duncan228
11-27-2008, 01:35 AM
I posted the early, short version of this in the game blog. McDonald didn't mention Hill in that version. I thought this one focused on Hill deserved it's own thread.
Spurs run past the Bulls (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_run_past_the_Bulls.html)
By Jeff McDonald - Express-News
It was only seconds into the Spurs' 98-88 victory over Chicago on Wednesday when Bruce Bowen had his first old-man moment of the night.
He found himself matched up with a player quite literally young enough to be his son.
Bowen is 37. Derrick Rose, the Bulls' preternatural rookie point guard, is 20. Bowen, however, did not notice the age difference. He didn't have time, the way Rose was jitterbugging around the AT&T Center.
“I look at how good he is,” Bowen said, “not how young he is.”
Age, it turns out, is just a number. So, apparently, is draft position.
George Hill wasn't in the green room in New York last June, when the Bulls made Rose, the gifted guard out of Memphis, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. He was hanging out with friends and family in Indianapolis, where he had starred at tiny IUPUI, waiting by the phone.
For all the reasons to be thankful this holiday season, the Spurs have this one: They were the ones who dialed Hill's digits when making the 26th pick.
Hill had 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, outdueling his ballyhooed Bulls counterpart to lift the Spurs (8-6) to their sixth victory in seven games.
Hill, who saw his learning curve speed up dramatically when Tony Parker went down with an ankle injury, added a team-high 11 rebounds — three more than Tim Duncan — for his first career double-double.
Hounded by Bowen and others, Rose had just 10 points, about half his season average. It would have been a proud moment for Hill, trumping the top draft pick, if he had been thinking in those terms. He wasn't.
“I don't worry about things like that,” Hill said.
“It doesn't matter if you're the first pick or the last pick. You're here for a reason.”
Hill wasn't the only Spurs player to star against the Bulls. Duncan was Duncan, scoring 18 of his 21 points in the first half to help the Spurs stay afloat until his supporting cast could locate its collective jump shot.
Manu Ginobili, making his home debut after missing the first 12 games while recovering from ankle surgery, had 15 points in 18 minutes and keyed a third-quarter comeback from nine points down.
Next to Hill, however, Ginobili only looked like the Spurs second-best Sixth Man.
“He looked really comfortable, like the owner of the team,” Ginobili said, failing to note that Peter Holt doesn't quite have Hill's vertical.
In a move that could have otherwise made Spurs fans queasy, the Bulls eventually moved a player nearly old enough to be Hill's father — 37-year-old defensive stopper Lindsey Hunter — to guard him.
The last time he matched up with a Spurs rookie point guard, as a Piston in the 2005 Finals, Hunter stole everything but Beno Udrih's lunch money.
Hunter couldn't pull the same heist on another 22-year-old Spur. Hill continually beat Hunter off the dribble to wreak havoc on the Chicago defense.
The Spurs were ahead 79-73 with 10 minutes to play. In the next four Spurs possessions, Hill swished a 16-footer, finished a drive over Aaron Gray, assisted on a Kurt Thomas jumper and completed another drive past Gray.
(Side note: estimates of how many Spurs points came with Gray flailing helplessly nearby will start conservatively at 50.)
When it was all over, Hill had accomplished something few had thought possible on draft day: He had made Rose, a budding star in his own right, look like the second-best rookie on the floor.
Hill's coach praised the little things the guard accomplished.
“He got 11 rebounds, he got some steals, he made some defensive plays that will probably go unnoticed,” Gregg Popovich said. “Those things help teams win.”
Hill shrugged off the adulation the way he shrugged off the Bulls, the way he has shrugged off all questions about his draft worthiness.
“That's what I'm here for,” Hill said. “That's why they chose me.”
The Spurs, for yet another night Wednesday, were awfully glad they did.
Spurs run past the Bulls (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_run_past_the_Bulls.html)
By Jeff McDonald - Express-News
It was only seconds into the Spurs' 98-88 victory over Chicago on Wednesday when Bruce Bowen had his first old-man moment of the night.
He found himself matched up with a player quite literally young enough to be his son.
Bowen is 37. Derrick Rose, the Bulls' preternatural rookie point guard, is 20. Bowen, however, did not notice the age difference. He didn't have time, the way Rose was jitterbugging around the AT&T Center.
“I look at how good he is,” Bowen said, “not how young he is.”
Age, it turns out, is just a number. So, apparently, is draft position.
George Hill wasn't in the green room in New York last June, when the Bulls made Rose, the gifted guard out of Memphis, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. He was hanging out with friends and family in Indianapolis, where he had starred at tiny IUPUI, waiting by the phone.
For all the reasons to be thankful this holiday season, the Spurs have this one: They were the ones who dialed Hill's digits when making the 26th pick.
Hill had 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, outdueling his ballyhooed Bulls counterpart to lift the Spurs (8-6) to their sixth victory in seven games.
Hill, who saw his learning curve speed up dramatically when Tony Parker went down with an ankle injury, added a team-high 11 rebounds — three more than Tim Duncan — for his first career double-double.
Hounded by Bowen and others, Rose had just 10 points, about half his season average. It would have been a proud moment for Hill, trumping the top draft pick, if he had been thinking in those terms. He wasn't.
“I don't worry about things like that,” Hill said.
“It doesn't matter if you're the first pick or the last pick. You're here for a reason.”
Hill wasn't the only Spurs player to star against the Bulls. Duncan was Duncan, scoring 18 of his 21 points in the first half to help the Spurs stay afloat until his supporting cast could locate its collective jump shot.
Manu Ginobili, making his home debut after missing the first 12 games while recovering from ankle surgery, had 15 points in 18 minutes and keyed a third-quarter comeback from nine points down.
Next to Hill, however, Ginobili only looked like the Spurs second-best Sixth Man.
“He looked really comfortable, like the owner of the team,” Ginobili said, failing to note that Peter Holt doesn't quite have Hill's vertical.
In a move that could have otherwise made Spurs fans queasy, the Bulls eventually moved a player nearly old enough to be Hill's father — 37-year-old defensive stopper Lindsey Hunter — to guard him.
The last time he matched up with a Spurs rookie point guard, as a Piston in the 2005 Finals, Hunter stole everything but Beno Udrih's lunch money.
Hunter couldn't pull the same heist on another 22-year-old Spur. Hill continually beat Hunter off the dribble to wreak havoc on the Chicago defense.
The Spurs were ahead 79-73 with 10 minutes to play. In the next four Spurs possessions, Hill swished a 16-footer, finished a drive over Aaron Gray, assisted on a Kurt Thomas jumper and completed another drive past Gray.
(Side note: estimates of how many Spurs points came with Gray flailing helplessly nearby will start conservatively at 50.)
When it was all over, Hill had accomplished something few had thought possible on draft day: He had made Rose, a budding star in his own right, look like the second-best rookie on the floor.
Hill's coach praised the little things the guard accomplished.
“He got 11 rebounds, he got some steals, he made some defensive plays that will probably go unnoticed,” Gregg Popovich said. “Those things help teams win.”
Hill shrugged off the adulation the way he shrugged off the Bulls, the way he has shrugged off all questions about his draft worthiness.
“That's what I'm here for,” Hill said. “That's why they chose me.”
The Spurs, for yet another night Wednesday, were awfully glad they did.