Photo by JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Getty Images A quarter century of NBA Finals Earlier this week, a fellow Pounder commented that since 2010, there has only been one NBA Finals to not have either the Miami Heat or the Golden State Warriors — the 2021 Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns. Possibly even stranger, the Warriors and Heat have not met in any of those Finals, meaning it is one or the other. There is a dominance that comes from building a championship caliber squad and getting the core to return year after year in hopes of replicating that success. In fact, since 1999 (yeah, I started with ‘99, you want a multiple of five go to another team’s blog, we’re here for the Spurs), there have only been 11 teams to win an NBA title. 19 teams have been to the Finals in 25 years. 19 out of 30 may seem like a wide enough variety, but keep in mind that there are 11 teams that have not been to the Finals since the turn of the century. Remember all those tweets after Duncan retired that said things like “A 20-year-old Spurs fan has never seen their team miss the playoffs,” or “Spurs fans have had two decades of winning records.” Now imagine roughly the opposite of that. Since 1999, 17 titles have gone to the West leaving only 8 for the East. Of the 17, the Lakers, Warriors, and Spurs have 15 of them. Three teams have 60% of the rings for a quarter century. There is a bit of a changing of the guard going on over the last few years with the Bucks, Suns, and Nuggets getting into the deep postseason. This years Eastern Conference Semifinals include the Knicks and Pacers who haven’t seen the Finals since 1999 and 2000 respectively. And although the Celtics made it two seasons ago, they haven’t hoisted a Larry O’Brien in fifteen years. Seeing as how the Clippers were eliminated last night, the last team remaining in this postseason to never have appeared in a Finals are the Minnesota Timberwolves. Are Anthony Edwards and the T-Wolves poised to usher in an era of transition? From a Spurs perspective, fresh young players giving their elders an extended summer vacation certainly looks like the way to go. Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here. Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.