duncan228
05-12-2008, 01:20 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/mfinger/stories/MYSA051208.05D.COL.BKNfinger.spurs.f0a44045.html
Mike Finger: Spurs alter Hornets' mindset
San Antonio Express-News
Easy.
That was the word David West couldn’t even bring himself to say. It was the word that never should have been on his mind, let alone his lips. And now, in the cold, cruel moments after the Spurs had shown him how foolish he was for even considering it, it was the word that made him shake his head, sigh and realize how much can change in one four-day trip to Texas.
“We thought it was going to be ...,” West said, trailing off. He sat at his locker in the AT&T Center late Sunday night, icepacks wrapped around his knees, a stupefied look on his face. He had just absorbed a second consecutive blowout loss, had just missed 11 shots and made only four, had just seen the Spurs even a playoff series his New Orleans Hornets had hoped would be over by now.
This is what the Spurs did over the weekend. They took a locker room full of kids and hope and wonder and turned it into a morgue. They met the energy and confidence of youth and slapped it silly with grit and experience. And they put themselves in position to spend next week in Los Angeles, with the only caveat being that the Lakers might lose to the Jazz.
Yes, it’s true the Spurs still have no answer for Chris Paul. The Hornets are a different team in New Orleans, and they still have home-court advantage. But this series is now the Spurs’ to lose, as sure as Tim Duncan’s temperature is back to normal. And the Hornets will need more than loud fans, a flaming hoop and an industrial-strength fire extinguisher to change that.
How will the Hornets, who have never played in a game like the one they’ll play Tuesday in New Orleans, react? Maybe they’ll handle it with poise and confidence, but it might be too late for that. The Spurs, as they’ve done so many times before, have used the early part of this series to figure things out, to spot an opponent’s weak spots and shore up their own. They’ve shed themselves of Duncan’s fever and Manu Ginobili’s calf-repairing kinesiology tape and rediscovered the power of a penetrating Tony Parker.
And if the Hornets do tense up just a little? Then they have no chance at all. Spurs forward Robert Horry has been through plenty of these playoff momentum shifts before, and he knows it depends on the specific team as to how players will react to going from complete control of a series to a must-win situation. When he played for the Lakers and they let a lead slip away, Horry said their attitude was, “That was a fluke; let’s go out there and kick their (rear).”
But he’s seen other teams allow a different attitude to seep in.
“Some players, sometimes, let the pressure get to ’em,” Horry said. “They realize, ‘hey, these cats played well, so we’ve got to win at home.’ They feel like they’re fighting an uphill battle.”
That may or may not be the case with the Hornets, but they weren’t exactly overflowing with optimism after Sunday’s shellacking. Coach Byron Scott said the Spurs “are kicking our butts right now” — the exact opposite sentiment of Horry’s Lakers approach — and Paul admitted he “can’t really explain it.”
“We didn’t even try tonight,” West said. “I don’t know what we have to do, but we didn’t come out with the right focus in the game, from the jump ball.”
So now that Duncan is back to his old self and Ginobili and Parker are finding their rhythm, haven’t they shaken the Hornets for good?
The Spurs are too smart to assume that. West, meanwhile, is on his way back to the Big Easy, understanding that the next step will be anything but.
Mike Finger: Spurs alter Hornets' mindset
San Antonio Express-News
Easy.
That was the word David West couldn’t even bring himself to say. It was the word that never should have been on his mind, let alone his lips. And now, in the cold, cruel moments after the Spurs had shown him how foolish he was for even considering it, it was the word that made him shake his head, sigh and realize how much can change in one four-day trip to Texas.
“We thought it was going to be ...,” West said, trailing off. He sat at his locker in the AT&T Center late Sunday night, icepacks wrapped around his knees, a stupefied look on his face. He had just absorbed a second consecutive blowout loss, had just missed 11 shots and made only four, had just seen the Spurs even a playoff series his New Orleans Hornets had hoped would be over by now.
This is what the Spurs did over the weekend. They took a locker room full of kids and hope and wonder and turned it into a morgue. They met the energy and confidence of youth and slapped it silly with grit and experience. And they put themselves in position to spend next week in Los Angeles, with the only caveat being that the Lakers might lose to the Jazz.
Yes, it’s true the Spurs still have no answer for Chris Paul. The Hornets are a different team in New Orleans, and they still have home-court advantage. But this series is now the Spurs’ to lose, as sure as Tim Duncan’s temperature is back to normal. And the Hornets will need more than loud fans, a flaming hoop and an industrial-strength fire extinguisher to change that.
How will the Hornets, who have never played in a game like the one they’ll play Tuesday in New Orleans, react? Maybe they’ll handle it with poise and confidence, but it might be too late for that. The Spurs, as they’ve done so many times before, have used the early part of this series to figure things out, to spot an opponent’s weak spots and shore up their own. They’ve shed themselves of Duncan’s fever and Manu Ginobili’s calf-repairing kinesiology tape and rediscovered the power of a penetrating Tony Parker.
And if the Hornets do tense up just a little? Then they have no chance at all. Spurs forward Robert Horry has been through plenty of these playoff momentum shifts before, and he knows it depends on the specific team as to how players will react to going from complete control of a series to a must-win situation. When he played for the Lakers and they let a lead slip away, Horry said their attitude was, “That was a fluke; let’s go out there and kick their (rear).”
But he’s seen other teams allow a different attitude to seep in.
“Some players, sometimes, let the pressure get to ’em,” Horry said. “They realize, ‘hey, these cats played well, so we’ve got to win at home.’ They feel like they’re fighting an uphill battle.”
That may or may not be the case with the Hornets, but they weren’t exactly overflowing with optimism after Sunday’s shellacking. Coach Byron Scott said the Spurs “are kicking our butts right now” — the exact opposite sentiment of Horry’s Lakers approach — and Paul admitted he “can’t really explain it.”
“We didn’t even try tonight,” West said. “I don’t know what we have to do, but we didn’t come out with the right focus in the game, from the jump ball.”
So now that Duncan is back to his old self and Ginobili and Parker are finding their rhythm, haven’t they shaken the Hornets for good?
The Spurs are too smart to assume that. West, meanwhile, is on his way back to the Big Easy, understanding that the next step will be anything but.