Spurs Brazil
02-25-2007, 10:48 AM
Buck Harvey: Big Shot or just shot? Familiar signs from Horry
Web Posted: 02/25/2007 12:20 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News
It's one of those ESPN commercials inspired by the sophisticated humor of Jim Carrey. Guys are sitting around talking sports, and one of them is talking out of his, well, ignorance.
His backside says something about how it's too bad Vince Young was such a bust, and later, it utters this blasphemy: "The Spurs don't have a chance this year."
His friends laugh at him for not knowing any better, and he pledges to watch more cable so he won't say such silly things again.
But Dallas wonders what the joke is, and there's more than one in San Antonio who wonders, too. The Spurs own the league's third-best record, and that might as well be the 30th, right?
A five-game winning streak in February won't change that, especially considering the Spurs' victims since the All-Star break. Denver, Atlanta and Seattle might as well all be coached by Bob Hill.
But the Spurs keep showing signs. A fast-twitch defense combines with a Tony Parker show one night, followed by a Manu Ginobili 2005 playoff moment the next. Tim Duncan looks like Tim Duncan, which is always useful, and then came Saturday.
Robert Horry tossed 3-pointers again from out of, well, you know where.
Horry scored only 17 points against Seattle, and, coming after Ginobili's 24-straight highlight in Atlanta, no one was mesmerized. Still, that was the second most Horry had ever scored in the regular season for the Spurs.
He's always been better known for what he does later in the season as the Human Trane (he comes on in the summer). Horry's highest point total with the Spurs was His Night in Detroit.
So when he came to the bench Saturday after dropping a series of 3-pointers on the Sonics, Duncan felt the need to remind Horry the playoffs hadn't started yet. "He's getting a little senile," Duncan said.
Duncan joked, but some in the organization have been worried Horry had finally aged. Michael Finley appeared to still have his legs, and Bruce Bowen, assuming the tightness in his lower back remains loose, still has enough quickness.
But Horry? He's been the concern.
Horry made a few cracks before the season started ("I'm in twilight prime."), and as the season went along, he started to frame his twilight differently.
"I probably won't be able to give you a great effort every night," he admitted in January. "There are some nights I'm just dog-tired for no reason."
Gregg Popovich didn't need to hear any more. From then on, he decided not to play Horry in back-to-backs, and that was in place this past week. Even as the game tightened in Atlanta — when Popovich thought about using Horry — he kept him on the bench because the Spurs played the night before.
Horry won't have this problem in the playoffs, nor will he have the issue he says bothered him the most this season. Nothing made him feel old, after all, like the new ball. "It almost made me want to retire," he said Saturday.
When David Stern reinstalled the leather original, Horry says he needed only a day or two to adjust. After shooting about 26 percent on threes the first month of the season, he's shooting better than his career average since.
The first quarter Saturday was part of that. Then, checking in with the Spurs ahead by three points, Horry went into Detroit mode.
He began with his trademark top-of-the-key 3-pointer, and Ginobili followed with passes — as he did for the finale in 2005 in Detroit — for two more Horry threes.
The Spurs went up by 12 points then. And at the end of the third quarter, when Ginobili again got Horry the ball and Horry again threw in a three, the Spurs went ahead by 33.
"I told him after the game we took snapshots of all those shots," Popovich said afterward. "That's not going to happen all the time."
It doesn't have to happen all the time. Horry, instead, is another Spurs player who is coming around, and another sign.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA022507.01C.COL.BKNharvey.spurs.1826535.html
Web Posted: 02/25/2007 12:20 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News
It's one of those ESPN commercials inspired by the sophisticated humor of Jim Carrey. Guys are sitting around talking sports, and one of them is talking out of his, well, ignorance.
His backside says something about how it's too bad Vince Young was such a bust, and later, it utters this blasphemy: "The Spurs don't have a chance this year."
His friends laugh at him for not knowing any better, and he pledges to watch more cable so he won't say such silly things again.
But Dallas wonders what the joke is, and there's more than one in San Antonio who wonders, too. The Spurs own the league's third-best record, and that might as well be the 30th, right?
A five-game winning streak in February won't change that, especially considering the Spurs' victims since the All-Star break. Denver, Atlanta and Seattle might as well all be coached by Bob Hill.
But the Spurs keep showing signs. A fast-twitch defense combines with a Tony Parker show one night, followed by a Manu Ginobili 2005 playoff moment the next. Tim Duncan looks like Tim Duncan, which is always useful, and then came Saturday.
Robert Horry tossed 3-pointers again from out of, well, you know where.
Horry scored only 17 points against Seattle, and, coming after Ginobili's 24-straight highlight in Atlanta, no one was mesmerized. Still, that was the second most Horry had ever scored in the regular season for the Spurs.
He's always been better known for what he does later in the season as the Human Trane (he comes on in the summer). Horry's highest point total with the Spurs was His Night in Detroit.
So when he came to the bench Saturday after dropping a series of 3-pointers on the Sonics, Duncan felt the need to remind Horry the playoffs hadn't started yet. "He's getting a little senile," Duncan said.
Duncan joked, but some in the organization have been worried Horry had finally aged. Michael Finley appeared to still have his legs, and Bruce Bowen, assuming the tightness in his lower back remains loose, still has enough quickness.
But Horry? He's been the concern.
Horry made a few cracks before the season started ("I'm in twilight prime."), and as the season went along, he started to frame his twilight differently.
"I probably won't be able to give you a great effort every night," he admitted in January. "There are some nights I'm just dog-tired for no reason."
Gregg Popovich didn't need to hear any more. From then on, he decided not to play Horry in back-to-backs, and that was in place this past week. Even as the game tightened in Atlanta — when Popovich thought about using Horry — he kept him on the bench because the Spurs played the night before.
Horry won't have this problem in the playoffs, nor will he have the issue he says bothered him the most this season. Nothing made him feel old, after all, like the new ball. "It almost made me want to retire," he said Saturday.
When David Stern reinstalled the leather original, Horry says he needed only a day or two to adjust. After shooting about 26 percent on threes the first month of the season, he's shooting better than his career average since.
The first quarter Saturday was part of that. Then, checking in with the Spurs ahead by three points, Horry went into Detroit mode.
He began with his trademark top-of-the-key 3-pointer, and Ginobili followed with passes — as he did for the finale in 2005 in Detroit — for two more Horry threes.
The Spurs went up by 12 points then. And at the end of the third quarter, when Ginobili again got Horry the ball and Horry again threw in a three, the Spurs went ahead by 33.
"I told him after the game we took snapshots of all those shots," Popovich said afterward. "That's not going to happen all the time."
It doesn't have to happen all the time. Horry, instead, is another Spurs player who is coming around, and another sign.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA022507.01C.COL.BKNharvey.spurs.1826535.html