duncan228
02-18-2011, 02:14 AM
Some love from USA Today.
Well-heeled Spurs clicking on all cylinders (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/2011-02-17-midseason-depth_N.htm)
By J. Michael Falgoust, USA TODAY
The San Antonio Spurs blew out of the gates, winning 13 of 14 games and setting up as the NBA's best team all season with an offense that is tops in Gregg Popovich's 14-plus seasons as coach.
Even after a 77-71 loss last Friday to the sub-.500 Philadelphia 76ers that Popovich said "set offensive basketball back a decade," the Spurs (46-10) are hardly concerned about pacing toward the playoffs.
San Antonio, previously no better than 10th offensively under Popovich, was sixth at 103.6 points a game. The Spurs are led again by guards Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and power forward Tim Duncan, the current core of a franchise that won four championships from 1998-99 to 2006-07.
"The fact that you play so well at the beginning doesn't mean you're going to play bad later. So it depends on us," says Ginobili, the leading scorer on the NBA's eighth-oldest team (27.5-year average).
• After being sixth man for the last two seasons and averaging fewer than 30 minutes, Ginobili, 33, is starting again and averaging 31.0 minutes.
• Parker, 28, is averaging 32.6 minutes, two more than last season, and 6.7 assists and shooting 52.4% from the field.
• The minutes for Duncan, 34, have been limited. He plays 28.7 a game, down from 31.3 a year ago, and is posting career-low averages of 13.4 points and 9.2 rebounds. His 48.4% shooting ties a career low.
Ginobili, Parker and Duncan have yet to miss a game.
"You have to have some luck. It's the first time we've been healthy in the last three years," Parker says. "In 2008, Manu was hurt. In 2009, Manu was hurt. 2010? It was me. … It's looking good."
Yet what makes the Spurs so dangerous are the many options beyond their three stars. Four starters average in double-figure scoring. The top six reserves combine for 32.7 points a game, or 31.6% of the offense.
Keep reading... (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/2011-02-17-midseason-depth_N.htm)
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/2011-02-17-midseason-depth_N.htm
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San Antonio Spurs quietly keep on winning (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2011-02-17-san-antonio-spurs_N.htm)
By Mike Lopresti, Gannett
The NBA All-Star break is here. And in further news, the San Antonio Spurs own the best record in the game.
Forgive this belaboring of the obvious, since all you have to do is look at the standings, but these are the Spurs. For whatever reason, they tend to be a paper airplane lost on everyone's radar.
Has there ever been a team in any sport go 46-9 to less fanfare? Do the talk shows fill the airwaves with their names? Do the analysts debate their greatness? Really, how much do you hear about the Spurs? There's never time, after the Lakers and the Celtics and the Heat and the latest thoughts of Carmelo Anthony.
These are the Spurs. They managed to win four championships the past 12 years — neither the New York Yankees nor New England Patriots can say that — and somehow do it without being conspicuous.
If the Spurs were a planet, they'd be Uranus.
If they were a U.S. president, they'd be Millard Fillmore.
Surely, they must be the favorite NBA team of the Witness Protection Program.
Somehow without raising much ado, Gregg Popovich works his 15th season, which now makes him the longest tenured coach in the NBA, never having sniffed a losing record. And Tim Duncan plays his 14th season, with the Spurs owning the best winning percentage since he arrived of any team in any professional sport.
The impressive numbers stack up, as if anyone will notice. The Spurs do not give back games once they get their hands on them. Going into Thursday night's Chicago visit, they were 33-3 when leading at halftime, and 38-1 when going into the fourth quarter. They do, however, know how to rally, wiping out double digit deficits 11 times to win.
They have won at home, going 25-2. The have won on the road, going 6-2 on their annual Rodeo Road Trip — 17 days, nine cities, 8,187 miles — with the Bulls' game the last stop.
They are the model of stability in a chaotic universe. In their first 55 games, they used the same lineup 54 times. All this after a tough last season, when they seemed to be aging and no longer able to keep up with the elite.
Keep reading... (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2011-02-17-san-antonio-spurs_N.htm)
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2011-02-17-san-antonio-spurs_N.htm
Well-heeled Spurs clicking on all cylinders (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/2011-02-17-midseason-depth_N.htm)
By J. Michael Falgoust, USA TODAY
The San Antonio Spurs blew out of the gates, winning 13 of 14 games and setting up as the NBA's best team all season with an offense that is tops in Gregg Popovich's 14-plus seasons as coach.
Even after a 77-71 loss last Friday to the sub-.500 Philadelphia 76ers that Popovich said "set offensive basketball back a decade," the Spurs (46-10) are hardly concerned about pacing toward the playoffs.
San Antonio, previously no better than 10th offensively under Popovich, was sixth at 103.6 points a game. The Spurs are led again by guards Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and power forward Tim Duncan, the current core of a franchise that won four championships from 1998-99 to 2006-07.
"The fact that you play so well at the beginning doesn't mean you're going to play bad later. So it depends on us," says Ginobili, the leading scorer on the NBA's eighth-oldest team (27.5-year average).
• After being sixth man for the last two seasons and averaging fewer than 30 minutes, Ginobili, 33, is starting again and averaging 31.0 minutes.
• Parker, 28, is averaging 32.6 minutes, two more than last season, and 6.7 assists and shooting 52.4% from the field.
• The minutes for Duncan, 34, have been limited. He plays 28.7 a game, down from 31.3 a year ago, and is posting career-low averages of 13.4 points and 9.2 rebounds. His 48.4% shooting ties a career low.
Ginobili, Parker and Duncan have yet to miss a game.
"You have to have some luck. It's the first time we've been healthy in the last three years," Parker says. "In 2008, Manu was hurt. In 2009, Manu was hurt. 2010? It was me. … It's looking good."
Yet what makes the Spurs so dangerous are the many options beyond their three stars. Four starters average in double-figure scoring. The top six reserves combine for 32.7 points a game, or 31.6% of the offense.
Keep reading... (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/2011-02-17-midseason-depth_N.htm)
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/2011-02-17-midseason-depth_N.htm
*********************
San Antonio Spurs quietly keep on winning (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2011-02-17-san-antonio-spurs_N.htm)
By Mike Lopresti, Gannett
The NBA All-Star break is here. And in further news, the San Antonio Spurs own the best record in the game.
Forgive this belaboring of the obvious, since all you have to do is look at the standings, but these are the Spurs. For whatever reason, they tend to be a paper airplane lost on everyone's radar.
Has there ever been a team in any sport go 46-9 to less fanfare? Do the talk shows fill the airwaves with their names? Do the analysts debate their greatness? Really, how much do you hear about the Spurs? There's never time, after the Lakers and the Celtics and the Heat and the latest thoughts of Carmelo Anthony.
These are the Spurs. They managed to win four championships the past 12 years — neither the New York Yankees nor New England Patriots can say that — and somehow do it without being conspicuous.
If the Spurs were a planet, they'd be Uranus.
If they were a U.S. president, they'd be Millard Fillmore.
Surely, they must be the favorite NBA team of the Witness Protection Program.
Somehow without raising much ado, Gregg Popovich works his 15th season, which now makes him the longest tenured coach in the NBA, never having sniffed a losing record. And Tim Duncan plays his 14th season, with the Spurs owning the best winning percentage since he arrived of any team in any professional sport.
The impressive numbers stack up, as if anyone will notice. The Spurs do not give back games once they get their hands on them. Going into Thursday night's Chicago visit, they were 33-3 when leading at halftime, and 38-1 when going into the fourth quarter. They do, however, know how to rally, wiping out double digit deficits 11 times to win.
They have won at home, going 25-2. The have won on the road, going 6-2 on their annual Rodeo Road Trip — 17 days, nine cities, 8,187 miles — with the Bulls' game the last stop.
They are the model of stability in a chaotic universe. In their first 55 games, they used the same lineup 54 times. All this after a tough last season, when they seemed to be aging and no longer able to keep up with the elite.
Keep reading... (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2011-02-17-san-antonio-spurs_N.htm)
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2011-02-17-san-antonio-spurs_N.htm