Spurs Face Clippers in Game 7 Showdown
The NBA playoffs continue on Saturday with Game 7 of the Western Conference quarterfinals between the visiting San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Clippers from the Staples Center in LA.
The Spurs are the defending NBA champions. Last season during their run to the title, the team also played a Game 7 in their opening series against the Dallas Mavericks.
Peter Holt the owner of the Spurs, who has been a very quiet behind the scenes leader, knows the run with the veterans on this team will end at some point quite soon.
Holt, who is 66, said the Spurs are the old guys. We have been the old guys for likely the past 10 years, which would makes up the old, old guys today, in fact he said you cannot get  much older on the court, or for that matter, much better.
Holt, who is a tractor tycoon, was raised in San Antonio. He first invested in 1993 in the Spurs. He does not know what could happen if San Antonio loses Game 7 on Saturday versus the Clippers anymore than anyone else does.
However, there are truths that must be dealt with whenever the run ends this season. The biggest among them is the decision over retirement by Tim Duncan who is 39 and Manu Ginobili who is 37. Free agency will be available to players such as Danny Green, Cory Joseph, Matt Bonner, Jeff Ayres and Marco Belinelli.
Nevertheless, the future remains bright. Kawhi Leonard at 23 will be a restricted free agent. He is a two-way superstar. Spurs insiders hope the team can land a top free agent during the summer to play alongside Leonard and Tony Parker, such as Marc Gasol from Memphis or LeMarcus Aldridge from Portland.
The Spurs will lock up Leonard to a max contract during the summer. The fact Duncan remains playing at a very high level suggests he will return as Gregg Popovich the Spurs coach predicted back in February.
Holt says that for the past three years he has met with Popovich, Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and the team’s GM to discuss what everyone wants to do.
Everyone in the run has said they all get along well and they wanted to continue playing.
The success of the Spurs not only was felt in San Antonio, but a ripple effect occurred as Mike Budenholzer a former assistant coach with San Antonio took Atlanta to the top of the Eastern Conference and Steve Kerr another Popovich protégé led Golden State in his first season as coach to the league’s best regular season record.
Holt wants the Spurs run to continue because he says the annual meeting he has with his GM, coach and the three veterans can wait a little longer.
