The San Antonio Spurs are trying to hand the New Orleans Hornets their second consecutive loss and extend a seven-game winning streak against the Hornets in New Orleans tonight. New Orleans matched last season's start for the best in franchise history with four straight wins before falling 93-90 to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. The Spurs, meanwhile, bounced back from their first loss with an 88-78 win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday.
Peter Finney, a writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune paid great tribute to the Spurs today. What a good sport.
Finney wrote, "Let's all stand and applaud. How about a Big Easy welcome to the Invisible Dynasty that goes by the name of the San Antonio Spurs? The Spurs win by making plays that don't show up on "SportsCenter." They win with defense, by getting the ball to the open man, by wearing you down with basic fundamentals. Whatever happens tonight, win or lose, the Hornets will learn from the experience."
What a great article from the oposition's press? WOW! Do you think maybe, just maybe, Katrina changed the paradigm on how things are viewed in the Crescent City?
Imagine, remembering that sports are for fun. What a display of sportsmanship that is far to lacking these days. Thanks Peter.
The Hornets have one of the Western Conference's most potent backcourts. Third-year point guard Chris Paul dropped 21 assists on the Los Angeles Lakers in New Orleans' Tuesday night victory. Shooting guard Morris Peterson, signed as a free agent this summer, is finding his comfort zone. Backups Bobby Jackson and Rasual Butler are solid and consistent.
The Spurs defense put the clamps down once again on the Nuggets in the second half and took the series victory with a 93-78 win Wednesday night. Denver’s point total was the lowest of any of the five games of the series with the Spurs only giving up 30 in the final two periods (11 points in the 3rd and 19 in the 4th). The Spurs held the Nuggets to 38% shooting in the contest.
The Buzz
Just like in 2005 when the Nuggets jumped out to a 1-0 series lead over the Spurs, the Spurs were able to fight back and win four straight and take the series.
The Recap
The San Antonio Spurs don't have to go back to Denver. They're headed to the Western Conference semifinals. With Michael Finley leading the way from behind the 3-point line, the Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets 93-78 on Wednesday night to win their first-round series in five games. After losing the opening game at home, the Spurs won four straight, and they will have three days' rest before opening the second round at Phoenix on Sunday. The Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers 119-110 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Finley set a San Antonio playoff record with eight 3-pointers and finished with 26 points. "He was fantastic. He came out and served it up well. And he just kept shooting,'' said Robert Horry, who hit a big three late in the Spurs' Game 4 victory. "That's the one thing about it ... once you get hot, keep shooting until you miss, and he didn't miss.''
It was also a career-best in threes for Finley, who went 8-of-9 from 3-point range. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called Finley's performance "ridiculous.'' "To be realistic, my career is coming to an end in a couple of years or so. So I'm enjoying the moment,'' said the 34-year-old Finley, who signed with the Spurs in September 2005 and is in his 12th NBA season. "I'm blessed to be playing with some tremendous basketball players, guys like Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan. Those guys attract a lot of attention and I'm just out there doing my job and knocking down shots off of things they create for me.''
The Spurs finished 10-for-21 from beyond the arc led by Finley, who came into Game 5 shooting nearly 41 percent from 3-point range during the playoffs, up from 36 percent during the regular season. "The last two threes, I think he didn't even looked at the rim. He caught it and let it fly with Carmelo Anthony on top of him,'' Ginobili said. "It was unbelievable. He was really feeling it.''
Finley's fourth three with 1:30 left in the third put San Antonio up 61-55, and they went into the final 12 minutes up 63-59. The Spurs opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run sparked by Finley's fifth three of the game. Finley hit his sixth 3-pointer with just over nine minutes to go and his seventh came halfway through the fourth quarter as the Spurs took an 82-71 lead. His last 3-ball came with about 2 1/2 minutes left to make it 89-76.
When an adolescent Tim Duncan turned his athletic attention from swimming to basketball after Hurricane Hugo destroyed the swimming pool in which he trained in St. Croix, Magic Johnson was in his prime with the "Showtime" Los Angeles Lakers. Duncan saw Johnson on television and dreamed of leading fast breaks. On Saturday night, the Spurs' center did a fair impression of the Hall of Fame point guard when, on the dead run, he executed a hard bounce pass to Manu Ginobili that led to a powerful dunk that gave his team an 81-67 lead over the New Jersey Nets at the A####mp;T Center. "I did watch a lot of Magic (growing up)," Duncan said after the Spurs finished off the Nets 93-77, "and I'm glad somebody is starting to notice that I'm starting to use his skills whenever possible."
Home Sweeter Home:
The Spurs already have lost more games at A####mp;T Center than they did last season, but have begun to re-establish their home court as a hostile environment. They have not lost at home since the All-Star break, and have won their last six at the A####mp;T Center. Winning there after completing a 4-0 road trip was important, according to Duncan.
Finley Mark Broken:
Wisconsin senior Alando Tucker broke Michael Finley's career scoring record Saturday in the Badgers' victory over Illinois in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament. Tucker began the day one point shy of Finley's mark of 2,146 points. He passed it by making the first shot he attempted.
Caution Prevails:
Nets coach Lawrence Frank was encouraged by the play of forward Richard Jefferson in Saturday's game.
Old Knees:
Nets forward Cliff Robinson, who suffered a sprained left knee in the loss at Houston on Friday night, did not suit up against the Spurs.
Nets Viewpoint: Kidd, Frank Tossed; Nets Slammed Again
Sunday, March 11, 2007
By AL IANNAZZONE
STAFF WRITER
North Jersey Record
SAN ANTONIO -- Lawrence Frank's coaching career has been tied to Jason Kidd. So perhaps it was fitting that on a night that Kidd was ejected, his coach earned his first career ouster and joined his star player in the locker room. That's not how Frank wanted it. But the officials took over the game in the third quarter of the Nets' 93-77 loss to the Spurs on Saturday night at the A####mp;T Center, and seemingly hit any Net who opened his mouth with a technical foul.
The third quarter was like a scene from "Forget Paris," a basketball movie starring Billy Crystal in which Crystal's character plays a referee and T's up everyone from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to Isaiah Thomas to Bill Laimbeer during one game. In all, the Nets received five technicals in the last 4:23 of the third period. Official Tony Brothers called four of them -- both on Kidd, one on Frank and one on Mikki Moore. Frank earned his technical for arguing a non-call on a Kidd drive to the basket. Kidd was upset about that too. He said something to Brothers to get his first technical and was on the other end of the court when he earned his second.
"I was surprised by all of them," Kidd said after his second career ejection, both as a Net. "Tony felt that's what he had to do. "I was down the court [on the second]. He wanted to make the call and he made it. He was the star tonight."
Kidd and Frank will be a few zeroes lighter in their bank accounts after this game, which dropped the Nets into 10th in the Eastern Conference, a game behind the Knicks and Magic. Frank didn't say anything about his first technical, but was surprised about the second. The third quarter had just ended and Frank said something to official Ken Mauer to earn his first ejection. "I was a little bit baffled I was thrown out," Frank said. "I didn't cuss or anything like that.
The San Antonio Spurs look to extend their best stretch of the season on Friday when they host the Orlando Magic at the A####mp;T Center. The Spurs have rattled off a season-high six straight wins and owns the third-best record in the Western Conference. The Spurs are averaging 100.7 points during their winning streak while holding opponents to 83.5. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich thinks his team is peaking at just the right time with the postseason approaching. Orlando's Brian Hill better start seeing some improvement from his own squad or it won't even be in the playoffs.
Tim Duncan emphasizes the importance of winning at home. "We've lost some really bad ones here and we just want to re-establish the fact that we need to be a good home team...". The Magic is the only team in the NBA to have never won a season series against the Spurs. San Antonio would do well to reestablish their dominance at home by continuing their recent success and their mastery of Orlando with another win over the Magic.
Don’t Sleep on the Spurs It seems a foregone conclusion that the NBA Finals will be Dallas or Phoenix and some poor, unfortunate Eastern Conference team, right? Not so fast. Didn’t you ever hear the cautionary warning about counting your chickens while sitting at the table? Maybe I’ve mixed messages, but let me make this one clear: Don’t sleep on the San Antonio Spurs.
How can that be, you ask? Surely I can’t be serious? Haven’t I been watching hoops at all this season? And haven’t I seen the Mavs and Suns so clearly dominate the West through the first two-thirds of the season.
Yes, in all seriousness, I’ve witnessed the Spurs struggles, but I’ve also seen them in this position before. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich is well known for not being overly concerned with his team’s regular season record, but rather using it as an 82-game tune-up for when the real action gets underway. As long as his team continues to improve, well, it seems just fine by Pop if his team isn’t leading in the win-loss column when the calendar still reads February. And who am I to second guess one of the game’s top decision makers, seeing as how he’s led his team to the Larry O’Brien trophy by kicking in the front door as well as slipping in the back.
“I think what is important is a group of men understanding that the real job is to get better as the season moves along and to be at your best at the end,” Popovich told USA Today’s David Dupree earlier this month. “Houston did it from behind, L.A. has done it both ways, we've done it both ways.”
During the 2002-03 season, the Spurs were a mere 38-17 before going on a late tear to finish the season with an NBA-best 60-22 record. They then marched through the field of 16, beating the Suns, Lakers, Mavericks and Nets, all in six games apiece, to win their second championship in the Tim Duncan era.
Two seasons later, the Spurs found themselves staring up at the Suns in the standings after Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire led a remarkable 33-game turnaround to finish with a league-high 62 wins. The teams met in the Conference Finals and, weathering an impressive 37 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game from Stoudemire, the Spurs cruised to a 4-1 series win before being stretched to a seventh game by the Pistons in the Finals.
If this year’s Spurs (38-18) are to hope for more hardware this year, they may have to do so in the role of underdog. It seems unlikely the team is going to finish the season 22-4 to hit the 60-win mark as in 2003, but, even if it did, that might not be enough as the Mavs could notch 70 Ws with the Suns tight on their heels.
As the Spurs start to steam down the homestretch of the long NBA season, the way they share the ball will be one of the factors by which to gauge their success. In last Saturday's home win over Seattle, the Spurs dished out 32 assists, and only four were credited to their starting point guard. The reserves also spread the wealth, with 18 assists coming from the bench. On one of the more memorable fast breaks of the season, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker raced up the floor exchanging passes, and then -- almost out of nowhere -- came the trailer, Bruce Bowen. Ginobili saw Bruce to his right, and quickly scooped a pass to him, and then Bowen finished with a two hand dunk, much to the delight of his teammates and the sold-out crowd.
Spurs aim to feel more at home
By Johnny Ludden
Shortly after returning from the Spurs' annual rodeo trip, coach Gregg Popovich made it clear to his players that their back-to-back victories in New Jersey and Detroit wouldn't mean much if the team didn't improve its play at home. While such a message would have seemed unnecessary in previous years — the Spurs entered training camp having won 85 of their past 95 regular-season games at the A####mp;T Center — that wasn't the case this season. By the time the Spurs reached the All-Star break they already had eight home losses, one more than all of last season.
Tim Duncan said "...we need to be a good home team. "This needs to be somewhere where people come in here and know they are going to lose games." The Spurs have restored some of that identity over the past week, routing Denver, Seattle and Toronto while leading by at least 30 points in each of the games. They will try for their fifth consecutive home victory Friday against Orlando before departing on a four-game trip. Before the current streak, five of the Spurs' previous 10 home games were losses, two of which came against Houston, a team that had not won in San Antonio since April 20, 1997. During one of those games, Rockets fans could be heard chanting "M-V-P!" for center Yao Ming.
After the Spurs' struggles in back-to-back games last season, some in their basketball operations department welcomed this season's 7 p.m. starts because they gave the team an extra half-hour for travel following a game. But the earlier start time might have contributed to a less-than lively environment this season, as the A####mp;T Center has sometimes been only half- or three-quarters filled at tipoff. Team officials have discussed moving the start time back to 7:30 p.m. next season to give fans more time to go home from work before attending the game.
In these troubled times, the San Antonio Spurs will take any pick-me-up that comes their way. So if Jason Kidd wanted to rest his ailing back Tuesday night, the Spurs decided that, for a change, they might as well make the most of the opportunity. With a winter storm approaching the Spurs got their work done early, routing the New Jersey Nets 107-82 at Continental Airlines Arena. San Antonio used a 20-0 run to start the second quarter and cruised from there. The Spurs outscored New Jersey 33-16 in the period.
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San Antonio's big three had a big night. Tim Duncan led the team with 21 points, eight rebounds, and was a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line. Tony Parker scored 19 and was also 7-of-7 from the stripe while Manu Ginobili dropped in 14 and four assists. Michael Finley added 15 for the Spurs, which led by as many as 28 points.
Vince Carter led the Nets with 18 points on 7-14 shooting. The Nets combined to shoot 39% from the field. New Jersey played without Kidd who was nursing a lower back strain. The Nets also were without center Nenad Krstic and forward Richard Jefferson, who have been injured for a while. Beating the New Jersey Nets has never been a problem for the San Antonio. With Kidd and the two other starters out of the lineup, this time it wasn't even much o####ame.
The Spurs had the perfect response for their two-game slide. T he team shined in several categories including 96% free throw shooting, 53% shooting, and a 41-34 rebounding advantage.
Tim Duncan Francisco Elson
"The Nets are in a bad way, injury-wise'' coach Gregg Popovich said after San Antonio beat the Nets for the eighth straight time. "It was a tough night with three of their top four not out there. It was pretty much a throw away game. They battled and did everything they could. It's impossible to be very successful with that many people out. Jason Kidd is the head of the snake on top of the whole deal."
The Nets hadn't played without Kidd in more than two years, and his absence quickly short-circuited their offense. The Spurs only needed 18 minutes to take control of the game. They used a 12-4 run at the end of the first quarter to take a four-point lead and then took advantage of 13 straight misses by New Jersey at the start of the second quarter to push the advantage to 24.
"We're trying to get better as a team,'' Duncan said after San Antonio avoided tying their season-high three-game losing streak with their third win in eight games. "Consistency hasn't been there. As fun as it was, that's the way we need to play all the time.''
Tim Duncan scored seven of his 21 during a 20-0 second-quarter run that lifted the Spurs to the win.
The Spurs have had problems this year against opponents who are missing key players. They lost to the Lakers with Lamar Odom out. They lost twice to Houston, once with Yao Ming out and once with Tracy McGrady sidelined. They also lost to Utah when the Jazz were without Carlos Boozer.
They did not have a similar letdown against New Jersey. "Not at all,'' Parker said. "We had a lot of letdowns earlier the season. It's about time we kept a lead.'' "It was definitely a must win for us."
Having lost four of their previous five games, the Spurs aren't in position to overlook any victory these days, regardless if it comes against another mangled opponent. And the Nets are more mangled than most. While Popovich called the victory a "throw-away game," he was at least happy to see the Spurs, who led by 21 at the half, not let up.
The Spurs' Michael Finley shoots over the Nets' Bostjan Nachbar
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