McDonald: Spurs' ‘D' gets ‘A' during win streak

[duncan228]

Spurs' ‘D' gets ‘A' during win streak
Jeff McDonald

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich talked during the preseason of his hope that his team would boast one of the top defenses in the league. During the Spurs' five-game winning streak, it's beginning to look like they might have a chance.

Over that stretch, the Spurs are limiting opponents to 91.8 points and 40.8 percent shooting. Most recently, in Sunday's 97-89 victory over Philadelphia, the Spurs held the 76ers to 39.3 percent shooting — the third time during the winning streak an opponent has failed to crack 40 percent.

The Spurs' defensive improvements can be traced to new players becoming more comfortable with the team's schemes, as well as Popovich learning which player combinations produce the best defense. Over the past five games, he has deployed healthy doses of Keith Bogans, George Hill and Antonio McDyess, all of them among the Spurs' best defenders.

“Some guys are playing better defense than others, so we're making sure they're on the court at critical times,” Popovich said. “Some guys are just starting to figure out the program, what to do in reaction to their teammates. It's an on-going process, but they're getting it and going in the right direction.”

With their recent defensive muscle-flexing, the Spurs have risen to seventh in the league in field-goal percentage defense (44.1 percent) and 10th in points allowed (96.5 per game). As recently as two weeks ago, they were in the bottom half of the league in both categories.

As for the preseason goal of becoming an elite defensive team?

“I think we're getting there, slowly but surely,” Hill said. “It's still going to take time.”

Duncan honored: Tim Duncan has been honored as the Western Conference Player of the Week. Duncan averaged 21.8 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and 2.5 blocks in leading the Spurs to a 4-0 record last week.

With his 21 points in Friday's victory at Houston, Duncan also passed Terry mings for 39th on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Duncan has scored 19,487 points, trailing Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki by 58 points for 38th place.

Streak snapped: Roger Mason Jr. sat out Sunday's game against Philadelphia with a strained left hamstring, stopping his string of consecutive games at 162. It was the first game he'd missed in 97 with the Spurs.

Mason is confident he will be well enough to start a new streak when the Spurs face Boston on Thursday.

“I should be good by then,” he said.

[Spursmania]

It's a marathon not a sprint. All signs looking good for the Spurs still getting much better on D.

The Celtics will be a great barometer but not the end all be all since the guys are just beginning to show signs of cohesiveness on D. I'll be pleasantly surprised if the Spurs can pull off that win, since the Celtics seem to be clicking on all cylinders right now.

I hope Duncan smiles at KG while showing him once again who's boss...