Tag: San Antonio

By the numbers: TP’s big game leads Spurs’ victory

After all of their road struggles earlier this season, the Spurs needed to reclaim their home court.

It wasn’t always pretty, but San Antonio persevered for 101-95 overtime victory Wednesday night over Houston.

In the process, the Spurs overcame an early 12-point deficit in one of their most spirited efforts of the season.

Here are some of the numbers that helped explain why the Spurs again won at home.

6 – Rebounds for Kawhi Leonard in the fourth quarter and overtime. He grabbed four in overtime.

7-0 — Difference in fouls in overtime. Houston committed seven, the Spurs none.

11 — Consecutive possessions that Houston scored during San Antonio’s defensive struggles late in the first quarter.

20.0 – Houston and San Antonio’s shooting percentage in overtime. Like Kevin Martin said after the game, the offensive struggles deserved the tag of “lockout ball.”

28 — Tony Parker’s point total — highest by a Spurs player this season.

45:18 – Parker’s playing time — most in a game since he played 47:44 on Dec. 27, 2008.

 65.0 — Houston’s shooting percentage in the first quarter.

What the Spurs and Nuggets said after Saturday’s game

The Spurs and Nuggets were talkative after San Antonio’s 121-117 victory Saturday night at the ATT Center.

The folks from the Spurs media service were ready with these quotes from both locker rooms.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich

(On Richard Jefferson’s late block and then coming back for the three)

“It was a good play.  He’s been shooting the ball well.  He’s playing aggressively and he’s got a lot of confidence.  He’s been a big part of winning ball games.”

(On Danny Green…have you been surprised with what he’s been able to do?)

“He’s an NBA player and he’s playing with confidence.  He’s been through a lot.  He’s been through a lot of trials and been denied many times over the last several years.  He’s a great example of sticking with it and not getting down on one’s self….continuing to play, improve, listen and right now he’s playing well and been a significant part of what we’ve done.”

(On Tim Duncan resting most of the second period…was that the plan?)

“You don’t plan for something like that ahead of time, you play the game and whatever the game dictates, that’s what you try to do.  Everyone is very different.”

Spurs guard Danny Green

(On his career-high in scoring)

“Luck and opportunity. A lot things went well. My teammates made the game easier for me. Tim led us and Tony does what he does, penetrate and kick. He got me a lot open shots and I played defense.”

 (On feeling comfortable…)

“I do more and more each game. I know the system well from being here last year. I’m starting to feel comfortable in it and comfortable playing my game now, so hopefully it’ll continue and stay consistent.”

 (On imagining these last three games…)

“I wouldn’t of thought that but I like I said, Manu is down and everybody has to step up their game. Luckily, I got an opportunity to do so and when I got in, I give as much effort as I can on defense. That’s my game and everything fell in place offensively. Tonight it did.”

Spurs forward Richard Jefferson

(On blocking a shot and scoring a three on the same possession…)

“They were running down our throats the entire game. The last two days, all coach was talking about was transition defense. They’re an aggressive physical team. After I got the block, I saw he was down and I just tried to sprint back. Fortunately, my teammates found me and I was able to knock it down.”

(On Danny Green…)

“He was impressive. His defense is what got him on the court, initially. He played great defense on Monta Ellis and he got the call against Jason Terry. Now he’s on the court. He’s starting to feel comfortable and starting to get his legs underneath him. Now, he’s able to hit some shots. He’s played great and without him, who knows what our record would be in the last three games.”

(On sharing the basketball)

“Everyone is going have to chip in when you’re missing Manu. There’s going to be a lot of teams that are going to have injuries with hamstrings and knees throughout the season because of the awkward start. The team that stays together, plays together and also have others step up are going to the be the team that prevails.”

Spurs guard Tony Parker

(On Jefferson’s play…)

“He did a great job. That was a great play and he’s been playing well since the beginning of the season.  He’s been knocking down shots and being ready and defensively that was a very, very good play. Big play in the game”

(On playing small with T.J)

“I think so. I would like to play with TJ. We did it against Golden State and it worked out very well. Tonight it worked it well. We’re going to go small. T.J can take point guard and I can chase somebody around.”

(On Danny Green…)

He played great. He was very aggressive. He shot the ball well. He’s going. He had more confidence. He’s improving game by game. That’s great with Manu out. If Danny can play consistently like that, it’s great for us.”

Denver Nuggets coach George Karl:

(Opening statement)

“I thought in the first 12-15 minutes of the game we did what we had to do.  We had opportunities to maybe come back and win the big game.  I was disappointed in our defense early in the game, as well as our mental effort.  We didn’t do anything.  We gave them lay-ups, we gave them shots, we turned it over, and we gave them offensive rebounds. We gave them everything early in the game. I think from early in the second quarter we played better then they did the rest of the way.”

 (When asked why he went small against the Spurs tonight)

“In general if the big guys aren’t giving me what I think they should be giving me, I would rather have playmakers that can make basketball plays.  It’s speed versus size. Sometimes size is needed on the court, but our size wasn’t creating anything for us.”

 (When asked about the play of Danny Green tonight)

“He shoots the ball pretty well.  He got to the rim more than I thought he would.  He played with composure. We realized midway through the third he was going to have one of those huge games.  Next time we’ll realize it a little earlier.”

Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson:

(Struggling with defense early on with improvements throughout the game)

“I can’t really put my finger on it. We just came out and started slow. The Spurs came out and knocked down shots and got everything they wanted. We kept trying to play catch up but with a team like San Antonio you just can’t do that.”

(Positives from tonight game)

“We played hard. Shows how much heart our team has. We battled back from almost 20 down to make it a game at the end. It shows a couple things went our way but also how much heart we have.”

 (On playoff football: Broncos or Steelers?)

“Come on, man. Broncos all day!”

 Denver Nuggets forward Corey Brewer:

(On Denver’s slow first quarter)

“We need to try and get out to a better start whether we are at home or on the road. We fell behind and started fouling.”

(Getting his number called after a slow start)

“Go make something happen, right away and just try to make stuff happen. I was trying to get us back into the game. With our team, we tried to cut it down and when we got it down to eight, it felt like we could win. We got it down to about six or seven.”

(On Danny Green’s play)

“He played great. He has to make his shots. He had one of his best games and it makes it tough.”

(Gallinari’s play)

“We need him to do that. He needs to be aggressive. Since he can be moved from the three to the four, big guys can’t guard him. That allowed for mismatches and chances to get buckets for us. Gallinari has been doing this night in and night out. He just has to be aggressive.”

What the Spurs and Mavs said after Thursday’s game

The Spurs media service people were ready with their tape recorders after the Spurs’ victory over Dallas Thursday night.

Here’s a collection of comments from the Mavericks and the Spurs.

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich:

(Opening statement)

“They (the Mavericks) were four in five nights, we were three in four nights and neither team was very sharp.  We happened to shoot well.  We’re thrilled to have the win; we’re not going to give it away.  Our guys played hard and we ended up with a good win. But both teams have a long way to go.”

(When asked if he had a good look at some of his players tonight)

“I thought T.J. (Ford) was great.  T.J. was really good again.  He was aggressive and energetic.  He did a real fine job for us.”

(Comments on the job DeJuan Blair did on Dirk Nowitzki tonight)

“That’s a big challenge. You didn’t see the real Dirk (Nowitzki) tonight, that’s for sure.  As the season wears on, all the teams will get into better shape and get sharper and look better.  DeJuan is working hard at it and it’s an education no matter what the situation is to guard Dirk Nowitzki.”

(When asked if he liked what he got from Richard Jefferson on both ends of the court)

“I think Richard (Jefferson) was more aggressively minded tonight.  We know he can shoot the basketball.  I thought he was better at going to the board and getting down on defense all those sorts of things; that’s good to see.”

Spurs guard T.J Ford

(Was this a lockout game…)

“No, today I thought we were mentally tough coming in on a back-to-back against the defending champions. Our starters did a great job, they came out and set the tempo and carried us the whole game.”

(On winning back-to-backs…)

“We’ve got to dig deep. This season is about mental toughness. How can we prevail with mental toughness. It’s only going to get tougher. We have a lot of games this month. Tonight was a good test. We got to get ready for an up-tempo game against Denver with a lot of athletes, a lot of young kids and a lot of speed. They’re playing well. It’s going to be a tough stretch. We got one day to rest up and then prepare for them and get to playing again.”

(On playing with the second unit…)

“We know all the plays but for me, it depends the on the flow of the game. The coaches do a good job of helping me when we need to run a set. For the most part, we try to create our offense through our defense and get out and get easy buckets.  We just run the motion offense and there are so many options with our early offense, everyone has an equal opportunity and that’s a good thing about it.”

Spurs forward Matt Bonner

(On hitting 3-pointers …)

“They felt the same. Just open shots and taking them like I have been all year. Tonight they were going in, which is a good thing. Just going to stick with the process and hope I can keep shooting like I did tonight.”

(On grinding the game out…)

“We were both coming off back-to-backs, they had to travel, but we had the homecourt advantage and tried to come out with energy and use to get us going. We made a lot threes in the first half and it got contagious. We did it with defense in the second half, because we didn’t shoot to well in the third quarter.”

Spurs forward Tim Duncan

(On winning in ugly fashion..)..

“Its kind of a change, we’ve had guys like Monta and K-Love come out and really light us up in the last couple games, the ones that we’ve lost. It was great to come out tonight where somebody didn’t make every shot out there. It was great to win. We did enough early on to get a lead and kind of put the pressure on them and they weren’t able to get back in to it.”

Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle:

(Was it just one of those nights where everything just went wrong for you?)

“San Antonio’s energy was better to start the game and in the first half and that was the difference in the game. We struggled, but their competitive level was higher and really the decisive part was the first half. We responded much better in the second half. We won the second half and that’s a positive, if you’re looking for positives. It’s a hit-first league, they hit us first, and we didn’t respond well enough in the second half.”

(on the Spurs 3-point shooting)

“Their shot making was there and we struggled all night with ours. You got to give them credit. They throw in sixteen threes and that’s shooting the heck out of it. Some of that is obviously we made some mistakes, but they put us in those positions so you give them credit.”

 (on the Spurs hitting three field goals in the 3rd quarter, but still up by 24.)

“I’m looking at that saying our defense is finally looking like it should. It’s a tough loss, it’s disappointing, and I don’t know if there is a lot of analysis beyond that. We got our butts kicked. That’s alright, we will take it like men and get ready for the next one.”

(on Jason Kidd’s back.)

“Lower back injury, we will evaluate it tomorrow, the next day, and see where we are.”

Mavericks guard Jason Terry:

(on tonight’s game and what happened to his team)

“They came out early and ran at us as we couldn’t recover from it. In the third quarter we did a better job but it was tough when you’re playing on the road in a tough environment. They came out and made shots early and it gives them a lot of confidence. There were guys tonight making shots that wouldn’t ordinarily make those shots.” 

(on the Mavericks poor shooting tonight)

“It was tough. When they’re making shots and we’re not, it’s going to be a long ball game for us. Again, we’re a team that prides ourselves on getting stops defensively and making them pay on the offensive end. That didn’t happen tonight.”

(on if tonight was a lack of shot or the influence of the Spurs)

“Well again, defensively we didn’t get the stops we wanted early and offensively we definitely didn’t make the shots that we wanted. Anytime you do that it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you’re not going to win, especially when you’re playing a tough San Antonio Spurs team.”

Mavericks forward Shawn Marion:

(On his team lacking momentum tonight against the Spurs)

“They came out aggressive as they hit their first seven shots, as most of those were threes. When you play a team that hot, we were able to finally slow them down. They came out playing with some high energy and hitting some shots but for the most part I think we were trying to get some stops. Together we weren’t able to capitalize on the stops as for us it seemed like the basket got smaller tonight. It was a rough stretch for us as it’s hard for us. This is our sixth game in eight days so that was tough stretch for us. Once we get down in the hole like that it’s too hard to pick yourself back up when you’ve been playing that much. At the same time, it is what it is, they struck first and they were able to pull out a good win.”

(On the toll of playing these six games)

“My body feels O.K. besides me feeling under the weather and my broken left finger. For the most part I’m cool as I’m just trying to do what I can to help the team by being effective.”

(On if comprised NBA schedule will lead to cold and hot streaks)

“Yeah, definitely as you’ve seen some already. There are going to be some games that don’t go our fans way. There is going to be some nights where it is just not going to go in, but it is what it is. We just have to stay out there and get better.”