Kori Ellis
10-26-2005, 12:44 PM
By Emmett Shaw
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Oct 26, 2005, 13:23
http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_14721.shtml
Indiana climbed to 5-1 this NBA’s preseason and the Spurs fell to 1-7 last night in a 97-86 Pacers win in San Antonio. Afterwards both head coaches preached perspective, looking more to the future than to the past couple of weeks. Rick Carlisle talked about the NFL’s best team in referring to the Spurs’ W-L record. “It’s as meaningless as the Colts going O-and-5 in preseason.” In fact Peyton Manning’s team wrapped up all those winless exhibition games this Fall with a 38-0 drubbing at Cincinnati before winning each of their regular games so far.
Rudy Tomjanovich, who was in town scouting the NBA for the LA Lakers, sat in the stands watching the Spurs’ pre-game warm up. Looking over the league’s current power structure as he has been, traveling to several cities for games, and having seen his own team only once, Rudy T flat-out stated, “This (Spurs) team will be right there.” He feels good about Indy as well. “They’ve been through some big playoff series and all that, some of the guys.” Rudy says that those experiences tend to bond a team together.
Still, the Reggie Miller era is over. How will Indiana fare without their extra-terrestrial sling-shooter winning games in the clutch and leading the team as a captain? “This league is all about passing the torch. Reggie was a great one, and I’m sure O’Neal, Artest and all those guys: a lot of Reggie rubbed off on them,” said Tomjanovich. Jeff Foster of the Pacers, currently out with a left Achilles injury, also is ready to move on.
Foster said that Miller will be hard to replace, impossible to a certain extent, but that Reggie wasn’t necessarily as vocal a leader the last few years as he was in earlier times. “If he needed to say something, he would say something.” Other than that, Jeff says Reggie was a friend and teammate who brought a liveliness to the locker room and still had game right to the end of his career.
Since Pacers management has planned for Reggie’s departure for many years, Foster says, “I think we’re prepared for it.” He thinks the Pacers will make up for Miller’s loss in other ways. Foster said, “Obviously Jermaine’s our franchise player and Ron Artest is a very good player as well. In my opinion they’re both Top 10 players in this league. I don’t know how many teams can say (they have) that.”
While Gregg Popovich is one who can, he’s concerned that his team needs to shore things up individually. He says that “for whatever reason” a number of his players aren’t going all out. The obvious reason is adrenalin, or lack thereof. Presumably the regular season will prime the pump. San Antonio’s individual defenders can’t seem to stay in front of the ball, so the defense then pinches in and gives up open looks to players like Sarunas Jasikevicius, Stephen Jackson, Artest, Fred Jones, and Austin Croshere. These five combined to make 8-11 from downtown last night.
“When it came down to it, (Indiana) got too many open shots,” said Tim Duncan. He also said, “We have a lot of stuff to work on. Defensively we’re not as solid as we can be, as we will be.” Tim pointed out that when opening night comes, the Spurs’ record goes back to “zero and zero”. That figures to be when the team’s adrenalin kicks back in, which doesn’t happen instantly after a championship. Remember the Pistons a year ago? It took them a while to find their game, and in fact they never consistently stayed on a peak within each month, and later, within each playoff series.
Duncan was quick to add that “we’re getting things done.” It’s just that without a high effort level those things don’t show up in victories. Bruce Bowen said, “The next stage for us is understanding we have a lot of room for improvement.” Again, that required improvement is mostly just competing hard at on-the-ball defense, the kind that Artest played against Manu Ginobili and Michael Finley. Foster may be right about Artest’s Top 10 status. It’s so scary to think about a 246-pound guy able to chase a Manu and a Fin around multiple curls, keep up with them and get a hand in their faces! Those two Spurs finished the game a combined 2-14 on FGs.
Carlisle explained that last night was “the first time we’ve had Jermaine and Ron on the floor together in a game” since the Palace brawl. Also the coach said, “I wanted to see Sarunas on the floor with that group a little bit, because he’s played with the second team most of the time in practice and in games.” Carlisle went on to say of his Lithuanian newcomer Jasikevicius, “His game has continued to get better, and he’s earned himself the minutes.”
Defense will be Jasikevicius’ challenge, but Carlisle said, “We have a system to help out people that need help.” Plus Jasikevicius studies scouting reports of opponent’s tendencies. The coach said, “By playing well, he continues to earn the respect of everybody.” Including the injured Foster. “He fits very seamlessly into this team,” he said, calling Sarunas “a great basketball player” and “a great person.”
On the silver-lining side for San Antonio, various veteran combinations are working well, often when Nick Van Exel and Fabricio Oberto are on the court. Van Exel played the final nine minutes of the 3rd quarter last night, during which he helped close an 18-point deficit to only 6 points. In Oberto’s 14 total minutes he scored 10 points, only missing one FG attempt. Tim Duncan raised his preseason FT shooting to 77 % by the end of the night (that’s great for Tim, if you didn’t know). Adrenalin is what the Spurs need to add to their game. There’ll also always be the “problems” of being too unselfish and too deep. With problems like those, solutions are likely.
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Oct 26, 2005, 13:23
http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_14721.shtml
Indiana climbed to 5-1 this NBA’s preseason and the Spurs fell to 1-7 last night in a 97-86 Pacers win in San Antonio. Afterwards both head coaches preached perspective, looking more to the future than to the past couple of weeks. Rick Carlisle talked about the NFL’s best team in referring to the Spurs’ W-L record. “It’s as meaningless as the Colts going O-and-5 in preseason.” In fact Peyton Manning’s team wrapped up all those winless exhibition games this Fall with a 38-0 drubbing at Cincinnati before winning each of their regular games so far.
Rudy Tomjanovich, who was in town scouting the NBA for the LA Lakers, sat in the stands watching the Spurs’ pre-game warm up. Looking over the league’s current power structure as he has been, traveling to several cities for games, and having seen his own team only once, Rudy T flat-out stated, “This (Spurs) team will be right there.” He feels good about Indy as well. “They’ve been through some big playoff series and all that, some of the guys.” Rudy says that those experiences tend to bond a team together.
Still, the Reggie Miller era is over. How will Indiana fare without their extra-terrestrial sling-shooter winning games in the clutch and leading the team as a captain? “This league is all about passing the torch. Reggie was a great one, and I’m sure O’Neal, Artest and all those guys: a lot of Reggie rubbed off on them,” said Tomjanovich. Jeff Foster of the Pacers, currently out with a left Achilles injury, also is ready to move on.
Foster said that Miller will be hard to replace, impossible to a certain extent, but that Reggie wasn’t necessarily as vocal a leader the last few years as he was in earlier times. “If he needed to say something, he would say something.” Other than that, Jeff says Reggie was a friend and teammate who brought a liveliness to the locker room and still had game right to the end of his career.
Since Pacers management has planned for Reggie’s departure for many years, Foster says, “I think we’re prepared for it.” He thinks the Pacers will make up for Miller’s loss in other ways. Foster said, “Obviously Jermaine’s our franchise player and Ron Artest is a very good player as well. In my opinion they’re both Top 10 players in this league. I don’t know how many teams can say (they have) that.”
While Gregg Popovich is one who can, he’s concerned that his team needs to shore things up individually. He says that “for whatever reason” a number of his players aren’t going all out. The obvious reason is adrenalin, or lack thereof. Presumably the regular season will prime the pump. San Antonio’s individual defenders can’t seem to stay in front of the ball, so the defense then pinches in and gives up open looks to players like Sarunas Jasikevicius, Stephen Jackson, Artest, Fred Jones, and Austin Croshere. These five combined to make 8-11 from downtown last night.
“When it came down to it, (Indiana) got too many open shots,” said Tim Duncan. He also said, “We have a lot of stuff to work on. Defensively we’re not as solid as we can be, as we will be.” Tim pointed out that when opening night comes, the Spurs’ record goes back to “zero and zero”. That figures to be when the team’s adrenalin kicks back in, which doesn’t happen instantly after a championship. Remember the Pistons a year ago? It took them a while to find their game, and in fact they never consistently stayed on a peak within each month, and later, within each playoff series.
Duncan was quick to add that “we’re getting things done.” It’s just that without a high effort level those things don’t show up in victories. Bruce Bowen said, “The next stage for us is understanding we have a lot of room for improvement.” Again, that required improvement is mostly just competing hard at on-the-ball defense, the kind that Artest played against Manu Ginobili and Michael Finley. Foster may be right about Artest’s Top 10 status. It’s so scary to think about a 246-pound guy able to chase a Manu and a Fin around multiple curls, keep up with them and get a hand in their faces! Those two Spurs finished the game a combined 2-14 on FGs.
Carlisle explained that last night was “the first time we’ve had Jermaine and Ron on the floor together in a game” since the Palace brawl. Also the coach said, “I wanted to see Sarunas on the floor with that group a little bit, because he’s played with the second team most of the time in practice and in games.” Carlisle went on to say of his Lithuanian newcomer Jasikevicius, “His game has continued to get better, and he’s earned himself the minutes.”
Defense will be Jasikevicius’ challenge, but Carlisle said, “We have a system to help out people that need help.” Plus Jasikevicius studies scouting reports of opponent’s tendencies. The coach said, “By playing well, he continues to earn the respect of everybody.” Including the injured Foster. “He fits very seamlessly into this team,” he said, calling Sarunas “a great basketball player” and “a great person.”
On the silver-lining side for San Antonio, various veteran combinations are working well, often when Nick Van Exel and Fabricio Oberto are on the court. Van Exel played the final nine minutes of the 3rd quarter last night, during which he helped close an 18-point deficit to only 6 points. In Oberto’s 14 total minutes he scored 10 points, only missing one FG attempt. Tim Duncan raised his preseason FT shooting to 77 % by the end of the night (that’s great for Tim, if you didn’t know). Adrenalin is what the Spurs need to add to their game. There’ll also always be the “problems” of being too unselfish and too deep. With problems like those, solutions are likely.