duncan228
05-07-2008, 10:06 AM
http://www.nola.com/hornets/t-p/index.ssf?/base/sports-3/121013774839520.xml&coll=1
Spurs show signs of doubt about pulling this one out
Peter Finney
His face said it all.
Gregg Popovich didn't have to speak.
After losing Game 2 to the Hornets on Monday by 18 points, the coach of the San Antonio Spurs didn't have to say, "They found a way to sustain the energy and the physical toughness in the second half, something we have been unable to do."
He said it wearing the hangdog expression of a guy asking himself, "I don't know if we have an answer for those people."
It seemed as if nothing in the body language of someone who has coached the Spurs to four NBA championships suggested Popovich felt his defending champions have what it will take to overcome a 2-0 deficit against an opponent playing like a bunch of wild and crazy guys enjoying themselves running up and down the court, but doing it in the manner of troops on a mission to convert a world of nonbelievers.
After losing Game 1 by 19 points, Pop's post-mortem was, "They just kicked our butts," but he said it as if he considered it little more than a throwaway moment in a best-of-seven series.
Now it was a look reflecting a coach's inner thoughts: "Are we good enough?"
Popovich had watched his defense hound David West, who had 30 points in the opener, into 2-of-11 shooting.
He watched Tyson Chandler score five points. He watched the Hornets miss six layups. And he watched his bench outscore Byron Scott's subs 38-20.
So what was the bad news?
The bad news was he also got to watch what Chris Paul later described as, "I just tried to pick my spots," almost from the opening tip, which turned into 30 points on 11-of-20 shooting, along with 12 assists, as he diced and sliced the Spurs, with penetrating dribbles, with the quick pass and the lob pass.
He watched the Hornets go 10-of-17 from 3-point land, including Peja Stojakovic's 5-of-7, and he watched Morris Peterson finish 5-of-5 as Paul kept finding him for perimeter jumpers.
The longer the game went on, it seemed, the Hornets' legs got younger while the Spurs' arteries were hardening.
Peterson began an 18-7 third-quarter run with a 20-footer, and it wasn't long, with the quarter winding down, that a Spur saved a ball headed out of bounds. However, the ball wound up in the hands of Paul, who whipped it to West, who found Peja in daylight behind the 3-point line, resulting in a 26-foot strike and a 76-70 lead, triggering the loudest roar of the night.
"We did a good job turning long rebounds into transition baskets," said Peja, who made a leaping save of another ball headed out of bounds in the fourth quarter during a 12-0 "energy" run that widened the lead from nine to 21 points, a stretch, Peja said, when the Hornets were "running the floor to set up transition baskets," a stretch Chandler remembered as a time the younger Hornets "played like a team that smelled blood."
Think about Chandler for a moment. Occupied making life as miserable as possible for Tim Duncan, he did not take a shot until the fourth quarter when he went 2-of-2, on a layup and an alley-oop dunk.
What Peja saw was Chandler make Duncan work, who pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, who came up with two layup-denying blocks.
What Peja saw in the Hornets defensively was a group that didn't allow the Spurs to peck away at any individual deficiencies by "covering up" with "help."
From his seat in the stands, what General Manager Jeff Bower saw was a defense whose "focus and efficiency has become more and more consistent" in the playoffs.
What Bower saw in Paul was a point guard who made one turnover in almost 41 minutes of playing time. "When you consider the amount of time Chris has the ball in his hands, the decisions he's making," Bower said, "his ratio of turnovers to assists over a very long season has been utterly amazing."
What Scott has seen in two games was "a young bunch of guys playing hungry and, maybe more than anything, playing for respect. There are still a lot of doubters out there."
Spurs show signs of doubt about pulling this one out
Peter Finney
His face said it all.
Gregg Popovich didn't have to speak.
After losing Game 2 to the Hornets on Monday by 18 points, the coach of the San Antonio Spurs didn't have to say, "They found a way to sustain the energy and the physical toughness in the second half, something we have been unable to do."
He said it wearing the hangdog expression of a guy asking himself, "I don't know if we have an answer for those people."
It seemed as if nothing in the body language of someone who has coached the Spurs to four NBA championships suggested Popovich felt his defending champions have what it will take to overcome a 2-0 deficit against an opponent playing like a bunch of wild and crazy guys enjoying themselves running up and down the court, but doing it in the manner of troops on a mission to convert a world of nonbelievers.
After losing Game 1 by 19 points, Pop's post-mortem was, "They just kicked our butts," but he said it as if he considered it little more than a throwaway moment in a best-of-seven series.
Now it was a look reflecting a coach's inner thoughts: "Are we good enough?"
Popovich had watched his defense hound David West, who had 30 points in the opener, into 2-of-11 shooting.
He watched Tyson Chandler score five points. He watched the Hornets miss six layups. And he watched his bench outscore Byron Scott's subs 38-20.
So what was the bad news?
The bad news was he also got to watch what Chris Paul later described as, "I just tried to pick my spots," almost from the opening tip, which turned into 30 points on 11-of-20 shooting, along with 12 assists, as he diced and sliced the Spurs, with penetrating dribbles, with the quick pass and the lob pass.
He watched the Hornets go 10-of-17 from 3-point land, including Peja Stojakovic's 5-of-7, and he watched Morris Peterson finish 5-of-5 as Paul kept finding him for perimeter jumpers.
The longer the game went on, it seemed, the Hornets' legs got younger while the Spurs' arteries were hardening.
Peterson began an 18-7 third-quarter run with a 20-footer, and it wasn't long, with the quarter winding down, that a Spur saved a ball headed out of bounds. However, the ball wound up in the hands of Paul, who whipped it to West, who found Peja in daylight behind the 3-point line, resulting in a 26-foot strike and a 76-70 lead, triggering the loudest roar of the night.
"We did a good job turning long rebounds into transition baskets," said Peja, who made a leaping save of another ball headed out of bounds in the fourth quarter during a 12-0 "energy" run that widened the lead from nine to 21 points, a stretch, Peja said, when the Hornets were "running the floor to set up transition baskets," a stretch Chandler remembered as a time the younger Hornets "played like a team that smelled blood."
Think about Chandler for a moment. Occupied making life as miserable as possible for Tim Duncan, he did not take a shot until the fourth quarter when he went 2-of-2, on a layup and an alley-oop dunk.
What Peja saw was Chandler make Duncan work, who pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, who came up with two layup-denying blocks.
What Peja saw in the Hornets defensively was a group that didn't allow the Spurs to peck away at any individual deficiencies by "covering up" with "help."
From his seat in the stands, what General Manager Jeff Bower saw was a defense whose "focus and efficiency has become more and more consistent" in the playoffs.
What Bower saw in Paul was a point guard who made one turnover in almost 41 minutes of playing time. "When you consider the amount of time Chris has the ball in his hands, the decisions he's making," Bower said, "his ratio of turnovers to assists over a very long season has been utterly amazing."
What Scott has seen in two games was "a young bunch of guys playing hungry and, maybe more than anything, playing for respect. There are still a lot of doubters out there."