duncan228
11-15-2008, 10:18 PM
Spurs' injuries came at right time (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_injuries_came_at_right_time.html)
Mike Monroe
The left ankle sprain that put Tony Parker behind the Spurs' bench next to injured Manu Ginobili gave rise to an epidemic of anxiety among the team's fans.
Getting to mid-December without Ginobili challenged home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Surviving the first week of December without two All-Stars lowered expectations much further.
Suddenly, there were whispers that just making the playoffs seemed like a reach for the Spurs. Telescoping the next few weeks of their schedule became an exercise in apprehension.
Unless there is a change in the timetables for Ginobili and Parker to return, the team will play 11 more games without them, six on the road.
It does not require total suspension of confidence in Tim Duncan's ability to carry a monstrously large load to forecast that the Spurs could arrive at the end of this stretch with a 7-12 record.
Is the Western Conference, in which the 48-win Warriors didn't make the playoffs last season, so chock-full of good teams that even a four-time champion can't survive being five games under-.500 on Dec. 7?
Maybe not.
“I just think that when you look at Dallas struggling and Golden State struggling,” Houston's Tracy McGrady said, “you can see those teams aren't playing the way they did last year. So I don't think the West is going to be as competitive. There's not going to be that run where you win 48 games and don't get in. There are too many teams struggling out of the gate.”
McGrady didn't venture a guess as to how many victories would be required to make the playoffs in the West, but since the 1999-2000 season, the No. 8 seed's victory total has ranged from a low of 42 to a high of 50.
Settling on the median number, 46, as a playoff-safe figure would require the Spurs to win 39 of their final 63 games. That seems an entirely attainable goal, so long as Parker and Ginobili return on schedule and have no further problems.
The timing of the Spurs' misfortune is less daunting than losing key players near the end of the season.
Remember 2000, when Tim Duncan went down with a knee injury? That injury occurred April 11. The Spurs already had won too many games to drop out of the playoffs, but were eliminated in the first round.
Rockets assistant coach Elston Turner saw last season how a team can overcome a key injury. Houston was outside the playoff picture when Yao Ming went down with a fractured foot Feb. 26. Somehow, Houston went 19-7 without him, earning the No. 5 seed.
“If those injuries were going to happen,” Turner said of Parker's and Ginobili's misfortunes, “now is the greatest time for them to happen. They have time, but it does concern you, as a player or a coach. You don't want to get yourself in too big a hole.”
Turner spent the bulk of his eight-year career as a bench player. He understands how players filling in for injured stars approach such opportunity.
“I can tell you from my own experience,” he said, “as a reserve player off the bench you hate to see your guys get hurt, but what an opportunity to show you can play. What a time for that little gem to come out from under a rock, or wherever he's been hidden. Now is the time to show the Spurs he can play and make a nice living in this league.”
Mike Monroe
The left ankle sprain that put Tony Parker behind the Spurs' bench next to injured Manu Ginobili gave rise to an epidemic of anxiety among the team's fans.
Getting to mid-December without Ginobili challenged home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Surviving the first week of December without two All-Stars lowered expectations much further.
Suddenly, there were whispers that just making the playoffs seemed like a reach for the Spurs. Telescoping the next few weeks of their schedule became an exercise in apprehension.
Unless there is a change in the timetables for Ginobili and Parker to return, the team will play 11 more games without them, six on the road.
It does not require total suspension of confidence in Tim Duncan's ability to carry a monstrously large load to forecast that the Spurs could arrive at the end of this stretch with a 7-12 record.
Is the Western Conference, in which the 48-win Warriors didn't make the playoffs last season, so chock-full of good teams that even a four-time champion can't survive being five games under-.500 on Dec. 7?
Maybe not.
“I just think that when you look at Dallas struggling and Golden State struggling,” Houston's Tracy McGrady said, “you can see those teams aren't playing the way they did last year. So I don't think the West is going to be as competitive. There's not going to be that run where you win 48 games and don't get in. There are too many teams struggling out of the gate.”
McGrady didn't venture a guess as to how many victories would be required to make the playoffs in the West, but since the 1999-2000 season, the No. 8 seed's victory total has ranged from a low of 42 to a high of 50.
Settling on the median number, 46, as a playoff-safe figure would require the Spurs to win 39 of their final 63 games. That seems an entirely attainable goal, so long as Parker and Ginobili return on schedule and have no further problems.
The timing of the Spurs' misfortune is less daunting than losing key players near the end of the season.
Remember 2000, when Tim Duncan went down with a knee injury? That injury occurred April 11. The Spurs already had won too many games to drop out of the playoffs, but were eliminated in the first round.
Rockets assistant coach Elston Turner saw last season how a team can overcome a key injury. Houston was outside the playoff picture when Yao Ming went down with a fractured foot Feb. 26. Somehow, Houston went 19-7 without him, earning the No. 5 seed.
“If those injuries were going to happen,” Turner said of Parker's and Ginobili's misfortunes, “now is the greatest time for them to happen. They have time, but it does concern you, as a player or a coach. You don't want to get yourself in too big a hole.”
Turner spent the bulk of his eight-year career as a bench player. He understands how players filling in for injured stars approach such opportunity.
“I can tell you from my own experience,” he said, “as a reserve player off the bench you hate to see your guys get hurt, but what an opportunity to show you can play. What a time for that little gem to come out from under a rock, or wherever he's been hidden. Now is the time to show the Spurs he can play and make a nice living in this league.”