Don't Count Out San Antonio
By Timothy Varner
TrueHoop Network
Continue by reading entry #9The Spurs are securely entrenched in the canon of sports clichés: "Never count them out," "They have the heart of a champion" and "They win when it counts." Those are the first few token expressions and bar stool blather that applies to San Antonio.
It's too boring, and it's too easy.
But it's correct.
Just a few weeks back, shouts of "dead men walking" were heard whenever the Spurs rumbled through. The team is having -- in terms of record -- its worst season of the Tim Duncan-Gregg Popovich era. And its annual late-season surge turned the midseason corner with all the stride of a runner with badly blistered feet in a pair of ill-fitting shoes. Would this team make the playoffs?
I don't know if we have enough time and enough chemistry and enough health, but the team is starting to play like we thought they might at the beginning of the season.
Put a healthy Parker back in themix and we might be the team that nobody wants to play in the playoffs.
Who knows what evil lurks in the mind of Pop?
I think the chemistry is there. It was very evident in the third quarter last night.
health? Outside of Parker whos really "hurt" Duncan IMO isnt hurt just taking it easy and his time being limited.
personally he looks as good now at this time as he did last year, maybe a hair better, and in the playoffs he stepped it up and looked like the DUncan of old last year.
Im sure I'm all washed up in my thinking, but the last week showed alot IMO and they look good.
Power Poll: Spurs Could Wind Up As No. 8 Seed
SportingNews
New Jersey? Consider Monday’s game a small bit of R-and-R for the Spurs. This is a team that, even without injured point guard Tony Parker, has been earning its paychecks over the last nine days—and will continue to do so, right through the end of the season.
The Spurs came out of the weekend in a tie for the No. 6 seed with Oklahoma City and a virtual tie with Portland, which also means they’re tied for the No. 8 seed. They beat Cleveland on Friday, then won at Boston on Sunday, a fitting way to end a week in which they beat the Thunder and lost at Atlanta. These, by the way, are all pretty darned good teams.
"We are kind of looking better, looking like a team at least," said guard Manu Ginobili, who has picked up the slack in Parker’s absence. "We are playing hard, hustling, communicating, all that. We are still making a lot of mistakes, but that’s part of the whole deal, but when you look at our faces going to the bench with subs and stuff it is totally different so I am glad to see that."
Unfortunately, the Nets game is only a brief interlude. That’s followed by Houston, Orlando and the Lakers. In fact, only two of the Spurs’ final nine opponents are below .500. Given that rough-and-tumble schedule, it’s entirely possible that San Antonio—having just beaten the Cavs and Celtics—could wind up the season in the No. 8 spot in the West, a first-round foe of the Lakers. Probably not the ideal first round for L.A., which ranks No. 2 in this week’s poll, slightly ahead of the Spurs:
1. Cavaliers (Previous: 1). By beating Sacramento on Sunday, the Cavaliers finished 10-0 against the Pacific Division—the only team in the NBA to go undefeated against an entire division this year.
2. Lakers (2). With Andrew Bynum out, C Pau Gasol had struggled for a couple of games before finally having a needed breakout, with 30 points on Saturday.
3. Magic (3). Things stiffen up quite a bit for the Magic this week—not only did they get Denver on Sunday, but they will have a back-to-back in Dallas and San Antonio this week.
4. Mavericks (6). PG Roddy Beaubois played 48 seconds on Thursday. On Saturday, he scored 40 points. Perhaps he should get more playing time.
5. Suns (7). They have, to no one’s surprise, been scoring a lot of points over their seven-game win streak. In fact, 121.6 points per game.
6. Hawks (9). Only two games this week. Of course, those games are against the Lakers and Cavaliers, a pair of teams that the Hawks have not beaten this year.
7. Celtics (5). SF Paul Pierce summed up Sunday’s 21-point loss to San Antonio well when he called it, "an old-fashioned butt-whupping."
8. Nuggets (4). They will return home for five of their last seven games, and given the way the team’s road trip went, that is a most welcome change.
9. Jazz (8). Utah is fighting to catch Denver in the division and move up in the standings, but the Jazz and Nuggets are also fighting to hold off the Suns for homecourt advantage.
10. Spurs (7). You were not ready to give up on SG Manu Ginobili yet, were you? Over his last eight games, he’s averaged 25.5 points and 5.1 assists.
11. Blazers (12). They’re no longer just hoping to hang on to the No. 8 seed. They’re looking to move into the Top 6, and the win in Oklahoma City on Sunday was a big one.
12. Thunder (10). They were only able to manage a split on a tough four-game homestand, but now they head on the road for a three-game trip through Philadelphia, Boston and Dallas.
13. Heat (15). It’s a cakewalk from here for the Heat, who don’t play any more teams with more than 27 wins. Their remaining foes have a record of 174-571.
14. Bucks (13). They’ve seemed like a fatigued team lately. But Sunday’s overtime win over the Grizzlies was, as coach Scott Skiles said, a big moment in our season.
15. Bobcats (16). At long last, SG Larry Hughes had an effective game off the bench for Larry Brown, scoring 10 points. He’s now shooting 31.8 percent in Charlotte.
16. Bulls (19). The Chicago Tribune ranked Thursday’s loss to the Heat as the season’s worst. But, at least, they have managed to win four games around that loss.
17. Grizzlies (17). SG Ronnie Brewer’s return was short-lived—he re-injured his hamstring and sat out the last two games. But Brewer does intend to attempt a return.
18. Raptors (18). SF Hedo Turkoglu has struggled with injuries and was benched by coach Jay Triano. For the month of March, he’s averaged a dismal 8.5 points with 4.7 rebounds.
19. Rockets (14). That big matchup between SF Trevor Ariza and the guy he replaced, SF Ron Artest, resulted in a combined 6-for-20 shooting and a measly 16 points.
20. Hornets (20). Welcome back, PG Chris Paul! Your first four opponents: Dallas, Cleveland, Portland and the Lakers. No wonder you’re struggling.
21. Pacers (21). Hard to say whether Pacers fans should be glad to see the team playing well lately, or ticked off that they’re costing themselves lottery ping-pong balls.
22. Knicks (22). Stephon Marbury called coach Mike D’Antoni a, BS artist. The bigger question, though, is this: Why are people still interviewing Stephon Marbury?
23. Sixers (25). How about that? Another good rookie point guard. Over his last 12 games, PG Jrue Holiday has averaged 14.2 points, 6.0 assists and 2.3 steals.
24. Clippers (23). A road win! Hallelujah! The Clips won at Houston last Thursday, their first win away from home since January 24, a string of 11 straight.
25. Kings (24). Injuries, injuries, injuries. PG Tyreke Evans and F/C Jon Brockman are out, and have been joined by G/F Francisco Garcia and C Spencer Hawes.
26. Warriors (28). It seemed impossible for a while there, but by beating the Clippers on Sunday, the Warriors have moved coach Don Nelson to within two games of Lenny Wilkens’ all-time wins record.
27. Pistons (26). There was some question about the job security of coach John Kuester, even before the season started. Losing 15 of their last 17 isnt going to help that situation.
28. Wizards (27). GM Ernie Grunfeld confirmed what most around the NBA already suspected—the Wizards are going to try to rebuild around G Gilbert Arenas.
29. Timberwolves (29). Coach Kurt Rambis has been ever-positive this season, but losing 22 of 23 and allowing 15 straight opponents to score 100-plus points has to be tough to stomach.
30. Nets (30). The Nets could still tie the 1972-73 Sixers for the worst all-time record, but they can be happy knowing that theyre only 48.5 games behind the top-seeded Cavaliers. Philly was 59 games back.
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