They were written off last year, they were written off this year, but the San Antonio Spurs now have a realistic chance of winning the title again. It's pretty incredible, considering that their team's stars are all of over thirty, but it's just a testament to what an amazing job Gregg Popovich has done as coach. Year in year out he has got them not only making the playoffs but also performing really well and mostly getting to the finals (last year being the exception).

Tony Parker is better than he's ever been this season, and at least this year, he's shown that he is one of the best point guards in the NBA. Duncan's the consistent performer he's always been, while Ginobili, like Parker, has taken on a new dimension and is better than ever. It's very interesting to see the veterans of the game rediscover their peak form. It's rather like if Ronaldinho were to recommend the best player in the world. It's incredibly rare to see, and it shows that some oldies are truly golden.

It seems that experienced teams do really well on the NBA: the Mavs won last year, with Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki, the Celtics seem to keep doing well despite the big three being over 30, so it's really a weird sport in that regard. In football, older players are dismissed in favour of young starlets, but in basketball, old players you could argue sometimes perform much better than younger players. That's partly the reason of San Antonio's success - in football they wouldn't have a chance.