Tag: In the News

Popovich is NBA’s top coach according to website’s rankings

In a result that won’t surprise many Spurs fans, Gregg Popovich has been rated the NBA’s best coach by the pro basketball website HoopsHype.com.

In naming the NBA’s longest tenured coach the Association’s best, HoopsHype cites Popovich’s willingness to adapt to the aging of his roster.

Here is the website’s Popovich summation: Great motivator and disciplinarian. Refreshingly honest at all times. Doing a wonderful job integrating new players (like Kawhi Leonard) into the mix. As core players begin to show their age, managing to keep the Spurs competitive while rebuilding.

The rest of the HoopsHype Top 10: 2. Tom Thibodeau (Bulls), 3. Doc Rivers (Celtics), 4. Rick Carlisle (Mavs), 5. George Karl (Nuggets), 6. Rick Adelman (T-Wolves), 7. Doug Collins (76ers), 8. Erik Spoelstra (Heat), 9. Scott Skiles (Bucks), 10. Avery Johnson (nets).

At the bottom of the list was Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap

The rankings were made by Charley Rosen, onetime assistant to Phil Jackson with the old Continental Basketball Association’s Albany Patroons. Rosen appears to show some bias in his stinging assessment of Mike Brown, Jackson’s successor and a former assistant under Popovich. Rosen had Brown No. 22 on his list despite Brown’s record of 313-163 (65.8 percent) over six seasons with the Cavs and Lakers. Rosen says he is “known around the NBA as the most overrated coach in the league.”

Spurs 116, Rockets 107 – Green, Witherspoon get hot


































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Danny Green had his best shooting game of the preseason and Wesley Witherspoon made the most of a chance to start as the Spurs beat the Rockets 116-107.

Green shot 6-of-9 from the field and 3-of-5 on 3-pointers for 15 points. Witherspoon shot 6-of-9 including 2-of-4 on 3-pointers for 17 points.

DeJuan Blair led the bench with 16 points and 6 rebounds. Cory Joseph had 12 points and 3 assists. Manu Ginobili had 11 points, Gary Neal had 10 points and 3 assists and Eddy Curry had 10 points and 3 rebounds.

Kawhi Leonard had the game off and most of the other Spurs’ starters had their playing time limited. Tim Duncan played 12 minutes and had 5 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Tony Parker played 12 minutes and had 6 points. Boris Diaw played 20 minutes and had 2 points and 6 rebounds.

Fourth quarter: Gary Neal and Eddy Curry are up to 10 points each. The Spurs lead 108-99 with 2:44 left in the game.

Nando De Colo had a crazy pass to Derrick Brown for an assist earlier in the fourth quarter. Now a smooth De Colo pass to Eddy Curry for a basket.

Both teams are firing up 3-pointers. The Spurs are 9-of-27 on 3-pointers for the game. The Rockets are 11-of-24. The Spurs lead the Rockets 99-93 with 5:30 left.

Gary Neal and Nando De Colo hit 3-pointers midway through the fourth quarter. The Spurs lead 99-90 with 6:20 left.

Wesley Witherspoon and Danny Green shooting a combined 12-of-18 from the field and 5-of-9 on 3-pointers. They have 15 points each. Witherspoon had the Spurs’ first two baskets of the fourth quarter. The Spurs lead 93-75 with 8:54 left in the game.

Two young Spurs team up. Nando De Colo makes a behind-the-back bounce pass to Derrick Brown, who turns it into a three-point play.

Spurs 72, Rockets 71 – third quarter: Wesley Witherspoon, making his first start of the preseason, has 11 points. He’s one of the young players in Spurs camp competing for a roster spot.

Danny Green has 15 points, Manu Ginobili 13 and Cory Joseph 10. The Spurs lead the Rockets 75-70 with 2:29 left in the third quarter.

Cory Joseph has eight points. He’s doing better this season. But he still might be the Spurs’ fifth or sixth point guard. Spurs point guards: 1. Tony Parker; 2. Gary Neal; 3. Nando De Colo; 4. Patty Mills or Cory Joseph
Not including the possibility of using Manu Ginobili as a point guard in an emergency.

The Rockets are going with their starting five – at least the five who started this game – early in the second half. Those guys have cut the Spurs’ lead to 56-55 with 8:59 left in the third quarter. Jeremy Lamb has 11 points.

The Spurs go with a three-guard lineup to start the second half: Cory Joseph, Gary Neal and Manu Ginobili are on the floor together. Boris Diaw and DeJuan Blair round out the Spurs’ five to start the half.

It looks like the stats are starting to work in Houston now in time for the second half.

Spurs 52, Rockets 44 – halftime: Danny Green has 12 points. Green shot 5-of-7 from the field including 2-of-3 on 3-pointers. Jeff McDonald reports Tim Duncan blocked at least three shots in the first half.

The Spurs lead the Rockets 48-38 with 2:20 left in the second quarter.

Spurs center Eddy Curry and guard Nando De Colo enter the game late in the second quarter for their first action of the game. Veteran Matt Bonner is also in the game.

It’s subs time. Cory Joseph has picked up the scoring for the Spurs. They lead the Rockets 43-32 in the second quarter.

Danny Green has 10 points. This is his best offensive showing of the preseason. The Spurs lead 34-28 in the second quarter. It’s Green and four subs on the floor for the Spurs.

Danny Green blocks a shot early in the second quarter. He’s playing with a lot of energy – might be generally feeling a little more confident after hitting back-to-back shots at the other end.

Spurs 27, Rockets 16 – first quarter: The Spurs starters look sharp including Danny Green hitting two long shots.

Danny Green hits a long jumper. Then Green hits a 3-pointer the next possession. It would be nice for him to start getting in a groove with his shot.

Tiago Splitter, who sat out the Spurs’ first preseason game due to a sore back, enters the game late in the first quarter. Splitter and Tim Duncan are on the court at the same time.

The Spurs lead the Rockets 20-10 with less than three minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Spurs starters – plus Manu Ginobili – are playing well together. As you would expect.

Manu Ginobili comes in off the bench midway through the first quarter. Ginobili sat out two of the first three preseason games with a sore foot.

The Spurs lead the Rockets 11-8 at the first timeout midway through the first quarter. Four of the five usual Spurs starters begin the game together. The rest of the game it’s going to be lots of crazy lineup combinations with lots of young guys.

And the game is under way. Join is in the live chat (below).

Spurs starters: Tony Parker, Danny Green, Wesley Witherspoon, Boris Diaw and Tim Duncan. Witherspoon gets the start in place of Kawhi Leonard.

Wesley Witherspoon hasn’t looked bad – rookie guard/forward from Memphis. I just don’t see room on the Spurs’ roster for him. I wonder if he’s bound for the D-League for this season. Starting today will give scouts from some other teams a chance to take a good look at him.

Lineup update: Jeff McDonald reports Wesley Witherspoon will start for the Spurs. Earlier today it looked like Manu Ginobili might start, but now it looks like that’s not the case.

The Rockets are trying to win their 13th straight preseason game. There’s not much correlation between that and winning in the regular season.

Houston Rockets report Kevin Martin, Patrick Patterson and Toney Douglas will not play today.

The experience factor isn’t such a big deal in preseason. You figure Pop uses most of the game to give his newest and youngest players as much game time as he can.

Huge contrast between these two teams in the togetherness factor. The Spurs’ Big Three have all been together going back to the 2003 championship season. Most of these Rockets have been together since the beginning of October.

The Spurs play on the road today against the Houston at 1 p.m. in Houston.

Join our live chat beginning at 12:30 p.m.

LeBron-less Heat beat Spurs to the finish





















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By Jeff McDonald

MIAMI — The Spurs came to South Florida this weekend intent on receiving the kind of test facing the defending NBA champions could surely provide.

Informed before Saturday’s preseason game at AmericanAirlines Arena that league MVP LeBron James — the player most responsible for the Miami Heat laying claim to that title — was sitting out, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich feigned disappointment.

“Is he?” Popovich said. “Kawhi was looking forward to holding him scoreless.”

As a consolation, Kawhi Leonard — the Spurs’ 21-year-old small forward still learning on the job — got to spend most of Miami’s 104-101 victory battling with Dwyane Wade, when he wasn’t chasing Ray Allen around screens.

And the Spurs got their hoped-for test anyway, going toe-to-toe with a Miami team that, even sans James, at times certainly looked title worthy.

That the Spurs’ regulars held their own, recovering from 11-point deficit in the first half to take a 10-point lead before both teams emptied the benches, was a good enough sign.

“Just playing games, period, is good,” said Tim Duncan, who scored 11 of his 15 points in the third quarter to spark the Spurs’ turnaround. “It doesn’t matter who it’s against.

“Just getting out of practice all the time and trying to get some rhythm in different situations you can’t set up in practice. Things happen, you go to the sidelines, and you learn from it.”

For the second time this preseason, a game went down to the wire, requiring a last-ditch play drawn up in a timeout huddle.

That Popovich chose to take the grease pen himself — and not delegate the duty to Tony Parker or anyone else — is perhaps an indication that things are getting serious.

Whatever Popovich scribbled didn’t exactly come to fruition on the floor.

Behind by three points with 1.8 seconds to go, the Spurs (3-2) could only muster an off-balance, heavily guarded 3-point try from Cory Joseph.

“We all learn something from those situations, whether it’s young guys or whatever,” Duncan said. “Just to talk through it, older guys can point some things out. You learn some things that way.”

This being the preseason, what happened at the end of the game was less consequential than what happened earlier, when both teams had their regulars on the floor.

The Spurs survived an early bout of Wade, who is coming off knee surgery, looking decidedly Wade-like.

Wade scored all 13 of his points in the first half and had most of them before Miami’s Mike Miller began staging his own personal 3-point shooting contest.

Miller finished with 12 points, hitting his first four attempts from long-range. He made three of them during a two-minute stretch of the second quarter that helped the Heat (3-2) push the lead to 55-44.

“If you leave him open, he is going to hit it,” said Miami’s Rashard Lewis, who added 15 points of his own. “He’s going to help this team out by continually draining threes.”

Behind a big third quarter from Duncan, 17 points from Danny Green and nine points in seven minutes from Miami ex-pat Eddy Curry, the Spurs not only clawed back in the game. They climbed ahead by double digits.

Miami did not get the lead back until Terrel Harris’ two free throws with 1:37 to play.

Given one last chance to force overtime, the Spurs, who visit Orlando today, could not come through.

On this day, however, it was about the journey and not the destination.

“Every game is a good test,” Popovich said. “You play a lot of guys, see what they can do, look at combinations, get guys in shape, get some rhythm. There’s something to take away from every game.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN