Updated headline.
Spurs, Suns face off on Christmas
Spurs, Suns set to face off in Christmas Day special
By Mike Monroe
PHOENIX — Tim Duncan trudged down the hallway at the AT&T Center after the Spurs' Tuesday night victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, his daughter, Sidney, clad in holiday red, perched on his right shoulder.
Spying a media type about to enter the press room, the Spurs captain offered a holiday greeting.
“Guess I'll see you in Phoenix on Christmas,” Duncan said. “Duty calls, eh?”
Ah, yes. Christmas in the desert.
This is where the holiday-conscious string colored lights on saguaros and pretend they're evergreens. A cactus may be green all year, but it's no tannenbaum.
This is also where the NBA insists the Spurs spend their Christmas Day, playing the Phoenix Suns in an early-afternoon lead-in to the league's real holiday treat for its fans, the rematch between last season's finalists.
The Lakers and Celtics have gotten all of ABC's pre-Christmas hype, and never mind that the last time the Spurs were defending champions, their Finals rematch against the Pistons also was mere prologue to the Christmas 2005 showdown in L.A. between Kobe Bryant's Lakers and Shaquille O'Neal's Miami Heat.
The Spurs are accustomed to being slighted by the league's marketers. They're a small-market team, after all. They're a tad surprised their game is one of the two ABC has chosen to air as it kicks off its coverage of the league for 2008-09, and anxious to make a good showing.
“I can't wait for the Christmas game,” said point guard Tony Parker, who enters the game off a 36-point output against the Timberwolves. “They're going to boo us, and it's on national TV. It's going to be fun. It's going to be good.”
ABC is billing the game as a re-match of rivals, even if it falls far short of the historic nature of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry. The Spurs have eliminated the Suns from the playoffs in three of the past four seasons, including last season, when they beat them in the first round.
Many of the key players in that rivalry are gone, including Robert Horry, whose hip check on Suns point guard Steve Nash in the 2007 playoffs still rankles most Suns fans.
Mike D'Antoni no longer prowls and scowls on the Suns sidelines, his departure linked securely to his failure to find a way for his team to get past the Spurs. Now Terry Porter coaches the Suns, trying to make them more like the Spurs, at least at the defensive end.
Roger Mason Jr.'s knowledge of a manufactured rivalry amounts only to what he saw on television.
“Even though I was on the East coast, with the Wizards, I watched it,” Mason said. “They still have Steve Nash, who's a great, great point guard, and now they have Shaq down low. There's a happy medium between running and slowing the ball down. They've got shooters, so they're very dangerous.”
If the nature of the matchup makes a rivalry game, well, Mason hasn't felt it from his teammates.
“We don't get caught up in that,” said Mason, a first-year Spur who will be playing in his first Christmas Day game, “but it's a lot of fun to play on a big stage like that. I think we're starting to play better and better, and it will be a good test for us.”
The Suns defeated the Spurs at the AT&T Center on opening night, but they have changed their personnel and approach since that game. Porter has tried to speed up his team's offense a bit to accommodate players who were accustomed to D'Antoni's “seven seconds or less” approach. And Jason Richardson has taken Raja Bell's spot in the starting lineup after a Dec 10 trade.
“I know they've had some success since the trade,” said Spurs forward Michael Finley. “(General manager Steve) Kerr made the trade to make them a better team, so I'm assuming they're a lot better than the first time we played them. I'm interested to see how their new team looks, but we can't control their locker room. We just want to play our game as well as we can play it.”
Last edited by duncan228; 12-25-2008 at 12:06 AM.
Its known for a fact Duncan abhors playing on christmas day.
Can't say I blame him. They shouldn't have to play at all.
Whats worse is hes got two small kids, one who really is aware of christmas and santa and all that and they have to spend it in a hotel. Not at home.
He may make millions but hes still a regular guy like all of us and I feel bad that he and his family don't get to spend a regular christmas together.
I do to but his 200k that is is making for 48 minutes of a game would make me ok to play on christmas
haha respect TP!“I can't wait for the Christmas game,” said point guard Tony Parker, who enters the game off a 36-point output against the Timberwolves. “They're going to boo us, and it's on national TV. It's going to be fun. It's going to be good.”
Enough already about poor them for having to play on Christmas. Troops will be in Iraq/Afghan/etc tomorrow for $30k a year, enough already. My PSA imfo.
Money doesn equal = memories
you can't buy back a baby's first christmas.
Get your head out of your ass for once.
Whatever.
It doesn't make it any better.
Poor use of the troops.
buy a damm good camera
Hey they pay him for playing.
It's not Olympics
a lot of people work during christmas, its even the best time of year for a lot of businesses. I imagine they get paid overtime for christmas games, i dont know if the contracts have that kind of provision but they should and probably do.
you decide for yourself whether its worth it to you or not. that said, i think the NBA regular season schedule makers are insane and that they should change their procedure, and also reduce the total length of games. Watching a basketball usually takes 3 hours. 48 minutes + OT of a close game can easily take 3.5 hrs of time with all the breaks.
the travel is crazy, its like they go out of their way to move teams around... the double home b2b makes a lot more sense than having every team involved travel through different timezones and i dont see how that would affect the number of games. Its as if travel agencies are responsible for scheduling the NBA, and they route them at their own convenience
I understand that the 82 48 min game season is a standard, so they should try to at least improve the scheduling. 5 games in 7 days, then patches of 2 in 7? that sucks. even it out better. and try to keep teams in their timezone as often as possible. I remember the spurs playing back to back once with something like 8 hrs off between the game, most of which was spent travelling. Im surprised the players union doesnt make noise about it
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