duncan228
01-28-2009, 01:22 AM
Spurs, Popovich make right moves to down the Jazz (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Popovich_make_right_moves_to_down_the_Jazz.h tml)
Mike Monroe
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah coach Jerry Sloan thinks the Spurs have one of the smartest teams in the NBA.
“They've got guys who have been together and know what they're doing and how to take advantage of any mistake that you make,” Sloan said before Tuesday's Spurs-Jazz game at Energy Solutions Arena. “They make the game look pretty simple.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich thinks Sloan needs to spend more time watching the Spurs.
“I appreciate the compliment on behalf of my players, my staff, my family and the whole world,” Popovich said, “but if he was in San Antonio for a while he would get just as upset as I do at what goes on out on the court.”
After what Sloan saw in another long look at the Spurs on Tuesday night, he isn't apt to change his mind.
By the end of the game, the Spurs may not have qualified for basketball's version of Mensa, the high IQ society, but they had played smart enough to get a 106-100 victory, their 30th of the season.
Popovich's tactical genius played a part in this one. Calling a 20-second time out after a Jazz turnover with 2.9 seconds left in the first half, he drew up an out-of-bounds play to get Matt Bonner an open 3-point shot.
Using Manu Ginobili and Roger Mason as decoys on cuts around the 3-point circle, the play worked to perfection. Bonner nailed the triple and sent the Spurs to halftime with a 50-49 lead.
“We don't want to give too much away about that one,” Bonner said. “We might want to use it again.”
The play seemed to give Bonner a jolt of shooting confidence, too. Going into the game, he had made only one of his previous 10 3-pointers. But he made two more in the first 3:20 of the third period and 6 of 7 for the game. He finished with a season-high 20 points.
“I just shot them the way I always shoot them,” he said. “Tonight, they all went in.”
Popovich also was smart enough to get Bruce Bowen into the game to start the fourth quarter. He hadn't used his defensive ace at all up to that point, but he slapped Bowen on Utah 7-footer Mehmet Okur and the Jazz scored only two points in the first 4:12 of the period.
“Bruce got them a little bit ‘discombobulated' when he defended Memo,” Popovich said. “He confused the issue a little bit.”
Bowen said it was the first time he ever had been assigned to defend Okur.
How was he able to limit the much-bigger Jazz center?
“I was fresh,” Bowen said. “Honestly, in a situation like that, being fresh can change so much. You're able to give it more energy, and it's something different.”
There was no genius involved in Popovich's decision to stick with Ginobili in crunch time, no matter how difficult a game his star bench player had been having.
Ginobili had missed the only three shots he had attempted in the first three periods, and entered the fourth with only three points.
When Ginobili finally made a basket, though, it was the biggest of the game for the Spurs, a tough, twisting layup off a slick feed from Tim Duncan with 44.6 seconds left and the Spurs nursing a 94-93 lead.
“He made the right play at the right time,” Duncan said. “They were double-teaming me down the stretch, and Manu came right behind the double-team and he's wide open.
“You're not conscious of what shots he's made or missed. He's open and making the right play down the middle, so I gave him the ball and he put it in.”
The victory was just the second for the Spurs this season in a non-overtime game against an opponent that scored at least 100 points. Utah made 48.1 percent of its shots, but shot only 31.8 percent in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs outscored them 26-20.
Mike Monroe
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah coach Jerry Sloan thinks the Spurs have one of the smartest teams in the NBA.
“They've got guys who have been together and know what they're doing and how to take advantage of any mistake that you make,” Sloan said before Tuesday's Spurs-Jazz game at Energy Solutions Arena. “They make the game look pretty simple.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich thinks Sloan needs to spend more time watching the Spurs.
“I appreciate the compliment on behalf of my players, my staff, my family and the whole world,” Popovich said, “but if he was in San Antonio for a while he would get just as upset as I do at what goes on out on the court.”
After what Sloan saw in another long look at the Spurs on Tuesday night, he isn't apt to change his mind.
By the end of the game, the Spurs may not have qualified for basketball's version of Mensa, the high IQ society, but they had played smart enough to get a 106-100 victory, their 30th of the season.
Popovich's tactical genius played a part in this one. Calling a 20-second time out after a Jazz turnover with 2.9 seconds left in the first half, he drew up an out-of-bounds play to get Matt Bonner an open 3-point shot.
Using Manu Ginobili and Roger Mason as decoys on cuts around the 3-point circle, the play worked to perfection. Bonner nailed the triple and sent the Spurs to halftime with a 50-49 lead.
“We don't want to give too much away about that one,” Bonner said. “We might want to use it again.”
The play seemed to give Bonner a jolt of shooting confidence, too. Going into the game, he had made only one of his previous 10 3-pointers. But he made two more in the first 3:20 of the third period and 6 of 7 for the game. He finished with a season-high 20 points.
“I just shot them the way I always shoot them,” he said. “Tonight, they all went in.”
Popovich also was smart enough to get Bruce Bowen into the game to start the fourth quarter. He hadn't used his defensive ace at all up to that point, but he slapped Bowen on Utah 7-footer Mehmet Okur and the Jazz scored only two points in the first 4:12 of the period.
“Bruce got them a little bit ‘discombobulated' when he defended Memo,” Popovich said. “He confused the issue a little bit.”
Bowen said it was the first time he ever had been assigned to defend Okur.
How was he able to limit the much-bigger Jazz center?
“I was fresh,” Bowen said. “Honestly, in a situation like that, being fresh can change so much. You're able to give it more energy, and it's something different.”
There was no genius involved in Popovich's decision to stick with Ginobili in crunch time, no matter how difficult a game his star bench player had been having.
Ginobili had missed the only three shots he had attempted in the first three periods, and entered the fourth with only three points.
When Ginobili finally made a basket, though, it was the biggest of the game for the Spurs, a tough, twisting layup off a slick feed from Tim Duncan with 44.6 seconds left and the Spurs nursing a 94-93 lead.
“He made the right play at the right time,” Duncan said. “They were double-teaming me down the stretch, and Manu came right behind the double-team and he's wide open.
“You're not conscious of what shots he's made or missed. He's open and making the right play down the middle, so I gave him the ball and he put it in.”
The victory was just the second for the Spurs this season in a non-overtime game against an opponent that scored at least 100 points. Utah made 48.1 percent of its shots, but shot only 31.8 percent in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs outscored them 26-20.