Tag: Gregg Popovich

Game rewind: Slumping Bucks add to Spurs road woes

It was one of those nights for the Spurs.

After getting strong offensive efforts from Tim Duncan and Tony Parker to start the game, the Spurs appeared ready to snap the nagging road losing streak that had dogged them since the start of the season.

But the Spurs discombulated down the stretch, allowing the Bucks to snatch a victory away despite San Antonio leading for much of the second half. The Spurs squandered a seven-point lead — their largest of the game — early in the fourth quarter.

Game analysis: The Spurs received strong efforts from Duncan, Parker and Kawhi Leonard throughout most of the game, but it wasn’t enough as they couldn’t hold off Milwaukee’s fast-closing duo of Stephen Jackson and Brandon Jennings.

Where the game was won: The Spurs squandered two chances to win or tie in the final minute.  Trailing 104-103, Parker was stripped by Jennings, who finished the play with a  transition dunk giving gave them a 106-103 with less than 50 seconds. And after San Antonio had won a jump ball with 15 seconds remaining, Gregg Popovich couldn’t get his team to call a timeout.  Parker fed the ball to Richard Jefferson, who missed a 3-pointer as time expired for the final margin.

Player of the game I: Jackson bounced out of a slump that had dogged him all season to score 34 points and provide eight assists. Coming into the game, he was shooting  32.0 percent from the field.

Player of the game II: Duncan had his strongest game of the season with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists and three blocked shots. It was his first game with at least 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists since his vintage 21-point, 16-rebound, eight-assist, five-blocked shot game against New York last Jan. 21.

 Player of the game III: Leonard had the best game of his young NBA career with 19 points, three rebounds, two assists and four steals in 33 minutes. It may have shown enough to convince Popovich to provide him with his first career start while T.J. Ford recuperates. 

Most unsung: Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut spent most of Monday flying back from Australia after taking care of an undisclosed family emergency. Despite struggling in the first half to stick with Duncan and find his conditioning, Bogut played through his weariness and provided a strong second half. Bogut snatched seven of his game-high 11 rebounds in the second half, providing the Bucks with an inside presence that helped free Jackson and Jennings outside.

Did you notice: The Spurs led in the second half for the first time on the road this season and even had an advantage into the fourth quarter. In their three previous road losses, the Spurs had not led after halftime.

Stat of the game: The Bucks forced 16 Spurs turnovers and turned them into 25 points. Six of the turnovers came in the fourth quarter, including two in the final minute.

Stat of the game II: Milwaukee snapped a five-game losing streak with the victory.

Stat of the game III: The Bucks hit 9 of 14 3-point shots for a season-best 64.3 percent.

Weird stat of the game: The Spurs shot 60 percent from the field and still lost. An NBA team has shot 60 percent and lost only four times since 1999.

Weird stat of the game II: Since the 1999 lockout, the Bucks have beaten the Spurs 13 out of 25 times. Their victory Tuesday night snapped a four-game losing streak to the Spurs.

Quote of the game: ”It’s the worst defensive team we’ve ever had. We have a long way to go,” Popovich on his team’s defensive struggles.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs were on the front end of of a back-to-back and will play Houston Wednesday night at the ATT Center. The Bucks will rest until a  back-to-back with a Thursday game against Detroit and a Friday night game at Dallas.

Injuries: Manu Ginobili missed his fifth game after undergoing surgery for a fractured fifth left metacarpal.  Ford strained his hamstring late in the first quarter and did not return. Popovich said there is no timetable for his return. Milwaukee played without guard Mike Dunleavy (groin injury), forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (right knee tendinitis) and former Spurs guard Beno Udrih (left shoulder sprain).

Spurs notebook: Duncan shows depth of game against Suns

MIAMI — For much of the Spurs’ 102-91 victory over Phoenix on Sunday, center DeJuan Blair felt less like the guy starting next to Tim Duncan and more like a guy in the stands rooting him on.

“I’m Tim’s biggest fan,” Blair said. “It was like watching old-school Tim.”

Indeed, Duncan produced his most prolific box score of the season, going for 24 points and 11 rebounds, but the way the numbers came was not exactly a flashback to his mid-20s.

Instead of pounding the Suns in the low block, Duncan — as has been his preferred latter-day M.O. — stepped out and peppered them with jump shots.

Duncan was 10 of 14 from the field, getting eight of his baskets from beyond 10 feet. It is a skill the 13-time All-Star has honed since his 30th birthday, particularly during the past offseason.

“You have to,” said Duncan, 35, in his 15th season. “Especially this summer, I worked on it a lot and tried to extend my range a bit and get more consistent.”

Before Sunday night was done, Duncan had nudged his career scoring total to 21,829, passing former Seattle guard Gary Payton for 26th on the NBA’s all-time list.

There was one moment against the Suns that seemed decidedly old-school Duncan. Late in the fourth quarter, with the Spurs needing a basket, Duncan posted center Marcin Gortat and ball-faked his way to a layup.

“I always think he’s got it,” Spurs forward Richard Jefferson said. “Even on those nights he doesn’t have what people normally think ‘it’ is, he does amazing things to help us win — rebounds, key blocks, good communication on defense, a lot of things that never show up in the stat sheet.”

KING-SIZED THRILL: It has been a learning-on-the-fly season for Spurs rookie forward Kawhi Leonard, but one assignment coach Gregg Popovich spared him Sunday was guarding Suns point guard Steve Nash.

“He doesn’t even know our system yet,” Popovich said of the 20-year-old Leonard. “We don’t want to give him jobs that are not in the mainstream of what he’s going to be doing.”

Had Dwyane Wade been healthy, Leonard might not have been able to avoid an All-Star assignment tonight in Miami. He would have had to defend either Wade or LeBron James.

With Wade likely out with an ankle sprain, Leonard might still see time against James, a two-time MVP.

“He wouldn’t back away from any challenge,” Popovich said. “Guarding guys like that, it’s kind of thrilling for him. He’s been watching them on TV for the last three, four years, and now he gets to guard them.”

MEDICAL REPORT: Reserve guard Gary Neal made the trip to Miami with a right thigh contusion suffered in the Phoenix game, the latest malady for him in a season that has included an appendectomy and a gash on the head that required four staples to close.

“He’s just a mess, basically,” Popovich said.

Neal is considered questionable for tonight’s game. Big men Matt Bonner (knee bruise) and Malcolm Thomas (stomach flu) are expected to be available.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Buck Harvey: Ginobili nails it — playoff timing

They were in New Orleans in 2008, in the second round of the playoffs, and Manu Ginobili was stretching his sore ankle in the locker room with an elastic resistance band.

Everyone was calm, relaxed — until the band snapped, catching Ginobili’s shooting hand.

A nail had been ripped off at the base, and both pain and ingenuity followed. A Spurs staffer sped to a New Orleans beauty salon, bought an acrylic nail and glued Ginobili back together again.

But he’s never been whole in the playoffs since. And that’s why, when the Spurs look for a black-and-silver lining today, they point to this:

Ginobili has finally learned when to get hurt, hasn’t he?

This is based on the belief that those left behind can win a few games before he returns. Tony Parker is capable of playing as he did in 2009, when Ginobili missed the end of the season, and there’s potential with Gary Neal, James Anderson and Kawhi Leonard.

And if the Spurs aren’t good enough to remain competitive without Ginobili: That suggests they weren’t going to advance in the playoffs with him, anyway.

At home now, able to hold only one of his twins at a time, Ginobili likely wonders what he’s done to deserve this. The last time he was healthy throughout the playoffs was 2007, which is also the last time the Spurs won a title. From then until now, he’s been afflicted from toes to nose.

The ankle that was bothering him in 2008 eventually cracked in Beijing. That was followed by a stress fracture in the other foot the next season. A broken nose against Dallas in the 2010 playoffs required yet another creative bandage. And a bent elbow last spring came in the final, meaningless game of a remarkable 61-win regular season.

Some of it can be attributed to his style of play. But some of it is as inexplicable as the accident in New Orleans. The latest is a combination.

Ginobili reached in Monday night for a steal, as he’s done a thousand times before. Only this time, the contact was so violent, he not only broke a bone in his left hand, he also tore the skin in the crease between his ring finger and his pinkie. The wound was severe enough to require a half-dozen stitches.

The fracture of the fifth metacarpal that resulted is a common one. Some call it “boxer’s fracture,” but that’s an inaccurate term. Boxers don’t break this bone. Bar fighters do, as does the guy who slams his fist into an arena wall in a rage.

Gregg Popovich might have been so tempted Monday night.

The fifth metacarpal isn’t much different than the fourth that Parker broke in 2010, except the fifth is more flexible and requires better stability. Parker didn’t have surgery and missed 16 games; Ginobili, if he needs a procedure, might miss twice as many games in a crunched season.

But Parker was hurt in early March. That, and what followed, gives the Spurs some hope now.

Ginobili surged without Parker then, when some in the franchise were wondering if he had it in him anymore. When the Spurs’ remodeled lineup won, there were coaches who thought they had found a better way to play.

For the first time, Parker’s future with the franchise was in doubt. But the playoffs adjusted that thinking, while also saying something about how broken metacarpals can heal. Parker came up with 16 points and eight assists off the bench in Game 2 in Dallas, keying the first-round upset.

Ginobili will have ample time to make a similar recovery. Given that, what Parker asked Monday night in Minnesota should be turned around.

“Why now?” Parker said in frustration, when the answer should be clear.

Why now?

Ginobili, going by standards set long ago in New Orleans, might be luckier this time.

bharvey@express-news.net