missmyzte
01-20-2007, 02:42 AM
Mike Finger: Horry has won after bad slumps
Web Posted: 01/20/2007 12:24 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News
There is no extra gear, no magic button. If Robert Horry or any other Spurs player had one of those, they wouldn't have waited until Friday night to use it, and they darn sure wouldn't be saving it until May.
Horry, he of two 36-year-old knees, 15 NBA seasons and six championship rings, grunts and shakes his head when he hears people talk about how he and the rest of the Spurs are just keeping themselves warm for the playoffs. Their struggles over the past month have been genuine, and suggesting that losing now is part of some master plan is an idea Horry finds not only absurd but also insulting.
"To me, saying you're pacing yourself is like saying you're half-assing it," he said. "I don't believe in that."
But he doesn't believe in panicking, either, and that's why there is reason to believe the Spurs' championship window hasn't closed yet. Sure, the Mavericks and Suns both look light years ahead of them now. But for Horry, it always seems that way this time of year.
You want to talk about slumps? He's seen much worse and still lived to pop a champagne cork. The five-losses-in-nine-games stretch the Spurs endured before Friday's victory over the Hornets at the AT&T Center was ugly, but no uglier than when Houston lost four consecutive games and 7 of 11 in January 1994. Or when the Rockets dropped five games in a row in March 1995.
Then there was January 2000, when the Lakers lost four of five and five of seven. And March 2001, when they lost four of six and five of eight. And January 2002, when they lost five of seven. Even in San Antonio two years ago, the Spurs lost five of eight in one stretch of March.
The common thread in those potentially season-destroying skids? Within a few months of each of them, Horry was riding on a parade float.
None were planned, just as the Spurs' recent dip wasn't. The timing of them was no more strategic than Gregg Popovich's second technical on Friday.
Sometimes, though, what looks like the work of genius — like a 20-4 run immediately after a head coach's ejection — is merely a coincidence.
"You can't pick when you're going to get hot," Horry said. "It just happens."
More often than not, it happens for his teams in the postseason. He's made a career out of May and June the way Tom Brady has done in January and February, albeit without the attention from actresses and underwear models.
So Horry doesn't buy into the idea that two consecutive losses to Dallas proves that the Mavericks have passed the Spurs by, or that an embarrassing home defeat to the Lakers shows that age is catching up to them.
He says the slump has been about not much more than missing shots, and that "we can't shoot this bad forever." P.J. Carlesimo, who took over for Popovich on Friday and somehow managed to finish the game as one of the few sportscoat-wearing men in the AT&T Center without a technical foul, echoed Horry's sentiments, saying the Spurs are "legitimately a team that controls its own destiny."
Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash might have a few things to say about that, and likely will in a few months. Horry compares this Spurs season to his last championship year in Los Angeles — when the Lakers started 19-3, appeared to hit a wall at midseason, then regained momentum and won it all — but there's a difference. There were no teams as imposing as the Mavericks or Suns in their way that spring.
So even though, as Horry points out, "there's still time to right the ship," the Spurs have to be at least a little concerned that even if they solve their own problems, their vessel still won't be seaworthy enough to keep up with Dallas and Phoenix.
Not that Horry is worried. Told that teams sometimes find themselves in midseason slumps from which they never recover, he leaned back, smiled and knocked on the wood panel above his locker.
"I've been very fortunate," Horry said, "not to go through many of those."
And if this turns out to be one of them? If the big shots don't fall like they used to, and the seventh ring doesn't come?
It won't be because he paced himself. And it won't be because he panicked, either.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/mfinger/stories/MYSA012007.01C.COL.BKNfinger.spurs.21e126a.html
Web Posted: 01/20/2007 12:24 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News
There is no extra gear, no magic button. If Robert Horry or any other Spurs player had one of those, they wouldn't have waited until Friday night to use it, and they darn sure wouldn't be saving it until May.
Horry, he of two 36-year-old knees, 15 NBA seasons and six championship rings, grunts and shakes his head when he hears people talk about how he and the rest of the Spurs are just keeping themselves warm for the playoffs. Their struggles over the past month have been genuine, and suggesting that losing now is part of some master plan is an idea Horry finds not only absurd but also insulting.
"To me, saying you're pacing yourself is like saying you're half-assing it," he said. "I don't believe in that."
But he doesn't believe in panicking, either, and that's why there is reason to believe the Spurs' championship window hasn't closed yet. Sure, the Mavericks and Suns both look light years ahead of them now. But for Horry, it always seems that way this time of year.
You want to talk about slumps? He's seen much worse and still lived to pop a champagne cork. The five-losses-in-nine-games stretch the Spurs endured before Friday's victory over the Hornets at the AT&T Center was ugly, but no uglier than when Houston lost four consecutive games and 7 of 11 in January 1994. Or when the Rockets dropped five games in a row in March 1995.
Then there was January 2000, when the Lakers lost four of five and five of seven. And March 2001, when they lost four of six and five of eight. And January 2002, when they lost five of seven. Even in San Antonio two years ago, the Spurs lost five of eight in one stretch of March.
The common thread in those potentially season-destroying skids? Within a few months of each of them, Horry was riding on a parade float.
None were planned, just as the Spurs' recent dip wasn't. The timing of them was no more strategic than Gregg Popovich's second technical on Friday.
Sometimes, though, what looks like the work of genius — like a 20-4 run immediately after a head coach's ejection — is merely a coincidence.
"You can't pick when you're going to get hot," Horry said. "It just happens."
More often than not, it happens for his teams in the postseason. He's made a career out of May and June the way Tom Brady has done in January and February, albeit without the attention from actresses and underwear models.
So Horry doesn't buy into the idea that two consecutive losses to Dallas proves that the Mavericks have passed the Spurs by, or that an embarrassing home defeat to the Lakers shows that age is catching up to them.
He says the slump has been about not much more than missing shots, and that "we can't shoot this bad forever." P.J. Carlesimo, who took over for Popovich on Friday and somehow managed to finish the game as one of the few sportscoat-wearing men in the AT&T Center without a technical foul, echoed Horry's sentiments, saying the Spurs are "legitimately a team that controls its own destiny."
Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash might have a few things to say about that, and likely will in a few months. Horry compares this Spurs season to his last championship year in Los Angeles — when the Lakers started 19-3, appeared to hit a wall at midseason, then regained momentum and won it all — but there's a difference. There were no teams as imposing as the Mavericks or Suns in their way that spring.
So even though, as Horry points out, "there's still time to right the ship," the Spurs have to be at least a little concerned that even if they solve their own problems, their vessel still won't be seaworthy enough to keep up with Dallas and Phoenix.
Not that Horry is worried. Told that teams sometimes find themselves in midseason slumps from which they never recover, he leaned back, smiled and knocked on the wood panel above his locker.
"I've been very fortunate," Horry said, "not to go through many of those."
And if this turns out to be one of them? If the big shots don't fall like they used to, and the seventh ring doesn't come?
It won't be because he paced himself. And it won't be because he panicked, either.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/mfinger/stories/MYSA012007.01C.COL.BKNfinger.spurs.21e126a.html