Spurs finished? Parker defying his own doubts with stunning play

[Mel_13]

By Tony Parker's calculations, this shouldn't be happening.

The days of contending for a championship were supposedly over for the San Antonio Spurs, the old dogs of the West who were slowing down while the young pups in Miami, Oklahoma City and Chicago left them in the playoff dust. Remember that story from last May, when Parker reportedly said what most in the NBA world was thinking after the Spurs' first-round upset to Memphis?

"We will always have a good team," he told the French newspaper, L'Equipe, "but we can no longer say that we're playing for a championship."

Even the Spurs were overlooking the Spurs.

But while Parker always claimed that his comments were misconstrued, the only statement that matters is the one he's making with his play.

It's the ultimate mea culpa for the way his words cast doubt from within, with Parker having one of his best seasons and the top-seeded Spurs looking as capable of winning it all as anyone at the moment. Give Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose their due, but the 29-year-old Parker, in his 11th season, is still a senior member of this incredible class of point guards.

More:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/sam_amick/04/19/tony.parker.spurs/index.html

[EVAY]

I always thought he was misquoted.

[dylankerouac]

Good read.

[100%duncan]

I always thought he was misquoted.

[Brazil]

Some great Pop's quote about parker.

"This is his best year," said Popovich, whose team is a half-game ahead of the Thunder for the best record in the league. "At the offensive end, he's always been able to score (18.6 points per game this season), but he's also distributed the ball better than he ever has before (career-high 7.7 assists) and involved other people. So he's done both, which is difficult for a scoring guard to do. At the same time, he's played his best year of defense and his leadership and understanding on the court are his best thus far, so it's been his best year."





When Parker came to San Antonio as a 19-year-old from Paris, the lengthy and often painful process of earning his hard-nosed coach's trust began immediately. As Popovich reminisced in a colorful and candid pregame media session on Wednesday, Parker's path to being taken 28th in the 2001 draft included the day he was shown the Spurs' door. "I was a [jerk] in the beginning," Popovich admitted. "The first time we worked him out, we didn't want him. We sent him away. We just said we weren't interested. I just thought he was unfocused. I just thought he was too cool. I thought he was soft.
"He wanted a second chance, so we brought in some free agents -- frankly, with the idea to beat him up, and we did a workout. The whole workout was on the post. We never put him out on the floor. We did post defense and post offense, and he impressed the hell out of me. He was focused, tough. That was my first indication that he could be coached -- he can learn, he understands, he can take criticism, he's willing to improve and listen. So we drafted him."

[benefactor]

Really good read. It's amazing that every news outlet except MySA writes good pieces about the Spurs.

lol intellectual property

[Bambililos]

Parker set the right tone for this season during the summer, showing a more vocal and confident side in leading the French national team to a silver medal in the FIBA World Championship.

It was the Euro...
Good read, still.

[Legacy]

That was pretty good stuff! Thanks for sharing! :)

[romain.star]

so many articles about the Spurs right now... The Spurs are not flying under the radar anymore

[will_spurs]

so many articles about the Spurs right now... The Spurs are not flying under the radar anymore

1st seed in the West, potential 1st overall and especially manhandling the Lakers on national TV.

I think if we never played the Lakers during the regular season, they wouldn't even know we exist.