Tag: Chauncey Billups

Prediction – as Ginobili becomes what he once was

Column by Buck Harvey

The Spurs will lose one of the first two games.

The streak will be over. And the playoffs will begin.

The Spurs will then face their fears, that their run has made them less prepared for a counter, and that the young Thunder talent will get additional lift. Then, they will need to win the kind of road game in Oklahoma City that they’ve won in all of their championships years.

What happens then, with Manu Ginobili, will decide that.

Both sides privately see reasons to be afraid of this scenario, and it’s telling of a Western Conference finals that should be compelling. The Spurs have not been this solid and facing an opponent as equally solid since the second round of the 2007 playoffs.

Just as that Suns series was memorable, this one should be as well.

That’s also the last time Ginobili was healthy through the playoffs. In every year since, from a busted elbow to a busted nose, his injuries have been the Spurs’ way of saying it just isn’t our year.

“We’re not going anywhere without Manu at 100 percent,” Tony Parker said as recently as this February, and something like it has been said every season since the last championship.

Now Ginobili is 100 percent, but his 3-point percentage in the postseason is closer to 25. He’s been helpful in the playoffs at times, but not the force he once was.

Combine the Big Three of both the Spurs and Thunder and rank them this postseason. Isn’t Ginobili clearly sixth?

Yet that also shows the power and depth of the Spurs. Just as Ginobili didn’t play a minute against the Thunder this season, yet the Spurs still won the season series and the No. 1 seed, the Spurs found another way to win.

The Spurs didn’t go just anywhere. In sweeping the first two rounds, they went to a place they’ve never been. Both Vegas and the national media embrace the Spurs as favorites.

All of which makes the Spurs’ staff uncomfortable. They think people have gotten caught up with the 18-game winning streak, and they can’t believe the perception that they could sweep the Thunder.

They also wonder if they are built as traditional champions are. Maybe, at best, the Spurs are the Pistons of 2004, a snug fit of pieces, when usually the best teams are the ones with the best players.

Their argument: The record books usually show someone such as Kevin Durant leading a team to a title, not someone such as Chauncey Billups.

“In my heart of hearts,” one Spurs assistant said, “we’re the underdogs.”

Maybe it’s nothing more than the Spurs’ appropriate fear amped up. Still, a Western Conference general manager with another team understands the Spurs’ concern. He predicts the Spurs will win, but he also thinks they’ve been too good for their own good.

“They’ve had no real hiccups,” he said. “But it’s unlikely they will go undefeated. So, at some point, it’s about how they respond to adversity.”

The Spurs won all of their titles because they responded. For Ginobili, this goes back a long way. In his rookie year, against the Nets, he helped overcome an earlier loss at home to break through on the road in Game 3 in the Finals.

The Thunder brass is familiar with all of this. Just as the Spurs find reasons to be afraid, so did an Oklahoma City staffer last week when he joked about Ginobili and his 3-point slump.

“You know he’s going to have a game,” he said, “when he hits about five in a row on us, right?”

Ginobili might not do that, exactly. But his gift has been to find another level, to get better when others get nervous. And he will have to do that again.

For the Spurs to win in 7.

bharvey@express-news.net
Twitter: @Buck_SA

SPURS VS. THUNDER
Western Conference finals (best-of-7)

Game 1: Sunday – Spurs vs. Thunder, 7:30 p.m. TNT

Game 2: Tuesday – Spurs vs. Thunder, 8:00 p.m. TNT

Game 3: Thursday – Spurs @ Thunder, 8:00 p.m. TNT

Game 4: Saturday – Spurs @ Thunder, 7:30 p.m. TNT

*Game 5: Monday June 4 – Spurs vs. Thunder, 8:00 p.m. TNT

*Game 6: Wednesday June 6 – Spurs @ Thunder, 8:00 p.m. TNT

*Game 7: Friday June 8 – Spurs vs. Thunder, 8:00 p.m. TNT

– All times Central
*If necessary

Spurs’ Anderson showing skills

By Tim Griffin
tgriffin@express-news.net

If Chauncey Billups’ whining at the end of the third quarter Wednesday was any indication, James Anderson is returning a favor for a lot of guards around the NBA.

Anderson dropped in a three-point play on the final sequence of the third quarter, hitting a 14-foot jumper and a foul shot that prompted some complaining by Billups.

“I played a little bit with Chauncey in the summer in Vegas and kind of picked up on some of his stuff,” Anderson said. “It felt good to give him some.”

With Gary Neal out of the rotation as he recovers from an appendectomy, Anderson had his second straight strong game as the Spurs’ first backcourt reserve. Anderson scored 12 points in 21 minutes, building on a nine-point effort against Memphis in the opener.

It represented a big turnaround from Anderson’s rookie season, when he struggled finding a place in the rotation as he battled injuries.

“Anytime I get in, I want to show them what I can do,” Anderson said. “If the minutes are there and I get to step on the floor, I’m going to play hard on both ends.”

Anderson’s fast start has caught the attention of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

“James is playing with a lot of confidence and aggressiveness, and he’s got a lot of that pent-up after basically sitting out the whole year last year with injuries,” Popovich said. “He’s jumped on this opportunity and done a real nice job.”

Better shooting: The Spurs had a strong turnaround after shooting only 39.8 percent from the field against Memphis in the opener, making 56.3 percent vs. the Clippers.

They were especially potent in the pivotal third quarter when four consecutive baskets by Tony Parker and Anderson’s late basket helped put the game away. San Antonio finished the third quarter hitting 76.2 percent from the field.

“We made a lot of shots,” said Manu Ginobili, who led the team with 24 points. “I don’t think it’s normal after two games and a very short training camp to have this kind of percentage like today. But they went in.”

Welcome rest: The Spurs were able to rest Parker in the fourth quarter and limit Tim Duncan to only 2:44 with the game safely at hand. It was an ideal ending to the first part of the Spurs’ first back-to-back of the season. They play tonight in Houston.

“You wouldn’t trade it, that’s for sure,” Popovich said.

A learning experience: The 1994-95 Spurs team was laden with future coaches. Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro was among a group that included New Jersey coach Avery Johnson, Boston coach Doc Rivers and Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Chuck Person.

“We’ve got a lot of students of the game, I guess you would say,” Del Negro said. “Those guys are good friends of mine and colleagues. We bounce things off each other, and we’re all very competitive, but I always want those guys to do well, just not when they’re playing us.”

Spurs have their way with new-look Clippers

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

A crowd of reporters and camera operators formed a semi-circle around DeJuan Blair’s locker after the undersized center proved you don’t have to leap over a car to help the Spurs beat the Clippers.

Faced away from prying eyes and ears, Blair tied his shoes while teammate T.J. Ford told him he was about to be a local media star.

“I don’t want to be famous,” Blair said to his new backup point guard. “I just want to be regular old DeJuan, too fat to do anything good.”

Blair’s not fat, but he is a wide-bodied big man who admits he can’t jump like Blake Griffin, the Clippers All-Star who soared over a sedan to win last season’s dunk contest.

On Wednesday at the ATT Center, Blair’s earth-bound game was plenty enough. He scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds in a 115-90 Spurs victory, and there was not much Griffin could do about it.

The victory extended the Spurs’ home-court mastery of the Clippers to 17 games. L.A. last won here on Jan. 31, 2002.

There was an expectation that Wednesday’s game would be more difficult than the previous 16. The Clippers had added two All-Star guards, Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups, and another standout starter, Caron Butler, who the Spurs tried to recruit as a free agent.

It didn’t matter, not with Blair countering most of what Griffin did and Manu Ginobili and Richard Jefferson combining to make 8 of 12 on 3-pointers.

Off to a 2-0 start, the easy victory even allowed coach Gregg Popovich to curtail the court ? time for his starters, none of whom played more than 27 minutes.

The 6-foot-10 Griffin, who was the No. 1 overall pick in a 2009 draft in which Blair fell to the Spurs in the second round, scored 28 points in 33 minutes. Blair needed little more than 26 minutes to record the sixth 20-point game of his career.

“DeJuan was great,” said Tim Duncan, one of six Spurs who scored in double figures. “He made some great shots in there. He was solid on Blake. He rebounded the ball well and just picked up where he left off last year.

“He gets you those points you don’t count on and continues to attack and continues to be aggressive. He was big for us.”

Duncan’s not sure how the 6-7 Blair accomplishes what he does around the basket.

“You know what?” Duncan said. “He’s done it all his life. He doesn’t know any other way to do it, and he’s very good at it. He’s got a great touch and a great feel for the game. You can’t teach that to people. He just knows how to do it.”

Blair said he would challenge Griffin, whom he counts among his good basketball friends, and that’s what he did. He backed up his pledge, finding ways to score against him and 7-foot Clippers center DeAndre Jordan.

“I just try to read them,” Blair said. “They are very athletic and jump very high. I can jump a little bit, but it’s all about reading them. I’m undersized. I just try to find little schemes and everything to get around the taller defenders, and that’s what I try to do.

“I watch a lot of Charles Barkley and Karl Malone and try to do that, try to get a little shot. But I’m doing good and doing great with what I’m doing, so I’m good.”

What Blair was doing included hitting scoop shots, putbacks and even a fadeaway jumper from the baseline that he called “a little something coming out of my bag.”