Tag: DENVER

Spurs roadkill again in OKC

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Spurs knew, as every team in the NBA knows, there would be nights like this.

There would be times, during this cruel and unusual schedule that borders on a violation of the Eighth Amendment, when their legs wouldn’t be there, their lungs would be burning, and their gas tank would be empty.

That doesn’t mean they have to like it.

“You definitely don’t concede anything,” guard Gary Neal said Sunday after Oklahoma City walloped the Spurs 108-96. “We came here to win. It just got away from us.”

True, the Spurs were playing their fourth game in five nights, with the promise of another back-to-back coming around the bend.

But they knew better than to overplay the exhausted card. Not on this night. Not with Oklahoma City on the floor for the third night in a row and yet still summoning the energy to run the Spurs out of Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Kevin Durant had an efficient 21 points and 10 rebounds, while James Harden added 20 points to spearhead a relentless Oklahoma City bench attack, as the Thunder became the first team this season to sweep a back-to-back-to-back.

Teams are now 6-0 on the third night in such a scenario, but before Sunday — when Oklahoma City followed two victories over Houston by thumping the Spurs — no team had claimed the trifecta.

“I thought we had good energy,” said Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks, whose team snapped a six-game losing streak to the Spurs. “The defense was really good, the offense was really good, and we were getting out in transition.”

The Spurs arrived in the Sooner State playing with house money. They had won three in a row since losing star guard Manu Ginobili to a broken hand, including back-to-back home wins over a pair of Western Conference playoff teams, Dallas and Denver.

They leave Oklahoma City for Tuesday’s game at Milwaukee still winless on the road, dropping three away games by an average of 12 points.

Though the Spurs (6-3) played hard, and at times a little chippy, it became clear early in the second half that Sunday wasn’t going to be their night.

A 25-8 third-quarter run from the Thunder, highlighted by a run-and-gun lob from Durant to Russell Westbrook, pushed what had been a six-point Oklahoma City lead at halftime as high as 25.

The Thunder (8-2) outscored the Spurs 37-21 in the third and carried an 81-69 lead into the fourth.

“They kicked our butts in the third quarter,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who sat all his starters except Neal in the fourth.

Unlike during the Spurs’ three-game, Ginobili-less winning streak, their bench didn’t provide much meaningful help Sunday.

Rookie Kawhi Leonard had 13 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double, while Tiago Splitter added 10 points.

Fresh off a breakout 24-point game against Denver, reserve guard Danny Green finished with six points, going scoreless until he made a pair of 3-pointers in the final minutes.

Boosted by 14 first-half points from Harden, and an unexpected contribution from Nick Collison (12 points, 10 rebounds, two dunks), the Thunder bench kept the Spurs at bay until the third-quarter eruption.

“They made shots, and we didn’t,” said point guard Tony Parker, who scored four points on 1-of-8 shooting before leaving the game with a bruised leg early in the third.

“In the NBA, especially against a team like that, it can go fast.”

All in all, it was a forgettable night for the Spurs, but therein lies the beauty of a lockout-compressed season.

With another back-to-back coming around the corner, beginning Tuesday in Milwaukee, Sunday will be easy for the Spurs to forget.

“They come so fast, you can’t worry about this one,” Parker said. “You give them credit and move on to the next game.”

Green, Jefferson lead Spurs past Denver

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

Denver point guard Ty Lawson, 5-foot-11 with a head of steam, was loose in the open floor, the one place no opposing team wants to see him loose, and T.J. Ford knew what was coming.

“I thought it was going to be a dunk,” the Spurs’ backup point guard said Saturday.

Ford did not count on Richard Jefferson strapping on a Superman cape, likely lifted from Manu Ginobili’s locker, and stepping back in time. Nor did he count on the power of positive frustration.

Jefferson beat Lawson, one of the NBA’s fastest guards, in a 90-foot dash to one end of the ATT Center for a run-down block, then followed with a 3-point dagger at the other. That five-point swing squelched a last-gasp charge from the feisty Nuggets, keying a 121-117 victory for the Spurs.

Instead of Denver cutting what had been a 20-point deficit to three with less than two minutes to play, Jefferson’s superhero routine provided the Spurs an eight-point advantage and just enough juice to pull out their third consecutive victory without Ginobili, the injured All-Star guard.

Jefferson said the play was borne of pure annoyance. He was tired of watching Denver put on a layup parade.

“They had been running it down our throats all game long,” said Jefferson, who finished with 19 points and, continuing his torrid shooting, made 5 of 8 on 3-pointers. “The coaches had been talking about it for two days. I’m glad I was able to catch him.”

With Ginobili out, the Spurs (6-2) have been in nightly search of a hero to help them hold the fort. Jefferson had the game’s signature moment, but he was Robin to the Batman played by Danny Green, a 24-year-old journeyman guard.

Green, a 5.3-point-per-game scorer whose previous career best was 13, pumped in 24 points, lifting the Spurs at moments when it appeared nobody else could. He made 9 of his 13 tries, none bigger than back-to-back drives midway in the third quarter with Denver closing.

Green attributed his outburst to “luck, opportunity, a lot of things.”

Surely, the Nuggets (6-3) would agree. The book on Green in Denver’s pregame scouting report was like something out of Reader’s Digest.

“We didn’t know about Danny Green at all,” forward Corey Brewer said.

Green’s stealth was understandable. He didn’t log meaningful minutes until two games earlier, when Spurs coach Gregg Popovich stumbled upon him as a defensive answer to high-scoring Golden State guard Monta Ellis.

Nobody — on either bench — really expected Green to produce a stat line like Saturday’s, which also included seven rebounds and a key fourth-quarter charge drawn against Arron Afflalo.

“He did a little more than I thought he would do,” Nuggets coach George Karl said.

This is how Popovich knew his team would have to win after Ginobili broke his hand in Minnesota on Jan. 2 — everybody stepping up, with unexpected production from unexpected sources.

How’s this for stepping up? The Spurs have not trailed for a single second in any of the past eight quarters, beating Dallas and Denver wire-to-wire.

Green’s explosion helped offset another career-night — 31 points from Denver forward Danilo Gallinari, including 16 in a torrid third quarter that kept the Nuggets from capsizing.

Tony Parker scored nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter to help steer the Spurs toward a 6-0 start at home.

Still the Nuggets had hope when Lawson broke free in the final two minutes, nothing between himself and a dunk but a few dozen feet of hardwood.

Lawson and his coach would dispute what happened next, when Jefferson tracked down the track-star point guard and slapped his shot away.

“He got away with murder,” Lawson said.

Crime or not, whistle or no, a dunk at one end became a 3-pointer at the other and for the Spurs, frustration gave way to victory.

Mike Monroe: Tears and some stark reality for Mavs

DALLAS — The Mavericks raised their 2010-11 NBA championship banner to the rafters at American Airlines Center on Christmas Day, and it was a little too much for Dirk Nowitzki.

The Finals MVP admitted he choked up and had to work hard to hold back a tear or two as he took in the emotional ceremony.

“There were a couple waiting to come out,” he said.

Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem understood the emotion. They felt the same way on banner night in Miami in 2006.

Then, the Chicago Bulls put a 108-66 humiliation on them that was far worse than the 105-94 blowout this season’s Heat handed the Mavericks in Sunday’s rematch of last seasons Finals.

To be sure, this was a Christmas Day massacre. Miami led by 35 in the third period, a margin big enough for Wade and LeBron James to laugh through serial miscues committed by the end-of-the-bench reserves in the fourth quarter.

The Heat on Sunday were a team with chemistry born of continuity taking maximum advantage of a team adapting to more than emotion. The Mavericks had two new starters, and by halftime, coach Rick Carlisle swapped out one of those for another newcomer.

“The Spurs ought to be feeling pretty good about now,” said Will Perdue, a member of their 1999 title team, who’s now a broadcaster. “There’s no team in the league that the 66-game season helps more than the Spurs. They’ve got all those guys back who have been in their program.”

Carlisle understands his team can’t be what it was last season when defensive standout center Tyson Chandler got most of the court time and backup Brendan Haywood logged just 18 minutes per game.

“I think it’s important to point this out and be very clear about it: Brendan Haywood is not Tyson Chandler,” he said.

Mavs general manager Donnie Nelson cut a smart deal when Chandler made it clear he intended to sign a free-agent contract with the Knicks. By negotiating a sign-and-trade deal, Dallas netted a trade exception that turned into former Laker Lamar Odom.

Odom’s Christmas debut was spotty. He made his first shot, missed his next five and got thrown out of the game in the third period after getting two quick technical fouls.

“This is a different system,” Carlisle said. “There are similarities with what we do with where he came from, but there are enough differences, so that’s going to be work — for us and for him. I see him being able to make the transition quickly because he’s a smart player, a skilled player and he can do a lot of things.

“But when you’re one of those kind of players and you’re playing all different positions on the floor, there’s more to digest.”

Odom’s reality-star wife, Khloe Kardashian, electronically voiced her objection to Odom’s ejection from a courtside seat. She didn’t see anything from her hubby that merited two techs, she tweeted to 5-million-plus followers.

Reality bites, Khloe. NBA refs don’t care what you think.

Odom, a versatile big man with exceptional skills, seems more optimistic than Carlisle that he can adapt quickly to a system that is less geometrically defined than what the Lakers played.

“At the end of the day, it’s just basketball,” he said. “From first grade to college to the NBA, it’s pick-roll on offense and help-recover on defense. Basketball is a universal language, so I’ll be all right.”

So will the Mavs, but Christmas Day gave the reigning champs an early clue that defending won’t be easy.

“The good thing is we’ve got a game tomorrow,” Carlisle said. “The bad thing is we’ve got a game tomorrow and Denver is going to come in here with a shot at the champs. It’s a situation where we’ve got to work to make quantum leaps as often and as quickly as we can as a team.”

mikemonroe@express-news.net