Spurs steeled for March march
Jeff McDonald
When Tony Parker looks ahead at the Spurs' schedule for the rest of March, he is like a kid with fingers covering his face while watching a horror movie.
He really doesn't want to peek. He just can't help himself.
“I think in a week we have like Oklahoma (City), Atlanta, Cleveland, the Lakers and Boston,” Parker said. “It's going to be tough.”
The Spurs do indeed play all those teams — playoff clubs, all of them — between March 21 and March 28.
Before the season ends, the Spurs must play nine games against the top three teams in each conference.
In all, the Spurs play nine of their remaining 16 games in March on the road. There are still five sets of back-to-backs left before the calendar flips to April, including one that begins at home tonight against New Orleans and resumes Saturday in Memphis.
“After the November, December we had, with a lot of games at home, we knew sooner or later it was going to change,” Manu Ginobili said. “If we're going to make it to the next level, it's going to be in March, against the best, on the road.”
Mind over matter: Ginobili has been the Spurs' best player since the All-Star break, averaging 18.7 points, 5.7 assists and two steals in seven games.
Ginobili missed the playoffs last year with a fractured fibula, and spent the summer idle while it healed. It took him the first part of the season to start feeling like a basketball player again.
“I just wasn't confident. I wasn't sure,” Ginobili said. “After five or six months of not doing anything, it was hard to shake the rust off. Now I'm feeling great. My health is great. And my head, my confidence, is way up.”
Health days: The Spurs have had three days off since their last game, Monday's 106-92 win at New Orleans. They practiced just once during that stretch, with a light shootaround scheduled for this morning.
The downtime should prove helpful to a handful of banged-up Spurs starters, including Parker, Antonio McDyess and Keith Bogans. With the brutal schedule upcoming, Parker said he hoped players took advantage of the rest time.
“After that, there will be no more days off,” Parker said. “It's great to enjoy those two days, and get what you need, massages and things like that.”
Parker said the plantar fasciitis in his left foot that has bothered him for much of the season is beginning to subside. His focus is now on the strained hip muscle that first flared up on the team's rodeo road trip.
This stretch run very well could show if the Spurs are pretenders or contenders. If they can get things together and put up a run against that caliber of compe ion, it could very well give them some momentum going into the playoffs.
If not, and they could be scratching to even make the playoffs.
Time to put up or shut up.
In a way that's the beauty of this upcoming stretch. There's no middle ground. If the team somehow gets through this stretch then they really will have turned it around. If not, then they're going to the lottery. The latter is a good possibility but all our key players are improving so it will be interesting.
For some reason...I'm feeling confident about the spurs' up-coming schedule...weird huh?
Manu is playing out of his mind, jefferson seems to have woken up by being placed on the bench, Duncan is steady as always, Parker seems healthy, Hill is having a breakout season after being placed at the starting lineup, Blair continues to beast, Mcdyess finally kicked in his second-half gear, Hairston and Ian have shown they can be good insurance backup in meaninful games, and Michael Finley is gone forever.
Not really weird to feel good about the future, no lol
This is our real rodeo road trip, not litreally, but in essence. We will either become a force to reckon with or yet another playoff fodder.
It just seems like too little too late at this point. The team isn't built for playoff contention, so I wonder what the optimism is about.
Not that I hope for anything but the best, but this isn't a team that will get past the Semis. We're so much better off tanking, IMO.
It's a tough as schedule, but I agree with ffaddicted....Manu is a force to be reckoned with, Tim is Tim, RJ and Dice are coming around, Blair and Hill are exceeding expectations,....if TP can hang in there we might surprise, once again, some of our naysayers.
Why believe the Spurs are going anywhere? Obviously Pop and the Front Office didn't or they would not have traded Theo.
Not even the players believe in this team, hence the Finley, Haislip and Mason defections.
The only people that will be happy to see the Spurs in the playoffs are the Lakers. That way the get to sweep us and rest for the Mavs or Nuggets.
We will end up swept with no lottery pick. Which means we won't be making any upgrades thru the draft, so it will probably happen again next season. Not to mention, as long as Pop is coaching, no big name free agent will come to San Antonio because none of them will play for a person like Pop.
This season is and will be a complete disaster.
Thanks Pop!
That's not fair either, man. In addition to our not boasting a sexy destination, we don't really offer re ed contracts. It has nothing to do with Pop, IMO.
Truth be told. Pop has ruined his reputation as a good coach and this team. No ONE wants to play for him. There was a time when vet players thought SA was a winning system, they just wanted to play in a system that was consistent, to the point, all about winning. Vets would come to SA just to have a chance to play with TD. Roles were clear and defined.
Now!!!
You would have to be a complete fool to play in SA. Who in thier right mind would want to play basketball with Bonner and Bogans. Championship basketball is all about having confidence in your teammates. Knowing that they will make the play when needed and they have your back.
Look at how TP freezes out Bonner. Even TP knows this guy shouldn't be on the floor with him. I know he is wondering "How did I get my self into this?"
Don't be surprised if we see one of the big 3 decide to defect next.
This is why I was calling for Pop to be fired after the Laker game. Actually before that, but that game was the last straw. He virtually ended our season in that one game. Killing our confidence and showing the rest of the league just how weak we were and at the same time created a monster in LA.
regardless of their record, the fact is, this team is stacked. they have the potential to win it all. it's just a matter of popovich letting the right players play at the right time and being consistent about it. no team is going to be a contender after having gone through 20+ different lineups in one season.
hopefully, pop pulls his head out of his ass and lets the players play. the guy who admonishes players for being egomaniacs needs to take some of his own medicine.
@ holding Haislip and Finley against Pop.
Before Finley was released everyone was ing about how Pop was too loyal to his vets and overplayed them.
And Haislip? Please. The guy was a shot in the dark. He wanted out of his contract to head back to Europe to make more money and get some playing time.
If anything the Spurs are typically too accommodating with player requests in regards to releasing them.
Jeez. I am no Popologist, but at least make sense in your criticisms.
So that explains why we've never brought in talented FA's? C'mon.
That's fine that you hate him, but Pop has yet to be a proven detriment to FA signage as much as our legendary cheapness has.
When Tony Parker looks ahead at the Spurs' schedule for the rest of March, he is like a kid with fingers covering his face while watching a horror movie.
pop sucks, unless he alters his strategy, 1st round exit here we come!
People need to stop acting like Theo WASN'T sitting at the end of the bench avg .000017 mins a game.
And that trading him away is somewhat like trading Tim away, and throwing in the white flag.
Spurs making a run or not making a run didn't hinge on Theo Ratliff...
I really hate the mentality that we should just give up and tank. If you're running a race and you are coming around the final turn in 7th place, you would just give up? What happened to personal pride? Pride in the team? What kind of man would allow himself to quit just because he might not win? Little boys quit, not grown men.
If this is how you feel, then please, move on. Eventually, the Spurs are going to be a bottom-of-the-league team and we'll be looking to just get into the playoffs, and we'll be happy if they do.
Sure, "call" for Pop to be fired (and by that, do you mean you talked to Peter Holt in the Board of Directors meeting, or do you mean you "called for it" by posting on Spurstalk?), it would solve nothing. Pop and his assistants know the players better than you. It's not extraordinary for a team to have two disappointing seasons in a row. (Even if disappointing really only means not winning a Championship!)
Some people here are the definition of fair-weather fans and it's annoying more than anything. The reason players aren't "flocking" to SA is because we haven't won since 2007. Other teams get better, that's the way of the league. That's the reason for the lottery, that's the reason for free-agency. To keep parity in the league. It wasn't too long ago that we really didn't have to worry about LA because Kobe was by himself. Now, they're a powerhouse again. It wasn't too long ago that we steamrolled Cleveland in the playoffs, now, we'd be hard-pressed to win one game against them. It's a part of the game. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, because one day you'll wake up and we won't need to tank the season to get in the lottery. We'll already be there.
Excellent points! And that's exactly why we should expect this team to start paying dividends in the win column.
Pop knows the players better than me??? I was one of the first persons to say, Pop was going to lose this team. I stated back in January that if he didn't stop this craziness of playing losers like Bonner and Bogans the other Spurs were going to stop playing for him.
If Pop knew the players so well why did Finley leave? Why did Mason wanna leave? Haislip? Pop don't know . Everyone is not like Manu. Some players don't react the same when lesser talent is playing before them. If Pop was so wise he would have known this.
I don't subscribe to Pop's bull . I know basketball too. And I know that if you disrespect some players long enough, they WILL quit playing for you.
These guys are not fools. They can coach this team too, they know a losing formula when they see it. And all this bull Pop has been pulling this year is just that. BULL .
If the Spurs do happen to make the playoffs, it is going to be brutal.
When teams see that soft under sized frontline, they are going to drive on them like there is no tomorrow, and there ain't a dam thing we can do about it.
Some of us Spurs fans don't just buy anything that Pop puts on the floor. He expects his players to be perfect, well dammit, I expect my coach to be held to the same standard. And any fool that thought Bonner and Bogans should be starting in today's NBA, well, is just that, a damm fool.
Im all for being pissed at the team...and I hate it when posters say you are NOT a fan if you bash the team.
But theres a difference between bashing or being pissed and giving up...c'mon man
you should sign up for the Spurs coaching job...
/sarcasm.
Yes, Pop knows the players better than you.
He sees them on a daily basis, he talks to them daily. He has had one on one conversations with some of them about their hopes and dreams.
You and I see them on TV or the media, and that's all we see.
Maybe your comments would have more validity if you were an assistant coach or something. But you're not.
Don't give up hope, SPAM.
Jeff's articles make me hungry.
I don't agree that we wont make any upgrades through the draft... see blair- did you forget what pick he was?
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