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Very very cool of David to praise DeJuan while he was up there. I can only imagine how he felt hearing him say that.
Admiral approves of Spurs' victory
Jeff McDonald
The Spurs and their fans gathered Sunday night in tribute to David Robinson, a Hall of Famer, an NBA MVP and a three-time Olympic champion. As far as DeJuan Blair was concerned, they might as well have been honoring a different David.
Like the one from the Bible.
“He was way before my time, man,” Blair said.
Blair was not yet 7 months old on Nov. 4, 1989, the day Robinson made his NBA debut, more apt at that age to watch Sesame Street than pro basketball.
Blair, 20, might not be old enough to fully appreciate Robinson. Robinson, however, is plenty old enough to appreciate Blair.
The rookie forward needed just 16 minutes, 48 seconds of his team's 97-89 victory over Philadelphia to notch his second career double-double, pulling his considerable weight for a bench unit that lifted the Spurs to their fifth consecutive win. Blair finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks — and a bit of postgame praise from the night's guest of honor.
“DeJuan Blair probably made you guys forget all about me,” Robinson told the crowd of 17,161 at the AT&T Center to celebrate his September induction into the Hall of Fame.
Tim Duncan, certain to enjoy his own such gala sometime in the future, scored 22 points to go with six rebounds, five assists and three blocks. It was Duncan's seventh 20-point game in the past eight outings.
Tony Parker added 16 points and eight assists for the Spurs, who improved to 9-6, but it was their reserve brigade that ultimately sank the Sixers (5-12).
Matt Bonner contributed 16 points, including four 3-pointers, and Michael Finley scored 11 as the Spurs' powerful bench tallied 49 points and 24 boards. In a tentative return from a groin injury, Manu Ginobili contributed eight points.
“Their bench hurt us,” said Philadelphia coach Eddie Jordan, whose team dropped its sixth straight. “Bonner with the threes and DeJuan Blair with the rebounds and putbacks. That's what hurt us.”
Blair's fingerprints were all over the second-quarter run that gave the Spurs their first double-digit lead. At times, he might have looked a little like Robinson, had Robinson been six inches shorter and significantly wider.
Early in the second quarter, Blair snatched an offensive rebound after a rare Bonner miss, then put it back with a shuddering two-handed slam. Later, he came swooping in to swat a Royal Ivey layup into the not-so-cheap seats.
Where Duncan's contributions could be like water torture, building up over the course of four quarters, Blair's were like a cherry bomb tossed into the middle of the AT&T Center.
“Just bring energy,” Blair said. “That's what I try to do.”
It was Blair's best performance since the season opener, when he produced 14 points and 11 rebounds against New Orleans and joined Robinson and Duncan as the only Spurs rookies to debut with a double-double.
Since then, there have been times when Gregg Popovich hasn't seemed to know what to make of the former All-American at Pittsburgh. Asked after Sunday's performance if he was surprised by Blair's explosion, Popovich chuckled.
“You can't be surprised when you have no idea what somebody is going to do in the first place,” he said.
Just as Blair is still learning the ins and outs of the NBA game — notably how to function around 7-footers — Popovich is learning how to best use him. This much is certain: Blair was laboratory-designed for a game like Sunday's, against a smallish 76ers team missing one key post piece, Elton Brand.
“I'm learning to be a pro, instead of trying to play like I did in college,” Blair said.
His Sunday's work finally over, Blair dressed and headed back to the court for the Robinson ceremony. He was off to celebrate a player who came well before his time, all while trying to find his own place in the present.
Very very cool of David to praise DeJuan while he was up there. I can only imagine how he felt hearing him say that.
I thought DeJuan might be showing off a bit since Dave was sitting in with Bill and Sean when he started to go off, but I guess not:
“He was way before my time, man,” Blair said.
To no surprise, Dave compared him to a bigger Malik.
I was at the game today and the postgame ceremony for David was great. The atmosphere during the event made it seem as though he was getting his jersey retired again (he actually did and now it says Hall of Fame at the bottom). And I did find it quite funny that he particularly praised Blair on his performance in tonight's game. I guess he's really grown on David.
My kudos for this game goes to TP. He worked very hard trying to get everyone involved. His team ball play is just what the team needed. He was the glue.
That is some pretty high praise coming from Mr. Robinson. I hope the Carver Acadamy received a lot of donations last night. I was happy that Direct TV continued to aire the entire psot-game event.
Tony, this year, won't be a scoring machine ecxept when needed...
Some are very hard on him......He, more than the others, need to learn to run the team with new weapons. He needs to learn how to be a "classic NBA PG" for some stretches and TP the rest
Last edited by colargol; 12-01-2009 at 03:27 AM.
I thought this was a good article by Jeff. I think his writing has improved greatly since he first arrived.
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