Camm's great take on Spurs - Suns

I've been emailing Camm about the Spurs and Suns because he's the only Spurs fan I know and he penned an epic and spot on defense of the Spurs. Here it is:

I feel like the spurs are playing in the wrong era right now. The NBA is soft. You look at a guy like Amare Stoudamire. Huge black dude covered in really 'tough' tats. Something happens to him in a game in this series that he doesn't like so what does he do? Whines like a little bitch. If bowen had done that to Rick Mahorn, Lambeer, Magic, Bird, DJ, or Isaih, they'd have been scraping him off the court in game 2, AND EVERYONE WOULD HAVE LOVED IT.

The Spurs play that kind of ball. Horry's shot to nash was re-diculous, but it was also great. he was pissed that the Spurs were going to lose, so he knocked the shit out of the 2 time league MVP. Good for him. When the NBA was in its golden age, it was full of superstars who would slit someone's throat in order to win. Teams don't have that right now. Some of the teams are exciting to watch on some levels, but honestly, the closest we get to seeing the old school kind of ball is from Charles Barkely in the studio, and the Spurs.

Sure they may be 'fundamental' and play 'good defense' which are synonyms for boring, but they are also the closest thing the league has to a dynasty and they have more excitement around the team than they get credit for. Duncan essentially got a ref of almost 30 years fired, Ginobli pisses everyone off with his style of play, Parker (who is way underrated, without him they are nothing) has a supermodel in the stands everynight, and then you've got the Horry's and Bowens who are great role players but who bring controversy everywhere they go. I fail to see how this team is boring.

Look at the rest of the league. nash, Lebron, Boozer, Amare, Kidd.... all great players but none of them have the aura surrounding them that suggests they will do whatever to win. You're hatred of the spurs tells me you have bought into this new NBA and explains why you like Luke Ridnour (how can that be??). You like the up and down tempo (even though the old school NBA had a lot of scoring), but you also like to tone down the controversy. Lets be honest though, Robert Horry's forearm to Steve Nash made this a better series.

My responses in short. I totally agree that what separates the Spurs is that they want it more than everyone else. I think Steve Nash wants to win as bad as any of the Spurs and the Suns are following suit. He's dead right that the controversy makes the series better.

As far as a defense of Ridnour. My love/hate relationship with him is well documented but exhibit A for the defense remains this saucy clip that I've linked a half dozen times already to. But I'll show it again.


I'll let this fantastic Camm addendum to his email close the post.

Addendum:

Nothing illustrates my point more than the articles I'm reading today saying Amare and Diaw are going to be suspended for leaving the bench. What a friggin joke. The NBA should review the tape and suspend every guy who didn't leave the bench. This is the NBA playoffs, not little league. The old mantra, "it's not whether you win or lose....." is not true. It is whether you win or lose. 100's of millions are at stake, both in salary and revenue. The players should act accordingly.

So good.