Big Shot Rob
01-31-2007, 07:14 PM
Spurs can still dig deep, win the big games
KEVIN DING
Register columnist
NBA
[email protected] It's not so much the Spurs, in particular, as it is the mythical quality they possess as recent champions.
Whether such legends are real or fanciful, once players win a championship or especially more than one, they grow in our minds. They acquire an intangible power that makes us believe that come crunch time, they'll more likely play saint than faint, more often execute as winners than sinners.
So when simple logic and the standings collaborate the way they should to tell us that San Antonio does not have what Dallas and Phoenix do this season, it sinks in - but only so far. Because what Dallas and Phoenix don't have, San Antonio does have as recently as 2003 and '05 with this core group of Coach Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili.
And even though they were at Staples Center on Sunday looking older, slower and more dependent on Duncan's ground-bound, low-post fundamentals than ever, there's still something there. Even though they turn in desperation to Jacque Vaughn for an infusion of energy off the bench, even though Duncan's backup is Francisco Elson (Phil Jackson recently called him "Ellison," but at least Pervis had those Louisville glory days compared to Elson averaging 5.4 points at Cal), even though watching 36-year-old Robert Horry try to sprint suddenly brings to mind the gimpy likes of Danny Manning and Pervis Ellison trying to sprint, there's still something there.
And sure enough, we see it down the stretch: Horry's lack of lift doesn't stop him from tipping a rebound to the right open space, setting up a second-chance three-pointer for Ginobili. Duncan delivers a headband-snapping, clean screen on Smush Parker to spring Tony Parker to use equal parts savvy and body angle to draw a foul from Andrew Bynum, who's somehow helpless despite standing a foot taller at the rim. Duncan twice goes to his left hand for crucial baskets when Bynum is expecting the right. A brilliant pass from Duncan inside to Bowen outside results in the go-ahead three-point shot dropping through the net.
Bowen had not hit a shot until that one in the final minute of regulation. In fact, when the Spurs were at their worst, Bowen was 0 for 5, Ginobili was 1 for 7 and Parker was 1 for 9. Furthermore, of the past 18 three-point balls Bowen had sent up, only three had gone down.
None of that mattered in the moment. And if they were watching the ABC telecast, somewhere Tom Brady and Derek Jeter smiled.
What, Brady hasn't won a title in three years now? And Jeter hasn't won one in six? Still, we believe.
And games such as Sunday's are what carry on the trust. Champions aren't unbeatable, but they sure die harder than everyone else.
This was a rare regular-season game the Spurs really wanted - Duncan later called it "an incredibly big win" - to start San Antonio's annual "rodeo" trip right. (The Spurs vacate their arena for eight games because of a rodeo; the Lakers vacate theirs for eight games for the Grammy Awards. You can't make this stuff up.)
The Spurs won in overtime. Maybe they would've won in regulation considering Horry got the ball for San Antonio's last shot, but someone else in the arena believed in this whole champion mystique more than anyone.
Kobe Bryant ran over there and basically tackled Horry, who scrambled to his feet and protested to referee Violet Palmer after the ball missed its mark.
Afterward, Bryant chuckled about it and said: "I fouled him. Robert Horry's going to get a clean look? With the game on the line? No. He knows what I did to him. I'm not going to let Robert Horry get a clean look. No chance."
Asked what he might tell his teammates about the tough loss, Bryant focused on what the Spurs did rather than what the Lakers didn't.
"They made big shots," he said. "They played like champions."
Bryant referred to the Spurs as "champions" time after time after time and concluded: "They made really, really big shots. But that's to be expected."
After so many San Antonio big shots, Michael Finley made the biggest: a three-pointer at the end of overtime to trump Bryant's 20-footer that gave the Lakers the lead. Finley is not a champion. In fact, when he left Dallas for San Antonio last season, that's when the Mavericks finally did better than the Spurs.
But he is trying, especially now that Duncan has been pushing Finley to be more assertive on offense. Finley had been even colder than Bowen lately, missing 31 of 40 three-point attempts before the game-winner Sunday. Yet Finley took that shot just as if he were one of his more accomplished teammates.
"Everybody on the bench and everyone in the game probably wanted to take that shot," Finley said.
After a loss to Houston on Wednesday gave the Spurs more home losses this season (eight) than all of last season (seven), Popovich offered an unconventional message. He told his players there would be no trades coming, no matter that those Dallas and Phoenix machines sure seem to have better parts. Basically, Popovich was closing the door to outsiders because what San Antonio has in its room has done it before.
And if you're going to put your faith in something intangible, there's no better place to worship than at that altar.
Listen to stories like this and more: Audio news & Podcasts
KEVIN DING
Register columnist
NBA
[email protected] It's not so much the Spurs, in particular, as it is the mythical quality they possess as recent champions.
Whether such legends are real or fanciful, once players win a championship or especially more than one, they grow in our minds. They acquire an intangible power that makes us believe that come crunch time, they'll more likely play saint than faint, more often execute as winners than sinners.
So when simple logic and the standings collaborate the way they should to tell us that San Antonio does not have what Dallas and Phoenix do this season, it sinks in - but only so far. Because what Dallas and Phoenix don't have, San Antonio does have as recently as 2003 and '05 with this core group of Coach Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobili.
And even though they were at Staples Center on Sunday looking older, slower and more dependent on Duncan's ground-bound, low-post fundamentals than ever, there's still something there. Even though they turn in desperation to Jacque Vaughn for an infusion of energy off the bench, even though Duncan's backup is Francisco Elson (Phil Jackson recently called him "Ellison," but at least Pervis had those Louisville glory days compared to Elson averaging 5.4 points at Cal), even though watching 36-year-old Robert Horry try to sprint suddenly brings to mind the gimpy likes of Danny Manning and Pervis Ellison trying to sprint, there's still something there.
And sure enough, we see it down the stretch: Horry's lack of lift doesn't stop him from tipping a rebound to the right open space, setting up a second-chance three-pointer for Ginobili. Duncan delivers a headband-snapping, clean screen on Smush Parker to spring Tony Parker to use equal parts savvy and body angle to draw a foul from Andrew Bynum, who's somehow helpless despite standing a foot taller at the rim. Duncan twice goes to his left hand for crucial baskets when Bynum is expecting the right. A brilliant pass from Duncan inside to Bowen outside results in the go-ahead three-point shot dropping through the net.
Bowen had not hit a shot until that one in the final minute of regulation. In fact, when the Spurs were at their worst, Bowen was 0 for 5, Ginobili was 1 for 7 and Parker was 1 for 9. Furthermore, of the past 18 three-point balls Bowen had sent up, only three had gone down.
None of that mattered in the moment. And if they were watching the ABC telecast, somewhere Tom Brady and Derek Jeter smiled.
What, Brady hasn't won a title in three years now? And Jeter hasn't won one in six? Still, we believe.
And games such as Sunday's are what carry on the trust. Champions aren't unbeatable, but they sure die harder than everyone else.
This was a rare regular-season game the Spurs really wanted - Duncan later called it "an incredibly big win" - to start San Antonio's annual "rodeo" trip right. (The Spurs vacate their arena for eight games because of a rodeo; the Lakers vacate theirs for eight games for the Grammy Awards. You can't make this stuff up.)
The Spurs won in overtime. Maybe they would've won in regulation considering Horry got the ball for San Antonio's last shot, but someone else in the arena believed in this whole champion mystique more than anyone.
Kobe Bryant ran over there and basically tackled Horry, who scrambled to his feet and protested to referee Violet Palmer after the ball missed its mark.
Afterward, Bryant chuckled about it and said: "I fouled him. Robert Horry's going to get a clean look? With the game on the line? No. He knows what I did to him. I'm not going to let Robert Horry get a clean look. No chance."
Asked what he might tell his teammates about the tough loss, Bryant focused on what the Spurs did rather than what the Lakers didn't.
"They made big shots," he said. "They played like champions."
Bryant referred to the Spurs as "champions" time after time after time and concluded: "They made really, really big shots. But that's to be expected."
After so many San Antonio big shots, Michael Finley made the biggest: a three-pointer at the end of overtime to trump Bryant's 20-footer that gave the Lakers the lead. Finley is not a champion. In fact, when he left Dallas for San Antonio last season, that's when the Mavericks finally did better than the Spurs.
But he is trying, especially now that Duncan has been pushing Finley to be more assertive on offense. Finley had been even colder than Bowen lately, missing 31 of 40 three-point attempts before the game-winner Sunday. Yet Finley took that shot just as if he were one of his more accomplished teammates.
"Everybody on the bench and everyone in the game probably wanted to take that shot," Finley said.
After a loss to Houston on Wednesday gave the Spurs more home losses this season (eight) than all of last season (seven), Popovich offered an unconventional message. He told his players there would be no trades coming, no matter that those Dallas and Phoenix machines sure seem to have better parts. Basically, Popovich was closing the door to outsiders because what San Antonio has in its room has done it before.
And if you're going to put your faith in something intangible, there's no better place to worship than at that altar.
Listen to stories like this and more: Audio news & Podcasts