Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Spurs intend to hurdle roadblock

MIAMI — Maybe it’s just the jet lag. Maybe it’s a touch of homesickness.

Maybe the mattresses at their luxury hotels have suddenly become too lumpy. Maybe the seats on their charter plane have become too cramped.

Or maybe, as Tim Duncan suggests, there really is no good explanation for the Spurs’ newfound fear of travel.

The fact of the matter is this: The Spurs are 9-0 at the ATT Center this season, 0-4 when they leave Bexar County.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to why we’re winning one place and not the other,” Duncan said. “We just have to play better on the road.”

Having already perfected the art of winning at home, the Spurs figure tonight in Miami is as good a time as any to take their winning act on the road.

The Spurs have not won a road game of any sort — postseason, regular season or preseason — since posting a 97-90 victory at Atlanta last April 5.

This season, they’ve been routed in Houston, Minnesota and Oklahoma City and dropped a three-point game in Milwaukee.

“In a situation like this, home games become even more important, and road games are even tougher to get,” forward Richard Jefferson said. “You have to play better on the road than you do at home.”

On the surface, the back-to-back that begins tonight in Miami and continues Wednesday at Orlando is not the most desirable place to stage a road revival.

The All-Star laden Heat, defending Eastern Conference champions, beat the Spurs by 30 at AmericanAirlines Arena last season (a week after — go figure — losing by 30 in San Antonio).

Meanwhile, the Magic have become a perennial Spurs roadblock, winning the past three meetings in Orlando by a combined 52 points.

Considering NBA schedule-makers will not allow the Spurs to play only in San Antonio, they’d better figure out how to win an away game if they plan on finishing the season better than .500.

For starters, center DeJuan Blair said, “we’ve got to bring more intensity on the road.”

The Spurs could get a bit of a break tonight, with Miami All-Star guard Dwyane Wade expected to miss the game with an ankle injury. Still, LeBron James — Wade’s All-Star backcourt mate — picked up the slack to the tune of 32.5 points, 11 assists and 7.5 rebounds in a pair of games flying solo the week before last.

Wade’s status might not matter if the Spurs can’t find a way to suspend their road-home Jekyll-and-Hyde routine. The sample size is small, but so far the Spurs have been a different team outside San Antonio city limits.

They are averaging 103.4 points at home, 95 on the road. They are allowing 106.3 points on the road and 90.3 at home.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is succinct in diagnosing the difference.

“We suck on the road,” he said. “We’re really good at home.”

This is a relatively novel phenomenon for the Spurs, who have traditionally been one of the NBA’s saltiest away teams. Last season, the Spurs won their first eight road games en route to a 25-16 road record.

The best explanation anyone can offer for the Spurs’ recently discovered ability to impersonate a treadmarked armadillo: an increased reliance on younger players.

Popovich starts a 22-year-old at center (Blair) and a 20-year-old rookie at guard (Kawhi Leonard). His bench includes third-year swingman Danny Green, a pair of second-year players in center Tiago Splitter and guard Gary Neal and another 20-year-old rookie in point guard Cory Joseph.

Winning on the road, Popovich said, is a learned skill younger players take time to master.

“There are always a couple moments in a road game where it can be a five- or six-point game, and all of a sudden it’s eight or 10,” Popovich said. “You sort of lose your mojo.”

Duncan figures it is past time for the Spurs to find it in someone else’s gym.

“We’ve protected our home court,” Duncan said. “Now it’s time to get one on the road.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Spurs patient with youngsters

NEW ORLEANS — Nearly a month into this stranger-than-fiction post-lockout season, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has come to appreciate the upside of guiding the youngest team he’s ever had.

“We’ve actually got a guy who can dunk now,” Popovich joked after a recent shootaround. “He did it today in practice, and three of us just about fell over.”

In the four-plus years since their last NBA championship, the Spurs have evolved from old, veteran and savvy to young, nimble and callow. Once playfully derided by their coach as “older than dirt,” the Spurs start a 20-year-rookie at shooting guard (Kawhi Leonard) and a 22-year-old at center (DeJuan Blair).

The bench rotation includes another 20-year-old rookie in point guard Cory Joseph, 24-year-old swingman Danny Green, and a pair of older second-year players in 27-year-old center Tiago Splitter and 26-year-old guard Gary Neal.

Take away 34-year-old Manu Ginobili, out with a broken hand, and 35-year-old Tim Duncan — who sat out Saturday night’s loss in Houston for rest reasons — and it’s been like a flashback to Popovich’s days as a college coach at Pomona-Pitzer.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Popovich said. “They’re good kids. It’s great to be able to teach and see them want to learn as much as they do.”

Five of the Spurs’ top nine scorers have less than three NBA seasons on their résumé, but there is a downside for relying on youth and inexperience.

Typical for a younger team, the Spurs have struggled on the road (they are 1-6). Closing tight games can be an adventure (they are 1-2 in the past three games, all decided by three points or fewer).

Tonight in New Orleans, the 10-7 Spurs look to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season. At 3-13, the Hornets own the worst record in the Western Conference, and should be easy pickings.

With a young team, however, you never know. It’s why Popovich stuck with “older than dirt” for so long.

For Duncan, who woke up one day as the Spurs’ oldest player, working alongside such youth has been both an education and an adventure. Leonard and Joseph, the two rookies, were in first grade when Duncan made his NBA debut in 1997.

“It takes time,” Duncan said. “It’s about us being used to them, them being used to us, being used to being in tough situations in hostile territory. They’re coming along.”

So far, Popovich has handled the unpredictability of youth with as much patience as he can muster.

When Leonard had a typical rookie moment late in the fourth quarter at Houston — passing up an open jumper, turning the ball over in traffic, then committing a loose-ball foul against Kevin Martin — Popovich didn’t explode.

“He just told me to be confident and take the wide-open shot,” said

Leonard, a fill-in starter while Ginobili is out. “Things happen. I’m still a rookie.”

The infusion of youth has invigorated Popovich, stirring his instincts as a teacher. Yet with the lockout-compressed schedule eliminating almost all practice time, he has often been like a professor without a classroom.

“Shootaround days become even more important,” Popovich said. “They’re sort of like mini practices now, since you don’t have a real practice. You actually have an opportunity to maybe repeat some things so the young guys start to pick things up.”

When Popovich does get a chance to stage a practice, the gym can look like a three-ring circus.

“Logistically, it’s different,” Popovich said. “I’m sure some drills and basketball things a coach would do for young guys, Duncan doesn’t want to see it anymore. These young guys, you’ve got to go back to the basics. You have different people doing different things.”

Leonard, the 15th pick out of San Diego State, didn’t know what to expect when the Spurs traded for him on draft night. He had heard stories of his soon-to-be new coach, some good, some horrifying.

Leonard’s first meeting with Popovich calmed his nerves.

“He sat me down and told me exactly what they expected of me,” Leonard said.

There is no truth to the rumor Popovich asked for more dunks, but it has been a notable side effect.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Popovich: No practices hurts

MILWAUKEE — Ask Spurs coach Gregg Popovich if he recalls the last time he was able to schedule a full practice, and it’s like asking him to calculate the square root of 1,247,211 in his head.

He racks his brain for a second before giving up.

“I do not,” Popovich said.

One of the many side effects of the post-lockout NBA schedule is a nearly complete lack of practice time. With games scheduled almost every day, coaches tend to choose rest over a morning in the practice gym.

The Spurs have not had a full practice session since the start of the regular season. Popovich might not be able to squeeze one in until after a Feb. 8 game at Philadelphia, after which the Spurs finally enjoy back-to-back days without a game for the first time this season.

“All year long, all of us are going to have to figure out ways to review things and go over things — the mental rehearsal part — without practices,” Popovich said. “It ends up being shootaround time and film time. It’s difficult for everyone.”

The Spurs remained in Oklahoma City after Sunday’s game, but did not practice. Tonight’s game at Milwaukee will be their fifth in seven days.

For a team like the Spurs, who feature only two new rotation players — rookie forward Kawhi Leonard and backup point guard T.J. Ford — the lack of practice time isn’t as big of a problem.

For teams with new coaches and new players, no time to practice can be especially detrimental. It’s a sure reason quality of play seems down across the league.

“I think the whole product will be better in about another month or so,” Popovich said. “You see a lot of games now where you want to cover your eyes.”

Spurs players certainly aren’t bemoaning the lack of practice time, even if they understand their head coach might feel differently.

“Every player probably prefers to play the game,” guard Gary Neal said. “If you ask Coach Pop, I’m sure he’d rather have time to practice.”

Neal shaping up: When Popovich inserted Neal to play point guard late in Sunday’s lopsided loss at Oklahoma City, it was with a distinct purpose in mind. It beat having Neal run conditioning sprints after the game.

“We put him back in so he could get his butt in shape,” Popovich said.

Neal missed all but the first day of training camp after having an appendectomy and has played in just four games since his return. He started the past three in place of injured All-Star Manu Ginobili.

After logging a season-high 28 minutes against the Thunder, and scoring a season-high 18 points, Neal said he’s not quite back to normal, conditioning-wise.

“If I compare it to last year, there were times I was able to pressure the ball full-court and still make shots,” Neal said. “I don’t think I’m there yet.”

Popovich would like Neal, a first-team All-Rookie selection last season, to play a larger role with Ginobili out for at least the next five weeks with a broken hand.

“With Manu out, he’s got to get in shape for us,” Popovich said. “It will take some time.”