Jokes aside, Spurs now begin grind
Buck Harvey
That's not Tim Duncan's spot.
He's better about 10 feet to the right.
That joke ended the evening, and another one started it. Then, five seconds into the season, Gregg Popovich called for a funny foul on Shaquille O'Neal that had both sides laughing.
In between Amare Stoudemire got free on pick-and-rolls, and the Suns “out-San Antonioed San Antonio,” as Grant Hill put it. The Suns played smarter and tighter at the end, and the Spurs' mood changed.
By the time the game was over, Popovich had slammed the scorer's table with the palm of his hand as if this were February, and he was talking in historic terms of stinkdom.
That means, of course, the Spurs will be back being themselves at practice today.
The Spurs aren't exactly themselves right now. They've never been 0-1 in the Duncan era.
At least they had their excuses Wednesday, beginning with an Argentina-free roster. This was the first of many nights over the next month when the Spurs can say “we would have won with Manu.”
But not having Fab Oberto meant something, too, especially as Matt Bonner struggled with some basics. Rebounding, defense, basics such as that.
The Spurs made up for their lack of bodies with their two best ones. Duncan and Tony Parker each scored 32 points, and, if they play this way for the rest of the season, the Spurs will win a few games.
But the Spurs have never won just because of their stars. They've won because the other pieces fit snugly in place, and they didn't Wednesday.
One such moment came with about 40 seconds left. Then the Spurs came down the floor, down by three, and Roger Mason Jr. took a pass in the corner behind the 3-point line.
A few months from now Mason will take that shot. After all, he went 3 of 4 from that distance in the opener, suggesting again he might be the team's best shooter.
But in his first game as a Spur, not sure if this was his place, he drove and passed. Parker, though this has never been his range, shot the three instead and missed.
Parker erred, and maybe this played into the feeling that opening night was a good time to experiment. What followed said the same. Then Duncan tried to re-create what he did last spring in Game 1 against Phoenix when he merely made his first three of the season.
Parker later reasoned that, well, Duncan made the shot last season. Why not again?
While Duncan launched the shot, Steve Nash had a more accurate thought. “I was thinking, ‘Go ahead and make it again, big boy.'”
Duncan later said the usual, along with one telling thought. “Obviously, in retrospect,” he said, “maybe a timeout would have been better.”
On opening night, with not everyone sure of the next step, Popovich should have called time.
But Popovich watched, as if he wanted to see what he had. He talked that way in the pregame interview, too, when asked if he knew what his team would be like.
“I guess I don't know,” he said. “How you do you know what you are going to see if you haven't seen it yet?”
Popovich was relaxed as the game began. Then he reacted to Shaq's comments of “getting even.”
Shaq didn't like getting hacked last season?
Popovich hacked him to start the season.
Popovich grinned with two thumbs up, and Shaq smiled back and afterward confessed what everyone had already figured. Shaq said he had just been playing around.
Popovich basically said the same when asked why he called for the intentional foul. “Life is short,” Popovich explained later. “You gotta have fun.”
But that's just it. The Spurs have never been about fun. They enjoy one another off the court, yet they play the game with a pound-the-rock approach that doesn't allow room for much levity.
Popovich coaches the same way. He works better when he has something specific to talk about, and now he can talk about transition defense, as well as a few other details.
Such as?
Next time, Duncan should move 10 feet to the right.
Het guys where is Michael Finley?
I'm so much dissapointed - our bench is starting to look horriable. I know it's firts game of a season but- we won't get anything from Bonner, if Mike is off we have to look at Mason. Now - take a look at Bowen - he regresed last season on offense. He can't be nobody at that end of the floor.
shieiyt
He played over half the game, how could you miss him?
Probably because I was sleeping at that time
I had no idea the Spurs had a timeout. They should have called one to draw up a play, but oh well. I am not worried about this game. The Spurs looked decent. This is not the Spurs team that we'll see come January-April.
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