The legacy of Gregg Popovich and the Big Three will always be about championships first and foremost. Pop and Tim Duncan won five together, and Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were there for four of them. For the 1999, 2003, ‘05 and ‘07 championships, the Spurs were considered “boring” for their slow pace, post-heavy game, and defensive dominance. It’s not like they were any different than other successful teams or that wasn’t the game was back then, but the small market and lack of a marketable star (like Kobe Bryant) had NBA Commissioner David Stern publicly (and inappropriately) moaning about their success due to lagging TV ratings.

However, as the league evolved around them and the championships stopped coming with relative ease, Pop knew it was time to shake things up. An unselfish Duncan accepted a new offensive scheme that was no longer centered around him but instead shifted more towards the pace and movement of Parker and Ginobili. Not as stubborn as his reputation, Pop developed a scheme that would become known as the Beautiful Game, playing what was known as “.5 ball”: deciding whether to shoot, pass or attack within 0.5 seconds of receiving the ball.

This style of offense was exhausting to defend, and with the right roster of role players such as Danny Green, Patty Mills, Boris Diaw and Tiago Splitter centered around the Big Three and Kawhi Leonard, it led to the most satisfying of all their championships in 2014 — and it was actually praised by the national media instead of begrudged!

Although the Spurs haven’t won again since for reasons that don’t need rehashing, the game they helped built was only the start of a new era of basketball that continues today. The Golden State Warriors dynasty, led by the Splash Bros, took it to another level with elite three-point shooting, and the game exploded in popularity thanks to exciting offense and the ability to post highlights on social media at any given moment.

Of course, it has had its downside, such as teams getting too caught up in three-point shooting (which has led to an oddly high number of 30 to 40-point blowouts on nights when even the best teams just don’t have it), but the two 2025 NBA Finalists, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, are prime examples of teams who have found the right balance, using the Beautiful Game to find the best shot, even if it isn’t always worth three points.

The Pacers in particular got an entire video from Thinking Basketball about how their game mimics the 2014 Spurs’, with their quick ball movement and decisive action that is wearing down other defenses. Combine that with a championship-level defense, and they are one of the more surprising and overlooked NBA finalists in quite a while, even though we maybe should have seen them coming.

Some big wigs and coastal elitists may be groaning at two small-market teams from the heartland making the Finals — I’ve been particularly amused at all the East Coasters laughing at the idea anyone would ever consider the (relatively short) 700 mi, 12-hour drive between OKC and Indy when you could just fly, but hey, we’re used to it over here — but the NBA has been seeking more parity, and now they have it. It won’t surprise me if these Finals get good ratings despite who the teams are and show that if you play the game the right way*, it doesn’t matter where your team is located. You can still win it all.

*Praying for less foul-baiting from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, because without it, they play the Beautiful Game, too.