duncan228
12-21-2007, 07:08 PM
I like Duncan's quote at the end.
The outlook and attitude of a Champion.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA122107_SpursDaily.en.37427b08.html
Spurs not panicking despite struggles
Jeff McDonald
Express-News Staff Writer
When Manu Ginobili watches film of this Spurs team of late, he not only finds himself upset with the guys wearing silver and black.
He doesn't even recognize them.
Sloppy passes. Missed layups. Defensive breakdowns.
“That's not who we are,” said Ginobili, a Spurs guard. “To see us play like that, it's sad.”
Indeed, these are not the happiest of times in the Spurs' locker room.
Just two weeks ago, they were 17-3, off to the best start in franchise history and anointed the team to beat in the Western Conference.
Four losses in five games later, the Spurs are struggling through a nasty identity crisis.
At 18-7, their once-sizable cushion in both the conference and the Southwest Division has eroded to almost nothing — half a game ahead of Phoenix in the former and a game up on Dallas in the latter.
Most recently, the Spurs dropped an 88-85 heartbreaker Wednesday in Memphis, a game in which they overcame a 23-point deficit in the second half only to have Rudy Gay beat them on a tiebreaking 3-pointer as time expired.
“Blame it on whatever you want to, we're just not playing well,” the Spurs' Tim Duncan said. “We've given up a pretty good lead in the division, and that's disappointing.”
There is no joy in Spursville these days, but neither is there panic.
The Spurs have been through worse stretches than this, sometimes much later in the season, and emerged just fine.
Last season, they were left for dead after losing 10 times during a 19-game stretch in January and February, before resuscitating in time to claim a fourth NBA title.
“The greatest point is we can get better,” said coach Gregg Popovich, whose team faces the Clippers on Saturday in the first of four home games to close the month. “That's our job: to get as good as we can get by playoff time. So every game is an education in a lot of different ways.”
The easy temptation is to blame the Spurs' recent mini-swoon on a rash of injuries to key contributors.
Duncan and fellow All-Star Tony Parker each missed four games with a sprained ankle. The Spurs haven't played a full game with both of them since November.
Parker hasn't played since Dec 11. Without him, the Spurs are 1-3 and their offense, which averaged better than 101 points per game with him, has slowed to a 94.7 per-game clip.
Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni, for one, noticed the difference in the Parker-less Spurs.
“Him being out, obviously they're not the same team,” Iavaroni said. “You don't have the same pressure put on the rim.”
The way guard Brent Barry sees it, the Spurs' recent slump has less to do with who isn't on the floor, and more to do with who is.
In his view, the remaining healthy Spurs haven't done a good enough job of ratcheting up the intensity to compensate for their stars' absences — especially on the road, where the Spurs have dropped three straight.
In each of those losses — at Golden State, the Lakers and Memphis — the Spurs started slow, falling into deep first-half holes they could not escape.
“People want to beat the Spurs,” Barry said. “When they see Tim or Tony out, there's blood in the water. Our effort has to be more focused and more concentrated when one of our ‘Big Three' is out.”
For Duncan, the only player who has been a part of four championship seasons with the Spurs, the struggles of the past two weeks are hardly cause for alarm. They are cause for celebration.
After all, Duncan says, few teams have won a title without first enduring some adversity.
“If you don't go through these ups and downs, you start to feel like you can conquer the world without ever having being tested,” Duncan said. “We're going to use these as learning experiences, and it's going to make us better for the long run.”
The outlook and attitude of a Champion.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA122107_SpursDaily.en.37427b08.html
Spurs not panicking despite struggles
Jeff McDonald
Express-News Staff Writer
When Manu Ginobili watches film of this Spurs team of late, he not only finds himself upset with the guys wearing silver and black.
He doesn't even recognize them.
Sloppy passes. Missed layups. Defensive breakdowns.
“That's not who we are,” said Ginobili, a Spurs guard. “To see us play like that, it's sad.”
Indeed, these are not the happiest of times in the Spurs' locker room.
Just two weeks ago, they were 17-3, off to the best start in franchise history and anointed the team to beat in the Western Conference.
Four losses in five games later, the Spurs are struggling through a nasty identity crisis.
At 18-7, their once-sizable cushion in both the conference and the Southwest Division has eroded to almost nothing — half a game ahead of Phoenix in the former and a game up on Dallas in the latter.
Most recently, the Spurs dropped an 88-85 heartbreaker Wednesday in Memphis, a game in which they overcame a 23-point deficit in the second half only to have Rudy Gay beat them on a tiebreaking 3-pointer as time expired.
“Blame it on whatever you want to, we're just not playing well,” the Spurs' Tim Duncan said. “We've given up a pretty good lead in the division, and that's disappointing.”
There is no joy in Spursville these days, but neither is there panic.
The Spurs have been through worse stretches than this, sometimes much later in the season, and emerged just fine.
Last season, they were left for dead after losing 10 times during a 19-game stretch in January and February, before resuscitating in time to claim a fourth NBA title.
“The greatest point is we can get better,” said coach Gregg Popovich, whose team faces the Clippers on Saturday in the first of four home games to close the month. “That's our job: to get as good as we can get by playoff time. So every game is an education in a lot of different ways.”
The easy temptation is to blame the Spurs' recent mini-swoon on a rash of injuries to key contributors.
Duncan and fellow All-Star Tony Parker each missed four games with a sprained ankle. The Spurs haven't played a full game with both of them since November.
Parker hasn't played since Dec 11. Without him, the Spurs are 1-3 and their offense, which averaged better than 101 points per game with him, has slowed to a 94.7 per-game clip.
Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni, for one, noticed the difference in the Parker-less Spurs.
“Him being out, obviously they're not the same team,” Iavaroni said. “You don't have the same pressure put on the rim.”
The way guard Brent Barry sees it, the Spurs' recent slump has less to do with who isn't on the floor, and more to do with who is.
In his view, the remaining healthy Spurs haven't done a good enough job of ratcheting up the intensity to compensate for their stars' absences — especially on the road, where the Spurs have dropped three straight.
In each of those losses — at Golden State, the Lakers and Memphis — the Spurs started slow, falling into deep first-half holes they could not escape.
“People want to beat the Spurs,” Barry said. “When they see Tim or Tony out, there's blood in the water. Our effort has to be more focused and more concentrated when one of our ‘Big Three' is out.”
For Duncan, the only player who has been a part of four championship seasons with the Spurs, the struggles of the past two weeks are hardly cause for alarm. They are cause for celebration.
After all, Duncan says, few teams have won a title without first enduring some adversity.
“If you don't go through these ups and downs, you start to feel like you can conquer the world without ever having being tested,” Duncan said. “We're going to use these as learning experiences, and it's going to make us better for the long run.”