Tag: Gregg Popovich

Game rewind: Duncan turns back clock for another vintage effort

Tim Duncan used to be able to carry the Spurs in a manner befitting one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history.

Those glimpses don’t come along as often as they used to. And when they do, they assuredly are something special for Spurs Nation to savor.

Duncan had one of those games Monday night in the Spurs’ 89-84 victory over Memphis, dominating the game inside in the fourth quarter to help nail down the Spurs’ season-best fifth consecutive victory.

“Tim has been playing well lately. He’s feeling good,” Spurs point guard Tony Parker told  reporters after the game. “His knee is doing well. Hopefully, he will stay like that.”

The Spurs captain produced 19 points and 17 rebounds to lead the Spurs’ victory.

” That’s a great game from Timmy — 19 and 17,” Parker said, chuckling. “Those are big numbers at 45 years old.”

Duncan, who will turn 36 on April 26, isn’t quite there yet.

And thankfully for his team, he can still occasionally provide the kind of lift that used to be expected.

Here are a few other highlights from the first game of the Spurs’ Rodeo Road Trip.  

The game, simply stated: The Spurs employed a tenacious defensive effort and big games from Parker and Duncan to win at Memphis for the second Monday night in a row against the tired Grizzlies.

Where the game was won: After Memphis jumped on the Spurs for a 25-6 run to end the third quarter and claim a six-point lead, the Spurs defense picked up. San Antonio limited  Memphis to a season-low 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Grizzlies shot only 20 percent from the field.

Closing it out: The Spurs took the lead for good on Parker’s layup with 5:10 left. After Memphis had closed within one when Danny Green was whistled for goaltending on O.J. Mayo’s short jumper, Mayo missed the enusing foul shot. Duncan then put the game away with a critical three-point play and a dunk that iced the victory.

Player of the game I: It was just like old times for Duncan, who provided 19 points, and season-best totals for the Spurs of 17 rebounds and five blocks. He was especially big in the fourth quarter with nine points, seven rebounds and two blocks to lead the comeback.

Player of the game II: Parker struggled a little in the second half with only six points, but he still finished with team-high totals of 21 points and seven assists.

Player of the game III:  Memphis center Marc Gasol bounced  back after a struggling performance Sunday in Boston to lead the Grizzlies with 22 points and nine rebounds. He had as many turnovers  as points — seven — in the Grizzlies’ loss to the Celtics.

Most unsung: Matt Bonner came off the bench to score eight points and provide three rebounds. And he even came up with some strong defense by running at Rudy Gay’s potential game-tying 3-pointer with 8.9 seconds left.

Attendance: Is some of the bloom off the Grizzlies after their recent struggles that has seen them lose seven of their last nine games? The game attracted a crowd of 13,527 to the FedEx Forum — Memphis’ second-smallest crowd of the season and nearly 1,600 below the crowd the Spurs attracted for a game against them seven nights ago on a similar Monday night.   

Did you notice I: Mike Conley’s bank-shot 3-pointer was an answer to a Memphis prayer with 1:10 left to pull them within 87-84. The best show of emotion after that shot by a Spur came by Manu Ginobili, who fell back in his chair in amazement after the lucky shot.

Did you notice II: After failing to play in the first three quarters, Gregg Popovich turned to James Anderson for 7:35 in the fourth quarter. Anderson botched a layup, but later provided a critical 3-pointer that helped kick-start the Spurs offense.

Stat of the game:  The Spurs limited Memphis to 11 points in the fourth quarter. It was the Grizzlies’ lowest scoring quarter of the season and the lowest scoring quarter for a Spurs’ opponent.

Stat of the game II: Duncan grabbed 17 rebounds to set the Spurs season high after grabbing 15 and setting the team’s previous high Saturday night against Oklahoma City. It marked his first back-to-back games with at least 15 rebounds since Dec. 16-Dec. 19, 2009 — a period of more than two years.   

Stat of the game III: Parker scored 21 points to mark the 12th time in the 21 games since Ginobili was injured that Parker has topped 20 points. And with his 42 points against Oklahoma City Saturday night, his 63 points in the last two games are the most in consecutive games  since he went for 69 points in the final two games of the Spurs’ first-round 2009 playoff loss to Dallas.

Stat of the game IV: The Spurs notched 15 assists — tied for their second-lowest total of the season.

Stat of the game V: Sparked by Duncan’s big game inside, the Spurs matched their season high with nine blocked shots. It was previously recorded in their overtime victory over Houston on Jan. 11.

Weird stat of the game: Duncan has blocked at least five shots in 133 playoff and regular season games in his 1,254-game career. His two most recent times before Monday both came against the Grizzlies in games last Feb. 27 and April 23.

Not a good sign: Struggling against Memphis’ ball pressure, the Spurs contributed 19 turnovers to come within one of their season high of 20 against Atlanta on Jan. 25.

Not a good sign II: After hitting their first five 3-pointers of the game Monday, the Spurs finished the game 2 for 11 from beyond the arc.  

Best plus/minus scores: Anderson was plus-9, DeJuan Blair was plus-7 and Duncan was plus-6.

Worst plus/minus scores: Bonner was minus-5 and Kawhi Leonard was minus-4. They were the only Spurs players with negative scores.

Quote of the game: “It was tough. A couple of guys were fatigued from playing a lot of heavy minutes. It was one of those games that slipped away from us,” Gay on the Grizzlies’ late collapse after playing Sunday in Boston.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs will continue the Rodeo Road Trip Wednesday night in Philadelphia and Saturday night at New Jersey. The Grizzlies will have their next three games at home as they face Minnesota without Kevin Love on Wednesday, Indiana on Friday and Utah on Sunday.

Injuries: Ginobili missed his 21st game (Spurs record 14-7) after undergoing surgery for a fractured fifth left metacarpal.  T.J. Ford missed his 16th game (Spurs record 11-5) with a torn left hamstring. Memphis played without starting guard Tony Allen, who missed his second game with a sore left hip and knee. Memphis All-Star forward Zach Randolph missed his 21st game (Grizzlies record 11-10) with a torn right MCL. Memphis forward Darrell Arthur (torn right Achilles) is out for the season.

Game rewind: Spurs had a lot going right heading into Saturday’s win

Give the Spurs a day of rest, Gregg  Popovich a day of practice and Manu Ginobili a chance to return to the lineup and good results should  be expected.

The Spurs’ 103-89 victory over struggling New Jersey Saturday night wasn’t really much of a surprise.

It continued the Spurs’ strong charge through the Rodeo Road Trip as they stretched their winning streak to seven games.

During victories over Memphis, Philadelphia and New Jersey, the Spurs have been able to stay ahead during most of the games.

Out of possible 144 minutes over the last three games, the Spurs have been behind only 13 minutes, 31 seconds in those games. And most of that time (10:15) came in the Memphis game.

Those leads have enabled the Spurs to control game tempo and play like one of the league’s elite teams.

After the first three games of the road trip, the Spurs have put aside lingering concerns about their ability to play away from the ATT Center.

It’s been a good start after the first three games of the road trip. Here’s how the Spurs claimed their victory Saturday night.

The game, simply stated: With the return of Ginobili energizing them, the Spurs pounced  on the NBA’s worst defensive team and cruised to an easy 103-89 victory over the Nets. 

Where the game was won: Danny Green snapped out of a shooting slump to hit a pair of 3-pointers that started and punctuated a 10-4 run midway through the second quarter. Green’s first shot gave the Spurs a 31-24 lead with 8:25 left in the second quarter and his next one pushed the advantage to 38-28 with 5:41 left. Both came on passes from DeJuan Blair. 

Closing it out: After Deron Williams’ three had pulled the Nets within 62-56 with 5:49 left in the third quarter, the Spurs finished the quarter on a 15-3 spurt that put the game away. The Nets missed their final 10 shots of the quarter and had three turnovers as they failed to score a field  goal during that stretch.

Player of the game I: Gary Neal came off the bench to score 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting including two 3-pointers. Neal hit his first five shots as they did not miss until late  in the third quarter as the biggest catalyst off the Spurs’ bench.

Player of the game II: Tim Duncan filled the score sheet  with an efficient game, logging 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two blocked shots and a steal in 23:30 of playing time.

Player of the game III: Williams provided most of the Nets’ offense with 27 points and eight assists. But Williams struggled as the game continued, hitting only 5 of 15 shots after the first quarter.

Most unsung: Blair provided his strongest game in several weeks, providing 11 points, five rebounds and two assists.

Attendance: The Nets mean for Saturday night to be a nod to the Nets’ ABA roots, but the crowd at the Prudential Center didn’t respond very well. It appeared the Spurs had a sizable contingent among the crowd of 15,272 — nearly 3,000 less than the building’s capacity. The struggling Nets have attracted two sellouts all season and none since LeBron James and Miami visited in their third game.

Did you notice I:  Ginobili seemed to be favoring his injured left hand early in the game. That reflexive action will dissipate with the more playing time he receives.

Did you notice II: Spurs television analyst Sean Elliott called Blair him “the dancing bear” because of a couple of agile moves. But when Blair is active and productive in the post, it gives the Spurs’ offense a completely different look.

Stat of the game:  The Spurs hit 52.5 percent from the field. It was their best shooting effort since hitting 54.7 percent in the victory at New Orleans on Jan. 23 and among their five best shooting efforts this season.  

Stat of the game II: San Antonio limited New Jersey to 89 points. It marked the 10th consecutive opponent the Spurs have limited to less than 100 points in regulation. 

Stat of the game III: One of the Nets’ few strengths coming into the game was their perimeter shooting as they ranked 11th in the league in 3-point percentage. But they clanked to a 29.2 percent effort against the Spurs — one of their nine worst 3-point shooting efforts of the season.

Stat of the game IV: The victory was the Spurs’ seventh in a row and is their longest streak since winning eight straight games between Jan. 7-21, 2011.

Stat of the game V: It was the sixth straight loss for New Jersey, which fell to 3-10 at home.

Stat of the game VI: Duncan notched a double-double  in points and rebounds for the fourth straight game. It marked the first time he acheived that feat since the final game of the regular season and first three games of the playoffs against Memphis last season.

Weird stat of the game: The four Williamses on the Nets roster  — Deron, Jordan, Shawne and Shelden — combined to hit 10 for 35 from the field (28.7 percent). The rest of the Nets team went 25 for 52 (48.1 percent).

Weird stat of the game II: The Spurs efficiently picked apart the Nets for 25 assists on their 42 field goals. All but one Spurs player produced at least  one assist as Kawhi Leonard was the only player to miss out.

Weird stat of the game III: Green snapped his field-goal streak at 17 consecutive misses before hitting a 3-pointer with 8:25 left in the second quarter. His last successful field goal before that came in the third quarter of the Spurs’ Feb. 4 victory over Oklahoma City — a span of nearly a week.

Not a good sign: Tony Parker cooled down after his recent blitz to make the All-Star team. He hit 4 of 11 from the field and scored 12 points. His 36.3 percent shooting from the field was one of his six worst shooting efforts of the season and his points ranked among his seven lowest-scoring outings of the season. 

Best plus/minus scores: Parker was plus-15, Green was plus-12, Neal was plus-11 and Tiago Splitter was plus-10.

Worst plus/minus scores: Cory Joseph was minus-4 and James Anderson was minus-1.

Quote of the game: “Conditioning-wise, I’m behind. Basketball-wise, I’m behind. I know the only way to get back is to play,” Ginobili, to reporters about his return to the lineup.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs will take two days off — their second two-day break in less than a week — before a back-to-back Tuesday night in Detroit and Wednesday night in Toronto. They will return home briefly before beginning the Western part of the road trip Saturday afternoon at the Los Angeles Clippers.  The Nets will have three days off before hosting Memphis on Wednesday and road games Thursday at Indiana and Saturday at Chicago. 

Injuries: T.J. Ford missed his 18th game (Spurs record 13-5) with a torn left hamstring. New Jersey was missing center Mehmet Okur (sore lower back), guard DeShawn Stevenson (sore right knee), guard Keith Bogans (fractured left ankle/torn deltoid ligament), guard Damion James (right foot surgery) and center Brook Lopez (broken right foot).

What the Spurs and OKC said after Saturday’s game

The Spurs media services folks were busy after the game, recording and transcribing after the Spurs’ 107-96 victory over Oklahoma City.

Here’s a collection of some of the post-game comments from both locker rooms.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich

(On Tony Parker…)

“He became our all-time assist leader tonight, so I’m really happy for him in that regard.  He knew he had to have a big game tonight and we knew we had to score points against these guys. He went into the game with that in mind and he was aggressive all night long and had a great game.”

(Talk about the job Kawhi did against Durant…)

“He did the best he could for a young rookie who has never really seen these guys before and really hasn’t practiced any of the defensive strategies we might use.  We just tell him “do this or do that” and that’s pretty tough, so considering that, I thought he was amazing against a future hall of fame player.  As I said before the game, you don’t stop Kevin, he’s great.  You just try to make him work and I thought Kawhi made him work.”

(On the ball movement tonight…)

“They did a good job. They attacked and they kicked it to open people.  We missed a few, but that’s going to happen with every team.  But I think by and large, we got a lot of great shots on penetration.”

(A good way to end the stand before the long trip?)

“The last game of a homestand you always kind of call it the first game of the road trip and beating a great team like Oklahoma City is a good way to do it.  They’re something else.”

Spurs guard Tony Parker:

(On passing Avery Johnson to be the Spurs franchise assist leader…)

“It’s a great honor. To be mentioned in the same category is great. When I first got here, all I heard was Avery Johnson and what he meant to this city, the community and the Spurs organization. So I feel honored and happy to be with Avery as one of the best point guards in San Antonio, as I owe a lot to Pop. He’s the one who has pounded me to be a good point guard and to share and know the balance between scoring and passing. It was funny because I racked tonight and I knew I had like seven assists, so I thought I was going to come in and pass but Pop comes in before the game and tells me that I need to shoot 25 times. You need to take 25-30 shots or if not, we’re not going to win. It’s funny because every time Pop says that I have a big night, so it’s funny. He asked me to take more than 25 shots so I was happy to accomplish both.”

(On making a bunch of those shots by scoring 42 points tonight…)

“Yeah, I was rolling tonight. It was one of those nights. My shot was feeling good and every time Pop says that, I feel better in my head. So I don’t worry and I just play my game, be aggressive and be in attack mode. So it was just a great win for us tonight.”

(On if they were still talking about Avery Johnson during his rookie year…)

“Definitely, because he’s a great example, a great leader and he won a championship. For me, it was a great example to follow. “

(On being animated tonight against Russell Westbrook…)

“You know, when you play the best team in the NBA and they have the best record, you want to be aggressive. You want to play well, you want to win and I knew that game was big for us because from then we go on the road forever. It was a big game for us as I got a little excited. After 11 years, you find stuff to get excited as tonight was a good game to be in attack mode.”

Spurs forward Tim Duncan:

(On Tony Parker’s performance tonight…)

“Unbelievable, he was great. He carried us start to finish as he started out being more of a distributor. Pop really got on him at trying to score the ball and that we needed it tonight. He stepped up and did just that. Once he got rolling, he just took over the game. It was great.”

(On the dissimilar styles of play between Tony Parker and Avery Johnson…)

“Yeah. Knowing that he’s a scoring point guard more than anything, but he’s evolved over the years and he knows how to do it all. Pop stayed on him about being a distributor and at the same time have a balance between scoring and passing the ball. You saw that tonight as he ended up with nine or 10 assists and the 42 points. Great effort by him and we needed him to do that. He’s going to be great for us.”

(On if he was happy about being the shot to get Parker over the milestone)

“Sure. I wish it would have happened ten shots before that but I’ll take it for what it was. He came to me and said that he wanted me to hit the next shot and I was like, alright but I want to hit every shot. After I hit it, I realized why as it was great.”

Spurs forward-guard  Kawhi Leonard:

(On if he knew he was starting tonight against Kevin Durant…)

“I knew I was going to start before the game happened today. With the way Kevin Durant has been playing, they wanted me to guard him and just run around and try to make it tough for him.”

(On if he made a conscious effort to make Durant work on both sides of the court tonight…)

“Basically my teammates were finding me in spots. I just had an opportunity to score the ball and just tried to go at him.”

(On the performance of Tony Parker tonight)

“Yeah, it was a great performance. He was getting to the hole real easy and was making tough shots. He was making all the shots that he got and he just kept going at it.”

(On how he compares Kevin Durant to other guys he has faced)

“He’s at the top, everyone knows that. He was the leading scorer for the last three years. He’s a taller player and has such great skill at his height and can shoot the ball real well.”

Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks:

(Opening statement on tonight’s game…)

“They (the Spurs) beat us.  They beat us in all aspects of the game.  I thought Tony Parker had his way with us.  It’s all about stopping the basketball and we didn’t do a very good job at that.  It’s on all of us, including myself.  We have to do a better job of containing their pick and roll.  Tony Parker was good tonight.  That was as aggressive as I’ve seen him in a long time.  29 shots, he’s usually not that aggressive.  He had a great game going and we had trouble containing him.”

(When asked what positives came out of this game and on his bench’s play cutting the lead down…)

“They gave us some hope.  That’s what teams are about.  Everybody has to chip in when they get the opportunity.  They didn’t put their heads down.  They plugged away and made the game somewhat competitive.  We just didn’t have enough tonight.  Spurs are a good team.  They are really good at home.  It’s one of the toughest places to play.  They beat us in a lot of areas tonight.  The 3-point ball was the second difference maker, after Tony Parker.”

(When asked was there a moment before Tony Parker took off that let the game to get away…)

“When their rookie (Kawhi) Leonard hit those back-to-back threes. He made his threes.  He was three for three tonight.  I thought that got them (the Spurs) back into the game when we had a six- or seven-point lead.  It was Tony Parker and the threes. We had no answer for either one of them.  They are a good team.  We had a tough challenge tonight and they got away from us.”

(When asked about the play of Tony Parker tonight…)

“Like I said, that’s the best I’ve seen him move and attack.  He’s a good player.  He’s not an old guy. He’s a young good player.  He plays well.  They put him in a lot of good situations and he capitalized on them.  He was attacking and hitting his jump shot.  You hope when you play against him that his outside shot isn’t falling.  He had three things working: his mid-range, his floater, and his lay-up game were on.”

Thunder forward Kevin Durant:

(On playoff- like atmosphere…)

“That’s how it’s like here. They have the best home record in the league, so everybody is going to come out and see them play. It makes out for a playoff atmosphere. It’s a tough loss. ”

(On Tony Parker’s play…)

“Coming off pick and rolls, he was getting to the rim. He is so quick and he was beating our bigs to the lane sometimes. It’s tough for our bigs to guard someone as fast as Tony. They would foul him a few times then it makes them hesitant to play aggressively on him. I thought they did a good job but he was just making floaters, pull up jump shots and he had it going tonight.”

(What was different in the third quarter that let them gain a big lead…)

“They made threes the whole game.  That’s what won the game for them. They got into the lane and kicked out for threes, which led to Tony Parker getting into the lane so easily.”

Thunder guard Russell Westbrook:

(What made tonight so difficult…)

“They moved the ball. They got into the paint with quickness and we were just a step late. It was a tough loss but we just have to move onto the next one.”

(Talking about the play of the Thunder bench and how they created a spark in the fourth…)

“I feel like we have the best bench in the league. They did a good job of fighting back when we were trying to come back late in the game.”

(Talking about the play in the fourth quarter…)

“It’s a tough place to play at and they might have the best home record in the league because of that. In the fourth quarter, we just did not get off to the start we wanted to and it ended up hurting us.”