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7/10 on threes!
Spurs' Mason shows off his versatility
By Jeff McDonald
The game hadn't even tipped off yet, and already Spurs guard Roger Mason Jr., knew he was in for a special night.
Only moments before his team was to take the floor against Utah on Friday night, coach Gregg Popovich approached with a bit of information he figured Mason might find useful.
Uh, Roger, you're starting at the point tonight.
Mason's response?
“I was like, ‘Cool'” Mason said.
That word also best describes how Mason handled himself in his surprise role.
Employed primarily as a shooting guard before Friday, Mason became the third player to start at the point for the Spurs this season, joining Tony Parker and George Hill.
He toggled back and forth between both positions as the game progressed, scoring at will from either slot. Mason poured in season-high 29 points, hit 7 of 10 3-pointers and generally made life miserable for Utah in the Spurs' 119-94 victory.
“I love playing the point,” Mason said. “I love having the ball in my hands. I'm able to make more plays that way.”
One of the qualities that made Mason attractive to the Spurs in last summer's free agency period was his versatility. Mason, 6-foot-5, played both guard positions for the Washington Wizards last season.
The Spurs have used him at small forward as well.
With shooting guard Manu Ginobili and point guard Parker sidelined with injuries, Mason has emerged as a serviceable replacement for either.
“He's capable of playing three positions, and he enjoys playing all three,” Popovich said. “It's not a burden for him, it doesn't make him less aggressive. Sometimes, when he plays the point, I think it makes him more aggressive with the ball.”
Through 12 games, Mason is averaging 15.2 points, and shooting a team-best 50.8 percent (32 of 63) from 3-point range.
Against the Jazz, Mason split time at the point with Hill, the rookie phenom whom he replaced in the starting lineup. The two combined for 52 points as the Spurs logged their highest point total of the season.
New streak for Bowen: Bruce Bowen was back in the Spurs' starting lineup against the Jazz after logging six consecutive appearances off the bench.
It was a blast from the not-too-distant past for Bowen, who had started 555 games in a Spurs uniform before being moved to the bench for a Nov. 11 victory over the Knicks.
Great exaggerations: A side effect of the Spurs' season-long bout with injuries has been an abundance of playing time for several young players.
Conventional wisdom has it that the Spurs' bench should be deeper once Parker and Ginobili return. Leave it to Popovich, however, to set a torch to conventional wisdom.
“It's overused and certainly an exaggeration, but it sounds great,” Popovich said. “It's imminently logical, but in reality it doesn't always work that way. It will work for some guys, for some guys it won't. ... All in all, it's overrated.”
7/10 on threes!
Mason is more the savior than Ian IMO.
This is great...this might be the only positive news about Spurs since draft day. From draft day up until now, Spus is full of ing dissapoinment,losing and bad moves after another. This is a good sign that he shoot best 3 points in the team and averages 15 points. Lets hope that he will maintain the agressivenes when TP and Manu back..i guess Spurs need to be more agressive in every single game cause I believe when 2 stars back in lineup Spurs should perform better than this
You can expect his numbers to dip a little naturally for two reasons: 1) he is shooting such a gaudy percentage from 3-pt land, which will come down. 2) When Manu and TP come back he will be splitting minutes and be off the ball a little more.
That is not to say he cannot be effective, but I would expect his numbers to dip a little.
bump
it says a lot about what Pop expects out of his point guards and why Tony is a scoring point guard.
tbh, the spurs offseason was successful. we just didnt feel that way. everyone we didnt want has been playing better than the guys we did want. so far, Finley has been playing better than Barry is in the Rockets ( though Finley gets way more minutes). Mason has been shooting better than Maggette. Maggette's only 18% from the 3pt line while Mason is 50%. and Mason seems to be the better fit than Maggette. Hill has been better than Chalmers.
the only offseason move most of us seemed to like was KT's and he's playing the worse out of all the FA's/rookies we signed.
having mason continue playing pg could be a big benefit. it could let hill play his natural sg position.
parker/mason
ginobili/hill
bowen/finley
duncan/thomas
mahinmi/oberto
I'd rather have Bonner as reserve PF instead of Thomas. And who really thinks Mahinmi's going to see playing time as a reserve, much less a starter?
I think Mahinmi will get his chances, it will be up to him to take the spot.
Vaughn didn't start any games at the point? I thought he did, but maybe I'm remembering wrong.
I think Hill started every game after TP went down, then Mason last game.
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