"It's hard to remember the first time Gregg Popovich declared one of his Spurs teams older than dirt.

An archive search brings up references as far back as 2006, when Tim Duncan was near his prime and Manu Ginobili was still in his 20s.

The assertion was more accurate when he made it before the start of the 2008-09 season, but the context was more instructive than the declaration.

Then, a visiting columnist asked Popovich why his team was being dismissed as a legitimate title contender by so many experts.

After all, the previous spring the team had returned for a second straight season to the Western Conference finals. But misfortune had struck the Spurs in Game 3 of their conference semifinals series against the Hornets when Manu Ginobili twisted his right ankle. Ginobili gutted out the final four games of that series, but by the time the Spurs got to Los Angeles to begin the conference finals, he was far from full effectiveness.

At the conclusion of a 4-1 ouster by the Lakers, Brent Barry famously avowed: "We had 'Ma,' but we didn't have 'Nu.'?""