whottt
11-23-2007, 02:31 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA112307.04C.BKN_Spurs_Grizzlies.en.28b03c6.html
NBA: Spurs start season sound on defense
Web Posted: 11/22/2007 11:17 PM CST
Mike Monroe
San Antonio Express-News
Long before tipoff against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was discussing defense, his favorite basketball topic.
Through his team's first 11 games Popovich had seen a lot about which he was happy. At some point this season, he mused, he would have to unleash the sort of public upbraiding he used last season after the Milwaukee Bucks blitzed the Spurs 114-107 in a game at AT&T Center on Dec. 26.
Then, Popovich called the Spurs the worst defensive team he'd coached "in the last seven or eight years."
His players, Popovich had warned, had to remember that defense is what wins for the Spurs "... or we should go ahead and make plans for a long summer."
Popovich chuckled at the memory, knowing the Spurs' summer had been short after another championship run.
"Softest team you ever saw?" he recalled. "That will come, but I can't just use that willy-nilly. It has to be asked appropriately, at the right time, or enough times in a row, in the right situation against the right team."
By halftime of Wednesday's game, Popovich may have considered unloading on his troops again. The Magic had made 25 of 39 first-half shots and scored 64 points.
Instead, Popovich concluded Orlando simply had enjoyed one of those magical shooting spells. He put his most productive scoring lineup on the court and relied on the Magic to miss a few more shots in the second half.
"Actually," Popovich said, "I think our defense has been pretty sound for this early in the year. I don't even know where we rank, field goal-percentage-wise, but I think we've done pretty well defensively overall."
After Orlando's 56 percent shooting night, the Spurs dropped all the way to 20th in the league in field goal percentage defense, at 45.6 percent, but they are third in scoring defense, at 91.0 points allowed per game. Only Boston has a larger positive differential between points scored and allowed.
Popovich expected fewer mistakes in execution of a defensive scheme that relies on rotations unlike those used by most pro teams. Fabricio Oberto, Francisco Elson and Matt Bonner have learned to trust the system. At this time last season, all three evinced occasional uncertainty.
"Fab and Matt have gotten decent minutes this season," Popovich said, "and it's not like they're new players coming in learning the system. They knew the system pretty well, and everybody else really knows what's going on."
Bruce Bowen, the defender Popovich calls the NBA's best on the perimeter, understands how difficult it can be for newcomers to fully buy into the Spurs' scheme.
"It's a matter of guys just doing the things we work on now," Bowen said. "Instead of saying 'What if I don't get there? Maybe I'll just create something different.'
"You can't do that. You've still got to try to get there and do whatever rotation it is, because somebody else is behind you."
The scheme will get another test tonight when the Spurs play the Memphis Grizzlies. Committed to the fast pace he learned as Mike D'Antoni's top assistant in Phoenix, new Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni has his club pushing the ball at every opportunity. Averaging 104.5 points, the Grizzlies scored 101 points in a loss to the Spurs on Oct. 31.
"They're very athletic and very talented," Popovich said. "They've accumulated quite a few players over the last few years in a variety of ways. They're a difficult team to guard, and with their new system they're not going to come out of the gates totally together and knowing what they're doing, but they can score."
NBA: Spurs start season sound on defense
Web Posted: 11/22/2007 11:17 PM CST
Mike Monroe
San Antonio Express-News
Long before tipoff against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was discussing defense, his favorite basketball topic.
Through his team's first 11 games Popovich had seen a lot about which he was happy. At some point this season, he mused, he would have to unleash the sort of public upbraiding he used last season after the Milwaukee Bucks blitzed the Spurs 114-107 in a game at AT&T Center on Dec. 26.
Then, Popovich called the Spurs the worst defensive team he'd coached "in the last seven or eight years."
His players, Popovich had warned, had to remember that defense is what wins for the Spurs "... or we should go ahead and make plans for a long summer."
Popovich chuckled at the memory, knowing the Spurs' summer had been short after another championship run.
"Softest team you ever saw?" he recalled. "That will come, but I can't just use that willy-nilly. It has to be asked appropriately, at the right time, or enough times in a row, in the right situation against the right team."
By halftime of Wednesday's game, Popovich may have considered unloading on his troops again. The Magic had made 25 of 39 first-half shots and scored 64 points.
Instead, Popovich concluded Orlando simply had enjoyed one of those magical shooting spells. He put his most productive scoring lineup on the court and relied on the Magic to miss a few more shots in the second half.
"Actually," Popovich said, "I think our defense has been pretty sound for this early in the year. I don't even know where we rank, field goal-percentage-wise, but I think we've done pretty well defensively overall."
After Orlando's 56 percent shooting night, the Spurs dropped all the way to 20th in the league in field goal percentage defense, at 45.6 percent, but they are third in scoring defense, at 91.0 points allowed per game. Only Boston has a larger positive differential between points scored and allowed.
Popovich expected fewer mistakes in execution of a defensive scheme that relies on rotations unlike those used by most pro teams. Fabricio Oberto, Francisco Elson and Matt Bonner have learned to trust the system. At this time last season, all three evinced occasional uncertainty.
"Fab and Matt have gotten decent minutes this season," Popovich said, "and it's not like they're new players coming in learning the system. They knew the system pretty well, and everybody else really knows what's going on."
Bruce Bowen, the defender Popovich calls the NBA's best on the perimeter, understands how difficult it can be for newcomers to fully buy into the Spurs' scheme.
"It's a matter of guys just doing the things we work on now," Bowen said. "Instead of saying 'What if I don't get there? Maybe I'll just create something different.'
"You can't do that. You've still got to try to get there and do whatever rotation it is, because somebody else is behind you."
The scheme will get another test tonight when the Spurs play the Memphis Grizzlies. Committed to the fast pace he learned as Mike D'Antoni's top assistant in Phoenix, new Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni has his club pushing the ball at every opportunity. Averaging 104.5 points, the Grizzlies scored 101 points in a loss to the Spurs on Oct. 31.
"They're very athletic and very talented," Popovich said. "They've accumulated quite a few players over the last few years in a variety of ways. They're a difficult team to guard, and with their new system they're not going to come out of the gates totally together and knowing what they're doing, but they can score."