Spurs Aiming For First Repeat Title

SAN ANTONIO (AP) The San Antonio Spurs seem to have it all.

Four championships in nine seasons, "dynasty talk" that they routinely blow off and a humble but capable team led by a disciplined and winning coach.

This summer they had the big parade and citywide party, their Finals MVP had his storybook wedding, and players' families added little ones here and there. No, they didn't host "Saturday Night Live" last weekend, but in the Finals they swept the team of the player who did.

Still, there's one thing the Spurs don't have no matter how you say it: a repeat, a back-to-back, two in a row.

"If it doesn't happen there will be no suicides on my watch. But you know, you have goals and you reach those goals and there are new goals and you reach those goals and somebody comes up with something else," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said a day before the defending champions opened training camp. "And we're going to try, but it's an even year, so it's tough for us."

Popovich was referring to the fact that all of the Spurs' titles have come in odd years: 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007.

So, with the evens against them for a 2008 title, the Spurs will do what they always do, no matter how deep their talent, no matter how many returning players they boast.

"We go back to the beginning every year. We're really big on trying not to skip steps, realizing it's a long journey and that the building blocks have to be there," Popovich said, moments after referencing the latest banner in the Spurs' practice gym proclaiming them the champions.

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