Tag: Indianapolis

Popovich: Hill to start if Manu can’t

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

Manu Ginobili continues to be listed as doubtful for Sunday’s game with a sprained right elbow, but he was hard at work at the team’s practice facility on Friday.

While his teammates prepared for Game 1 of the Spurs-Grizzlies first-round playoff series, injured guard Ginobili worked on cardiovascular conditioning and strength training.

Some of his strength training included lifts with his injured right arm.

While reiterating that there is no change in Ginobili’s status for Sunday’s game, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich expressed confidence he would return to action during the series.

“He will be back at some point for sure,” he said.

If Ginobili does not return on Sunday, George Hill will start in his shooting guard spot.

“George Hill will probably take his place as a starter, if, in fact, Manu doesn’t play, and right now, it looks that way,” Popovich said. “We’ve got a day and a half to see if (Ginobili) heals any more, see what’s going on, but at this point George Hill would be the guy who starts.”

It will be important, Popovich said, for Hill to play the aggressive, purposeful game that makes him, in Popovich’s words, “Indiana George.”

“Pop means Indiana George from back in Indianapolis, from college and high school,” Hill said, “being a freak of nature on offense with defense coming first or second. But just having fun out there. Being aggressive at all times.”

Popovich said Hill will be important even if Ginobili suits up.

“With or without Manu, George Hill is important to us,” he said. “He’s a fine, young player and does a good job at both ends of the court. Manu’s injury has nothing to do with George, in that sense. Even with Manu, he’s got to play well for us.”

BRING IT: Convinced the Grizzlies rested key players in their final two games to ensure they would land in the No. 8 seed and face the Spurs, rather than the No. 2 seed Lakers, the Spurs have mustered up a sense of mild outrage.

“Let’s play basketball,” Hill said. “I can see them going through those steps. Who cares what they did, if they sat, or if the coach coached or didn’t coach. The playoffs are different though. I don’t know why they want us so bad. We’re 2-2 against them. Fifty percent. But if that’s what they want, to take their chances against us, then bring it, I guess.”

ZZ TIM: Spurs captain Tim Duncan hasn’t shaved in a while, a scraggly beard getting a tad shaggy in recent days.

Is it a traditional playoff beard, the sort favored by some pro athletes who vow not to shave as long as the playoffs continue?

“It’s more of a laziness beard,” he said, “but we’ll call it a playoff beard. I’ll take that. It won’t last for long, though. My wife’s already disowned me.”

Hill helps Spurs get over the hump

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

As the losses piled up to unthinkable heights, and the Spurs’ once unapproachable lead in the Western Conference dwindled to next to nothing, Matt Bonner found himself looking back in time and across an ocean for perspective.

Playing for an Italian team, Sicilia Messina, as a professional rookie in 2003, Bonner not only endured a losing streak longer than the one the Spurs ended Sunday with a 114-97 demolition of Phoenix. His team finished dead last.

“It wasn’t my fault though,” Bonner said. “The team went bankrupt, and a couple guys stopped showing up.”

Say this much about the Spurs’ six-game losing streak, the club’s longest since 1996-97: At least the checks still cleared.

The frustration-venting that occurred Sunday at the ATT Center was more priceless than any paycheck for the Spurs, even if it came at the expense of a Suns team now eliminated from playoff contention.

George Hill scored 29 points, Bonner broke out of a personal slump of his own, and the Spurs’ bench sparked the team’s first victory since a March 21 win over Golden State that only feels like last season.

After the win, which came with Suns guard Steve Nash at home with the flu, the Spurs ? got bonus help from Denver, which ended the Lakers’ nine-game winning streak. That pushed the Spurs’ cushion in the West back to 2 1/2 games.

The Spurs (58-19) clinched the Southwest Division when Dallas went on to lose at Portland on Sunday night. It’s the club’s 17th division crown overall.

More than that, it gave the Spurs assurance that the team that won 57 of its first 70 games still lurked somewhere inside them.

“It’s all about confidence,” Bonner said. “We lost some during the losing streak. Hopefully, we got some of it back.”

The Spurs, who led by as many as 31, got 63 points off the bench, including Bonner’s first double-double of the season (16 points, 11 rebounds) and 15 points from Gary Neal.

The Spurs’ star, however, was a reserve who had combined for 11 points the previous two games.

Cajoling Hill to revert to his shoot-first roots, coach Gregg Popovich approached the third-year guard with a specific piece of instruction.

“He said, ‘You need to be the Indiana George,’” Hill said.

Hill had little trouble deciphering that code.

“Play like I did in high school and college,” said Hill, the Indianapolis native and IUPUI alum.

Instead, Hill went back to playing like he did last week, when he dumped 57 points on Memphis and Portland. Hill shot 10 of 16, including 4 of 7 from the 3-point line, and by halftime had more points (24) than he’d totaled in all but two other games this season.

“He gave us what Manu (Ginobili) used to give us coming off the bench,” Popovich said.

Hill’s early explosion, which included 11 points in the final 2:01 of the first quarter, boosted the Spurs to a 70-46 lead at intermission, the Suns’ largest halftime deficit of the season.

“We got knocked on our heels early,” said Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry, whose team is lottery-bound one year after sweeping the Spurs from the second round of the playoffs. “When you get that kind of separation, it’s hard to work your way back.”

A victory in their pocket, the weight of the longest losing streak of the Tim Duncan era off their shoulders and the West’s No. 1 seed still in their possession, the Spurs depart for Atlanta fully aware of more work to be done over the final five games.

Still, the Spurs took time to celebrate Sunday. For the first time in 13 days, winning beat losing.

“Losing six in a row, after winning so many games all year, wears on you mentally,” Bonner said. “First and foremost, (it was) get the win, end the losing streak, and try to build off that confidence.”

For Bonner, Sunday meant something else. For the first time in a while, being penniless in Italy did not feel like the good old days.

Hill recognized for sportsmanship

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

HOUSTON — When Spurs guard George Hill was a young player in Indianapolis, he had a reputation as a bit of a hothead.

“As a kid, I had a bad attitude when things didn’t go my way,” he said. “I’ve learned how to manage that and control my attitude so I can be a positive role model for other young players.”

Hill’s ability to control his emotions on the court gained recognition from a panel of former players when he was named one of six finalists for the NBA Sportsmanship Award.

The panel — Rolando Blackman, Mark Jackson, John Crotty and Eddie Johnson — selected Hill to represent the Southwest Division.

The other finalsts are Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge, Charlotte’s D. J. Augustin, Chicago’s Luol Deng, Golden State’s Stephen Curry and New Jersey’s Deron Williams.

The annual award reflects the ideals of sportsmanship — ethical behavior, fair play and integrity — in amateur and professional basketball, a key focus of the NBA Cares program efforts. The winner will receive the Joe Dumars Trophy, named to recognize the former Pistons All-NBA guard who now serves as that team’s general manager.

Hill said he still gets angry on the court, but tries to channel his emotions in a positive direction.

“Everybody gets angry,” Hill said. “It’s the competitive nature that NBA players have. But at the same time I know how to control it and take it out on something else you’re doing, either defensively or attacking the basket.”

Hill has two technical fouls in his three NBA seasons. One was for a head-to-head confrontation with Lakers guard Kobe Bryant. The other came in a preseason game last fall when he responded to a call by sprinting away from the play. With the league referees intent on establishing the “respect for the game” emphasis this season, he was whistled for a technical that later was rescinded.

“I’ve had two techs so far, but one got taken back,” he said. “I got one in preseason when I ran down the court, but I didn’t know I would get one for doing that. I didn’t understand that rule yet.”

Hill’s teammates were happy to see his exemplary on-court demeanor recognized.

“I’ve never really seen George get really upset, cursing or out of control,” said Manu Ginobili. “Not really. He’s very correct and in control.”

TIAGO’S TENSION: After spending extra time after recent practices trying to cure a flaw in his free-throw stroke, Spurs center Tiago Splitter got a chance to test the new technique when he entered Friday’s game to open the second quarter. The rookie from Brazil went to the foul line three times in just one minute and nine seconds early in the quarter, but missed four shots in a row — he was awarded a second attempt after a Rockets foul lane violation on one shot — before finally making two straight.