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Behind the face: Leonard’s comeback

Column by Buck Harvey

LOS ANGELES — They didn’t like Kawhi Leonard Saturday. They were in awe of him.

A few members of the Spurs’ brass stood in a Staples Center hallway trying to find the proper superlative. And, fitting of Leonard, the best compliment was a non-verbal one.

A Spurs official put his hand in front of his face, then lowered it slowly, to show the universal sign for expressionless cool.

That was Leonard, the rookie, on the road, with the Spurs being crushed in the first half.

“He might have been,” the official said, “the steadiest on the floor.”

He might have been the best Spur, too, and that brings up something that should have been understood long ago by people who insist on comparing him to Bruce Bowen. Leonard isn’t Bowen.

Leonard has twice the talent. He can rebound, muscle, dribble and pass. Bowen struggled with all four.

And while Bowen needed time to find a place in the league at age 30, Leonard is there at 20.

Add to that what Bowen did so well, such as shoot the corner three and play defense, and the package is rare. It was all on display Saturday, when Leonard alternated between chasing Chris Paul and bumping with Blake Griffin.

“He’s the one guy nobody ever talks about,” Manu Ginobili said afterward. And maybe he’s also the reason many don’t understand where this 17-in-a-row success has come from. The Spurs have found a young, long, efficient athlete who fills a position that has been lacking since, well, Bowen left.

His composure might be his most impressive trait. Leonard grew up in the area, so he had family and friends here, and yet he reacted to the early rout by not reacting.

“I don’t think he ever gets excited,” Tim Duncan said Saturday. “He’s absolutely even keel the entire time. I think he’s even more mellow than me, if that’s possible.”

Duncan consciously works to keep a poker face. Leonard is a natural.

And it’s not that Leonard has an absence of expression; it’s what is there in place of one. Leonard has permanent sorrow, the look of a sad clown, and it rarely changes.

He was the same after the game Saturday, when the media surrounded him and asked how he thought he did against Griffin.

“I think I did pretty well,” he said, while his faced suggested he had failed miserably.

He never talks to refs, which is smart for a rookie, and he doesn’t say much to his teammates, either. But, according to Stephen Jackson, Leonard has a favorite expression.

“Grind hard.”

The Spurs needed exactly that Saturday. Leonard sat down late in the first quarter after the Clippers jumped out to a 23-9 lead. By the time he came back, the Spurs were losing by 21.

Gregg Popovich later repeated what he often says, that these early leads always scare coaches, because the games are “so doggone long.” But how doggone long would Popovich have stuck with his starters had the Clippers kept their lead?

With another game tonight, Popovich might have been one quarter away from conceding.

So what happened at the end of the first half mattered, and Leonard started it. He hit a runner. Then, after Tony Parker missed, Leonard kept the rebound alive. The basketball fell into Duncan’s arms, and he got the score.

Grind hard, all right.

By the end of the half, the sense was that the Spurs were in control. ?Leonard took that further to start the third quarter, with a three and later a steal that set up a Parker layup.

How the Spurs pulled even: A three-point play inside by Leonard.

“Kawhi sure does not look like a rookie,” Popovich said at a news conference.

And outside the room, standing in the hallway, a Spurs official put his hand in front of his face, then lowered it slowly.

bharvey@express-news.net
Twitter: @Buck_SA

SPURS VS. CLIPPERS
(Spurs lead best-of-seven series 2-0)

Game 1:

Game 2:

Game 3:

Game 4: Sunday, @Clippers, 9:30 p.m., TNT

* Game 5: Tuesday, @Spurs, TBA, TNT

* Game 6: Friday, @Clippers, TBA, ESPN

* Game 7: May 27, @Spurs, TBA, TNT

* If necessary

Spurs notebook: Parker makes All-NBA team

By Jeff McDonald

As if the Tony Parker-Russell Westbrook matchup in the Western Conference finals could contain any more sizzle, both players found themselves on the All-NBA second team announced Thursday.

It was the second career All-NBA mention for Parker, who is in his 11th season with the Spurs. He was named to the third team in 2008-09.

In garnering 367 total points, including 41 first-team votes, Parker out-polled every NBA guard other than the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant and L.A. Clippers’ Chris Paul.

That includes Westbrook, the 23-year-old Oklahoma City point man who earned 239 points and five first-team votes en route to his third straight second-team selection.

Parker, 30, averaged 18.3 points and a career-best 7.7 assists during the regular season. Westbrook, in his fourth season with the Thunder, averaged 23.6 points, fifth-best in the NBA, to go with 5.5 assists and 4.6 rebounds.

The All-NBA teams were assembled by a panel of 120 media members.

Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant was named to the first team, garnering more votes than every player except Miami’s LeBron James.

Thunder, meet Manu: Game 1 of the Western Conference finals will mark the first time Manu Ginobili has faced Oklahoma City this season.

The oft-injured Spurs guard missed the first two meetings, Jan. 8 and Feb. 4, with a fractured left hand. Ginobili was inactive for the March 16 game for rest reasons.

The Spurs went 2-1 against the Thunder without him.

Ginobili believes his lack of court time against Oklahoma City could make a difference early in the series.

“You don’t get a feel for how they guard you or what they do on pick-and-rolls and stuff,” Ginobili said. “The first game will be very important for me to understand what is going on.”

Thunder Alley on hold: The outdoor Thunder game-watching party traditionally held outside Chesapeake Energy Arena for each playoff game, in an area known colloquially as “Thunder Alley,” has been shuttered by Oklahoma City officials in the wake of a shooting earlier this week.

The violence, which left eight people injured, occurred not far from the arena late Monday night after the Thunder eliminated the L.A. Lakers in the second round.

Pregame festivities outside the arena will be allowed to continue, but must end when the game starts. The game will no longer be projected on a big screen attached to the side of the arena.

“It’s crazy how many people were outside, and how many people come and support,” Westbrook said. “So I think they’ll be a little disappointed. So hopefully they don’t cut it off.”

Other Oklahoma City players echoed Westbrook’s hope the city would eventually reinstate Thunder Alley.

“It’s something amazing; I’ve never seen it in my life,” forward Serge Ibaka said. “When we were playing in the arena, I saw the big crowd on the (Jumbotron). I said, ‘Wow.’ That was crazy amazing.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Staff writer Mike Monroe contributed to this report.

From the sky, Diaw falls to the Spurs

Column by Buck Harvey

We were talking the other day in Salt Lake City, passing time as this 26-0 winning streak to the championship was just beginning, and Gregg Popovich hesitated.

When was the last time a healthy, in-his-prime talent such as Boris Diaw had ever fallen from the sky?

The best Popovich could do was the 2005 trade for Nazr Mohammed. Which isn’t close. Mohammed cost the Spurs something and, besides, Diaw isn’t Mohammed.

Diaw is clever, skilled and golden. He’s helped make Tim Duncan younger, and he’s made Tony Parker happier.

He’s also made the Spurs exactly what Al “I don’t see nobody beating ’em” Jefferson said they were.

Diaw won’t be the story of Game 2. Chris Paul’s career high in turnovers ranks larger, as does the curious case of Timothy Button. Duncan seemingly gets younger as each week of the season passes, and now he’s back around 1999 heading toward his rookie year.

His 14 points at halftime allowed the Spurs to keep the lead. And everyone who wonders exactly how much Blake Griffin is bothered by his left knee should take a look at Duncan’s. Think that huge brace is strapped on for fun?

“For whatever reason,” Duncan said afterward, he feels better than he has in years.

Here’s a reason: Diaw. Duncan has played with a lot of big men over the years. And while David Robinson was more dominant than Diaw, and while Duncan won with others such as Mohammed and Fab Oberto, he’s never had anyone with the versatility of Diaw.

In Game 1, he set a personal postseason best for rebounds, and Thursday outlined the rest. Diaw ended the third quarter with a smooth scoop layup, then started the fourth with a slick pass to Tiago Splitter.

Just to show the full package: He threw in his second three of the game.

In doing so, he scored more points than he has since January. Then, Diaw was with a franchise (Charlotte) that couldn’t win. Now he’s with one that can’t lose.

Popovich said afterward Diaw hadn’t exceeded expectations, because Diaw “is pretty well known for what he does. He’s done it for other teams, and now he’s doing it for us. He’s fit in pretty seamlessly. It’s basketball, it’s not that complicated.”

Truth is, it’s not complicated for him. Diaw knows how to play, and it’s a gift. That’s why, in the days before the postseason began, Popovich didn’t hesitate to start someone who had started only seven games in his Spurs career.

With him in with the mix, a smart team that shares the basketball got better at what it does. Diaw might have better passing instincts than his best friend, Parker, which is a remarkable thought. A guy who bangs with Blake Griffin sees the court as well as a point guard?

Parker nodded Thursday. “Boris,” he said, “made a lot of good decisions, and I have a lot of confidence in him.”

Parker’s never had this kind of friend as a teammate, either. Diaw was asked after the game what he got Parker for his birthday, and most thought Diaw would say something trite like a win.

Instead, Diaw actually bought him a present. Wireless speakers.

He and the Spurs will lose eventually, and consecutive games in Los Angeles this weekend are a likely place to start.

But there is a reason the Spurs are 26-2 since Diaw arrived. And it’s because the kind of player who is never available in March for free was.