Tiago Splitter | SAN ANTONIO SPURS TICKETS

Spurs notebook: Splitter’s lessons crafted on court

NEW ORLEANS — A student of the NBA game long before he ever played in one, Spurs center Tiago Splitter spent many a night in Spain watching whatever film from America he could get his hands on.

It’s a practice he continued last season after coming over from the Spanish League.

Finally a fixture in coach Gregg Popovich’s rotation in his second NBA season, Splitter is learning something that he long suspected about the American game: Playing it is more beneficial than watching it.

“You learn more when you play,” said Splitter, the 27-year-old Brazilian who appeared in just 60 games as a rookie. “You learn from what you see every day and get a feel for the game.”

A trip around the league has made Splitter more comfortable and confident on the court, particularly in the low block. He is learning how certain defenders — such as Houston’s Luis Scola and Jordan Hill on Saturday — want to attack him, and, as importantly, how to counterattack.

With Tim Duncan out of the lineup for a 105-102 loss to the Rockets, Splitter exploded for a career-high 25 points off the bench, going 11 of 13 from the floor.

Heading into tonight’s game at New Orleans, Splitter is averaging 8.6 points and five rebounds — up from 4.6 points and 3.4 boards as a rookie. He has already logged seven double-digit scoring nights, after posting nine all of last season.

“He basically didn’t play last year, so it’s all new to him,” Popovich said. “He’s a student. He watches film, he understands players. He’s a quick learner.”

No pressure: Duncan earned his first day off of the season Saturday against the Rockets, benched by Popovich for rest reasons. The Hornets are unlikely to be as lucky tonight.

Looking to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season, Spurs players disputed the notion that the loss to the Rockets created added pressure to beat the 3-13 Hornets once Duncan returns.

“We’ve got 49 games left,” said Matt Bonner, who started in Duncan’s spot at power forward. “Every night we come in trying to win. I wouldn’t say we’re putting any extra pressure on ourselves because we lost one game.”

Rest for the weary: In light of Duncan’s DNP, Popovich admitted the lockout-compressed schedule, with few natural breaks built in, has made resting players a difficult chore.

“It’s more difficult to manage than usual,” Popovich said. “You have to constantly filter in how many minutes your players are playing, how many games you just played, and when’s the last time you had a day off.”

The Spurs have not had more than one day off between games this season, and won’t until the middle of next month’s rodeo trip, when they go Feb. 9 and 10 without a game.

“It’s a little easier with the regular (82-game) schedule,” Popovich said. “You get some breaks here and there, and it kind of takes care of itself to a large degree. This year, you don’t have any of those respites that help you manage.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Pop to Spurs’ Blair: ‘Just be who you are’

By Jeff McDonald

DALLAS — For Spurs center DeJuan Blair, the American Airlines Center will always be home to fond memories.

At All-Star Weekend here in 2010, he had 22 points and a record 23 rebounds in the rookie-sophomore game, punctuating his performance with a dunk off the backboard glass.

Later that year, with Tim Duncan sitting out the final game of the regular season, Blair detonated for 27 points and 23 rebounds in a loss at Dallas.

Somewhere deep inside him, Blair believes, the free-spirited player responsible for those moments still exists.

“I’ve just got to find him,” Blair said. “Be DeJuan Blair again.”

That was precisely the message coach Gregg Popovich was trying to impart when he dispatched the struggling Blair into a recent game with the instructions: “Just be who you are.”

“All players are different,” Popovich said. “If Tiago Splitter tried to do what Kevin Love does, he’d probably be pretty unsuccessful. If we tried to get DeJuan Blair to play like Tiago, he would be unsuccessful.”

As the Spurs return to Dallas today for a matinee against the NBA champion Mavericks, the 22-year-old Blair remains on a path of self-rediscovery.

Blair sums up Popovich’s “just be who you are” order in two words: “Energy and rebounding.”

At times, Blair’s play has become a tad too conventional, as if he is attempting, at 6-foot-7, to play center like a 7-footer. The joy that once garnished his game is gone.

In his third NBA season, Blair is averaging a career-best 10.4 points, but his rebounding numbers — once the best aspect of his game — are down to 5.8 per game.

The Spurs’ two most recent games provide stark contrast of good Blair and bad.

In a 105-83 win over Atlanta on Wednesday, Blair erupted for 13 of his 17 points in the second half, scoring on putbacks and pick-and-rolls and finishing fast breaks for his highest-scoring night since New Year’s Eve.

Two nights later, in a 87-79 loss at Minnesota, Blair went scoreless in 15 minutes, 22 seconds, ceding playing time to the 6-foot-11 Splitter, a more traditional NBA big man.

“The thing with DeJuan, we just want him to be consistent,” point guard Tony Parker said. “Some nights, he has it. Some nights, it looks like he’s having a hard time. When you’re young, that’s the hardest thing, to be consistent every night.”

Popovich, in part, blames himself for Blair’s ongoing identity crisis. He believes he has given Blair too much information, too much coaching, paralyzing his formerly freewheeling center with the fear of making mistake.

“You try and coach him, and you screw him up,” Popovich said.

In that, Popovich compares Blair to Manu Ginobili, a non-traditionalist who also balked at being bridled earlier in his career.

“After a while, I had to learn to be quiet and let him play,” Popovich said. “With DeJuan, he’s an instinctive player. He’s not going to play placing his feet in certain spots, and this is your move. It’s better to let him play and you get his full effectiveness.”

Though Blair acknowledges a tendency to over-think things on the court, he won’t say he’s been over-coached.

“I don’t believe in that,” Blair said. “You can never take too much in. I’m still young. I’m still learning.”

However it comes, Blair is seeking to revive the unorthodox, bull-in-a-china-closet playing style that hallmarked his All-American collegiate career at Pittsburgh, as well as his first two seasons in the NBA.

“I’m just going to play,” Blair said. “I’m finding my groove. I’m going to get there.”

The player who more than once turned the American Airlines Center into his own personal playground is still in there, somewhere. Blair just has to let him out.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Buck Harvey: Splitter earns time next to Duncan

HOUSTON — Luis Scola and Tiago Splitter went from South America to Spain to Texas.

Only now are they in a different place.

There was a time when the Spurs wondered if Scola and Tim Duncan were a good fit on the court together.

Today, the Spurs have to wonder if they have any other choice but to play Splitter with Duncan.

Scola met Splitter when Splitter was just 15 years old. “He was a little kid,” Scola said Saturday, smiling, and that’s a memory that would surprise some. Splitter already was close to his 6-foot-11 size then.

Scola also remembers him as smart. They were teammates for five years in Spain, where Splitter admits Scola was the better player.

But Scola says Splitter improved, year by year, and Saturday showed how much. Then, with Duncan sitting out, Splitter went for a career-high and team-high 25 points on ?11-of-13 shooting.

“He’s a big-time pro,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said afterward. “He’s a workhorse … he plays the game the right way.”

He did that most notably in the fourth quarter. He posted, worked with Tony Parker, scored with an offensive rebound and generally gave the Spurs a chance.

Asked if Splitter needed to be on the court more, Popovich shrugged. “It’s hard to get him on the court any more than he is because he is playing a lot. There are only two bigs at a time, and sometimes only one because teams play small. He’s getting as much time as I can play him.”

It’s not much time. Splitter was averaging just 20 minutes coming into Houston. The 25 minutes he played against Sacramento the night before was the most since opening night.

There are reasons. Matchups dictate different lineups, as does the rotation. Starting DeJuan Blair with Duncan, for example, allows Popovich to have either Duncan or Splitter in the lineup.

Splitter says he understands. Besides, it’s not his job to decide such things. “It is Pop’s job,” he said.

Popovich’s decisions are changing this season, though, as he learns more about his roster. And what he keeps learning, as Splitter gets more and more comfortable with the NBA game, is that his backup center might be even better than he thought.

For example, has Popovich already been rethinking the night before against Sacramento? Then, with the Spurs’ shooters missing as they did again Saturday, they failed to go to Splitter in the post. He had only six attempts in the game.

It’s becoming clearer Splitter needs more touches and more time. And eventually, as Popovich and his staff debate the pros and cons of various lineups, they will come to an issue that once included Scola.

Who is the best fit next to Duncan?

Scola says no one with the Spurs ever told him he couldn’t play with Duncan. But among the reasons the Spurs traded him to the Rockets was this:

Would they get in each other’s way on the low block? Did Duncan need another kind of complement other than a scorer?

The years have changed the equation, with Duncan drifting farther out on offense. But so has the roster. Even if the defensive matchups aren’t ideal, sometimes the best players have to be on the floor no matter.

In Duncan’s absence, Splitter looked like one of them. Popovich spoke afterward as if he is one of them, too, as did Scola. He thinks Splitter will be a solid NBA big man for years to come.

So when asked if his former teammate, if this onetime “little kid,” could play next to Duncan, as some once questioned whether he could, Scola said what Popovich and his assistants are likely saying today.

“Why not?” Scola asked.

bharvey@express-news.net

– Associated Press photos

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Rockets 105, Spurs 102 – Jan. 21, 2012

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich gestures to his players in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair (45) and Houston Rockets’ Samuel Dalembert, right, battle for the ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

Houston Rockets’ Chandler Parsons (25) passes the ball over San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson (24) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair (45) bowls over Houston Rockets’ Patrick Patterson (54) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. Blair was called for an offensive foul on the play. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

Houston Rockets’ Patrick Patterson, center, is double-teamed by San Antonio Spurs Gary Neal (14) and Richard Jefferson (24) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson chews on his shirt in the final minutes of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (9) passes the ball under pressure from Houston Rockets’ Samuel Dalembert (21) in the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

Houston Rockets’ Patrick Patterson (54) and San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson (24) go after a loose ball in the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

Houston Rockets Courtney Lee (5) and Jordan Hill (27) watch the final seconds of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale questions a call in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

Houston Rockets’ Patrick Patterson (54) and San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson (24) go after a loose ball in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard (2) tries to maintain control of the ball as Houston Rockets’ Kevin Martin, left, pursues during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. The Rockets won 105-102. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (9) shoots over Houston Rockets’ Courtney Lee (5) in the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) (AP)