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 3713 (.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

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 United States Daniels, Antonio 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Bowling Green
PF 21 United States Virgin Islands Duncan, Tim 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Wake Forest
SG 17 United States Elie, Mario 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) American International
SF 32 United States Elliott, Sean 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Arizona
SG 10 United States Gaze, Andrew 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Seton Hall
SG 2 United States Jackson, Jaren 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Georgetown
PG 6 United States Johnson, Avery 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Southern
PG 4 United States Kerr, Steve 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Arizona
SF 25 United States Kersey, Jerome 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Longwood
PF 54 United States King, Gerard 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Nicholls State
C 41 United States Perdue, Will 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Vanderbilt
C 50 United States Robinson, David 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Navy
PF 31 United States Rose, Malik 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Drexel
SG 11 United States Williams, Brandon 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Davidson
Head coach

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

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

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

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:

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) 89808196784
New York (East) 77678989771

Schedule

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

References

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