On the NBA | Why don't fans appreciate the Spurs?

May was another perfect-storm month for the NBA: anger from all corners for its decision to suspend the Suns' Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for a critical playoff game; despair on the part of fans in Boston, Memphis and Milwaukee that they didn't get either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant out of the lottery; and the publishing of a study that purportedly showed unconscious racial bias on the part of NBA referees, and the backing of its findings by at least one independent analysis commissioned by ESPN.com.

Worst of all, the Spurs, leading the Jazz in the Western Conference finals, appeared destined for another appearance in the NBA Finals.

Two years ago, the Spurs and Pistons went the full seven games in the Finals, with Games 5, 6 and 7 providing plenty of compelling moments. But the ratings were among the lowest in Finals history. The Spurs' three championships have produced three of the five lowest-rated Finals in the last 24 years.

America has spoken loud and clear: It says it wants substance from its NBA teams and is tired of the preening, chest-thumping egotists. But when given a chance to watch a Spurs team full of selfless play and non-promoters, led by one of the all-time greats in Tim Duncan, it turns the channel.

Much of America seems to find the Spurs - the best team of their generation, on the way to a fourth championship in eight years, the stuff of a dynasty - terribly boring.

"I don't consider myself boring," Spurs guard Tony Parker said this week. And on the surface, how could you argue? He plays an exciting, get-in-the-paint style. He may be the quickest guard in the league with the ball. He has a repertoire of electric moves around the basket. He's good looking, well-paid, multilingual.

And he's engaged to Eva Longoria.

"I just think we play solid," Parker said. "We play just like real basketball. Sometimes people get used to Golden State and Phoenix, and that's more exciting than us. I'm not going to tell you the opposite. But I think we play solid basketball, and people who really enjoy basketball, they're going to enjoy watching us play."

The Spurs' relentless excellence has converted some fans. They moved into the top 10 (ninth overall) in team merchandise sales this season, based on sales at the NBA Store in New York. And Duncan's jersey was the 11th-best-selling one at the store among the top 25 individual players.

But the league wants and needs more casual fans to identify with its marquee teams. And the country just doesn't seem interested in watching Duncan's footwork or Bruce Bowen's suffocating defense or Manu Ginobili's brilliant shot-making. The preference for the fastbreaking Suns to beat the Spurs in their second-round series seemed to be at the heart of most people's criticism of the league for suspending Stoudemire and Diaw after the series was tied at two games apiece.

Spurs forward Robert Horry said the perception of the Spurs as boring was more elementary: They don't do a lot of attention-getting interviews or commercials.

"Let's just say that we changed Tim's whole persona and he was a more outgoing guy," Horry said. "If he does the same things as, say, Shaq does, that would be an exciting team. He'd be on TV and doing commercials. But if you look on the play on the court, we're just as exciting, I think, as everybody else. Especially Manu and Tony, some of the things that Tony does. No dunks, but that's the only thing they can say. We don't dunk."

Location may matter. San Antonio is the 29th-largest metropolitan area in the country, according to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau. And Parker believes that's the biggest reason the Spurs don't get much attention.

"Put our team in New York, and we're winning championships and stuff like that, and they'd be loving us," Parker said. "We'd be like the Yankees."

Parker wants to be clear: He's not wishing he were in New York. But he's convinced that the Spurs would be viewed differently nationwide if they were in a larger market.

"If our team was in New York, there would be a different perception of our team," Parker said, adding that "they'd be talking crazy about Manu and Timmy and stuff like that. But we're in San Antonio. Don't get me wrong; I love San Antonio. But I'm just saying that different markets, I guess . . . if our team was in New York, it would be huge."

The sad thing is that when you get behind their dour public personas, the Spurs are full of interesting people, from coach Gregg Popovich, a wine aficionado and Russian-studies major in college; to Bowen, the former 76er; to the never-dull Horry. And Duncan has a sharp, if self-deprecating, wit.

But it won't be on display on a flat screen near you any time soon.