Category: In the News

Spurs-Thunder: A clash of old and new

By Jeff McDonald

After sweeping through the Utah Jazz in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, the top-seeded Spurs had to wait eight days to start the second round.

Once there, it took them all of six days to sweep the Los Angeles Clippers, too.

A second straight whitewashing earned the Spurs another extended break — six days before the start of the next round — with one seminal difference: This time, at least, they know what they are up against.

The Spurs’ first trip to the Western Conference finals in four years will open Sunday against fast-rising, second-seeded Oklahoma City at the ATT Center.

“At this point in the season, you want to know what you’re going to face,” guard Manu Ginobili said. “The uncertainty is not always good.”

When it comes to playing Oklahoma City, certainty can also be unsettling.

Propelled by the most prolific scoring trio in the NBA, the Thunder are sure to provide stiffer resistance than the two teams the Spurs just finished shredding like so much used Christmas paper.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich gave his team the day off Tuesday, a day after Oklahoma City eliminated the L.A. Lakers to punch a ticket to San Antonio.

Popovich and his staff convened to break down film and begin to formulate a game plan for the Thunder, who feature a pair of All-Stars in NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant and volatile point guard Russell Westbrook, as well as the Sixth Man of the Year in James Harden.

“They’re great now,” Popovich said, “And the future’s even brighter.”

In a sense, this series sets up as a battle between the league’s old guard against its next wave.

The Spurs are a grizzled four-time champion eager for one more shot at the crown during the Tim Duncan era. The Thunder are a young and hungry challenger impatient to assume the throne now.

In order for the up-and-coming Thunder to take the next step, they must first overcome a savvy, veteran team that has successfully navigated this road before.

“They’ve been together for a while,” Westbrook said. “They’ve got a lot of tricks to their game. We have to step it up mentally.”

As much as the Spurs believe they have their hands full with Oklahoma City, the Thunder are equally wary of the surging Spurs, who are riding a franchise-best 18-game winning streak.

“It feels like they haven’t lost in a while,” Westbrook said.

If there is a secret to handling OKC, the Spurs seem to hold the key. Over the past three seasons, since the Thunder became playoff regulars in 2009-10, the Spurs have gone 8-2 against them.

That includes a 107-96 affair in Oklahoma City’s last trip to the ATT Center on Feb. 4, when Tony Parker erupted for a season-high 42 points at Westbrook’s expense.

“It looks like they don’t ever make mistakes,” Durant said.

After dispatching the NBA’s last two champions (Dallas and the Lakers) in the first two rounds — and needing just nine games to do it — the Thunder can’t help but feel like their time has arrived.

At a combined 68.4 points per game in the regular season, Oklahoma City’s star trio — and not the more ballyhooed triumvirate down in South Beach — ranked as the highest-scoring Big Three in the NBA.

Durant’s 28 points per game narrowly edged Kobe Bryant for the NBA lead, joining him with Michael Jordan as the only players since 1981 to win three consecutive scoring crowns.

“He’s one of the elites, and he will be his whole career,” Popovich said.

With Durant, the 23-year-old former collegiate player of the year at Texas, locked up until 2016 and the 23-year-old Westbrook under contract until 2017, an NBA Finals appearance seems only a matter of time for the Thunder.

The Spurs’ goal, starting Sunday: Delay Oklahoma City’s much-anticipated coronation for at least another year.

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

SPURS VS. THUNDER
Western Conference finals (best-of-7)

Game 1: Sunday May 27 – Spurs vs. Thunder, 7:30 p.m. TNT

Game 2: Tuesday May 29 – Spurs vs. Thunder, 8:00 p.m. TNT

Game 3: Thursday May 31 – Spurs @ Thunder, 8:00 p.m. TNT

Game 4: Saturday June 2 – Spurs @ Thunder, 7:30 p.m. TNT

*Game 5: Monday June 4 – Spurs vs. Thunder, 8:00 p.m. TNT

*Game 6: Wednesday June 6 – Spurs @ Thunder, 8:00 p.m. TNT

*Game 7: Friday June 8 – Spurs vs. Thunder, 8:00 p.m. TNT

– All times Central
*If necessary

Atlanta owner rips Celtics, calls KG ‘dirty’

Atlanta Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. might be among the most nondescript owners in the league.

Along with Boston owner Cody Heal, the Hawks and Celtics are the only ownership groups on Wikipedia.com.

But that could change after remarks he made at a Wednesday luncheon to the Atlanta-based W.E.B Dubois Society, where he called out the Celtics and their veteran leader Kevin Garnett.

Gearon ripped his team’s media coverage. But he reserved his biggest blasts for Garnett and the Celtics heading into tonight’s game at Boston, where the Hawks trail 3-2 in the series.

“We don’t get any calls, which I know everybody hears,” Gearon said in remarks . “But I’ll give you a stat. Last night, we are playing this old physical team. They are old. I know what happens when you play basketball, old guys foul.

“Kevin Garnett is the dirtiest guy in the league. We are playing Boston last night and they had two fouls the whole first half. We had five times that and we’re athletic.”

Those sentiments aren’t exactly original among the NBA owners. But it’s interesting that Gearon made them in a public setting about a rival player and a team.

For the record, Gearon’s dad has been a longtime mover and shaker in Atlanta, where he was a business associate of Ted Turner.

His son started a telecommunications enterprise after college and sold the business several years later to American Tower, one of the largest providers of communications towers in the world. He is currently involved with several businesses internationally and is a graduate of Georgia State.

And after his comments about the Celtics, he’s likely to earn his own Wikipedia biographical mention sooner than later, I would imagine.

Popovich using bigger rotation in these playoffs

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich typically shrinks his player rotation once the playoffs arrive, usually to no more than nine.

Through the first two rounds of this playoff run, however, he has continued to employ what amounts to a first team and second team, and that carried into Sunday’s close-out victory over the Clippers in Game 4.

Ten Spurs average at least 14 minutes per game. Only Tony Parker (35.0 minutes per game) and Tim Duncan (32.0) average more than 30.

Popovich got 14 points from Gary Neal in Game 4, eight in the fourth quarter. Backup big man Tiago Splitter had 11 points and seven rebounds in 24 strong minutes.

“We’ve been playing like that, but (Sunday) it was even more important,” said Manu Ginobili, a reserve only because Popovich likes the leadership on the second unit. “We played (Sunday) in a very important game. I think he tried to sit Tim for a longer period in the first half. So, yeah, depth always helps, especially in this type of playoffs where we don’t have the three days off like we used to.

“Hopefully, it keeps happening. These six or seven days — I don’t know how many we’re going to have off — are going to be important, too.”

In fact, the Spurs began their regimen of rest immediately after securing the sweep of the Clippers. They remained in Los Angeles after their Game 4 victory and returned to San Antonio at midday Monday. They won’t return to the practice court until Wednesday and will have another day off before practicing again Friday.

It is the same every-other-day work schedule Popovich employed in the week between their first-round sweep of the Jazz and Game 1 of the conference semifinals.

“It looks like it worked pretty good last time we did it,” Neal said.

Fundamental rejections: By blocking Chris Paul’s shot with 1:57 left in Sunday’s game, Duncan prevented a basket that could have given the Clippers a one-point lead. It also moved Duncan closer to becoming the all-time leader in playoff blocks.

Duncan has blocked 468 shots in 184 playoff games and needs only four to catch Hakeem Olajuwon for second on the all-time playoff list. He is just eight behind all-time leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

It should be noted that blocks did not become an official NBA statistic until 1973-74, after two of the game’s greatest shot blockers, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, had retired.

Duncan, however, jokes that he already is the all-time leader, both regular season and playoffs, in a special category.

“I’m pretty sure I am the all-time leader in blocks without leaving one’s feet,” he said earlier this season.

Officially select: USA Basketball on Monday made official what Kawhi Leonard and DeJuan Blair have known for more than a week: They will be part of a select team of young stars who will scrimmage against the players who will compete for spots on the U.S. Olympic team in Las Vegas in July.

The select team will be coached by former Raptors coach Jay Triano and Syracuse University assistant coach Mike Hopkins.

“The USA Select Team was a vital part of the USA Men’s National Team’s training in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and again in 2012 we’ll utilize this team of select NBA players to help get our National Team ready for the very competitive summer that is ahead of us,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said in a release.

Tickets available: Even with dates, times and an opponent unknown, tickets for Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference finals went on sale Monday at the Spurs’ ticket office at the ATT Center.

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Twitter: @Monroe_SA