Tag: coach

Ginobili back at practice, but not yet ready to suit up

Don’t expect to see Manu Ginobili in uniform for tonight’s game against the Chicago Bulls at the ATT Center.

But the oft-injured Spurs guard participated in the team’s Tuesday practice session, a positive sign that the strained rib muscle that has sidelined him since Feb. 18 is on the mend.

“Manu is out,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He partial-practiced. He just wanted to test it a little bit, see how it’s feeling. He’s not ready to play yet. He knows what kind of season it is. He wants to be healthy when he comes back, so he doesn’t want to do anything that would be unwise and keep him from being ready for the playoffs.”

Backup point guard T.J. Ford, who has missed 24 games since suffering a torn muscle in his left hamstring Jan. 10, will suit up tonight. Popovich promised he would try to find some playing time for him if game conditions permit.

Most worrisome at the moment are injuries to two players who have helped Popovich cope despite not having Ginobili and Ford available.

The availability of second-year guard Gary Neal, who suffered a hamstring strain in Thursday’s victory at Denver, will be a game-time decision. Rookie guard-forward Kawhi Leonard, who strained muscles in both calves in Denver, did not practice and likely won’t suit up tonight.

A full participant in Tuesday’s practice, which included some five-on-five drills, Ford believes in Popovich’s cautious approach to injuries.

“Know what?” he said. “Most guys play hurt. Most guys probably play with injuries they should rest. But being with this team and the structure here, the confidence each player has in this team is the highest I’ve ever seen in my life. So no matter who is playing and who is out, guys are stepping up and performing.

“That’s the great thing about not having to rush back and having to play the whole season with a serious kind of injury that will be nagging for the entire year.”

Special guests: Former Sam Houston High School star Eric Dawson will have two very special guests in attendance at tonight’s game: his wife and aunt.

Since returning to San Antonio from his first four games with the club after his call-up from the D-League’s Austin Toros, Dawson has gotten a lot of calls from family and friends asking for tickets to tonight’s game so they could see him in silver and black. Understanding he can’t accommodate everyone, they have planned a game-watching party at a relative’s home.

“They kind of understand,” he said. “They know. They just want me to be focused. My wife and my aunt are coming. Not too many people, but (the rest) will go to a relative’s house and watch the game.”

Dawson signed a 10-day contract Feb. 19, which means the club must sign him to a second 10-day deal or waive him Thursday.

“I’m anxious,” he said, “but at the end of the day, I gave them my all and left it all on the court. It’s out of my hands. I proved to them I can play at the next level. I’ll leave it up to those guys and continue to work hard.”

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Stern thinks Shaq will be better coach than Barkley at Rising Stars game

David Stern has never been afraid to ruffle a few feathers or stick a needle when he wanted to.

The NBA commissioner has inflamed the  Rising Stars Competition Feb. 24 in Orlando when he said that he thought that Shaquille O’Neal will be a better coach in the game between the league’s top rookies and second-year players than his fellow TNT commentator Charles Barkley.

“I can’t wait to critique Charles. Oh boy, I am on this, all over it, okay,” Stern told reporters. “I think that Shaq is going to be a better coach than Charles. And he was a better rebounder than Charles. I’ll even go to the question that he’s a better commentator than Charles … [but] that’s for after All-Star [Weekend].”

How come I feel like I’m in the middle of a WWE promotion?

No lull in the action around a Spurs broadcast

Spurs player-turned-TV analyst revealed he sometimes gets “night sweats” after a game when “I think I said something I shouldn’t have said.”

Saturday night, however, he seemed cool as a cucumber; his hands lay casually in his lap as he spun his colorful commentary, bounced ideas off seasoned play-by-play man Bill Land and playfully worked the telestrator – you know, the technology that allows him to draw circles and arrows with his index finger.

By contrast, I must have looked like a frazzled mess sitting next to him, listening through a headset, as the players raced around a few feet in front of me.

Thanks to the , it was one of the most memorable nights of my 29 years as a columnist.

I had been invited to be a fly on the wall, so to speak, during the live production of a game broadcast: first in the TV truck with director ; then in the ATamp;T Center with the broadcasters.

It was crazy exciting and more than a little dizzying as I witnessed the many components that go into delivering the pleasing show you get in your living rooms game after game. On this night – which was broadcast on KENS – was the standout, breaking the franchise’s assists record. Like a sharp detective, Elliott unraveled on the spot the mystery of Parker’s determined “huffing and puffing” around Oklahoma City’s .

“I just figured this all out,” Elliott told TV viewers. “Tony Parker is going after Westbrook tonight. … Westbrook is going to be named to the All-Star team as a reserve. And Tony is trying to prove he belongs there as well.”

During a rare break, Elliott joked that Coach “Pop” “lets me say anything I want … as long as I don’t give away too many secrets.”

He became more serious, however, when recalling a confrontation with the mother of a player on another team. She wasn’t at all happy with candid statements about how raw her son, who was a rookie at the time, was on offense.

“She was very upset,” he said. “They were new to the league, and it was tough to take any constructive criticism. But what I said was the truth.”

Earlier that night, I was privy to a different perspective on the production: from inside the broadcast truck. A wall of TV monitors with different views of the action made my head swim. Some 25 employees – in charge of graphics, audio, replays – buzzed around me. Kickirillo, the Scorsese of the group, was orchestrating what should be added to the game open to make it visually interesting – colorful fans with balloon hats, for instance.

“Kick,” as he’s affectionately known, likes to keep things laid back to set a comfy tone. Since it’s a live broadcast, things sometimes go wrong, and everyone has to react on the fly. One such moment happened when Parker scrambled for the ball and his pants slid down.

“Don’t show his butt,” boomed an order over headphones.

Though the initial shot couldn’t be avoided, Kickirillo explained, “I didn’t want the cameraman to linger. Our job is to make sure everybody is presented in the right way.”

Usually, the culprit is a glitch in technology. When all else fails, the director said, “I’ll just open up Sean’s mike and say: ‘Go.’

“He’s so good. He’s been around these guys, knows the ins and outs, when to be funny, when to be serious. Sean is the guy next door; he’s entertaining, but you feel comfortable around him.”

I certainly did. Moreover, when the Spurs play against Philadelphia on Fox Sports Southwest tonight, I’ll look at the game with much more appreciation.

Sure, Spurs fans are “ravenous,” as Kick put it, which may be the primary reason ratings are so high. (I’m told Saturday’s primetime broadcast drew numbers that more than tripled the second-most-watched show.)

Still, there’s no doubt in my mind – especially now – that the talent, on air and behind the scenes, deserves a huge and hearty hand as well.

 

Jeanne Jakle’s column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in S.A. Life, and she blogs at Jakle’s Jacuzzi on . Email her at .