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Duncan, Parker boost Spurs over Hornets

By Jeff McDonald

NEW ORLEANS — Tim Duncan paused before leaving the court at New Orleans Arena, waiting a beat to savor the incredible thing that had just transpired in the Spurs’ 104-102 victory over the Hornets.

For starters, he was actually on the floor in the fourth quarter.

“It was nice to be on the floor, it was nice to make some shots,” Duncan said. “It was nice to get a win on the road. All in all, a nice night.”

Duncan made sure of that, throwing in a running hook shot over Emeka Okafor with 1.4 seconds to go for the winning basket Monday, as the Spurs escaped New Orleans with their second road win of the season.

He finished with 28 points for his highest-scoring night in more than a year, while Tony Parker passed out a career-best 17 assists to go with 20 points.

Together, with Manu Ginobili still out, the Spurs’ two remaining upright All-Stars helped them avoid a three-game losing streak.

“It feels great,” said Parker, whose sore back surely did not. “Your whole body hurts more when you lose. It feels OK when you win.”

Jarrett Jack had 26 points to lead New Orleans, which dropped its eighth in a row to fall to 3-14, while Carl Landry and Trevor Ariza chipped in 18 apiece.

The Hornets had no answer for Duncan, the Spurs’ 35-year-old power forward, and Parker, the Spurs’ 29-year-old point guard with a bad back.

Fighting off inflammation in his lower back that began in Milwaukee nearly two weeks ago, Parker picked apart New Orleans.

By halftime, he already had 11 assists. It would have been a season high if not for the 13 he had dished out in Houston two nights earlier.

His takeaway?

“You can dominate a game another way,” said Parker, whose team improved to 11-7.

For Duncan, just getting on the floor in crunch time felt like an accomplishment.

After sitting all but 5.5 seconds of the fourth quarter in a loss to Sacramento, and all of the Spurs’ loss at Houston, Duncan joked he spent the stretch run worried that Gregg Popovich would pull him.

Hoping to keep Duncan as fresh as possible for as long as possible in this lockout-compacted season, Popovich has devised a plan to prohibit him from ever playing four games in five nights again.

It is a plan sure to be met with disgust from Duncan.

“That’s just the player in me,” Duncan said. “You’re a competitor. You want to be out there every night. You want to be with your team. You don’t want to leave your team hanging.”

Popovich, however, sees value in taking a strategic loss, as he did in Houston.

Asked if he thought resting Duncan in Houston had paved the way for his big performance in New Orleans, Popovich started with a joke.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m just a friggin’ genius.”

Then, he answered — more seriously — with a question of his own.

“Do you think he’d have been that way if we’d played him in Houston?” Popovich asked.

On the floor against the Hornets, Duncan gave his answer. Playing on two days’ rest for the first time this season, he made 11 of 19 shots and scored his most points since a Dec. 16, 2010, win in Denver.

When the game hung in the balance late, tied at 102 after Landry had tipped in a rare Jack miss, Popovich drew up a play for Duncan.

Okafor defended it well, forcing Duncan to try a one-handed 13-footer.

“A mix of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,” Parker said.

“And part quarterback throw,” Duncan retorted. “I think I side-armed it a bit.”

Duncan admitted his game-winner came with a little luck.

“I couldn’t do it again if I tried,” he said.

Back on the floor in crunch time Monday, Duncan at last got a chance to try when it counted.

“It went in that one time,” he said. “That’s all that matters.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

– Associated Press photos

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Spurs 104, Hornets 102: Jan. 23, 2012

San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan (21) shoots over New Orleans Hornets center Emeka Okafor for the go-ahead shot with 1.4 seconds left in an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The Spurs won 104-102. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs forward Richard Jefferson (24) hugs center Tim Duncan (21) after Duncan’s go-ahead shot with 1.4 seconds left in an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The Spurs won 104-102. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs forward Richard Jefferson (24) shoots over New Orleans Hornets forward Trevor Ariza (1) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

New Orleans Hornets guard Marco Belinelli (8), of Italy, shoots over San Antonio Spurs center Tiago Splitter and guard Gary Neal (14) in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich talks with center Tiago Splitter (22) during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Hornets in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

New Orleans Hornets forward Trevor Ariza (1), center tries to drive to the basket between San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan, right, and forward Richard Jefferson (24) in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan (21) shoots over New Orleans Hornets center Emeka Okafor (50) and guard Jarrett Jack in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs center Tiago Splitter (22) drives to the basket past New Orleans Hornets center Chris Kaman (35) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The Spurs won 104-102. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

New Orleans Hornets center Emeka Okafor, right, blocks a shot by San Antonio Spurs center Tiago Splitter in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The Spurs won 104-102. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs center Tiago Splitter (22) dunks over New Orleans Hornets forward Trevor Ariza (1) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The Spurs won 104-102. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

New Orleans Hornets forward Carl Landry (24) shoots a desperation 3-point shot that did not go in as the clock expired, as San Antonio Spurs center Tiago Splitter (22) defends during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The Spurs won 104-102. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

New Orleans Hornets coach Monty Williams talks to forward Trevor Ariza (1) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The Spurs won 104-102. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich talks to point guard Tony Parker (9) and guard Daniel Green (4) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The Spurs won 104-102. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

New Orleans Hornets forward Trevor Ariza (1) shoots over San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan (21) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The Spurs won 104-102. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

New Orleans Hornets guard Jarrett Jack (2) shoots around San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan (21) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. The Spurs won 104-102. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs center Tim Duncan, right, and New Orleans Hornets center Emeka Okafor watch the ball after a pass during the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (AP)

Spurs’ first three preseason games scrapped

Due to the ongoing labor battle between owners and players union, the NBA formally announced this afternoon what most had suspected for days or weeks:

Neither training camps nor the preseason will start at the scheduled time.

Per a news release this morning, the NBA has indefinitely suspended the start of camp, originally slated to open Oct. 4, while also cancelling some 43 preseason games through Oct. 15.

“We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “We will make further decisions as warranted.”

Among the carnage was the Spurs’ first three exhibition games — Oct. 9 against New Orleans, Oct. 11 at Sacramento and Oct. 15 at home against the Kings. For now, the earliest the Spurs might open the preseason is Oct. 17 against Cleveland.

The team’s website, , has already been amended to reflect the changes.

According to published reports, league officials are planning to revisit the schedule on Oct. 1 to decide if the rest of the month must also be scrapped.

Opening of camps, season in danger

By Brian Mahoney
Associated Press

NEW YORK — The long looks on players’ faces and the anger in Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver’s voice made it obvious: There was no progress Tuesday in talks to end the NBA lockout.

And with less than three weeks until training camps, the latest setback may be a tough one.

“I think coming out of today, obviously because of the calendar, we can’t come out of here feeling as though training camps and the season is going to start on time at this point,” players’ association president Derek Fisher of the Lakers said.

Still divided over the salary cap structure, owners and players decided to pass on talking again Wednesday, and no further meetings are scheduled at this point.

“Well, we did not have a great day, I think it’s fair to say that,” Commissioner David Stern said. “On the other hand, we did say that it is our collective task to decide what we want on the one hand on each side, and two, what each side needs if we choose to work ourselves in such a way as to have the season start on time. That’s still our goal.”

Training camps have been expected to open Oct. 3 and the regular season’s opening night is scheduled for Nov. 1.

“We’re a bit pessimistic and discouraged at one, the ability to start on time, and we’re not so sure that there may not be further damages or delay trying to get the season started,” union executive director Billy Hunter said. “The owners are not inclined at this stage to move off the position where they’ve anchored themselves.”

Stern and Silver countered that the union insisted the current soft cap system remain exactly as it is before they would agree to discuss anything else.

“Frankly, we’re having trouble understanding why the label of a hard cap is what’s breaking apart these negotiations right now, and that’s what we discussed for a long time as a committee and then discussed together with the players,” said Silver, his voice rising as he spoke.

After three meetings among small groups in the last two weeks, full bargaining committees returned to the table Tuesday. They could also have met Wednesday, but Stern said it was best the two sides step away and meet with their own membership groups on Thursday.

Though owners are seeking an overhaul of the league’s financial system after saying they lost $300 million last season and hundreds of millions more in each year of the previous collective bargaining agreement, the salary cap appears to have emerged as the biggest obstacle to a new deal.

The current system allows teams to exceed the ceiling through the use of various exceptions if they are willing to pay a luxury tax, giving big-market teams such as the Lakers — who can take on added payroll — an advantage over the little guys.

But Hunter said a hard cap is “highly untenable,” referring to it as a “blood issue” to the players. He added the players were prepared to make a “significant” financial move, but they would only agree to give on dollars if they got a win on the system.

“For us, if we give on one, we have to have the other. It can’t be just a total capitulation,” he said.

The league said players wanted owners to guarantee they would concede on the cap as a condition of talking about anything further, but Stern said “all of the owners were completely unified in the view that we needed a system that at the end of the day allowed 30 teams to compete.”

Added Silver: “That should be the goal of both the owners and the players in this negotiation, not to come in and say that that’s off the table, and we won’t discuss it and it’s a precondition of us making an economic move.”

The recent meetings had been cordial, sparking hopes that progress was being made. Instead, Fisher and Hunter sat in the middle of a row of players who looked dejected, and now may have to wonder if they need to look harder at finding a job overseas.

A sign of how the day went: Owners spent the majority of about five hours behind closed doors caucusing among themselves.

“We can’t find a place with the league and our owners where we can reach a deal sooner rather than later,” Fisher said.

Besides the cap, the other main issue remains the division of revenues. Players were guaranteed 57 percent under the old deal and had offered to lower that to 54.3 percent before owners locked them out on July 1. They say the league’s proposal would have them a percentage in the 40s, and Hunter said if the owners are serious about a hard cap, he’ll give it to them if players get 65 percent.

Owners are scheduled to meet Thursday in Dallas, and Stern again said there won’t be any decisions to cancel training camps at that session. But that would have to come sometime later this month without a deal. The opening of camps was postponed on Sept. 24 during the 1998 lockout, which reduced the season to 50 games.

The union will update players Thursday in Las Vegas, and Fisher said he will tell them that “the way it looks right now we may not start on time.” He stressed that players are still committed to the process and “not walking away from the table,” but Hunter repeated that they “have instructed us that they’re prepared to sit out” rather than accept owners’ current proposals.

Progress should come eventually over finances. Settling the cap issue could take longer.

“We know how to negotiate over dollars when the time comes, but they so conditioned any discussion on our acceptance of the status quo, which sees a team like the Lakers with well over $100 million in payroll and Sacramento at 45,” Stern said. “That’s not an acceptable alternative for us. That can’t be the outcome that we agree to.”