Tag: Gregg Popovich

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

Spurs notebook: Jazz’s Jefferson can’t see any team beating S.A.

SALT LAKE CITY — For three games in the Western Conference playoffs, Utah center Al Jefferson has seen his team beaten every which way, and by a combined 58 points.

Finally, he has seen enough.

Before Sunday’s practice, Jefferson essentially declared the Spurs to be NBA champions-in-waiting.

“I just think we’re playing against a team that is at its peak,” Jefferson said. “I don’t see nobody beating them.”

Jefferson’s comments were striking, considering Utah’s series with the Spurs is still in progress.

Game 4 is tonight in Utah.

Apprised of Jefferson’s prediction after their own practice session at EnergySolutions Arena, the Spurs seemed flattered, but deemed it premature.

“The best team out there won’t be decided for a while yet,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do if we want to be that team, and we’re trying.”

It is a one-game-at-a-time approach echoed by Popovich’s captain, Tim Duncan, even with the Spurs on the verge of sweeping a playoff series for the first time since the 2007 NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Even with the Spurs going 41-7 since Jan. 30.

“We’re still growing a little bit,” Duncan said. “It’s early in the playoffs. We have some ways to go before we can define what kind of team we’re going to be.”

Jefferson thinks he knows the Spurs’ ceiling. Whether he’s correct will be determined over the next six weeks or so.

“Right now, they just playing well, man,” Jefferson said. “I ain’t never seen nothing like this.”

Checkmate for Parker: Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin made his first strategic move of the series in Game 3 when he assigned 6-foot-8 small forward Gordon Hayward to guard Tony Parker for long stretches.

The move might have backfired.

Not only did it fail to faze Parker — who finished with 27 points to raise his average in the series to 24.3 — it seemed to take Hayward out of his own game. Hayward ended with four points and made just 1 of 10 shots.

Parker, meanwhile, pumped in 16 points in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

“He’s kind of seen it all,” Duncan said. “I thought (Hayward) did a pretty good job early on, affecting him with his size a little bit, but Tony figured it out.”

Other ways to help: Manu Ginobili’s shooting struggles continued with a 2-for-6 night in Game 3. Yet he still found a way to contribute to the Spurs’ 102-90 victory with a season-high 10 assists.

“Whether it’s a rebound or scoring or assists, making a steal, he figures out what needs to be done in a game,” Popovich said. “Those 10 assists really helped us.”

Ginobili is still looking for his first made 3-pointer in eight tries in the series, and the 17 points he’s totaled have been surpassed by seven teammates.

As long as the Spurs’ offense is humming — and it’s averaging 107.3 points in the playoffs so far — Ginobili is content to be a setup man.

“The team is playing good offense,” he said. “Tony is taking us where we want to be. There’s no need to force the issue to try to make shots.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

Parker showcases his growth vs. his double

Column by Buck Harvey

Tony Parker isn’t there yet. He still needs to go to Utah, and maybe to Oklahoma City and Miami, and continue to see the game as clearly as he has.

But he’s close, and Sunday outlined how far he’s come.

There was a time, after all, when Parker and Devin Harris were supposed to be at about the same place.

Now they are back at a familiar one, the playoffs. The last time, in 2006, Harris’ Mavericks eliminated the Spurs in seven games.

Harris smiles at the memories, and he should. “I’ve always played well against the Spurs,” he said.

He did in Game 2 of that series. Thrust into the starting lineup, he outscored Parker and averaged over 20 points when Dallas won three consecutive games.

Parker had his moments, too. He scored more than 24 points three times despite a sore thigh.

Still, he also had only 22 assists over the entire seven games, and this is why it’s always been tricky to measure Parker. His success seems to make his flaws more glaring.

Even when he was a teenage starter, even when he earned All-Star berths, the holes in his game were clear. He was shaky just a year ago, too, in the first-round loss to Memphis.

But he keeps taking steps, and he admitted to one Sunday. Last summer, he said, Gregg Popovich told him he had played harder for the French national team than he had against the Grizzlies.

Parker reacted as he has for a career, finding another way to get better. Harris is unsure if that is true, wondering if the team around Parker is what changed.

But one scout said this Sunday: He can’t remember anyone getting better, year after year, until reaching such a high level when nearly 30 years old.

The game has slowed for Parker now, even as he speeds past defenders. He sees the floor and what should come next, and he did that Sunday afternoon.

He took an inadvertent blow from Harris, then got back up to score 28 points. Parker was relentless, taking advantage of the space his shooters provided, and it was reflective of his season.

When the crowd chanted “MVP, MVP,” it was justified. Parker should finish in the top five, if not top three.

Harris once had the same promise. He was about Parker’s size and his double in quickness. The Spurs saw all of this early; he once scored 20 points in a fourth quarter against them.

Better yet, he could defend Parker. In Game 2 of that 2006 series, Parker had more turnovers (4) than assists (1) and was outscored by Harris.

Little wonder, when the Mavericks eventually traded Harris out of the Western Conference, Parker was relieved. “I’m really happy for that trade,” he said.

The real compliment was the trade itself. There were other pieces involved but, essentially, Harris had gone for Jason Kidd.

Most in the basketball world thought Mark Cuban was crazier than usual for agreeing to the deal. Wasn’t Kidd aging and Harris just beginning?

What has happened since says something else. Kidd helped win a title, and Harris’ career has flatlined. He starred initially with freedom in New Jersey, making an All-Star team once, but he hasn’t come close to what Parker is.

Maybe, as he says about Parker, the makeup of his team has changed him. But another scout questions whether the commitment has been there.

Parker agrees to none of this. He said Sunday that Harris is “the key to their team. He makes them go … I know he’s going to bounce back.”

But that’s the Parker who is almost there. He knows a series can change and that there will be adjustments. And that there’s always another step to take.

bharvey@express-news.net
Twitter: @Buck_SA