duncan228
05-16-2010, 11:15 PM
Spurs in Preview: Why the Krebs Cycle doomed the Spurs in '09-'10 (http://www.kens5.com/sports/Spurs-in-Preview-Why-the-Krebs-Cycle-doomed-the-Spurs-in-09-10-93901184.html)
by Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
I don't expect you to know who Hans Adolf Krebs was. I don't expect you to know that he was one of his age's leading minds in the field of biochemistry, or that he discovered a remarkably complex series of chemical reactions known as the citric acid cycle, or that he won a Nobel Prize and was knighted in England for his work.
And I'm not sure that I expect you to grasp this either.
The thing that Krebs discovered has a lot to do with why the San Antonio Spurs failed to win the NBA title this season.
Pounding the Rock
For more than a decade, the Spurs have been Tim Duncan's team. Their offense has run through him, their defense anchored by him. But behind the scenes, there's been a man pulling the strings, keeping Duncan at the center of it all.
Coach Gregg Popovich is the architect of this Spurs dynasty. It's a testament to his abilities that this season was considered a massive disappointment -- and the Spurs still won 50 games and a first-round playoff series.
Off the court, Popovich has the kind of reputation that's rivaled only by, perhaps, Lakers coach Phil Jackson. Popovich is feisty with reporters, and he's legendary in media circles for posting strange things in his locker room.
In one corner of the Spurs locker room, there's a sign from which Popovich once hung a quote from muckraker Jacob Riis. The quote reads:
“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”
In a larger media market, reporters would have hounded Popovich over the significance of the quote. In San Antonio, reporters just left it alone, until one day, word of the sign leaked out. Popovich got mad, and then he got over it. Now, there's even a Spurs blog (http://www.poundingtherock.com/) named after the quote.
This year, a strange new thing appeared in the Spurs locker room. In each locker, the Spurs taped up a single-page printout. At the top of the page were these words: "Spurs' Krebs Cycle." Below it, there's a series of arrows moving in a circle around the page. The sign reads:
Transition D --> Half-Court D --> Gang Rebound --> Push and Fill --> Move Ball Attack --> 4 & 5 Rebound --> Transition D
It would take an advanced degree in chemistry -- or, at least, access to Wikipedia -- to make sense of it all.
Keep Reading... (http://www.kens5.com/sports/Spurs-in-Preview-Why-the-Krebs-Cycle-doomed-the-Spurs-in-09-10-93901184.html)
by Dan Oshinsky / KENS 5
I don't expect you to know who Hans Adolf Krebs was. I don't expect you to know that he was one of his age's leading minds in the field of biochemistry, or that he discovered a remarkably complex series of chemical reactions known as the citric acid cycle, or that he won a Nobel Prize and was knighted in England for his work.
And I'm not sure that I expect you to grasp this either.
The thing that Krebs discovered has a lot to do with why the San Antonio Spurs failed to win the NBA title this season.
Pounding the Rock
For more than a decade, the Spurs have been Tim Duncan's team. Their offense has run through him, their defense anchored by him. But behind the scenes, there's been a man pulling the strings, keeping Duncan at the center of it all.
Coach Gregg Popovich is the architect of this Spurs dynasty. It's a testament to his abilities that this season was considered a massive disappointment -- and the Spurs still won 50 games and a first-round playoff series.
Off the court, Popovich has the kind of reputation that's rivaled only by, perhaps, Lakers coach Phil Jackson. Popovich is feisty with reporters, and he's legendary in media circles for posting strange things in his locker room.
In one corner of the Spurs locker room, there's a sign from which Popovich once hung a quote from muckraker Jacob Riis. The quote reads:
“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”
In a larger media market, reporters would have hounded Popovich over the significance of the quote. In San Antonio, reporters just left it alone, until one day, word of the sign leaked out. Popovich got mad, and then he got over it. Now, there's even a Spurs blog (http://www.poundingtherock.com/) named after the quote.
This year, a strange new thing appeared in the Spurs locker room. In each locker, the Spurs taped up a single-page printout. At the top of the page were these words: "Spurs' Krebs Cycle." Below it, there's a series of arrows moving in a circle around the page. The sign reads:
Transition D --> Half-Court D --> Gang Rebound --> Push and Fill --> Move Ball Attack --> 4 & 5 Rebound --> Transition D
It would take an advanced degree in chemistry -- or, at least, access to Wikipedia -- to make sense of it all.
Keep Reading... (http://www.kens5.com/sports/Spurs-in-Preview-Why-the-Krebs-Cycle-doomed-the-Spurs-in-09-10-93901184.html)