Tag: Gary Neal

Spurs’ huge playoff experience advantage has paid dividends

The Spurs have looked much more confident than Utah in the first two games of the series, dominating play virtually throughout in both games.

In the first two games, the Spurs have trailed for only 4 minutes, 40 seconds and have not been behind past the first quarter in either of the games.

One of the biggest reason could be the Spurs’ experience advantage.

In terms of playoff games, the Spurs have played more than double the number of games than Utah with a 622-310 edge.

Here’s the difference in playoffs games between the two teams heading into Saturday’s game. Totals include appearances made in the first two games of the series.

San Antonio Spurs 

Tim Duncan                178        Spurs

Tony Parker               140        Spurs   

Manu Ginobili              124       Spurs

Stephen Jackson           60       Spurs, Pacers, Warriors, Spurs

Boris Diaw                       41       Suns, Bobcats, Spurs

Matt Bonner                   34       Spurs

DeJuan Blair                   16        Spurs

Gary Neal                         8        Spurs

Patty Mills                         7       Trail Blazers, Spurs

Danny Green                    6        Spurs

Tiago Splitter                    4       Spurs

James Anderson              2        Spurs

Kawhi Leonard                2        Spurs

Total                              622       Overall     

Total with Spurs          544

Utah Jazz

Raja Bell                        68          76ers, Mavericks,  Suns

Josh Howard                 64         Mavericks, Jazz

Paul Millsap                  46          Jazz

Jamaal Tinsley             39          Pacers, Jazz

Devin Harris                 39          Mavericks, Jazz

C.J. Miles                      23           Jazz

Al Jefferson                     9          Celtics, Jazz 

Earl Watson                    8           Grizzlies

 Blake Ahearn                 2           Jazz

Alec Burks                       2           Jazz

DeMarre Carroll             2           Jazz

Jeremy Evans                 2           Jazz

Derrick Favors                2           Jazz

Gordon Hayward            2           Jazz

Enes Kanter                     2           Jazz

Total                             310

Total with Jazz              91

LAYER GAMES TEAMS(S) PLAYER GAMES TEAM(S)

Anderson 2 Spurs Ahearn 2 —

Blair 16 Spurs Bell 68 76ers/Mavericks/Suns

Bonner 33 Spurs Burks 2 —

Diaw 41 Suns/Bobcats/Spurs Carroll 2 —

Duncan 178 Spurs Evans 2 —

Ginobili 124 Spurs Favors 2 —

Green 6 Spurs Harris 39 Mavericks

Jackson 60 Spurs/Pacers/Warriors/Bobcats Hayward 2 —

Leonard 2 Spurs Howard 64 Mavericks

Mills 7 Trail Blazers/Spurs Jefferson 9 Celtics

Neal 8 Spurs Kanter 2 —

Parker 140 Spurs Miles 24 Jazz

Splitter 4 Spurs Millsap 46 Jazz

Tinsley 39 Pacers

Watson 9 Grizzlies

Total 622 Total 311

Spurs Total 544 Jazz Total 91

Banner this — Spurs earned the series

Column by Buck Harvey

Someone put in a work order, and someone pulled down the banner. Then, someone added this to the bottom of the list:

“2011-12.”

Someone pulled the banner back to where it had been, high on one end of the ATT Center. And, with that, the Spurs had announced they had won another division title.

Someone might have noticed.

But, this time, the Spurs need to do more to show what they accomplished in the regular season.

The playoffs suggest as much.

There was a time the Spurs hung individual banners every time they came in first in their division. There was also a time when the Spurs had never won an NBA title.

But as the years passed, and their standards changed, so did their sense of success. Now they stencil in the next divisional title with the casualness of a prisoner marking off another day on the calendar. This season they won their 18th.

It doesn’t mean much. Furthermore, winning the division had little to do with what they actually accomplished, which was securing the No. 1 seed.

But this is the only way the Spurs publicly note a successful regular season, and this one was that and more. The Spurs rose at the end, drawing Utah, and the contrast to that is clear.

Anyone else watching Oklahoma City play Dallas?

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Gary Neal said, nodding his head. “There’s a difference.”

Neal went out of his way not to disrespect the Jazz. He knows, as his teammates do, there will be challenges in Utah.

But isn’t it clear to everyone? The defending champs took the Thunder to the last shot in both games in Oklahoma City.

Gregg Popovich was asked the other day if there was a difference between being the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, and he said this: It depends.

A year ago, for example, it didn’t help. Memphis was a No. 8 seed in name only.

But Utah is the real thing. The Jazz have none of the swagger of the Grizzlies, and they also don’t have the same talent. Paul Millsap and Al Jefferson are solid big men, but neither is what Zach Randolph was a year ago.

The Jazz aren’t as awful as they were Wednesday. Neal had more points in 15 minutes (11) Wednesday than any Utah player had for the game.

They want to believe they are better than this, too. The Jazz said the right things afterward, that the Spurs merely did what the home team is supposed to do.

But there was nothing in their play that indicates they believe, and there are reasons. The Jazz, for example, were less concerned about the seeding. The franchise had been splintered a year ago, and they felt good getting into the playoffs. They were hoping for more, but now it’s reality for them.

“We got to learn our lessons from it and scrap it,” coach Tyrone Corbin said Wednesday, “and then start it over.”

Going by their body language: Starting over begins in training camp next fall.

The Spurs haven’t been in a series like this, curiously, since the 2007 Finals against Cleveland. They won the first two against Phoenix in the first round the next year, but that series started nothing like this one. Then, the Spurs needed double overtime and a Tim Duncan 3-pointer.

The Spurs might lose a game in Salt Lake City. And if they don’t, a sweep won’t guarantee a thing. The Spurs swept Memphis in 2004, after all, and didn’t make the conference finals.

Still, the postseason is a grind. Being able to lessen that means something.

Avoiding a dangerous opponent means more. So while the Thunder play the Mavericks tonight in Dallas, the Spurs are flying in the other direction.

Someone needs to edit the banner to say that.

bharvey@express-news.net
Twitter: @Buck_SA

SPURS LEAD BEST-OF-7 SERIES 2-0

Game 1:

Game 2:

Game 3 Saturday: Spurs @Jazz, 9 p.m.
TV: FSNSW, TNT Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350?

Game 4 Monday: Spurs @Jazz, TBD
TV: FSNSW, TBD Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350?

* Game 5 Wednesday: Jazz @Spurs, TBD
TV: FSNSW, TBD Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350?

* Game 6 May 11: Spurs @Jazz, TBD
TV: FSNSW, TBD Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350?

* Game 7 May 13: Jazz @Spurs, TBD
TV: TBD Radio: WOAI-AM 1200; KCOR-AM 1350?

* — As needed in best-of-7 series

Waiting game isn’t fun for winners of 14 straight

The Spurs returned from Salt Lake City early Tuesday morning with a ticket to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs in hand, and more time to kill than they know what to do with.

For guard Danny Green, the space between the Spurs’ first-round sweep of Utah and the start of the conference semifinals — whenever that is — has already been filled with an ample to-do list.

“A lot of grocery shopping, a lot of cleaning the house, a lot of reading, video games,” Green said.

In between catching up on missed chores, Green and the rest of the Spurs will keep an eye on Memphis’ first-round series with the Los Angeles Clippers.

They don’t seem to care which team wins it, so long as it happens as quickly as possible.

Rest is nice. But when you’ve won 14 games in a row, so is staying locked in and on a roll.

“I don’t care if it’s a week off or four days,” captain Tim Duncan said. “You’re going to lose your rhythm a little bit. It’s probably going to take a quarter or two to knock that rust off once we start playing again.”

The Clippers lead their series 3-1 with a chance to close out the Grizzlies tonight at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. If that happens, the top-seeded Spurs could host the fifth-seeded Clippers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals as soon as Saturday.

It will take some work, but if Memphis is able to push the Clippers to seven games, the Spurs wouldn’t return to the floor until at least Tuesday.

“When you’re on a roll, you want to start again as soon as possible,” said Tony Parker, who averaged 21.5 points and 6.5 assists against the Jazz.

The Spurs haven’t lost since April 11, when the Los Angeles Lakers took a 98-84 win at the ATT Center. By the time they take the floor again, it will have been more than a month since they last tasted defeat.

They are on the second-longest winning streak of the coach Gregg Popovich era, surpassed only by the 2003-04 team that won 17 straight before losing to the Lakers in the conference semifinals.

With this year’s playoff itinerary now in the hands of the likes of Chris Paul and Rudy Gay, the Spurs intend to look on the bright side of their forced hiatus.

The series against the Jazz was more bruising than the 4-0 tally shows, and players admit some time to recharge might be a good thing.

“A lot of guys are bumped and bruised all over the place,” Duncan said. “We’re going to use this time to rest up and at the same time try not to lose our rhythm.”

In search of that sweet spot, Popovich scheduled every-other-day practices for the rest of the week. He will work his team out today and Friday, taking Tuesday and Thursday off.

In the meantime, Popovich and his staff have begun to pull film on the Clippers and Grizzlies and formulate the skeleton of a game plan for each.

If the Spurs would prefer a rematch with Memphis, the team that ambushed them from the No. 8 slot last year, they aren’t saying.

“We have to get ourselves ready to play,” Popovich said. “Those are two great teams, and it will be tough either way.”

Either opponent would bring back a clutch memory for Spurs guard Gary Neal.

His last-second 3-pointer in Game 5 last year helped the Spurs briefly extend their fruitless series against Memphis.

His overtime-inducing triple Feb. 18 in L.A. — unofficially assisted by Paul — was the highlight of one of the Spurs’ most stirring victories this season.

“I hope we don’t need my clutch gene this time around,” Neal said.

For now, all the Spurs can do is wait — for the Clippers to finish off the Grizzlies, or the Grizzlies to finish off a comeback.

And sometimes, that can be the hardest part.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN