The San Antonio Spurs moved in among the NBA's greatest franchises with an 83-82 victory and a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday.
With their fourth championship since 1999 -- and third in five years -- the Spurs joined the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls as the only teams in NBA history to win four titles.
And No. 5 might not be far away either with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan leading this well-oiled machine. Coach Gregg Popovich and the Spurs, now a perfect 4-for-4 together in finals appearances, spent most of the playoffs dismissing talk that they should be considered a dynasty.
But with titles in 1999, 2003, 2005 and this year, there's no more reason to pretend they aren't one.
Finals MVP Parker scored 24 points and Ginobili had 27 -- 13 in the fourth quarter.
As the final seconds ticked off on Cleveland's finest season, Duncan stood at center court with both arms raised triumphantly as the rest of the Spurs danced around their center in a huddle.
San Antonio's kingpin sought out Cleveland's Eric Snow, but was unable to find rival star LeBron James in the pandemonium.
The final moments were hectic, though, as the Spurs needed every last free throw to hold off the Cavaliers, who made a last stand at home in a season of seasons for their once-downtrodden franchise.
Cleveland went on an 11-0 run to open the fourth quarter, taking its first lead in any second half of the series on James' drive with 7:55 left. Cleveland went up 63-60 on Daniel Gibson's drive, but that's when the Spurs showed why they're champions.
Ginobili scored, was fouled and missed his free throw, but Duncan muscled into the lane and tipped in the miss to make it 66-63. The Cavs tied it, but Ginobili, who didn't make a field goal in Game 3, put in a 3-pointer. Then, when James missed a 3, the Spurs regained control by outworking Cleveland.
Duncan and Fabricio Oberto scrapped for offensive rebounds as the Spurs kept the ball for nearly two minutes before Oberto's 3-point play made it 72-66 with 2:29 remaining. Duncan then poked the ball away from James and Oberto scored underneath to give San Antonio a 74-66 lead.
James, possibly a little tired following the early morning birth of his second son, hit another 3-pointer, but Ginobili responded again with a tough runner in the lane to make it 76-69.
Damon Jones made three free throws and James made another 3-pointer, but Ginobili made four free throws in the final seven seconds and immediately began celebrating a title that was all but inevitable.
James had Cleveland fans believing the city's 43-year championship drought was about to end. However, he had a rough introduction to the league's climactic event, one he expects to reach again.
He shot just 10-of-30 in Game 4 -- and only 36 percent in the series -- and never figured out how to rise above or get around the Spurs, whose defensive schemes were designed to make the other Cavaliers beat them.
James scored 24 points and while he took the Cavaliers as far as they've ever gone, he failed to give them new life in this series on the same day his second son, Bryce James, was born.
Duncan, an MVP in his first three finals, had only 12 points but grabbed 15 rebounds.
But the 31-year-old, whose arrival in 1997 was the beginning of the Spurs' ascent, got his fourth championship ring and helped Michael Finley, Jacque Vaughn and Brent Barry win their first.
Also see story:
France's Parker named finals MVP
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but