Spurs Nation (Various)

Spurs Nation is a look back at "major moments in San Antonio basketball" in the modern era as recorded in the San Antonio Express-News. Starting with drafting David Robinson and ending in 2016 (when it was released), it collects and publishes (in full color) select articles that chronicle the Spurs' rise to a major basketball power. As you'd expect, the focus is on the five championships ('99, '03, '05, '07, '14), so most of the book is articles written about the finals games.

A lifelong Spurs fan, I was intrigued by this book and picked it up when I was in San Antonio. Basically, I was interested to see how a story would look when written without any knowledge of the future. While some of the articles displayed a hope (yet laced with uncertainty) about what the future held, most of them were too focused on the moment and prone to exaggeration (as, perhaps, news stories trend). Spurs win a finals game? Much rejoicing. Spurs lose? Much anguish. Coach Pop is great, Coach Pop is on the hot seat, and so on. And this was revealing- it is how we tend to live our own lives. Too much in the moment and too little on the big picture (in my opinion)- though I must stress being in the moment (with all the ups and downs) is also important.

Overall, it's pretty good, but could have been better. I enjoyed the journey looking back at some amazing Spurs players, teams, and achievements. I only wish the book would have included sections to fill people in on gaps in the story. They had (say) an article about game one of the Western Conference semifinals but then fast-forwarded to another year or series, without any word on how that given series ended. Brief sections between such gaps could have brought the reader up to speed pretty easily and created a more coherent narrative.

The book ended, fittingly (but unknowingly), the year Tim Duncan retired. Manu Ginobili would follow two years later, and Tony Parker would follow him out of town (though Parker played one more year, for Charlotte). Thus was the Spurs' "Big 3" disbanded. Kawhi Leonard, heir apparent, also left in 2018, leaving the Spurs in an unfamiliar position of no stars and few prospects. They would make the playoffs one final year (2018-19) before failing the qualify the year following, ending their NBA-record consecutive playoff appearance run at 22 years. It's been rough ever since. But their five championships over a 15-year stretch, playing good team ball with solid fundamentals and without off-court drama, is a run we will enjoy for a long time to come.

Rating: B