NBA opens 60th season with Spurs seeking fourth crown in eight years
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-31 09:21

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Reigning champion San Antonio will seek a fourth crown in eight years while a host of improved rivals take aim at the Spurs when the National Basketball Association's 60th season begins Tuesday.

The Spurs outlasted Detroit in a dramatic seven-game showdown in June's NBA Finals, but the Pistons return as a serious threat to dethrone San Antonio along with Miami, Indiana, Phoenix, Denver and Houston.

"They know we didn't kick anybody's butt in the playoffs," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "There are still six, seven teams that can win the championship and we're one of them. But we don't have any illusions about who we are."

Star forward Tim Duncan sparked the Spurs with 20.3 points and 11.1 rebounds a game last season and together with French guard Tony Parker and Argentina playmaker Manu Ginobili nudged San Antonio into a championship.

But foes are gathering. Shaquille O'Neal left behind Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers to make the Miami Heat a contender and Indiana will have Ron Artest returning after an early season brawl dimmed last season's title hopes.

"I told them, 'Shaq wants to win the championship. He wants to prove he can do it without Kobe. Detroit wants to get it back again,'" Popovich said. "It's not like we kicked their (rears) last year.

"Indiana was just as good as anybody but they blew it up. And there are three or four teams out West just like those in the East."

The defense-minded Spurs added veterans Nick Van Exel and Michael Finley, who figure to play key roles off the bench, to the skills of Ginobili, who had 16 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists a game, and Parker, who averaged 16.6 points, 6.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds.