Tag: Memphis

Duncan shows plenty spring left in step

By Jeff McDonald

Eighty-six seconds into Wednesday’s game against Minnesota, 35-year-old Tim Duncan slipped a screen near the top of the key, took a perfect pass from Tony Parker and, in a hiccup, dunked on the Timberwolves’ Wesley Johnson.

“Amazing,” Manu Ginobili marveled later. “He didn’t need 20 minutes to warm up.”

For almost as long as Duncan has been on the team, his lack of verticality has been a running joke in the Spurs’ locker room.

As March wears on, however, Duncan has been doing his best to dunk holes in that old “Virgin Islanders Can’t Dunk” meme.

There was his four-dunk game against Denver, which included a poster-ization of Chris “Birdman” Andersen.

There was a three-slam night against Washington, which included a coast-to-coast drive-and-dunk that, fittingly, pushed Duncan past Clyde Drexler on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

There was the loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, when Duncan matched KIA-hopping Blake Griffin dunk for dunk.

“It’s great to see him that fresh and that good,” Ginobili said. “It makes you feel optimistic.”

In one of the more unexplainable phenomena of the lockout-compressed season, Duncan actually appears to be getting fresher as time moves along.

“Tim’s been really fresh all year long,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “I’m enthused about his health.

“He’s got quickness and more agility than he’s had in a while.”

A few weeks ago, Popovich described the 14-year veteran as “spry” — a word typically reserved for 80-year-old retirees who still make their weekly shuffleboard games.

In Duncan’s case, it fits.

Though playing minutes almost identical to last season, the power forward’s scoring average is up more than a point from last season to 14.3 points per game.

His rebounding average — 8.9 per game — is identical.

Since February began, Duncan is averaging 16.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and nearly two blocks.

“From watching him last year to now, he definitely looks like the old Tim Duncan,” said Stephen Jackson, who last played with Duncan when he was winning consecutive MVPs.

“To get where we want to be, we’re going to need him to play like that.”

Tonight, the Spurs host the reigning NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, marking not only the beginning of their first back-to-back-to-back set of the season, but also the first of five games in six nights.

Duncan is almost certainly due a day of rest soon, as are the 34-year-old Ginobili and 29-year-old Parker, who left Wednesday’s game before halftime with a tight hamstring.

As the Spurs learned with Duncan last season, it only takes one ill-timed twist of the ankle to ruin a season’s worth of fitness.

In the playoffs last year, a hobbled Duncan was left to tangle with Memphis’ twin beasts, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, on one leg.

For now, Duncan says he feels fresh, and there’s no reason to disbelieve him.

“I feel good,” said Duncan, who has skipped only two of the Spurs’ 44 games. “I’ve felt good all season long.”

One sign Duncan is feeling, ahem, “spry:” He’s dunking the ball both with authority and regularity.

Duncan has logged 12 dunks in March alone, after recording 17 in an entire 82-game slate. He has totaled 23 this season, with still a ways to go to catch Griffin (127) or Dwight Howard (124), but only one behind backup center Tiago Splitter for the Spurs’ team lead.

Duncan attributes his surge in slams to the Spurs’ guards, who he says are doing a nice job of finding him on the pick-and-roll.

In a sense, his nightly jam session could be a side effect of Parker’s career year handing out assists.

“He’s making all the right decisions,” Duncan said, “and we have great shooters on the perimeter, which opens up the middle for me.

“They have to respect our shooters, they have to respect Tony — and I’m the other guy.”

To be the last team standing, however, the Spurs need Duncan to be more than just some guy. They need him to be the guy he’s been for most of the past two months — fresh, nimble and, yes, spry.

Game by game, dunk by dunk, Duncan is giving the Spurs added reason for hope.

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

Game analysis: Why New York’s defense was especially leaky vs. the Spurs

A look at New York’s injured list before the game showed the kind of night it was going to be for Mike D’Antoni’s team.

Tyson Chandler was counted to become the Knicks’ defensive enforcer when he was picked up as a free agent from Dallas.  Jared Jeffries can jostle a little bit in the paint, too.

But with Crawford out with a left hamstring injury and Jeffries nursing a sore right knee, it provided a virtual all-you-can-eat offensive orgy for the Spurs at the rim in their 118-105 victory over the Knicks.

“Tyson is one of the best defenders in our league. He’s a key guy defensively on their team,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said.  “I tried to take advantage of that, going hard to the basket and being aggressive.”

He did that and more as he was what Gregg Popovich called “the ringleader” in the offensive attack that hung 60 points in the paint against the Knicks.

Rookie Josh Harrellson, famous during his career at Kentucky for his massive weight loss and ability to repeatedly remain in former coach Billy Gillispie’s doghouse, was thrust into the starting position. It played out with expected results as the Knicks had trouble keeping track of Parker’s pick-and-roll movement to the hoop with the other Spurs throughout Wednesday’s game.

“Me personally, I wanted to be aggressive because Tyson Chandler was out,” Parker said. “So I wanted to take advantage of that.”

Parker went out of his way to say that playing against heralded guard Jeremy Lin didn’t hold any extra  motivation for him.

“Besides that, Jeremy Lin has been playing very well helping the Knicks have some great games,” Parker said. “He’s doing a good job for them and he had a good game tonight.”

As good as the Knicks’ defense was porous in the finest tradition of some of D’Antoni’s stop-challenged teams from Phoenix over the years.

“Take a guess,” D’Antoni told reporters of his chances of winning against the Spurs without Chandler and Jeffries. “They anchor our defense. Tony Parker is one of the best in the league. We didn’t have our guys who could slow it down a little bit.”

The game, simply stated: The Knicks had no answer for the Spurs’ offense, which ripped them for 60 points in the paint and made life miserable for their woeful interior defense.

Where the game was won: After Landry Fields gave the Kinicks a 30-28 lead with 10:31 left in the second quarter, the Spurs hit them with eight straight points keyed by a three-point play by Gary Neal with 8:07 left to give them a 36-30 advantage they never relinquished.

The clincher: The Spurs finished the first half with a 22-6 run capped by a fadeaway jumper by Manu Ginobili with less than a second left in the half that boosted them to a 58-41 halftime advantage. Their lead was never below double digits in the rest of the game.

Player of the game I: Parker erupted for his second straight big game with 32 points and six assists. It marked his fifth game with at least 30 points this season.

Player of the game II: Tim Duncan provided a strong all-around game with 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Player of the game III: Ginobili appears to be rounding into shape with each game. He had his best game back since his comeback from an oblique injury with 17 points, six assists and four rebounds and provided the team a solid offensive and defensive lift when he entered the game.

Most unsung: Popovich went out of his way to praise the defensive contributions of Richard Jefferson, who failed  to score and missed all five shots. But Jefferson was active and aggressive and had a big part in the strong early defensive effort that help ground the Knicks.

Attendance: With Lin coming to town, there was more demand for Wednesday’s game than any other to date this season. Another sellout crowd of 18,581 at the ATT Center turned out — the Spurs 12th sellout in 18 home games this season, including nine of their last 11 games and fifth in a row.

Did you notice I: Ginobili’s ability to make spectacular plays was seen on a couple of passes in the first half. He bounced a pass through the legs of Harrellson leading to an easy basket for Tiago Splitter. And later in the third quarter he delivered a perfect bounce pass that led to a basket by Kawhi Leonard. That element of excitement has been missing for the Spurs this season when Ginobili was injured.

Did you notice II: Popovich picked up one of the more unusual ejections of his career when he vociferously argued a foul call on Splitter with 59.9 seconds left in the third quarter — even with an 89-65 lead — a margin that matched the Spurs’ largest of the game. Referee James Williams saw enough of Popovich’s sideline show, ejecting him for the first time this season.

Stat of the game I: The Spurs’ 60 points in the paint matched their single-game best for the season, set in their Jan. 21 loss at Houston.

Stat of the game II: In the first half, the Spurs were 23 of 33 from the field from 2-point range (69.7 percent) and 1 from 8 from beyond the 3-point arc (12.5 percent).

Stat of the game III: Parker is continuing his recent shooting surge, hitting 63.0 percent from the field (29 of 46) and averaging 24 points a game over his last  three games.

Stat of the game IV: The Spurs extended their nine-game winning streak over the Knicks in San Antonio. New York’s most recent victory at the ATT Center came on March 18, 2003.

Stat of the game V: After being pummeled by Denver with a minus-9 edge in rebounds (49-40) in their most recent game, the Spurs turned it around and outrebounded the Knicks 47-37.

Stat of the game VI: With his 10th point Wednesday night, Ginobili surpassed Mike Mitchell and moved into fifth place on the Spurs  all-time NBA scoring list. Mitchell scored 9,799 points during his seven seasons with the Spurs. Ginobili has scored 9,808 points in nine-plus seasons with the team.

Weird stat of the night: Carmelo Anthony had some unusual success against the Spurs, who traditionally have been the toughest for Anthony to score against of any Western Division team (20.3 points per game in 25 games). Anthony scored 27 points Wednesday night, most against them since he scored 31 as a member of Denver on Dec. 16, 2010.

Weird stat of the night II: Anthony had 24 field goal attempts and only one free throw attempt. It marked only the third time in his career he’s had at least 24 field goal attempts and one free throw attempt or fewer. It was the first time for him since March 17, 2006 (a 116-102 loss at Memphis) when he produced 25 field goal attempts, one foul shot and 33 points.

Weird stat of the night IV: The Knicks are 2-5 since Anthony returned to the lineup after straining his right groin.

Not a good sign: There was little to fault for the Spurs, although allowing the Knicks to shoot 58.3 percent in garbage time in the fourth quarter  was a step back from outstanding defense in the first three quarters.

Best plus/minus scores: Ginobili was plus-17, Parker was plus-16 and Jefferson was plus-13.

Worst plus/minus scores: Danny Green and Leonard were minus-5 and T.J. Ford was minus-2.

Quote of the game: “He (Parker) owns the team. He knows, and we know, that almost every possession goes through him. And when you play and you feel like that it makes you play with a different serenity and cool,” Ginobili on Parker’s development leading the team.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs’ homestand continues with games Friday  against the Los Angeles Clippers, Monday against Washington and March 14 against Orlando. The Knicks’ road trip continues Friday in Milwaukee before returning home Sunday afternoon against Philadelphia before a Monday night game at Chicago.

Injuries: .J. Ford, who missed the entire 2004-05 season with a spinal cord injury, had to be helped off the count midway through the second quarter after sustaining sustained a stinger in his back. He remained on the floor for more than three minutes. Ford struggled to regain his footing and eventually was helped off the court by two trainers. He didn’t return to the game, although he sat on the Spurs’ bench during the second half. The Knicks played without Chandler (hamstring), Jeffries (sore knee) and Bill Walker (sore left elbow).

Game rewind: Rare fourth-quarter collapse dooms the Spurs

The Spurs struggled through a fourth-quarter collapse that they haven’t endured very often this season.

Chicago charged back from a deficit to start the fourth quarter to claim a 96-89 victory over the Spurs. It marked only the second time in 19 games the Spurs have squandered a lead starting the fourth quarter and the first time in 11 home games where they lost a game after leading at the fourth-quarter break.

The only other time this season the Spurs had frittered away a game where they led entering the fourth quarter came in a 106-103 loss at Milwaukee on Jan. 10. San Antonio led that game by two points heading into the fourth quarter.

Spurs guard Tony Parker attributed the collapse as much on Spurs mistakes as Chicago’s defense. The Bulls came into the game ranked second in the league behind Philadelphia in points allowed.

“They have a good defense, but I thought we missed a lot of good shots that we usually make,” Parker said. “I know I missed about three teardrops that I usually make and I missed some easy shots. (Spurs captain) Timmy (Duncan), too. They have a good defense, but at the same time we missed a lot of shots we usually make.”

Danny Green was receiving some treatment for an injured shoulder he said he received bumping through some stiff Chicago screens.

“It was a very physical game, a playoff-like atmosphere,” Green said. “There were two good teams competing. They made some big keys down the stretch and hit some big shots. We could have done some things better, but we can’t take anything away from them. They are a great team.”

It was only the Spurs’ second home loss of the season and snapped a modest four-game home winning streak as their longest homestand of the season continues.

There were some positives for Gregg Popovich to take away from the game, but the loss ultimately made for a bitter beginning for the second half of the season.

Here’s how the Bulls did it.

The game, simply stated:  Chicago used a typically dominant performance from Derrick Rose and some clutch shooting down the stretch to steal a rare home victory in San Antonio.

Where the game was won: After Gary Neal’s 3-pointer tied the score at 75 with 7:09 remaining, Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau inserted key players Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng into the lineup. Rose responded with a layup to give the Bulls the lead for good at 77-75 and Kyle Korver hit a deep three to give them a five-point cushion.

Making it close: Neal erupted for 13 consecutive points to keep the Spurs in the game. His deep three with 2:09 left pulled San Antonio within 85-82. And another Neal hoop pulled them within 89-86, but Deng’s second 3-pointer gave Chicago a 92-86 lead with 39.6 seconds left to ice the victory.

Early success: The Spurs jumped to an immediate 9-2 lead and were ahead for the entire first quarter as the Bulls missed six of their first seven shots. But Rose emerged to score all 11 first-quarter points in the final eight minutes to pull them within two at the quarter break.

Player of the game I: Rose showed why he was the NBA’s  Most Valuable Player last season, ripping through the Spurs for 29 points and four assists.   

Player of the game II: After struggling much of the season, Neal produced a season-high 21 points in 24 minutes, including 15  points in the fourth quarter to keep the Spurs in the game.

Player of the game III:  It wasn’t the best of starts for Duncan, who missed his first five shots and eight of his first nine until early in the third quarter. But he erupted for 12 points on 6 of 7 shooting in the rest of the third quarter as he produced 18 points and 10 rebounds. And he even had three dunks.

Most unsung: C.J. Watson came off the Chicago bench to blister the Spurs for 10 points in seven-plus minutes in the second quarter, boosting the Bulls into a halftime lead.

Attendance: Not surprisingly after the strong Rodeo Road Trip, the Spurs attracted a sellout crowd of 18,581. It was their ninth sellout in 15 home games this season, including six in their last eight home games.

Did you notice I: For those watching on ESPN’s broadcast at home, analyst Jeff Van Gundy wanted no part of interviewing Gregg Popovich at the end of the third quarter. Instead, he deferred to play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman, whose absence made Van Gundy provide his own call of the first several seconds of game action when Shulman was slow to return for the start of the quarter.

Did you notice II: The Spurs picked up a rare delay of game technical foul with 5:32 left in the first quarter when game officials ruled that Neal was buzzed into the game when he was sitting and tying his shoes before entering the game. The basketball gods apparently intervened on the unusual call when Rip Hamilton missed the enusing technical foul shot.  

Did you notice III: Maybe it was my imagination, but it appeared that the Bulls had more fans in the building than most rival teams. It’s safe to say that the Bulls might have the third largest contingent of fans in San Antonio besides those of the Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers.

Stat of the game I: Chicago took advantage in their fourth-quarter comeback, hitting 66.7 percent from the field after earlier shooting 35.7 percent through three quarters.

Stat of the game II: Duncan’s 18 points and 10 rebounds gave him his seventh double-double in his last 10 games. In his first 23 games of the season, Duncan produced five double-doubles.   

Stat of the game III: The Spurs’ loss cooled off a recent surge where they had won 12 of their last 13 games before Wednesday.

Stat of the game IV: Rose continued his blistering recent pace against the Spurs. In his last four games, Rose has averaged 32.8 points per game against the Spurs. In his first three career games against San Antonio, Rose averaged 11.7 points per game.

Stat of the game V: The Spurs’ eight-point halftime deficit marked the third time in the last four home games the Spurs have trailed at the half. And the size of the margin was tied for their second-largest home halftime deficit. San Antonio trailed by 13 points at home against Houston on Feb. 1.

Weird stat of the night: Wednesday’s loss marked the first time since the Spurs have ever lost their first home game back after the Rodeo Road Trip ended. Before Wednesday, San Antonio was 8-0 in first games back after the Rodeo Road Trip.

Weird stat of the night II: Parker struggled through a rare recent offensive clunker with 11 points. It was his fewest since scoring five points at Memphis on Jan. 30 and tied for his fourth-lowest scoring effort of the season.

Not a good sign: The Spurs fourth-quarter defensive collapse was the most troubling sign. But the Spurs got to the foul line only 12 times — second-lowest total of the season. Their only previous time with fewer foul shots came Jan. 27 in a loss at Minnesota.  

Best plus/minus scores: Richard Jefferson and DeJuan Blair were plus-5, Green was plus-4 and Parker was plus-3.

Worst plus/minus scores: Matt Bonner was minus-16, Neal was minus-14 and James Anderson was minus-13.  

Quote of the game: “There were a couple of contested floaters that went in for me. Those don’t go in for me, I’m 5 for 15 instead of 9 for 15 and I’m not doing this interview,” Neal on his big scoring game that was boosted by several big shots with defenders in his face.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs’ homestand continues with games Friday against Charlotte, Sunday against Denver and March 7 against New York.  The Bulls travel to Cleveland Friday night and Philadelphia on Sunday before returning home Monday against Indiana.

Injuries: Manu Ginobili (strained left oblique muscle) missed his fourth game (Spurs 2-2) since he was injured Feb. 18 at the Los Angeles Clippers. Kawhi Leonard missed the game with tightness in his calves. Rose and Parker knocked knees midway through the first quarter but both remained in the game.