1998–99 San Antonio Spurs season

1998–99 San Antonio Spurs season
NBA Champions
Conference Champions
Division Champions
Head coach	Gregg Popovich
Owner(s)	Peter Holt
Arena	Alamodome
Results
Record	37–13 (.740)
Place	Division: 1st (Midwest) Conference: 1st (Western)
Playoff finish	NBA Champions
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	Fox Sports Southwest, KRRT, KSAT-12
Radio	KLEY

The 1998–99 San Antonio Spurs season was their 32nd as a franchise, the 26th in San Antonio, and the 23rd season in the National Basketball Association (NBA).^[1] After a promising rookie season from Tim Duncan, Spurs fans could hardly wait for the start of the next season. However, they would have to wait three in a half months as half of the NBA season wiped out by a lockout. When the season started, the Spurs started slowly posting a 6-8 record in February. However, in March they roared like a lion winning 31 of their final 36 games on their way to a league best record 37-13.

In the playoffs, the Spurs would knock off the Minnesota Timberwolves in four games of the first round winning three games to one. In the semifinals, the Spurs' Twin Towers of David Robinson and Tim Duncan outplayed Shaquille O'Neal as the Spurs swept the Los Angeles Lakers in four straight games. In the Western Conference Finals, the Spurs faced the Portland Trail Blazers. After taking Game 1, the Spurs trailed in Game 2 as the Blazers led by double digits. However in the 4th quarter, the Spurs would make a run and with 0.9 seconds left, Sean Elliott tip toed down the sidelines staying barely inbounds to nail a dramatic game winning three pointer. From there, the Spurs would go on to sweep the TrailBlazers to become the first former ABA team to play in the NBA Finals. In the Finals, they defeated the #8 seed New York Knicks in five games.^[2]

Offseason

• June 24, 1998 – The Spurs trade Felipe Lopez, along with Carl Herrera, to the Vancouver Grizzlies for point guard Antonio Daniels.

NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	24	Felipe López	Guard	Dominican Republic	St. John's
2	52	Derrick Dial	Guard	United States	Eastern Michigan

Roster

San Antonio Spurs roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From PG 33 Daniels, Antonio 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Bowling Green PF 21 Duncan, Tim 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Wake Forest SG 17 Elie, Mario 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) American International SF 32 Elliott, Sean 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Arizona SG 10 Gaze, Andrew 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Seton Hall SG 2 Jackson, Jaren 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Georgetown PG 6 Johnson, Avery 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Southern PG 4 Kerr, Steve 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Arizona SF 25 Kersey, Jerome 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Longwood PF 54 King, Gerard 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Nicholls State C 41 Perdue, Will 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Vanderbilt C 50 Robinson, David 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Navy PF 31 Rose, Malik 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Drexel SG 11 Williams, Brandon 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Davidson	Head coach Gregg Popovich Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	David Robinson	Will Perdue
PF	Tim Duncan	Malik Rose	Gerard King
SF	Sean Elliott	Jerome Kersey
SG	Mario Elie	Jaren Jackson		Andrew Gaze Brandon Williams
PG	Avery Johnson	Antonio Daniels	Steve Kerr

Regular season

Season standings

Midwest Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-San Antonio Spurs	37	13	.740	–	21–4	16–9	17–4
x-Utah Jazz	37	13	.740	–	22–3	15–10	15–3
x-Houston Rockets	31	19	.620	6	19–6	12–13	12–9
x-Minnesota Timberwolves	25	25	.500	12	18–7	7–18	11–9
Dallas Mavericks	19	31	.380	18	15–10	4–21	8–12
Denver Nuggets	14	36	.280	23	12–13	2–23	5–16
Vancouver Grizzlies	8	42	.160	29	7–18	1–24	3–18

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-San Antonio Spurs	37	13	.740	–
2	y-Portland Trail Blazers	35	15	.700	2
3	x-Utah Jazz	37	13	.740	–
4	x-Los Angeles Lakers	31	19	.620	6
5	x-Houston Rockets	31	19	.620	6
6	x-Sacramento Kings	27	23	.540	10
7	x-Phoenix Suns	27	23	.540	10
8	x-Minnesota Timberwolves	25	25	.500	12
9	Seattle SuperSonics	25	25	.500	12
10	Golden State Warriors	21	29	.420	16
11	Dallas Mavericks	19	31	.380	18
12	Denver Nuggets	14	36	.280	23
13	Los Angeles Clippers	9	41	.180	28
14	Vancouver Grizzlies	8	42	.160	29

z - clinched division title

y - clinched division title

x - clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

West First Round

(1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (8) Minnesota Timberwolves: Spurs win series 3-1

• Game 1 @ Alamodome, San Antonio (May 9): San Antonio 99, Minnesota 86
• Game 2 @ Alamodome, San Antonio (May 11): Minnesota 80, San Antonio 71
• Game 3 @ Target Center, Minneapolis (May 13): San Antonio 85, Minnesota 71
• Game 4 @ Target Center, Minneapolis (May 15): San Antonio 92, Minnesota 85

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first meeting between the Spurs and Timberwolves.

West Conference Semifinals

(1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (4) Los Angeles Lakers: Spurs win series 4-0

• Game 1 @ Alamodome, San Antonio (May 17): San Antonio 87, Los Angeles 81
• Game 2 @ Alamodome, San Antonio (May 19): San Antonio 79, Los Angeles 76
• Game 3 @ Great Western Forum, Los Angeles (May 22): San Antonio 103, Los Angeles 91
• Game 4 @ Great Western Forum, Los Angeles (May 23): San Antonio 118, Los Angeles 107

Last Playoff Meeting: 1995 Western Conference Semifinals (San Antonio won 4-2)

West Conference Finals

(1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (2) Portland Trail Blazers: Spurs win series 4-0

• Game 1 @ Alamodome, San Antonio (May 29): San Antonio 80, Portland 76
• Game 2 @ Alamodome, San Antonio (May 31): San Antonio 86, Portland 85 {Memorial Day Miracle, Sean Elliott hits the game winning 3 with 9 seconds to go in the game}
• Game 3 @ Rose Garden, Portland (June 4): San Antonio 85, Portland 63
• Game 4 @ Rose Garden, Portland (June 6): San Antonio 94, Portland 80

Last Playoff Meeting: 1993 Western Conference First Round (San Antonio won 3-1)

Player stats

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Antonio Daniels	47	0	13.1	.454	.294	.754	1.1	2.3	.64	.13	4.7
Tim Duncan	50	50	39.3	.495	.143	.690	11.4	2.4	.90	2.52	21.7
Mario Elie	47	37	27.5	.471	.374	.866	2.9	1.9	.98	.26	9.7
Sean Elliott	50	50	30.2	.410	.328	.757	4.3	2.3	.52	.34	11.2
Andrew Gaze	19	0	3.1	.320	.313	.000	.3	.3	.11	.05	1.1
Jaren Jackson	47	13	18.3	.380	.361	.821	2.1	1.0	.87	.19	6.4
Avery Johnson	50	50	33.4	.473	.083	.568	2.4	7.4	1.02	.22	9.7
Steve Kerr	44	0	16.7	.391	.313	.886	1.0	1.1	.52	.07	4.4
Jerome Kersey	45	0	15.5	.340	.214	.429	2.9	.9	.82	.31	3.2
Gerard King	19	0	3.3	.429	.000	.611	.7	.2	.11	.05	1.2
Will Perdue	37	1	12.0	.633	.000	.538	3.7	.5	.24	.27	2.4
David Robinson	49	49	31.7	.509	.000	.658	10.0	2.1	1.41	2.43	15.8
Malik Rose	47	0	12.9	.463	.000	.671	3.9	.6	.85	.47	6.0
Brandon Williams	3	0	1.3	.000	.000	.500	.3	.0	.00	.00	.7

Playoffs

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Antonio Daniels	15	0	7.1	.429	.667	.833	.7	1.1	.27	.00	1.8
Tim Duncan	17	17	43.1	.511	.000	.748	11.5	2.8	.76	2.65	23.2
Mario Elie	17	17	30.9	.384	.267	.837	3.5	2.9	1.29	.12	7.9
Sean Elliott	17	17	33.8	.444	.400	.763	3.4	2.6	.53	.24	11.9
Jaren Jackson	17	0	20.3	.382	.360	.692	2.4	1.1	.76	.00	8.2
Avery Johnson	17	17	38.4	.487	.333	.681	2.5	7.4	1.18	.06	12.6
Steve Kerr	11	0	8.8	.267	.231	.833	.8	.7	.18	.00	2.2
Jerome Kersey	14	0	10.9	.349	.250	.714	2.1	.3	.43	.07	2.6
Gerard King	8	0	1.8	.500	.000	.000	.5	.1	.00	.12	.5
Will Perdue	12	0	7.2	.545	.000	.500	2.3	.0	.00	.08	1.1
David Robinson	17	17	35.3	.483	.000	.722	9.9	2.5	1.65	2.35	15.6
Malik Rose	17	0	11.4	.368	.000	.692	2.3	.2	.41	.24	2.7

NBA finals

This final saw some firsts for both the Spurs and the opposing New York Knicks.

The Spurs:

• Became the first former ABA team to play and win in an NBA Finals.
• Attracted record crowds for the two games at the Alamodome. Attendance was 39,514 for Game 1 and 39,554 for Game 2 (the largest crowd to see an NBA Finals game).
• Steve Kerr became the first non-Celtic to win four straight championships, as he won titles with the Bulls from 1996 to 1998.

The Knicks became the first (and to this date, the only) 8th seed to ever play in an NBA Finals.

Summary

The following scoring summary is written in a line score format, except that the quarter numbers are replaced by game numbers.

Team	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Wins
San Antonio (West)	89	80	81	96	78	4
New York (East)	77	67	89	89	77	1

Schedule

• Game 1 - June 16, Wednesday @San Antonio, San Antonio 89, New York 77: San Antonio leads series 1-0
• Game 2 - June 18, Friday @San Antonio, San Antonio 80, New York 67: San Antonio leads series 2-0
• Game 3 - June 21, Monday @New York, New York 89, San Antonio 81: San Antonio leads series 2-1
• Game 4 - June 23, Wednesday @New York, San Antonio 96, New York 89: San Antonio leads series 3-1
• Game 5 - June 25, Friday @New York, San Antonio 78, New York 77: San Antonio wins series 4-1

The Finals were played using a 2-3-2 site format, where the first two and last two games are held at the team with home court advantage. The NBA, after experimenting in the early years, restored this original format for the Finals in 1985. So far, the other playoff series are still running on a 2-2-1-1-1 site format.

Award winners

• Tim Duncan, Center, All-NBA First Team
• Tim Duncan, Center, All-NBA Defensive First Team
• Tim Duncan, Center, NBA Finals MVP

References

1. 1998-99 San Antonio Spurs
2. "Spurs Win Title as Knicks' Dream Ends". New York Times. June 26, 1999.

• San Antonio Spurs on Database Basketball
• San Antonio Spurs on Basketball Reference