Sam Smith

Can you be lying in the weeds if you come close to winning 60 games for the second consecutive season and third time in the last six seasons? If the last time you won fewer than 50 games in a full season was 1996-97 when David Robinson was hurt and you ended up drafting Tim Duncan? If in the last 17 full seasons, you've had three seasons not winning at least 50 games, two of those being 47 and 49 wins?

You haven't heard much about the San Antonio Spurs this season, though you will in a few months when they win their third NBA title in five seasons, and fourth in the last nine years.

This isn't your parents' dynasty, but it is yours.

That would put Duncan & Co. past Shaq and Kobe, past just about everyone but Michael, Magic and Larry for this generation.

You don't hear much about the Spurs because they don't say much. Rarely has a team won 23 of 26, as the Spurs did before Wednesday, with a bigger yawn. Tim Duncan reportedly chose visiting the dentist over seeing the media. Tony Parker is a nice player, an All-Star, really, but when he plays the camera is on his fiancée more often. Manu Ginobili is also terrific, but he's hard to find because he spends so much time on the floor. It's get knocked down 99 times for, as teammate Brent Barry calls him, El Contucion, get up 100.

Oh, we hear from coach Gregg Popovich, usually his annual "We're soft as Charmin'" rant, the occasional embarrassment and a few weeks ago in Indianapolis, three straight pathetics after a loss.

But not only isn't this Spurs team pathetic, I still consider it the 2006 champion.

Sure, Miami got to celebrate, but the best team I saw in the 2006 playoffs was the Spurs. They lost to the Mavs in the second round in one of the best playoff series ever, and in the revenge of Mark Cuban.

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I am not one to blame officiating in a loss, especially given the high quality of NBA officials and the horrendous officiating you see elsewhere in basketball, like in the NCAA tournament. But Dallas absolutely stole Games 3 and 4 in Dallas, and I've since had referees tell me they felt the younger officials tend to be intimidated by Cuban and all the referee scrutiny he maintains with former officials on his staff and regular reports to the league.

It never became much of an issue because the Spurs remain perhaps the classiest and most professional of organizations, and never complain about apparent inequities. You can imagine what would have happened if the calls went against the Mavs that way.

Still, the Spurs had a good chance as they got it back to Game 7 at home and appeared to have the game when Ginobili hit a three. But he inexplicably fouled Dirk Nowitzki, leading to a three-point play to tie the game. And, yes, in that one Dirk did come up big in a big game. Good for him. I would have felt better about the Mavs had they not gagged against the Heat the way they did with Shaq barely being a factor.

So officially, the Spurs were just another loser, though at least not publicly sore about it.

And while all the talk this season has been about the Mavs' amazing run, about the Suns and their almost amazing run, about Dwyane Wade returning with a more energized O'Neal, I'd go with the Spurs to win it.

They're going to beat the Suns, that is clear.

They beat them all the time, and they beat them because they are a very good defensive team that also can expose Phoenix's weaknesses. They can use Parker, who is one of the league's quickest guards, to attack Steve Nash, and they can control the tempo with Duncan and their defense.

Sure, Amare Stoudemire was amazing a few years back against them in the playoffs, averaging 37 points. But the Spurs won in five. They are too disciplined to be lured into the Suns' game, and you can see tiny cracks developing in that solid Suns foundation with players seemingly starting to question roles and situations. Don't be surprised if there are some major changes there after getting so close so many times.

So it's Cuban-Spurs II.

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