duncan228
05-20-2008, 11:24 PM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/bharvey/stories/MYSA052108.1E.COL.BKNharvey.spurs.13008302.html
Buck Harvey: Grounded, Spurs fly over the Lakers
Stuck on the tarmac, with hours to waste, Brent Barry had one regret. He wished he’d bought the vintage guitar he’d admired in a shop in the New Orleans Warehouse District.
Those who tried to sleep, however, were likely not as upset by this.
The Spurs instead ate, and they talked, and about 2 a.m., they turned out the lights. Then they recreated a trans-Atlantic flight while never leaving the ground.
Gregg Popovich still tried to make sure they didn’t crash. “I just told everyone we would have a sleepover,” he said later. “Got pajamas for everybody.”
Popovich had fun with it, and winning allowed him to. If the Spurs had lost to the Hornets and been forced to sit on an airplane for seven hours before taking off, well, as Popovich said, “There would have been death.”
But those on the plane said Popovich did more than laugh. Walking around the charter, he added to the humor with words that had an edge.
“Just another challenge,” he kept saying.
The Spurs will beat a younger, MVP-led team that has the home-court advantage because of this attitude — one that became real in New Orleans.
The Spurs have few other things on their side tonight. They would have been tired had their charter flight been on time, and then the league’s oldest team tried to sleep in reclining seats.
Michael Finley and Robert Horry may never be able to return their spines to the locked and upright position.
If Joey Crawford shows up, the evening will be complete. Popovich might as well activate Ian Mahinmi, start Damon Stoudamire and Matt Bonner and get ready for the second game.
The only drawback to that, besides a 0-1 start to the series, is that it never gets easier for the Spurs. The every-other-day schedule in the Western Conference finals won’t ever give the Spurs time to fully recover.
They also don’t have time to spend much time on the game plan, but the Spurs aren’t completely lost. They have advance scouts, and they do something else that not every team does. They split up the league, assigning different opponents to different assistants. That means someone is responsible for knowing the Lakers.
Then again, they already know Phil Jackson and the Triangle, and they know Kobe Bryant and his habits. They know the Lakers might be the best passing team in the league and that they have versatility and length. They know, too, that Derek Fisher can hit a shot.
They know two other things. The Lakers, as it was with the Mavericks and Suns, haven’t been together for a full season. Two, they haven’t been tested as the Spurs have.
The prize for winning the West was the easier side of the bracket. The Lakers earned that. But, to the Spurs, the Lakers are different but not significantly better than the Suns or Hornets.
So the Spurs are tired, and they shouldn’t be ready, and Manu Ginobili, especially, needs a few days to recharge. But having just survived two elimination games, they have something else going on.
Rudy Tomjanovich knows all about that. When his 6-seed Rockets followed a title with another in 1995, he stood on the floor and bellowed his famous quote.
“Don’t ever underestimate,” Tomjanovich said then, “the heart of a champion.”
Many repeat that line, and most get it wrong. They think Tomjanovich said, “Never underestimate,” and they turn it into an uplifting message.
Tomjanovich instead was scolding as an angry parent would. Don’t EVER.
“People were doubting us, saying we had lost it,” Tomjanovich would say years later. “It was a response to a lack of confidence, disrespecting who we were.”
The Spurs don’t talk about disrespect publicly, but they’ve had this kind of toughness all along. Now they’ve added another powerful layer. They’ve pushed with Shaq, won in double overtime, come back after being down 0-2, chased Chris Paul and pulled out a seventh game on the road.
Going by that, a sleepover is nothing, especially if Popovich provides the pajamas.
Spurs in six.
Buck Harvey: Grounded, Spurs fly over the Lakers
Stuck on the tarmac, with hours to waste, Brent Barry had one regret. He wished he’d bought the vintage guitar he’d admired in a shop in the New Orleans Warehouse District.
Those who tried to sleep, however, were likely not as upset by this.
The Spurs instead ate, and they talked, and about 2 a.m., they turned out the lights. Then they recreated a trans-Atlantic flight while never leaving the ground.
Gregg Popovich still tried to make sure they didn’t crash. “I just told everyone we would have a sleepover,” he said later. “Got pajamas for everybody.”
Popovich had fun with it, and winning allowed him to. If the Spurs had lost to the Hornets and been forced to sit on an airplane for seven hours before taking off, well, as Popovich said, “There would have been death.”
But those on the plane said Popovich did more than laugh. Walking around the charter, he added to the humor with words that had an edge.
“Just another challenge,” he kept saying.
The Spurs will beat a younger, MVP-led team that has the home-court advantage because of this attitude — one that became real in New Orleans.
The Spurs have few other things on their side tonight. They would have been tired had their charter flight been on time, and then the league’s oldest team tried to sleep in reclining seats.
Michael Finley and Robert Horry may never be able to return their spines to the locked and upright position.
If Joey Crawford shows up, the evening will be complete. Popovich might as well activate Ian Mahinmi, start Damon Stoudamire and Matt Bonner and get ready for the second game.
The only drawback to that, besides a 0-1 start to the series, is that it never gets easier for the Spurs. The every-other-day schedule in the Western Conference finals won’t ever give the Spurs time to fully recover.
They also don’t have time to spend much time on the game plan, but the Spurs aren’t completely lost. They have advance scouts, and they do something else that not every team does. They split up the league, assigning different opponents to different assistants. That means someone is responsible for knowing the Lakers.
Then again, they already know Phil Jackson and the Triangle, and they know Kobe Bryant and his habits. They know the Lakers might be the best passing team in the league and that they have versatility and length. They know, too, that Derek Fisher can hit a shot.
They know two other things. The Lakers, as it was with the Mavericks and Suns, haven’t been together for a full season. Two, they haven’t been tested as the Spurs have.
The prize for winning the West was the easier side of the bracket. The Lakers earned that. But, to the Spurs, the Lakers are different but not significantly better than the Suns or Hornets.
So the Spurs are tired, and they shouldn’t be ready, and Manu Ginobili, especially, needs a few days to recharge. But having just survived two elimination games, they have something else going on.
Rudy Tomjanovich knows all about that. When his 6-seed Rockets followed a title with another in 1995, he stood on the floor and bellowed his famous quote.
“Don’t ever underestimate,” Tomjanovich said then, “the heart of a champion.”
Many repeat that line, and most get it wrong. They think Tomjanovich said, “Never underestimate,” and they turn it into an uplifting message.
Tomjanovich instead was scolding as an angry parent would. Don’t EVER.
“People were doubting us, saying we had lost it,” Tomjanovich would say years later. “It was a response to a lack of confidence, disrespecting who we were.”
The Spurs don’t talk about disrespect publicly, but they’ve had this kind of toughness all along. Now they’ve added another powerful layer. They’ve pushed with Shaq, won in double overtime, come back after being down 0-2, chased Chris Paul and pulled out a seventh game on the road.
Going by that, a sleepover is nothing, especially if Popovich provides the pajamas.
Spurs in six.