Very few Clydesdales get to ride off into the sunset.
Most get put out to pasture.
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We witnessed the latter Thursday when the Thunder put the Spurs out of the 2016 NBA playoffs, molly-whopping them 113-99 to clinch their Western Conference semifinal series in six games and setting up a star-studded meeting with the defending champion Warriors in the West finals.
Tim Duncan (Getty Images)
As much as the game was an another affirmation of what OKC is capable of when Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are healthy, it also was a cruel reminder that Father Time has never taken a loss. Sure, you may get a lick on him like when Mike fought Stacy on the playground in "The Wood," and as San Antonio has done for more than a decade, but at some point his onslaught will be insurmountable.
Gregg Popovich could rest his aging horses, including Tim Duncan (40), Manu Ginobili (38), David West (35) and Tony Parker (33), during the regular season, particularly in the second half of back-to-backs. He couldn't rest them during the playoffs.
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The more rest the Spurs — who went 67-15 in earning the West's No. 2 seed — had against the Thunder, the better they were.
They didn't play for six days after sweeping the undermanned Grizzlies in the first round, then blew out the Thunder by 32 in Game 1 on April 30, a contest that now seems like it was played years ago. After dropping Game 2 by a point, only their second home loss of the season, San Antonio had three days off. Refreshed, it regained home-court advantage with a four-point victory on the Thunder's floor last Friday.
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But once the Spurs began playing every other day, they couldn't recover. It showed in the rebounding numbers, a stat that is accumulated perhaps more than any other by sheer energy and effort.
In their wins, the Spurs played the Thunder to a draw on the boards, outrebounding OKC 43-38 in Game 1 and being outrebounded by 42-37 in Game 3. In their three straight losses to end their season, the Spurs were minus-34 on the glass against a Thunder frontline that increasingly included the tandem of 22-year-old Steven Adams and 23-year-old Enes Kanter.
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Adams might've made himself a commodity on the free-agent market, averaging a double-double (11 points, 11.8 rebounds) and a block against the Spurs. Kanter was good for 8.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and a block per game in the series.
That's not to mention the colossal contributions of Durant and Westbrook, both of whom are 27. Not that any team can guard the best point guard/small forward combination in the league (sorry, Kyrie Irving and LeBron James), but the Spurs' guard corps — Parker, Ginobili, Danny Green and Patty Mills — was far too slow afoot to compete with the athletic, explosive pair. Westbrook and Durant combined for 53.7 points on 43.8 percent shooting, 17.2 rebounds and 14.5 assists a night in the six games.
If Thursday night's contest was Duncan's last game, he went out displaying the stoic excellence that made him one of the greatest, if not the greatest, post players ever and one of the most dominant players of his era after being rendered useless through five games.
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The future Hall of Famer was averaging 3.4 points per game in the series and was held scoreless in the postseason for the first time in his career in Game 3. In Game 6, Duncan went for 19 points, second on the Spurs to only 24-year-old Kawhi Leonard's 22.
The Spurs even made a late run to give the Thunder cause for concern. They trimmed a 28-point third-quarter deficit to 11 with less than four minutes remaining, but they just couldn't keep pace.
If it wasn't Durant putting the his foot on the gas and gashing San Antonio's defense for dunks, Westbrook was dropping daggers from deep. All hope had been lost since halftime when the Spurs trailed by 24, shot 0 for 8 from 3-point range and got just two points from their bench.
It would be foolish to say San Antonio is dead. The five-time NBA champions, who've won titles in three decades with the same core, have had their eulogy written prematurely before, only to resurrect and return to greatness. This time feels different, though.
The Spurs did it their way during the regular season; they avoided major injuries, they won nearly 70 games and were almost perfect at home. Come playoff time, though, their experience and savvy were no match for the youth and athleticism of a squad led by first-time NBA head coach Billy Donovan.
The Spurs are headed to their stables for the summer. Even if they decide to come out and race again as currently constructed next season, teams like the Thunder will still be younger and they'll be even older.