Ludden : Spurs end preseason with solid showing

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...r.392af06.html

Web Posted: 10/28/2006 01:10 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer

The Spurs found little to complain about in their final dress rehearsal Friday evening. Now they only hope opening night goes half as easy.

With Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili combining for 36 points, the Spurs completed their exhibition schedule by routing Dallas 100-79 in front of 17,294 at the AT&T Center.

Though the Spurs hadn't seen the Mavericks since losing to them in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, the NBA is making sure the teams quickly get reacquainted. They'll meet again Thursday in Dallas when the score matters.

"We knew that if either we won by 20 or they won it, it was just one more practice," Ginobili said. "But we feel good about ourselves."

The Spurs have more than a few reasons to leave the preseason with confidence:

Beno Udrih needed only 24 minutes to show why he would likely be the backup point guard on opening night. Sidelined by a sore right hamstring for all but the final week of the preseason, he made good use of his only exhibition game, totaling 10 points, three rebounds and two assists while making 5 of 6 shots.

Asked if he felt comfortable enough to play Udrih on Thursday, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, "Oh, yeah. He'll be there."

Despite his lengthy absence, Udrih looked poised. After turning the ball over on a drive late in the first quarter, he immediately picked off Austin Croshere's outlet pass to turn his own turnover into a layup.

"I know what I can do or what I can't do yet," Udrih said. "I'm still scared to tweak (the hamstring) again, but because I have those two, three good practices, I was trying to do exactly the same thing in the game."

The coaching staff has been leaning toward making Fabricio Oberto the opening-night starting center, but Francisco Elson turned in his best performance of the preseason with 14 points and nine rebounds.

"He's obviously an athletic player and he has some good skills that we'll be able to use," Popovich said. "I like his ability to not just play his role, but to really blend with Timmy and everybody else to quickly understand how we're playing."

Elson aggressively took the ball to the rim on a couple of occasions — one of which ended with Mavericks center DJ Mbenga turning him back — and showed off his midrange shot.

"Right now, I'm not shooting it the way I shot it in Denver, but it's just a matter of time before it starts coming the way it should," Elson said. "I'm not saying I'm a prolific shooter, but I can knock it down."

Elson, like Oberto, said he isn't concerned whether he starts. Popovich also downplayed the significance.

"It's not quite a quarterback controversy," Popovich said. "We're pretty vanilla around here."

Parker's streak of 22 consecutive made free throws ended when his first attempt went halfway through the rim and popped out. But that was about all he missed. He finished with 20 points and four assists while making 9 of 11 shots.

Eight of Parker's points came in the final 2:29 of the second quarter when the Spurs broke open the game. He has shown increased confidence in his jump shot, shooting 69.6 percent in six exhibition games.

"He's got it down," Popovich said. "He's ready to take it, willing to take it and when he misses, it doesn't affect him anymore. He realizes, what the hell? He'll come right back and shoot it again."

Tim Duncan's bank shot made its first appearance. He knocked down a 15-footer high off the glass midway through the first quarter, then banked in a 7-footer on the next possession after getting DeSagana Diop to bite on an up fake.

Ginobili and Popovich both said the Spurs accomplished about as much as they could have hoped in the preseason. But they also know Thursday will be considerably different. So do the Mavericks.

"I bet in the back of (Dallas coach Avery Johnson's) mind, he wanted this to happen because now everybody has to focus in and know that there's work we have to do before next Thursday," Mavericks guard Jerry Stackhouse said. "To beat teams like the one we're opening up with, we got some work to do.

"Most of our stuff that we use, we aren't using now. But we'll have it by next week.'"

Notebook: Michael Finley has the flu and remained at home Friday. ... Sight one doesn't see every night at the AT&T Center: former Spurs general manager Bob Bass sitting next to tennis legend Boris Becker. Becker was in town to meet with his fellow German export, Dirk Nowitzki. ... The shot of the night belonged to Matt Bonner, who threw in a 15-foot jump hook off the glass near the end of the third quarter.

shooting 69.6 percent in six exhibition games.
ouch

I thought Udrih and Vaughn did a nice job on Harris. He didn't look near as fast now that Van Exel is no longer guarding him.

I thought the Spurs dominated that game, but they still need to solve the Josh Howard problem...this guy went off.

There is no josh howard stopper. You just have to out-work him.

The Josh Howard stopper will hbave to be Gibnobili.

Getting excited with preseason games? lol

It beats getting excited about the offseason FA signings.

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Originally Posted by Louis2

Getting excited with preseason games? lol

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Actually, the Spurs fans are getting what is known as "positive takeaway" from this pre-season. We get excited about the playoffs. You remember those, don't you?

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Originally Posted by spurtime

It beats getting excited about the offseason FA signings.

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:D :D :D
Seeing Tony knocking down that midrange jumper at a steady clip is going to create nightmares for the opposition if he can maintain it and master it. It seems like every year Tony picks a part of his game. I still don't think he should be our no 2 scorer, but if he keeps shooting like this with his speed and quickness, the team will be hard pressed to deny him the right to call his own number.

I was very impressed with how fluid the spurs looked. Every combination they put on the floor looked fairly solid.

As for the mavs, looks like another year of praying for the jumpshot to drop.

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Originally Posted by Louis2

Getting excited with preseason games? lol

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It beats getting excited about the Lotto, which is about all Houston fans have to look forward to these days.

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Originally Posted by Louis2

Getting excited with preseason games? lol

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Originally Posted by Louis2

:blah

Whatever..

Mavs will beat the spurs by double digits at least by 30 points

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http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52431

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Originally Posted by Aggie Hoopsfan

It beats getting excited about the Lotto, which is about all Houston fans have to look forward to these days.

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You bitches are going down this year...

The Rockets will kick your collective sorry geriatric asses, regular season and playoffs...

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Originally Posted by phyzik

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52431

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Don't worry that will happen next Thursday...

Parker's pre-season shooting

FT shooting - 96%.
Outside FG - 69.6% .

Parker keeps this up and Chip Engelland should be enshrined in the hall of fame.

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Originally Posted by Louis2

You bitches are going down this year...

The Rockets will kick your colective sorry geriatric asses, regular season and playoffs...

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You know, Firefox 2.0 will make sure you spell "collective" correctly.

Anyways, what is it like to live life so bitter and wrong?

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Originally Posted by Louis2

You bitches are going down this year...

The Rockets will kick your collective sorry geriatric asses, regular season and playoffs...

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The Rockets won't even make the playoffs unless healthy, a BIG question, but even if they are healthy, they would be hard pressed to take 2 games from a playoff revved Spurs squad.

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Originally Posted by pjjrfan

:D :D :D
Seeing Tony knocking down that midrange jumper at a steady clip is going to create nightmares for the opposition if he can maintain it and master it. It seems like every year Tony picks a part of his game. I still don't think he should be our no 2 scorer, but if he keeps shooting like this with his speed and quickness, the team will be hard pressed to deny him the right to call his own number.

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Tony has been our no 2 scorer since the 2002-2003 season. And it turned out well isn't it? (2 titles) :drunk
Last year he was our no 1 scorer. Why do you doubt his ability to score on a constant basis?? he's been doin that for the last 4 years.

PS: don't bring the "he should get more assists" theme cuz it won't work in the spurs system due to the "extra pass"
________
LUKASHOT

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Originally Posted by san antonio spurs

Tony has been our no 2 scorer since the 2002-2003 season. And it turned out well isn't it? (2 titles) :drunk
Last year he was our no 1 scorer. Why do you doubt his ability to score on a constant basis?? he's been doin that for the last 4 years.

PS: don't bring the "he should get more assists" theme cuz it won't work in the spurs system due to the "extra pass"

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I don't doubt it, I just would rather our point guard get Tim and Manu more involved before he looks for his own shot. And yes during the season he has been very productive but the fact is that in 03 and 05 he struggled in the playoffs and guys like Sjax, Manu and others picked up the slack, while Tony became more of a distributor especially in both finals against the Nets and the Pistons. I would like for him to be like that the whole year. But irregardless, if he continues to grow any arguments I may have will be moot, he has vast potential.

When the Bulls put it on the Spurs in a preseason, Louis2 took that as concrete evidence that the Spurs are lottery-bound, discounting any assertions that the game was a meaningless exhibition.

When the Spurs put it on the Mavericks in preseason, Louis2 took that as a complete triviality because, after all, exhibition games are meaningless.

There's a certain tranquility that must come with being a troll -- one who has no concerns for consistency or accuracy and merely exists for the purpose of getting otherwise level-headed people to respond venomously to whatever drivel you decide to put out.

Well, that or such an utter lack of meaning and happiness in one's life.

I'm not really sure which it would be.

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Originally Posted by PHAT TONY

I thought the Spurs dominated that game, but they still need to solve the Josh Howard problem...this guy went off.

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Bowen only played 13 minutes. He usually handles Howard fine. The problem in the past has been he hasn't been able to stay on Howard because he always had to go to Dirk.

In a regular season game last year, Bowen was on Howard in the first half and he basically did nothing, but Dirk was going off. They moved Bowen to Dirk in the second half and Howard had 20 in the half :shootme

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Originally Posted by Kori Ellis

Bowen only played 13 minutes. He usually handles Howard fine. The problem in the past has been he hasn't been able to stay on Howard because he always had to go to Dirk.

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Agreed, and I thought that it was promising that Pop sent Elson into the game last night and immediately matched him up with Dirk. I don't see that there's a huge problem in doing that as a preferrable way to matchup. Pop can always slide Bowen to Dirk in 4th quarters if the need arises, but he can keep two bigs on the floor and at least try to harass Dirk in the first 3 quarters.

I also noticed that AJ put Dirk on Timmy for a few possessions last night and then brought Diop from the weakside, either to double hard or to contest things at the rim. Tim had at least one and maybe two shots sent back in that scenario. I can't see AJ exposing Dirk like that for very long, but it was an interesting wrinkle -- even for a preseason game.

I liked how Oberto was able to stay in front of Dirk, which at this point that's about the best any of our big men can do against Dirk, just stay in front of him and not let him go to the basket.

Elson was guarding Dirk on the perimeter last night? Effectively? Sorry if this has been brought up on other threads and I didn't catch it...I only saw the 4th quarter and didn't witness this.

If Elson is able to play the role of perimeter defender against Dirk then we have jumped a huge hurdle against them. It forces Dallas to make adjustments to match up with us as opposed to us adjusting to them.

I wasn't too upset with the small lineup Pop employed against them in the playoffs last season because I felt we had no other choice. Now we may have some choices...interesting.

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Originally Posted by pjjrfan

I liked how Oberto was able to stay in front of Dirk, which at this point that's about the best any of our big men can do against Dirk, just stay in front of him and not let him go to the basket.

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But even just staying on the floor and hoping to stay in front of Dirk has a domino effect that really benefits the Spurs, because it allows Bowen to slide down to Howard or Terry and keeps the Spurs' defensive principles more sound. Pop couldn't do that last year in the playoffs, because Rasho and Nazr had no realistic chance of even staying in front of Dirk. Oberto, Elson, Horry, and Bonner, as a committee might.

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Originally Posted by FromWayDowntown

But even just staying on the floor and hoping to stay in front of Dirk has a domino effect that really benefits the Spurs, because it allows Bowen to slide down to Howard or Terry and keeps the Spurs' defensive principles more sound. Pop couldn't do that last year in the playoffs, because Rasho and Nazr had no realistic chance of even staying in front of Dirk. Oberto, Elson, Horry, and Bonner, as a committee might.

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You are exactly right about the domino effect. It was like we were playing on our heels and counterpunching that whole series.

A stale bag of Sta-Puff marshmellows has more toughness than the Rockets.