Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker led the Spurs to the franchise’s fifth NBA title in 2014. (GETTY IMAGES)

For almost two decades, the San Antonio Spurs have accumulated an impressive collection of rings, bronze hardware and gold trophies.

Between future Hall-of-Famers Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, and head coach Gregg Popovich, the Spurs have combined for 18 NBA championship rings, three most valuable player awards, three Coach of the Year awards and two Sixth Man of the Year awards.

But there is still one box left unchecked on their impressive basketball resumes.

Throughout basketball history, all the great teams repeated as champions. Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics did it, the Los Angeles Lakers with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it, Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets did it, Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls did it, and the Lakers again with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal did it. Even LeBron James pulled off the back-to-back feat for the Miami Heat.

“Obviously, it’s back-to-back. It’s the last thing we want to accomplish with Coach Pop and the Big 3. It’s a big motivation for us,” Parker said on NBA TV’s “Game Time.”

For all the great things Duncan, Ginobili and Parker have accomplished in their soon-to-be-Hall-of-Fame careers, they’ve never repeated as champs. And this is not sitting well with this very proud group.

Parker knows he doesn’t have much time left with Duncan (38) and Ginobili (37). Even Popovich can’t coach forever. The 65-year-old coach has flirted with the idea of spending more time traveling the world than traveling in NBA cities. Those brutal winter trips to Chicago, Minnesota and Cleveland can certainly wear you down.

“We don’t know how long it’s gonna last,” Parker said. “Timmy, it might be his last year; Manu, it might be his last year. And we don’t know how long Pop is gonna do it. I know he wants to travel the world and drink wine. We need to take advantage right now.”

Parker added: “We understand that, and we’re approaching it like it’s our last one. Just because of that it’s great motivation for us. We want to try one more time.”

Repeating as champs will be a tall order for these Spurs, especially in the ultra-competitive Western Conference where at least six teams have a shot at reaching the NBA Finals.

But these Spurs are more than up for the challenge. They have a good mix of veterans to go with some young studs, such as Kawhi Leonard (23), Danny Green (27), Patty Mills (26) and Corey Joseph (23). Leonard is a budding star who could eventually be the face of the franchise when the Big 3 hangs up the sneakers. Leonard had his coming-out party last season when he was named NBA Finals MVP.

Pop has been able to rest his older players and lean on his bench during the regular season. When the playoffs start, he’ll call on the Big 3 for one more championship run. A sixth title would vault Duncan into an exclusive club. With the exception of Russell’s Celtics teams, only Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Kareem and Robert Horry have won at least six rings.

“The West is a beast. A lot of great teams,” Parker said. “It’s a long season, we just want to make sure we stay healthy. It’s the biggest key for us. It doesn’t matter where we finish in the rankings.”

The Spurs will begin their arduous climb back to the top as the sixth-seeded team in the Western Conference playoffs. History won’t be on their side because only one team — the 1995 Houston Rockets — were able to win the title as a sixth seed.

Tim Duncan drives past Chris Bosh. (GETTY IMAGES)

You can see the disappointment in Tim Duncan’s face. You can hear the frustration in Manu Ginobili’s voice.

When members of the 2012-13 San Antonio Spurs look back at this season they will play the “what if” game. What if we made our free throws down the stretch? What if we grabbed two more defensive rebounds? What if we didn’t turn the ball over in the final minute of the game? What if … what if … what if …

One free throw. One rebound. One turnover. That’s how close the Spurs were from winning their fifth NBA championship as a franchise. These proud Spurs — a collection of discarded players who complemented three Hall-of-Famers — left Miami’s American Airlines Arena hanging their heads and staring down on the floor filled with championship confetti after the Heat celebrated a 4-3 series win in the NBA Finals to defend their crown.

The Spurs gave everything they had in Game 7 but just couldn’t overcome LeBron James’ 37 points and their execution failed them down the stretch. And when their valiant fight fell just short, losing 95-88 in Game 7, they couldn’t stop thinking about the title they gave away two nights earlier.

”Being so close and feeling that you are about to grab that trophy and then seeing it vanish is very hard,” Ginobili said. ”I think that if we would’ve lost both games like this, I would be a little more up. But it’s a tough feeling.”

The Spurs had two chances in Miami to win one game, and they failed both times in spectacular fashion.

Ginobili points to the Spurs’ Game 6 meltdown as the dagger in their hearts.

The Spurs had a five-point lead with 28 seconds left and found a way to lose in overtime. The play that will stick with Ginobili and the rest of the Spurs forever is the unfortunate bounce at end of regulation when Chris Bosh grabbed LeBron James’ missed 3-point shot and flipped the ball to Ray Allen who buried the game-tying 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left.

If the Spurs grab that rebound, they win the title. If Allen misses that 3-pointer, the Spurs win the title.

”It’s such a fine line between celebrating and having a great summer with now feeling like crap and just so disappointed,” Ginobili said.

Speaking of “feeling like crap,” Duncan was almost inconsolable after Game 7. The greatest power forward in NBA history came up small with under a minute left to play in final game of the series when his short, running jump hook over Shane Battier bounced out and his tip-in missed as well. The normally stoic Duncan ran down the court disgusted, slapping the floor with his right hand. During a timeout, Duncan had a towel over his head and was so upset with himself he couldn’t figure out whether to throw the towel or bite it.

“For me, no. Game 7, missing a layup to tie the game,” Duncan said in his postgame press conference. “Making a bad decision down the stretch. Just unable to stop Dwyane [Wade] and LeBron [James]. Probably, for me, Game 7 is always going to haunt me.”

 Hard to fault Duncan for the loss because up to that point he was authoring a MVP-type performance. His 24 points and 12 rebounds were a huge reason the Spurs were even close to the Heat in Game 7.

”To be at this point with this team in this situation, where people every year continue to count us out, is a great accomplishment,” said Duncan, his voice quivering in a rare show of emotion. ”To be in a game 7 or be in a game 6 and up one with two chances to win an NBA championship, that’s tough to swallow.”

Duncan wasn’t alone in terms of coming up empty when it mattered most. Ginobili was both brilliant and awful in Game 7 with his 18 points and four turnovers — all in the fourth quarter. His final turnover with 21 seconds left in the game basically sealed the deal for Miami.

Parker, who had been spectacular through the first five games of the series, was a no-show in games 6 and 7. Parker struggled with just 10 points on 3-for-12 shooting and was benched late in the game. He won’t use his bad hamstring as an excuse, but it was clear he wasn’t the same player after suffering the injury.

Once again, the Spurs will face proclamations of their demise this offseason. Only this time, it may be harder to hold those off.

Duncan is 37, but coming off an All-NBA First Team season and a vintage performance in the finals. The 31-year-old Parker is nearing his apex after one of his finest seasons. But Ginobili will turn 36 next month and will be a free agent, perhaps marking the end of the three-person core that helped put the Alamo City on the NBA map, and keep it there for 10 years.

”I couldn’t love our guys more,” said Gregg Popovich, who also faces a decision this summer if he wants to return as coach. ”What they accomplished this year was something nobody ever expected. They showed a lot of mental toughness and a lot of good play to get where they got. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

The questions begin now. Will Ginobili return? Can Duncan keep turning back the clock? And does the 64-year-old Popovich have another year left in him?

Parker chafed when asked if he thought this was the last run with this group. ”I can’t believe you’re asking that question,” he said. ”It’s been five, six years you saying we’re too old, so I’m not going to answer that.”

Manu Ginobili is a three-time NBA champion. (GETTY IMAGES)

When Manu Ginobili ever decides to retire from the NBA, he’ll go down in basketball history as one of the greatest to play the game. He’s a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer who belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of international players who changed the NBA landscape, a short list that includes Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, and Tony Parker.

Ginobili is arguably one of the most popular players in the world, and only Pope Francis is more popular in his native country of Argentina. And even that is debatable.

But even the pope has some bad days, and Ginobili is a bit out of sync in the 2013 NBA Finals.

After a 13-point performance in Game 1, Ginobili has scored just 17 points in the last three games. He was 2-for-6 (five points) in Game 2, 3-for-7 (seven points) in Game 3, and 1-for-5 (five points) in Game 4. He also hasn’t hit a 3-point shot since Game 2.

So what’s wrong with Ginobili?

“If I knew I would have fixed it by now,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

Ginobili credits the Miami Heat’s aggressive defense as part of the reason for his struggles, but age and playoff mileage may be creeping up on him, too.

“Father Time is on his back,” TNT and NBA TV analyst Charles Barkley said. “He’s not even looking at the basket. I’ve never seen my man that passive.”

What makes Ginobili so special is his ability to create something out of nothing. He is a master of improvisation. It’s a unique skill only a handful of players in the NBA possess. He has shown flashes of it in the 2013 playoffs.

He did it earlier in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Golden State Warriors, a game that could go down as one of the greatest playoff games in NBA history. Basketball superfan Jimmy Goldstein tweeted: “I have attended more than 4000 NBA games, but I just witnessed one of the greatest games that I have ever seen. #Spurs.”

Ginobili’s clutch 3-pointer from the wing with 1.2 seconds left in double overtime lifted the Spurs to a thrilling 129-127 victory over the Warriors despite 44 points from NBA phenom Stephen Curry.

Prior to his winning play, Ginobili had been 4-for-19 from the field and badly missed his last two 3-pointers. But his confidence never wavered. He’s stubborn enough to think that he can make a play no matter how poorly he’s playing. All the great closers possess this skill. Kobe Bryant has it and Michael Jordan had it.

The game-winning shot came 43.7 seconds after Ginobili took an ill-advised 3 that appeared to cost the Spurs the game.

”I went from wanting to trade him on the spot to wanting to cook breakfast for him tomorrow morning,” Popovich said. ”That’s the truth. When I talk to him and say, ‘Manu,’ he goes, ‘This is what I do.’ That’s what he’s going to tell me. I stopped coaching him a long time ago.”

Popovich doesn’t need to give a rah-rah speech to make the man who introduced the Euro Step to the NBA understand that he needs to play better. Ginobili is a proud individual with a heart of champion, and he always seems to find a way to impact the game.

“I wish I could score more. But it’s not happening. If the shot is not falling, I’ve got to be sharp feeding the bigs and finding the shooters. I don’t have to force the issue,” said Ginobili, who is in the final year of his contract and turns 36 this July. Even though he’d like to play one or two more years, this could be his last ride.

“All season long I kind of knew that I was going to play one or two more years,” he said. “But when you are 36 — I’m going to be 36 pretty soon — everything is a day-by-day basis. Once the season finishes and I see how I feel, I can’t imagine me not playing at least one more year here, but time will tell. We’ll see.”

Tony Parker and Tim Duncan know how important Ginobili is to their title hopes and they’re not about to give up on the man who helped them win championships in 2003, 2005, and 2007.

“He’s very angry at himself, very frustrated with himself,” Duncan said of Ginobili, who joined the Spurs in 2002 after a very successful run with Italian League power Kinder Bologna where he won the Euroleague title in 2001 and named MVP. Prior to Ginobili’s arrival in San Antonio, the Spurs had been bounced out of the playoffs by the L.A. Lakers in 2001 and 2002.

“I have a lot of confidence in Manu,” Parker said. “He came through for us all of these years. I have faith that he’ll have a big game. I trust him because I’ve been playing with him for a long time.”

Make no mistake about it, the Spurs will only go as far as Ginobili takes them. Duncan may be the heart and soul of the Spurs and Parker may be the team’s MVP, but Ginobili is the spark that ignites them to great heights. His value to the team can’t be measured by mere statistics. He is the ultimate X-factor that you can’t account for.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Injuries to All-Star guards Tony Parker (ankle, shin) and Manu Ginobili (hamstring) have the San Antonio Spurs very concerned heading into the playoffs. (GETTY IMAGES)

The San Antonio Spurs are limping down the stretch, and the 100-88 loss to Oklahoma City Thursday night was just the tip of the iceberg.

Parker appeared to have hurt his leg against the Thunder, which explains his 1-for-6 shooting night and finishing with just two points. The Spurs are saying Parker has a shin injury, but there may be a lot more to this latest setback. Parker is already nursing a bad ankle, and the shin injury may be the result of having to compensate for the bad ankle.

“I’ve got a lot of stuff going on, but I just have to get healthy. It’s no excuse. I just have to get healthy,” Parker told the Associated Press.

Spurs coach noticed Parker limping throughout the game and had no choice but to pull the plug on his MVP candidate.

“‘When he started out, it looked like he had no energy to start the game and then as he went, he looked to me like he was limping,” Popovich said. ”And then (at the) start of the second half, we saw him coming across half-court actually limping one time, and that’s when we pulled him and I said to him, ‘Tony, you got to stop.”’

San Antonio was already playing without sixth man Manu Ginobili (hamstring), who could miss the rest of the regular season, and fellow reserve Stephen Jackson (ankle). This is bad news for the Spurs because there are no easy outs in the Western Conference, and all these mounting injuries could put the Spurs out in the first round and alter the entire playoff picture.

Tim Duncan may be the heart of the Spurs and Parker is the engine that drives them, but the key to each of the Spurs’ championship seasons has always been and will always will be Ginobili. When he’s healthy, the Argentine provides the Spurs a lot of energy on the court and when he’s got it going he’s nearly unstoppable, especially down the stretch as he’s one of the best closers in the game.

Ginobili, who is currently out 3-4 weeks with a strained right hamstring, has been bitten by the injury bug in each of the last two seasons. He has seen his scoring average dip from 17.4 in 2010-11 to 11.9 in 2012-13 — the lowest of his career since his rookie season in 2002-03.

”Obviously, Tony’s down, Manu’s down, so it’s a concern, especially in this part of the season,” Duncan said. ”But it’s part of the game, so we’ve got to play through it and we’ve got to find a way to score points.”

Duncan has been forced to carry the load offensively lately, and the big man has delivered. Duncan is enjoying his best season statistically (17.4 points, 10 rebounds, 2.6 blocks) in four years, and you could argue he deserves a spot on the All-NBA first team with LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, and Chris Paul.

Tony Parker and Gregg Popovich are two reasons why the Spurs remain a championship contender. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

“The Spurs frustrate teams cuz it’s like playin against your gym teacher and his friends. All fundamentals!” — Comedian Damon Wayans posted on Twitter

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is normally very reserved whenever he has to address his team’s greatness. But during the 2012 NBA playoffs, after the Spurs outgunned the sports betting world’s favorite team Oklahoma City in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, even Popovich was impressed with the 120 points and the 55% shooting.

“We’ve had good ball movement with other teams that we’ve had here. But I think the combination of penetration and pitch, post up with Timmy [Duncan], this is probably the best that we’ve had,” Popovich said. “Other teams were more halfcourt. This team has more pace to it than what we’ve had in the past.”

What’s the secret to the Spurs’ outstanding ball movement? “Well, when you have Coach Pop screaming at you everyday it’ll make you pass the ball,” said Parker. He’s always big on you have to find a better shot.”

Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili may be on the downside of their careers, but the rest of the Spurs are either in their prime years or are just scratching the surface. San Antonio is one of the deepest teams in the league (a legit 12-man rotation) and as long as the Spurs stay the course they could very well make another strong run for a title.

Tony Parker enjoyed the best season of his NBA career in 2012 and the offense now goes through him 99% of the time. Parker has become a more complete player and has done an outstanding job of finding a balance between scoring on his own and running the offense the way Popovich wants it.

“It’s always been a battle my whole career as the point guard. Pop wants you to score and then he wants you to pass then he wants you to score, then he wants you to pass. It always goes back and forth,” Parker said. “The biggest room for me to improve is find a happy middle between scoring and passing, and find that good balance. I think over the years I got better at it in finding my spots and when to score and when to pass the ball.”

“He’s been there and he’s done that. He understands this system, like in the back of his hand. He knows where everybody is supposed to be,” said former Spurs guard Steve Smith, who believes the difference with Parker is his patience.

“He’s always been one of the fastest guys, but now he’s letting plays develop,” Smith said. “He’s slowing down and he has his head up. He’s beating guys with the pass, he’s beating guys on hesitations, and he understands angles one of the best in the business finishing in the paint. Reminds a little bit of Rod Strickland. Point guards who can get into the paint and finish over bigs. And the game is coming easy to him. Above all, he’s healthy.”

One player the organization is very high on is rookie forward Kawhi Leonard. His rise from bench guy to starter allowed the Spurs to dump Richard Jefferson. Leonard drastically improved his outside shot and his defense got better as he got more comfortable with his role. He may not be Bruce Bowen yet, but he’s close.

“Kawhi Leonard is a real quick learner,” Popovich said. “He’s got a work ethic that’s real impressive, and he has no fear. He’s enjoying guarding the guards he’s had to guard all year long. It’s been a great experience for him and as the year as gone all along I’ve learned to believe in him more and more. Now I just wish he knew our plays.”

Popovich added, “[Leonard] is learning to know what’s a good shot and what we don’t want him to do, but that’s gonna take more time. He hasn’t been here long enough for that. But give him credit, he’s not afraid. He inserts himself into the game and, yes, we were surprised he’d come along with his shot.”

“It doesn’t always go exactly as planned, but good players get it done.”

The Spurs have owned the best record in the regular season the past two seasons. Obviously the playoffs left a bitter taste in their mouths, but coming up short against Memphis and Oklahoma City the last two seasons shouldn’t be the nail on the coffin for arguably the model franchise of the NBA.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan battles Thunder center Kendrick Perkins in the Western Conference finals. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Before Tim Duncan walked off Chesapeake Arena Wednesday night he took the time to hug Kevin Durant and whispered something in his ear. Durant said Duncan basically congratulated the 23-year-old Thunder star for reaching the NBA Finals and wished him good luck.

It was a typical Duncan move. His whole NBA career has been one classy move after another. But at 36 years old time is unfortunately not on his side. He knows full well that the hour glass is almost empty and the clock is ticking on his remarkable Hall-of-Fame career.

“It’s very disappointing . . . very disappointing. I thought this was definitely our time. Our time to get back to The Finals and our time to push for another championship,” said Duncan, who has had a rebirth of sorts this season thanks to an offseason exercise program that helped him drop some weight.

However, Duncan becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer and he should priority No. 1 for the Spurs management headed by general manager R.C. Buford and head coach Gregg Popovich.

The core of the team should remain intact. Parker, Manu Ginobili, Stephen Jackson, Tiago Splitter, Matt Bonner, and Kawhi Leonard are all under contract for next year. Patty Mills has a player option while DaJuan Blair has a team option. But the biggest offseason move that needs to be addressed is Duncan’s contract. Based on several reports, all signs point to Duncan agreeing to an extension and will likely finish his career in San Antonio.

“We’ve been always old, we’ve always been criticized for that and we still compete,” Ginobili said. “We won the West, regular season of course. We are fine. We trust Pop and R.C. to make good decisions, bring good talent. I think they did an unbelievable job this year. I mean we had the best record in the league. We just faced a great young team.”

Although the Spurs does not employ the same post-heavy offense it did 4-5 years ago, make no mistake about it, they will only go as far as Duncan — arguably the greatest power forward in NBA history — takes them.

“He is getting older just like you are and all of us. Tim Duncan is still the backbone of the program,” said Popovich.

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Popovich and Duncan have been together for almost two decades, and they know each other so well that they could probably finish each others’ sentences. It’s like the perfect marriage. The taskmaster and the willing pupil. Popovich knows he can’t win a championship without a healthy Duncan, and Duncan knows he’s not the same 20-something player who could dominate the regular season as well as the postseason. But despite all the talk of Duncan’s advanced age and his diminishing numbers, he remains the most important cog in the Spurs machine.

“He’s the guy that we build around. He sets the tone for us, Tony [Parker] and Manu [Ginobili] know that full well,” Popovich said. “We’ve shifted the offense a bit so it’s a little more perimeter oriented the last couple of years. Timmy understands that. But he continues to rebound and play defense.

“We’ve gone to him quite a bit in these playoffs,” Popovich added. “He has taken care of his body, he’s disciplined. He’s a competitive son of a gun, and he’s still one hell of a player.”

Much like Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics, Duncan has discovered the Hot Tub Time Machine. He has had a rebirth of sorts in the 2012 playoffs and believes he has a couple of good years left.

“I feel unbelievable. Better than I’ve ever had in the last four, five years,” Duncan told ESPN‘s Ric Bucher in the second round of the playoffs. “For whatever reason I’m healthy and I feel great.”

Former Spurs player and current TNT analyst Steve Kerr said two years ago he thought Duncan was close to being done. Now Kerr thinks Duncan still has a few good years left. “I hadn’t imagined [Tim] playing at this level,” Kerr said of the three-time MVP.

“He still looks like he’s got plenty left in the tank.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Thunder coach Scott Brooks pressed all the right buttons in the series against the Spurs. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

What a difference a week makes. Last week the San Antonio Spurs were on a historic roll, winning 20 in a row and were a perfect 10-0 in the postseason.

Seven days later the unbeatable Spurs are going fishing after dropping four consecutive games to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Spurs’ season ended Wednesday night in Oklahoma City, as the young and hungry Thunder — led by three-time scoring champ Kevin Durant — overcame a 15-point halftime deficit in Game 6 and closed out the Western Conference finals series with a 107-99 victory.

The Thunder will get their first taste of the NBA Finals while the Spurs are left with a bitter taste in their mouths after dropping the ball on what seemed like a sure-fire championship. The Thunder showed remarkable composure for such a playoff novice, while the veteran-laden Spurs were the ones looking unsure and played out of character.

“As sad as disappointed as we are it’s almost like a Hollywood script for OKC in a sense,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They went through Dallas, last year’s NBA champion. They went through the Lakers and they went through us. Those three teams represent 10 of the last 13 championships.”

It’s not often Popovich gets outcoached in a playoff series but Scott Brooks pressed the right buttons for OKC. It started with the hack-a-Splitter in Game 2, staying with Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins and deciding against small ball, and putting Thabo Sefolosha on Tony Parker in Game 3.

Brooks challenged his big men to switch every pick-and-roll and Ibaka and Perkins rewarded their coach with more energy and effort. There was a great moment in Game 3 in OKC when Perkins was caught in a switch with Parker and instead of backing up Perkins started clapping his hands as he moved forward on Parker, signaling to the Spurs point guard to “bring it!”

And instead of minimizing his role in the series Brooks increased Sefolosha’s minutes and although he didn’t completely shut down Parker he made it harder for the Spurs’ leading scorer to find open teammates because of his length.

Another adjustment Brooks made was the ball screens for Durant. He had Durant in high pick-and-rolls with Russell Westbrook and Perkins to create mismatches and forced Duncan and Parker in one-one-one situations against Durant and created better floor spacing for the OKC shooters.

After the Thunder tied the series at 2-2, Popovich gambled by starting Manu Ginobili in Game 5. It was an uncharacteristically desperate move by the four-time world champion coach. The move not only pushed Danny Green to the bench but it also junked up a rotation that had been so good all season.

In hindsight Popovich probably should have stayed the course and a former Spurs player was also critical of Pop’s decision to tinker with his lineup this late in the season.

Robert Horry, who won two titles with the Spurs, said on NBA TV’s “Game Time” what hurt the Spurs having Ginobili in the starting lineup is it zapped San Antonio’s scoring punch off the bench especially in the fourth quarter.

“It’s a tag team that him and Tony share,” Horry said. “First quarter Tony does his thing then Manu comes in the second quarter.

“They are both very ball dominant, and they get their plays off the pick-and-rolls,” Horry continued. “Now with the insertion of Manu it takes away that punch that you have and you need to keep that punch sometimes because it’s the rhythm you have and that’s what the team is used to and I just think it went helter-skelter kinda crazy with both those guys trying to handle the basketball.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.

Oklahoma City center Kendrick Perkins dunks over Boris Diaw in Game 1 of the Thunder-Spurs series. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The biggest mistake Oklahoma City head coach Scott Brooks made in the Game 1 loss to San Antonio was his decision to play “small ball.”

Instead of sticking with his normally rotation, Brooks tried to match the lineup Spurs coach Gregg Popovich went with in the fourth quarter and it totally backfired. The nine-point lead Oklahoma City took into the final quarter vanished as the Spurs — mainly using a lineup that included four guards and one center — were able to get to the basket at will and punished the Thunder in the paint.

Manu Ginobili, who scored a team-high 26 points, and Tony Parker took turns driving to the basket and the end result was a 39-point fourth quarter for the home team. The Thunder defense faltered down the stretch and Brooks knows why. He decided to sit the league’s best shot-blocker, Serge Ibaka, and went with a smaller lineup that included three guards (Derek Fisher, Russell Westbrook, James Harden), one forward (Kevin Durant) and one center (Kendrick Perkins).

Brooks later admitted that keeping Ibaka, the runner-up in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year balloting, on the bench in the fourth quarter was a mistake and he’ll likely change that strategy in Game 2. He said he beat himself up over not putting his defensive ace back in the game, while explaining how sidelining Ibaka seemed the right idea at the time. After all, Brooks said keeping Ibaka out and going with a smaller lineup worked in the previous playoff series against the defending champion Mavericks and the Lakers.

”I think every decision you make, if it doesn’t work out, you say, ‘Why did you do that?”’ Brooks told The Associated Press. ”And I’m with you on that. I wish I would’ve played Serge [Sunday].”

By keeping Ibaka — who played just 21 minutes in Game 1 — on the bench, it allowed Popovich to use two point guards (Parker and Gary Neal) and got away with using Stephen Jackson (who is better suited at guard or small forward) at power forward and did a decent job on Durant.

Expect Brooks to call Ibaka’s number a little bit more the rest of the series and make the Spurs react to their big lineup. Having Ibaka and Perkins on the court forces Popovich to play a more conventional lineup, which means Neal has to sit and Boris Diaw or Matt Bonner may have to play big minutes.

Manu Ginobili scored 26 points off the bench for the Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden is the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, but Manu Ginobili showed Sunday night why he’s the best sixth man of all time.

The San Antonio Spurs’ future Hall-of-Famer — yes, Manu is that good — put on a clinic on how to spark a basketball team as he almost single-handedly lifted the Spurs past the Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

Heading into the series, the Ginobili-Harden battle is one of the marquee matchups and after Game 1 the Harden will have to pick it up on both ends because Ginobili seems to have that extra bounce in his Euro step. “Manu was great tonight. He was very aggressive. He was in a good rhythm, you can see he had a little bounce. In the fourth quarter he wanted the ball,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said of Ginobili, who scored 11 of his team-high 26 points in the final 12 minutes of a 101-98 San Antonio victory.

Thunder coach Scott Brooks had high praise for Ginobili after the game, and will most likely devote most of his game planning for Game 2 to keep the Spurs guard from getting loose. “He was terrific. He gets to the basket, gets to the foul line, and that’s what he does,” Brooks said. “He finds cracks you don’t even think is possible, but he figures it out to get through. We have to do a better job of corraling him.”

Whether it was Harden (who scored 19 points but was just 7-for-17 from the field) guarding him or Thabo Sefolosha or Kevin Durant, Ginobili was very active on offense and when he has it going he’s a very, very tough cover for anyone.

“We need for him to create, whether its shooting or driving or assisting somebody else. That’s what he has done for us in his career and it’s real important to us. Without that we have a tough time winning,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of his “reserve” guard who went 9-for-14 from the field and 3-for-5 from 3-point range.

He may be coming off the bench most of the time, but make no mistake about it Ginobili is an All-Star player in the Association and will go down in history as one of the best to ever play the game.

“Ginobili is a fantastic player,” Brooks said. “He finishes around the basket and he’s making his threes. He’s played in a lot of big ballgames.”

The Spurs are already a great team, but when Ginobili is healthy and rolling they are almost unbeatable.

Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook will go head-to-head in the Western Conference finals. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

ESPN basketball guru Stephen A. Smith — also known as Screaming A. or Stephen Naismith, whichever you prefer — says the San Antonio Spurs are unbeatable and doesn’t think any of the teams left in the NBA playoffs, including the Oklahoma City Thunder, can knock them off.

“They don’t have a weakness,” Screaming A. says of the Spurs, who have won 18 consecutive games and have yet to drop a game in the 2012 NBA playoffs. “How can you beat them? You have to hope they beat themselves.”

In the history of basketball, no team is unbeatable — not even the great San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs won’t beat themselves, so that approach is out the window. But there are several matchups the Thunder can exploit to give the Spurs a run for their money.

Here are five things to watch in the Spurs-Thunder conference finals:

1-TIM DUNCAN VS. PERKINS, IBAKA, COLLISON, MOHAMMED

No matter how old he gets or how his role has changed on offense, Duncan remains the foundation of the Spurs program. He is the anchor on defense and his presence on offense allows Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green room to operate. Kendrick Perkins will likely get the assignment to guard the future Hall-of-Famer, but he won’t be alone. Expect OKC head coach Scott Brooks to throw different bodies at Duncan, including Ibaka, Collison and Duncan’s former teammate Nazr Mohammed. The Thunder big men won’t get much help from their teammates because they must stay attached to the Spurs’ 3-point shooters. This means the OKC bigs must deal with Duncan one-on-one, and their ability to make Duncan work and expend energy will be an important part of the game plan.

2-TONY PARKER VS. RUSSELL WESTBROOK

Parker pretty much had his way against the Thunder during the regular season, including a 42-point game, so it is up to Westbrook to make Parker work a little harder on defense. Westbrook is coming off a great series against the L.A. Lakers, but none of the Laker guards really challenged him. Parker is a totally different beast. Parker will test Westbrook on every possession with an array of screen-and-rolls, and Westbrook must be able to fight through the picks and not allow Parker to easily turn the corner. On offense, Westbrook has to punish Parker by posting him up from time to time and maybe get a couple of cheap fouls on him. This is one of the marquee matchups for the playoffs and should be fun to watch two of the fastest guys in the league go head-to-head.

3-MANU GINOBILI VS. JAMES HARDEN

Harden was recently named the best sixth man in the NBA, but he’s now matched up against the former Sixth Man of the Year. Ginobili and Harden are eerily similar in the way they play. Both are lefties to begin with, but they’ve also mastered the art of the Euro step. Ginobili brought the Euro step to the NBA in 2003, and Harden is one of just a handful of American-born players who have incorporated the move into their offensive repertoire. The Spurs won two out of three games against the Thunder during the regular season, but Ginobili didn’t play in any of them. It will be interesting to note how Harden and Co. will game plan for Ginobili, who is the fire that ignites Gregg Popovich’s methodical offense.

4-GOING DEEP ON THE BENCH

The strength of the Spurs this season has been their depth. Popovich can go 10 deep in his rotation, and the addition of Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw halfway through the season only bolstered their roster. Parker, Green, Leonard, Diaw and Duncan start the game, but the Spurs don’t lose much on both ends when they bring in Gary Neal, Ginobili, Jackson, Matt Bonner and Tiago Splitter off the bench. The Thunder won’t be able to compete with the Spurs’ depth, but they can get contribution from some key bench guys. Obviously the offense will run through Harden when the starts sit, but Derek Fisher and Daequan Cook must be able to knock down some 3-pointers to keep up with the high-scoring Spurs, and Collison and Mohammed need to win the rebounding battle.

5-DURANT MUST CLOSE THE DEAL

The Spurs have may the most complete team in this series, but the Thunder easily has the best player in Kevin Durant. The three-time scoring champion was absolutely clutch in the Lakers series and for OKC to advance it’ll need another super effort from its MVP. Just like the previous round, there will be moments in this series when the Thunder will ask Durant to make game-winning plays and he must be able to deliver on cue. Durant said he learned a lot from last year’s elimination against Dallas in the conference finals. The Thunder are back in the West finals, and we’ll see if they learned from their mistakes. For the Thunder to eliminate the Spurs Durant must be extra special. He is the one player the Spurs won’t be able to match up against. Can Durant rise up to the challenge and lead the Thunder into the NBA Finals? Can’t wait to find out.