Tag: Charlotte

Spurs’ Neal looks for staying power

By Jeff McDonald

For Gary Neal, the idea is never to get too comfortable.

Though only in his second season, Neal is already an established NBA player, a fixture in Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s playing rotation and — thanks to a spectacular buzzer-beater against Memphis in last year’s playoffs — an everlasting part of Spurs lore.

In his mind, however, Neal has never stopped feeling like an undrafted rookie still scratching to make it.

“To be honest with you, I don’t feel like I’ve arrived,” the Spurs’ reserve guard said. “I had one good season. That’s it.”

True, that one good season was like a lightning bolt out of the blue. Neal came from nowhere, or at least the Italian League, to set Spurs rookie records for 3-point percentage (41.9) and 3-pointers made (129) and averaged 9.8 points.

He earned first-team NBA All-Rookie honors, becoming the second undrafted player in league history to earn such a designation.

As if to prove Neal’s hypothesis that one good season does not a career make, the other was Jorge Garbajosa, an All-Rookie first-teamer for Toronto in 2007 who lasted one more NBA season after that.

“My goal is to retire in the NBA,” said Neal, 27. “To be able to do that, you have to be productive year in and year out.”

If Neal ever requires an added reminder of his NBA station, he need only look at his bi-weekly paycheck. He is still being paid like an undrafted rookie.

No member of the Spurs’ permanent roster earns less than the $762,195 Neal will make this season. He is set to receive a modest bump to $854,389 next season, the final year of his original three-year deal with the Spurs, but Neal will have to wait until the 2013 free agency to cash in on his NBA accomplishments.

So far this season, Neal’s quest to build on his rookie campaign has been hampered by a series of bizarre medical issues.

Four days into training camp, Neal suffered an appendix inflammation that required the removal of the organ. He missed all of the preseason and the first five games of the regular season recuperating.

Then in January, Neal needed four staples in his head after bashing it on his medicine cabinet at home.

“I was starting to think I was cursed,” Neal said.

Heading into tonight’s game against lowly Charlotte, Neal is averaging 9.7 points and shooting 39.6 percent from 3-point range, numbers down slightly from his rookie year.

Yet the arrow is trending upward. In February, Neal averaged 11.2 points and shot 43.9 percent from the beyond the arc.

Neal is coming off his best game of the season, a 21-point affair in Wednesday’s loss to Chicago in which he kept the Bulls off balance with his developing dribble-drive game.

“Some (plays) are designed for him, and some are just him making an effort,” Popovich said of Neal’s season-high scoring night. “Mostly, it was him. He was amazing.”

In an effort to avoid becoming the next Garbajosa, Neal has shunned being pigeonholed as a 3-point specialist.

Part of that is out of necessity. After his stellar rookie season, Neal is no longer sneaking up on opponents.

“The scouting report is more detailed on me,” Neal said. “Some of the 3-point shots I got last year were wide open. I really haven’t had too many wide-open 3-pointers this year.”

When T.J. Ford went down with a torn hamstring in January, Neal was temporarily forced to add “backup point guard” to his job description.

“That’s the challenge, to continue to add something every year and continue to keep yourself relevant,” Neal said. “That’s how you stay in this league.”

For Neal, staying has always been the goal.

It took so much blood, sweat, tears and time for Neal to finally make the NBA. Now that he’s here, he figures he might as well stick around.

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

Game rewind: Rested TP heads to All-Star Game with a flourish

The extra night of rest clearly benefitted Tony Parker Thursday night in Denver.

After missing Tuesday’s blowout loss in Portland, Parker picked up where he left off earlier in the Rodeo Road Trip.

Parker wasn’t the Spurs’ primary scorer, but he still had a pivotal role in the Spurs’ 114-99 victory at Denver. 

He continued his recent spree of the best basketball of his career, notching 16 points and 12 assists. It marked his fourth straight game with double figures in scoring and assists — a feat he accomplished for the first time in his career.

“That’s the best I’ve ever seen Tony Parker orchestrate a game,” Nuggets coach George Karl told reporters after the game. “He was really great with his decisions and his passing.”

His passing helped DeJuan Blair match his career high with 28 points and Richard Jefferson notch 17 points in one of his three highest scoring games of the year.

Tim Duncan also was back. His return, along with the rest, helped the Spurs to their 12th victory in 13 games.

“It was great to have Tony and Tim back,” Blair told NBA.com after the game. “We fed off of them — or they fed off of me today.”

Here’s how the Spurs jumped on Denver for their best first half of the season and cruised to the victory to cap the Rodeo Road Trip.

The game, simply stated: The Spurs blitzed the injury-riddled Nuggets, pushing their lead to 28 points late in the first half before finishing off a convincing victory to punctuate the longest road trip in Spurs history.

Where the game was won: The Spurs started early as Duncan hit a 15-foot jumper and Jefferson added a 3-pointer to give them a 5-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. 

Blowing it open: After rookie Kenneth Faried pulled Denver within 7-6 on a layup, the Spurs erupted on a 19-1 run that included back-to-back three-point plays by Danny Green and a layup by Blair that gave them a 26-7 lead with 2:18 left in the first quarter.    

Player of the game I: Blair produced a career-high tying 28 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals in his biggest offensive performance of the season.

Player of the game II: Gregg Popovich tried to give Duncan the fourth quarter off, although a late Denver rally ended those hopes. Duncan returned  to play 5:19 in the fourth quarter and finished with a strong all-around game with 18 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots.

Player of the game III: Denver forward Corey Brewer  was shut out in the first half and was briefly taken to the locker room for treatment of an ankle injury. The rest apparently helped him as he returned to score all of his team-high 23 points in the second half, including 15 in the fourth quarter.

Most unsung: Jefferson had a strong night with 17 points and a season-high eight rebounds. He was a perimeter threat throughout the game, hitting five 3-pointers with one in at least every quarter.

Attendance: The Nuggets trotted out their old ABA uniforms and 18,875 turned out to watch them their old ABA rivals at the Pepsi Center. It was their sixth-largest crowd of the season and just below the building’s capacity of 19,155. It was also the Nuggets’ largest weeknight crowd since opening day.

Did you notice I: The best sign of the Spurs’ balance was apparent when every starter was in double  figures in scoring with 7 minutes left in the third quarter.

Did you notice II:  After struggling in the paint against Portland and the Los Angeles Clippers in their last two games, the Spurs made a concerted effort to go inside from the beginning of Thursday’s game against the Nuggets. San Antonio notched a 14-4 edge in the paint in the first quarter and a 12-4 edge in the second quarter en route to a 26-8 edge in paint points in the first half.

Did you notice III: In the final minutes of the game, Duncan briefly was on the court with rookie guard Cory Joseph and rookie center Eric Dawson. We likely won’t see that playing combination together very often.

Stat of the game I:  The Spurs finished off the Rodeo Road Trip 8-1, matching the team’s best RRT record in 2003.  It also tied the NBA’s best won-loss percentage on any road trip of at least eight games in league history.

Stat of the game II: Thursday’s win capped a recent surge where the Spurs have won 12 of 13 games and move ahead of Dallas by three games in the Southwest Division.

Stat of the game III:  San Antonio produced 31 points in the first quarter, marking their second big start against the Nuggets this season after scoring a season-best 37 points against them in San Antonio on Jan. 7. The Spurs also tied their season best with 34 points in the second quarter en route to a season-best 65 points in the first half.

Stat of the game IV: The Spurs’ 65-39 halftime lead (26 points) was tied for the biggest halftime lead of the season. They had a 26-point halftime lead against Dallas (55-29) on Jan. 5.

Stat of the game V: A key for the Spurs during the Rodeo Road Trip has been their quick offensive starts. The Spurs hit 52 percent from the field in the first quarter and 54.5 percent in the second quarter. They accomplished at least 50 percent shooting in both quarters four times during the nine-game swing.

Weird stat of the game I: During a stretch of 17:37 including the final 7:26 of the Nuggets’ loss to the Clippers Wednesday night and the first 10:11 against the Spurs, Denver hit 2 of 28 shots from the field (7.1 percent)

Weird stat of the game II: The Nuggets are 9-8 at home this season after losing eight games there during the entire season there last year.

Weird stat of the game III: For the third time in his career, Blair matched his career high with 21 field goal attempts. In those three  games, Blair has averaged 27.6 points per game.

Weird stat of the game IV: The Spurs matched their largest lead of the season at 28 points at two junctures of the second quarter. Their other 28-point lead came Jan. 5 against Dallas.

Weird stat  of the game V: The Spurs never trailed in the game, marking the fifth time this season they led wire-to-wire. The most recent game where they never trailed was Feb. 15 at Toronto.

Not a good sign: After dominating the game in the first half, the Spurs struggled in their transition game and in stopping Denver’s transition game in the second half. The Nuggets outscored the Spurs in fast-break points in the second half, 16-4.

Best plus/minus scores: Green was plus-20, Duncan was plus-18 and Parker was plus-12.

Worst plus/minus scores: Joseph was minus-2 and James Anderson was minus-1. They were the only San Antonio players with minus scores.

Quote of the game:  ”Considering what they had to go through, not just with injuries but the schedule they just had, having to play tonight, it wasn’t a fair fight,” Popovich, to reporters on playing the injury-depleted and road-weary Nuggets.

How the schedule stacks up: After the All-Star break, the Spurs start a seven-game homestand with games Wednesday against Chicago, March 2 against Charlotte and March 4 against Denver. The Nuggets return to host Portland on Wednesday before traveling to Houston on March 2 and the Spurs on March 4.

Injuries: Manu Ginobili (strained left oblique muscle) and Tiago Splittler (strained right calf) missed their third games (Spurs 2-1) since they were injured Saturday at the Clippers. T.J. Ford missed his 24th game (Spurs record 18-6) with a torn left hamstring. Kawhi Leonard experienced tightness in both calves after playing 2:05 in the first quarter and did not return. He is still expected to play in the Rising Stars Challenge Friday night in Orlando. Denver played without G Rudy Fernandez (lower back strain), F-C Danilo Gallinari (sprained left ankle), F-C Nene (left calf strain) and G Ty Lawson (left ankle sprain).

Spurs to honor ABA history with Dallas jerseys

The Spurs will be among nine NBA franchises who will honor the rich history of the American Basketball Association as part of the NBA’s Hardwood Classics series during the next several weeks.

The Spurs will wear vintage Dallas Chaparrals jerseys and warmups for three games — Feb. 11 at New Jersey, Feb. 18 at L.A. Clippers and March 31 when they host the Indiana Pacers.

I’m just curious why they won’t be wearing ABA San Antonio Spurs jerseys from the franchise’s history rather than one representing a team from Dallas.  

Other franchises participating will include Charlotte, Denver, Indiana, the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis, Miami, Minnesota and New Jersey. Former ABA franchises in Denver, Indiana and New Jersey will wear their old uniforms from their ABA past. Other teams and their former ABA franchises will include Charlotte (Carolina Cougars), the Clippers (Los Angeles Stars), Memphis (Memphis Tams), Miami (Miami Floridians) and Minnesota (Minnesota Muskies).

The uniforms will be made by adidas, the league’s official outfitter.

The Chaparrals originated in Dallas when the league began in 1967.  They were known as the Dallas Chaparrals for the first three seasons of the franchise’s history, before embracing Texas Chaparrals for one season in 1970-71 and played games in Dallas, Fort Worth and Lubbock. They then were known as the Dallas Chaparrals until 1973.

During the summer of the 1973, a group of San Antonio businessmen led by Angelo Drossos and Red McCombs negotiated a three-year deal to lease the Chaparrals and move the team to San Antonio. The ownership group consisting of 35 stockholders changed the name of the team to the Spurs.

Later that year, as support grew for the team, the stockholders arranged to purchase the team from the Dallas group and make San Antonio a permanent home. The Spurs played three seasons in the ABA before joining the NBA in 1976, along with the Nuggets, Pacers and Nets.

I was an old ABA fan from way back, watching the Memphis Pros/Tams/Sounds during my youth there. One of my spectating highlights of my youth centers around a fight I witnessed between bruising ABA forwards John Brisker of the Pittsburgh Condors and Wendell Ladner of the then Memphis Pros back in the day.

All of the NBA eams will be selling merchandise, which is good to keep the memory of the league alive.

But I’ve got a couple of questions.

First, why don’t the Spurs wear some of their own vintage ABA jerseys rather than honoring a Dallas team? Obviously, it’s the same franchise, but I am likely to believe from a marketing standpoint that the Spurs and the NBA stand a better chance selling more Spurs ABA gear to their current fans with the Spurs rather than those representing a Dallas-based team. Leave that for Mark Cuban and the crowd in Big D.

Because using the same rationale, it should be New Orleans celebrating the history of the old New Orleans Buccaneers, who eventually moved to Memphis in 1970 and became the Memphis ABA team. I’m sure the league has more pressing concerns in building support for their league-owned franchise than honoring some previous league there. But if they are truly honoring the ABA past, they should have New Orleans wearing Buccaneers jerseys — just like Doug Moe, Larry Brown and Red Robbins did before them.

And one more personal pet peeve. If the league is reaching back to the ABA to sell a few more jerseys and t-shirts, I certainly think the NBA can be big enough to honor the ABA records as part of its official history. The Spurs’ records don’t exist in the eyes of the NBA before they joined the league in 1976.

All of George Gervin’s points and Bobby Warren’s turnovers and Tom Nissalke’s victories with the team never happened, according to the NBA.  

The NFL accepted all of  the AFL’s past records when the merger between those two leagues was consummated.

If the NBA wants us to buy replicas of the jerseys that Billy Cunningham wore while he played for the Carolina Cougars, they are going to need to add those points he scored with them to the ones he tallied earlier and later in his  NBA career.