FanHouse 2007 NBA Finals

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.

My colleague Brett Edwards just hit you with his reasons the Spurs will sweep the Cavs in the NBA Finals. Although I don't think the Cavs will win the series, I think it's highly unlikely that Spurs will end up sweeping them. Here are four reasons the Spurs have no chance of sweeping the Cavs:

The Spurs Haven't Played a Defensive Team as Good as the Cavs
Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Chris Webber and others didn't all just go cold at the same time. The Pistons offensive struggles probably had something to do with the Cavs being a very good defensive team. I mean, don't they kind of have to be? It's not like their offense is their trademark or something. In fact, outside of LeBron and the occasional Boobie explosion, this team doesn't really have anything going for them on the offensive side of the ball. They've made it this far simply because of defense, rebounding, and hustle. The Spurs are in for a rude awakening if they think they are going to be able to manhandle the Cavs the way they tossed around teams like the Suns and the Jazz. (Brian Windhorst also mentioned a similar notion on his blog today)