Author: katadmin

Olympic recap, quarterfinals

The Spurs’ Olympic contingent took a huge hit in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, with only Manu Ginobili advancing to the semifinals. (His “reward?” The opportunity to play, and possibly lose, to the United States for the third time in a month.) Patty Mills at least went down shooting, while Tony Parker and his French teammates simply went down in a meek loss to Spain.

Patty Mills: 26 points (9 for 20 shooting), 6 rebounds, 2 assists in to the United States. Mills did what he’s done for most of the Olympics – carry an Australian squad lacking its only elite international player. Against a different team, it might have made a difference. Against the U.S.A., all it did was delay the inevitable. It was impressive nonetheless, capping another strong Olympics for Mills and propelling him into his first full season in San Antonio with some momentum.

Manu Ginobili: 16 points (5 for 11 shooting), 8 rebounds, 3 assists in over Brazil. Ginobili has had better games in these Olympics. But he was still hugely impactful, doing a little bit of everything while playing 36 of a total 40 minutes. (His best play, a 360 spin move followed by a tomahawk dunk after being fouled on the floor, didn’t even count!) It’s entertaining in general to watch Manu hurtle across the court, but never more than when suiting up for his native land. The way he, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino and Andres Nocioni play off of one another is a thing of beauty.

Tiago Splitter: 6 points (2 for 5 shooting), 4 rebounds, 4 assists in Brazil’s 82-77 loss to Argentina. Splitter had some nifty moments, most surprisingly with a series of deft passes. But he didn’t do nearly enough in a game Brazil was starving for anything of note to support Leandro Barbosa and Marcelinho, who combined for 22 points apiece.

Tony Parker: 15 points (6 for 20 shooting), 6 rebounds, 1 assist in to Spain. As Parker went, so did France, withering down the stretch in the face of Spain’s steady, methodical play. The beginning of the end came early in the fourth, when Parker blew a layup that would have given Les Bleus a five-point lead. They instead scored a paltry two points over the next seven minutes, a stretch in which Parker was powerless to avert another painful loss to Spain.

Boris Diaw: 15 points (6 for 11 shooting), 8 rebounds, 5 assists. The full Boris Diaw Experience in a single game. He was the best player on the court during the first half, at which point he was on pace for a triple double. But he went from homeless man’s Magic Johnson to regular homeless man in the second, registering five points, two rebounds and no assists over the final two quarters as France threw away a prime opportunity to avenge its loss to Spain in the 2011 EuroBasket final.

Nando De Colo: 2 points (0 for 3 shooting), 2 rebounds. De Colo has been inconsistent throughout the Olympics, but he still managed to show flashes of competence and potential in most of his games. Not so against Spain, amassing as many turnovers and personal fouls as points. France doesn’t expect or need him to be great, but even average would have been a huge help.

Buck Harvey: The way Parker has come to see his Games

LONDON — These were supposed to be Tony Parker’s Olympics. He was supposed to be the host, in Paris, his name in lights in the City of Light.

Instead, he’s teasingly close to his homeland, leading a splintered French team, knowing these will likely be his only Olympics.

But he walked along the Thames Thursday night seemingly OK with that, and what happened last month had something to do with this.

Parker thinks sitting in the dark for a week may have changed the way he sees things.

In many ways, these are still his Olympics. He attended a marketing extravaganza Thursday night in a large building turned into something called “Club France,” and he was clearly the headline performer.

“This has been crazy,” Parker said as he went from interview to dignitary to sponsor, but there was little reluctance. The same Parker who likes to duck out of the Spurs locker room was around as long as necessary.

This fits with a child of the 1992 Dream Team. Parker was mesmerized then, and no one caught the attention of the 10-year-old as Michael Jordan did.

Parker didn’t know much at the time. He just knew he wanted to do that.

He was short and skinny and already working on a floater to score over the big kids. Within nine years, Parker was not only in the NBA, he was also playing with David Robinson, a Dream Team member.

What followed is sometimes overlooked in San Antonio. Parker became the best basketball player in the history of his country, and his status rose accordingly. In 2005, when Paris battled London for the right to be the Olympic host for 2012, Parker traveled with the French delegation to make the final pitch.

London won, and Parker made headlines. He said the decision proved the IOC was “Anglo-Saxon. They prefer the English.”

He later backtracked, saying he had been quoted out of context. But maybe the comment simply reflected the disappointment. Paris, after all, had been considered the favorite.

So Parker could have hung on to all of this, especially given the context of his career. These are his first Olympics and likely his last. In four years Parker will be 34 years old with 14 years of NBA grind on his body.

This one chance isn’t a good one, either. France’s best big man, Joakim Noah, never fully healed from a late-season injury and isn’t here. Nicolas Batum, because of insurance reasons, joined the team just 10 days ago. And Parker is struggling to adjust to goggles.

The best non-American point guard in the Olympics also faces this trio in his opening game Sunday: Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook.

But Parker shrugged Thursday and acted as if life couldn’t be better. He’s staying in the village, with fellow Spur and French teammate Boris Diaw again as a roommate, and he’s already shared a meal with Patty Mills (Australia) and Tiago Splitter (Brazil).

He’s looking forward to his first opening ceremony the way 30-year-old multi-millionaires rarely do, and he doesn’t see his relationship with France ending. After his playing career is over, he says he wants to be president of the French national team.

Parker knows the odds are against his team now, but he said this is why he loves sports. Anything is possible, he said, and his dream is modest.

“All I want is a medal,” he said.

It’s an attitude that can be traced to that night in New York. Parker was in the wrong place, and a piece of glass also ended up in the wrong place. After eye surgery in Paris, he was ordered to stay inactive and keep light out of his hotel room for a week before flying back to San Antonio.

Parker said he could do little else but think, and here is what stuck with him: “Life can change, just like that.”

Life did change. These aren’t his Olympics. But he’s at someone else’s, and he sees that isn’t so bad.

bharvey@express-news.net

Twitter: @Buck_SA

Spurs exec Lindsey officially takes GM job with Jazz

Assistant general manager Dennis Lindsey became the latest Spurs front-office member to depart for different — if not altogether greener — pastures Tuesday, when he was formally introduced as the new general manager of the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.

Lindsey, the Spurs’ assistant general manager under R.C. Buford since his arrival in San Antonio after the 2007 season, will report to Kevin O’Connor, who remains with Utah after serving as its GM the past 13 seasons. O’Connor will take the title of executive vice president of basketball operations as part of the Jazz’s front-office reorganization, but the day-to-day duties of running the team will fall upon Lindsey.

A candidate for several jobs over the past few years, including this summer when he interviewed for front-office openings in Orlando and Philadelphia, Lindsey told reporters in Utah he sees no need to overhaul a club that, along with the Spurs, has long been considered one of the most well-run small-market franchises in the NBA.

“I’m not trying to change the culture,” said Lindsey, who spent 11 years in various roles with the Houston Rockets before coming to the Spurs.

Lindsey’s departure creates yet another vacancy for the Spurs in what has been a summer of exodus. Since their playoff ouster to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals, vice president of basketball operations Danny Ferry has taken the GM job in Atlanta; assistant coach Jacque Vaughn became the head coach in Orlando; and Don Newman, a longtime fixture on Gregg Popovich’s bench, is the lead assistant coach in Washington.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN