Tag: Toronto

Spurs’ Neal looks for staying power

By Jeff McDonald

For Gary Neal, the idea is never to get too comfortable.

Though only in his second season, Neal is already an established NBA player, a fixture in Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s playing rotation and — thanks to a spectacular buzzer-beater against Memphis in last year’s playoffs — an everlasting part of Spurs lore.

In his mind, however, Neal has never stopped feeling like an undrafted rookie still scratching to make it.

“To be honest with you, I don’t feel like I’ve arrived,” the Spurs’ reserve guard said. “I had one good season. That’s it.”

True, that one good season was like a lightning bolt out of the blue. Neal came from nowhere, or at least the Italian League, to set Spurs rookie records for 3-point percentage (41.9) and 3-pointers made (129) and averaged 9.8 points.

He earned first-team NBA All-Rookie honors, becoming the second undrafted player in league history to earn such a designation.

As if to prove Neal’s hypothesis that one good season does not a career make, the other was Jorge Garbajosa, an All-Rookie first-teamer for Toronto in 2007 who lasted one more NBA season after that.

“My goal is to retire in the NBA,” said Neal, 27. “To be able to do that, you have to be productive year in and year out.”

If Neal ever requires an added reminder of his NBA station, he need only look at his bi-weekly paycheck. He is still being paid like an undrafted rookie.

No member of the Spurs’ permanent roster earns less than the $762,195 Neal will make this season. He is set to receive a modest bump to $854,389 next season, the final year of his original three-year deal with the Spurs, but Neal will have to wait until the 2013 free agency to cash in on his NBA accomplishments.

So far this season, Neal’s quest to build on his rookie campaign has been hampered by a series of bizarre medical issues.

Four days into training camp, Neal suffered an appendix inflammation that required the removal of the organ. He missed all of the preseason and the first five games of the regular season recuperating.

Then in January, Neal needed four staples in his head after bashing it on his medicine cabinet at home.

“I was starting to think I was cursed,” Neal said.

Heading into tonight’s game against lowly Charlotte, Neal is averaging 9.7 points and shooting 39.6 percent from 3-point range, numbers down slightly from his rookie year.

Yet the arrow is trending upward. In February, Neal averaged 11.2 points and shot 43.9 percent from the beyond the arc.

Neal is coming off his best game of the season, a 21-point affair in Wednesday’s loss to Chicago in which he kept the Bulls off balance with his developing dribble-drive game.

“Some (plays) are designed for him, and some are just him making an effort,” Popovich said of Neal’s season-high scoring night. “Mostly, it was him. He was amazing.”

In an effort to avoid becoming the next Garbajosa, Neal has shunned being pigeonholed as a 3-point specialist.

Part of that is out of necessity. After his stellar rookie season, Neal is no longer sneaking up on opponents.

“The scouting report is more detailed on me,” Neal said. “Some of the 3-point shots I got last year were wide open. I really haven’t had too many wide-open 3-pointers this year.”

When T.J. Ford went down with a torn hamstring in January, Neal was temporarily forced to add “backup point guard” to his job description.

“That’s the challenge, to continue to add something every year and continue to keep yourself relevant,” Neal said. “That’s how you stay in this league.”

For Neal, staying has always been the goal.

It took so much blood, sweat, tears and time for Neal to finally make the NBA. Now that he’s here, he figures he might as well stick around.

jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

LBJ’s big dunk punctuates Super Sunday S&D effort

 An angry LeBron James didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

The Miami All-Star forward was fouled hard on the previous play by Toronto. So when he made a key steal late in the Heat’s 95-89 victory, he made absolutely sure of his basket.

James’ rim-rattling dunk punctuated a 30-point effort in the Heat’s victory as it helped put away the pesky Raptors.

“You have to create energy for yourself, especially in these early games,” James told ESPN.com’s Heat Index. “I was just trying to create energy for myself and my teammates.” 

It enabled Miami to claim its 10th victory in 12 games and moved within one game of Chicago for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

The late surge also enabled James to lead Sunday’s Studs and Duds on an abbreviated Super Sunday schedule. 

STUDS

Miami F LeBron James: Notched 30 points, nine rebounds and was plus-11 in the Heat’s triumph over Toronto.

Miami G Dwyane Wade: Produced 25 points, three assists, two rebounds, two blocked shots and was plus-16 in the Heat’s victory over  the Raptors.

Boston F Kevin Garnett: Went for 24 points, nine rebounds, two assists and was plus-12 in the Celtics’ victory over  Memphis.

Boston F Paul Pierce: Notched 21 points, six rebounds, six assists and was a game-best plus-28 in the Grizzlies’ triumph over the Grizzlies.

DUDS

Memphis C Marc Gasol: Limited to seven points on 3-for-14 shooting, had seven turnovers and was minus-26 in the Grizzlies’ loss to Boston.

Memphis G Mike Conley: Went 2 for 8 from the field with three turnovers and was minus-25 in the Grizzlies’ loss to the Celtics.  

Toronto G Jose Calderon: Held to eight points with five turnovers and was a team-worst minus-13 in the Raptors’ loss to Miami.

Spurs overcome late collapse, nip Pistons

By Jeff McDonald

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The Spurs were rolling early in the fourth quarter Tuesday, up 15 on the hapless Detroit Pistons, visions of an eight-game winning streak already dancing in their heads.

They were doing what most visitors to the desolate Palace at Auburn Hills do these days — handling the building’s floundering, slightly dysfunctional inhabitants without breaking much of a sweat.

And then, Detroit center Ben Wallace did something he rarely did in 1,055 career games. He threw in a 3-pointer.

“I knew right then, the basketball gods had it out for us,” Spurs guard Danny Green said.

Matt Bonner’s take?

“It was like the ‘Twilight Zone,’” he said.

The Spurs finally won 99-95 to run their rodeo road trip record to 4-0, but not before squandering that 15-point lead in 6:03, falling behind by as many as three, then pulling a difficult victory out the other side.

Wallace’s 3-pointer, just the seventh of his 16-season career, lit the powder keg on the Pistons’ comeback.

It came with the shot clock at one second, ruining one of the Spurs’ best defensive possessions, and pulled Detroit within single digits, 79-70, with 9:49 left.

After that, everything the Pistons threw rim-ward started going in. Jonas Jerebko swished another 3-pointer after another apparent Spurs stop — Detroit kept possession when Richard ? Jefferson won a jump ball with Ben Gordon by such a margin that the ball went out of bounds.

“We let them back in the game,” said guard Manu Ginobili, scoreless in his second game back from a broken hand until sealing it with a foul shot with 13.5 seconds left. “We gave them life when it looked like it was over.”

A month ago, when they were 0-5 on the road, the Spurs would have taken it. Tuesday, they were appalled by how close they came to giving one away against an 8-22 team.

“It’s a learning game for us,” said Tim Duncan, who finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks for his fifth-straight double-double. “We can’t take anybody lightly, even for a short period of time.”

Of course, there is no defense to prevent a Wallace 3-pointer, besides standing there and begging him to take it.

The 37-year-old Wallace broke the NBA record for most career games by an undrafted player, a mark held by former Spurs point guard Avery Johnson. He did not survive this long by pretending to be Ray Allen.

“It’s because he’s the meanest man in the valley,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

Wallace finished with nine points and five rebounds, and helped hold Duncan to 7-of-17 shooting.

In the fourth quarter, with the Spurs (20-9) in the midst of unraveling, Wallace caught Duncan with an inadvertent elbow that sent the Spurs’ captain sprawling with a small cut under his left eye.

When the best Detroit could muster midway through the fourth was the meanest man in the Valley for three, Popovich liked his odds.

“I hope he won’t be mad at me, but we’d rather have Ben shoot it than Tayshaun (Prince),” Popovich said.

Wallace’s 3-pointer energized the Pistons, sparking a 14-5 run to put them up by three after a Rodney Stuckey free throw with 4:26 to go.

Apparently unmoved by Wallace’s newfound 3-point touch, Popovich chose to purposefully foul him on three consecutive possessions in the fourth.

Wallace went 3 of 6 from the line, but the move disrupted the Pistons’ rolling momentum. From there, the Spurs regained their focus and regained the game.

Tony Parker scored half of his 14 points in the final 1:13, including a go-ahead layup and a teardrop to push the Spurs’ lead to three with 27.3 seconds remaining.

When the fourth quarter began, the Spurs looked ready to set the cruise control for tonight’s game in Toronto. By the end, after a trip through the Twilight Zone via Detroit, they felt fortunate just to survive.

jmcdonald@express-news.net