Tag: Matt Bonner

Spurs No. 2 bad moment: Grizzlies stun Spurs in Game 1 with first playoff victory in team history

Playing without Manu Ginobili for the first game of the playoffs was going to be a challenge for the Spurs.

And that was even before Zach Randolph took the series over in that history-making game for the Memphis franchise.

The Grizzlies snapped a 12-game playoff losing streak as they notched the first playoff victory in franchise history with a stunning 101-98 victory over the Spurs in Game 1 on April 17.

Ginobili returned for the next game, but the Grizzlies snatched homecourt advantage from the opening game.

The Spurs were never able to overcome that deficit.

No. 2: Spurs miss Manu as Grizzlies steal Game 1.

When: April 17, 2011

Where: ATT Center, San Antonio

What happened: Playing without Ginobili, the Spurs stumbled  in a Game 1 loss to Memphis, a franchise that had never won a playoff game in their previous three series in a 101-98 loss. The Spurs jumped to a 10-point lead in the third quarter and had a 96-94 lead with 1:28 left on Matt Bonner’s three. But Shane Battier hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 23.9 seconds left as Randolph notched 25 points and 14 rebounds to lead the upset.  

What was said, Part I: ”It’s nice from an annoyance perspective to have it out of the way, because I don’t have to answer questions about being 0 and 13,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins on the first playoff victory in franchise history.

What was said, Part II: ”I was wide open,” Spurs forward Richard Jefferson, on his missed game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

What was said, Part III: “When you’re on the road, down two, may as well go for the 3,” Battier, describing his  clutch 3-point shot to the Associated Press.

What was said, Part IV: ”You know damned well he’s not happy with me. And you know damned well he wants to be on that court. But I made my decision,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, explaining Ginobili’s reaction to not playing in Game 1.  

GAME NOTES: Ginobili briefly worked out before the game, but was informed he would not play by Popovich shortly before the tip-off. Despite his absence, the Spurs led for much of the game before Memphis’ late rally. Battier was the only player to experience each of Memphis’ previous playoff games. His three put the Grizzlies ahead 99-98 on a 3-pointer with 23.9 seconds left. Tony Allen then added two clinching free throws and Jefferson missed a wide-open game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. Randolph (25 points, 14 rebounds) and Marc Gasol (24 points, nine rebounds) dominated the Spurs inside. The Spurs stormed back on a late 11-2 charge to take the lead that included two 3-pointers by Bonner. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 20 points, but hit only 4-for-16 from the field as the Spurs hit 40 percent from the field for the game. The Spurs were limited to 33 percent shooting in the fourth quarter. The game was physical as the Spurs shot 47 foul shots and the Grizzlies had 33. Memphis overcame 16 turnovers as they shot 55 percent from the field. Tim Duncan had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Battier celebrated the birth of his daughter, Eloise Susan Battier, who was born in Houston shortly after the game.

Previous bad memories:

No. 10: .

No. 9: Black Friday fourth-quarter collapse against Dallas helps snap Spurs’ .  

No. 8: : Spurs blown out by Orlando by 22.

No. 7: Lowly Clips to Spurs.

No. 6:  Heat’sfrom 30-point loss 10 days earlier.

No. 5: Blowout loss to Lakers .

No. 4: Duncan’s ankle injury.  

No.3: Manu injures elbow in.

Previous good memories:

No. 10: .

No. 9: boosts comeback victory over Thunder.

No. 8: leads overtime victory over Memphis.

No. 7:boosts Spurs past Warriors.

No. 6: TD becomesin one game.

No. 5:with record 3-point binge.

No. 4: Pop passes Auerbach on.

No. 3: McDyess’ tip over Lakers.

Mike Monroe: NBA just posturing at this point

It’s Wednesday morning, and the owners and players are still talking to one another. Apparently, Tuesday was a very important day in the NBA’s collective bargaining process, but Friday is very, very important.

David Stern often resorts to hyperbole, so the massive magnitude the NBA commissioner had ascribed to Tuesday’s meeting caused some of us veteran reporters to roll our eyes.

Stern emerged on Tuesday to announce another negotiating session for Friday because the owners had made a new proposal that reflected their desire “to go as far as we can to avoid a lockout,” according to the Associated Press.

Perhaps his real goal was to make certain he can preside over the first round of Thursday’s draft without being booed off the stage or pelted with rotten tomatoes.

Thursday’s draftees may have to wait until 2012 to prove worthy of their spot in the annual selection, for there is little to suggest a collective bargaining breakthrough is imminent.

Negotiators don’t get more down-to-earth than Matt Bonner, the Spurs forward who is one of nine players on the union’s negotiating committee. But even the ever-upbeat Bonner is hard-pressed to see a way out of a process that has been complicated by major changes in the makeup of the league’s owners and a global recession that has affected nearly every business on the planet.

You can tell Bonner is discouraged when he fails to offer anything quirky or humorous in any conversation, and he was all business during a phone chat on Tuesday.

The problem with the owners’ negotiating position, Bonner said, is its very premise.

“There was movement,” he said of Tuesday’s meeting, “but the key to understanding it is that their starting position is based on the really extreme offer they made last year.

“They’re not starting from the current deal, which is our starting point, obviously. They’re starting from Candyland.”

The owners’ “Candyland” includes a hard salary cap, and Bonner and the other members of the union’s negotiating committee — president Derek Fisher and Bonner, Roger Mason Jr., Theo Ratliff, Mo Evans, Keyon Dooling, James Jones, Etan Thomas and Chris Paul — weren’t buying the latest iteration of that position, something Stern called a “flex cap.”

According to the Associated Press, Stern said the flex cap would ensure the players’ total compensation never would fall below $2 billion per year in a 10-year contract, a figure close to what the players’ total compensation was last season.

The tweak, according to Bonner, is just repackaging an old proposal in new language.

“It’s their attempt to spin something that is still essentially a hard cap,” he said.

Spurs owner Peter Holt, considered a moderate, is chairman of the owners’ labor relations committee, but it includes some relatively new owners who weren’t around when previous CBAs dictated the split of league revenues. The league insists 22 of 30 teams lost money last season and calls it proof the business model is broken and can be fixed only by the enormous changes they seek.

Frankly, some of the new owners paid too much for their teams — Phoenix’s Robert Sarver ($400 million in 2005) and Golden State’s Joe Lacob and Dan Gruber ($400 million in 2010) for example. Now they seek big givebacks from the union to prop up their bottom lines.

The players are disinclined to give up what took 40 years to gain.

This is Bonner’s first experience with collective bargaining, but he already understands the imperative that guides a negotiating committee that includes only one superstar.

“It’s humbling to be in a position where you can have an influence on a deal that’s going to affect the game that is so much bigger than you,” he said. “It will affect all the players in the game now and all the players that come in the league after you. It’s a big responsibility to do what’s right and fight for what’s right.”

The bell will ring on the next round on Friday — a very, very important day.

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Buck Harvey: LeBron turns into LeBruce with some help

DALLAS — Four years ago in the Finals, Bruce Bowen guarded LeBron James.

Now, James is Bowen.

Now, James stands in the corner on offense.

America loves this, since there’s nothing like some LeBron failure to lift everyone’s spirits. But others were at fault Tuesday, too, because James wasn’t being guarded in the fourth quarter by a shutdown defender such as Bowen.

Instead, the worst defensive player on the Mavericks took James.

Coaching should have addressed that.

There was a time, early in the season when Miami struggled, James’ camp leaked some criticism of Erik Spoelstra. That fit with the LeBron of Cleveland who never accepted blame.

Wednesday was something else entirely. Then, James’ basketball version of a panic attack was so clear to everyone that he confessed to everything. He sounded like another Spur then, Tim Duncan, taking full responsibility at a podium.

“Eight points is definitely inexcusable,” James said. “I hold myself up to a higher standard than that.”

Tuesday, his standard was D-League. Sometimes he jumped before he knew where he was going with the ball, and sometimes he watched Dwyane Wade.

DeShawn Stevenson’s description was accurate. It looked as if James had “checked out.”

“That’s kind of how I got in the Chicago series,” Wade said. “You kind of get passive, and that’s what we’ve been dealing with all year — trying to play with three guys who can get it going and that can take over games.”

It’s been the theory of the Heat, and it’s a theory Magic Johnson has trashed. He said it’s possible for great players to excel on the floor at the same time because, after all, he did so with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy.

“All you have to do is play,” Magic said, and Spoelstra said something similar Wednesday about James.

“He doesn’t need to over-think it,” Spoelstra said.

But maybe Spoelstra has been under-thinking. For one, he continues to play James the entire second halves of playoff games.

James is only 26, and he is a physical freak. But ask any player. Rest helps.

It’s what happened when Rick Carlisle rested Shawn Marion, however, that mattered more. Marion, usually assigned to James, played only 16 seconds in the fourth quarter.

In his place came Jason Terry, whose defense is so laughable that the Dallas coaches kid him about it. He’s shorter, older and thinner than James. Yet there he was Tuesday, often left alone with James.

Blame James for not demanding the ball. Once, he briefly tried to post Terry before giving up and vacating the area when he didn’t get a pass. The Chosen One should have chosen to go back to the spot, over and over again, no matter what kind of game Wade was having.

And credit Carlisle. He not only juggled his rotation, he also mixed in some zones to confuse the Heat.

But point, too, at Spoelstra. He’s gotten his stars to play defense, which is often the toughest job an NBA coach has. Still, this awkward dance the Heat continue to do on offense is as much about coaching as it is about Wade slumping against Chicago or James shutting down against Dallas.

The end of Game 2 showed that, when the Heat couldn’t run a play. The fourth quarter on Tuesday was just as glaring; most other NBA coaches would have made sure Dallas paid for leaving Terry on James.

San Antonio knows how this works. When Matt Bonner enters a game, isn’t his man usually the one who gets the basketball?

Spoelstra says he has to do “a better job” of putting James in scoring positions. But, as it was in Game 4, he often lets his stars determine who should shoot.

And who should be Bowen.

bharvey@express-news.net