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With a healthy Robinson and Duncan and the additions of playoff veterans such as Mario Elie and Jerome Kersey, the Spurs looked forward to the 1998-99 season. Prior to the beginning of training camps, however, the NBA owners, led by commissioner David Stern, locked out the players in order to force a new collective bargaining agreement with the NBA Players Association (NBAPA). The season was delayed over three months until resolution on a new labor agreement was reached in January 1999. Playing a shortened 50-game season, the Spurs ended up with a 37-13 record. The team was just as dominant in the playoffs, rolling through the Western Conference with a record of 11-1. They faced the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals and, on June 25, 1999, won the series and the franchise's first NBA Championship in Game 5 (final score: 78-77) on the Knicks' home court, Madison Square Garden. Duncan was named the Finals MVP. The victory by the Spurs was not only the first NBA title to be won by a former ABA team, but also was the first Finals appearance by a team from the ABA. The Spurs also set a new NBA Finals one-game attendance record when 39,554 fans attended Game 2. The previous record was set only two days earlier, when 39,514 spectators attended Game 1. The Spurs were not able to capitalize on their success during the 1999-2000 season. Although they finished with an overall record of 53-29, the Spurs lost in the first round to the Suns, primarily due to an injury to Duncan which kept him out of the playoff series. The long-term viability of the Spurs franchise in San Antonio was, however, achieved during the 1999-2000 season, as Bexar County voters approved increases on car rental and hotel taxes which would allow for the construction of a new arena near Freeman Coliseum. The Spurs finished with 58-24 records for both the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons but found themselves suffering playoff ousters in both seasons from the eventual NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Entering the 2002-03 season, the team knew it would be memorable for at least two reasons, as David Robinson announced that it would be his last in the NBA and the Spurs would begin play at their new arena, the SBC Center, named after telecommunications giant SBC, whose corporate headquarters are located in San Antonio. (SBC became AT&T after its acquisition of its former parent company.) To mark this occasion, the Spurs revamped their "Fiesta" logo and reverted to the familiar silver and black motif (though, during the time of the Fiesta logo, the uniform remained silver and black). This version of the Spurs was very different from the team that had won the title a few years earlier. The Spurs had remade their team in an attempt to dethrone the three-time defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. Second-year French star Tony Parker, drafted by the Spurs in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft, was now the starting point guard for the Spurs. The squad featured a variety of newly acquired three-point shooters, including Stephen Jackson, Danny Ferry, Bruce Bowen, Steve Kerr, Steve Smith and Argentina product Manu Ginobili, a 1999 second-round draft choice playing in his first NBA season. Mixing the inside presences of Duncan and Robinson with the newer outside threats, the Spurs earned a 60-22 record. In the playoffs, the Spurs defeated the Suns, Lakers and Dallas Mavericks en route to facing the New Jersey Nets in the NBA Finals. The series against the Nets marked the first time two former ABA teams would play each other for the NBA Championship. The Spurs won the series 4-2, giving them their second NBA Championship in franchise history. Duncan was named both the NBA Regular Season and Finals MVP for the season. The big three: Duncan, Parker, & Ginobili (2003-present) In the 2003-04 season, coming off their second NBA Championship, the Spurs, playing with 9 new players, struggled early as they missed the presence of David Robinson while the new players struggled to fit in, as they held a 9-10 record on December 3rd. However, the Spurs would turn it around, as they ended December on 13-game winning streak and quickly climbed back to the top of the NBA standings. The Spurs would battle all year for the top spot in the Western Conference, as they ended the season on another strong note winning their final 11 games. However, they would fall 1 game short of a division title and the best record in the West, posting a record of 57-25. In the playoffs, the Spurs remained hot as they swept the Memphis Grizzlies in 4 straight games. In the second round, the Spurs found themselves in another showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Spurs' winning streak would continue as they captured the first two games at home, bringing their winning streak from the end of the regular season up to 17 games. However, as the series shifted to Los Angeles, the Spurs would suddenly have trouble finding the basket, as they lost both games as the Lakers evened the series. The series was playing out similarly to the match-up between the two teams a year earlier. In Game 5 at the SBC Center, Tim Duncan seemingly delivered the Spurs a 73-72 win as he gave the Spurs a lead with a dramatic shot with just 0.4 seconds remaining. However, the Lakers' Derek Fisher would launch a prayer as time expired which would go in, giving the Lakers a stunning 74-73 win to take a 3-2 series lead. The Spurs protested the shot, arguing that the clock started late, which the Spurs claimed was why replays showed Fisher got off the shot in time. An AP report and the three officials in attendance stated that replays showed the shot was released by Fisher before time expired.[ The officials, however, could not consider the Spurs' claim that the clock did not start immediately when the ball was inbounded. After the stunning loss, the Spurs traveled to Los Angeles for Game 6, where they lost the game and the series. The Spurs spent the following offseason tweaking the team. With the acquisition of guard Brent Barry from Seattle, and the later additions of center Nazr Mohammed from New York (acquired in a midseason trade of Malik Rose), and veteran forward Glenn Robinson from free agency, alongside regulars Bruce Bowen, Robert Horry, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan, the Spurs finished the 2004-05 season with the second-best record in the Western Conference at 59-23, and the best record in the Southwest Division. In the postseason, the Spurs defeated the Denver Nuggets 4-1, the Seattle SuperSonics 4-2 and the Phoenix Suns 4-1 before advancing to the NBA Finals, where they won the NBA championship for a third time in seven years on June 23, 2005 by defeating the Eastern Conference champion and defending NBA Champion Detroit Pistons, four games to three. Tim Duncan was named Finals MVP, becoming only the fourth player to win the MVP award three times (joining Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Michael Jordan). Also, Manu Ginobili established himself as a NBA star, earning local, national, and international fan praise (particularly in his home country of Argentina) and a berth in that season's All-Star Game. In the 2005-06 season, the Spurs, lead by Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and newly-named All-Star Tony Parker, broke their franchise record for wins in a season (63-19) and qualified for the playoffs for the ninth year in a row. (Until this season, the Spurs and Indiana Pacers shared the NBA's longest active consecutive playoff appearance streak with nine in a row — see Active NBA playoff appearance streaks - though San Antonio has qualified for its 10th consecutive appearance during the 2006-07 season, while Indiana's playoff streak ended.) However, the defending-champion Spurs were eliminated in the second round by the Dallas Mavericks in a 7-game semifinal series that, due to a quirk in the playoff ranking system, featured the two top teams in the conference. In the 2006-07 season, the Spurs finished with a 58-24 record and secured the 3rd seed in the western conference. In their first Playoff series the Spurs faced a tough Denver Nuggets team, yet the Spurs prevailed 4-1. The Spurs went on to face the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the playoffs. The Spurs won 4-2 in a very contentious and controversial series. In the Western Conference finals, the Spurs took on the Utah Jazz, but won their trip to the NBA finals easily, with a comfortable 4-1 win. In the 2007 NBA Finals, the San Antonio Spurs swept the Cleveland Cavaliers and captured their fourth title in nine years.
Future outlook The Spurs appear poised to contend for NBA titles for several years to come. In the 2007-08 season, they will return 12 of their 15 players from the 2006-07 championship team, including every player that played in the 2007 NBA Playoffs. Their three key players (Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili) are under contract until at least 2011. The Spurs will also have a considerable amount of flexibility with their 2008-2009 roster, as they only currently have 6 players with guaranteed contracts for that season. In the 2007 NBA Draft, the Spurs selected Brazilian forward Tiago Splitter and University of Arizona forward Marcus Williams, adding to their many prospects that they have rights to. Spurs fans have made links with Tottenham Hotspur F.C. (which also goes by the name Spurs), with the two teams having mutual support for each other. The clubs are planning a business agreement whereby each other's merchandise is sold at the other club (similar to Manchester United F.C. and New York Yankees). On June 28, 2007, just before the 2007 NBA Draft, the Spurs announced that they have purchased the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League, becoming the second NBA team to purchase an NBADL team (the Los Angeles Lakers were the first, having purchased the Los Angeles D-fenders). This move makes the Spurs the sole NBA affiliate of the Toros and gives them greater control over the management of the team, including coaching and the offensive and defensive schemes that the team uses. Season-by-season records
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