One of the most successful teams in the NBA for nearly 30 years, their development has gone from strength to strength since the Spurs drafted Duncan, winning their first championship in 1999 and then reaching the top of the world again in 2014. During Duncan's 19-year career, he led the Spurs to the playoffs every year and won the O'Brien Cup in five seasons combined.
However, the Spurs can win so many championships, obviously not only Duncan alone, everyone on the team has put in 100% effort for this, especially the two most reliable helpers around Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, and the GDP combination formed by them and Duncan can be called one of the best trios in NBA history.
But even the Spurs are not without any regrets, as a team that has won multiple championships, they have never won back-to-back championships. The 2005-2007 period was the peak of the GDP portfolio, when Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili were all in excellent form, with the Spurs beating the Pistons 4-3 in 2005 and the Cavaliers 4-0 in 2007.
After winning the championship in 2005, Spurs management was not idle, and in the offseason they also signed former All-Star Michael Finley and Van Exel. But in the end, in 2006, Spurs still didn't get their way, so who did they lose to at that time? How did the series perform?
In the 2005-2006 season, the age of the three members of the GDP group was Duncan 30 years old, Parker was 24 years old, and Ginobili was 29 years old.
Parker, although he is a little younger, has ushered in a significant improvement in his performance this season, averaging 18.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in the regular four, shooting 54.8% from the field, and finally he was selected as the first All-Star of his career. Ginobili was a starter most of the time, he was an All-Star a season before Parker, and in the 2005-2006 season he still averaged 15.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
Led by the GDP group, the Spurs were invincible in the regular season, and finally achieved a 63-19 record in the first place in the West. At the time, the Spurs' prospects for defending the title can be said to be very good, in addition to the Spurs in the regular season, there are only two teams with 60+ wins, they are 60 wins over the Mavericks and 64 wins over the Pistons, but these two teams also happen to be the Spurs' previous defeats, after the Spurs defeated the Mavericks 4-2 in the 2003 West Finals, they finally eliminated the Nets 4-2 in the finals to win the championship, and the Spurs defeated the Pistons 4-3 in the 2005 finals to win the championship.
In the first round of the 2006 playoffs, the Spurs faced the Kings, and they easily defeated their opponents, and the GDP combination averaged 55.5 points per game in this series. Since the Mavericks and Spurs are in the same Southwest Division in the regular season, they can only rank fourth in the West with 60 wins, so the only two teams with 60+ wins in the West met in the Western Conference semifinals in advance, and the excitement and results of this round of the series have far exceeded people's expectations.
The two sides of the series G1 were extremely anxious, and no one could pull the score away, but the Spurs, who were sitting at home at halftime, still trailed the Mavericks by 6 points. Fortunately, the Spurs woke up in time in the third quarter, and with the help of Duncan and Parker, the team kept closing the score. At the decisive moment of the final quarter, the two sides began to fight against each other, and when there were more than 7 minutes left in the game, the Spurs relied on Ginobili's goal to overtake the score, and finally they had no danger to maintain the advantage until the end of the game, and Duncan, who scored 31 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks in the game, was undoubtedly the biggest contributor to the game.
However, before the Spurs could be efficient, the Mavericks directly forced them into a desperate situation with a wave of 3-0 scores, and G2 Nowitzki, Josh Howard, and Harris combined to score 68 points. G3 Nowitzki took 9 shots, grabbed 27 points, 15 rebounds and 3 assists on 21-of-24 free throws, and at critical moments he drew a foul on Brent Barry, and then hit both free throws to complete the quasi-stunner.
On the G4 Spurs' side, Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili combined for 90 points, and the team's new recruit Finley also contributed 14 points, but they still lost to the Mavericks. In that game, the Mavericks also had four players score double-doubles, including Terry scoring 32 points and 5 assists, Nowitzki frequently causing opponents to foul and cut down 28 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists by making free throws, in addition to the two of them, Starkerhouse, who came off the bench, became a wonder man, and he scored a team-high 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting.
Coming to the Spurs on the edge of the cliff, in the battle of Tianwang Mountain, Duncan burst the opponent's restricted area, and slashed 36 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks on 13-of-19 shooting. Parker also had a great performance, with 27 points and four assists, while Ginobili also had 18 points and five assists. In the face of the Spurs, who fought back, Nowitzki on the Mavericks' side scored 31 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists, and another 4 people scored double-doubles to no avail.
The G6 Mavericks' defensive focus was all on Duncan, and in fact they did get their wish, they limited Duncan to only 8 of 21 shots, but Ginobili's outburst relieved the Spurs, and he scored 30 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals in a single game to help the team continue the suspense of the series. It is worth mentioning that Nowitzki's performance was quite impressive, he had a big double-double of 26 points, 21 rebounds and 5 assists, but unfortunately did not help the team end the series.
After the Spurs returned to their home court in the tiebreaker, their performance in front of them was far less than expected, and they allowed their opponents to score 64 points at halftime, and they fell behind by 14 points, and Terry on the opposite side turned into a sharpshooter at that time, scoring a game-high 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting and 3-of-3 three-pointers in the half. In the second half, the Spurs began to "take strict care" of Terry, so the latter only scored 4 points on 2-of-6 shooting in the third quarter, and his shutdown caused the Mavericks to fall into an offensive drought, if it weren't for Nowitzki's efficient contribution of 8 points, the Mavericks might have overtaken the score in this quarter.
The Spurs continued their defensive intensity in the final quarter, once again limiting the Mavericks to just 20 points in the quarter, and their own offense was smooth sailing, with Duncan and Ginobili scoring 23 points. With 32.9 seconds left in the regular period, Ginobili scored a three-pointer to help the team overtake the score, and they only needed to defend well to complete the comeback.
But Nowitzki stepped up at a critical moment, he first caused Ginobili to foul and tied the score at 2+1, and then finally completed a block on the defensive end, and the Mavericks also risked dragging the series into overtime. In overtime, the Spurs' defense completely failed, and the Mavericks scored 15 points in five minutes, and a total of five players scored in total, and in the end they had no choice but to accept the fact that the reversal failed.
In the whole series, Duncan is undoubtedly the best player in the Spurs, he can average 32.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1 steal and 2.6 blocks per game, and he has 41 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks in the seven-game game. As for Nowitzki, he didn't fall too far behind in the proof matchup with Duncan this time, he averaged 27.1 points, 13.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game, and he also got 37 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block in the tiebreaker.
In addition to these two players, the three players with the highest points per game in the series are Ginobili with 21.3 points, Parker with 20.1 points, and Terry with 19.7 points, but the Mavericks can win without the help of other players, Howard is averaging 16.4 points per game, Starhouse is averaging 16 points per game, Harris is averaging 12.7 points per game, and Finley is averaging 10.6 points per game.