Tag: Antonio McDyess

Splitter solid in playoff debut

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – After watching the first three games of the Spurs-Grizzlies playoff series, Spurs rookie center Tiago Splitter finally made his postseason debut in Monday’s Game 4.

His performance turned out to be one of the few bright spots for the Spurs. The 25-year-old rookie from Brazil logged 21 minutes and 32 seconds and scored 10 points, with nine rebounds. He made 5 of 9 shots and committed only one turnover.

“I thought he was wonderful,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “I thought he did a lot of good things out there.”

Popovich opened the second half with Splitter on the court instead of veteran Antonio McDyess, but Popovich said that was a tactical decision only.

“Antonio had three (first-half) fouls, and you need him at the end of the game to guard Zach (Randolph),” he said. “We didn’t want to start Antonio for that reason.”

Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins admitted to some surprise at seeing Splitter on the floor but said his presence didn’t change anything about his team’s game plan.

“As the series goes on, teams start making adjustments,” he said, “and sure enough he comes out and is playing. I talked about him before and what his game was, and he played pretty decent for them. They decided to go with him and go bigger than (DeJuan) Blair.”

NO MESSAGE: Blair was one of four substitutions with 5:43 left in the game and the Spurs trailing by 20. He came in along with Splitter, Danny Green, and Steve Novak, joining rookie Gary Neal, and the Spurs finished the game without a starter on the floor.

The rationale, said Popovich, was not to send any sort of message to his key players, but to get them some rest.

“What would that message be?” he said. “We’re going to play again in a couple days, and I didn’t see us getting back into that game.

“There’s no sense leaving those guys out there to do it. They’ll need their juice for the next game.”

SECURITY INCREASED: After encountering problems with rowdy Grizzlies fans as they exited the team bus to return to their hotel following Saturday’s Game 3, the Spurs requested, and received, an increased security detail before departing the hotel for Game 4.

“We spoke to the appropriate hotel personnel about the problems, and there were no more problems tonight,” Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said.

WORTH NOTING: Grizzlies starting forward Tony Allen trimmed the shaggy beard he had been cultivating for more than a month, declaring he had to make a change because he did not like how he had played in Game 3, when he fouled out … The Grizzlies forbade fans on Monday from bringing into the arena the giant face cut-out of Tony Parker’s former wife, Eva Longoria, depicted wearing a Grizzlies headband, that had been on display during Game 3. A Grizzlies spokesperson said the team deemed the display inappropriate and said the club regretted its appearance in Game 3 … Spurs captain Tim Duncan turned 35 on Monday.

Spurs want Parker in drive

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When the smoke finally cleared after the Spurs beat Memphis in a must-win Game 2 on Wednesday, it was impossible to miss that Manu Ginobili had been there lighting fires.

In his first action of the first-round series after sitting out Game 1 with an elbow sprain, Ginobili wrestled with Marc Gasol, scrummed with Shane Battier and traded blows and words with Tony Allen before coaxing a key offensive foul out of him in the fourth quarter.

“It was like he was everywhere at once,” Spurs guard Gary Neal said.

Now that Ginobili has joined the series, delivering the Spurs to a 1-1 deadlock as the feistiness shifts to Memphis for Game 3 tonight, it is time for his All-Star backcourt mate to do the same.

It’s not as if Tony Parker has been terrible. But, by playing Memphis point guard Mike Conley to no better than a stalemate, Parker hasn’t given the Spurs the clear backcourt edge most thought they had.

“The first two games, I’ve been a little off,” said Parker, a former Finals MVP. “Usually in the playoffs, I’m very aggressive and make my shots. The first two games, it didn’t bounce my way.”

Parker averaged 16 points and six assists in Games 1 and 2, not far off his season numbers. Yet the three-time All-Star is shooting just 33 percent (10 for 30), after leading all NBA guards at 51.9 percent in the regular season.

Parker has struggled with his trademark teardrop, clanged open jumpers and, on the rare occasions he’s found the path to the rim unabated, has had trouble finishing.

Faced with these facts, Parker smiled, shrugged and did the math.

“I guess the percentages are with me now,” he said.

As the series moves from the River Walk to the banks of the Mississippi — for a Game 3 many are calling the biggest game in Grizzlies history — the Spurs could use a vintage Parker tonight.

Memphis certainly isn’t making life easy on him.

With a defense designed to deny Parker access to the paint, hacking him if necessary, the Grizzlies have sent a clear signal they have no intention of allowing the first round to devolve into a layup parade.

Despite his opponent’s best-laid plans, Parker’s teammates have faith the stone-cold finisher who dumped 37 points on Memphis in December will show up at some point.

“He’s quick enough and smart enough to find a way,” said Ginobili, whose bum elbow appears to have survived Game 2 without further harm.

Some credit for slowing Parker goes to Conley, a 23-year-old playoff neophyte most predicted would spend the series inhaling French jet fumes. Conley is averaging 14 points and seven assists in the series, making Parker lose sweat at both ends.

“If we’re going to win, we’ve got to try to contain Tony Parker,” said Conley, who at times seems to be performing a Parker impression himself. “My job is to make it as tough on him as I can.”

So far, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’s been pleased with Parker’s approach, equal parts patient and forceful.

“He’s run the show well for us,” Popovich said.

Of course, Parker doesn’t have to score to affect the game. Back-to-back moments late in Game 2 underscored that.

With the Spurs desperate for baskets to fend off another fourth-quarter charge from the Grizzlies, Parker wiggled into the lane to find them.

As Memphis distracted itself with his drives, Parker hit Richard Jefferson for a corner three, then shipped a pass to Antonio McDyess for a layup.

“I try to pick my spots to be aggressive,” Parker said. “Overall, the second game, it worked out well.”

If Parker ever were to pick a spot for a playoff breakout, tonight would be the night. FedEx Forum will be howling. The Grizzlies will be electrified.

One game after introducing Ginobili to the 2011 playoffs, the Spurs would like nothing more than to finally welcome Parker, too.

Mike Monroe: Playoff urgency like never before

The NBA playoffs begin today with an undertone of urgency seldom seen.

Every player knows a lockout is looming. Within days after handing over the Larry O’Brien Trophy to the 2011 NBA champion, David Stern will pronounce that a business model that generates billions of dollars is broken because too many go to employees who wear baggy shorts, not business suits.

After Friday’s Board of Governor’s meeting in New York, Stern promised the league soon will make a new offer to the players’ union.

Nobody expects a breakthrough, not after deputy commissioner Adam Silver’s reiteration that the league’s goal in negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association hasn’t changed. The owners continue to seek a new system for sharing all those billions because, Silver said, “the system is unsustainable.”

Of course, billionaires continue to line up to buy into this broken system, undercutting Silver’s contention. On Friday the league heard from one billionaire begging the Board to approve his purchase of the Pistons, one of one of the league’s worst ?Eastern Conference teams, and from another willing to buy the Kings, one of the West’s bottom feeders, for the privilege of keeping it in a market Stern deems too mis? guided and miserly to deserve a franchise.

Meanwhile, players nearer their 39th birthdays than their 30th — Tim Duncan (days shy of 35), Shaquille O’Neal (39), Jason Kidd (38), Antonio McDyess (36), Kurt Thomas (38), Andre Miller (35), Marcus Camby (37) — wonder if these playoffs might afford their last best chance at ultimate NBA glory.

No player needs additional motivation to fuel the incremental drive that produces playoff success, but the notion that there may not be another opportunity to win a championship until 2013 compels an extra measure of focus.

Duncan understands, perhaps more than most. He won’t turn 35 until April 25, but his left knee and ankle feel older. His contract runs only through a 2011-12 season jeopardized by the potential work stoppage.

The fact his team will have home-court advantage through the Western half of the playoffs underscores for Duncan the special nature of this playoff run.

“Every game, every playoff run, everything is special right now,” he said. “This is the end of my career here, the last couple years. I’m not taking anything for granted.”

The Board of Governors told Spurs owner Peter Holt — and others on the Labor Relations Committee that Holt chairs — that it wants them to have the new proposal ready to present to the union in a few weeks.

The commissioner insists he is optimistic, but mostly because of his own nature.

“I’m an eternal optimist,” he said. “I hope the proposal will indicate to the players that there’s some modicum of flexibility in our approach, and we’re trying to engage the union in dialogue.”

He also understands that what’s at stake is every ounce of goodwill and momentum forged with the league’s fans through one of the more remarkable seasons in league history. TV ratings and attendance are up, and the league’s three biggest markets all have teams worth the attention and loyalty of the citizenry.

“I think fan sentiment going into the playoffs and Finals is going to be terrific,” Stern said. “If we don’t have a new collective bargaining agreement by the end of the old agreement on June 30 I think the fans will be disappointed in us and the union.”

Disappointed falls far short of reality.

Disgust comes much closer.

Let the playoff games begin. They may be the last we see for a long while.

mikemonroe@express-news.net