Michael Ventre

The world changed after Michael Jordan left the Chicago Bulls. Suddenly the NBA championship was available again. The lease was up.

And since Jordan left the Bulls, two Western Conference clubs have vied for supremacy. The San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers each have won three titles since the final ring of the Jordan-led Bulls’ championship run came in 1998.

But that tie will soon be broken, because one team is powering toward a fourth championship behind the league’s top-rated defense and arguably the most unsung hero in NBA history, while the other is in chaos and standing eerily silent as its uber-petulant superstar employs a scorched-earth policy to achieve a mystifying trade me/don’t trade me objective.

The Spurs are on their way to the NBA Finals. They’ll beat Cleveland because they’re probably, from top to bottom, the best organization in basketball, and maybe in sports.

While the world clings to every word coming out of a certain mouth in Los Angeles, notice that the Spurs dance merrily along without a care in the world. It’s as if each of them will soon be married to an Eva Longoria instead of just one.

The Spurs have the ideal mix of clever front office, astute coaching, veteran leadership and capable role players. They’re like the hot web-design firm that is so nerdy and unassuming that its cool.

“Defense wins championships” may be a timeworn chestnut, but credit the Spurs for making it their mantra. They were tops in the league in points allowed during the regular season, giving up an average of a hair over 90 per contest. In fact, for you kids watching, the Cavaliers ranked No. 5, respectively, in that category, which is yet further evidence that teamwork, communication, elbow grease and sacrifice are more integral to the championship process than wondrous one-on-one talent.

The Spurs have Tim Duncan, who is an immense help. Seriously, when you think of the great clutch players in the game today, who springs to mind? Kobe? Dwyane Wade? Steve Nash? All of them are certainly worthy of hero-worship, but Duncan might be — steadily and quietly — better than all of them. He isn’t nearly as theatrical, but he’s just as effective and reliable in pressure situations.

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Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili run around as if each had just consumed a case of Red Bull. Parker is an outstanding penetrator and a good outside shooter. Ginobili can do those things as well, but he has the added dimension of being a supreme pest. Ginobili is the guy Spurs fans love and opponents’ fans wish would curl up and die. He slaps at the ball, creates opportunities, outhustles opponents. He is beautifully annoying.

Bruce Bowen is still one of the finest one-on-one defenders in the game, even as he approaches his 36^th birthday. Robert Horry is good for a shrewd steal and a back-breaking trey now and then. And Michael Finley is a potent sharpshooter. Even the nondescript big men — Fabricio Oberto and Francisco Elson — are playing competent hoops.

Before getting too carried away with this “model franchise” stuff, keep in mind that the Spurs are where they are today partly because of where they were in 1997. They finished 20-62 in the 1996-97 season, earning them a spot in the NBA draft lottery, where they won the Tim Duncan sweepstakes. The following year they won 56 games, and the year after that they won the championship during a strike-shortened season.

So it’s good to be lucky.

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