Tag: Chicago

Spurs rout Bobcats; Ginobili still sits

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Spurs 102, Bobcats 72: March 2, 2012


Spurs’ Tony Parker (09) drives to the basket against Charlotte Bobcats’ Byron Mullens (22) in the first half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Richard Jefferson (24) shoots over Charlotte Bobcats’ Corey Maggette (50) in the first half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Tim Duncan (21) attempts to block Charlotte Bobcats’ Gerald Henderson (15) in the first half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Tony Parker (09) attempts to score against Charlotte Bobcats’ Eduardo Najera (21) in the first half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Danny Green (04) defends against Charlotte Bobcats’ Corey Maggette (50) in the first half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Tim Duncan (21) shoots over against Charlotte Bobcats’ DeSagana Diop (07) in the first half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Tony Parker (09) shoots over Charlotte Bobcats’ D.J. Augustin (14) in the second half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Gary Neal (14) takes aim for a three-pointer against the Charlotte Bobcats in the second half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Tim Duncan (21) attempts to block a shot against Charlotte Bobcats’ Corey Maggette (50) in the second half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Tiago Splitter (22) gets hits by teammate Gary Neal (14) while defending Charlotte Bobcats’ Byron Mullens (22) in the first half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Manu Ginobili (center) smiles while chatting with Tim Duncan (21) during their game against the Charlotte Bobcats at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard (02) goes up for a shot against Charlotte Bobcats’ Eduardo Najera (21) in the second half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Charlotte Bobcats’ Boris Diaw (32) gets an open dunk against the Spurs in the second half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Gary Neal (14) lines up a three-pointer against Charlotte Bobcats’ Derrick Brown (04) in the second half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs coach Gregg Popovich points out a call to a game official during their game against the Charlotte Bobcats at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs Silver Dancers perform during a timeout in the game against the Charlotte Bobcats at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Gary Neal (14) looks to pass against Charlotte Bobcats’ Eduardo Najera (21) in the second half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Tony Parker (second from right) kids around with teammate Kawhi Leonard (second from left) during their game against the Charlotte Bobcats at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Tim Duncan (21) shoots against Charlotte Bobcats’ Boris Diaw (32) in the second half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard (02) dunks against the Charlotte Bobcats in the second half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)


Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard (02) contends for a rebound against Charlotte Bobcats’ Derrick Brown (04) in the second half at the ATT Center on Friday, Mar. 2, 2012. Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio Express-News)

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By Jeff McDonald

The decision went back and forth for about 48 hours. The Spurs’ coaching staff debated the issue, consulted with the team’s medical staff, flip-flopped on an answer and then flip-flopped again.

In the end, coach Gregg Popovich opted to hold Manu Ginobili out of Friday’s game against Charlotte, even though Ginobili was probably healthy enough to play, even though Ginobili wanted to play.

“We changed our decision every day, 10 times,” Popovich said before the Spurs’ 102-72 victory over the moribund Bobcats. “We don’t know what’s right. We’re just trying to do what’s right.”

Left unsaid, at least publicly: The Spurs were good enough, even without Ginobili, to handle the worst team in the NBA.

With Ginobili in street clothes one more night, recuperating from a strained oblique, Tony Parker scored 15 points and Tim Duncan and Richard Jefferson added 14 apiece to lift the Spurs to their most lopsided victory of the season.

It was the Spurs’ first win at the ATT Center since Feb. 4, a hiatus asterisked by a nine-game rodeo road trip that bled into the All-Star break.

The Spurs (25-11) enjoyed a much easier time Friday than in Wednesday’s return to the building, when they lost 96-89 to Chicago, in part because they played sharper and in part because Charlotte (4-30) isn’t Chicago.

“It was one of those where you just wanted to respect your opponent and get back to work the next day,” Jefferson said.

Heading into the game, more than one Spurs player dropped a pet Popovich phrase: “appropriate fear.”

“Just because their record isn’t the same as our record doesn’t mean they can’t go out and kick our butt if we don’t compete,” Popovich said.

So the Spurs competed, and they got their work done early.

After taking a 51-41 lead at half, the Spurs rarely led by fewer than that many the rest of the way. Ahead by 15 heading to the fourth quarter, Popovich turned the game over to the reserves, who outscored Charlotte 28-13 in the final frame.

Matt Bonner led the Spurs’ bench brigade with 14 points, including four 3-pointers, while rookie Kawhi Leonard had 10 in his return from a calf injury.

“We did a good job sharing the ball, and it led to open shots,” Bonner said.

If it is possible to have a turning point in a 30-point game, it came with 3:32 left in the third quarter.

A brief Spurs scoring drought had allowed the Bobcats’ to creep within nine, and Charlotte’s Corey Maggette was diving to the rim, trying to make it a seven-point game.

Jefferson met him there for a blocked shot, igniting a fast break that led to a Gary Neal 3-pointer and a 67-55 edge for the Spurs.

“It was nothing,” Jefferson said. “Just lucky timing.”

The block was part of an all-around solid night for Jefferson, who added four 3-pointers and seven rebounds.

“I thought he had a darn good defensive game,” Popovich said.

In the end, the Spurs exhausted all the drama in pre-game, with the “will he or won’t he?” surrounding Ginobili’s status.

The star guard has missed 27 of the Spurs’ 36 games this season, first with a broken hand then with the strained oblique.

Ginobili’s next return is imminent, if not official, subject to the rigors of one more practice this morning. Barring a setback, it appears likely he will play in Sunday’s nationally televised game against Denver.

Having survived the most injury-plagued stretch of their season, getting Leonard and Tiago Splitter and T.J. Ford back from injuries that pre-dated the All-Star break, the Spurs are looking forward to at last being at full strength.

“One more guy to go,” Parker said. “I can’t wait.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

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

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