Tag: Jason Terry

Spurs miss Lakers-Portland back-to-back among six lost lockout games

The Spurs will get a bit of a scheduling break after the NBA cancelled  the first two weeks of games through Nov. 14 because of the extension of the lockout.

Here’s a look at the games the Spurs will miss:

Nov. 2 – Milwaukee

Nov. 4 – Dallas

Nov. 7 – at Golden State

Nov. 9 – at Los Angeles Lakers

Nov. 10 – at Portland

Nov. 12 – New Orleans

On the surface, it appears that missing those six particular games won’t hurt the team. San Antonio will skip contests with four teams that made the playoffs, including a tough back-to-back that would have featured games at the Lakers and Portland on consecutive nights. That game would have been followed by a home game against improving New Orleans two nights later.

San Antonio’s six opponents had a combined record of 279-213 last season for a combined winning percentage of .567.

Spurs Nation will miss out on a chance to jeer Mark Cuban and Jason Terry during their first trip to the city after their championship banner would have been raised at the start of the season. I would imagine they will save up their catcalls for whenever their first scheduled trip to the city by the Mavericks finally materializes.   

Of course, there’s no indication how many games the team will be actually miss. The first six were announced Monday night were only a start and many more could be coming.

The Spurs thrived with a veteran team during the 1999 season that was abbreviated by a similar lockout, posting a 37-13 record and eventually claiming their first NBA title.

Considering the veteran core for their current team, missing a few games at the start shouldn’t necessarily a problem for them.

When he saw the games that he would be missing, I wonder if Gregg  Popovich secretly might have felt a little relieved.

Mahinmi takes verbal potshot at Kobe

And we just thought the rivalry between the World Champion Dallas Mavericks and the former champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, was simmering.

First, we had the dust-up late in the regular season between Jason Terry and Matt Barnes.

Throw in Andrew Bynum’s clothesline and resulting suspension for waylaying J.J. Barea at the end of Game 4 in Dallas’ four-game sweep in the Western Conference semifinals.

And now, even backup Dallas center Ian Mahinmi is getting into the act of throwing dirt on the old champs.

Despite the tumbling reputation of Miami’s LeBron James, Mahinmi told  (hat tip to Hoops Hype.com) that the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant remains in a class by himself as the NBA’s most arrogant player.

“Kobe is super arrogant but everybody loves him,” Mahinmi said. “To me, Kobe is more arrogant (than LeBron James).”

Something tells me those comments will be relayed to Bryant between now and the end of the lockout.

And it will just make that first game between the Lakers and Mavericks that much more intriguing and highly anticipated once it ends.

Spurs tried to trick Jason Terry about his game-worn shorts phobia

Jason Terry has never been the most popular opponent for Spurs Nation. 

And his mouthy style has never endeared him to many opponents, either. 

But the superstitious Terry claims the in one of his best known beliefs. 

Terry prepares for an opponent by wearing the shorts of the next day’s opposing team. This compulsion has left “The Jet” desperately tracking down the right trunks after a bad night. But a network of rival equipment managers and fellow NBA players usually take care of Terry. 

But after Terry’s groin shot to Michael Finley during the 2006 playoffs, he doesn’t have many friends with the Spurs. And the team tried to trick him by giving him a pair of practice shorts rather than a game-worn pair several years ago. 

“It’s gotta be the real thing,” Terry told ESPN.com. “Now, San Antonio tricked me about three years ago when they gave me some practice shorts, and I tried them. And they ended up beating us. So that doesn’t work.” 

Terry told ESPN that his worst shorts he has worn were a pair once worn by former Utah point guard John Stockton. 

“Stockton didn’t give them to me, but I got them from the actual ball kid in the arena,” Terry said. ” When I looked at them, I knew they were his, because they were the shortest thing out there, and then they had his No. 12 on the inside.” 

Terry’s wife, Johnyika, isn’t a fan of this compulsive practice. But her husband doesn’t care. 

“Nah, she doesn’t like it,” Terry said. “But hey, it works for me. Got a lot of wins.”