Monroe: Spurs' 'D' Slows Pacers

[duncan228]

Spurs' 'D' slows Pacers (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_D_slows_Pacers.html)
Mike Monroe

With their 99-81 victory over the Indiana Pacers at the AT&T Center on Tuesday night, the Spurs reached the halfway point of the season with a 28-13 record, good for the top spot in the Southwest Division.

As a checkpoint, though, their 41-game record paled when compared with a more meaningful benchmark: They are now undefeated, 3-0, since having their defensive dedication demeaned by their head coach.

The Pacers offered the greatest challenge to the Spurs' renewed defensive focus since Gregg Popovich, following a loss in Philadelphia on Friday, summarized their problems by saying, “We suck on D.”

Indiana had scored at least 100 points in 19 of its previous 20 games and ranked third in the NBA in scoring average at 104.8 per game.

Against the Spurs on Tuesday, though, the Pacers were offensively anemic. They made only 30 of 81 shots, 37 percent.

Over the past two games, the Spurs have been at their stingiest, holding the Bobcats and Pacers to 36.6 percent shooting.

Since Popovich's scolding, their three opponents have shot only 39.4 percent.

Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili gave the Spurs most of the offensive production required to run their win streak to three games. Duncan scored 12 of his 27 points in the first period. Ginobili scored 24 of his 26 in the first three.

Duncan, who hit 10 of 15 shots, played only 26 minutes, 32 seconds. The Spurs were up 53-40 at halftime and led by as many as 29 points by the fourth quarter.

Indiana (15-27) was coming off a tough loss Monday to New Orleans. Chris Paul hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Indiana in that game. This time, though, the Pacers' opponent didn't need any late-game heroics.

Danny Granger led the Pacers with 17 points but hit only 5 of 15 shots from the field. Granger entered the game averaging 26.4 points per game and hadn't scored fewer than 20 points since Dec. 13.

Mike Dunleavy, playing in his eighth game, added 15 points for Indiana, and T.J. Ford had 10 off the bench.

[pawe]

Indiana is a great team...for me to poop on!

[duncan228]

Updated.

Spurs' defense slows Pacers (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_D_slows_Pacers.html)
Mike Monroe

The Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers 99-81 Tuesday night at the AT&T Center and reached the midpoint of their season with a 28-13 record, keeping them atop the Southwest Division.

As a checkpoint, though, their 41-game record pales when compared with a far more meaningful benchmark: They are 3-0 since having their defensive dedication demeaned publicly by their head coach.

A Pacers team that ranked third in the NBA in point production and was led by the league’s No. 4 scorer, Danny Granger, posed the greatest challenge to the Spurs’ renewed defensive focus since Gregg Popovich said “We suck on ‘D’” after their loss Friday in Philadelphia.

Indiana had scored at least 100 points in 19 of its previous 20 games. Granger had scored at least 20 points in the previous 16 games.

Against an aggressive Spurs defense, though, the Pacers looked offensively anemic, and Granger seemed mediocre. Indiana made only 30 of 81 shots, 37 percent, the second straight Spurs foe held under 40 percent.

In fact, since Popovich’s scolding, three Spurs opponents have shot only 39.4 percent.

Of course, Popovich said nothing to reporters he hadn’t already emphasized to his players, and if public excoriation was intended to shame the Spurs into introspection and renewed focus, he may have overestimated its effect.

“I don’t know what he said in public,” said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, the team’s emotional pulse, “but he did say it in (the locker room). He’s not the only one noticing it. We know we are not doing a good job.”

What the Spurs did to hold Indiana to its second-lowest point total of the season pleased their coach.

“I was really happy with the overall defense from beginning to the end of the game against a team that is scoring the third-most points in the league,” Popovich said. “We were really concerned if we were going to be able to stop that, and I thought we did a wonderful job of it.”

Stopping the Pacers began with slowing Granger, who entered the game averaging 26.4 points, trailing only Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James in the NBA scoring race.

Popovich assigned Michael Finley to the task, then declared his work Bruce Bowen-esque. Granger made only 5 of 15 shots.

“A lot of guys guarded him,” Popovich said, “but ‘Fin’ was the best on him. He played him during the meat of the game most of the time and did a wonderful job.”

In Granger, Finley saw a vision of himself in his early years: an athletic young player with a pure jumper that requires balance and rhythm to be most effective.

“We know when he plays well their team has a real good chance of winning,” Finley said, “so our main defensive emphasis was to make his catches tough, make his shots tough and not let him get in a comfort zone. For the most part, I think we did that.”x

The Spurs got most of their offense from Tim Duncan (27 points) and Ginobili (26) and recorded their fourth-largest margin of victory this season.

They head to the first game of the second half of the season, a Friday matchup against the Nets, with a clear understanding of where they stand, regardless of their standing in one of the league’s most difficult divisions.

“I think we’re where we usually are at this point,” said Ginobili. “The record is good, but I truly believe we have a long way to go if we want to make it to the championship.

“Defensively, we’ve really got to improve. We’ve got to be more steady. We’re OK for now, but if we want to make it, we’ve got to be great, and we’re still a long way from there.”