duncan228
02-12-2010, 01:53 AM
Balanced Spurs leave Nuggets under landslide (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/Spurs_notebook_Duncans_minutes_in_Karls_hands.html )
Jeff McDonald
DENVER — Over the years, much ado has been made of the Spurs' annual rodeo road trip, and the magical power it seems to have in transforming a floundering season into a championship one.
Leave it to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to turn back the curtain on that myth.
It's wasn't the unfamiliar arenas and strange hotels that galvanized the Spurs into second-half monsters, he says. It was winning.
“Winning helps people believe and come together and feel that responsibility to each other,” Popovich said. “As much as film sessions, or me coaching, or somebody shooting well, winning some games is important.”
At long last Thursday night, the Spurs got a win they could believe in, closing the five-game western leg of the trip by pounding Denver 111-92 at the Pepsi Center.
Aggressors from the start against a Nuggets team that had been a terror of late, the Spurs (30-21) earned a resounding victory in a game that, on paper, looked to be the toughest on the itinerary. The Western Conference's second-place team, Denver had lost just four of 27 home games this season, and had beaten Dallas by 36 two nights earlier.
Seven Spurs players scored in double figures, led by 17 apiece from George Hill and DeJuan Blair, and the Spurs shook off a dogged 3-point shooting slump to head into the All-Star break on the wings of perhaps their most heartening triumph of the season.
The Nuggets (35-18) never saw what hit them.
The Spurs never trailed, and — in the final 20 minutes — were never threatened, handing Denver its most lopsided home defeat of the season. For the Spurs, it was their largest margin of victory since a 30-point win over Miami on New Year's Eve.
Suddenly, the Spurs are on track for a successful rodeo trip, an iffy proposition after they started 2-2 with losses to the Lakers without Kobe Bryant and Portland without Brandon Roy.
When the Spurs return from the break, they finish the rodeo trip with games against three sub-.500 Eastern Conference teams — Indiana, Philadelphia and Detroit.
“We think we have a great team,” said Hill, who started at point guard with Tony Parker sidelined with a left hip flexor strain. “We've been taking a lot of bumps in the road, but we stepped up and got a big win today.”
Denver played without forward Kenyon Martin, who had 27 points in a Jan. 31 win over the Spurs in San Antonio, but sat with a sore knee.
Hill filled in ably for Parker again, while Mason had 14 points and made four 3-pointers from Hill's old shooting guard spot. Richard Jefferson also chipped in 14 points, while Tim Duncan had 16 and only had to play 27 minutes.
Nenę had 20 points to lead Denver, which saw All-Stars Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony combine to shoot 10 of 33.
The Spurs were 9 of 19 from 3-point range, after hitting 30.7 percent over their previous 10 games.
Ahead 83-70 entering the fourth, the Spurs kept attacking. When Blair converted an old-fashioned three-point play and Jefferson converted an old-fashioned dunk with 8:46 to go, the Spurs were ahead 95-74.
“The West is really tight — from the second spot to the 10th, anybody can make it,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “We have to take care of business when we have the opportunity.”
For the first time in what only seems like ages, the Spurs did that Thursday. In doing so, perhaps, they found a reason to believe.
Jeff McDonald
DENVER — Over the years, much ado has been made of the Spurs' annual rodeo road trip, and the magical power it seems to have in transforming a floundering season into a championship one.
Leave it to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to turn back the curtain on that myth.
It's wasn't the unfamiliar arenas and strange hotels that galvanized the Spurs into second-half monsters, he says. It was winning.
“Winning helps people believe and come together and feel that responsibility to each other,” Popovich said. “As much as film sessions, or me coaching, or somebody shooting well, winning some games is important.”
At long last Thursday night, the Spurs got a win they could believe in, closing the five-game western leg of the trip by pounding Denver 111-92 at the Pepsi Center.
Aggressors from the start against a Nuggets team that had been a terror of late, the Spurs (30-21) earned a resounding victory in a game that, on paper, looked to be the toughest on the itinerary. The Western Conference's second-place team, Denver had lost just four of 27 home games this season, and had beaten Dallas by 36 two nights earlier.
Seven Spurs players scored in double figures, led by 17 apiece from George Hill and DeJuan Blair, and the Spurs shook off a dogged 3-point shooting slump to head into the All-Star break on the wings of perhaps their most heartening triumph of the season.
The Nuggets (35-18) never saw what hit them.
The Spurs never trailed, and — in the final 20 minutes — were never threatened, handing Denver its most lopsided home defeat of the season. For the Spurs, it was their largest margin of victory since a 30-point win over Miami on New Year's Eve.
Suddenly, the Spurs are on track for a successful rodeo trip, an iffy proposition after they started 2-2 with losses to the Lakers without Kobe Bryant and Portland without Brandon Roy.
When the Spurs return from the break, they finish the rodeo trip with games against three sub-.500 Eastern Conference teams — Indiana, Philadelphia and Detroit.
“We think we have a great team,” said Hill, who started at point guard with Tony Parker sidelined with a left hip flexor strain. “We've been taking a lot of bumps in the road, but we stepped up and got a big win today.”
Denver played without forward Kenyon Martin, who had 27 points in a Jan. 31 win over the Spurs in San Antonio, but sat with a sore knee.
Hill filled in ably for Parker again, while Mason had 14 points and made four 3-pointers from Hill's old shooting guard spot. Richard Jefferson also chipped in 14 points, while Tim Duncan had 16 and only had to play 27 minutes.
Nenę had 20 points to lead Denver, which saw All-Stars Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony combine to shoot 10 of 33.
The Spurs were 9 of 19 from 3-point range, after hitting 30.7 percent over their previous 10 games.
Ahead 83-70 entering the fourth, the Spurs kept attacking. When Blair converted an old-fashioned three-point play and Jefferson converted an old-fashioned dunk with 8:46 to go, the Spurs were ahead 95-74.
“The West is really tight — from the second spot to the 10th, anybody can make it,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “We have to take care of business when we have the opportunity.”
For the first time in what only seems like ages, the Spurs did that Thursday. In doing so, perhaps, they found a reason to believe.