Hubbard: To keep building his own dynasty, LeBron must defeat another

Among the monumental sports topics that are debated everywhere – from local fine drinking establishments to radio and television shows where participants spend hours shouting at each other – is the issue of dynasties.

In sports, identifying and labeling dynasties is a must. It’s part of our DNA. And then when a dynasty is established and accepted as fact, it must be compared to other dynasties. That is mandatory. It is what makes sports sports.

For most of the last year, dynasty watchers have been focused on LeBron James because he has been so sensational on the court. He is indisputably the best player in the world and is in the process of building his championship legacy. Winning four MVP trophies is huge personally, but the game is bigger. And right now, he has only one ring.

A second was supposed to be a given, and although the Indiana Pacers were as irritating as a battering ram — and equally lacking in subtlety –in the Eastern Conference finals, the Heat had home court in the seventh game and did exactly what a defending champion is supposed to do.

So now we have Miami vs. San Antonio in the NBA Finals and we can have the dynasty discussion — and not simply about the Heat.

Although the Spurs are America’s favorite team to overlook, it should be remembered that while the Heat are going for their second consecutive title, the Spurs are going for their fifth since 1999. In the NBA, only the Celtics (17), Lakers (16) and Bulls (six) have more titles.

Despite their success, the Spurs are terminally taken for granted. The reasons are obvious — playing in a small market is one. The other is the Spurs are

a reflection of their media-reluctant coach Gregg Popovich and their relentlessly fundamental star Tim Duncan, who never has titillated the masses by dunking from the free throw line. By the way, he also never has lost when playing in the Finals.

But San Antonio’s last Finals appearance and title was in 2007. And in the last few years, way too much time has been spent on dismissing them because of Duncan’s age. Yes, he is 37 and not as dominant as he once was. But he played well enough this season to be on the All-NBA First Team after two seasons of being shut out of all three All-NBA teams.

But here’s the thing about Duncan and the Spurs: They were so close to being far greater than four championships. That was revisited in The History of the San Antonio Spurs, which was released earlier this year.