Spurs Win First NBA Title

June 26, 1999 / 1:22 AM EDT / CBS/AP

There was a sense of inevitability that hung in the air.

There was the incredible performance from Latrell Sprewell, who scored 25 of his team-high 35 points in the second half, much to the delight of the partisan New York Knicks crowd.

For every scream for Sprewell, came the silencer . . . San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan scored 31 points to answer.

"Latrell played great tonight," Duncan said. "He kept hitting tough shots. It was kind of frustrating seeing him, but we kept answering him. Team effort-wise, we had to find ways to get it done. That's what we do. We grind it out for 48 minutes, and win games in the last four or five minutes on defense."

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So nobody should be surprised that the Spurs shut down the Knicks the final 3:20 of the game to pull out a 78-77 victory and win the NBA title in Game 5 before nearly 20,000 disappointed fans in Madison Square Garden on Friday night.

The Spurs clinched all four playoff series on the road, completing the playoffs with a 15-2 record, as well as setting an NBA single-season record with 12 consecutive victories in this postseason. Duncan was named Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals in only his second season in the league. The Spurs will move on to Milan, Italy this summer to meet the European champions in the McDonald's Open.

The win ended the improbable run of the Knicks, who became the first eighth seed to ever make it past the second round of the playoffs, and despite losing Patrick Ewing in the Eastern Conference Finals, gave the Spurs everything they could have imagined. From all the criticism of Sprewell and Marcus Camby and coach Jeff Van Gundy, it was a marvelous climb to top of the mountain. They just couldn't stay up there againt the Spurs.

"Hopefully, when the pain of the loss wears off, they'll look back at the last two and a half, three months of the season," Van Gundy said. "And they should be very, very proud of not only what they accomplished, but how they went about accomplishing it. "

"A lot of things that should be taught about the NBA and team basketball. I think the first thing was when it was tough going, unlike a lot of teams and people, they didn't point fingers of blame at each other, coaches, nobody. They just kept persevering."

They persevered right up to the final 2.1 seconds of the final game of this season.

Something had to give, and you can leave it to Spurs point guard Avery Johnson to do the right thing.

The embattled Spurs point guard, cut three times in his career -- one of which was by the Spurs on teammate David Robinson's wedding day -- hit a baseline jumper with 47 seconds left for the winning field goal.

"That's my shot," Johnson said. "The guys have a lot of confidence to get me the ball. This year, from the Minnesota series to this series, when I was open, they got me the ball. It's unbelievable. I was doing good the whole playoffs, but I must have walked around my hotel room 1,000 times today. I couldn't sleep. With the game starting so late, my heart was just racing. It just was unbelievable I'm glad to get through it."

There was still basketball to be played. The Spurs had the ball with 26 seconds left, Robinson missed a short jumper off the backboard that didn't hit the rim. He grabbed the offensive rebounds, and flipped it back out to Avery Johnson, who tossed up a 30-foot desperation shot that hit the rim. Larry Johnson got the rebound for the Knicks, who took the ball out of bounds with 2.1 seconds left and trailing by one. But Sprewell couldn't get the shot off with Sean Elliott and Duncan in his face.

"We tried to get a layup from the out of bounds, but they did a good job and we went to the other side," Sprewell said. "We fought hard and we didn't want them celebrating on our floor. But we've got to give them credit, they deserved it. They were the best team this year."

Sprewell scored 14 points in a row from the final 1:48 of the third quarter through the first four minutes of the final period to wrest the lead from the Spurs. And to top it off, he fed Marcus Camby for a 3-point play to give the Knicks a 71-68 lead. Unfortunately for the Spurs, they didn't have a shot clock the final 15 minutes of the game. Adding insult to hat injury, the Camby basket came after Elliott had clearly come up with a loose ball, only to be called for a phantom foul by Bennett Salvatore.

Seemingly, every time Sprewell scored, Duncan was there to answer.

"There aren't words to describe Tim Duncan," Elliott said. "To me, he's MVP of this league and should continue to be for years to come."

The Knicks accomplished everything they wanted defensively early in the game. Unlike Game 4, when all five Spurs starters were in double figures and the wealth was well distributed, nobody besides Duncan got anything going.

The Knicks dominated the half, but the momentum began to tilt the way of the Spurs when Duncan returned, if only because it finally got Robinson (15 points, 12 rebounds for the night) active. He scored five quick points and ended the half with 10 points and nine rebounds to perfectly complement Duncan's 16 points and 6 rebounds. The Spurs finished the half by sinking their final six shots to complete an 18-8 run.

When Jaren Jackson sank his second 3-pointer of the half with six seconds left, the Spurs stunned the overflow partisan crowd in the Garden by strolling into the locker room at intermission with 40-38 lead.

The start of the third quarter was just a continuation of the end of the half, as the Spurs scored the first seven points of the quarter to open up a nine-point lead. No points came from Duncan or Robinson. Jackson scored on a fast break and a deep 3-pointer, his third of the night, and the Knicks appeared to be in big trouble.

David Robinson and Tim Duncan were too tough for the Knicks. (AP)

That's when the Knicks are at their best. Allan Houston, who finished with 16 points, sank a pair of jumpers, then Sprewell exploded with a 3-point slam and a jumper. The 14-3 run gave the Knicks a 52-50 lead, and now the Spurs looked in trouble again. Nearly nine minutes into third quarter, neither Duncan nor Robinson had any points, Johnson was still a mess, with his fifth and six turnover of the third.

They were so bad, the Spurs even lost their shot clock to a electrical problem. Rather than go without a clock and use sideline announcements, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich coerced the officials to stop the game and find shot clocks for the baseline. It was a wise move, if only because it settled down the Spurs. The Knicks still had their shot clock above the basket, but the Spurs had Duncan.

He scored seven consecutive points, to stave off the 11 spectacular points from Sprewel, good enough to allow the Spurs to cling to a 59-58 lead going into the final period. And, more importantly, allowed the Spurs to have enough left to become the first ABA team to win an NBA championship and Duncan his first MVP award.

"It's an incredible feeling to win the title and an incredible honor to win the MVP," Duncan said. "I'm so happy for David, Sean and AJ . . . they've been through so much and I'm only in my second year. They've been working so hard their careers . . . this win is for all of them."