The Superteam Lurking Behind You

There's a narrative that's been popping up throughout the Finals that needs to be destroyed. It started with those (probably fake) "Built, Not Bought" billboards making the rounds on social media before Heat-Spurs II started, and has only escalated as San Antonio has taken a commanding 3-1 lead over the two-time defending champions. The Spurs didn't build their roster with flashy free-agent signings, and thus have avoided the "superteam" tag that's become something of a pejorative among purists who object to the way that the Heat, Rockets, and Clippers came together. By whatever definition the word has, the Spurs are a superteam.

No team has been more super over the last 17 years. They've won at least 50 games every year since 2000 and at least 60 games four times. They've won four titles in the Tim Duncan years and all signs point to them adding a fifth Larry O'Brien within the next week. They've made the Finals six times and the Western Conference Finals an additional three times in that span, with only three first-round exits. During this playoff run, they've played the game of basketball as well as anybody ever has.

After the Spurs shot an unreal 75.8% from the field in Game 3, it was assumed that the Heat would bounce back and that shooting performance would be a fluke. It wasn't. The Heat looked out of sorts on Thursday, but even if they were firing on all cylinders or close to it, it didn't matter. The Spurs shot 57.1% from the field and 42.9% from three-point range in another blowout victory in Miami.

This year's Heat team is without question more talented than the Cavaliers team LeBron James dragged to the 2007 Finals only to get swept by San Antonio, but these Spurs are good enough to make any supporting cast look like Larry Hughes and Sasha Pavlovic. James, for his part, has been stellar. He's averaging 27.5 PPG though four games with a 69.8% True Shooting Percentage, and it doesn't even matter. It's not just that Dwyane Wade is a shell of himself and the rest of Miami's supporting cast has disappeared. I'm not convinced a Heat team at the peak of its powers would be able to do much against these Spurs. Their ball movement is perfect. Their defensive rotations are airtight. In retrospect, it's incredible that the Oklahoma City Thunder won two games against them in the Conference Finals, and that the Portland Trail Blazers were able to squeeze out one way back in round two.

As many as six different Spurs have a legitimate case for Finals MVP. The favorite at the moment is Kawhi Leonard, who was magnificent again after a career game in Game 3. But at 38, Duncan is looking like he could play another five seasons at this level if he wanted to. Boris Diaw has cemented himself as one of the best in-season free-agent pickups in NBA history, reinventing his career after a pathetic stint with the Bobcats lead to the Spurs scooping him up off the bargain bin in 2012. For the second time in his career, and first since the dismantling of the Seven Seconds or Less Phoenix Suns, he's become a folk hero.

I couldn't be more torn about what I think will happen in Game 5 tonight in San Antonio. It's hard to imagine the Heat losing three in a row in the Finals. But it's harder to imagine anybody ever beating the Spurs, as presently constructed, again. That isn't a slight on Miami, the Spurs are just too good. They're a superteam to end all superteams.