If you are young(ish) there is a really good chance that the San Antonio Spurs have been in the playoffs so consistently that you might believe that they have a guaranteed spot based on geography but no, they had to earn that spot every year and normally they would do so... until today.
Today marks the first time in 23 years (I promise i am not making this up) that the San Antonio Spurs have NOT been in the playoffs.
When the final buzzer sounded in the 4th the Utah Jazz, who have been performing brilliantly lately put a stop to what would have been the longest streak in the playoffs ever achieved by any team in the history of the NBA.
It's more complicated than just the Spurs losing on Thursday because, for the uninitiated, we are not in any sort of knock-out bracket at the moment but merely competing based on wins and losses. The Spurs needed to either win Thursday (didn't) or have the Memphis Grizzlies or Phoenix Suns lose today. Unfortunately for long-term coach Gregg Popovich (why does he have two "g"'s in his first name?) the first thing didn't happen, and the 2nd duo of things also didn't happen either.
On a completely personal note I think that it is actually quite tragic for the current S.A. Spurs side because they are not a terrible team by any means, they are just the team that made it to 22 years and dropped the ball right at the point that San Antonio was looking at a record that likely would never be broken by having made it to the playoffs 23 consecutive years.
While no small achievement by any means, they are going to have to share this crown of the longest-playoff-streak ever with another team and that team achieved this so long ago that they actually performed in two different cities and with two different team names.
The Syracuse Nationals later became known as the Philadelphia 76'ers and they obviously had more teams than just the one pictured above. The went to the playoffs every single year from 1950 to 1971.
To give you an idea about how absolutely huge of a deal this elimination of the Spurs in their 22nd year is I want you to understand that the closest streak to their 22 (nearly 23) is held by the Houston Rockets who have a paltry 8 consecutive playoff appearances. I am quite certain that I will be dead and gone before anyone gets close to this record ever again. I think that I am more upset about the Spurs not making the playoffs than I am about anything else involved in the sport right now because this was 2 decades in the making.
As pissed off as I am that these guys couldn't core another 3 baskets I suppose we should pay attention to the fact that this was quite an achievement and in those 22 years they won 5 championships.
They also appeared in more playoff games than the next nearest competitor in the same time-frame by more than a hundred games and this includes everyone... The Lakers, The Celtics, The Bulls, everyone! Yet I think a lot of people dont recognize them for the dominant dynasty that they were and with rare exceptions there were no video games made for them and other than the Admiral (David Robinson) and Tim Duncan, who is going to be remembered forever?
I'm personally going to go and have a break because this is devastating. There is very little chance that we will get another chance to break this record again while I am still alive.