Matt Bonner | SAN ANTONIO SPURS TICKETS

Spurs’ Bonner on a Red Rocket roll

There were moments in Matt Bonner’s past when his struggles might have crushed him.

As a 20-something, had Bonner started a season missing 30 of his first 47 3-pointers, he might have crawled into a hole and never come out.

“I definitely think I used to let it affect me,” said Bonner, the 31-year-old Spurs sharpshooter. “As I’ve gotten older, I realize you take every shot independent of what happened on the last one.”

Don’t look now, but Bonner is back on a hot streak. After shooting 36.2 percent in his first 15 games, Bonner — the NBA’s leading long-ball artist last season — is averaging 12 points and shooting 50 percent in his last five.

He has drilled multiple 3-pointers in each of those contests, hitting five in two of them. The recent sizzling stretch has pushed Bonner up to 41.8 percent from beyond the arc, still below last season’s NBA-best 45.7 percent but better than his career mark.

After Bonner went 5 of 9 for 15 points to help spearhead an 83-73 victory in Memphis on Monday, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich praised his resilience. It is a trait Bonner, an eighth-year pro, did not possess earlier in his career.

“He knows shooting is the best thing that he does, besides hustle,” Popovich said. “It’s not going to bother him if he misses a few shots.”

As part of his performance in Memphis, Bonner rattled in a bank shot from the top of the arc, a true sign of a player riding a hot hand.

That shooter’s mentality Bonner talks about was in full effect then.

“Whether it went in, whether it didn’t go in, whether you banked it in,” Bonner said, “if you’re open, step in and fire.”

DUNCAN’S DAY OFF: Popovich has vowed not to play 35-year-old power forward Tim Duncan four times in five nights for the rest of the season, which points to a day off coming either tonight against Houston or Thursday against New Orleans.

Popovich has not signaled which night Duncan might sit, only that he will.

“The constricted schedule forces him to miss a game here or there,” Popovich said. “Rather than reduce minutes one night, he’ll have to just sit.”

Though naturally uneasy with the idea of shirking work, Duncan said he understands the wisdom of Popovich’s rest plan.

The only Spurs player who recalls the lockout-shortened 1999 campaign, Duncan said he could already sense the difference between this season and that one.

“This does not feel like ’99,” Duncan said. “In ’99, I was a deer. I’d just run all day. This is a couple years after that.”

MIND OVER MUSCLES: Much ado has been made about the physical toll the lockout-condensed season has taken on players. Bonner says the strain of playing so many games in so little time isn’t just limited to sore muscles.

“More than physical, it’s also mental,” Bonner said. “You have to mentally prepare yourself for an extra game each week. It makes a difference. The teams with the mental toughness to be able to focus in and compete every night will be successful.”

jmcdonald@express- news.net

Spurs’ energy in road win jolts Grizzlies

By Jeff McDonald

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Less than an hour before tipoff Monday night at the FedEx Forum, Matt Bonner gingerly made his way from the visitors’ locker room and headed down the corridor toward the floor.

He looked like a man in need of a massage, an Advil and a nap, in some order.

After playing a key role in the Spurs’ marathon bench run a night earlier in Dallas, Bonner admitted to being spent even before the game in Memphis began.

The effect of the lockout schedule?

“Nah,” the 31-year-old sharpshooter said. “I’m just a year older.”

Crusty by reputation only, the Spurs stunningly steamed into Memphis a night after dropping an overtime heartbreaker in Dallas and rolled the Grizzlies, 83-73.

Bonner supplied much of the offense, dropping in five 3-pointers for 15 points, while Tim Duncan (14), Richard Jefferson (13), Kawhi Leonard (12) and Danny Green (11) all reached double digits.

It was the Spurs’ energy — and the Grizzlies’ lack thereof — that earned their most lopsided road victory of the season.

“It was a hell of an effort to come back with the intensity they played with,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who won at the FedEx Forum for the first time since March 2010. “It was really nice to see.”

In that, Popovich’s decision of a night earlier to play his reserves for the final 19:44, including overtime, of a 101-100 loss in Dallas seemed to pay off.

In Memphis, the Spurs built a big lead — 20 points heading into the fourth quarter — so Popovich could rest his exhausted bench.

Having expended a full tank in coming back from 18 points only to lose the night before, and riding a two-game losing streak into Memphis, the Spurs sensed danger before their charter flight had even left Dallas air space.

“It didn’t look good last night,” guard Tony Parker said. “When we lost that game, we were like, ‘Man, we have to play in Memphis on the back-to-back, and Memphis is waiting for us?’?”

Instead, the Spurs (13-9) came out fighting and firing.

In a sense, albeit with much lower stakes, they did to the Grizzlies what the Grizzlies had done to them in last season’s six-game playoff upset. Sure, Memphis is without injured forward Zach Randolph, but the Spurs didn’t have even a one-armed Manu Ginobili.

Monday, the Spurs guarded, holding Memphis to 37 percent shooting and leading scorer Rudy Gay to a 0-for-7 clunker.

They rebounded, earning a 46-37 edge, including 14-9 on the offensive end, against a team that mopped the glass with them in April.

They corralled more than their share of loose balls, including one late in the third quarter that set the fuse on the Spurs’ rout.

Memphis’ Sam Young drove baseline for what looked like an easy layup, only to have Duncan reject it. The rebound went up for grabs, and Green wrestled it away from Young.

The ball ended up in Bonner’s hands on the other end, and he swished a trailing 3-pointer to give the Spurs a 64-47 lead.

“That’s what we’re going to have to bank on,” Duncan said. “We have a hard time generating offense sometimes. The one thing we can bring is that energy.”

How did a Spurs team that lost a game at Milwaukee earlier this season while shooting 60 percent win one Monday while shooting 40? Energy.

Did someone say energy? Memphis coach Lionel Hollins, whose team fell to 10-10 with a four-game losing skid, blasted his team for lacking it.

“When you don’t make shots, you don’t rebound and you don’t defend, you’re going to lose,” Hollins said.

It is possible the Spurs’ energy infusion was a carryover from the second half in Dallas, when the team’s young bench players went Jolt Cola and nearly pulled off a comeback win.

“After we lost last night, I think a lot of us wanted to come in here and give a much better effort,” Duncan said. “Like our second squad gave us last night.”

Even a night after Dallas, it seems, the Spurs’ younger players were still inspiring those who feel just a year older.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

– Associated Press photos

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Spurs 83, Grizzlies 73: Jan. 30, 2012

Memphis Grizzlies guard Mike Conley (11) looks to pass around San Antonio Spurs center DeJuan Blair (45) and guard Tony Parker (9), of France, in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33), of Spain, runs into San Antonio Spurs forward Tiago Splitter (22), of Brazil, in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. The Spurs won 83-73. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker (9), of France, shoots past Memphis Grizzlies guard Josh Selby (2) in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. The Spurs won 83-73. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo (32) drives past San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) for a shot in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. The Spurs won 83-73. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) drives while fouled by Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33), of Spain, in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. The Spurs won 83-73. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs guard Matt Bonner (15) stretches for a rebound under pressure by Memphis Grizzlies guard Sam Young (4) in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. The Spurs won 83-73. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33), of Spain, drives on San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

Spurs’ bench nearly steals one

By Jeff McDonald

DALLAS — As soon as the ball left his hand, Danny Green had a plan.

It is one he lifted from one of the most painful chapters of Spurs history, from a player who made a similar shot facing similar odds nearly eight years ago.

Even before Green pulled a Derek Fisher — swishing a turnaround jumper that appeared to give the Spurs a breathtaking buzzer-beating victory over Dallas — he had mapped his escape from the American Airlines Center.

“I was going to run out of the gym, just like Derek did,” said Green. “I said, ‘Guys, let’s go. Let’s get the heck out of here.’

“Nobody wanted to follow my lead.”

That was a stark contrast to what had happened for the previous quarter-plus, when the Spurs rode their young bench players to the brink of an improbable comeback victory against the defending NBA champs before falling in overtime 101-100.

Officials reviewed, then disallowed Green’s shot, launched with 0.5 seconds left — more time than Fisher had for his 0.4 dagger for the L.A. Lakers in the 2004 playoffs. The game went to OT, where Dallas — ahead by 18 points in the third — dodged more bullets.

“The one thing I’m not going to allow to happen is to have our team feel bad about a win,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “Wins are hard to get.”

With his starters stumbling into a 67-49 hole late in the third quarter, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich took the unorthodox step of benching them all.

Aside from 1.1 seconds logged by Kawhi Leonard in OT, no Spurs starter appeared after the 2:44 mark of the third.

Dallas (13-8) led 67-53 at that point, but behind a barrage of bench 3-pointers — three from Gary Neal and two apiece from Green, James Anderson and Matt Bonner — the Spurs clawed back.

Popovich said he never contemplated putting his starters back in the game, even as the deficit shrank.

“That group was playing great,” Popovich said. “Why would I?”

Implausibly, a game that seemed headed toward a blowout quickly took on the tenor of the most memorable Spurs-Mavericks playoff clashes.

Albeit, instead of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili battling Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry, it was Neal, Anderson and Green.

Neal ended with 19 points, though he missed a free throw that could have tied the game with 12.6 seconds left in OT. Green scored 12 points, while Anderson added eight points, three assists and five rebounds.

In all, the Spurs’ reserves accounted for the team’s final 51 points and were largely responsible for the 24-6 run that had the Spurs (12-9) up nine with 5:33 to go in the fourth.

“Those guys got us back out of a hole,” said Duncan, who had 12 points in 23 minutes. “You ride with what’s going good. It was the right call.”

With the Spurs ahead by four with 37.8 seconds left, Dallas’ Rodrigue Beaubois answered with a drive. Then Terry — who finished with 34 points — took the ball coast-to-coast after a Neal miss to drill a game-tying 12-footer with 0.5 seconds left.

That set the stage for Green to reprise Fisher, with one notable exception.

“His goes in the books,” Green said. “Mine doesn’t.”

Referees originally ruled Green’s shot good, then disallowed it after replays showed the ball still on his fingertips as the horn blared. Afterward, Duncan joked he wished that same crew had been around for Fisher’s shot in Game 5 of the 2004 Western Conference semifinals.

“I don’t know if the clock started early, or Danny’s release is slower, or what,” Duncan said.

Still, even with Green going anti-Fisher, the Spurs had a chance to win in OT. They were ahead 98-95 on Green’s drive with 1:18 left but again could not close.

In the end, it came down to the Spurs behind by one, the ball again in Green’s hands. A discombobulated final play led Green to try a desperation 3-pointer that was no good.

So when Green finally left the floor at the American Airlines Center, he did not run. He walked.

“I guess it was just too good to be true,” he said.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

– Associated Press photos

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Mavericks 101, Spurs 100 (OT) – Jan. 29, 2012

Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry (31) shoots against San Antonio Spurs forward Matt Bonner (15) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

Dallas Mavericks guard Vince Carter (25) shoots against San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) looks to shoot as San Antonio Spurs forward DeJuan Blair (45) watches during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) dribbles past Dallas Mavericks guard Vince Carter (25) as Spurs center Tim Duncan watches during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan (21) dribbles against Dallas Mavericks center Brendan Haywood (33) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs guard Daniel Green (4) tries to block a shot by Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry (31) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Mavericks won in overtime. 101-100. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry (31) spreads his arms as the crowd cheers after Terry scored, forcing overtime in an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Mavericks won 101-100. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan raises his arms as he and fellow starter Tony Parker, left, watch from the bench with other teammates during overtime against the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Mavericks won 101-100. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs center Tiago Splitter (22) shoots over Dallas Mavericks center Ian Mahinmi (28) during overtime in an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Mavericks won 1010-100. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs forward Richard Jefferson (24) and Dallas Mavericks guard Vince Carter (25) greet each other after an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Mavericks won 101-100. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs guard Daniel Green (4) shoots against Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry (31) as time expires in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The shot went in, but a replay showed that he still has the ball when the buzzer sounded. The Mavericks won 101-100 in overtime. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle calls a play during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Mavericks won 101-100 in overtime. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan (21) looks to shoot against Dallas Mavericks center Brendan Haywood (33) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Mavericks won 101-100 in overtime. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker (9) closes his eyes and listens to coach Gregg Popovich during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Mavericks won 101-100 in overtime. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP)