The early Doug Moe Spurs, despite appearances, weren't a run and gun fast break team.
They ran a half-court offense but they relentlessly and very quickly passed the ball around the perimeter (and then inside) and were ordered to take the first decent shot they had. Not so much good-to-great but rather if you got a shot take it, without conscience.
As an ABA refugee, the Spurs got no favors from the old school NBA refs in the playoffs.
In Moe's third season they almost made the NBA Finals by almost beating the Washington Bullets.
The Spurs had a 3-1 lead in that Eastern Conference Finals series but lost the next two.
Game Seven was in Washington and everyone thought the Spurs would fold (as they had in the prior two games).
But the Spurs came to play and fought hard, holding a small lead almost the entire game.
Then the refs showed up -- the Spurs, conservatively trying to hold the ball and nurse their lead in the last minutes, got called for something like three offensive fouls in a row.
Even straight-down-the-line Sports Illustrated wrote that the Spurs were victimized by a series of "highly questionable" calls.
The Spurs lost the game 107-105 and Doug Moe got fired the next year (then went on to his greatest fame as the Denver Nuggets long-time coach).
The Spurs may be the only team to have been in both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals (although I think the Rockets may have done that also).
