Amuseddaysleeper
04-08-2008, 12:03 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA040808.Spurs-0408.en.36a72bf.html
Spurs: Limiting Duncan's workload a priority
Web Posted: 04/07/2008 11:27 PM CDT
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
One of the best lines never uttered about pro basketball has been verified as apocryphal by someone who should know.
Bill Sharman, who coached the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers to 69 victories, recently denied the existence of a quote attributed to Wilt Chamberlain about the relative importance of the game-day shootaround.
It was Sharman who introduced the shootaround during that amazing season, which produced a 33-game win streak and an NBA title and made instant copycats of every other NBA coach.
Chamberlain was Sharman's star center. As the story goes, the legendary late-night carouser was less than thrilled about having to get up, mid-morning, for a practice. Soon, a story began circulating that Chamberlain's response to Sharman's morning practices was to send the team trainer to the coach with a message: "I'll show up at the arena once today. He can have me for the shootaround or the game. His choice."
Sharman recently said he has heard the story hundreds of times over the years but that it isn't true. Chamberlain, he insisted, agreed to the morning practices as long as the Lakers won consistently.
Somehow, though, the verity of the "practice or game" quote retains near-universal acceptance.
Even Spurs coach Gregg Popovich remains duped.
As he explained his practice of limiting Tim Duncan's physical load on off days, Popovich leaned on The Wilt Ultimatum.
"He has to be rested," Popovich said. "You can't beat him up in practice. That wouldn't be very smart. Like Wilt said: 'Do you want me in the game, or do you want me in practice?'
"The game is the right answer."
Lightening Duncan's off-day workload has been beneficial this season. Quietly, he is having his best season since he was voted Most Valuable Player in 2003. No longer battling plantar fasciitis in both feet, he has been quicker and more explosive than his past two seasons. He continues to be one of the league's best rebounders and shot blockers. The Spurs' offense continues to run through him most of the time, even when Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker share the court with him.
"He's playing with the same energy," Popovich said, "and his body looks quicker, and more explosive, probably like it was three or four years ago."
With only five games left in the regular season and a top four finish in the Western Conference standings looking more secure, Duncan acknowledged some self-satisfaction at how his season has gone.
Mostly, he likes how healthy he feels as the playoffs approach.
"This season's been good for me," he said. "With the exception of that one injury, which I had early in the season, it's really been pretty good."
An ankle sprain kept him out of four games in early December, but he has had no lingering effects. In fact, sitting out nearly two weeks then may have him slightly fresher now.
Duncan's health is one reason Popovich has watched with equanimity the ups and downs of the Spurs' position in the Western Conference standings over the past five weeks. Since early March, they have occupied first, second, third, fifth and sixth places.
Popovich has maintained for weeks that playoff positioning has been secondary to crisp execution and, more importantly, good health.
"I feel great," he said after the Spurs defeated Portland on Sunday despite producing their second-lowest point total of the season less than 48 hours after producing the lowest point total in franchise history. "We may win (the championship). We may not. And life will go on, either way. But we'll give it our best shot, and so are the other seven teams that are going to be in the playoffs, and all of them are just as good as we are.
"I don't think there's anybody that has anything over anybody else. I honestly don't. It's just going to be who can play the best over a seven-game series, and usually, the best team wins. Almost always, the best team will win a seven-game series, and that will tell the tale."
Spurs: Limiting Duncan's workload a priority
Web Posted: 04/07/2008 11:27 PM CDT
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
One of the best lines never uttered about pro basketball has been verified as apocryphal by someone who should know.
Bill Sharman, who coached the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers to 69 victories, recently denied the existence of a quote attributed to Wilt Chamberlain about the relative importance of the game-day shootaround.
It was Sharman who introduced the shootaround during that amazing season, which produced a 33-game win streak and an NBA title and made instant copycats of every other NBA coach.
Chamberlain was Sharman's star center. As the story goes, the legendary late-night carouser was less than thrilled about having to get up, mid-morning, for a practice. Soon, a story began circulating that Chamberlain's response to Sharman's morning practices was to send the team trainer to the coach with a message: "I'll show up at the arena once today. He can have me for the shootaround or the game. His choice."
Sharman recently said he has heard the story hundreds of times over the years but that it isn't true. Chamberlain, he insisted, agreed to the morning practices as long as the Lakers won consistently.
Somehow, though, the verity of the "practice or game" quote retains near-universal acceptance.
Even Spurs coach Gregg Popovich remains duped.
As he explained his practice of limiting Tim Duncan's physical load on off days, Popovich leaned on The Wilt Ultimatum.
"He has to be rested," Popovich said. "You can't beat him up in practice. That wouldn't be very smart. Like Wilt said: 'Do you want me in the game, or do you want me in practice?'
"The game is the right answer."
Lightening Duncan's off-day workload has been beneficial this season. Quietly, he is having his best season since he was voted Most Valuable Player in 2003. No longer battling plantar fasciitis in both feet, he has been quicker and more explosive than his past two seasons. He continues to be one of the league's best rebounders and shot blockers. The Spurs' offense continues to run through him most of the time, even when Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker share the court with him.
"He's playing with the same energy," Popovich said, "and his body looks quicker, and more explosive, probably like it was three or four years ago."
With only five games left in the regular season and a top four finish in the Western Conference standings looking more secure, Duncan acknowledged some self-satisfaction at how his season has gone.
Mostly, he likes how healthy he feels as the playoffs approach.
"This season's been good for me," he said. "With the exception of that one injury, which I had early in the season, it's really been pretty good."
An ankle sprain kept him out of four games in early December, but he has had no lingering effects. In fact, sitting out nearly two weeks then may have him slightly fresher now.
Duncan's health is one reason Popovich has watched with equanimity the ups and downs of the Spurs' position in the Western Conference standings over the past five weeks. Since early March, they have occupied first, second, third, fifth and sixth places.
Popovich has maintained for weeks that playoff positioning has been secondary to crisp execution and, more importantly, good health.
"I feel great," he said after the Spurs defeated Portland on Sunday despite producing their second-lowest point total of the season less than 48 hours after producing the lowest point total in franchise history. "We may win (the championship). We may not. And life will go on, either way. But we'll give it our best shot, and so are the other seven teams that are going to be in the playoffs, and all of them are just as good as we are.
"I don't think there's anybody that has anything over anybody else. I honestly don't. It's just going to be who can play the best over a seven-game series, and usually, the best team wins. Almost always, the best team will win a seven-game series, and that will tell the tale."