SAN ANTONIO — June 23, 2005, saw the conclusion of one of the most grueling NBA Finals ever between two defensive juggernauts. The Silver and Black hoisted their third championship trophy, cementing their legacy as an NBA dynasty and one of the greatest teams ever.
That summer 16 years ago, the San Antonio Spurs -- the second-best team in the Western Conference that year -- made easy work of the West en route to their third NBA Finals appearance in six years. Winning 12 of their first 16 playoff games against the Denver Nuggets, Seattle Supersonics and Phoenix Suns, the Spurs took their place in the Finals, where they would face off against the defending champion Detroit Pistons.
The two Finals teams that year were near facsimiles of each other. Both were in the midst of exceptional runs (this Spurs core, of course, would go on to win five championships across three different decades; the Detroit Pistons would make six consecutive Eastern Conference finals, a run that lands second on the list of most consecutive conference Finals appearances).
Both teams found success through defense. The Spurs won 59 games that year by holding opponents to an average of 88 points per game, best in the league that season. The Pistons were second-best at 89.5.
The Pistons were led by head coach Larry Brown, who gave Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich his first NBA job in 1988 and whom Coach Pop often has cited as a mentor. (Pop was also the best man at Brown's wedding.) It was in this series that the apprentice surpassed the master.
While Pop took the helm from the sidelines, it was Tim Duncan who led this team on the court. In 2005, Duncan missed 20 regular-season games due to injury, but he was his Hall-of-Fame self come playoff time, leading the Spurs with 23.6 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. It was also during this series that the Spurs' "Big Three," consisting of Duncan, point guard Tony Parker, and sixth-man Manu Ginobili, rose to prominence in their first NBA Finals without David Robinson, who retired in 2003. Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili were the Spurs' leaders in every significant statistic during the 2005 Finals.
The series itself lived up to its billing. It was the first matchup of the previous two champions (the Spurs in 2003, the Pistons in 2004) since 1987. As a series between two defensive juggernauts, only one team was able to crack 100 points in a game; the Pistons notched 102 points during their Game 4 victory.
The first four games were blowouts, with the home team winning each game by at least 15 points; in Game 4, the Pistons' margin of victory was 31 points. From that point on, the games were much closer. Game 5 went to overtime, with the Spurs eking out a one-point win during the extra frame. The remaining two games were both single-digit victories.
The series was the first in 11 years to feature a Game 7. Halfway through the third quarter, the Spurs found themselves down nine points. From that moment on, Duncan scored 10 of the Spurs' 18 final point in that third frame, and it was his and Ginobili's efforts that propelled the Silver and Black to an 81-74 win. Duncan finished the game with 25 points and 11 rebounds, while Ginobili added 23 points.
And the rest, as they say, is history. With a core of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, plus Coach Pop at the helm, the Spurs would go on to win two more championships. The Big Three have since retired, with their numbers retired and their jerseys in the rafters at the AT&T Center, the same building where the Big Three celebrated 16 years ago, winners over the Detroit Pistons.