duncan228
01-23-2009, 02:11 AM
As second half dawns, Spurs' work just beginning (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/As_second_half_dawns_Spurs_work_just_beginning.htm l)
Jeff McDonald
For the first few weeks of his first NBA season, Spurs rookie George Hill was walking on eggshells.
The Spurs had opened at 2-5, the worst start in the franchise's NBA history. Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were out with injuries, and the immediate future looked like a whole bunch of no fun.
And so Hill found himself one day staring up at a rumbling Vesuvius named Gregg Popovich, awaiting an eruption.
It never came.
“We lost another game, and I'm thinking we're probably going to get chewed out,” Hill said. “Coach Pop just comes in and says, ‘Way to battle, you can't win them all, now we know what we've got to improve on.' I was shocked.”
Soon, the shock subsided. The Spurs got their two injured All-Stars back and charged to the top of the Southwest Division, and Hill learned something else about his new coach and his new team.
When it comes to the Spurs, the verbiage seldom changes.
“There's a steady expression around here,” Hill said. “Nobody gets too high or too low. If we get a win, we're not jumping for joy, and if we get a loss, we're not down in the dumps.”
It is an even-keel countenance the Spurs will carry with them into the second half of their season, which begins tonight with a visit from the talented but struggling New Jersey Nets.
Having long since rebounded from their wobbly start, the Spurs tip off their 42nd game with a 28-13 record. Since Dec. 3, they are 19-5, the second-best mark in the NBA behind Orlando's 20-3. That hot streak has allowed the Spurs to move into second place in the Western Conference, within striking distance of Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
And yet, they know their work is just beginning.
After the Nets leave, so will the Spurs. They will spend 11 of the following 12 games wandering the road, with eight of those difficult dozen coming against playoff teams from a season ago.
The second-half schedule includes two games apiece against Boston, Cleveland and the Lakers. It includes three against New Orleans, the team climbing up the Spurs' backs in the division.
This is part of the reason Popovich won't allow his team to get too excited about what it has accomplished already.
“We need to worry about what we do,” Popovich said. “It really doesn't matter who we're playing. We have to do what we do as the Spurs a whole lot better than what we've been doing.”
A fearless forecast: There is a 100 percent chance that Popovich will spend much of the next three months preaching fire-and-brimstone defense. Heading into the second half, the Spurs rank 19th in the NBA in field-goal percentage defense, the metric Popovich believes most honestly defines a team's defensive prowess.
Opponents are shooting 45.5 percent against them, giving the Spurs a wide swath of room for improvement — improvement Popovich says is mandatory.
“We're not going to outscore anybody,” Popovich said. “We have to out-defend people.”
It was one too many defensive breakdowns that ultimately caused Mt. Popovich to explode last week.
After Philadelphia hit 50 percent of its shots and scored 30 fast-break points in a 22-point victory over the Spurs last Friday, Hill finally saw the fire-in-the-hole ballistics from Popovich he had expected in November.
Popovich told the assembled media, “We suck on ‘D.'” Behind closed doors, he told his players much, much worse.
“Whatever he tells you, it's even worse for us,” Parker said. “It's a different language with us.”
After Popovich's blowup, the Spurs have limited three opponents to a combined 39.4 percent shooting. None of those opponents topped 90 points. Not surprisingly, the Spurs were 3-0 in that span.
“At least we're going in the right direction,” Parker said.
For the Spurs, that is the overriding goal of the second half — to be better today than they were yesterday, to be better tomorrow than they are today.
“We're improving,” Popovich said. “Now we just have to keep improving until April.”
Times getting tougher
Following their game against the Nets tonight, the Spurs go on a grueling stretch until they begin their All-Star break Feb. 12. Here's what's in store:
4 MVPs they will face during this stretch. The Spurs play Kobe Bryant's Lakers on Sunday, Steve Nash and Shaquille O'Neal's Suns on Thursday and Kevin Garnett's Celtics on Feb. 8.
9 games. Only one of these is at home, and it's against the tough Hornets. Six of the Spurs' opponents during this stretch have records above .500.
10,497 miles they will travel. They'll change time zones nine times and go out of the country once, concluding the trip Feb. 11 at Toronto.
154:15 Time in hours and minutes it would take to drive the Spurs' route, in case you're planning on following them. It's recommended you fly.
Source: Express-News research
Jeff McDonald
For the first few weeks of his first NBA season, Spurs rookie George Hill was walking on eggshells.
The Spurs had opened at 2-5, the worst start in the franchise's NBA history. Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker were out with injuries, and the immediate future looked like a whole bunch of no fun.
And so Hill found himself one day staring up at a rumbling Vesuvius named Gregg Popovich, awaiting an eruption.
It never came.
“We lost another game, and I'm thinking we're probably going to get chewed out,” Hill said. “Coach Pop just comes in and says, ‘Way to battle, you can't win them all, now we know what we've got to improve on.' I was shocked.”
Soon, the shock subsided. The Spurs got their two injured All-Stars back and charged to the top of the Southwest Division, and Hill learned something else about his new coach and his new team.
When it comes to the Spurs, the verbiage seldom changes.
“There's a steady expression around here,” Hill said. “Nobody gets too high or too low. If we get a win, we're not jumping for joy, and if we get a loss, we're not down in the dumps.”
It is an even-keel countenance the Spurs will carry with them into the second half of their season, which begins tonight with a visit from the talented but struggling New Jersey Nets.
Having long since rebounded from their wobbly start, the Spurs tip off their 42nd game with a 28-13 record. Since Dec. 3, they are 19-5, the second-best mark in the NBA behind Orlando's 20-3. That hot streak has allowed the Spurs to move into second place in the Western Conference, within striking distance of Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
And yet, they know their work is just beginning.
After the Nets leave, so will the Spurs. They will spend 11 of the following 12 games wandering the road, with eight of those difficult dozen coming against playoff teams from a season ago.
The second-half schedule includes two games apiece against Boston, Cleveland and the Lakers. It includes three against New Orleans, the team climbing up the Spurs' backs in the division.
This is part of the reason Popovich won't allow his team to get too excited about what it has accomplished already.
“We need to worry about what we do,” Popovich said. “It really doesn't matter who we're playing. We have to do what we do as the Spurs a whole lot better than what we've been doing.”
A fearless forecast: There is a 100 percent chance that Popovich will spend much of the next three months preaching fire-and-brimstone defense. Heading into the second half, the Spurs rank 19th in the NBA in field-goal percentage defense, the metric Popovich believes most honestly defines a team's defensive prowess.
Opponents are shooting 45.5 percent against them, giving the Spurs a wide swath of room for improvement — improvement Popovich says is mandatory.
“We're not going to outscore anybody,” Popovich said. “We have to out-defend people.”
It was one too many defensive breakdowns that ultimately caused Mt. Popovich to explode last week.
After Philadelphia hit 50 percent of its shots and scored 30 fast-break points in a 22-point victory over the Spurs last Friday, Hill finally saw the fire-in-the-hole ballistics from Popovich he had expected in November.
Popovich told the assembled media, “We suck on ‘D.'” Behind closed doors, he told his players much, much worse.
“Whatever he tells you, it's even worse for us,” Parker said. “It's a different language with us.”
After Popovich's blowup, the Spurs have limited three opponents to a combined 39.4 percent shooting. None of those opponents topped 90 points. Not surprisingly, the Spurs were 3-0 in that span.
“At least we're going in the right direction,” Parker said.
For the Spurs, that is the overriding goal of the second half — to be better today than they were yesterday, to be better tomorrow than they are today.
“We're improving,” Popovich said. “Now we just have to keep improving until April.”
Times getting tougher
Following their game against the Nets tonight, the Spurs go on a grueling stretch until they begin their All-Star break Feb. 12. Here's what's in store:
4 MVPs they will face during this stretch. The Spurs play Kobe Bryant's Lakers on Sunday, Steve Nash and Shaquille O'Neal's Suns on Thursday and Kevin Garnett's Celtics on Feb. 8.
9 games. Only one of these is at home, and it's against the tough Hornets. Six of the Spurs' opponents during this stretch have records above .500.
10,497 miles they will travel. They'll change time zones nine times and go out of the country once, concluding the trip Feb. 11 at Toronto.
154:15 Time in hours and minutes it would take to drive the Spurs' route, in case you're planning on following them. It's recommended you fly.
Source: Express-News research