Spurs Brazil
01-27-2008, 06:06 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA012708.buckharvey.en.60c2edf0.html
Buck Harvey: Road lessons: Spurs aren't only ones who travel
Web Posted: 01/27/2008 12:08 AM CST
Buck Harvey
Express-News staff writer
The Spurs should be scared, and not just because they will be bumping into Gregg Popovich in hotel lobbies for the next few weeks.
The Spurs should be scared because after the Hornets routed them Saturday night, David West and Chris Paul sat on the bench in the final minutes and said a few things.
“We were saying,” said Paul, “that, man, the Spurs would be tough to beat in a seven-game series.”
Young and talented is one thing.
Young, talented and smart is another.
The Hornets were still giddy afterward, and they had every right to be. They are on top of the Western Conference with an eight-game winning streak, and beating up the defending champs on the road might have been the biggest regular-season win in the franchise’s history.
No wonder they stood around afterward watching replays on a television in their locker room. When one of them dunked, they hollered the way high-school kids do.
The Spurs don’t act this way unless it’s after a game in mid-June, and Paul understands this, too. “They are mellow,” he said, “and they have reason to be.”
Their mellowness will be tested when Popovich gets them behind closed doors on the road, and he will have a few things to say. Something to point out that happened Saturday night: The Hornets scored on seven of eight possessions in a run early in the second half.
It’s become a trend. Detroit did the same, as did Cleveland. The Spurs are known for occasionally mixing in a few stops.
Popovich will work on this during the road trip, but there’s something this season he can’t control, and that’s the improved Western Conference. Portland and Utah are tied for the last playoff spot, meaning one would head to the lottery if the playoffs started today. Yet their winning percentage equates to about 48 wins, and that total would have been good enough to win two of the Eastern divisions last season.
Or, to put it another way, the Lakers and Warriors made the playoffs last year with 42 wins each.
The Spurs currently have four fewer losses than Portland and Utah and five fewer than Houston, who has the conference’s 10th best record. Given that, is it conceivable the defending champs are in jeopardy of missing the playoffs?
“Sure,” Popovich said Saturday. “Could happen to any one of us. Get a bad stretch of luck, like Houston last year, and you could be out of it. Before you could make it in if you had an injury. Now you have to sustain (success). I don’t remember anything like this.”
The bottom of the conference has a new look, and so does the top because of the Hornets. They won only 39 games a year ago, mostly because of injuries, and one loss in San Antonio last season summed up the frustration for Paul. He was ejected – while sitting on the bench in street clothes.
He had the same edge Saturday, sometimes trading elbows with Bruce Bowen and getting distracted in the process. But the mood passed, as if the young star was taking yet another step.
Afterward he talked about these steps. He knows that gearing up to play the Spurs is different than playing them in a series. “We’re still learning,” he said, “what they already know.”
That’s what he and West talked about on the bench. Beating San Antonio once was huge. But can you imagine having to beat the Spurs four times?
Paul will take this for now. “Last year against the top teams, such as Phoenix, Dallas and San Antonio, we were 0-12. This year I’m not sure what it is, but it’s not 0-12, I’ll tell you that much.”
The Hornets are 5-2 against them this season, and next month they will get more chances against all three. Several of these will be on the road, including another in San Antonio.
These are all steps, especially for a young group, and Saturday was another. Then the Hornets broke through, coming back after playing the night before, and they beat the Spurs at their own game.
They proved the Spurs aren’t the only ones who go on the road to learn something.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]
Buck Harvey: Road lessons: Spurs aren't only ones who travel
Web Posted: 01/27/2008 12:08 AM CST
Buck Harvey
Express-News staff writer
The Spurs should be scared, and not just because they will be bumping into Gregg Popovich in hotel lobbies for the next few weeks.
The Spurs should be scared because after the Hornets routed them Saturday night, David West and Chris Paul sat on the bench in the final minutes and said a few things.
“We were saying,” said Paul, “that, man, the Spurs would be tough to beat in a seven-game series.”
Young and talented is one thing.
Young, talented and smart is another.
The Hornets were still giddy afterward, and they had every right to be. They are on top of the Western Conference with an eight-game winning streak, and beating up the defending champs on the road might have been the biggest regular-season win in the franchise’s history.
No wonder they stood around afterward watching replays on a television in their locker room. When one of them dunked, they hollered the way high-school kids do.
The Spurs don’t act this way unless it’s after a game in mid-June, and Paul understands this, too. “They are mellow,” he said, “and they have reason to be.”
Their mellowness will be tested when Popovich gets them behind closed doors on the road, and he will have a few things to say. Something to point out that happened Saturday night: The Hornets scored on seven of eight possessions in a run early in the second half.
It’s become a trend. Detroit did the same, as did Cleveland. The Spurs are known for occasionally mixing in a few stops.
Popovich will work on this during the road trip, but there’s something this season he can’t control, and that’s the improved Western Conference. Portland and Utah are tied for the last playoff spot, meaning one would head to the lottery if the playoffs started today. Yet their winning percentage equates to about 48 wins, and that total would have been good enough to win two of the Eastern divisions last season.
Or, to put it another way, the Lakers and Warriors made the playoffs last year with 42 wins each.
The Spurs currently have four fewer losses than Portland and Utah and five fewer than Houston, who has the conference’s 10th best record. Given that, is it conceivable the defending champs are in jeopardy of missing the playoffs?
“Sure,” Popovich said Saturday. “Could happen to any one of us. Get a bad stretch of luck, like Houston last year, and you could be out of it. Before you could make it in if you had an injury. Now you have to sustain (success). I don’t remember anything like this.”
The bottom of the conference has a new look, and so does the top because of the Hornets. They won only 39 games a year ago, mostly because of injuries, and one loss in San Antonio last season summed up the frustration for Paul. He was ejected – while sitting on the bench in street clothes.
He had the same edge Saturday, sometimes trading elbows with Bruce Bowen and getting distracted in the process. But the mood passed, as if the young star was taking yet another step.
Afterward he talked about these steps. He knows that gearing up to play the Spurs is different than playing them in a series. “We’re still learning,” he said, “what they already know.”
That’s what he and West talked about on the bench. Beating San Antonio once was huge. But can you imagine having to beat the Spurs four times?
Paul will take this for now. “Last year against the top teams, such as Phoenix, Dallas and San Antonio, we were 0-12. This year I’m not sure what it is, but it’s not 0-12, I’ll tell you that much.”
The Hornets are 5-2 against them this season, and next month they will get more chances against all three. Several of these will be on the road, including another in San Antonio.
These are all steps, especially for a young group, and Saturday was another. Then the Hornets broke through, coming back after playing the night before, and they beat the Spurs at their own game.
They proved the Spurs aren’t the only ones who go on the road to learn something.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]