Editing David Robinson (section)

==== Championship season (1998–1999) ====

The later years of Robinson's career were plagued by back ailments.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2003-06-08-0306080170-story.html|title='Admiral' Robinson isn't one to pull rank|first=Milton|last=Kent|website=baltimoresun.com|date=June 8, 2003|access-date=January 29, 2020|archive-date=January 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129051551/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2003-06-08-0306080170-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/252629-honoring-david-robinson|title=Honoring David Robinson|first=Matthew|last=Mooney|website=Bleacher Report|access-date=January 29, 2020|archive-date=January 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129052127/https://bleacherreport.com/articles/252629-honoring-david-robinson|url-status=live}}</ref>
Before the start of the [[1998–99 NBA season|1998–99 season]], the NBA owners and NBA commissioner [[David Stern]] [[1998–99 NBA lockout|locked out]] the NBA Players' Association to force negotiations on a new [[Collective Bargaining Agreement]]. This lockout lasted for 202 days, well into the regular NBA season, before an agreement was finally reached. After playing a truncated 50-game season, the Spurs finished with an NBA-best record of 37–13, giving them the home-court advantage throughout [[1999 NBA Playoffs|the playoffs]].

The Spurs blitzed through the first three rounds of the NBA playoffs, beating the [[Minnesota Timberwolves]], [[Los Angeles Lakers]], and [[Portland Trail Blazers]] by a combined record of 11–1 to reach the [[1999 NBA Finals|NBA Finals]] for the first time ever. In the Finals, the combination of Robinson in the post and second-year [[power forward (basketball)|power forward]] [[Tim Duncan]] proved overpowering, and the Spurs beat the [[New York Knicks]] in five games to become the first former [[American Basketball Association]] team to win an NBA title. Duncan was named Finals MVP.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nba.com/history/season/19981999.html |title=Spurs Tower Over NBA |work=NBA.com |access-date=August 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106093310/http://www.nba.com/history/season/19981999.html |archive-date=January 6, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Robinson and Duncan were nicknamed [[Twin Towers (San Antonio Spurs)|"The Twin Towers"]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nba.com/history/top-moments/2003-spurs-championship-duncan-robinson|title=Top Moments: Twin Towers ride off to sunset with another title|website=NBA.com|access-date=January 29, 2020|archive-date=January 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129050821/https://www.nba.com/history/top-moments/2003-spurs-championship-duncan-robinson|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://hoopshype.com/2018/03/23/david-robinson-tim-duncan-is-probably-the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-me/|title=David Robinson: "Tim Duncan is probably the best thing that ever happened to me"|website=Hoopshype.com|date=March 23, 2018|access-date=January 29, 2020|archive-date=June 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617113112/https://hoopshype.com/2018/03/23/david-robinson-tim-duncan-is-probably-the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-me/|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:David Robinson spurs (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|right|Robinson with the Spurs in 2000]]