Kori Ellis
05-17-2006, 12:12 AM
Close losses give Spurs some hope
Web Posted: 05/17/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA051706.1C.BKNspurs.mavs.main.1770eccd.html
Tony Parker's phone rang Tuesday morning, and he didn't need to look at the number to know who was calling: Boris Diaw, friend, countryman and amateur psychologist.
Earlier this month, Diaw's Phoenix Suns found themselves in a similar predicament to the one Parker and the Spurs face. Down 3-1. Coming off a heart-wrenching overtime loss. Thinking they had been cheated by inconsistent officiating. Wondering if their season had slipped away.
"He said you feel like everything is not going your way, like it's not your year," Parker said. "But they came back. It's a good example to follow."
But while the Suns became just the eighth NBA team to rally from a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series, there is one noticeable difference between the challenge they overcame and the one confronting the Spurs tonight at the AT&T Center.
Phoenix was playing the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers. Not the Dallas Mavericks, whose combination of talent and confidence has pushed the league's defending champions within one loss of elimination.
If the Spurs hope to extend their reign, or, at least, their Western Conference semifinals series, they'll have to bury the frustration of losing two games in Dallas they could have won. After falling 104-103 on Saturday, they failed again to close out the Mavericks in Monday's 123-118 overtime loss.
Three of the four games — the Mavericks' 22-point rout in Game 2 being the exception — have been decided by a total of eight points. In each, the losing team had a shot to win on the final possession of regulation.
"I think we're right on the cusp of doing something special here," Bruce Bowen said. "I think we're playing well enough to get back (to Dallas) ... It's a situation where it comes down to small things, and if we can recover from those small things, I think we'll be successful."
Among those "small" things: Parker falling on a likely layup; a botched dribble handoff between Manu Ginobili and Robert Horry; a bad inbounds pass from Brent Barry; two key offensive rebounds by the Mavericks; and a handful of disputed calls.
"We've played well enough to win," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "So I feel good about everything."
Well, not everything. Parker strained his groin Monday and was limping noticeably by the end of the game. He remained sore Tuesday and planned to spend the rest of the day undergoing ultrasound and massage treatment.
Parker already was playing with a hip strain and contusions on each thigh.
"My body is just bruised up," he said. "But at the end of day, nobody cares. I just have to go out there and play."
Spurs officials also were still fuming over at least three calls in the fourth quarter Monday: a blocking foul on Tim Duncan they felt should have been a charge against Dirk Nowitzki; a delay-of-game technical; and a bumping foul on Bowen that led to Nowitzki tying the game with two free throws with 8.5 seconds left in regulation. After the call, Bowen walked to midcourt, looked into the stands at NBA commissioner David Stern and shouted, "Eight-point-five seconds? Eight-point-five seconds?"
"I voiced my opinion," Bowen said.
Ginobili fouled out with 2:28 left in the fourth quarter. Duncan did the same with 1:05 left in Game 3 when Nowitzki stumbled into him after stepping on his foot.
The Spurs complained Tuesday through official channels: director of officials Ronnie Nunn and senior vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson. But, as Popovich said, "All that matters is who got the 'W' and who got the 'L.'"
"Let me just say that some things at the end of games are in the teams' control and some things aren't in the teams' control, and it's best to probably concentrate on what can be controlled by us," Popovich said. "That's why we're going to concentrate on the rebound we didn't get at the end of the game, just like the rebound we didn't get at the end of Game 3.
"We can't think about what might have been done right or wrong by forces that can't be controlled by us."
Of course, the main force the Spurs have yet to control is the Mavericks themselves: Dallas has scored 113, 104 and 123 points the past three games.
Popovich junked his traditional defense anchored by two shot blockers and almost exclusively employed a small lineup Monday. Parker (33), Duncan (31), Ginobili (26) and Michael Finley (14) combined for 104 points Monday only to be matched by Jason Terry (32), Nowitzki (28), Jerry Stackhouse (26) and Devin Harris (18).
"It's like that thing, the hydra, with all those snakes coming out of the head," Horry said. "You cut one off and you've got four more to deal with."
The Spurs would like to break down the challenge facing them to more manageable terms. Win tonight, get to Game 6. Win in Dallas, come home for a winner-take-all Game 7.
"I don't see it as that impossible," Ginobili said.
The Spurs are 2-5 when facing elimination in Duncan's nine seasons. But the two games they won (Game 7 in last season's NBA Finals and Game 5 of their 2002 first-round series against Seattle) came when the other team faced the same.
While Parker looked to Diaw for a few words of wisdom, Horry has his own experience to share. In 1995, the Houston Rockets fell behind Phoenix 3-1 in the Western Conference semifinals before rallying to take the series. They went on to win the championship.
"As long as time's ticking and you've got a possession," Horry said, "you've got a shot."
Web Posted: 05/17/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA051706.1C.BKNspurs.mavs.main.1770eccd.html
Tony Parker's phone rang Tuesday morning, and he didn't need to look at the number to know who was calling: Boris Diaw, friend, countryman and amateur psychologist.
Earlier this month, Diaw's Phoenix Suns found themselves in a similar predicament to the one Parker and the Spurs face. Down 3-1. Coming off a heart-wrenching overtime loss. Thinking they had been cheated by inconsistent officiating. Wondering if their season had slipped away.
"He said you feel like everything is not going your way, like it's not your year," Parker said. "But they came back. It's a good example to follow."
But while the Suns became just the eighth NBA team to rally from a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series, there is one noticeable difference between the challenge they overcame and the one confronting the Spurs tonight at the AT&T Center.
Phoenix was playing the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers. Not the Dallas Mavericks, whose combination of talent and confidence has pushed the league's defending champions within one loss of elimination.
If the Spurs hope to extend their reign, or, at least, their Western Conference semifinals series, they'll have to bury the frustration of losing two games in Dallas they could have won. After falling 104-103 on Saturday, they failed again to close out the Mavericks in Monday's 123-118 overtime loss.
Three of the four games — the Mavericks' 22-point rout in Game 2 being the exception — have been decided by a total of eight points. In each, the losing team had a shot to win on the final possession of regulation.
"I think we're right on the cusp of doing something special here," Bruce Bowen said. "I think we're playing well enough to get back (to Dallas) ... It's a situation where it comes down to small things, and if we can recover from those small things, I think we'll be successful."
Among those "small" things: Parker falling on a likely layup; a botched dribble handoff between Manu Ginobili and Robert Horry; a bad inbounds pass from Brent Barry; two key offensive rebounds by the Mavericks; and a handful of disputed calls.
"We've played well enough to win," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "So I feel good about everything."
Well, not everything. Parker strained his groin Monday and was limping noticeably by the end of the game. He remained sore Tuesday and planned to spend the rest of the day undergoing ultrasound and massage treatment.
Parker already was playing with a hip strain and contusions on each thigh.
"My body is just bruised up," he said. "But at the end of day, nobody cares. I just have to go out there and play."
Spurs officials also were still fuming over at least three calls in the fourth quarter Monday: a blocking foul on Tim Duncan they felt should have been a charge against Dirk Nowitzki; a delay-of-game technical; and a bumping foul on Bowen that led to Nowitzki tying the game with two free throws with 8.5 seconds left in regulation. After the call, Bowen walked to midcourt, looked into the stands at NBA commissioner David Stern and shouted, "Eight-point-five seconds? Eight-point-five seconds?"
"I voiced my opinion," Bowen said.
Ginobili fouled out with 2:28 left in the fourth quarter. Duncan did the same with 1:05 left in Game 3 when Nowitzki stumbled into him after stepping on his foot.
The Spurs complained Tuesday through official channels: director of officials Ronnie Nunn and senior vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson. But, as Popovich said, "All that matters is who got the 'W' and who got the 'L.'"
"Let me just say that some things at the end of games are in the teams' control and some things aren't in the teams' control, and it's best to probably concentrate on what can be controlled by us," Popovich said. "That's why we're going to concentrate on the rebound we didn't get at the end of the game, just like the rebound we didn't get at the end of Game 3.
"We can't think about what might have been done right or wrong by forces that can't be controlled by us."
Of course, the main force the Spurs have yet to control is the Mavericks themselves: Dallas has scored 113, 104 and 123 points the past three games.
Popovich junked his traditional defense anchored by two shot blockers and almost exclusively employed a small lineup Monday. Parker (33), Duncan (31), Ginobili (26) and Michael Finley (14) combined for 104 points Monday only to be matched by Jason Terry (32), Nowitzki (28), Jerry Stackhouse (26) and Devin Harris (18).
"It's like that thing, the hydra, with all those snakes coming out of the head," Horry said. "You cut one off and you've got four more to deal with."
The Spurs would like to break down the challenge facing them to more manageable terms. Win tonight, get to Game 6. Win in Dallas, come home for a winner-take-all Game 7.
"I don't see it as that impossible," Ginobili said.
The Spurs are 2-5 when facing elimination in Duncan's nine seasons. But the two games they won (Game 7 in last season's NBA Finals and Game 5 of their 2002 first-round series against Seattle) came when the other team faced the same.
While Parker looked to Diaw for a few words of wisdom, Horry has his own experience to share. In 1995, the Houston Rockets fell behind Phoenix 3-1 in the Western Conference semifinals before rallying to take the series. They went on to win the championship.
"As long as time's ticking and you've got a possession," Horry said, "you've got a shot."