Man of Steel
03-25-2007, 01:01 AM
WINDERMAN: Sunday NBA column
Spurs quietly rounding into playoff form
Published March 25, 2007
The Mavericks have spent an entire season with a chip on their shoulder, treating the regular season like a crusade, as if to validate their status as an enduring contender. Clearly, blowing the final four games of last season's NBA Finals to the Heat still resonates.
The Suns called in their leading players for a meeting after recent losses to Detroit and Denver, and have unveiled a new mascot, Trophy Guy ("Trophy Guy is currently living in Miami, but is reportedly in the market for a new location and has recently been spotted searching real estate in the Phoenix area," reads the Suns marketing release).
And the Pistons continue to bemoan their status as an afterthought contender from an afterthought conference, with forward Rasheed Wallace saying he wouldn't vote for either of the leading MVP candidates, Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Phoenix's Steve Nash, but rather, "Somebody who plays defense. None of them play any defense."
Yet while three of the league's leading contenders continue to lament "why not us," another quietly is positioning itself for a fourth championship in nine years.
Don't sleep on the Spurs -- not that San Antonio would mind if you did.
Granted, the Spurs would prefer not to be bracketed as the road team for a potential second-round matchup against the Suns, but with their current No. 3 Western seed, it means avoiding a rugged first-round matchup against Utah or Houston, as well as meeting the Mavericks no earlier than the conference finals.
But, more than that, the under-the-radar approach has left the veteran Spurs in position to make noise when it matters most.
"We haven't really focused on getting the best record in any year," coach Gregg Popovich told San Antonio's Express News. "Some years we've gotten it, some years we haven't, but it's never been the focus. The focus has always been making sure our priorities are in order, beginning with defense, that we're as healthy as we can possibly be, and that our bench has gotten enough minutes to be comfortable come playoff time."
So while Phoenix plays the tightest rotation of any contender, one that barely goes eight deep, and while Dallas remains on a minute-by-minute mission, the Spurs take a measured approach.
As a matter of perspective, while the Mavericks have loaded up on the minutes of Nowitzki (37 per game), Josh Howard (35.7) and Jason Terry (35.5), and while the Suns have Shawn Marion (38.3), Raja Bell (37.5) and Nash (35.4) leading a group of six players averaging at least 30, the Spurs went into the weekend without a single player averaging as many as 35 minutes and with only Tim Duncan and Tony Parker averaging more than 31.
"It helps," Popovich said, "to not play starters an inordinate number of minutes to win games early at the expense of burning those guys out and not developing the bench the way it probably needs to be come playoff time."
That's why you're currently seeing Francisco Elson getting his share of minutes at center. It's not because the offseason acquisition has necessarily earned them, but rather because his ability to run the floor could prove crucial in a potential first-round meeting with the Nuggets or that looming second-round showdown with the Suns.
Recall that during last season's playoffs, when the Spurs were knocked out by the Mavericks in the second round, lumbering big men Nazr Mohammed and Rasho Nesterovic couldn't keep pace.
And then there are the mainstays. Parker stands with Nash as the league's only players averaging at least 15 points and five assists while also shooting at least 50 percent from the field. Duncan is at his highest field-goal percentage since his rookie season. And guard Manu Ginobili has been rejuvenated by his shift to a reserve role.
In a month, when the games begin to matter most, so, apparently, will the Spurs.
In the lane
DISSECTING DIRK: Dwyane Wade apparently is not alone in questioning the mettle of Dirk Nowitzki. Last week, the Mavericks forward offered some surprisingly candid self-analysis. "I think everybody who says they don't get tense, they're lying," Nowitzki told the Washington Post of his recent meltdown against the Suns. Nowitzki said his only failing is being human. "If we were all machines, the game would be boring," he said. "I guess emotions play a factor in a big game like that, and I missed two free throws that were crucial."
LAMENTING LEBRON: Nowitzki isn't the only MVP candidate dealing with his share of scrutiny. Last week, the Elias Sports Bureau came up with a doozy of a stat after Cleveland's unexpected overtime loss in Charlotte. It seems that LeBron James, who missed four potential game-deciding shots at the end of regulation in that game, is now 0 for 9 this season on 3-pointers taken in the last two minutes of regulation and overtime when his Cavaliers stand within three points.
BRING IT ON: As he watched his starting shooting guard being roughed up in recent games, Pistons coach Flip Saunders told the Detroit News he saw a benefit for Richard Hamilton. "Before we played Miami last year," Saunders said of an Eastern Conference finals Detroit lost 4-2, "we were so used to going anywhere we wanted. But when we got the resistance we got in Miami, we weren't prepared. What he's going through now will help him down the road."
PESKY POINT: Apparently, opponents don't find the Spurs' Tony Parker as endearing as fiancee Eva Longoria does. Over a five-game span, opposing point guards Jamaal Tinsley, Jason Kidd and Maurice Williams were ejected. "I don't talk trash. I don't say nothing," Parker told San Antonio's Express-News, insisting he had no need to pardon his French. "I just do my best and try to be a pain in the butt."
Spurs quietly rounding into playoff form
Published March 25, 2007
The Mavericks have spent an entire season with a chip on their shoulder, treating the regular season like a crusade, as if to validate their status as an enduring contender. Clearly, blowing the final four games of last season's NBA Finals to the Heat still resonates.
The Suns called in their leading players for a meeting after recent losses to Detroit and Denver, and have unveiled a new mascot, Trophy Guy ("Trophy Guy is currently living in Miami, but is reportedly in the market for a new location and has recently been spotted searching real estate in the Phoenix area," reads the Suns marketing release).
And the Pistons continue to bemoan their status as an afterthought contender from an afterthought conference, with forward Rasheed Wallace saying he wouldn't vote for either of the leading MVP candidates, Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Phoenix's Steve Nash, but rather, "Somebody who plays defense. None of them play any defense."
Yet while three of the league's leading contenders continue to lament "why not us," another quietly is positioning itself for a fourth championship in nine years.
Don't sleep on the Spurs -- not that San Antonio would mind if you did.
Granted, the Spurs would prefer not to be bracketed as the road team for a potential second-round matchup against the Suns, but with their current No. 3 Western seed, it means avoiding a rugged first-round matchup against Utah or Houston, as well as meeting the Mavericks no earlier than the conference finals.
But, more than that, the under-the-radar approach has left the veteran Spurs in position to make noise when it matters most.
"We haven't really focused on getting the best record in any year," coach Gregg Popovich told San Antonio's Express News. "Some years we've gotten it, some years we haven't, but it's never been the focus. The focus has always been making sure our priorities are in order, beginning with defense, that we're as healthy as we can possibly be, and that our bench has gotten enough minutes to be comfortable come playoff time."
So while Phoenix plays the tightest rotation of any contender, one that barely goes eight deep, and while Dallas remains on a minute-by-minute mission, the Spurs take a measured approach.
As a matter of perspective, while the Mavericks have loaded up on the minutes of Nowitzki (37 per game), Josh Howard (35.7) and Jason Terry (35.5), and while the Suns have Shawn Marion (38.3), Raja Bell (37.5) and Nash (35.4) leading a group of six players averaging at least 30, the Spurs went into the weekend without a single player averaging as many as 35 minutes and with only Tim Duncan and Tony Parker averaging more than 31.
"It helps," Popovich said, "to not play starters an inordinate number of minutes to win games early at the expense of burning those guys out and not developing the bench the way it probably needs to be come playoff time."
That's why you're currently seeing Francisco Elson getting his share of minutes at center. It's not because the offseason acquisition has necessarily earned them, but rather because his ability to run the floor could prove crucial in a potential first-round meeting with the Nuggets or that looming second-round showdown with the Suns.
Recall that during last season's playoffs, when the Spurs were knocked out by the Mavericks in the second round, lumbering big men Nazr Mohammed and Rasho Nesterovic couldn't keep pace.
And then there are the mainstays. Parker stands with Nash as the league's only players averaging at least 15 points and five assists while also shooting at least 50 percent from the field. Duncan is at his highest field-goal percentage since his rookie season. And guard Manu Ginobili has been rejuvenated by his shift to a reserve role.
In a month, when the games begin to matter most, so, apparently, will the Spurs.
In the lane
DISSECTING DIRK: Dwyane Wade apparently is not alone in questioning the mettle of Dirk Nowitzki. Last week, the Mavericks forward offered some surprisingly candid self-analysis. "I think everybody who says they don't get tense, they're lying," Nowitzki told the Washington Post of his recent meltdown against the Suns. Nowitzki said his only failing is being human. "If we were all machines, the game would be boring," he said. "I guess emotions play a factor in a big game like that, and I missed two free throws that were crucial."
LAMENTING LEBRON: Nowitzki isn't the only MVP candidate dealing with his share of scrutiny. Last week, the Elias Sports Bureau came up with a doozy of a stat after Cleveland's unexpected overtime loss in Charlotte. It seems that LeBron James, who missed four potential game-deciding shots at the end of regulation in that game, is now 0 for 9 this season on 3-pointers taken in the last two minutes of regulation and overtime when his Cavaliers stand within three points.
BRING IT ON: As he watched his starting shooting guard being roughed up in recent games, Pistons coach Flip Saunders told the Detroit News he saw a benefit for Richard Hamilton. "Before we played Miami last year," Saunders said of an Eastern Conference finals Detroit lost 4-2, "we were so used to going anywhere we wanted. But when we got the resistance we got in Miami, we weren't prepared. What he's going through now will help him down the road."
PESKY POINT: Apparently, opponents don't find the Spurs' Tony Parker as endearing as fiancee Eva Longoria does. Over a five-game span, opposing point guards Jamaal Tinsley, Jason Kidd and Maurice Williams were ejected. "I don't talk trash. I don't say nothing," Parker told San Antonio's Express-News, insisting he had no need to pardon his French. "I just do my best and try to be a pain in the butt."