Tag: San Antonio Spurs

What the Spurs and Bobcats said after Friday’s game

The media services people for the Spurs were ready after the Spurs’ 102-72 victory over Charlotte Friday night.

Here’s a sampling of what was said in both locker rooms after the game.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich

(Opening Question – Charlotte made you work for it tonight, didn’t they?)

“Yeah. They don’t have a great record obviously, but Coach Silas isn’t going to let them just walk out there and do nothing. They were aggressive. They went after it and did everything they could. We got hot there in the second half and had a good run and that was the game. But, they busted their butts all night long and worked very hard.”

(Is this a good opportunity to get Tiago, T.J. and Kawhi back in sync?)

“We didn’t want to play them too many minutes, but since we made some shots tonight we had some chances to get them out there. T.J. got some time and Kawhi and Danny with his shoulder and so on and so forth. So that was good to give them a little introduction back into the flow of things.”

(You had a lot of assists and made a lot of shots…)

“We’ve got a very unselfish group. They know that if the ball moves we’re a much better basketball team. We’re the kind of team that’s not like ‘give the ball to this guy and he’s going to score.’ We’re not built that way. We have to win as a group and they know that, so they move the ball well.”

(Do you like what you got out of Richard Jefferson tonight? Not just the points, but he had seven rebounds.)

“I loved the points out of Richard. That’s what Richard does best. I love when he catches and shoots and does what he does. I thought he was real aggressive defensively tonight. I thought he had a darn good defensive game. Corey’s (Maggette) a tough nut. He likes to drive, he’s real physical and that kind of thing. I thought Richard had one of his better games in that regard too.”

Spurs forward Richard Jefferson:

(Was tonight’s game really more about the Spurs?)

“Coach (Popovich) said a good thing right after we played Chicago, which is that Chicago was able to get one game in before they came to us. So you get the post-All Star break butterflies out. Tonight we came in, we were still a little rusty early on, but we were able to settle down and get it done.”

(Feelings on 3-point shooting tonight?)

“I have been trying to catch and shoot more the last few games. I was a little frustrated that Chicago game because I got into foul trouble early. But, Denver I felt like I had some good looks and at Utah I had some good looks late. So, the last few games I have been trying to be more consistent with just catching it and shooting it.”

(On the Spurs’ passing)

“Pop will lose his mind if you throw a bad pass to a shooter. Sometimes you have to do what you can with the defense. Especially, if you have the ability to give it to a shooter with his feet set and right in his pocket. That’s something we practice everyday.”

Spurs guard T.J. Ford:

(On the team’s growth?)

“Just trying to build that confidence as quick as possible. It felt good to kind of know the game was out of reach, but still getting back in the form of running the show out there. You just have to make sure you’re still doing the right things.”

(On Spurs still rebuilding chemistry?)

“We haven’t had practice time for people to build chemistry. So, we’re still learning on the fly. We have guys who have a certain kind of rhythm and know when they are going to touch the ball. Some guys like Gary (Neal), had the ball in his hands a lot more, so we’re all making adjustments. We just have to continue to progress.”

(How did you feel tonight?)

“I felt good, I felt better. Still have a ways to go to get totally in game shape, but I think it was a good job and I had a better performance today.”

Charlotte coach Paul Silas:

(When asked how do you combat the 3-point shooting of the Spurs?)

“It’s tough. They penetrate and we have to help, then they kick out. It always seems that they always make a lot against us. I’ve haven’t seem them make as many threes against other teams then they make against us. Then when you’re leading by as many points as they were there’s not a lot of pressure on you. Then you can always make more shots. If there’s pressure on you then you’re not going to make as many.”

(When asked about the Bobcats forcing 11 turnovers in the first half… )

“Yeah, we did and I thought we played very well. We just couldn’t make shots in the first half. We rebounded and we defended. They turned the ball over and what not. I thought when Eduardo Najera came in he really helped us a lot by knowing how to play basketball. But in the second half it went back to the way that it’s been. We just didn’t play well.”

(When asked not having Bismack Biyombo makes things challenging…)

“It does. Here again we need everybody here. Still you have to rely on the guys that are here. As long as they are playing really hard and giving it to you, then I don’t have a problem with it. We just didn’t seem to have it in the second half.”

Charlotte forward Corey Maggette:

(What happened after the first quarter…)

“We just did not shoot the ball well and that starts with myself. We have to be a better shooting team. The Spurs are one of the best shooting teams in the league, so it’s hard to beat them when we are not hitting shots. ”

(What was the difference?)

“I thought we played well in the first half, then we had turnovers in the second half. Their second group came in and demolished us and that’s the game. It just went downhill from there.”

(On team rebounding…)

“I think it all starts with myself, I have to be more aggressive and help our big men out. With a few of our big guys out, it hurts us a lot. Aggressively, everyone has to rebound. If one guy doesn’t go to the boards, it’s going to hurt us but we have to get better as a team.”

Charlotte forward Boris Diaw:

(Started out great, then what happened?)

“We did pretty well, but the Spurs also didn’t start off to good either. They were missing shots and we were in a rhythm. We played good defense and we moved the ball pretty well, then the Spurs put more intensity on the defensive side. They played good defense and it was tough for us to find easy shots.”

(What did the Spurs do differently in second half?)

“They adapted to what we were doing defensively and they found our gaps on defense to get better shots. They also ran better plays. Defensively, we just did not play as good in the second half.”

(On the play of his good friend Tony Parker…)

“It’s great for him. The thing with Tony is that he is always getting better. It surprises everybody else but this is the best he has been playing, so it shouldn’t be surprising anymore. He is doing great and I’m happy for him. He has become the focus of his team.”

Durant, Thunder steal one vs. Magic

During his All-Star Game MVP performance last week, Kevin Durant made the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., his personal playground, scoring at will with a barrage of jump shots and easy open-floor baskets.

The rims weren’t quite as kind early on during the Oklahoma City forward’s return trip, but he got reacquainted with them late and also got help from fellow All-Star Russell Westbrook to help the Thunder pull out a 105-102 victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday night.

Durant scored 38 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter, and Westbrook added 29 points and 10 assists as Oklahoma City erased a 14-point deficit to battle back for the win.

Durant’s effort was two points better than his All-Star night and also included five 3-pointers and a 9-for-9 night at the free-throw line — all in a game-high 42 minutes of action. The Thunder’s win was their seventh straight, matching a streak from earlier in the season.

“I was so down on myself. I was really going down after the first quarter,” Durant said. “But my coaches and my teammates continued to encourage me and told me they believed in me. It just clicked for me, and I started to make a few shots and free throws.

“Once your teammates give you that confidence, no matter what you feel good, and I was able to make some shots.”

The Magic had a chance to send it to overtime, but Jason Richardson’s long 3-pointer bounced off the backboard at the buzzer.

It was a fitting culmination of a final 12 minutes for the Magic in which they went just 8 for 25 from the field. The Thunder, who struggled to find shots in the first half, finished 10 for 15 in the final period.

Dwight Howard scored 33 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead all five Magic starters in double figures.

“We have to be able to execute and get stops,” he said. “That’s the one thing we didn’t do well tonight in the fourth quarter. But it’s a good lesson for us.”

Suns 104, Timberwolves 95: Grant Hill scored 15 of his season-high 20 points in the second half and Phoenix pulled away at home, beating weary Minnesota.

Six players reached double figures for the Suns in their first game since the All-Star break. Steve Nash had 13 points and matched his season high with 17 assists. Marcin Gortat scored 17 for Phoenix in its ninth straight victory over the Timberwolves.

Kevin Love, who sat out the Timberwolves’ 104-85 loss to the Lakers in Los Angeles on Wednesday night because of flulike symptoms, scored 23 on 8-of-25 shooting. Luke Ridnour scored 15 for the T’wolves, who were playing for the third time in as many nights.

Minnesota was without J.J. Barea, who strained his right calf against the Lakers.
All five starters reached double figures for the Timberwolves, who shot 50 percent (21 of 42) in the first half but fell off afterward, hitting just 29 percent (13 of 44) the rest of the way. Love was 3 of 13 in the second half, 1 of 6 in the fourth quarter. Minnesota made 1 of 13 3-pointers. The Suns shot 53 percent.

The 39-year-old Hill, the league’s second-oldest player by one day behind Kurt Thomas, made four of five shots in a 10-point third quarter to lead the Suns’ comeback.

Shannon Brown scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half for Phoenix, while Channing Frye added 14 points and Jared Dudley 12.

The Timberwolves took the lead late in the first half and stayed ahead until a 13-2 run by the Suns late in the third quarter.

Love’s 3-pointer, the first by either team and the only one of the game for the T’wolves, put Minnesota ahead 70-64 with 5:06 to play in the quarter. But Frye’s three ignited the 13-3 Suns’ surge. Nikola Pekovic’s rebound basket made it 72-67, then Phoenix scored the next 10. Gortat blocked Derrick Williams’ shot, and Brown’s emphatic breakaway dunk put the Suns ahead for good 73-72 with 2:02 left in the third.

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).