Headline's been changed a little.
Spurs' measuring stick still Lakers
Spurs' measuring stick still that Lakers bunch
Jeff McDonald
By even the strictest of definitions, the Spurs returned home from Miami early Tuesday morning on a serious roll.
After a hard-fought 91-84 victory over the Heat, the Spurs have won eight of their past nine, 14 of their past 17 and rank as the hottest team in the NBA over the past month.
Leave it to coach Gregg Popovich, however, to pour cold water on any champagne party plans.
Popovich is proud of his team's resiliency after a shorthanded 1-4 start to the season. He is encouraged by its daily improvement. He believes his team is on a path to be what it was last season, when the Spurs came close to a fifth trip to the NBA Finals.
But with the top-to-bottom upgrades across the Western Conference, he also believes that the level the Spurs played at last season won't be good enough this time.
“We're in the same spot we've been in year after year,” Popovich said. “We're just not in the same league with the Lakers right now. That means we have to be more perfect to get to the final goal.”
Ah, there's the rub. The Los Angeles Lakers. The Great Western juggernaut. The purple-and-gold standard against which the rest of the Western Conference must ultimately be measured.
Heading into Tuesday's slate of games, Kobe Bryant's bunch was 27-5, boasting the top record in the NBA.
Since their dispiriting start, the Spurs (23-11) have steadily ascended to first place in the Southwest Division and second in the Western Conference, an extraordinary accomplishment for a team that spent the first month orbiting the .500 mark.
But they have yet to face the Lakers on the court since last season's five-game ouster in the Western Conference finals. They get their first crack at that a week from today at the AT&T Center.
The Spurs, however, have faced the Lakers every day in the back of their minds.
“In the West, you talk about Houston, Dallas, Phoenix and us, and New Orleans and Portland and Denver — it's crazy,” Popovich said. “There are six or seven of us who are a notch below the Lakers. Any of us could come out of that.”
It is perhaps with the Lakers in mind that guard Manu Ginobili offers this progress report: “We're not where we want to be yet.”
At least for now, the consolation prize is the Spurs are able to lay claim to being the best team in that “notch below” group.
With Ginobili back in the fold after offseason ankle surgery, and Tony Parker playing like an All-Star after recovering from a November sprained ankle of his own, the Spurs are at full strength and surging.
They are winning with 3-point shooting (making a league-best 40.7 percent), with ball control (they are committing a league-low 12.2 turnovers per game) and, of course, with defense.
The Spurs are giving up 93.5 points per game, the fifth-stingiest mark in the NBA and a far cry from the 105 points they surrendered during their 1-4 start to the season.
“We're going to have that for the rest of the season,” Tim Duncan said of the Spurs' attention to defense. “That's going to be the focus, getting our defense to where we want it.”
If the Spurs can accomplish that, they like their chances against the Lakers or anyone.
“You've got to get a little lucky, you've got to stay healthy, you've got to get hot at the right time — a lot of things factor in,” Duncan said. “If we're healthy, and we're on the court, we've always got a chance.”
Popovich's prescription for the rest of the season is the same as always — steady but marked improvement, day after day, week after week.
Over the next two months, he will massage his rotation, decide what is working and what is not. He will pray Ginobili, who Popovich estimates to be at 90 percent health, will re-discover his All-Star form. He will look for continued upgrades on defense.
It is a process not to be rushed.
“Our best days are usually in March or April,” Popovich said. “I think we're on that same track right now. It's just that there are a whole lot of other teams who are just as much on track, more so than in the past.”
Part of Popovich's task, in the Spurs' season-long pursuit of the Lakers, will be to remind the Spurs of this daily.
Good is not great. Great is not perfect. There is always work to be done.
Last edited by duncan228; 01-07-2009 at 02:26 AM.
Pretty huge game, that's for sure, I hope that nobody pulls out that "it's just another game" crap.
Unless the Lakers lose of course.
And just in case,
Lakers are missing their starting small forward
Lakers are missing their backup PG
Lakers might be missing their sixth man, Lamar Odom
Are you god damn ing kidding me?
A measuring stick game?
L M A O
I haven't laughed like this in a good few weeks.
They struggle sometimes to score even with all their great offensive players and setups plus their defense doesnt intimidate their opponents yet so I think he's pretty spot on. Once they get everything all polished up and everyone stays healthy, we're looking at trophy numero cinco!!
I Hope It's A Bad Ass Game!
Good to see that the Spurs are taking this game seriously.
Would suck to lose to a team that's on a back to back (like the last Hornets game) but then again the Lakers are much better as of right now.
Should be a great game.
New Orleans beat the crap out of LA. Odom injured?
The good news is that the Spurs are winning, but struggling in a few areas. But that's also the bad news. Good thing Pop and the guys know this, and are doing what they can to get better.
The other news is that the Lakers aren't that good. New Orleans came in and pushed them around tonight, and the Lakers wilted like freshman girls on prom night. If Bryant hadn't had a once-in-a-lifetime field goal percentage, they might have lost by 20.
Blah, blah, blah...all we hear from the media is, "Lakers this, Lakers that." Well, guess what? The Lakers are still soft, and they got pushed around tonight by Tyson Chandler and David West. By the way, Rick Fox said on the after-show that he was down on the floor level tonight, and he was shocked by David West's size. He said he is about 6'7" or 6"8" - almost eye level to Posey.
Yet West still pushed the Laker bigs around like mannequins.
Matt Bonner has a chance? He's 6'10". No don't aim that knife on me.
Gasol had an off night, and West had a career night. That's all there is to that game.
The only two things that should be worrying the Lakers are Odom's injury and Bynum playing like . Odom will recover sooner than later, but Bynum looks like he's playing disinterested, and PJ had to sit him for stretches during today's game.
27-6.
Lakers are fine. Just have to survive this rough patch of injuries and make sure everyone is healthy for the playoffs. Marathon, not a sprint. Nobody cares about January wins/losses. The Lakers won the most important game of the regular season from a confidence stand point already.
Did karma just strike?
no huge game in jan
in july yes
I honestly do not feel that Duncan, Manu and Parker fear this team at all when it was only due to luck; and a wrong call on Fishers shot that caused them to lose to Malone, Shaq, Kobe etc. This Spurs team also has more shooters and if they can develop or secure another big they can dominate the NBA going forward without fear of the Lakers, Celtics or any other pretender out there.
I think next week's game does give us a pretty good look at where the Spurs are. Its not a very important game, but I think its important in a way so that the Spurs can see how far they have come along and how far they need to go.
July? That pickup game really means a whole lot I guess.
Don't worry, he is re ed [/sequ]
Here's something funny. I bet if Pop was a nick in here. And he typed exactly how he spoke in this article. More then half of the nicks I have on ignore would sound off telling him to run back to some other site.hahaha Or curse him out.hahaha Even Pop knows how good he is. Most of us great men do.
@ just in case.....
you have to understand the ducks.
in order to understand the ducks, you have to read the ducks dictionary. this is covered in the FAQs section, truly.
2 of those 3 are irrelevant. If they are missing Odom then you have an excuse, but Walton and Farmar shouldn't matter that much.Lakers are missing their starting small forward
Lakers are missing their backup PG
Lakers might be missing their sixth man, Lamar Odom
Maybe it's just me but outside of Odom and Ariza their bench is overrated. Other than those 2 their bench gives them nothing other than 3 point shooting.
Inuries happen all the time man. Look at the Spurs this year, No Parker, No Manu, No Fab and we still found ways to win.
Lakers still have Bryant, Gasol and Bynum which should be more than enough to beat anybody if they play smart basketball. Lakers are HORRIBLE on the defensive end. absolutely horrendus. People bring up stats as to how they have low opp. FG % but the main reason why they actually are decent at contesting shots is due to thier size. They are giants!!
They run with a lineup of
Fisher,Bryant,Ariza,Gasol,Bynum and thats a giant of a lineup. PJ doesnt preach team defense so that could be the achilles heel of this great Lakers team. I have no problems saying that this Lakers team is currently the best in the NBA but the Spurs arent to far behind either.
I'm pretty sure Allanon was joking..
i still had a point though
Can we offer a retirement package to McDonald?
He should stop writing
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