Tag: Carlos Delfino

‘Spoon’ fed: Undrafted rookie leads Spurs past Houston


































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By Jeff McDonald

HOUSTON – When Spurs coach Gregg Popovich first informed Wesley Witherspoon he’d be in the starting lineup for Sunday afternoon’s preseason matinee at Houston, the rookie from Memphis tried to stay stone-faced.

All the while, his stomach was performing a gymnastics routine straight out of the Summer Olympics.

“Somersaults, cartwheels and everything else,” Witherspoon said. “The emotions were definitely flying.”

One day, Witherspoon will be able to tell his grandchildren he not only started next to Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, but he also outscored them.

With Popovich opting to give his top two small forwards — Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Jackson — the day off, Witherspoon pumped in a team-high 17 points in the Spurs’ 116-107 victory at the Toyota Center.

Gifted with his first extended playing time of the preseason, the 22-year-old undrafted free agent buried 6 of 9 shots — including a pair of 3-pointers — and hauled in four rebounds.

“The veteran guys tell us young guys to stay ready,” Witherspoon said. “You never know when your number’s going to be called. This was one of those cases.”

Aside from Witherspoon, Popovich used his regular starting lineup Sunday.

Duncan and Parker lasted a quarter, staking the Spurs to a 27-16 lead, before their coach gave them the rest of the afternoon off, too.

Returning from a two-game respite while dealing with a sore right heel, Manu Ginobili — the third leg of the Spurs’ Big Three — contributed 11 points and three assists off the bench. More importantly, he logged nearly 18 minutes of playing time and came out no worse for wear.

The Spurs — who also got 16 points out of DeJuan Blair and 15 from formerly slumping shooting guard Danny Green — led nearly wire to wire in handing the Rockets their first preseason loss.

“The good thing is, we really moved the ball well and got a lot of people involved,” Ginobili said. “Defensively, we’ve got a lot to do to get where we want to.”

The new-look Rockets, whose offseason makeover included the acquisition of point guard Jeremy Lin, big man Omer Asik and reserve guard Carlos Delfino, spent much of the first half in disarray.

Lin, last season’s Cinderella storyline, finished 1 of 10 with one assist in little more than 25 minutes. The Spurs held Houston to 43.2 percent shooting, and squeezed 21 points from 15 Rockets turnovers.

As an example of how he hopes the rebuilt Rockets will one day learn to play, Houston coach Kevin McHale pointed to the visitors in silver and black.

“The Spurs are a smart, disciplined team,” McHale said. “They know what they want to give you, and they know what they want to take away. We didn’t take what they gave us, and we attacked what they wanted to take away. That’s the worst-case scenario.”

Even as the Spurs improved to 3-1 in the preseason, Ginobili said the team remains a work in progress.

“We’ve just been working together for 10 days,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”

If Sunday was the end for Witherspoon, he at least went out in style.

The Spurs have only one roster spot available, and are well-stocked at Witherspoon’s position. Most likely, cut day is coming soon for Witherspoon. Deep down, he probably knows it.

But for one stunning Sunday afternoon in Houston, he was a rookie starting among NBA All-Stars. And if you squinted just right, it was difficult to tell which was which.

“I grew up watching those guys, watched them win championships,” Witherspoon said. “To be on the same team as them is a blessing.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

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.

Olympic hoops loaded with Spurs

Even without any Spurs suiting up for Team USA at the Olympics — although Tim “FIBA Sucks” Duncan would certainly look good in red, white and blue, even at his advanced age — there’s still plenty of reasons for San Antonio fans to keep a close eye on the competition.

No fewer than six Spurs will be taking part: Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and newcomer Nando De Colo with France; Manu Ginobili with Argentina; Tiago Splitter with Brazil; and Patty Mills with Australia. Whether or not some of them should be there is a moot point — even with concerns about age and injuries, players like Parker and Ginobili would have had to be forcibly barred from participating.

So Spurs fans have no choice but to enjoy the spectacle and mull the same debate their foreign legion has posed in previous Olympics: Club or country? If it’s the former, here’s a look at each team’s schedule with a brief overview. Must-see viewing is France/Argentina on Tuesday, pitting Parker and Ginobili against one another after so many years together in the NBA.

(For those not familiar with the format, the 12 teams are split into two groups of six, with the top four teams advancing to the tournament stage after playing each other once. The gold medal game is Aug. 12.)

Group A

Argentina (Lithuania, Sunday; France, Tuesday; Tunisia, Thursday; Nigeria, Saturday; USA, Aug. 8): If the USA had the Dream Team, Argentina has the so-called “Golden Generation” of Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Luis Scola and Carlos Delfino, who helped Argentina win the gold medal in 2004 and become the first team to beat Team USA with a full NBA roster at the 2002 World Championships. It’s an old group — average age, 33 — but it came as no surprise that they managed to give U.S. another challenge in their recent exhibition meeting.

France (USA, Sunday; Argentina, Tuesday; Lithuania, Thursday; Tunisia, Saturday; Nigeria, Aug. 8): With Parker and Diaw having long established themselves, the Olympics will afford most Spurs fans with their first real look at the team’s latest addition — swingman Nando De Colo, a fixture with Les Blues since 2009. Especially interesting will be how he matches up with his future NBA contemporaries in Sunday’s opener against Team USA. You can also guarantee Gregg Popovich, expected to be in attendance, will be keeping a close eye on Parker post eye injury.

Group B

Brazil (Australia, Sunday; Great Britain, Tuesday; Russia, Thursday; China, Saturday; Spain, Aug. 8): Unlike France and Argentina, Brazil’s lone Spurs representative, Splitter, is more role player than workhorse. He still fills a valuable role, teaming with Nene and Anderson Verejao to form a frontcourt rotation that worries even the mighty Americans. Combined with NBA veteran Leandro Barbosa and point guard Marcelinho Huertas, and coached by Argentine legend Ruben Magnano, it’s easy to see why some pick Brazil as a serious medal candidate.

Australia (Brazil, Sunday; Spain, Tuesday; China, Thursday; Great Britain, Saturday; Russia, Aug. 8): The same cannot be said for the Boomers, who could have a tough time getting out of pool play. While he’s never been a star at the NBA level, Mills has been a mainstay of the national team since he became one of its youngest members in 2007. He averaged 14 points to lead the Boomers at the 08 Olympics. Observant Spurs fans will also recognize Australia’s head coach , a long-time assistant and front office member.