Tag: Memphis

Spurs to honor ABA history with Dallas jerseys

The Spurs will be among nine NBA franchises who will honor the rich history of the American Basketball Association as part of the NBA’s Hardwood Classics series during the next several weeks.

The Spurs will wear vintage Dallas Chaparrals jerseys and warmups for three games — Feb. 11 at New Jersey, Feb. 18 at L.A. Clippers and March 31 when they host the Indiana Pacers.

I’m just curious why they won’t be wearing ABA San Antonio Spurs jerseys from the franchise’s history rather than one representing a team from Dallas.  

Other franchises participating will include Charlotte, Denver, Indiana, the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis, Miami, Minnesota and New Jersey. Former ABA franchises in Denver, Indiana and New Jersey will wear their old uniforms from their ABA past. Other teams and their former ABA franchises will include Charlotte (Carolina Cougars), the Clippers (Los Angeles Stars), Memphis (Memphis Tams), Miami (Miami Floridians) and Minnesota (Minnesota Muskies).

The uniforms will be made by adidas, the league’s official outfitter.

The Chaparrals originated in Dallas when the league began in 1967.  They were known as the Dallas Chaparrals for the first three seasons of the franchise’s history, before embracing Texas Chaparrals for one season in 1970-71 and played games in Dallas, Fort Worth and Lubbock. They then were known as the Dallas Chaparrals until 1973.

During the summer of the 1973, a group of San Antonio businessmen led by Angelo Drossos and Red McCombs negotiated a three-year deal to lease the Chaparrals and move the team to San Antonio. The ownership group consisting of 35 stockholders changed the name of the team to the Spurs.

Later that year, as support grew for the team, the stockholders arranged to purchase the team from the Dallas group and make San Antonio a permanent home. The Spurs played three seasons in the ABA before joining the NBA in 1976, along with the Nuggets, Pacers and Nets.

I was an old ABA fan from way back, watching the Memphis Pros/Tams/Sounds during my youth there. One of my spectating highlights of my youth centers around a fight I witnessed between bruising ABA forwards John Brisker of the Pittsburgh Condors and Wendell Ladner of the then Memphis Pros back in the day.

All of the NBA eams will be selling merchandise, which is good to keep the memory of the league alive.

But I’ve got a couple of questions.

First, why don’t the Spurs wear some of their own vintage ABA jerseys rather than honoring a Dallas team? Obviously, it’s the same franchise, but I am likely to believe from a marketing standpoint that the Spurs and the NBA stand a better chance selling more Spurs ABA gear to their current fans with the Spurs rather than those representing a Dallas-based team. Leave that for Mark Cuban and the crowd in Big D.

Because using the same rationale, it should be New Orleans celebrating the history of the old New Orleans Buccaneers, who eventually moved to Memphis in 1970 and became the Memphis ABA team. I’m sure the league has more pressing concerns in building support for their league-owned franchise than honoring some previous league there. But if they are truly honoring the ABA past, they should have New Orleans wearing Buccaneers jerseys — just like Doug Moe, Larry Brown and Red Robbins did before them.

And one more personal pet peeve. If the league is reaching back to the ABA to sell a few more jerseys and t-shirts, I certainly think the NBA can be big enough to honor the ABA records as part of its official history. The Spurs’ records don’t exist in the eyes of the NBA before they joined the league in 1976.

All of George Gervin’s points and Bobby Warren’s turnovers and Tom Nissalke’s victories with the team never happened, according to the NBA.  

The NFL accepted all of  the AFL’s past records when the merger between those two leagues was consummated.

If the NBA wants us to buy replicas of the jerseys that Billy Cunningham wore while he played for the Carolina Cougars, they are going to need to add those points he scored with them to the ones he tallied earlier and later in his  NBA career.

Game rewind: A forgettable night in OKC

The Spurs’ road woes continued against Sunday after they dropped a 108-96 decision at Western Division leading Oklahoma City.

The Thunder produced a strong all-around performance as they put the Spurs away early in the second half. The final margin was closer than most of the second half. After leading wire-to-wire in their last two games, the Spurs led for 3 minutes, 39 seconds in Sunday’s game.

Oklahoma City was the better team Sunday night.

Here’s how they claimed their first victory over the Spurs in Oklahoma City since March 16, 2009.  

Game analysis: The Thunder’s bench was too much of a challenge for the Spurs, even playing on the third night of a back-to-back-to-back. San Antonio couldn’t match Oklahoma City’s athleticism as the bench repeatedly provided key plays that eventually put the game away.

Setting the stage: The Oklahoma City bench hit San Antonio with a 9-0 run to start the second quarter. Rookie guard Reggie Jackson started the spurt with a floating jumper, James Harden added a transition dunk and a deep three and Nick Collison finished it off with a nifty reverse layup to boost the Thunder’s lead to 33-22.

Where the game was won: After Richard Jefferson hit a 3-pointer to pull the Spurs  within 54-51 in the first minute of the second half, the Thunder erupted on an 11-3 run and the Spurs never closed  within seven points during the rest of the game.

Player of the game I: Kevin Durant didn’t hit his scoring average (26.2 points per game), but his strong all-around game of 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists was a key reason the Thunder was successful.

Player of the game II: Harden provided his accustomed lift off the bench, ripping the Spurs at the hoop and the perimeter in a 20-point effort that keyed the Thunder’s bench production.

 Player of the game III: The brightest spot for San Antonio was rookie forward Kawhi Leonard, who provided his first NBA double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He even did a passable job defending Durant in the third quarter  in a game that should boost his confidence for future defensive challenges.

Most unsung: Collison not only produced 12 points and 10 rebounds, but he also was dominant inside hitting  6 of 7 shots from the field. Collison was active defensively and provided the most consistent play inside in Sunday’s game. Collison also led the Thunder with a plus-19 score.

Did you notice: Ike Diogu received his most extensive playing time of the season with nine minutes. Diogu was the center in San Antonio’s “small ball” team used in the fourth quarter, producing two points and a rebound. Most impressively, he was a plus-11 which led all the Spurs Sunday night.

Stat of the game: The Thunder became the league’s first team to win back-to-back-to-back games in three nights. Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Sacramento and the Lakers all had failed before them.

Stat of the game II: Oklahoma City hit 50.7 percent from the field and 86.2 percent from the line. The Thunder led the league last season, hitting 50 percent from the field and at least 85 percent from the line 14 times in the same game last season. The Spurs, by comparison, accomplished the feat twice last season.

Stat of the game III: During a 37-21 binge in the third quarter, Oklahoma City outscored the Spurs in fast-break points, 13-0.

Weird stat of the game: Danny Green erupted for a career-high 24 points Saturday night against Denver. Green didn’t score Sunday against the Thunder until he hit two 3-pointers during garbage time during the final 90 seconds of the game.

Weird stat of the game II: Oklahoma City led 104-81 with 3:38 left  before the Spurs closed on a 15-4 spurt to make the final score more presentable. 

Quote of the game: ”They kicked our butts in the third quarter. They did a great job,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on the Thunder’s pivotal fast start in the second half.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs were on the back end of a back-to-back and will rest Monday before an approaching back-to-back Tuesday at Milwaukee and Wednesday at home against Houston. The Thunder finished their first back-to-back-to-back of the season. They will rest Monday before a back-to-back Tuesday at Memphis and Wednesday at New Orleans.

Injuries: Manu Ginobili missed his fourth game after undergoing surgery for a fractured fifth left metacarpal. DeJuan Blair and Tony Parker were both removed from the lineup with leg injuries that didn’t appear serious. They rested because the game was out of hand in the fourth quarter. Oklahoma City lost backup point guard Eric Maynor with a season-ending knee injury in their victory over New Orleans Saturday night. Rookie forward Ryan Reid missed Sunday’s game as he recovered from nasal fracture surgery.

Spurs’ win nets area-best ratings

By Jerry Garcia, jgarcia@express-news.net

The Spurs not only pulled off a win over Memphis on Monday. They also beat local programming to be the area’s top-rated show of the night.

Overnight Nielsen ratings released Tuesday say the Spurs’ 95-82 win over the Grizzlies on Fox Sports Net Southwest nabbed an 8.8 rating and a 14 share.

San Antonio has 880,690 homes counted by Nielsen, making the city the 36th-largest media market in the U.S. A ratings point represents 1 percent of the market’s universe. The share marks the percentage of homes or people with sets tuned into a specific program.

An estimated 77,500 homes watched the telecast, with 14 percent of area TV viewers looking at the Spurs game at any point during the 2½-hour telecast.

Viewership peaked in the fourth quarter with a 10.5 rating and 17 share.

The game had higher ratings than “Monday Night Football” between the Falcons and Saints, and “Rudolph’s Shiny New Year” special.