The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and are the current NBA Champions after defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2007 NBA Finals.
The Spurs are one of four former American Basketball Association teams (along with the Nets, Pacers, and Nuggets) to remain intact in the NBA after the 1977 merger and are the only former ABA team to have won an NBA championship, which they have done four times. As of November 2006, the Spurs rank second among active franchises for the highest winning percentage in NBA history (behind the Los Angeles Lakers). With the 2007 sweep, the Spurs have the highest winning percentage in NBA Finals history. They have only missed the playoffs 4 times as an NBA franchise.
In their 30 NBA seasons the Spurs have captured 15 division titles, which gives the Spurs the most division titles in the NBA during the 30-year span (the Lakers are second with 14), among the four major sports the Atlanta Braves are the only other team with 15 divisional titles during the last 30 years.
The Spurs are located in the San Antonio area, and the city shares a special bond with the team almost unmatched in the rest of the NBA, partially due to this being the city's only team in any of the four major U.S. professional sports. Spurs players are active members of the San Antonio community, and many former Spurs are still active in San Antonio, like David Robinson's Carver Academy and the George Gervin Youth Center.
In part because of this community involvement, Spurs fans have been among the most loyal in the NBA. The Spurs set several NBA attendance records while playing at the Alamodome, including the largest crowd ever for a NBA Finals game in 1999, and the Spurs continue to sell out the smaller, more intimate AT&T Center (formerly SBC Center) on a regular basis. The Spurs' rallying cry of "Go Spurs Go!" has endeared itself to the city of San Antonio, and the phrase pops up all over the city as the season progresses into the playoffs and the Spurs inch closer to a possible title. |