Tag: New Orleans

Game rewind: Why Boris was ready for work as soon as he arrived

Boris Diaw had played only 24 minutes in two meaningless games with Charlotte over the last 2½ weeks.

For a competitor like Diaw, playing with the struggling Bobcats had gotten old very fast.

So when he started weighing different playing options around the league, San Antonio was attractive for reasons other than his friendship with childhood friend Tony Parker.

Even if it meant starting his Spurs career with three games in his first three nights with the team.

“Yeah,  I looked at the schedule and I said OK,” Diaw said. “They tell me when to come and I came.”

Leaving the league’s worst team for one of the best will make a player take some drastic steps sometimes.  

Diaw played 16 mintues against Dallas barely 24 hours after arriving in San Antonio Friday night. He played 11 more minutes in New Orleans Saturday before topping it with 27 minutes in the Spurs’ 93-76 victory over Philadelphia on Sunday.

“I’m learning to play with them and I didn’t get a chance to practice. And I played right away with three games in a row,” Diaw said. “But that’s the NBA. We know that and I’m just glad we took care of these three games.” 

With all of the Spurs’ shooting threats around him, Diaw doesn’t need the ball to be happy. He does the little things and had a box score chocked full of them Sunday night. Diaw took only three shots and scored two points. But he grabbed seven rebounds, had two assists and three steals.

He’ll be a handy piece for the Spurs during the rest of the season.

And he seems to be happy playing with the Silver and Black — even if it meant starting with one of those hated back-to-back-to-backs.  

 The Spurs claimed their seventh victory in their last eight games Sunday night with Diaw being a big part of it.

Here’s how they did it.

The game, simply stated: Despite playing in the final game of the dreaded back-to-back-to-back, the Spurs played lockdown defense again in the second half to cruise to an impressive victory against a playoff-quality foe in the Atlantic Division-leading Sixers.

Where the game was won: After Thaddeus Young’s layup pulled  the Sixers within 68-63 with 3:33 left, the Spurs hit them with a 20-4 spurt over the next 10 minutes to blow the game open. DeJuan Blair kick-started the surge with six of the points in an 8-2 run that closed the third quarter. And they put it away with a 12-2 blitz at the start of the fourth quarter with all of the points coming in the paint. Philadelphia was limited to one field goal during a span of 7:04 as the Spurs’ defense kicked in.

Philly’s early jump: The Sixers jumped into control with a run of 16 consecutive points late in the first quarter and into the start of the second quarter. The biggest reason was strong Philadelphia defense that caused the Spurs to miss eight straight shots and commit seven turnovers during a period of 5:06.

Weren’t they supposed to be tired?: The Spurs jumped on Philadelphia late in the first half with an 11-2 run capped by a driving layup by Ginobili that gave them a 29-18 lead with 1:28 left in the first quarter. Highlights included a 3-pointer by Matt Bonner and an 18-foot pull-up jumper by Justin Dentmon.

Player of the game I: Tony Parker always seems to get up for the Sixers and Sunday night was no different. Parker produced game-high totals of 21 points and seven assists and limited Jrue Holiday to 10 points on 5-of-14 shooting.

Player of the game II: DeJuan Blair dominated inside for the second straight night as he produced 19 points and six rebounds and gummed up the passing lanes to provide three steals.

Player of the game III: Kawhi Leonard provided his usual defensive lift and notched 11 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. He was particularly active when the Spurs defense picked up in the second half, as well as scoring seven points and grabbing seven rebounds after the break.

Most unsung: Diaw only scored two  points, but he showed continued growth in the offense with two assists, three steals and also provided seven rebounds.

Attendance: Military Appreciation Night brought out more than just the helicopters and USAA  executives to the ATT Center Sunday night. Another sellout crowd of 18,581 attended. It was the Spurs’ 18th capacity crowd in 24 home games this season, including 15 of their last 17 home games and 11th in a row. Their last non-capacity game came Feb. 2 against New Orleans. 

Did you notice I: Ginobili said after the game that Popovich wasn’t too pleased with Duncan’s technical foul late in the second quarter. Maybe  the Spurs’ coach had something to do with Duncan’s listing in the official NBA box score available online. It listed the reason for Duncan’s absence as “DND (did not dress) — OLD.”

Did you notice II: Newest addition Dentmon showed some offensive pop in his first game by draining an 18-foot jumper barely a minute into his playing time late in the first quarter. But he also committed a cardinal sin in the Spurs’ philosophy when he lost the ball out of bounds with an absent-minded play with 34.9 seconds left. The game was settled, but a player  on a 10-day contract can’t ever take anything for granted.

Stat of the game I: The Spurs limited Philadelphia to 76 points. In each of the three games of the back-to-back-to-back, the Spurs held their opponents to less than 90 points. 

Stat of the game II: After missing 13 consecutive 3-pointers Saturday at New Orleans, Matt Bonner snapped the streak with San Antonio’s first 3-point attempt with 8:53 left in the first quarter.  

Stat of the game III: The Spurs are 24-1 at home against the Sixers since the start of the 1986-87 season, winning the last eight. The 76ers’ last win in San Antonio came on Jan. 3, 2004.

Stat of the game IV: Philadelphia was limited to a season-low 11 points in the fourth quarter on 19 percent field-goal shooting and six turnovers.

Stat of the game V: Spurs’ opponents have struggled shooting in the last three games. Dallas was limited to 31 percent shooting in the second half on Friday. New Orleans hit 38.5 percent in the second half, including 27.8 percent in the fourth quarter. And Philadelphia went 31.6 percent in the second half with 14 turnovers the Spurs turned into 19 points.  

Stat of the game VI: The Spurs rang up a 54-46 edge in paint points. Since a loss against Denver on March 4, the Spurs have reached at least 50 paint points in eight of their last 10 games.

Stat of the game VII: San Antonio’s 15 steals were a season high. And the 21 turnovers by Philadelphia, who leads the league in fewest miscues, was a season high.

Stat of the game VIII: The Spurs are the fifth NBA team to sweep a back-to-back-to-back this season.

Weird stat of the night I: Tim Duncan was whistled for his third technical  foul of the season, but his first in his career while wearing a sportscoat and slacks.  

Weird stat of the night II: Bonner scored eight points in the first 8 ½ minutes of the game, but only two afterwards.

Weird stat of the night III: Philadelphia missed its first seven 3-pointers before Jodie Meeks hit one with 3:17 left in the game.

Weird stat of the night IV: The Spurs produced 15 steals and they were shared among eight different players. Only Parker and James Anderson failed to produce one.

Not a good sign: Maybe it’s tired legs, but the Spurs’ league-leading 3-point shooting has disappeared the last two games. Over those games, San Antonio is hitting 19.1 percent after hitting 9 of 47 behind the arc. It’s the Spurs’ second-worst two-game stretch this season after hitting 7 of 42 (16.7 percent) against Orlando and Sacramento on Jan. 18 and Jan. 20.

Best plus/minus scores: Bonner was plus-23, Parker was plus-21 and Blair and Green were both plus-16.

Worst plus/minus scores: Dentmon was minus-9, Anderson was minus-3 and Stephen Jackson was minus-2. They were the only Spurs with negative scores.

Quote of the game: “I don’t think people are talking enough about the Spurs as far as being a championship team,” Philadelphia coach Doug Collins, who said this before the game. The Spurs then notched a 17-point win over Collins’ team – permitting 11 points in the fourth quarter on the back end of a back-to-back-to-back with their two top centers out of the lineup.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs have approaching road games Tuesday at Phoenix and Wednesday at Sacramento before returning home Saturday against Indiana. The Sixers have games Tuesday against Cleveland and a back to back Friday at Washington and Saturday against Atlanta. 

Injuries: Duncan (rest), Tiago Splitter (mid-back spasms) and Gary Neal (left mid-foot sprain) did not play. Philadelphia played without All-Star guard Andre Iguodala, who missed his first game of the season with left patella tendonitis.

Game rewind: Blair torments inexperienced Hornets’ inside players

With New Orleans’ top three centers and a starting power forward missing Saturday night, DeJuan Blair knew he would have a chance to take advantage of the depleted Hornets’ interior players.

Chris Kaman, Jason Smith, Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza weren’t in uniform for the Hornets. It gave Blair a chance to exert his will early against New Orleans.

Blair muscled for 23 points and seven rebounds, including 12 in the first quarter, to lead the Spurs’ gritty 89-86 victory over the Hornets.

With Gustavo Ayon and Lance Thomas forced into the starting lineup, Blair wanted to target the seldom-used rookies.

“That’s got to be the mindset,” Blair told FOX Sports Southwest. “Once they don’t have any tall, athletic big men, I’ve got to go try to take advantage of it. I’m pretty good when I start off good.”

That was definitely the case Saturday night when Blair hit five of his first six shots and produced 16 points in the first half. He slowed down a little after the break but still was a key reason the Spurs were able to win their second game in two nights.

“That’s my goal every game to spark us up and start going,” Blair said. “That’s what I’m trying to be is the energy guy for the whole group. Today I did a good job of it.”

It wasn’t necessarily an artistic success, but the Spurs still had enough to notch the tough victory. Here are some of the highlights.

The game, simply stated: The Spurs overcame fatigue and cold shooting to claim a grinding victory where trailed by a point twice in the last two minutes before overcoming the team with the Western Conference’s worst record.

Where the game was won: After Marco Belinelli boosted the Hornets their first lead of the fourth quarter at 84-83 on a jumper with 2:07 left, Tim Duncan hit two foul shots to enable the Spurs to reclaim the lead. Belinelli’s 23-foot jumper pushed the Hornets into the lead again, but Duncan’s tip with 1:19 left gave the Spurs the lead for good at 87-86. Danny Green’s 20-foot jumper with 41.8 seconds extended the lead to three. The Spurs then held on as Jarrett Jack had a turnover and missed a layup on successive possessions and Belinelli’s game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer was short.

Getting close: Kawhi Leonard’s layup gave the Spurs an 83-78 lead with 4:30 left. But New Orleans charged back, scoring six straight points on a layup by Greivis Vasquez, two foul shots by Carl Landry and Belinelli’s hoop that gave them an 84-83 lead.

Tight throughout: Three quick baskets by Blair boosted the Spurs to a 10-4 lead with 8:43 left in the first quarter. After that.neither team had a lead of more than five points.

Player of the game I: Despite his two late mistakes, Jack was the primary weapon for the Hornets with a game-high 27points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Player of the game II: Blair got the Spurs going and finished with a team-high 23 points, along with seven rebounds and two steals that enabled him to share the team lead.

Player of the game III: Despite scoring only two points in the first half, Tim Duncan had a big finish to produce 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. He provided points twice in the final two minutes that enabled the Spurs to reclaim the lead, including the tip-in that gave the Spurs the lead for good with 1:14 left.

Most unsung: Leonard struggled with a tough 3-for-12 shooting night, but still provided big defense all night and finished with eight points and seven rebounds.

Attendance: The Hornets have struggled at the gate this season and there appeared to be numerous empty seats in the lower bowl of the New Orleans Arena. The game attracted an announced crowd of 16,118, which was nearly 4,000 more than the last time San Antonio visited on Jan. 23 and ranked as one of their top six crowds of the season,

Did you notice I: Actor Samuel L. Jackson is filming a movie in the New Orleans area and has become a regular for Hornets games while there. But unlike like before Thursday’s visit by Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers, Jackson didn’t introduce the starting lineup Saturday night.

Did you notice II: When the Spurs put the game away in the fourth quarter, they repeatedly pounded the ball inside with five of their six baskets coming inside the paint. The only basket that didn’t was their last one – a 20-footer by Green that sealed the victory.

Stat of the game I: The Spurs claimed their sixth victory in their last seven games and 11th victory in their last 14 road games.

Stat of the game II: Tony Parker finished with 12 points and 10 assists, despite scoring only two points in the first half. It was his ninth double-double of the season, with eight of them coming on the road.

Stat of the game III: The Spurs won despite shooting only 40 percent from the field, lowest since hitting 38.1 percent in the loss at Portland on Feb. 21. It marked the sixth time this season the Spurs have shot 40 percent or less. They are 4-2 in those games.

Stat of the game IV: The Spurs matched their season low with two 3-pointers and hit a season-low 10.5 percent from the field. They have hit less than 30 percent of their 3-pointers only seven times. Saturday’s struggling was their lowest since shooting 21.1 percent against New Orleans on Feb. 2.

Stat of the game V: Spurs’ opponents have struggled shooting in the last two games. Dallas was limited to 31 percent shooting in the second half on Friday. New Orleans hit 38.5 percent in the second half, including 27.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Stat of the game VI: The Spurs rang up a 52-42 edge in paint points. Since a loss against Denver on March 4, the Spurs have reached at least 50 paint points in seven of their last nine games.

Stat of the game VII: New Orleans employed its 17th different starting lineup of the season.

Stat of the game VIII: Jack scored a game-high 27 points, but produced only two in the fourth quarter and missed his last five shots.

Weird stat of the night I: San Antonio’s biggest lead was six points and New Orleans’ biggest advantage was five points. That 11-point margin made it the closest game of the season for the Spurs in terms of margin of points.

Weird stat of the night II: The Spurs hit their first 15 foul shots in the game before Danny Green missed the last two foul shots with 2.3 seconds left in the game

Weird stat of the night III: Parker had seven assists before he attempted his first field goal of the game.

Weird stat of the night IV: The tight game featured 16 lead changes and 14 ties. The Spurs were ahead by one at the end of the first quarter, the Hornets had a one-point advantage at halftime and the Spurs led by one again after three quarters.

Not a good sign: The Spurs’ normally potent 3-point shooting struggled through a historically bad night as they hit a season-worst 10.5 percent and missed their final 13 3-pointers.

Best plus/minus scores: Duncan and Matt Bonner were plus-7 and Danny Green and Justin Dentmon was plus-4.

Worst plus/minus scores: Blair was minus-5, Leonard was minus-2 and Parker was minus-2.

Quote of the game: “I thought New Orleans for most of the game was more efficient than we were and executed better than we did. So we just had to hang in there and keep plugging. That’s probably the best thing we did,” Popovich, to reporters after the game on the Spurs’ gritty efforts to claim the victory.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs will finish its first back-to-back-to-back with a home game Sunday against Philadelphia. After taking Monday off, they’ll have another back-to-back with games Tuesday in Phoenix and Wednesday in Sacramento. The Hornets will start a West Coast swing with games Monday at the Los Angeles Clippers, Wednesday at Golden State and Thursday at Portland.

Injuries: Manu Ginobili (rest) and Tiago Splitter (mid-back spasm) remained in San Antonio. Gary Neal (mid-foot sprain) did not play. New Orleans played without C Chris Kaman (illness), F Trevor Ariza (sore right ankle), C Emeka Okafor (sore right knee) and F-C Jason Smith (league suspension).

Game rewind: Balanced attack hammers Dallas in many ways

Gregg Popovich can play his “mad scientist” routine over the next few weeks as he tweaks his rotation in preparation for the playoffs.

The benefits of adding Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw could be seen immediately with the way the Spurs attacked Dallas in an impressive 104-87 triumph.

Considering that leading scorer Tony Parker and top low-post threat Tiago Splitter were missing, Jackson was barely a week into the Spurs fold and Diaw only a few hours from joining the team, it shows what the Spurs should be able to do as they build some continuity.

Friday’s effort exhibited much versatility. The Spurs attacked Dallas for 50 points in the paint and also added 21 second-chance points. And they didn’t shoot as well as normal as the NBA’s leading 3-point shooting team shot a pedestrian 36 percent.

“We have a lot of guys and we are very deep and very versatile,” said Spurs guard Danny Green, who contributed a game-high 18 points to lead the victory. “We’ve added a couple of new pieces, even before when we had a lot of guys.”

Green credited how the team has overcome a stretch of recent injuries for having a beneficial effect for the roster.

“The injuries helped us to become a lot deeper,” Green said. “It’s given our young guys a chance to play, grow, mature and get used to playing on the floor. It’s helping them grow and get better.”

Now with the starters returning during the most arduous part of the season, Green expected similar balanced scoring binges to be seen.

“Our starters are coming back and it makes us a more well-rounded team and a lot deeper,” Green said. “We’ve got guys who can do many things – not just shoot threes.”

We saw that Friday night, when the Spurs put the game away with a punishing 22-2 run midway through the second half. Six different players scored during the spree that effectively put the game away.

“It was a team victory,” Manu Ginobili said. “We did not have Tony Parker. Also, not having Splitter hurt us.  But we got a great game from Stephen Jackson, Boris and Kawhi (Leonard.) It was a great team effort.”

If the group keeps playing like it did on Friday, we might see the most balanced Spurs  team since the championship seasons.

Here’s how they did it.

The game, simply stated: The Spurs dominated the defending world champions from the beginning, pounding them inside with scoring and rebounding. Even without leading scorer Parker and top low-post threat Splitter, the Spurs look like they are ready to challenge the most difficult part of their schedule to date.

Where the game was won: After Jason Kidd’s 3-pointer gave Dallas a 63-58 lead – its largest of the game – with 4:17 left in the third quarter, the Spurs erupted on a 22-2 run to blow the game open.  They scored the final 12 points of the third quarter, starting with a banker by Matt Bonner and finishing with a 3-pointer from Ginobili and a rare bank-shot 3-pointer by Gary Neal to finish the quarter.  And they kept it going with a 10-2 spurt to start the fourth quarter that included a Jackson layup, another Ginobili three, a reverse layup from Green and a three from Jackson.

Getting close: After trailing for almost the entire first half, Dallas took its biggest lead on a 15-4 run capped by Kidd’s three and the 63-58 lead. The Spurs missed six straight shots during the run and had a turnover for good measure during a run of 5 minutes, 40 seconds.  

Player of the game I: Green continued his hot recent play with a team-high 18 points, six rebounds and a career-high six assists.

Player of the game II: Matt Bonner shook off the effects of a recent bout with back spasms to hit for 14 points including 4 of 5 from 3-point territory.  Bonner also added five assists and two blocked shots in a game showcasing his versatility.  

Player of the game III: Tim Duncan bounced back from a punishing early foul by Brian Cardinal to produce a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds along with three assists.

Most unsung: The new roster moves have given Popovich a lot  more defensive  flexibility as well, as was seen in the Spurs’ coverage of Nowitzki. Popovich rotated Leonard, Diaw and Jackson, leading to a miserable 5-for-21 shooting effort for the Dallas All-Star forward.  

Attendance: The Mavericks are always a huge draw for the Spurs, although it was a little surprising that there were a surprising number of Dallas fans who attended – particularly in the more expensive seats near the court at the ATT Center. Another sellout crowd of 18,581 attended. It was the Spurs’ 17th capacity crowd in 23 home games this season, including 14 of their last 16 games and 10th in a row. Their last non-capacity game came Feb. 2 against New Orleans. 

Did you notice I: The intensity of the game was at its highest late in the second quarter when Brian Cardinal was whistled for a flagrant foul on Duncan. But as the Spurs’ captain recovered on the floor, some of the raw emotion was stripped away as the Taco Cabana “Kiss Cam” played during the timeout.

Did you notice II: Cardinal played only 4:20 in the first half and didn’t re-enter the game until 2:04 was left in the game. Duncan probably was ready for a rest, but Popovich took no chances as he removed him before he could tangle with Duncan again at the end of the game.

Stat of the game I: The Spurs raced to their fifth victory in six games as they start an arduous back-to-back-to-back – their first of the season.

Stat of the game II: After grabbing a season best 56 rebounds Wednesday night, the Spurs almost duplicated it with 54 rebounds – only one behind the most by a Dallas opponent this season.

Stat of the game III: Duncan produced 15 points and 12 rebounds for his 16th double-double this season and his fourth in his last five games. It also marked his 14th straight game scoring in double figures and his 23rd in the last 24 games.  

Stat of the game IV: The Spurs became only the 11th opponent to top 100 points against the Mavericks. Dallas’ record in those games is 2-9.

Stat of the game V: Dallas was limited to 31 percent shooting in the second half and 26.1 percent in the third quarter.

Stat of the game VI: The Spurs rang up a 50-16 edge in paint points, despite not having two of their foremost inside players with Parker’s driving layups and Splitter’s inside game missing. Since a loss against Denver on March 4, the Spurs have reached at least 50 paint points in six of their last eight games. And in the two they didn’t, they scored 44 and 48 paint points.

Stat of the game VII: The Spurs limited Dallas to 16 paint points. It tied the season low by a Spurs opponent set in a victory over Houston on Feb. 1.

Stat of the game VIII: During the Spurs’ closing 12-0 run in the third quarter, Dallas missed its final nine shots.

Weird stat of the night I: Nowitzki started the game by hitting four of his first six shots, before hitting only one of his last 15 attempts. He missed his last 13 shots of the game.  

Weird stat of the night II: The Spurs’ victory marked the first time they have won without Parker in the lineup this season in three games. They are 2-5 in the last seven games he has missed.

Weird stat of the night III: Bonner had five assists to match his career high, with four coming in the second half.

Weird statof the night IV: The Mavericks were limited to four offensive rebounds, including none in the fourth quarter.

Not a good sign: Neal against had trouble with Dallas’ pressure when playing the point. Neal had turnovers on successive possessions late in the first quarter and was quickly benched in favor of Ginobili.

Best plus/minus scores: Diaw was plus-20, Ginobili was plus-19 and Jackson and Bonner were plus-17.

Worst plus/minus scores:  Duncan was minus-8. He was the only Spur with a negative score.

Quote of the game:  “I think our whole team had more energy then we had the last time in Dallas and that showed,” Popovich on his team’s turnaround since its loss last week in Dallas.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs will continue their first back-to-back-to-back of the season with games Saturday at New Orleans and Sunday against Philadelphia. After taking Monday off, they’ll have another back-to-back with games Tuesday in Phoenix and Wednesday in Sacramento. The Mavericks will play Saturday in Houston, will host Houston on Tuesday and then will have road games Thursday at Miami and Friday at Orlando.

Injuries: Parker missed the game with tightness in his left hamstring. Splitter was out with mid-back spasms. Dallas played without C Brendan Haywood (sprained right knee) and G Delonte West (right ring finger fracture/dislocation).