Bandit2981
12-09-2004, 12:27 PM
He has some nerve trashing Duncan to his face...Spurs better kick their asses next time! :flipoff
link (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA120904.1C.BKNspurs.sonics.gamer.d57b4cbd.html)
Spurs fall again to surging Sonics
Web Posted: 12/09/2004 07:38 AM CST
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
Fool the Spurs once, shame on the Seattle SuperSonics.
Fool them twice, shame on the Spurs.
For the second time in little more than a month, the Sonics defeated the Spurs, this time at the SBC Center, scoring a 102-96 victory Wednesday that snapped a Spurs' 21-game home win streak dating to March 1.
And it wasn't as if the Spurs didn't understand they were facing one of the NBA's best teams. Seattle came in at 15-3, meaning the league's best record was at stake.
The Spurs (16-4) already may be wondering how to avoid being in the same bracket with the Sonics come playoff time.
The Spurs have given up more than 100 points only twice all season, both times to the Sonics.
The Spurs had cruised into that first matchup with the Sonics on Nov. 7 fresh off victories over the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers. Seattle had been thumped by the Los Angeles Clippers in its only game. Playing with what coach Gregg Popovich called an arrogance, the Spurs lost 113-94.
And Wednesday night?
Tim Duncan said the requisite respect was there but not the energy required to stop a team that moves the ball as well as the Sonics and knocks down shots that movement produces.
"Yeah, they're for real," Duncan said. "They're a very good team, very well coached and they execute very well. We have respect for them."
The respect issue may get turned on its ear the next time these teams meet, in Seattle on Jan. 31. With the Sonics leading by 10 with 2:51 left, Sonics center Jerome James got a technical foul for calling Duncan a derogatory name. James did it not once but twice. Referee Olandis Poole heard the second obscenity and gave James a technical.
Duncan had his worst game in the first loss to the Sonics, when he missed 12 of 16 shots. He wasn't the problem Wednesday, making 14 of 24 shots and scoring a season-high 39 points.
Spurs forward Malik Rose, who started the second half in place of Rasho Nesterovic as Popovich searched for intensity, took notice of the trash talk.
"They were happy, and they should have been happy," Rose said. "They whupped us again. Well, not whupped, but they beat us, and they should be happy. That's OK. They want to hoop and holler and get hyped now.
"But it's cool. They want to hoop and holler and get techs, it's all good."
What wasn't good was the Spurs' early defensive energy and intensity.
"We were focusing after the first half, when our energy and intensity weren't there," Duncan said. "Coming into a game you don't want to be overzealous at any point. You want to find the game's rhythm and play within it, but they just jumped us early and we had to use that energy in the second half to get back into it."
The culprit was the first-half breakdown of the Spurs' defense, the league's best coming into the game. Seattle got one open shot after another, making 24 of 41 shots and producing 60 points.
Against a team giving up only 84.1 per game, that qualifies as "man bites dog."
Feel free to presume Popovich barked at his troops during the break. Whatever was said produced an increased level of defensive intensity in the third quarter that was evident and effective. The Spurs forced turnovers on four of Seattle's first five possessions and changed the tempo markedly.
Ray Allen certainly noticed the difference. After scoring 19 in the first half, he got only two shots in the third quarter and missed both. Allen didn't score in the second half until he made two free throws with 10:18 remaining.
"We just lacked intensity and competitiveness (in the first half)," Rose said. "I don't know why, because they beat us up there, but we'll put it all together one of these days.
"We knew it was a big game, and they'd been playing well for a long time. But we may not have come out and showed that in the first half. We have to go back to the drawing board and get right."
link (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA120904.1C.BKNspurs.sonics.gamer.d57b4cbd.html)
Spurs fall again to surging Sonics
Web Posted: 12/09/2004 07:38 AM CST
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
Fool the Spurs once, shame on the Seattle SuperSonics.
Fool them twice, shame on the Spurs.
For the second time in little more than a month, the Sonics defeated the Spurs, this time at the SBC Center, scoring a 102-96 victory Wednesday that snapped a Spurs' 21-game home win streak dating to March 1.
And it wasn't as if the Spurs didn't understand they were facing one of the NBA's best teams. Seattle came in at 15-3, meaning the league's best record was at stake.
The Spurs (16-4) already may be wondering how to avoid being in the same bracket with the Sonics come playoff time.
The Spurs have given up more than 100 points only twice all season, both times to the Sonics.
The Spurs had cruised into that first matchup with the Sonics on Nov. 7 fresh off victories over the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers. Seattle had been thumped by the Los Angeles Clippers in its only game. Playing with what coach Gregg Popovich called an arrogance, the Spurs lost 113-94.
And Wednesday night?
Tim Duncan said the requisite respect was there but not the energy required to stop a team that moves the ball as well as the Sonics and knocks down shots that movement produces.
"Yeah, they're for real," Duncan said. "They're a very good team, very well coached and they execute very well. We have respect for them."
The respect issue may get turned on its ear the next time these teams meet, in Seattle on Jan. 31. With the Sonics leading by 10 with 2:51 left, Sonics center Jerome James got a technical foul for calling Duncan a derogatory name. James did it not once but twice. Referee Olandis Poole heard the second obscenity and gave James a technical.
Duncan had his worst game in the first loss to the Sonics, when he missed 12 of 16 shots. He wasn't the problem Wednesday, making 14 of 24 shots and scoring a season-high 39 points.
Spurs forward Malik Rose, who started the second half in place of Rasho Nesterovic as Popovich searched for intensity, took notice of the trash talk.
"They were happy, and they should have been happy," Rose said. "They whupped us again. Well, not whupped, but they beat us, and they should be happy. That's OK. They want to hoop and holler and get hyped now.
"But it's cool. They want to hoop and holler and get techs, it's all good."
What wasn't good was the Spurs' early defensive energy and intensity.
"We were focusing after the first half, when our energy and intensity weren't there," Duncan said. "Coming into a game you don't want to be overzealous at any point. You want to find the game's rhythm and play within it, but they just jumped us early and we had to use that energy in the second half to get back into it."
The culprit was the first-half breakdown of the Spurs' defense, the league's best coming into the game. Seattle got one open shot after another, making 24 of 41 shots and producing 60 points.
Against a team giving up only 84.1 per game, that qualifies as "man bites dog."
Feel free to presume Popovich barked at his troops during the break. Whatever was said produced an increased level of defensive intensity in the third quarter that was evident and effective. The Spurs forced turnovers on four of Seattle's first five possessions and changed the tempo markedly.
Ray Allen certainly noticed the difference. After scoring 19 in the first half, he got only two shots in the third quarter and missed both. Allen didn't score in the second half until he made two free throws with 10:18 remaining.
"We just lacked intensity and competitiveness (in the first half)," Rose said. "I don't know why, because they beat us up there, but we'll put it all together one of these days.
"We knew it was a big game, and they'd been playing well for a long time. But we may not have come out and showed that in the first half. We have to go back to the drawing board and get right."