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I hope this hasn't been posted already.
I also hope that Buck didn't jinx us or give the Suns more motivation.
Buck Harvey: D'Problem for D'Antoni: Another loss
Web Posted: 04/18/2008 10:53 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Gregg Popovich sensed it was time to confront his team. This is how the story begins.
Popovich knew the Spurs wouldn't survive in the playoffs the way they were going, so he had the team bus pull over in Sacramento last week on the way to the airport. There, as one Spur said, Popovich "said some things that needed to be said."
But in the rotunda? Of the California Capitol?
"I'm gonna have to be Oliver North on this one," said another Spur, smiling. "I can't recall."
The military espionage in Popovich has rubbed off on his team. Others were equally forgetful, but no one denied the setting or the speech. And when the Spurs zoomed out in the regular-season finale against the Jazz, as if Popovich's words still echoed in the rotunda, the story adds to the reputation of someone with four NBA championships.
Mike D'Antoni faces the opposite today, and he will face more after he loses this series.
When he might have done his best job this season.
Popovich has an edge in this coaching matchup. His approach has been in place for a decade, winning multiple championships, and that's one reason the Spurs deserve the benefit of the doubt now. Shaq- enhanced Phoenix has been in place for just a few months.
For Popovich, the core principles matter, but so does a roster that accepts honest, harsh assessments. That's why he could address his team as he did last week.
The Spurs had won in Sacramento, but the final score has never been Popovich's ultimate gauge. He was instead angry about the lack of energy and lack of attention to detail, and he probably didn't like the way the game ended, either. Then the Spurs went brain-dead and gave the Kings a chance.
So he reacted in a political venue without a political tone. Some words were used that usually stay in the smoke-filled rooms of government.
And after the Spurs routed the Jazz? "Hopefully he'll say some more," a player said then.
Popovich would rather these details not come out. In a few days, after the Suns win one of these first two in San Antonio and he's asked what he's going to tell the team, he will make fun of those who think pregame speeches matter.
No one will believe him. When the Spurs beat the Suns in seven, tight, tense games, Popovich will get deserved credit for all of it.
D'Antoni will get credit for nothing. He's averaged 58 wins in his four full seasons in Phoenix, and he's been coach of the year along the way. But many, especially those in Phoenix, see what he hasn't done. Beating the Spurs ranks as No. 1.
Injuries have bitten chunks out of the Suns at times in the playoffs, and last year's craziness swallowed them whole. The Suns were a couple of jumpers or a couple of suspensions from winning, but the loss still added to D'Antoni's image.
His seven-seconds-or-less philosophy can't win in the postseason, can it?
Had D'Antoni broken through, he would have been hailed for winning his way. He might be the one getting the benefit of the doubt today, too. Instead the Suns changed in midseason, adding 325 pounds of Nash-slowing bulk, and here's what D'Antoni did.
He adapted on the fly.
"I've always had a lot of respect for Mike," said one NBA coach. "But now, to see him adjust after the trade, when he could have resisted, says a lot. He'd put his stamp on his offensive system, and, at the end of the day, what he runs now isn't it. But he hasn't been stubborn. He's done what the best coaches do, which is maximize his talent."
He's had to change for Shaquille O'Neal, mostly. But he's also prodded Amare Stoudemire into becoming a reasonable defender, and he's made room for Grant Hill in an offense that had previously relied on 3-point shooting.
Watch for this, too: If Hill is healthy enough to stay with Tony Parker, the Spurs will have to adjust.
Popovich will. He and his staff will do what they do best, which is move around smart, flexible defenders, and they will plan to wear out Shaq on the pick-and-roll. They will also lean on Manu Ginobili, which is always smart coaching in the playoffs.
It may still come down to that — either Ginobili makes a play or he doesn't. And after the Spurs win the kind of Game 7 at home that they lost against Dallas two years ago, reporters will ask Popovich about his Sacramento moment, and how he changed the Spurs.
D'Antoni will hear other questions.
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LINK: http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...s.38f06d5.html
I hope this hasn't been posted already.
I also hope that Buck didn't jinx us or give the Suns more motivation.
Somewhere in Sacramento, a bus driver holds the secrets to the Spurs.
Security lapse.
Hopefully this was when Pop pulled the soft card.
I loved it. Spurs are waking up this time of year.
lil' wayne smells Harvey, everybody else should too.
What a lame post.lil' wayne smells Harvey, everybody else should too.
The bus driver was killed
Wonder what he said that made them respond the way they did with Utah? I have a feeling that the word "soft" was just the beginning!
He got bold, flat out calling a Spurs series win...but I don't like him declaring a home loss in the first two games, either. Or seven tense games.
I love how the majority of the national pundits and so-called "NBA experts" are all stumbling over themselves in picking PHX to win this series. Can't wait to see what they have to say once the Spurs put the Suns assess to bed for another year.
David Robinson once gave a speech on a bus in Phoenix . . . .
I had been waiting for something like this. I found Pop's casual at ude for much of this season quite worrisome. After horrible losses, he seemed so calm and un-Pop Like. Blaming the bad offense on just a matter of not making shots when in fact it's a much deeper cause than that. Or the Spurs constantly playing good first halves and bad secon halves, and Pop just talking about the rough March schedule after the game.Popovich knew the Spurs wouldn't survive in the playoffs the way they were going, so he had the team bus pull over in Sacramento last week on the way to the airport. There, as one Spur said, Popovich "said some things that needed to be said."
I've been waiting for Pop to give that speech that lights a fire under that team. Hopefully this was it.
We'll see in a couple hours if it worked...
I hope it was good enough to last throughout the playoffs
lil' wayne smells Harvey, everybody else should too.
why you trying to smell popovich
yep if d'Antoni with $20M Shaq still can't get past the Spurs, ChickenMan and Kerr will be looking for another coach.
about time Pop laid into them.
who woulda ever guessed this a piece as unbias as this came from a local writer?
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