SAN ANTONIO — Ask Paul Salazar who his favorite Spurs is and his answer will be simple.
“David Robinson, I mean, when he first came on board. You feel your blood pumping and can’t [wait], but of course we had to wait those two years,” Salazar said.
His earliest Spurs memories date back to the HemisFair Arena days.
“Unfortunately, the seats we got were behind the columns, so if you’ve been around that long, you know what columns I’m talking about,” Salazar said.
It’s the same arena where Derick Gervin saw his old brother, the Ice Man George Gervin, capture the hearts of Spurs fans with his signature finger roll.
“The icing on the cake to know you will be able to come down here and get a show, win or lose,” Gervin said.
Gervin was a part of the Spurs family without even playing a single minute for the silver and black.
He rooted for them from their American Basketball Association days to the five championships dynasty led by Tim Duncan, which started at the Alamodome — a place the Spurs called home from 1993 to 2002.
“The players, they were also high-character people. That’s the part that breaks my heart. I wish more people knew that side of the San Antonio Spurs,” Gervin said.
The Spurs, just like San Antonio, are often overlooked. It was a bond the fans and the franchise have shared for 50 years.
It doesn’t surprise Gervin that this city set the all-time attendance record for a single NBA game — 68,323.
“I can see that only happening here and in Mexico,” Gervin said.
Salazar was one of those 68,000-plus fans in attendance.
It was a night filled with five decades of reminiscing. But the perks of being an older Spurs fan like Salazar is you know how to navigate the Alamodome.
“I know that most fans in the upper deck will be spending most of the time watching the larger screens,” Salazar said.
He was right about that.