Spurs saddle up their third title

SAN ANTONIO – This may have been a bright-lights, showcase event – a dramatic Game 7 in the NBA Finals – but it took a workmanlike, blue-collar performance to win it.

In his typical substance-over-style performance, Tim Duncan led his San Antonio Spurs to their third championship in seven years, beating the Detroit Pistons, 81-74, before a thunderous crowd at the SBC Center.

It wasn’t pretty, just effective.

Duncan won his third Most Valuable Player Award in the Finals, getting 25 points and 11 rebounds and overcoming a poor shooting night and struggles throughout the series.

The two best defensive teams in the league put on a defensive show, wrestling each other throughout the night. In this winner-take-all format, intensity replaced efficiency on the offensive end.

This was Duncan’s first title without future Hall of Famer David Robinson playing alongside him, ending the debate over his ability to lead a team as the quiet, reserved star.

Manu Ginobili scored 23 points, giving Duncan the second weapon he needed to make this championship possible. In the three games of the series the Spurs lost, Ginobili was the missing ingredient.

“It wasn’t the greatest of games, but Detroit made us work for everything we got,” Duncan said. “It was about pushing through our problems. We struggled. I struggled. But the whole game was about perseverance, keeping going.”

It was Duncan’s third NBA title and the third title for Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who became one of five NBA coaches ever to win three or more titles.

“Coach kept saying it, that if we kept going, just stuck with it tonight, kept working, things would go our way,” Duncan said. “That’s exactly what happened. We can play a lot better than this. That’s horrible to say now as NBA champs, but it’s true.”

The defending champion Pistons were trying to become the first team in NBA history to win Game 6 and 7 away from home, but they never could shake the Spurs’ defense Thursday night.

“Tim just put the team on his shoulders and took them to a championship,” Pistons center Ben Wallace said. “But that’s what the great players do. He wouldn’t give up.”

Chauncey Billups, the MVP of the 2004 Finals, managed just 13 points and struggled with foul trouble. Richard Hamilton led the Pistons with 15 points. Wallace had 12 points and 11 rebounds. He failed to score in the second half.

Detroit rebounded from a disastrous start to the Finals in San Antonio, losing Game 1 by 15 points and Game 2 by 21. When the Pistons won Game 6, they snapped a 10-game losing streak in San Antonio, dating to 1997.

They were unable to make it two in a row.

The Spurs missed their first seven shots of the second half, letting Detroit up its lead to 48-39. Duncan was laboring, going almost 14 minutes over the second and third quarters without scoring.

His teammates, though, carried him through until he rediscovered his game. He scored 12 points in the third, all of them late, pulling the Spurs into a tie going into the fourth quarter.

Duncan made only 10 of 27 shots. The Spurs scored the first basket of the fourth, a dunk by Duncan, and they never trailed again.

“I thought Tim was great the whole series. Sometimes numbers don’t always reflect the contributions a guy like him makes,” said Pistons coach Larry Brown “But that’s what great players do.”

The Pistons led 39-38 at halftime, getting some surprise offense from Wallace while both teams struggled to score.

The big-game jitters were obvious. The deafening roar of a Game 7 crowd intensified the play, but it slowed the pace, and neither team shot well or scored much in transition.

Wallace, the Defensive Player of the Year, hit six of his seven shots before intermission.

The Spurs got their spark early from reserves. Robert Horry, the star of Game 5, had 10 points by halftime, including eight in a four-minute stretch.

The championship for the Spurs will help further the belief that teams dominated by international players can win NBA championships. Duncan is from the Virgin Islands. Guards Tony Parker (France) and Ginobili (Argentina) are foreign-born.

“It’s too bad that people try to doubt Tim,” Spurs forward Bruce Bowen said. “But you saw what happened tonight.”

Spurs 81, Pistons 74

Detroit (74) – Prince 4-13 0-0 9, R.Wallace 5-10 0-0 11, B.Wallace 6-10 0-2 12, Billups 3-8 7-8 13, Hamilton 6-18 3-4 15, Hunter 2-8 0-0 4, McDyess 5-7 0-0 10, Campbell 0-0 0-0 0, Dupree 0-0 0-0 0, Ham 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-74 10-14 74.

San Antonio (81) – Bowen 2-4 0-0 5, Duncan 10-27 5-6 25, Mohammed 0-3 0-0 0, Parker 3-11 1-2 8, Ginobili 8-13 5-5 23, Barry 2-3 0-0 5, Horry 4-7 5-6 15, D.Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-68 16-19 81.

3-Point Goals – Detroit 2-14 (Prince 1-4, R.Wallace 1-4, Hunter 0-1, Hamilton 0-2, Billups 0-3), San Antonio 7-11 (Ginobili 2-2, Horry 2-4, Bowen 1-1, Barry 1-1, Parker 1-3). Fouled Out – None. Rebounds – Detroit 43 (B.Wallace 11), San Antonio 46 (Duncan 11). Assists – Detroit 17 (Billups 8), San Antonio 14 (Ginobili 4). Total Fouls – Detroit 24, San Antonio 20. A – 18,797. (18,500).

Brown headed for Mayo Clinic

Larry Brown’s coat and tie were off and his white dress shirt was unbuttoned at the collar when he walked into a locker room as a coach for perhaps the last time.

Brown insisted he was at peace after the Spurs dethroned his Pistons Thursday night in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

“I’m way ahead of the curve – no matter what happens,” Brown said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This game has given me so much that I’m one of the luckiest guys in the world.”

Before the Spurs beat the defending NBA champions, Brown said he plans to check into the Mayo Clinic after next week’s draft for a three-day stay.

“Shelly has it set up for Wednesday morning,” he said, referring to his wife.

Brown will be in the hospital to address a medical problem that developed from complications following hip surgery in November and did not go away after a second procedure in March.

The Hall of Fame coach has said if doctors deem him healthy enough, he wants to return next season with the Pistons and insists he will not coach another NBA team.