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TOP JOBS

After a team clinches the NBA Finals with win No. 4, usually four notable things occur.

The falling of confetti.

The popping of champagne bottles.

The handing over of the Larry O’Brien Trophy from the commissioner to the winning team.

And the ensuing victory parade through the triumphant city.

Before that happens though, the number four will be the key to settling a debate that has been going on for most of the new millennium.

It can be said that the number four is the most unique of its kind. After all, four is the only number in the English language in which the amount of letters in the name is equal to the number itself.

In the NBA playoffs, the first team to four victories wins the series. But when it comes to one series in particular, the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, the first to four of another sort will be on the brink of claiming much more.

Both the Lakers and Spurs have each won three titles this decade. The Lakers’ started the decade with a three-peat from 2000-2002 before the Spurs’ interrupted their run and embarked on their own — winning in odd-years only in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

So, the winner of the Western Conference series (assuming they go on and win the NBA Finals next month) clinches at least a tie for ‘Team of the Decade’ honors with only one year remaining.

The current race may be the best in history, and the closest when it comes to determining the best in a 10-year period.

After all, the final four consists of the Boston Celtics, the NBA leaders with 16 titles and 66 wins during the regular season; the Detroit Pistons, who are on a league-high streak of six consecutive conference championship appearances; and the dominant teams this decade — the Lakers and Spurs.

Only during the 1970s did a single team fail to win at least three titles, with the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks winning two championships apiece. Chicago claimed six titles during the 1990s; the Lakers five during the 1980s and four during the 1950s (when they were based in Minneapolis); and the Celtics nine during the 1960s.

A Four-gone Conclusion?

The last time the Lakers and Spurs met in the playoffs, back in the Western Conference semifinals in 2004, Los Angeles guard Derek Fisher carved his name in playoff lore when he hit a game-winning jumper despite having only four-tenths of a second (0.4) to get the shot off. The win gave the Lakers a 3-2 series lead and they closed out the Spurs the next game, ending their hopes of repeating.

But just like the clock before Fisher’s desperation heave, time is running out — for one team at least after the Lakers won the first two games in Los Angeles.

Even though the Spurs fell behind the Lakers 3-0 in titles this decade before winning three of the next five to pull even, no NBA team has ever came back from a 3-0 deficit in a seven-game series.

A few have come back from a 2-0 hole, with the Spurs just doing so in the last round against the New Orleans Hornets. But, if the Spurs want to see title No. 4, they can’t afford to go into Game 4 without a win.

With only two champions left to be crowned this decade, and one team two wins away from moving on, it looks like the ‘Team of this Decade’ may end up being the same Laker franchise that started the 2000s off with three straight victory parades.