

 

I'm very much rooting for the Suprs due to all the Aussie connections.

Aaron Baynes was born in New Zealand, but grew up in Australia, and represents Australia in international competition.

Spurs assistant coach Brett Brown whilst a US of A native, spent a long time coaching at club level in Australia, and was also the Australian mens team head coach for many years.

As an aside Brett Brown brought Drederick Irving out to Australia to play, which is how Kyrie Irving ended up being born in Australia.

 

JJ Barea is a citizen of Puerto Rico. His nationality is Puerto Rican. Is Tim Duncan a citizen of the Virgin Islands? No, there is no such thing. He is, and has been, since birth, a U.S. citizen. His nationality is American. Puerto Rico is self-governing. The U.S. Virgin Islands are not. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth with it's own Governor, legislature, constitution and district court.. The U.S. Virgin Islands are an unincorporated territory with no independent legislative body.

BNM

 

Also, Tim Duncan plays for Team USA in international competitions, including the Olympics. J.J. Barea plays for the Puerto Rican National team in international competitions.

BNM

 

You know, you're completely right. I knew that when I posted that, and I was just waiting for someone to point that out.

I still don't consider him to be an American player though, just based on him growing up outside of the 50 states and not being in the American HS/AAU scene, it's not any different than if he had grown up in Puerto Rico or Guam. He wasn't brought up in the AAU system, he grew up separate of American culture, and in my personal opinion, is less of an American basketball player than even Turiaf or the Pietrus brothers are French basketball players.

I don't want to get into all of the semantics about it though, because that'll just be an exhausting, useless cycle of circular arguments with no one's opinions being changed.

I'll just go ahead and qualify it further -

9 of the 15 Spurs are not from actual states

or even...

9 of the 15 Spurs are not from the contiguous USA, whereas only 2 of the 15 Heat are from outside of the contiguous USA (now that we'd have to include Chalmers)

Either way... it's still interesting and impressive.

I like that... that's the vibe I get as well.