Maybe they'll finally get a challenge this time.
The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder have simply rolled through this postseason. There's the 18-game winning streak that has the Spurs flirting with history. Seventeen combined playoff games and just one loss. The Thunder sending home the last two NBA champions, and no other playoff teams besides these two that can boast a series sweep.
What took the Western Conference finals so long to get here Sunday, anyway?
''I think we both deserve it,'' Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said.
Few would dispute that.
It's a clear-cut matchup of the West's best teams without any qualifiers: No what-if speculating because of devastating injuries like Derrick Rose's blown-out knee that sunk top-seeded Chicago and reshuffled predictions in the East, nor were there lucky breaks or Game 7 heartbreakers that will gnaw at San Antonio's and Oklahoma City's dispatched opponents and their fans all summer.
By and large, the Spurs and Thunder have just steamrolled to this point.
The top-seeded Spurs clobbered Utah and the Los Angeles Clippers by an average of 14 points a game. They're one victory from tying the 2001 Lakers for the longest winning streak kept alive in a postseason and two from becoming just the fourth team in NBA history to win 20 in row.
''It's been a while since we've been in the Western Conference finals. And it's been a week kind of sitting here stewing and waiting on it,'' said Spurs forward Tim Duncan, whose last playoff trip this far in 2008 ended with a loss to the Lakers. ''All of that together makes it an exciting series to start.''
Oklahoma City - which finished three games behind the Spurs for first place - didn't have as many blowouts the first two rounds as San Antonio but drew tougher matchups. The Thunder avenged falling at the brink of the NBA Finals last year with a sweep of defending champion Dallas, then beat the Lakers in five.
Even before the playoffs, it was arguably easy to see this conference finals matchup coming: From the second week of the regular season until April 6, the Thunder held first place in the West.
Then the Spurs leapfrogged them, and never gave it back.
''I know they're the No. 1 seed - they're a tough group, they haven't lost in a couple months,'' Thunder forward Kevin Durant said. ''But I think we bring another dimension to the table as well and we come out and compete.''
Then the NBA's scoring champion the last three seasons added, ''We're a group that's been together for four or five years. They've been together for 15 years. Those guys, they know each other inside and out.''
The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder have simply rolled through this postseason. There's the 18-game winning streak that has the Spurs flirting with history. Seventeen combined playoff games and just one loss. The Thunder sending home the last two NBA champions, and no other playoff teams besides these two that can boast a series sweep.
What took the Western Conference finals so long to get here Sunday, anyway?
''I think we both deserve it,'' Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said.
Few would dispute that.
It's a clear-cut matchup of the West's best teams without any qualifiers: No what-if speculating because of devastating injuries like Derrick Rose's blown-out knee that sunk top-seeded Chicago and reshuffled predictions in the East, nor were there lucky breaks or Game 7 heartbreakers that will gnaw at San Antonio's and Oklahoma City's dispatched opponents and their fans all summer.
By and large, the Spurs and Thunder have just steamrolled to this point.
The top-seeded Spurs clobbered Utah and the Los Angeles Clippers by an average of 14 points a game. They're one victory from tying the 2001 Lakers for the longest winning streak kept alive in a postseason and two from becoming just the fourth team in NBA history to win 20 in row.
''It's been a while since we've been in the Western Conference finals. And it's been a week kind of sitting here stewing and waiting on it,'' said Spurs forward Tim Duncan, whose last playoff trip this far in 2008 ended with a loss to the Lakers. ''All of that together makes it an exciting series to start.''
Oklahoma City - which finished three games behind the Spurs for first place - didn't have as many blowouts the first two rounds as San Antonio but drew tougher matchups. The Thunder avenged falling at the brink of the NBA Finals last year with a sweep of defending champion Dallas, then beat the Lakers in five.
Even before the playoffs, it was arguably easy to see this conference finals matchup coming: From the second week of the regular season until April 6, the Thunder held first place in the West.
Then the Spurs leapfrogged them, and never gave it back.
''I know they're the No. 1 seed - they're a tough group, they haven't lost in a couple months,'' Thunder forward Kevin Durant said. ''But I think we bring another dimension to the table as well and we come out and compete.''
Then the NBA's scoring champion the last three seasons added, ''We're a group that's been together for four or five years. They've been together for 15 years. Those guys, they know each other inside and out.''
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