By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net
A long film session segued into a long practice session Wednesday, which turned out to be the longest practice day for the Spurs since training camp, by unofficial media timing.
The practice began at 11 a.m. By the time reporters were ushered onto the court at the team’s practice facility, it was 1:32 p.m., with players finishing free-throw drills.
Asked if the lengthy session had been productive, coach Gregg Popovich gave a not-so-lengthy answer: “Yes, it was.”
A 30-point loss in Miami to be followed by a Friday road game against Southwest Division rival Dallas required such a long and painful film session, according to starting center Antonio McDyess, the team’s most veteran player.
He called replaying the many mistakes of Sunday’s blowout loss anything but fun.
“Nor was it a fun practice,” he said. “We were disappointed in the way we played down there, and Pop wanted us to look at some of the things we didn’t do down there.
“We could have looked at the whole film, but we didn’t do that. A lot of the mistakes we made, he wanted us to clean up going into the Dallas game. We feel this is a big game, so we wanted to clean up a lot of stuff.”
GREEN INITIATIVE: Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, the Spurs brought back to their roster Danny Green, a 6-foot-6 guard-forward who played two games with the club in a brief stint in November.
Green had been playing for the NBA D-League’s Reno Bighorns. In 16 games with Reno, he averaged 20.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.38 steals in 37.4 minutes per game. He made 45.1 percent of his shots, including 43.4 percent (36 of 83) from 3-point range.
The former North Carolina Tar Heel played last season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He scored six points in his two games with the Spurs in November.
“He’s a talented young man who has impressed us with his combination of pretty good defensive skills and awareness and a pretty good shot,” Popovich said. “He’s a young guy who, in time, is going to be a good player. Sometimes it takes somebody two, three, four years before they find the right situation.
“He’s obviously well schooled by Coach (Roy) Williams at North Carolina, and we like his skills.”
GOING TO GAGA: Several Spurs, including Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, took in Tuesday’s concert at the ATT Center by pop star Lady Gaga.
Parker and Ginobili tweeted about the show.
“It was great,” Parker said. “She’s a great performer. Yeah, I like her stuff.”
Parker could not verify if Ginobili, who was suffering some laryngitis on Wednesday, was suffering because he had cheered too loudly at the concert.
“I don’t know if he was screaming,” Parker said, “but he was moving his head. Half of the team (was there). It was good.”
One Spur who did not take in the show: McDyess, at 36 the team’s oldest player.
“No, not me,” he said. “I don’t even know one of her songs.”
