duncan228
12-27-2009, 11:19 PM
Parker reverts to his young self in victory (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/Parker_reverts_to_his_young_self_in_victory.html)
Jeff McDonald
NEW YORK — Spurs point guard Tony Parker will be the first to admit his season so far has been uneven.
With a pair of ankle injuries to overcome, with a bevy of new players to acclimate, with coach Gregg Popovich hounding him to be aggressive in looking for his own shot, Parker has often felt more like a rookie than a three-time All-Star.
When the going got tough in Sunday's 95-88 victory over the Knicks, however, Parker reverted to his All-Star self.
His acrobatic reverse layup gave the Spurs a four-point lead with 88-84 to go. His energetic three-point play, finishing left-handed over Jared Jeffries, put them up nine with 1:06 to go.
“Tonight, it was different, because they were switching a lot,” Parker said.
“I had a lot of opportunities to attack the bigs and be aggressive. I'm just trying to be aggressive and do what Pop wants.”
Parker finished with 22 points, his most since a Dec. 7 loss at Utah. It marked just the sixth time this season he'd scored at least 20, a feat that was commonplace for him last season en route to averaging a team-leading 22 points per game.
The Boss and The Beast: Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair didn't have to go far to recall his history at Madison Square Garden. On the wall outside the Spurs' locker room, alongside pictures of Bruce Springsteen and Frank Sinatra, hangs a photo of Blair as a freshman at Pittsburgh, jumping center in a game against Duke.
“I forgot that was there,” Blair said, grinning. “It's cool.”
As a collegian, Blair played at the Garden eight times, many of them Big East tournament games. In that, he played at the so-called “World's Most Famous Arena” more times in two seasons at Pitt than some of his more veteran Spurs' teammates have in their careers.
Sunday did not mark Blair's best game there. He finished with eight points and 10 rebounds but went 4 of 11 from the field and committed three turnovers.
Matty takes Manhattan: Injured Spurs forward Matt Bonner, a notorious sandwich hound, made good on his promise to visit New York's famed Carnegie Deli for pregame lunch.
He gave the food an A-plus. His only regret was that he didn't bring a photo of himself to hang on the restaurant's renowned wall of fame — especially after seeing a picture of washed-up wrestler Diamond Dallas Page sprinkled among the glitterati.
“Surely, I'm more relevant than Diamond Dallas Page at this point,” he said.
Jeff McDonald
NEW YORK — Spurs point guard Tony Parker will be the first to admit his season so far has been uneven.
With a pair of ankle injuries to overcome, with a bevy of new players to acclimate, with coach Gregg Popovich hounding him to be aggressive in looking for his own shot, Parker has often felt more like a rookie than a three-time All-Star.
When the going got tough in Sunday's 95-88 victory over the Knicks, however, Parker reverted to his All-Star self.
His acrobatic reverse layup gave the Spurs a four-point lead with 88-84 to go. His energetic three-point play, finishing left-handed over Jared Jeffries, put them up nine with 1:06 to go.
“Tonight, it was different, because they were switching a lot,” Parker said.
“I had a lot of opportunities to attack the bigs and be aggressive. I'm just trying to be aggressive and do what Pop wants.”
Parker finished with 22 points, his most since a Dec. 7 loss at Utah. It marked just the sixth time this season he'd scored at least 20, a feat that was commonplace for him last season en route to averaging a team-leading 22 points per game.
The Boss and The Beast: Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair didn't have to go far to recall his history at Madison Square Garden. On the wall outside the Spurs' locker room, alongside pictures of Bruce Springsteen and Frank Sinatra, hangs a photo of Blair as a freshman at Pittsburgh, jumping center in a game against Duke.
“I forgot that was there,” Blair said, grinning. “It's cool.”
As a collegian, Blair played at the Garden eight times, many of them Big East tournament games. In that, he played at the so-called “World's Most Famous Arena” more times in two seasons at Pitt than some of his more veteran Spurs' teammates have in their careers.
Sunday did not mark Blair's best game there. He finished with eight points and 10 rebounds but went 4 of 11 from the field and committed three turnovers.
Matty takes Manhattan: Injured Spurs forward Matt Bonner, a notorious sandwich hound, made good on his promise to visit New York's famed Carnegie Deli for pregame lunch.
He gave the food an A-plus. His only regret was that he didn't bring a photo of himself to hang on the restaurant's renowned wall of fame — especially after seeing a picture of washed-up wrestler Diamond Dallas Page sprinkled among the glitterati.
“Surely, I'm more relevant than Diamond Dallas Page at this point,” he said.