Tag: the NBA

Spurs looking to close out Jazz

With the need to win game 3 in Utah, the Jazz have been taken out of their game by one of the NBA’s most fundamentally solid teams.  There are no Jazz players spouting the cliches such as “our backs are against the wall” or “we just need to hold serve.”  No instead it seems as though the Jazz are on a love fest.

“I just think we’re playing against a team that is at its peak,” Al  Jefferson said. “I don’t see nobody beating them. We ain’t given up trying. But this is a great team.”

For the Spurs, it is business as usual and the team knows just what it takes to win.  PG Tony Parker for one knows what it takes to move on.

“We can’t be satisfied with ourselves,” Parker said. “Make sure we keep the same mentality. Keep playing well. Keep playing with a lot of energy.”

Game 4 is scheduled for 8 PM Eastern time at Energy Solutions Arena is Salt Lake City.

Free agency: Spurs’ Green prepares for pay day

When the free-agent bell tolls tonight at 11 San Antonio time, all eyes in the Alamo City will be on Tim Duncan — and rightfully so. The Spurs franchise icon is set to become a free agent for just the third time in his 15-year career.

Elsewhere below the radar, however, the Spurs’ starting shooting guard is also set to hit the market. Danny Green says he’s ready.

“This is my first time to be pursued,” Green, who is set to enter his fourth NBA season, told the Express-News on Saturday by phone from his home on Long Island.

“It’s an exciting time, and hopefully a fun time. I’m hoping there’s a good amount of teams who like what I can do.”

Green, who turned 25 on June 22, started 38 of 66 games for the Spurs and averaged 9.1 points while shooting a blazing 43.6 percent from 3-point range. Now, he is set to cash in.

The Spurs liked Green enough to extend a qualifying offer worth nearly $2.7 million, making him a restricted free agent and giving the team the right to match any offer he receives.

Even if Green hears only crickets in free agency, he is set to more than triple the $854,369 he made last season as one of the NBA’s biggest bargains.

Green was a force for the Spurs during the first two rounds of the playoffs, averaging 10.3 points against Utah and the Los Angeles Clippers.

He faded in the Western Conference finals against Oklahoma City, when he went 8 for 31 from the floor and was eventually replaced in the starting lineup by Manu Ginobili.

Though Green said he’s looking forward to wading into the free agency waters, he says he would like to return the Spurs.

“I really do like San Antonio,”  Green said .”Hopefully, they have faith in me and will do what they need to do to bring me back.”

Spurs Talk: Show Green the green

Fans who enjoy analysis beyond the typical sports-talk gibberish should check out from venerable poster timvp on just why the Spurs need to bring back free agent swingman Danny Green.

First things first: With only 38 career starts under his belt, it’s still way, way too early to make any definitive conclusions about what Green is — or to be fair, isn’t. It’s also extremely easy to get carried away with per-36 minute projections, especially as they pertain to role players, like young Green, who don’t get major minutes.

That said, there are some pretty interesting discoveries:

* Even after his slump in the Western Conference Finals, Green shot 44.4 percent on 3-pointers over his final 53 games.

* Green averaged 17.4 points per 36 after the Richard Jefferson trade, 17th among SGs with at least 500 minutes.

* Green averaged 1.1 blocks and 1.4 steals per 36, numbers only three SGs have surpassed over the last 20 years.

* Green’s total rebound percentage of 8.6 was sixth-best among SGs.

Mix in the fact that Green makes the Spurs a better defensive and rebounding team when he’s on the court, and it’s clear that he has the potential to develop into a quality all-around player. Again — per-36 numbers should be used cautiously. But it would appear that the Spurs, who can match any offer to Green, owe it to themselves to see if he can build on his breakout year after digging him off the NBA scrap heap.