Spurs' shooters won't grow passive
By Jeff McDonald - Express-News
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Perhaps nobody was looking forward to tonight's start to the Spurs' rodeo trip more than the Spurs' shooters.
The rims at the AT&T Center have not been kind to the home team of late. During the 2-4 homestand they completed before hitting the road, the Spurs shot 42.9 percent and made just 29.4 percent of their 3-pointers.
Given the Spurs are built to be a 3-point team, the power outage from long range has been most disconcerting. The Spurs are 16-3 this season when shooting better than 40 percent from beyond the arc, compared to 2-10 when shooting less than 30 percent.
A 3-of-17 clangfest in Sunday's loss to Denver prompted coach Gregg Popovich to finally growl, “people have got to step up and make some damn shots.”
The fix, the Spurs say, is for their shooters to keep shooting.
“It just happens,” forward Richard Jefferson said. “You have to keep playing the percentages. You keep getting a 40-percent 3-point shooter a wide-open shot, eventually it's going to go in.”
Even after their recent cold spell, the Spurs are tied for fourth in the league in 3-point accuracy at 37.2 percent.
They could benefit from a return to form from their most precise 3-point gunner. Matt Bonner is 2 of 15 from long range after returning from a 15-game layoff with a fractured bone in his shooting hand.
“In my opinion, it's totally a rhythm thing,” said Bonner, a 40.6-percent 3-point shooter. “When you're a shooter and you break your shooting hand, it's even harder.”
Not so foul: Like most of his teammates lately, Tim Duncan has been struggling from the field, shooting 38.7 percent (41 of 106) over the past seven games.
Where Duncan has stood apart, surprisingly, has been the foul line. He has made 23 consecutive free throws, with his last miss coming in the first quarter of a Jan. 25 loss to Chicago.
Shunned again: For the second time this month, Spurs guard George Hill has been passed over for the NBA's rookie-sop re game during All-Star weekend.
Chicago's Derrick Rose, originally chosen for the sop re roster, was excused after being named to the Eastern Conference All-Star roster.
On Tuesday, the NBA tabbed Golden State's Anthony Morrow as a replacement.
Hill, who is averaging 10.5 points, might want to keep his calendar clear for Feb. 12, anyway. Morrow has missed the past eight games with a sprained knee.
I know George Gervin, probably the purest shooter we ever had, religiously practiced by shooting 100s of balls in practice every day.
Sometimes you look over an interviewee's shoulder at the daily practice and see players goofing around without any focus on their shooting. Maybe some coach ouught to point out they actually need to practice to get back into rhythm.
Where Duncan has stood apart, surprisingly, has been the foul line. He has made 23 consecutive free throws, with his last miss coming in the first quarter of a Jan. 25 loss to Chicago.
Not that I care but I don't really understand Morrow over Hill. Their offensive stats are comparable, even though Morrow plays in a much faster paced system. Hill is the much defender and actually plays on a team that is trying to contend.
The only explanation I can think of is that Morrow was going to be at All-Star weekend in the three-point contest anyways so the NBA avoided having to foot an extra bill.
That, along with having a confident mentality.
That's all it is and plus Golden St is in Cali, which is close to LA, which is near the commish's favorite team, so naturally he'll pick a player on a team that is nearest to his Flakers.
From my understanding participation in the secondary events are based heavily on participants for the main ones. So I can see that being a major factor.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
