Tag: San Antonio Spurs

Spurs’ subs trouble L.A.

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

LOS ANGELES – As soon Antonio McDyess walked into the Staples Center, the memory came flooding back.

The last time he was in the building, back in February, his tip-in at the buzzer helped the Spurs claim a one-point victory.

“I’ll probably remember that play for the rest of my life,” McDyess said.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ensured McDyess would not get a chance to re-enact it Tuesday night.

Wary of the toll a season-ending back-to-back would take on his older players, Popovich rested four starters during a 102-93 Lakers victory, saving them for tonight’s game at Phoenix.

Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker joined the 36-year-old McDyess on the bench. Instead, Popovich started George Hill, Gary Neal, DeJuan Blair and Tiago Splitter alongside usual starter Richard Jefferson.

The Spurs nearly won anyway.

Kobe Bryant had 27 points and Lamar Odom scored 21 of his 23 in the second half, as the Lakers snapped their season-worst five-game losing streak in unsatisfying fashion. Not only did they struggle to pull away from the shorthanded Spurs until the fourth quarter, they might have lost oft-injured center Andrew Bynum for the start of the postseason with another knee injury.

“We came in with the mindset that we wanted to win,” Hill said. “We just came up short.”

Hoping to rest his regulars at some point during the season-ending road trip, but not wanting them to fall out of rhythm before the playoffs open Saturday or Sunday, Popovich made the choice to save 80 percent of his starting five for tonight’s finale at Phoenix.

It didn’t matter to Popovich that Tuesday’s defeat allowed Chicago to pull even in the race for the NBA’s top overall record (61-20), opening the door for home-court advantage in a potential Finals matchup to be decided by a 50-50 coin flip. The loss also ruined any chance the Spurs had of matching the franchise record of 63 wins, set in 2005-06, a pursuit that mattered even less to Popovich.

His focus, as always, remained on health and freshness, for the first round of the postseason.

“It makes more sense to play tomorrow than today,” Popovich said before the game. “Even if it was Phoenix tonight and the Lakers tomorrow, we’d end up sitting them.”

That explanation probably won’t satiate the conspiracy theorists, who will note Tuesday’s win ensured the Lakers (56-25) will finish no worse than third in the Western Conference, keeping the defending champions on the opposite side of the playoff bracket.

Before the game, Lakers coach Phil Jackson assumed all the normal Spurs would play to some extent.

“That’s what I would do,” Jackson said.

Instead, Popovich ran out a collection of subs, got double figures from six of them led by 16 from Neal, and nearly sent the Lakers to the depths of despair.

Popovich certainly looked wise to rest his stars early in the second quarter, when Bynum hobbled off with a hyperextended right knee. Bynum is scheduled for an MRI today, and will not accompany the Lakers to Sacramento for their season-ender.

The Spurs entered Tuesday’s game believing the Lakers’ problems to be overblown. Before tipoff, Popovich again called them the team to beat in the West.

“No one believes they suck,” Spurs forward Richard Jefferson said.

By trotting out a JV lineup, the Spurs gave the Lakers little opportunity to prove as much.

The Spurs led briefly in the fourth quarter, and the game was still tied at 83 with 5:55 to play.

The Lakers couldn’t begin to breathe easy until Bryant’s deep 3-pointer with 2:56 to go gave them a 96-88 lead. Moments later, Odom converted a bucket-and-a-foul, pushing L.A.’s edge to 11, its largest of the night.

“The Lakers were the Lakers at the end,” said Blair, who had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs.

The Lakers were not the Lakers for 3 ½ quarters, and that should add to the concerns about them more than the victory subtracts them.

“It got us out of our losing spin,” Jackson said. “So that’s OK.”

Popovich was proud enough of his team.

“We’re playing better than we were when we lost six in a row,” Popovich said, referring to a season-long losing streak that ended April 3. “That’s a good thing, I guess.”

Popovich still isn’t buying the latest rumors of the Lakers’ demise. They slumped before the All-Star break, only to win 17 of 18 after it. Last season, they went 12-10 after March 1, and still won the title.

Whatever is troubling the Lakers, Popovich said, “will fade away the very first night of the playoffs.”

On Tuesday, with the playoffs still in the future, the Lakers’ struggles were still front and center, compounded by Bynum’s injury. If all eyes were on the postseason, the Spurs won even in defeat.

Maybe this one wasn’t quite as fulfilling, or quite as memorable, as McDyess’ February tip-in. But it was close.

Notes on a scorecard: Why Pop’s record is a big deal, even if he disagrees

Gregg Popovich looked like somebody had slipped him an exploding cigar during his post-game press conference.

The Spurs coach never has been one to show much ego or emotion about his own achievements.

So knowing Popovich like we do, it doesn’t surprise many that he didn’t seem overly excited about learning that he had passed Red Auerbach for second place for coaching victories with a single franchise.

After his team defeated Sacramento, 124-92, Wednesday night, Popovich now has 796 victories with the Spurs. It’s behind only Jerry Sloan’s 1,127 victories with the Utah Jazz, but tops the 795 wins earned by Red Auerbach from 1950-66 with the Boston Celtics.

His players were more excited about the honor than the veteran coach seemed to be.

“Pop doesn’t let us know his individual achievements,” Spurs guard George Hill said, laughing. “But I’ll have to congratulate him on that first time I see him tomorrow.”

Hill threatened to bring Popovich a cake to mark the achievement — even if he might not want to acknowledge his achievement.

“I think I should go buy a cake and come in and surprise him with a cake,” Hill said. “Somebody will have to give me the real stats so I’ll know what to put on the cake.”

Here are a few other notes and factoids from the Spurs’ third straight victory and their second victory of more than 17 points in their last two home games.

  • Manu Ginobili finished with 25 points for the 14th time this season. The Spurs are 13-1 in those games. He’s hit 57.1 percent from the field in his last two games. And he hit 4-for-6 from behind the 3-point arc against the Kings, snapping a streak where he hit 3-for-18 from beyond the arc (16.7 percent) in his previous five games. 
  • Tony Parker notched 15 points in only 26:35 — his 10th lowest game in terms of playing time this season. It continued a streak where he’s hit 51.5 percent from the field and averaged 20.3 points in his last six games. He also notched six rebounds and six assists. Park has produced 15 points, six rebounds and six assists in three games this season — all Spurs victories.
  • With 19 points,  Hill continued his recent surge that has included at least 19 points in four of his last seven games. During that period, Hill has hit 56.4 percent from the field, 45.5 percent from 3-point territory, 83.8 percent from the line and averaged 18.4 points per game.   
  • After he was shut out for  only the third time of the season last night in Atlanta , Gary Neal rebounded to scored 14 points on 6-for-8 from the field and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. It’s his third double-figure game in his last four.
  • Tim Duncan had a productive game filling up the stat sheet in limited playing time, notching 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots. Since returning from his injury five games ago, Duncan is averaging 16.0 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.4 blocked shots. He’s also shooting 64.6 percent and 78.2 from the foul line. All of that totals are better than his season average before the injury with the exception of  his blocked shots.
  • It also marked the sixth time this season that Duncan has notched at least 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks in a game. The Spurs are 6-0 in those games.
  • Richard Jefferson bounced back from his struggles against Atlanta to score nine points on 4-for-5 shooting. He was averaging only 7.3 points per game in his previous three games before Wednesday. But his shooting has been strong, including Wednesday’s game. He’s hit 60 percent from the field in his last three games.
  • After showing promise in recent games, Danny Green erupted for a career-high nine points in 12:38, hitting 4-for-7 from the field. In his last two games, he’s averaging 8.0 points, hitting 70 percent from the field and 66.7 percent of his 3-point shots.
  • Antonio McDyess had a productive night with eight points, seven rebounds and two assists. In his last three games, he’s averaging 8.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists. As a starter, he’s averaging  6.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per  game in 15 games. During that period, the Spurs are 9-6.
  • Besides impressing Popovich with his hustle, DeJuan Blair produced six points, eight  rebounds and three assists. It came within one assist of matching his season high in assists and within one rebound of his high since being demoted from the starting lineup.
  • After picking up a DNP against Atlanta, Tiago Splitter played only 3:29 against Sacramento. He finished with four points, two rebounds and a steal in his limited time. It marked his shortest playing stint since notching 33 seconds March 9 against Detroit.
  • The Spurs set several season highs during their blistering second half. They notched 41 points in the third quarter for their highest scoring quarter of the season. They also hit 82.4 percent from the field in that quarter for their highest in a quarter this season. And their 73 points was the highest they’ve scored in any half this season, topping the 72 at Washington on Feb. 12.
  • San Antonio’s 124 points was their second-highest scoring game of the season, topped only by the 125 points against Miami on March 4.
  • The Spurs’ 60.5 field-goal percentage was their highest since hitting 64.3 percent against Detroit on March 9. Those are the only two times the Spurs have hit 60 percent or better from the field this season.
  • San Antonio’s 63.2 percent was tied for second this season in 3-point percentage, trailing only the 64.7 percent against the Clippers on Nov. 10. And after struggling from the foul line during the losing streak, the Spurs have hit at least 80 percent in back-to-back games for the first time since the Golden State and Denver games on March 19 and 21.
  • The Spurs also notched 36 fast-break points to tie their single-game high against Philadelphia on Nov. 11.
  • Their defense kicked in as they limited Sacramento to 39.8 percent from the field. It was their lowest defensive field-goal percentage since allowing Cleveland to hit 39.6 percent from the field on March 2. When the Spurs limit opponents to less than 40 percent shooting this season they are 14-1.
  • Nine of the 12 players on the Spurs’ playing roster had double-figure positive plus-minus scores. McDyess led the team at plus-25. Duncan was at plus-22. Parker was at plus-21. Ginobili was at plus-20. Jefferson was at plus-15. Hill was at plus-11. Only Matt Bonner at minus-2 had a negative score. The Spurs’ starters were a combined plus-103. The reserves were a plus-57.
  • All of the San Antonio players scored with the exception of Steve Novak. Da’Sean Butler, Chris Quinn and James Anderson all were inactive.