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

Old-school Spurs pump up defense

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

So these aren’t the Mike D’Antoni, “Seven-Seconds-or-Less” Phoenix Suns.

They don’t play offense as if shot from a cannon anymore. They don’t put up scores that would tilt a pinball machine. Steve Nash, at 37, is still proficient on the pick-and-roll, but no longer an MVP candidate. Amare Stoudemire is in his second season dunking in the Big Apple.

Three weeks into this lockout season, Phoenix — once a running, gunning scoring circus with Nash as ringmaster — ranks as one of the NBA’s most pedestrian offenses.

Given the Spurs’ well-chronicled struggles on defense this season, they’ll still take what happened in a 102-91 victory over the Suns on Sunday at the ATT Center as a definitive sign of progress.

“That’s where we want to go,” point guard Tony Parker said after the Spurs improved to 9-0 at home this season. “I thought overall, we played great defense.”

The Spurs (9-4) limited the Suns to just 41.8-percent shooting, the third straight opponent to ? hit less than 43 percent against them.

It arrived on the heels of a stretch in which three straight opponents shot better than 50 percent against them.

After Milwaukee torched the Spurs at a 51.8-percent clip Tuesday — in a game the Spurs lost 106-103 despite shooting 60 percent themselves — coach Gregg Popovich derided his club as “the worst defensive team we’ve ever had.”

The difference since?

“I think we just pay attention more,” Parker said. “I think everybody is making a conscious effort to play better defense.”

The Spurs’ return to defense was part of a throwback night Sunday that also featured an old-school duel between Nash and Tim Duncan, the Spurs’ 35-year-old power forward and Phoenix’s frequent nemesis.

Reprising their infamous clashes from postseasons past, Duncan threw in a season-high 24 points to go with 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, while Nash had 20 points and 10 assists.

“It was a good back-and-forth,” said Duncan, who passed Gary Payton for 26th on the NBA’s all-time scoring chart.

Playing the role of Stoudemire as Nash’s favorite receiver was Marcin Gortat, who finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds as the Suns (4-8) dropped their fourth in a row. Aside from a stretch early in the third quarter, when the Spurs found little answer for the Nash-to-Gortat pick-and-roll, they were solid defensively.

“Steve’s so tricky, he frustrates everyone no matter what you do,” Popovich said. “You can’t be perfect at it.”

For now, Popovich will accept “competent.”

After the debacle in Milwaukee — “a game we could have won,” Parker said — Popovich sat his team down for a come-to-Jesus film session. The topic, not surprising to anyone who has been around the Spurs’ program for more than 35 seconds, was defense.

Where the Spurs used to rely on “stops on demand,” too often this season Popovich had to resort to begging.

Heading into Sunday, even after back-to-back acceptable games against Houston and Portland, the Spurs ranked 26th in the NBA in field-goal percentage defense (46.1 percent) and 19th in points allowed (95.6).

In a bit of a role-reversal, Phoenix came into the game averaging 94.1 points, a number the Suns in their high-scoring heyday could often approach in the third quarter.

“We know it’s a work in progress,” Duncan said. “We know it’s a long season, and we use the season to get where we want to be, but we know we have to be a lot better defensively.”

After Nash threw in a running 8-footer to cut what had been a 19-point deficit to 94-89 with 4:42 left, Popovich at last got the stops he demanded.

Phoenix managed just one field goal the rest of the game, and the Spurs held on to win the old-fashioned way.

“We had a couple of steals and some good stops at appropriate times,” Popovich said. “But we can certainly get better.”

– photos by Edward A. Ornelas

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Spurs 102, Suns 91 – Jan. 15, 2012


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker drives around Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair looks for room around Phoenix Suns’ Markieff Morris during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tiago Splitter shoots around Phoenix Suns’ Robin Lopez during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair shoots under Phoenix Suns’ Shannon Brown during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Cory Joseph looks for room around Phoenix Suns’ Ronnie Price during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan shoots around Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker shoots around Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan drives around Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair congatulates teammate San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan after he scored against the Phoenix Suns during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair looks for room between Phoenix Suns’ Channing Frye and Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan shoot around Phoenix Suns’ Markieff Morris during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Gary Neal shoots against the Phoenix Suns during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker drives around Phoenix Suns’ Channing Frye as San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair and Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat look on during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Manu Ginobili waves to fans from the bench during first half action against the Phoenix Suns Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat shoots between San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan and San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash walks off the court after the game with the San Antonio Spurs Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan reacts near the end of the game with Phoenix Suns Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – The San Antonio Spurs Coyote performs during the game with the Phoenix Suns Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson talks with teammate San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard during first half action against the Phoenix Suns Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair defends Phoenix Suns’ Hakim Warrick during first half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan looks for room around Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)


FOR SPORTS – San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker passes around Phoenix Suns’ Marcin Gortat during second half action Sunday Jan. 15, 2012 at the ATT Center. The Spurs won 102-91. (PHOTO BY EDWARD A. ORNELAS/eaornelas@express-news.net) (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)

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Spurs set for a grueling slate?

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

After playing his fourth game in as many nights at the FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament in Argentina in September, Manu Ginobili, the Spurs guard from Bahia Blanca, Argentina, acknowledged utter exhaustion.

“Can you imagine,” he said, “what Pop would say about having to play back-to-back-to-back-to-back?”

Ginobili and his Spurs teammates probably won’t have to speculate about coach Gregg Popovich’s opinion of back-to-back-to-back games, which will be part of the new schedule for a 2011-12 NBA season scheduled to begin Dec. 25.

Final details of a new, lockout-ending collective bargaining agreement still must be settled by negotiators and approved by both sides, but a new schedule is expected this week. Some details have been released, including the fact each team will play at least one set of three straight games.

Some may play as many as three sets of three in a row. There will be many more sets of back-to-backs.

For a team like the Spurs, with aging veterans among its key players, the grind will be especially difficult. Perennial All-Star and two-time Most Valuable Player Tim Duncan is 35, Ginobili 34. Richard Jefferson and Matt Bonner are 31. Point guard Tony Parker is just 29, but has been playing professionally since he was 15.

Popovich has been limiting Duncan’s and Ginobili’s playing time for several seasons. One expert on Popovich’s approach expects even more vigilance.

Mike Brungardt announced his retirement in July, after 17 seasons as the only strength and conditioning coach in franchise history. He was with Popovich in the 50-game lockout season of 1998-99, when the Spurs played three straight on one occasion and back-to-backs 10 more times.

“It’s going to be a situation where he has to monitor their minutes closely and probably be even more conscious of it,” Brungardt said. “Pop’s really good about sticking to a game plan with minutes for each player, adjusting as he goes. He’s got a great feel for players, always questioning, always staying on top of it. I know he’ll go into the season with a plan for exactly how he wants to approach every scenario.

“You always have to adjust on the fly. Things change. People get hurt. Some games become more important than others. But he will stay with his plan for the most part. He’s as experienced as anyone at dealing with a situation like this. He’s always done well in these types of scenarios.”

The schedule also will mean Matt Herring, who replaced Brungardt, will have to adapt his approach to keeping players at peak strength.

“When you compress that many games into that short a period of time, it’s going to be important not to overtrain guys,” Brungardt said. “I would assume that most teams will probably practice much less than in the past, simply because of the schedule. And even when they do practice, most practices won’t be as intense or as long.”

Brungardt is convinced most Spurs will be in good condition when camp opens. So is former Spur Bruce Bowen, who warns that players who neglected conditioning during the lockout will pay when camps open.

“Once they start playing, there’s going to be a lot of injuries,” said Bowen, 40, now an NBA analyst for ESPN. “I saw it last time. Some guys, especially young guys, just don’t stay in shape. They don’t know what’s about to hit them.”

Most of the Spurs have been diligent about staying in shape, according to Brungardt.

“I know Timmy is in great shape, and Manu and quite a few of the others,” he said.

Duncan has organized local workouts for many of his teammates during the lockout. Participants have included Ginobili, Parker, Tiago Splitter, James Anderson, Gary Neal, Danny Green, Da’Sean Butler and Kawhi Leonard.

“With a guy like him (Duncan) leading the way, those guys will be ahead of the curve,” said Bowen. “When the greatest power forward of all time is out there in the heat working, it’s hard for other guys to slack off.”