The old guard.(basketball)

Some of the most experienced playoff teams have been eliminated, but the Spurs and Lakers continue to count on over-35 veterans, and San Antonio's Terry Porter is Exhibit A

Terry Porter is old, and he does not need to read this article to know it He can tell every time he takes the court as the starting point guard for the Spurs and is assigned to defend the Mavericks' Steve Nash, Porter's counterpart in the Western Conference semifinals.

Porter is 38--Nash is 27--and each of Porter's 16 NBA seasons resonates a little when Nash tries some frenetic move into the paint. When Porter broke into the NBA in 1985, keeping up with Nash would not have been such a problem. But now--well, thank goodness for help defense.

As if Porter's body did not spend enough lime reminding him of his age, he has teammates to deal with. They call him "Grandpa Terry," and "Fossil." There is a new one Porter straggles to remember--even his memory is not what it used to be--before it comes to him. "Mount Rushmore," he says, smiling. "They were calling me that the other day."

Even coach Gregg Popovich tries to spare Porter by giving him practice time off, a gesture that makes Porter bristle. He is like a senior citizen who insists he can do things the same as everyone else. Even Porter's opponents, while attempting to be respectful, remind Porter just how old he is.

"You hear the obvious one: `I respect what you have done; I remember watching you in high school. You were my guy when I was in high school,'" Porter says, laughing, dropping his old head in his old hands. "I don't want to hear that. I'm like, `OK, thank you. Let's just play.'"

Porter is the oldest of the Spurs, the oldest team--with an average age of 30.6--still in the playoffs. That's a stark contrast to the Mavericks, the youngest team in the playoffs at 27.4 years. Their series best exemplifies the nature of this year's postseason, packed with coming-of-age stories featuring young upstarts knocking out the seasoned vets.