NBA Playoffs schedule 2013: Spurs sweep Grizzlies, head to NBA Finals

But look at the rest of the pieces around Duncan. We’ve learned time and again you can’t win a title with one player. You need multiple stars, a balanced squad and strong coaching. When you win 50 games every year (literally every year -- they haven’t won fewer than 50 since the 50-game 1998-99 lockout season) you don’t get any lottery picks. So your front office needs to conjure up stars via trade, free agency or later in the draft.

That’s a front office that is doing some pretty incredible work. Luck? Landing Duncan was luck. Everyone else on the roster was the result of an incredibly good front office that obviously works hard.

What I really worry about is that the Grizzlies feel pressured to keep Hollins around, but there’s a measure of distaste that lingers when they do and they can him at the first sign of trouble. Stability is one of Memphis’ great strengths. If you set Hollins up to disappoint, you’re crushing that as much as you would from replacing him now on your own terms.

In the end, I don’t think those concerns matter as much as the proven success Hollins has had with this core, and I think it’d be awfully risky to try to replace him.

Tracy McGrady is one of the purest scorers in NBA history, and although he isn’t much of a factor, the fact that he’s finally headed to the NBA Finals is putting smiles on a lot of NBA fans’ faces.

McGrady has only appeared in four of the team’s 14 playoff games, and has yet to score any points. But he’s embraced his role, assuring anybody asking that he feels he makes the team better and will be ready if called upon.

“You don’t expect that to happen. It just shows the character of those three guys,” said head coach Gregg Popovich after the Game 4 defeat of the Grizzlies. “I appreciate it. Maybe I don’t show it the way I should, but it’s pretty special.”

Special doesn’t do their feats justice. The Spurs going back to the Finals led by stars that look like ageless wonders after making a tough-nosed, defensive-minded Memphis team look lost trying to defend them. They shot 51 percent from the field and scored 52 points in the paint to make things look easy against a team that led the league in opponents’ points allowed during the regular season (89.3 PPG).

But the Grizzlies didn’t just give up. They came storming back to make it a close game and that made Coach Pop just a little bit angry.

But Tony Parker wasn’t so charitable. He dominated the Grizzlies all night long and eventually led the Spurs to a convincing 4-0 sweep to reach yet another NBA Finals.

Parker took it upon himself to personally answer every run the Grizzlies could muster. He was masterful at knifing his way through the Grizzlies’ normally-stout defense and made things difficult on their defenders as he led the way with 37 points, six assists and four rebounds.

The Grizzlies didn’t lose for lack of effort, however.

The story of the game thus far is the dismal shooting by the Grizzlies. Memphis is just 33 percent from the field and 2-for-6 from the three-point line.

The Grizzlies shot a dismal 29 percent in the first quarter and went 0-of-3 from the three-point line. Parker got off to a fast start to lead the Spurs to a 52 percent mark from the field and went 4-of-5 on his own to finish the first frame with eight points and two assists.

After such a demoralizing loss, the Grizzles could fold and go out quietly. But Memphis has shown resiliency in these playoffs before, so expect them to fight until the very end. Let’s take a closer look at three key questions heading into Game 4.

Can the Grizzlies’ defense return to form?

Memphis had arguably the best defense in the NBA all season, allowing a league-best 89.3 points per game. But the Grizzlies’ defense has had some struggles against a high-powered Spurs attack. In Game 1, San Antonio shot 52.9 percent and made 14-of-29 from three. In Game 3, San Antonio shot 50.0 percent from the field.

Because the box score is such a limited thing, we have for so long failed to give defense the credit it deserves in the NBA. Defense was always spoken of in clichés -- it wins championships, it’s 90 percent effort, etc. It was seen as important, of course, but on an individual basis, we often ignored it because we couldn’t measure it well. So, our biggest stars were almost universally elite scorers or passers. (Big men were also required to rebound and provide something that looked like good defense, usually via blocks.) The world recognized defense as important, but that hardly translated into player judgment.

Steve Nash has long been a brilliant offensive maestro who can’t defend a lick. He won two MVPs and made eight All-Star games as a totally skewed star. But unless you’re a big man, it only goes that direction. Star-level defensive guards and wings don’t get that level of respect. Bruce Bowen never made an All-Star team, let alone eight. And Tony Allen -- a back-to-back first team All-Defense honoree despite playing 26 minutes per game, those short minutes coming due to very limited offense -- is going to hit free agency looking at a far smaller salary than worse players who happen to skew the other direction (offense over defense).