Bonner Finds His Place In San Antonio

**duncan228** · 02-11-2009

Some love for Bonner out of Toronto, before tonight's game.

Bonner finds his place in San Antonio
Eric Koreen

TORONTO -- Outsized confidence is almost a prerequisite to making it as a successful player in the National Basketball Association.

That is what makes Matt Bonner's ascent from reserve on a bad Toronto Raptors team to starter on a very good San Antonio Spurs team stunning: He does not feel like he belongs.

"He's an amazing player," Bonner said of scoring 23 points against Kevin Garnett and the Boston Celtics on Sunday. "I don't think it's sunk in that I could have that kind of success against someone like him. It was awesome."

It is that everyman uncertainty - along with his love of all things subway, both mode of transportation and sandwich chain - that made him a fan favourite in his two seasons in Toronto. In his third year in San Antonio, he is finally gaining similar notoriety.

This time around, it is more for his jumper than his jokes.

With Robert Horry leaving the team in the off-season, minutes opened up for others in San Antonio's frontcourt. Ever since the beginning of December, the 6-foot-10 redhead has been the guy to start alongside perennial all-star Tim Duncan.

His season hit a high point this week with his performance against Boston, followed by a 22-point outing against New Jersey on Tuesday.

It took him a while to find his comfort level with the Spurs. And, apparently, vice versa.

"He's a highly strung individual," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "So I learned last year that the best way I can coach him is to shut up and just go let him play and joke with him and keep him loose. He plays better that way. Timmy coaches him. I just put him in the game and take him out."

That strategy has worked. Heading into Tuesday night's game against the Raptors, Bonner was shooting 54% from the field, 50% from the three-point line and grabbing a career-best 4.8 rebounds per game - which makes sense, given his increase in minutes.

Even with those numbers, the self-doubt is still plentiful, making Popovich's approach a wise one.

"I don't want to say I get down on myself," Bonner said. "But I am tough on myself. You see the same thing in Tim and Manu [Ginobili]. Maybe for a person like that, for you to get on him as well doesn't help the situation."

With the Spurs, though, he is thriving - even if his less-successful days in Toronto are still on his mind.

His game against Garnett got him thinking about a game in 2004 in which Bonner, then a Raptor, was ejecting for throwing Garnett, then with Minnesota, to the floor.

"I was hoping he wasn't going to try to fight me given [that] matchup," Bonner said.

"I'm hoping he has such an awesome life that so many things happen that he just forgot about it."

Bonner likely could never do such a thing, yet another thing that makes him different.