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Spurs’ energy in road win jolts Grizzlies

By Jeff McDonald

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Less than an hour before tipoff Monday night at the FedEx Forum, Matt Bonner gingerly made his way from the visitors’ locker room and headed down the corridor toward the floor.

He looked like a man in need of a massage, an Advil and a nap, in some order.

After playing a key role in the Spurs’ marathon bench run a night earlier in Dallas, Bonner admitted to being spent even before the game in Memphis began.

The effect of the lockout schedule?

“Nah,” the 31-year-old sharpshooter said. “I’m just a year older.”

Crusty by reputation only, the Spurs stunningly steamed into Memphis a night after dropping an overtime heartbreaker in Dallas and rolled the Grizzlies, 83-73.

Bonner supplied much of the offense, dropping in five 3-pointers for 15 points, while Tim Duncan (14), Richard Jefferson (13), Kawhi Leonard (12) and Danny Green (11) all reached double digits.

It was the Spurs’ energy — and the Grizzlies’ lack thereof — that earned their most lopsided road victory of the season.

“It was a hell of an effort to come back with the intensity they played with,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who won at the FedEx Forum for the first time since March 2010. “It was really nice to see.”

In that, Popovich’s decision of a night earlier to play his reserves for the final 19:44, including overtime, of a 101-100 loss in Dallas seemed to pay off.

In Memphis, the Spurs built a big lead — 20 points heading into the fourth quarter — so Popovich could rest his exhausted bench.

Having expended a full tank in coming back from 18 points only to lose the night before, and riding a two-game losing streak into Memphis, the Spurs sensed danger before their charter flight had even left Dallas air space.

“It didn’t look good last night,” guard Tony Parker said. “When we lost that game, we were like, ‘Man, we have to play in Memphis on the back-to-back, and Memphis is waiting for us?’?”

Instead, the Spurs (13-9) came out fighting and firing.

In a sense, albeit with much lower stakes, they did to the Grizzlies what the Grizzlies had done to them in last season’s six-game playoff upset. Sure, Memphis is without injured forward Zach Randolph, but the Spurs didn’t have even a one-armed Manu Ginobili.

Monday, the Spurs guarded, holding Memphis to 37 percent shooting and leading scorer Rudy Gay to a 0-for-7 clunker.

They rebounded, earning a 46-37 edge, including 14-9 on the offensive end, against a team that mopped the glass with them in April.

They corralled more than their share of loose balls, including one late in the third quarter that set the fuse on the Spurs’ rout.

Memphis’ Sam Young drove baseline for what looked like an easy layup, only to have Duncan reject it. The rebound went up for grabs, and Green wrestled it away from Young.

The ball ended up in Bonner’s hands on the other end, and he swished a trailing 3-pointer to give the Spurs a 64-47 lead.

“That’s what we’re going to have to bank on,” Duncan said. “We have a hard time generating offense sometimes. The one thing we can bring is that energy.”

How did a Spurs team that lost a game at Milwaukee earlier this season while shooting 60 percent win one Monday while shooting 40? Energy.

Did someone say energy? Memphis coach Lionel Hollins, whose team fell to 10-10 with a four-game losing skid, blasted his team for lacking it.

“When you don’t make shots, you don’t rebound and you don’t defend, you’re going to lose,” Hollins said.

It is possible the Spurs’ energy infusion was a carryover from the second half in Dallas, when the team’s young bench players went Jolt Cola and nearly pulled off a comeback win.

“After we lost last night, I think a lot of us wanted to come in here and give a much better effort,” Duncan said. “Like our second squad gave us last night.”

Even a night after Dallas, it seems, the Spurs’ younger players were still inspiring those who feel just a year older.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

– Associated Press photos

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Spurs 83, Grizzlies 73: Jan. 30, 2012

Memphis Grizzlies guard Mike Conley (11) looks to pass around San Antonio Spurs center DeJuan Blair (45) and guard Tony Parker (9), of France, in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33), of Spain, runs into San Antonio Spurs forward Tiago Splitter (22), of Brazil, in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. The Spurs won 83-73. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker (9), of France, shoots past Memphis Grizzlies guard Josh Selby (2) in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. The Spurs won 83-73. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo (32) drives past San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) for a shot in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. The Spurs won 83-73. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) drives while fouled by Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33), of Spain, in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. The Spurs won 83-73. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs guard Matt Bonner (15) stretches for a rebound under pressure by Memphis Grizzlies guard Sam Young (4) in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. The Spurs won 83-73. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33), of Spain, drives on San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Jim Weber) (AP)

Manu shakes off the rust

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

They told Kawhi Leonard, from almost the moment he joined the Spurs last June, to be ready.

He heard it from coaches. Teammates, too.

When Manu Ginobili comes hurtling through the lane, don’t fall asleep. The ball could be coming your way, from the oddest of angles with the oddest of English.

“They told me he throws some unique passes,” Leonard said.

So when the moment of truth came Monday, late in the third quarter of the Spurs’ 95-82 season-opening victory over Memphis, Leonard stayed true to that advice.

He was ready.

Ginobili’s behind-the-back pass hit Leonard in the sweet spot, in the corner, and the rookie small forward buried a 3-pointer to cap a 16-0 Spurs run.

“It’s good that he made that one,” Ginobili said later with a grin. “He made me look good.”

Just like that, old blending into new with one flick of the wrist, the Spurs took the first step toward exorcising the demons of the 2011 playoffs.

Ginobili scored 24 points, Tony Parker had 15 to go with seven assists, and Richard Jefferson added 14 points as the Spurs opened the new season by upending the team that ended the last one.

With 25 turnovers leading to 28 Spurs points, and a quiet 10 points and six rebounds from playoff monster Zach Randolph, this Memphis team looked little like the one that ousted the Spurs in April.

“I would rather start the season against somebody who wasn’t predicted to be a good team,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. “They won 61 games last year. People forget that.”

A sellout crowd of 18,581 at the ATT Center welcomed the Spurs back from the five-month NBA lockout.

After one quarter, Parker and Ginobili were scoreless, Tim Duncan was on the bench with three fouls, and the Spurs had belched up eight turnovers.

Duncan played just 5:32 of the first half, and yet the Spurs went into intermission behind only 44-43.

“It was better than being down 20,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

With Tiago Splitter and Matt Bonner filling the breach, the Spurs this time would not be overrun by the Grizzlies’ big men. Memphis forward Rudy Gay helped the Spurs defend Randolph, taking 18 shots en route to 19 points.

The difference was apparent in the first half, when Bonner did something to Randolph nobody thought to do in last year’s playoffs. Battling for a loose ball, Bonner knocked Randolph into the camera well.

Bonner would later chalk Randolph’s pratfall up to a bit of play-acting — “I couldn’t even knock T.J. Ford into the camera well,” Bonner said — but the message was clear.

On this night, the Spurs would not be pushed around.

They held their ground until Duncan — who ended with 10 points — returned to start the second half.

The game turned during a third quarter in which Memphis made just 6 of 21 shots and gave out six turnovers.

“Defense fueled what we did,” said Popovich, now 14-1 in season openers. “We were active, we crowded things, we got our hands on a lot of balls.”

Parker finished with four steals, two of which came when he pickpocketed Mike Conley, his Memphis nemesis, on back-to-back possessions. Ginobili had three steals, one of which he converted into a two-handed dunk in the fourth quarter.

“Our defense got better as the game went on,” Jefferson said.

In the third quarter, Ginobili provided the made-for-TV highlight, whipping one of those unique passes of his to Leonard along the baseline.

Leonard, as promised, was prepared.

“Coaches told me to be ready in my spots, and he’d get me the ball,” said Leonard, who had six points and six rebounds.

One win in December does not wipe out the sting of April. The Spurs still have 60 victories to go to match last year’s total, an impossible feat given the 66-game slate.

But for one night, with old blending into new, anything seemed possible.

Facing Grizzlies again motivation for Spurs

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

Tim Duncan swears he has not looked at the film. Not once since leaving Memphis after the Spurs’ stunning first-round playoff exit in April has Duncan felt the slightest need to dissect what went wrong, not even for the purposes of autopsy.

He doesn’t have to.

“It’s pretty crisp in my memory,” Duncan said.

For five months during the NBA lockout, the image of defeat played on a continuous loop in the minds of Duncan and the other Spurs who suffered through one of the most disappointing playoff losses in league history.

That is a long time to burn.

Tonight at the ATT Center, the Spurs open a new chapter, the start of a lockout-compressed season many thought would never happen. But first, they must close an old wound.

The Spurs begin their new campaign against the same team that unceremoniously shut down their last one. In stunning the Spurs in six games, Memphis became only the second No. 8 seed in the best-of-7 era to oust a No. 1.

“There’s definitely a lot of motivation there,” said point guard Tony Parker, who was outplayed in the series by his Memphis counterpart, Mike Conley. “I want to play them in the playoffs, but I’ll start with the first game of the season.”

Even Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, never one to play up the payback angle or any other made-for-TV storyline, sees a smidgen of added impetus in the opener.

Of course, beating Memphis in Game 1 of the regular season won’t erase the disaster of last season’s playoffs. But it could be a good first step toward cleansing the palate.

“People are people,” Popovich said. “I’m sure when the game starts, our people will be motivated because they got beat by a very good team last year.”

In a way, tonight might feel like a continuation of last April, a Game 7 without the pesky drama of win-or-go home. Though nearly eight months have passed since the last time the Spurs and Memphis met, little has changed with either team.

Zach Randolph, who averaged 21.6 points and 9.2 rebounds against the Spurs in the playoffs, is still a load. The Grizzlies do welcome back small forward Rudy Gay, the club’s perennial leading scorer who missed the postseason while recovering from shoulder surgery.

The Spurs, meanwhile, bring back a roster almost identical to the one that won a Western Conference-best 61 games last season before falling short in the first round.

The most significant addition since April — besides a two-armed Manu Ginobili — is first-round draft pick Kawhi Leonard, the small forward from San Diego State obtained in a draft-day trade that shipped reserve guard George Hill to Indiana.

The Spurs also will expect greater contributions from a pair of second-year players — guard James Anderson and center Tiago Splitter — than they got in last season’s playoffs.

“If we win, it doesn’t take back what happened last season,” forward Richard Jefferson said. “It’s just one game.”

For the Spurs, bigger challenges lie ahead after Memphis leaves town. Tonight’s game is the first of 66, overstuffed into 129 days.

Though the Spurs won a title in 1999, the last time the NBA staged a shortened campaign, Duncan said there is a smaller margin for error than in a full season.

“You don’t want to get yourself stuck in a hole and have to find a way to fight yourself back, especially with all these back-to-backs and all the games in not many days,” said Duncan, the only player on the Spurs’ roster active in ’99.

“You have to take care of stuff, especially when you’re healthy, especially when you’ve got everybody.”

The Spurs hope to start a new championship push tonight, against the team that ended the last one.

One door opens, but not before the other one closes.

“There’s no excuses, they beat us, congratulations to Memphis,” Parker said. “Now it’s a new season.”