duncan228
02-08-2009, 11:07 PM
Who is he? A purist bombs away (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Who_is_he_A_purist_bombs_away.html)
Buck Harvey
BOSTON — I worked here 30 years ago, and I covered the first 3-pointer in NBA history.
“Who made it?” asked Roger Mason Jr.
Chris Ford, a 6-foot-5 Celtics guard, right corner, on opening night.
“Good trivia question,” Mason said.
Red Auerbach saw nothing good in it then. He was the Celtics general manager, and he didn't like gimmicky basketball. He didn't like his league stealing something from the ABA, and he had mixed feelings that night in the old Boston Garden when his franchise made trivia history.
Gregg Popovich isn't as conflicted. He's a purist, too, but he's gotten over it. He draws up plays for threes, and he encourages more and more, and this is how he beats teams who now play better defense.
That, and another Manu Ginobili magic trick, is how the Spurs won Sunday.
When the 3-pointer was introduced to the NBA in 1979, it was as if the ABA had never existed. Teams were hesitant to shoot from behind the line.
Including the Celtics with Larry Bird. He would later win the 3-point shooting contest at the All-Star Game for three consecutive years. But in his second season, when he won his first championship, Bird attempted only 74.
Ginobili, last season, took 389.
That number also should shock those who thought the Spurs of the ABA were the long-shooting crazies. They averaged more points than the current Spurs do, but not because of 3-point shooting. In their last year before merging with the NBA, they attempted 113.
So what happened? Doc Rivers said a generation grew up practicing from 23 feet. Teams began to do the math, eventually coming to the conclusion that the least efficient shot in basketball is the long two. And coaches such as Popovich reacted accordingly.
Like his mentor, Larry Brown, Popovich would prefer a game without the 3-point shot. “I'd also like a 45-second clock,” Popovich kidded, “so I could run more sets.”
ABC would object, as would anyone who doesn't appreciate a well-executed weave. But Popovich has come around. In his first full season coaching, the Spurs took 863 threes. Last season they shot about twice as many.
Popovich says the change has been about personnel; his early teams didn't have the same kind of shooters. Besides, the presence of Tim Duncan spaces the floor, and Tony Parker's driving further crowds the lane and opens up the game.
But it's just not that. The Spurs have sought 3-point shooters, and then Popovich has leaned on them as never before. Now he believes in 3-point volume, and a moment early on Sunday said that. Then, Popovich ran a play for Matt Bonner out of a time out, getting him to the corner for a three.
The Spurs attempted 21, their season average, and made eight. The Celtics connected on only one 3-pointer before the final seconds, when they became desperate.
That's a 24 to 3 difference. That's also how the Spurs beat a team that outscored them by 20 in the paint.
Not all of the attempts worked out, including the team's 1,000th of the season. Then, Bonner, who otherwise enjoyed a return to New England with a season high, missed everything. The Spurs would later lose the lead when Ginobili missed a corner three and Kevin Garnett followed with two long jumpers.
But here's how a lot of teams have come to see this: A corner three is the second most efficient shot in basketball after a deep-post attempt.
Weren't the odds with the Spurs?
Garnett would miss a third jumper from about 20 feet, giving him four points out of his three shots in this stretch. Not bad production. But when Mason came down the floor with 20 seconds left, with the Spurs down by only one, he stayed with the philosophy. He used a nice screen from Duncan and swished the final Spurs' 3-pointer.
“I like those situations,” Mason said.
Ford would have been proud.
Some of the Spurs said afterward they have played for coaches who wouldn't have liked Mason's shot. It was fast and early. Yet Popovich again gave Mason the go-ahead, and by doing so he went against his image as a no-nonsense coach of fundamentals.
“Beard, no tie, and he's shooting a lot of threes,” Rivers joked afterward. “Who are you?”
Who is he?
Someone who, like another purist 30 years ago, feels he has no other choice.
Buck Harvey
BOSTON — I worked here 30 years ago, and I covered the first 3-pointer in NBA history.
“Who made it?” asked Roger Mason Jr.
Chris Ford, a 6-foot-5 Celtics guard, right corner, on opening night.
“Good trivia question,” Mason said.
Red Auerbach saw nothing good in it then. He was the Celtics general manager, and he didn't like gimmicky basketball. He didn't like his league stealing something from the ABA, and he had mixed feelings that night in the old Boston Garden when his franchise made trivia history.
Gregg Popovich isn't as conflicted. He's a purist, too, but he's gotten over it. He draws up plays for threes, and he encourages more and more, and this is how he beats teams who now play better defense.
That, and another Manu Ginobili magic trick, is how the Spurs won Sunday.
When the 3-pointer was introduced to the NBA in 1979, it was as if the ABA had never existed. Teams were hesitant to shoot from behind the line.
Including the Celtics with Larry Bird. He would later win the 3-point shooting contest at the All-Star Game for three consecutive years. But in his second season, when he won his first championship, Bird attempted only 74.
Ginobili, last season, took 389.
That number also should shock those who thought the Spurs of the ABA were the long-shooting crazies. They averaged more points than the current Spurs do, but not because of 3-point shooting. In their last year before merging with the NBA, they attempted 113.
So what happened? Doc Rivers said a generation grew up practicing from 23 feet. Teams began to do the math, eventually coming to the conclusion that the least efficient shot in basketball is the long two. And coaches such as Popovich reacted accordingly.
Like his mentor, Larry Brown, Popovich would prefer a game without the 3-point shot. “I'd also like a 45-second clock,” Popovich kidded, “so I could run more sets.”
ABC would object, as would anyone who doesn't appreciate a well-executed weave. But Popovich has come around. In his first full season coaching, the Spurs took 863 threes. Last season they shot about twice as many.
Popovich says the change has been about personnel; his early teams didn't have the same kind of shooters. Besides, the presence of Tim Duncan spaces the floor, and Tony Parker's driving further crowds the lane and opens up the game.
But it's just not that. The Spurs have sought 3-point shooters, and then Popovich has leaned on them as never before. Now he believes in 3-point volume, and a moment early on Sunday said that. Then, Popovich ran a play for Matt Bonner out of a time out, getting him to the corner for a three.
The Spurs attempted 21, their season average, and made eight. The Celtics connected on only one 3-pointer before the final seconds, when they became desperate.
That's a 24 to 3 difference. That's also how the Spurs beat a team that outscored them by 20 in the paint.
Not all of the attempts worked out, including the team's 1,000th of the season. Then, Bonner, who otherwise enjoyed a return to New England with a season high, missed everything. The Spurs would later lose the lead when Ginobili missed a corner three and Kevin Garnett followed with two long jumpers.
But here's how a lot of teams have come to see this: A corner three is the second most efficient shot in basketball after a deep-post attempt.
Weren't the odds with the Spurs?
Garnett would miss a third jumper from about 20 feet, giving him four points out of his three shots in this stretch. Not bad production. But when Mason came down the floor with 20 seconds left, with the Spurs down by only one, he stayed with the philosophy. He used a nice screen from Duncan and swished the final Spurs' 3-pointer.
“I like those situations,” Mason said.
Ford would have been proud.
Some of the Spurs said afterward they have played for coaches who wouldn't have liked Mason's shot. It was fast and early. Yet Popovich again gave Mason the go-ahead, and by doing so he went against his image as a no-nonsense coach of fundamentals.
“Beard, no tie, and he's shooting a lot of threes,” Rivers joked afterward. “Who are you?”
Who is he?
Someone who, like another purist 30 years ago, feels he has no other choice.