Tag: Gregg Popovich

Popovich: Life on road tougher than in the past

NEWARK, N.J. — Over the past nine seasons, the mythology of the Spurs’ rodeo road trip has taken on a life of its own.

It was a time when the Spurs jelled for the season’s stretch run, the place where championships were forged.

Is it still? Gregg Popovich isn’t so sure.

“As guys get older, the trip gets tougher,” the Spurs coach said. “When they were all young, it wasn’t that tough. I threw that pablum out there, ‘We all get together, it’s a bunker mentality.’

“Now, it’s ‘When is this sucker over?’”

This year’s incarnation of the rodeo trip has in fact barely begun. The Spurs are 2-0 on the nine-game jaunt heading into tonight’s game against New Jersey, still three weeks away from their next home date.

Five days in, Popovich has found value to life on the road. With so many new parts on his roster and in his rotation this season, the extended time away from home has given players a chance to bond in ways they might not have otherwise in this condensed lockout season.

A fan of team field trips on the road — he once took players on an outing to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., for example — Popovich laments the lack of time for such excursions this season.

“There’s no time for any of that stuff,” Popovich said. “This kind of trip, we’re together for so long, so we’ll do something.”

With five nights in New York City before and after tonight’s game against the Nets, the Big Apple would seem to be as good a place as any for such an outing.

Not so fast, Popovich said.

“All my field trips in New York are personal,” he said. “Total selfishness, and hedonistic.”

Duncan not heartbroken: ??After 13 straight trips to the All-Star Game, Tim Duncan was neither surprised nor dismayed to learn Western Conference coaches declined to put him on this year’s team.

“I’m not broken up about it,” Duncan said.

Popovich refused after practice Friday to enter a discussion about whether Duncan — who is averaging 13.9 points and 8.3 rebounds — deserved to be on the team. Later, Popovich joked he could have done more to promote his venerable captain’s All-Star chances.

“I thought about sending teddy bears to the coaches that said, ‘Vote for Tim,’” Popovich said.

To which Duncan shot back, with mock incredulity, “You didn’t do that?”

Lonely All-Star: Point guard Tony Parker got news of his fourth All-Star nod the way the rest of America did — by watching the TNT selection broadcast Thursday.

His inclusion gives the Spurs an All-Star representative for the 14th consecutive game.

“I was happy to keep the streak going for the Spurs,” Parker said. “I’ve always said it’s a reward for the team. We’ve been playing well.”

Parker’s only regret is that Duncan won’t be going with him. He considers Duncan in the same category as Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki — an aging but still worthy candidate, despite a drop in numbers.

“When you see Dirk making it, I thought maybe T.D. had a chance,” Parker said. “I was sad. I have to go solo.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Buck Harvey: Dirk as fat Shaq: Following his owner

Most in the league thought Mark Cuban had it right. Why not play with an eye on the summer of 2012?

Enjoy the championship glow. Don’t re-sign Tyson Chandler or J.J. Barea, freeing up salary cap space. Try to win with what you have this season. And then get in line for Deron Williams or Dwight Howard or both.

It is smart basketball, as well as smart business. Dallas fans, also caught up in the championship glow, aren’t about to go away now.

But the message drifted down, turning Cuban’s best player into Shaquille O’Neal with a German accent. And this isn’t what Dirk Nowitzki needed.

He already had too many reasons to relax.

Nowitzki might be back for today’s game against the Spurs, and he might also be ready to resume last season’s stature. It’s all possible, and that’s another reason most in the league thought Cuban had it right. The Mavericks are still capable of winning a few games, especially after Lamar Odom arrived as a gift from the Lakers.

Cuban said the same in late December when asked if he was sacrificing this season for the summer. “That’s absolutely ridiculous,” Cuban said. “If that were the case, why would I take on Lamar’s salary?”

But Cuban takes on everyone’s salary. Besides, the Mavericks had spent more than a decade building and rebuilding ? around Nowitzki. Then, after finally getting it right, they added Odom and Vince Carter and thought the pieces would magically fit? They know, better than anyone, how difficult the process is.

Give Cuban the benefit of doubt, though. He’s paid for that much. And give him the following point, too.

“They were panicking when we went on a West Coast road trip late last year, too, and we got blown out at L.A. and Portland,” Cuban told reporters recently. “And that was 70 games into the season. And then we lost to Denver at home and George Karl says he wants to play the Mavs in the playoffs.”

He’s right. Every year is a grind. And in a lockout season, with all the variables that presents, the defending champs should be granted a dip or two.

Still, Nowitzki’s personal reversal is something else entirely. Nowitzki had never coasted as Shaq once did, using the regular season to get in shape. Nowitzki had spent his life in a Teutonic training camp, with a personal trainer and a weighted vest.

Or, maybe that’s just it. Last spring was the result of his labor, and this title was mostly a relief to him. Nowitzki had been mocked for his first-round exits, even mocked when he won his MVP trophy. Now it was time to get a ring, meet President Obama and see how well a La-Z-Boy contains a 7-footer.

The media are not the ones saying it. Both Cuban and Rick Carlisle have said Nowitzki came into the season out of shape.

But Cuban is also an enabler, and it began with a celebration that continued on past South Beach. The Mavericks hung on to this title far more than the Spurs did with theirs. Gregg Popovich, for example, was so intent on rebooting his teams after championships that he would forbid his marketing department from showing Finals highlights the next season on the video scoreboard.

Cuban, in contrast, is looking to reboot his franchise this summer by becoming active in free agency. Nowitzki, who will be 34 in June, is likely less excited about Dallas’ prospects over the next half-dozen years.

Nowitzki showed no signs of resignation last week. “I haven’t seen one team in the West,” he said, “that I’m scared of.”

He won’t be afraid of the Spurs today. But if he isn’t the same, and he isn’t for the rest of the season, then there are reasons.

Even if Cuban had it right.

bharvey@express-news.net

Parker gets All-Star nod, but not Duncan

By Jeff McDonald

NEW YORK — After 13 trips to the NBA All-Star Game, Spurs forward Tim Duncan has a pretty good idea of what an All-Star looks like.

In his mind, it looks a lot like Tony Parker.

“Easily,” Duncan said when asked if the Spurs point guard should make this year’s Western Conference squad. “There’s no doubt.”

Apparently, West coaches agreed.

When the NBA announced All-Star reserves Thursday night, Parker found his name on the list, an accomplishment that pushes him further into rarefied air in San Antonio.

The Feb. 26 game in Orlando, Fla., will mark Parker’s fourth All-Star appearance, making him one of only four Spurs players all-time to boast at least that many. Two of them (David Robinson and George Gervin) are in the Naismith Hall of Fame. The other (Duncan) one day will be.

“It will be a great reward for my team and the whole Spurs organization,” Parker said.

This time, however, Parker will be going alone.

Until now a death-and-taxes-style lock for the All-Star Game, Duncan was left off the West squad for the first time in his career.

His omission not only snaps a string of 13 consecutive All-Star appearances, it ends a streak of consecutive starts (12) that was the second-longest in NBA history. Only Boston great Bob Cousy (13) enjoyed a longer one.

Though Duncan’s numbers — 13.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in 27.6 minutes — are similar to last year’s, he appears to have been outpolled by Memphis’ Marc Gasol for the final big man spot.

By rule, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich could not vote for his own players while casting a ballot for the reserves, but offered Parker a heavy endorsement in recent weeks.

“Tony’s played All-Star basketball all year long,” Popovich said.

With star guard Manu Ginobili out with a broken hand since Jan. 2, Parker has lifted his game — and lifted the Spurs to the second-best record in the West (19-8).

Heading into Saturday’s game at New Jersey, Parker is averaging 18.9 points and a career-best 7.7 assists. Since the beginning of January, when Ginobili was hurt, he’s averaging 19.8 points and 7.9 assists.

Parker’s inclusion on the West team gives the Spurs a representative in 14 consecutive All-Star games. In Orlando, he will join a backcourt that includes starters Chris Paul (L.A. Clippers) and Kobe Bryant (L.A. Lakers) and reserves Steve Nash (Phoenix) and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City).

“We’ve needed Tony to be a scorer the whole time Manu’s been out,” Popovich said. “He scores, he assists, he’s been leading us out there. He’s been really special.”

Barring a setback, Ginobili is due back Saturday in New Jersey. Because of Parker, the Spurs were not only able to survive Ginobili’s absence, but thrive.

The Southwest Division-leading Spurs will carry an NBA-best six-game winning streak into New Jersey.

In the past 2 1/2 weeks, Parker turned in the top assist game of his career (17 at New Orleans) and two of his top-10 scoring nights (42 against Oklahoma City, 37 at Philadelphia).

The All-Star honor is one Parker openly courted and coveted in the past few weeks. He missed participating in last year’s game in Los Angeles, when Duncan and Ginobili played and Popovich and his staff coached.

“It would be great to go back,” Parker said a day before the announcement. “It would be nice after what happened last year. Everybody went, and I wanted to go.”

In the end, the Western Conference coaches gave Parker his golden ticket to Orlando. It will be a lonely trip, but a well-deserved one.

jmcdonald@express-news.net