Tim Duncan Keeps the Shaq-Duncan Era Alive

I've thrown this statistic out there before, but I'm sorry to say it's time to drag it out again. Since the 1999 season, Shaq and Tim Duncan have literally dominated the NBA. Their teams have accounted for seven of the eight championships over that time, and either Shaq or Duncan has been in each and everyone one of the NBA finals since then. It's almost like two of them get together before the start of the season and play rock paper scissors to decide which one is going to get the opportunity to play in the Finals. With Duncan and the Spurs once again in the Finals, the Shaq-Duncan era of dominance continues.

In my eyes, this brings up an even bigger debate. Based on the recent successes of the Phoenix Suns, tons of teams have taken up trying to build small ball up tempo teams. Although the Suns have been quite successful in the regular season, they have yet to translate their small ball formula into playoff glory.

So is the small ball era really here to stay? In my eyes, it seems like all these teams that are trying to do build deep offensive powerhouses might be making a mistake.

Just look at the two teams in the Finals, or for that matter, the champions every year since the beginning of the 90s. Champions have mostly been teams that play efficient half court offense, rebound the ball very well, and play tough grind it out defense. As well, since the '90s almost every championship team has had a dominating post presence. Shaq, Tim Duncan, and Michael Jordan have all dominated the league with their low post offense (at one time or another), and they are all multiple champions because of it. And even though the Cavs don't currently have much of a low post force (although I think LeBron could and should develop a low post game), they are one of the best at both team defense and team rebounding.

The same things have always won championships, folks (at least since the '90s)? So why have so many teams have decided to go away from that?

High powered offensive players and teams might be sexy and sell a lot of tickets and memorabilia, but in the end, the teams that commit to building teams that highlight defense and rebounding are the ones that win the championships.