timvp
01-18-2008, 04:57 AM
Familiar process: Spurs lose again, right on schedule
Buck Harvey
San Antonio Express-News
Mike Brown sits in a small room in the visitor's locker room, and he has one postgame assignment: Imagine what is going on at the other end of the AT&T Center.
Brown should know. He once sat over there, too, as one of Gregg Popovich's assistants.
Brown says: "I'm thinking Pop's unhappy, because he really doesn't like to lose. But I think he's happy, too."
Really?
Brown smiles. "He has everything right where he wants it," he says.
That's the status of today's Popovich. He has 601 wins, four titles and zero pressure.
Other coaches would feel some heat after losing as Popovich did Thursday. Then, at home and on TNT, the Spurs lost their sixth straight to a team with a winning record.
Ten years ago fans would have called for his head. Five years ago Phil Jackson would have made fun of him. And just a year ago, when the Spurs had about the same record, San Antonio wondered whether the Spurs would get past the first round.
Then the Mavericks were lapping the field while the Spurs looked older then than they do now. As they prepared for their Rodeo Road Trip, didn't signs suggest they could come home in sixth place in the Western Conference, if not seventh?
Brown hears this, and he smiles again.
"I believe in Pop's process," Brown says. "You peak early and you gas out."
Brown's Cavaliers have won three in a row and are beginning a run of their own. But they have an excuse for starting slow; two players in their rotation held out.
Popovich, instead, brought back the same group. So how could he create The Process? How could he ensure the Spurs wouldn't be too good too early, then not listen to him go over the details again?
Minor injuries to the Big Three helped him this season, as did the Detroit Pistons. Popovich did the rest, and he was at it again Thursday.
Then the NBA Finals were replayed, albeit with a twist. These teams were good enough to work last June, but Thursday night's refs were not.
At times Brown and Popovich argued with different officials at the same time, and Tim Duncan stayed on the floor afterward to say a few words. The play that deserves a slo-mo replay: LeBron James, clocked at 101 again, headbutting Fab Oberto and not getting the charge.
But sometimes a brutal game can be fun, and this one was. Boobie Gibson threw in a clutch three, and everyone clawed for rebounds, and Manu Ginobili just front-rimmed the tying shot at the buzzer.
Had the Finals only been as entertaining.
But Popovich substituted as if he wants everyone to get a letter as a senior. For example, the same Matt Bonner who played only six minutes the previous game didn't play in the first half — yet started the second half. Then he played another six minutes before sitting down for good.
Was Thursday a national television game, or the final scrimmage of a three-month training camp?
Popovich admits to all of it. "I'm getting closer to trying to figure out who I want to play and who the main guys in the rotation are going to be and all that," Popovich said Thursday. "I'm really looking forward to the Rodeo Road Trip to finally nail it all down, because we really have been all over the map. Part is injuries. Part is our usual routine, trying to figure it out each year."
His usual routine isn't easy. Twelve of the Spurs' next 14 games are on the road, and the two home games in that stretch are no gimmes, either: the Lakers and Hornets.
At Utah, Phoenix and Boston will press them, as will the finale. At Cleveland.
Brown will be waiting for the Spurs there, and he won't be surprised if he sees a different Spurs team then. "Knowing Pop, he thinks his team is just fine. But knowing how he works, he wants them to play hard and compete — and then start taking the steps they always take."
So what did Thursday give Popovich?
"Ammunition," Brown said. "He can coach them now."
Tomorrow, when the door to the charter jet closes for the beginning of this road stretch, Popovich gets what he asked for.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA011808.01D.COL.BKNharvey.spurs.2ff5114.html
Buck Harvey
San Antonio Express-News
Mike Brown sits in a small room in the visitor's locker room, and he has one postgame assignment: Imagine what is going on at the other end of the AT&T Center.
Brown should know. He once sat over there, too, as one of Gregg Popovich's assistants.
Brown says: "I'm thinking Pop's unhappy, because he really doesn't like to lose. But I think he's happy, too."
Really?
Brown smiles. "He has everything right where he wants it," he says.
That's the status of today's Popovich. He has 601 wins, four titles and zero pressure.
Other coaches would feel some heat after losing as Popovich did Thursday. Then, at home and on TNT, the Spurs lost their sixth straight to a team with a winning record.
Ten years ago fans would have called for his head. Five years ago Phil Jackson would have made fun of him. And just a year ago, when the Spurs had about the same record, San Antonio wondered whether the Spurs would get past the first round.
Then the Mavericks were lapping the field while the Spurs looked older then than they do now. As they prepared for their Rodeo Road Trip, didn't signs suggest they could come home in sixth place in the Western Conference, if not seventh?
Brown hears this, and he smiles again.
"I believe in Pop's process," Brown says. "You peak early and you gas out."
Brown's Cavaliers have won three in a row and are beginning a run of their own. But they have an excuse for starting slow; two players in their rotation held out.
Popovich, instead, brought back the same group. So how could he create The Process? How could he ensure the Spurs wouldn't be too good too early, then not listen to him go over the details again?
Minor injuries to the Big Three helped him this season, as did the Detroit Pistons. Popovich did the rest, and he was at it again Thursday.
Then the NBA Finals were replayed, albeit with a twist. These teams were good enough to work last June, but Thursday night's refs were not.
At times Brown and Popovich argued with different officials at the same time, and Tim Duncan stayed on the floor afterward to say a few words. The play that deserves a slo-mo replay: LeBron James, clocked at 101 again, headbutting Fab Oberto and not getting the charge.
But sometimes a brutal game can be fun, and this one was. Boobie Gibson threw in a clutch three, and everyone clawed for rebounds, and Manu Ginobili just front-rimmed the tying shot at the buzzer.
Had the Finals only been as entertaining.
But Popovich substituted as if he wants everyone to get a letter as a senior. For example, the same Matt Bonner who played only six minutes the previous game didn't play in the first half — yet started the second half. Then he played another six minutes before sitting down for good.
Was Thursday a national television game, or the final scrimmage of a three-month training camp?
Popovich admits to all of it. "I'm getting closer to trying to figure out who I want to play and who the main guys in the rotation are going to be and all that," Popovich said Thursday. "I'm really looking forward to the Rodeo Road Trip to finally nail it all down, because we really have been all over the map. Part is injuries. Part is our usual routine, trying to figure it out each year."
His usual routine isn't easy. Twelve of the Spurs' next 14 games are on the road, and the two home games in that stretch are no gimmes, either: the Lakers and Hornets.
At Utah, Phoenix and Boston will press them, as will the finale. At Cleveland.
Brown will be waiting for the Spurs there, and he won't be surprised if he sees a different Spurs team then. "Knowing Pop, he thinks his team is just fine. But knowing how he works, he wants them to play hard and compete — and then start taking the steps they always take."
So what did Thursday give Popovich?
"Ammunition," Brown said. "He can coach them now."
Tomorrow, when the door to the charter jet closes for the beginning of this road stretch, Popovich gets what he asked for.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA011808.01D.COL.BKNharvey.spurs.2ff5114.html