duncan228
12-25-2008, 10:19 PM
Updated headline.
Spurs' Duncan, Mason come up clutch
Duncan's defense wraps up Spurs' victory (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Duncans_defense_wrap_up_Spurs_victory.html)
By Mike Monroe
PHOENIX — At the moment it happened — with 4:43 remaining in what turned out to be a dramatically fashioned, 91-90 victory for the Spurs in their Christmas Day game against the Suns at U. S. Airways Center — intentionally fouling Phoenix power forward Amare Stoudemire seemed like a good idea to Spurs captain Tim Duncan.
This was no crossed-signals version of Hack-A-Shaq, the tactic Spurs coach Gregg Popovich likes to employ against Suns center Shaquille O’Neal, whose career free-throw percentage of 52.8 makes fouling him too tempting.
No, this was Duncan blowing off steam after Stoudemire appeared to hack him on a Duncan drive to the basket, a perceived violation that went unpunished.
Irate, Duncan grabbed Stoudemire so that referee Jason Phillips was forced to call a foul, and that gave Duncan time to give the whistle blower his opinion of his prior restraint.
Fifty-nine seconds later, Duncan rued the momentary loss of his stoic demeanor. Whistled for bumping O’Neal as the Suns center looked for a cutting teammate, Duncan knew he was one foul shy of disqualification.
Somehow, he managed to avoid a sixth personal while stopping three drives to the basket by Stoudemire in the final 1:53, each time rebounding the miss.
It was a clutch performance Popovich called “absolutely spectacular.”
Duncan’s defense kept things just close enough for Spurs guard Roger Mason Jr. to launch a 3-point shot from the left corner that first beat the buzzer as it left his hand, then beat the Suns when it went in the basket.
It was Mason in ABC-TV’s spotlight, literally, in the aftermath of his game-winning shot, interviewed for a national audience.
Duncan needed Popovich to remind one and all that defense, yet again, had carried the day for his team.
Duncan knew he had put himself in a bad spot by fouling Stoudemire in a fit of pique.
“What I really regretted,” Duncan said of his foul difficulty in the final three minutes and 44 seconds, “was the one that was called on me when Shaq was just standing there, holding the ball. But you can look at it one way or the other. Either way, I knew they were going to come at me.”
Indeed, the Suns went at Duncan, and O’Neal’s career of free-throw misery — a fourth-quarter miss made him just the second player in league history with at least 5,000 — made Stoudemire the obvious choice to challenge him.
“With five fouls, the defense he played down low when they were going at him, making them miss, getting the rebound himself, I thought he was just magnificent,” Popovich said.
Duncan’s approach to the challenge was to do what he does.
“I didn’t back down or change my defense in any way,” he said.
Duncan’s defensive dominance might have gone unnoticed without Mason’s buzzer-beating heroics.
Phoenix’ Grant Hill had scored on a perfectly executed in-bounds play that gave the Suns a 90-88 lead, but that left the Spurs 4.3 seconds to execute a play to tie, or win.
Enter Mason, literally. He had not played a second of the final period, but Popovich wanted his best 3-point shooter on the court for the final play. This season, that is Mason.
“He’s a shooter,” Popovich said. “He loves to do it and we have confidence in him.”
Popovich then trusted point guard Tony Parker to make the right decision on the play he designed during a time out.
Parker, who already had scored 27 points, beat Grant Hill on a drive to the basket, and when Suns guard Jason Richardson left Mason to help Hill, Parker made the pass.
“I told Manu (Ginobili) coming out of the huddle that I wanted that left corner,” Mason said. “If I got it there, I knew I’d feel good about it.”
Thursday’s victory, coupled with the New Orleans Hornets' loss in Orlando earlier in the day, lifted the Spurs into first place in the Southwest Division and extended their win streak to four games.
Spurs' Duncan, Mason come up clutch
Duncan's defense wraps up Spurs' victory (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Duncans_defense_wrap_up_Spurs_victory.html)
By Mike Monroe
PHOENIX — At the moment it happened — with 4:43 remaining in what turned out to be a dramatically fashioned, 91-90 victory for the Spurs in their Christmas Day game against the Suns at U. S. Airways Center — intentionally fouling Phoenix power forward Amare Stoudemire seemed like a good idea to Spurs captain Tim Duncan.
This was no crossed-signals version of Hack-A-Shaq, the tactic Spurs coach Gregg Popovich likes to employ against Suns center Shaquille O’Neal, whose career free-throw percentage of 52.8 makes fouling him too tempting.
No, this was Duncan blowing off steam after Stoudemire appeared to hack him on a Duncan drive to the basket, a perceived violation that went unpunished.
Irate, Duncan grabbed Stoudemire so that referee Jason Phillips was forced to call a foul, and that gave Duncan time to give the whistle blower his opinion of his prior restraint.
Fifty-nine seconds later, Duncan rued the momentary loss of his stoic demeanor. Whistled for bumping O’Neal as the Suns center looked for a cutting teammate, Duncan knew he was one foul shy of disqualification.
Somehow, he managed to avoid a sixth personal while stopping three drives to the basket by Stoudemire in the final 1:53, each time rebounding the miss.
It was a clutch performance Popovich called “absolutely spectacular.”
Duncan’s defense kept things just close enough for Spurs guard Roger Mason Jr. to launch a 3-point shot from the left corner that first beat the buzzer as it left his hand, then beat the Suns when it went in the basket.
It was Mason in ABC-TV’s spotlight, literally, in the aftermath of his game-winning shot, interviewed for a national audience.
Duncan needed Popovich to remind one and all that defense, yet again, had carried the day for his team.
Duncan knew he had put himself in a bad spot by fouling Stoudemire in a fit of pique.
“What I really regretted,” Duncan said of his foul difficulty in the final three minutes and 44 seconds, “was the one that was called on me when Shaq was just standing there, holding the ball. But you can look at it one way or the other. Either way, I knew they were going to come at me.”
Indeed, the Suns went at Duncan, and O’Neal’s career of free-throw misery — a fourth-quarter miss made him just the second player in league history with at least 5,000 — made Stoudemire the obvious choice to challenge him.
“With five fouls, the defense he played down low when they were going at him, making them miss, getting the rebound himself, I thought he was just magnificent,” Popovich said.
Duncan’s approach to the challenge was to do what he does.
“I didn’t back down or change my defense in any way,” he said.
Duncan’s defensive dominance might have gone unnoticed without Mason’s buzzer-beating heroics.
Phoenix’ Grant Hill had scored on a perfectly executed in-bounds play that gave the Suns a 90-88 lead, but that left the Spurs 4.3 seconds to execute a play to tie, or win.
Enter Mason, literally. He had not played a second of the final period, but Popovich wanted his best 3-point shooter on the court for the final play. This season, that is Mason.
“He’s a shooter,” Popovich said. “He loves to do it and we have confidence in him.”
Popovich then trusted point guard Tony Parker to make the right decision on the play he designed during a time out.
Parker, who already had scored 27 points, beat Grant Hill on a drive to the basket, and when Suns guard Jason Richardson left Mason to help Hill, Parker made the pass.
“I told Manu (Ginobili) coming out of the huddle that I wanted that left corner,” Mason said. “If I got it there, I knew I’d feel good about it.”
Thursday’s victory, coupled with the New Orleans Hornets' loss in Orlando earlier in the day, lifted the Spurs into first place in the Southwest Division and extended their win streak to four games.