jmard5
03-11-2008, 08:47 AM
Well, I just added the one in parenthesis. You know George Karl... he gets to have his excuses why they lost the game.
And if this has been posted, please merge it with the original one.
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http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA031108.01D.COL.BKNharvey.spurs.3ec7029.html
San Antonio Express-News
Kurt Thomas did not make the critical jumper. Let's get that straight.
With about a minute left, after Tony Parker drove and kicked back to Thomas, jumping had nothing to do with what followed.
Jumping also had little to do with Tim Duncan chasing down 18 rebounds Monday night, which is why he and Thomas go together like gravity and the earth. They get by with long arms and wide hips, and they showed for the first time since the trade was made what can happen in fourth quarters.
Dunks didn't follow, but a win did.
The Spurs haven't been leapers in this era, but this group has set some kind of land record. Combine the vertical jumps of Duncan, Thomas and Fab Oberto, and the total wouldn't surpass one LeBron bound after breakfast.
Or, as Bruce Bowen put it when asked about the jumping ability of his big men, "They conserve their energy very well."
They are especially conspicuous when playing against a team such as the Nuggets. When J.R. Smith wasn't driving for a dunk Monday night, Kenyon Martin was slamming an alley-oop.
But there are advantages to being grounded, and the Nuggets showed the other side of that, too. George Karl complained afterward about a couple of goaltending calls, and Duncan and Thomas never have to worry about goaltending. Who gets that high?
And sometimes, as the Nuggets fly at the basket, they fly off the handle. That happened, as it has in past playoff series against the Spurs, Monday.
Karl gets some of the blame. "We were fighting against a lot of calls, and we needed calls all night long," he said afterward. "I told the team during halftime that we aren't the team that gets calls in this building."
Instead of telling his players to fight through, he added to their belief that they were getting jobbed. No wonder, late in the third quarter, the Nuggets acted precisely like the kind of team that hasn't handled playoff pressure before.
Duncan jumped out to double Carmelo Anthony (correction: he didn't actually jump). As Bowen angled from one side and Duncan the other, Anthony felt cornered and came apart. Called for an over-and-back, he flung the ball and drew a technical foul.
One point, on this night, made a difference.
It's a trend against the Spurs this month. David Harrison opted for the death threat the previous time the Spurs played in the AT&T Center, and Mike D'Antoni nearly killed the Suns on Sunday with a silly technical foul late.
The Spurs argue, and Gregg Popovich can turn red in the face, too. He was ejected in the same game that featured Harrison.
But Popovich's outburst came early, and it came with a point. These other tantrums are less clever than they are foolish.
Besides, Duncan could have bitterly complained Sunday when there were non-calls on drives late in the game. He chose not to, instead coming out Monday as if determined not to use the back-to-back situation as an excuse.
His 23-point, 18-rebound line defined this, as did a rare moment late in the fourth quarter. Then, he took Manu Ginobili's 14th assist — and dunked to tie the game.
Banging next to him, using the same fundamental sense of positioning, was Thomas. "Tim tells me he can't jump," Thomas said. "But I promise you, he can jump higher than I can."
Let's get this straight, too. The difference might be measurable only by sensitive equipment.
But Thomas comes with something else, and this is what the Spurs traded for. He displayed that Monday.
Thomas banged with Shaquille O'Neal the game before, and the pick-and-roll option was available for him throughout the game. O'Neal rarely defends it.
This will come in handy in the playoffs, too, when defenses collapse, and the Spurs need one basket. So what happened Monday meant something, when Parker drove with a two-point lead, and he passed out to Thomas, and Thomas threw in the non-jumper.
Some think they saw Duncan jump for joy.
-------
:wakeup
And if this has been posted, please merge it with the original one.
-------
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA031108.01D.COL.BKNharvey.spurs.3ec7029.html
San Antonio Express-News
Kurt Thomas did not make the critical jumper. Let's get that straight.
With about a minute left, after Tony Parker drove and kicked back to Thomas, jumping had nothing to do with what followed.
Jumping also had little to do with Tim Duncan chasing down 18 rebounds Monday night, which is why he and Thomas go together like gravity and the earth. They get by with long arms and wide hips, and they showed for the first time since the trade was made what can happen in fourth quarters.
Dunks didn't follow, but a win did.
The Spurs haven't been leapers in this era, but this group has set some kind of land record. Combine the vertical jumps of Duncan, Thomas and Fab Oberto, and the total wouldn't surpass one LeBron bound after breakfast.
Or, as Bruce Bowen put it when asked about the jumping ability of his big men, "They conserve their energy very well."
They are especially conspicuous when playing against a team such as the Nuggets. When J.R. Smith wasn't driving for a dunk Monday night, Kenyon Martin was slamming an alley-oop.
But there are advantages to being grounded, and the Nuggets showed the other side of that, too. George Karl complained afterward about a couple of goaltending calls, and Duncan and Thomas never have to worry about goaltending. Who gets that high?
And sometimes, as the Nuggets fly at the basket, they fly off the handle. That happened, as it has in past playoff series against the Spurs, Monday.
Karl gets some of the blame. "We were fighting against a lot of calls, and we needed calls all night long," he said afterward. "I told the team during halftime that we aren't the team that gets calls in this building."
Instead of telling his players to fight through, he added to their belief that they were getting jobbed. No wonder, late in the third quarter, the Nuggets acted precisely like the kind of team that hasn't handled playoff pressure before.
Duncan jumped out to double Carmelo Anthony (correction: he didn't actually jump). As Bowen angled from one side and Duncan the other, Anthony felt cornered and came apart. Called for an over-and-back, he flung the ball and drew a technical foul.
One point, on this night, made a difference.
It's a trend against the Spurs this month. David Harrison opted for the death threat the previous time the Spurs played in the AT&T Center, and Mike D'Antoni nearly killed the Suns on Sunday with a silly technical foul late.
The Spurs argue, and Gregg Popovich can turn red in the face, too. He was ejected in the same game that featured Harrison.
But Popovich's outburst came early, and it came with a point. These other tantrums are less clever than they are foolish.
Besides, Duncan could have bitterly complained Sunday when there were non-calls on drives late in the game. He chose not to, instead coming out Monday as if determined not to use the back-to-back situation as an excuse.
His 23-point, 18-rebound line defined this, as did a rare moment late in the fourth quarter. Then, he took Manu Ginobili's 14th assist — and dunked to tie the game.
Banging next to him, using the same fundamental sense of positioning, was Thomas. "Tim tells me he can't jump," Thomas said. "But I promise you, he can jump higher than I can."
Let's get this straight, too. The difference might be measurable only by sensitive equipment.
But Thomas comes with something else, and this is what the Spurs traded for. He displayed that Monday.
Thomas banged with Shaquille O'Neal the game before, and the pick-and-roll option was available for him throughout the game. O'Neal rarely defends it.
This will come in handy in the playoffs, too, when defenses collapse, and the Spurs need one basket. So what happened Monday meant something, when Parker drove with a two-point lead, and he passed out to Thomas, and Thomas threw in the non-jumper.
Some think they saw Duncan jump for joy.
-------
:wakeup