duncan228
05-23-2008, 01:14 PM
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8168924/Looks-like-time-is-finally-trumping-aged-Spurs
Looks like time is finally trumping aged Spurs
by Mark Kriegel
LOS ANGELES - These media availability sessions are not known for their candor. It's no one's fault, certainly not the ballplayers — in this case, the Spurs — who had already been asked the same questions the night before. San Antonio was still just hours removed from its loss in the first game of the conference finals.
Still, players entered the conference room at a seaside resort in Santa Monica looking relatively spry, especially considering the humiliations visited upon the Spurs over these past several days. To recap: After beating the Hornets in a seventh game, they had to sleep on a runway in New Orleans. Then there was that loss in Staples. Finally, following the game, coach Gregg Popovich and his staff were informed that the hotel was out of their chosen beverages, both the Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir.
"They were out of both of them," said Popovich. "That was worse than having to sit on the airplane. We had wine on the plane."
Then again, Popovich and his charges might have found sobriety more tolerable if the Spurs had a victory to toast, or at least, if they had not lost in such uncharacteristically appalling fashion. Popovich's San Antonio Spurs — winners of four championships in nine seasons — gave up a lead that was 20 points midway in the third quarter. A chance like that won't come around again. Not against a team as talented as the Lakers. Certainly not on the road.
"It can happen in January," said Manu Ginobili. "But in a game like that? Game 1 of the conference finals? It should not happen."
Ginobili — the abundantly talented Argentine whose 3-for-13 shooting night makes him the Spur with the most room to improve — has been with the team for six seasons now. He could not recall giving up a lead like that in a big game.
"This one hurt," he said. "We were too slow down the stretch."
Slow? Slow is a sign of, well, athletes like Ginobili know all too well what slow signifies.
"We always talk about how experienced we are," he said. "Well, we were not yesterday. We were just old."
And that's the real subtext here: a great, if aged team — perhaps the most unappreciated in contemporary sports — confronting its mortality. Popovich, as is to be expected, professes nothing but disdain for the idea. "That trite assessement," he says, "that when we win we're the experienced team, and when we lose we're older than dirt."
The coach blamed Wednesday's loss on bad shooting. "We shot the ball poorly," he said, referring to his team's abysmal fourth-quarter percentage. "Three-for-21 isn't great."
Actually, 3-for-21 in the fourth quarter is a fair indication that his players had lost their legs. And what's the first thing that goes for an aging ballplayer? The legs, of course.
The Spurs — now endeavoring to become the oldest team ever to win an NBA championship — looked too old for the job the other night. As it is, they are the fourth-oldest team in league history. (For the record, according to Sports Inc., the oldest was the 1997-98 Knicks — average age, 32 years and 201 days — a team that won 43 regular-season games. Then there was Houston that same season — averaging 32 years, 148 days — a .500 club. Next, the 2000-01 Trail Blazers — 32 years, 39 days — a 50-win team swept by the Lakers in the first round.)
The average Spur is nine days shy of his 32nd birthday. This in a league where the average age is 27 years and 139 days. Popovich seems determined to go with a supporting cast that, in basketball terms, is ancient. Brent Barry won a dunking contest during the first Clinton Administration. Robert Horry will turn 38 this summer. Bruce Bowen will be 37 next month. Michael Finley, in his 13th pro season, is 35. Kurt Thomas is also 35. Of San Antonio's big three, only Tony Parker, at 26, remains in his physical prime. Ginobili will be 31 in July. After 11 great seasons, Tim Duncan is 32, and not quite the player he used to be.
By contrast, Lakers MVP Kobe Bryant is still only 29. So maybe — more than likely, actually — that's what this series will turn out to be, a tale of succession. This Lakers team should succeed the Spurs, just as the Spurs outlasted the previous Lakers regime.
If that's the case, though, recall the Spurs for what they were. If they'd have played in a big market, they'd have been relentlessly glorified. Duncan was the best power forward ever, close to technical perfection in everything he did. The guard play of Ginobili and Parker was daring and supremely skilled. More than that, though, the Spurs proved that playing defense didn't mean playing ugly. They never embarrassed themselves or anybody else. They just won.
You can raise a glass to that.
Looks like time is finally trumping aged Spurs
by Mark Kriegel
LOS ANGELES - These media availability sessions are not known for their candor. It's no one's fault, certainly not the ballplayers — in this case, the Spurs — who had already been asked the same questions the night before. San Antonio was still just hours removed from its loss in the first game of the conference finals.
Still, players entered the conference room at a seaside resort in Santa Monica looking relatively spry, especially considering the humiliations visited upon the Spurs over these past several days. To recap: After beating the Hornets in a seventh game, they had to sleep on a runway in New Orleans. Then there was that loss in Staples. Finally, following the game, coach Gregg Popovich and his staff were informed that the hotel was out of their chosen beverages, both the Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir.
"They were out of both of them," said Popovich. "That was worse than having to sit on the airplane. We had wine on the plane."
Then again, Popovich and his charges might have found sobriety more tolerable if the Spurs had a victory to toast, or at least, if they had not lost in such uncharacteristically appalling fashion. Popovich's San Antonio Spurs — winners of four championships in nine seasons — gave up a lead that was 20 points midway in the third quarter. A chance like that won't come around again. Not against a team as talented as the Lakers. Certainly not on the road.
"It can happen in January," said Manu Ginobili. "But in a game like that? Game 1 of the conference finals? It should not happen."
Ginobili — the abundantly talented Argentine whose 3-for-13 shooting night makes him the Spur with the most room to improve — has been with the team for six seasons now. He could not recall giving up a lead like that in a big game.
"This one hurt," he said. "We were too slow down the stretch."
Slow? Slow is a sign of, well, athletes like Ginobili know all too well what slow signifies.
"We always talk about how experienced we are," he said. "Well, we were not yesterday. We were just old."
And that's the real subtext here: a great, if aged team — perhaps the most unappreciated in contemporary sports — confronting its mortality. Popovich, as is to be expected, professes nothing but disdain for the idea. "That trite assessement," he says, "that when we win we're the experienced team, and when we lose we're older than dirt."
The coach blamed Wednesday's loss on bad shooting. "We shot the ball poorly," he said, referring to his team's abysmal fourth-quarter percentage. "Three-for-21 isn't great."
Actually, 3-for-21 in the fourth quarter is a fair indication that his players had lost their legs. And what's the first thing that goes for an aging ballplayer? The legs, of course.
The Spurs — now endeavoring to become the oldest team ever to win an NBA championship — looked too old for the job the other night. As it is, they are the fourth-oldest team in league history. (For the record, according to Sports Inc., the oldest was the 1997-98 Knicks — average age, 32 years and 201 days — a team that won 43 regular-season games. Then there was Houston that same season — averaging 32 years, 148 days — a .500 club. Next, the 2000-01 Trail Blazers — 32 years, 39 days — a 50-win team swept by the Lakers in the first round.)
The average Spur is nine days shy of his 32nd birthday. This in a league where the average age is 27 years and 139 days. Popovich seems determined to go with a supporting cast that, in basketball terms, is ancient. Brent Barry won a dunking contest during the first Clinton Administration. Robert Horry will turn 38 this summer. Bruce Bowen will be 37 next month. Michael Finley, in his 13th pro season, is 35. Kurt Thomas is also 35. Of San Antonio's big three, only Tony Parker, at 26, remains in his physical prime. Ginobili will be 31 in July. After 11 great seasons, Tim Duncan is 32, and not quite the player he used to be.
By contrast, Lakers MVP Kobe Bryant is still only 29. So maybe — more than likely, actually — that's what this series will turn out to be, a tale of succession. This Lakers team should succeed the Spurs, just as the Spurs outlasted the previous Lakers regime.
If that's the case, though, recall the Spurs for what they were. If they'd have played in a big market, they'd have been relentlessly glorified. Duncan was the best power forward ever, close to technical perfection in everything he did. The guard play of Ginobili and Parker was daring and supremely skilled. More than that, though, the Spurs proved that playing defense didn't mean playing ugly. They never embarrassed themselves or anybody else. They just won.
You can raise a glass to that.