SAN ANTONIO – It was a sad way to see a record breaking season end, one that started with such great playoff promise.
The San Antonio Spurs season came to an abrupt close as they lost Game 6 to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 113-99, going down in the Western Conference semifinals 4-2.
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The end actually started early when the Thunder rolled to a 12-0 run to end the first quarter to take a 25-19 lead.
Then a huge storm blew through in the second quarter. OKC outscored the Spurs 30-12. San Antonio only managed to hit 5 of 22 shots for 23 percent.
The Thunder got the lead up to 28 points and although the Spurs made a valiant come back in the second half to get that lead down to 11, it was too little too late and the Thunder went on to win it.
"I have been in the NBA for 15 years and to the conference finals half of my career, five NBA Finals (winning four) and stuff is going to happen. Sometimes it's not meant to be and have to give credit to OKC," Tony Parker said.
The season ended before the Spurs were ready and it may have even caught Tim Duncan off guard.
He will be the center of attention until he decides what his future holds. After the game, Duncan said he will, "get to that when I get out of here, and figure life out."
If indeed it was his last game, Duncan went down playing like he has for 19 years, fighting until the end. He finished with 19 points and five rebounds.
Gregg Popovich even asked him if he wanted to continue to play towards the end. Duncan finished the night right where he wanted to be, on the court.
"I felt good tonight. I got some shots to go down, and I missed a couple of easy ones. Overall, we got ourselves in a hole and just couldn't get out of it." Duncan said.
Duncan was not the only Spurs player hit with the retirement question. Manu Ginobili was also asked about his future. "I'll take my time as always."
After what they have done for the team and the city, Tim and Manu should be able to take all the time they need to make their decisions.