The San Antonio Spurs are all about winning. Playing under head coach Gregg Popovich, Hall of Fame power forward Tim Duncan led the Spurs to the best winning percentage of any team in any major professional sports league in the United States or Canada. The Spurs have won five championships, tied with LA Lakers for the most in the last 25 years. Since Duncan's retirement in 2016, however, the once-dynastic Spurs have slid back to mediocrity. The embarrassment of banners hanging from the rafters of San Antonio's AT&T Center offer constant reminders of how far removed they are from their last championship in 2014. The 2019-2020 was shaping up to be another rebuilding year. Then, on March 11, NBA commissioner Adam Silver suspended the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After months of uncertainty, a compromise was reached. The season would resume in the "Bubble" in Disney World, Orlando, a controlled environment with no fans and strict hygienic protocols. The NBA's 113-page rule book forbade, among other things, doubles ping-pong. This was the last straw for Spurs wing DeMarcus Rozan. "The ping pong thing is ridiculous, to be honest," vented Rozan, citing the inherent social-distancing violations of basketball. Regardless, it was agreed that the show must go on. While the league has been forced to scramble to salvage something of the season, the Spurs are in the same boat. At 27-36, the Spurs are on the outside looking in to playoff picture, trailing the Memphis Grizzlies by four games for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. While this is an unfamiliar position for Popovich's team, they have not been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Therefore, they have joined the 21 other teams competing for 16 playoff spots. To help keep their reflexes sharp for the long-awaited playoff push, the Spurs held a ping-pong tournament yesterday. Open only to Spurs players, coaches and staff, the ostensibly relaxing diversion quickly developed playoff intensity. The mandatory face masks did nothing to deter the raucous commentary from those on the sidelines. Just like the current NBA experiment, 22 entrants vied for the championship. Shooting guard Lonnie Walker offhandedly made an insightful comment about the global reach of of table tennis, to which basketball can only aspire: "Why is it, like, all the overseas people can play?", Walker mused as Croatian power forward Luka Šamanić smashed a pop-up. "All foreigners can play, seriously." After all the hoopla, it was athletic development coach Kelly Forbes (pictured) who won the coveted trophy, which he kissed through his mask for a victory pose on Twitter: a can of Lysol disinfectant spray. Just to be playing sports and having fun again is a victory. At least in this regard, the Spurs have resumed their winning ways.

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