Blackjack
01-04-2010, 12:32 AM
Foul-line failures foil Spurs' comeback (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Foul-line_failures_foil_Spurs_comeback.html)
By Mike Monroe - Express-News
TORONTO — Few outside the Spurs' inner circle knew quite what to make Sunday of the unprecedented decision to sit team captain Tim Duncan, their leading scorer and rebounder, for the first 14 minutes of the Spurs' 91-86 loss to the Raptors at Air Canada Centre.
The exception: Toronto's starting point guard, Jarrett Jack, who played his first three NBA seasons in Portland. There, he said, he saw plenty of coach Gregg Popovich's deviations from basketball orthodoxy.
“Coach Popovich is kind of a quirky guy,” Jack said. “He might do things just because it's Tuesday.”
On this bone-chilling Sunday night in Canada, it was Jack who ultimately rendered Popovich's version of rope-a-dope a failed stratagem. His improbable 8-foot hook shot with 2:08 remaining, launched between Duncan and defensive ace Keith Bogans, blunted a spirited Spurs comeback effort and enabled the Raptors to hang on.
The Spurs had sliced Toronto's 15-point fourth-quarter lead to three, at 81-78, when Jack's make gave the Raptors the breathing room they needed to stave off panic.
The loss put a halt to the Spurs' five-game win streak and dropped their record to 20-12.
In the previous 928 regular season games Duncan played before Sunday, he had started all but one. Returning from a three-game injury absence on March 18, 2004, with the Spurs already 20 games over .500, Duncan came off the bench against the Timberwolves.
This time, there was no injury-related precaution. Rather, Popovich opted for a guarded approach to his 33-year-old star's long-term stamina.
“He's played a lot of minutes,” Popovich said. “He played more than we wanted last night (36:11, in a 97-86 victory over the Wizards). We wanted to have him in the fourth quarter rather than the first. Not too much happens in the first quarters of NBA games.”
With Duncan a restless witness, what happened in Sunday's first quarter was a late surge by the Raptors that produced a 27-19 lead by its conclusion.
Popovich started veterans Theo Ratliff and Antonio McDyess up front, with Richard Jefferson on the wing. Tony Parker and Bogans opened in the back court.
Duncan finally entered the game with 9:58 remaining in the second quarter and discovered he needed a few trips, and shots, to get in a rhythm. He missed his first three shots and never seemed to get comfortable at the offensive end. Though he finished with 22 points, he needed 22 shots to get them, missing 14 field-goal attempts and 4 of 9 free throws.
Parker was worse, missing 5 of 9 at the line, and the Spurs' 16-for-27 free-throwing ultimately proved their undoing.
“They made 24 of their 27, and we made 16,” Popovich said. “In a way, you can say that's the ballgame right there.”
The win was the Raptors' sixth in their last seven games, and the Spurs found them a much more focused foe than they were on Nov. 9, when the Spurs scored a season-high 131 points in a victory at the AT&T Center.
Raptors coach Jay Triano was among those slightly bemused by Popovich's decision to keep Duncan on the bench for the first 14:01 of the game.
“Different coaches, different reasons,” he said. “Whether they were thinking of limiting his minutes, in that the minutes at the beginning are sometimes not as valuable as they are late, or whether they were thinking maybe they could beat us without him, I really don't know.”
Jack knew.
“Coach Pop is just a quirky dude,” he said. “He might just start all big guys one game and not think anything of it. If you know Coach Pop, that's just the kind of dude he is.”
By Mike Monroe - Express-News
TORONTO — Few outside the Spurs' inner circle knew quite what to make Sunday of the unprecedented decision to sit team captain Tim Duncan, their leading scorer and rebounder, for the first 14 minutes of the Spurs' 91-86 loss to the Raptors at Air Canada Centre.
The exception: Toronto's starting point guard, Jarrett Jack, who played his first three NBA seasons in Portland. There, he said, he saw plenty of coach Gregg Popovich's deviations from basketball orthodoxy.
“Coach Popovich is kind of a quirky guy,” Jack said. “He might do things just because it's Tuesday.”
On this bone-chilling Sunday night in Canada, it was Jack who ultimately rendered Popovich's version of rope-a-dope a failed stratagem. His improbable 8-foot hook shot with 2:08 remaining, launched between Duncan and defensive ace Keith Bogans, blunted a spirited Spurs comeback effort and enabled the Raptors to hang on.
The Spurs had sliced Toronto's 15-point fourth-quarter lead to three, at 81-78, when Jack's make gave the Raptors the breathing room they needed to stave off panic.
The loss put a halt to the Spurs' five-game win streak and dropped their record to 20-12.
In the previous 928 regular season games Duncan played before Sunday, he had started all but one. Returning from a three-game injury absence on March 18, 2004, with the Spurs already 20 games over .500, Duncan came off the bench against the Timberwolves.
This time, there was no injury-related precaution. Rather, Popovich opted for a guarded approach to his 33-year-old star's long-term stamina.
“He's played a lot of minutes,” Popovich said. “He played more than we wanted last night (36:11, in a 97-86 victory over the Wizards). We wanted to have him in the fourth quarter rather than the first. Not too much happens in the first quarters of NBA games.”
With Duncan a restless witness, what happened in Sunday's first quarter was a late surge by the Raptors that produced a 27-19 lead by its conclusion.
Popovich started veterans Theo Ratliff and Antonio McDyess up front, with Richard Jefferson on the wing. Tony Parker and Bogans opened in the back court.
Duncan finally entered the game with 9:58 remaining in the second quarter and discovered he needed a few trips, and shots, to get in a rhythm. He missed his first three shots and never seemed to get comfortable at the offensive end. Though he finished with 22 points, he needed 22 shots to get them, missing 14 field-goal attempts and 4 of 9 free throws.
Parker was worse, missing 5 of 9 at the line, and the Spurs' 16-for-27 free-throwing ultimately proved their undoing.
“They made 24 of their 27, and we made 16,” Popovich said. “In a way, you can say that's the ballgame right there.”
The win was the Raptors' sixth in their last seven games, and the Spurs found them a much more focused foe than they were on Nov. 9, when the Spurs scored a season-high 131 points in a victory at the AT&T Center.
Raptors coach Jay Triano was among those slightly bemused by Popovich's decision to keep Duncan on the bench for the first 14:01 of the game.
“Different coaches, different reasons,” he said. “Whether they were thinking of limiting his minutes, in that the minutes at the beginning are sometimes not as valuable as they are late, or whether they were thinking maybe they could beat us without him, I really don't know.”
Jack knew.
“Coach Pop is just a quirky dude,” he said. “He might just start all big guys one game and not think anything of it. If you know Coach Pop, that's just the kind of dude he is.”