Spurs notebook: Brown's status still not clear

[Kori Ellis]

Spurs notebook: Brown's status still not clear
Web Posted: 06/08/2005 12:00 AM CDT

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...2f11123df.html


After watching Devin Brown practice the past week, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich doesn't sound ready to throw the guard back into the regular rotation.

But he also wouldn't rule out Brown playing in the NBA Finals.

Brown has spent much of the past three months trying to overcome a back injury that also weakened his right leg. He has yet to regain his explosiveness.

"I see a rare sparkle here and there," Popovich said. "I'm still reticent to pull the trigger and get him on the floor, but in this series we may be forced to do that."

Before getting hurt, Brown had become one of the Spurs' most dependable reserves. With the problems Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince present on the perimeter, the Spurs might need Brown's defense for short stretches.

Brown didn't play in the Western Conference finals. He has appeared in six of the Spurs' 16 playoff games, averaging 4.2 minutes.

Brown initially injured his back while shooting before the Spurs played Detroit on March 20. He scored 18 points against the Pistons but aggravated the injury the next night in New York.

Special delivery: Spurs assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo didn't get much of an opportunity to scout Detroit's victory over Miami on Monday. But he had a good excuse.

His wife Carolyn gave birth to their second son early in the first quarter.

Casey Carlesimo weighed in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces. Neither Casey nor his 2-year-old brother, Kyle, has his father's mouth. Yet.

Carolyn had her labor induced, in part, not to conflict with the NBA Finals.

Assistant coach Mike Budenholzer's wife, Mary Bet, is expected to give birth to their fourth child by the end of the week.

Movers are on his speed dial: Carlesimo knew Detroit coach Larry Brown before he met Popovich. Over the years, he's noticed one distinct difference between the two friends.

"It's easier to remember Pop's address," Carlesimo said, "than it is Larry's."

The Spurs will be the third of Brown's former teams the Pistons have played in this season's playoffs. Brown could be on the move again if he becomes Cleveland's vice president of basketball operations after the season.

Don't bother calling: The Spurs' players are trying to take care of any ticket requests from family and friends early this week and reduce any other distractions that usually arrive with the NBA Finals.

"If you can limit those things, it will certainly help you focus on the task at hand," Brent Barry said. "I'm sure people in the media are getting calls from people they worked with at the school newspaper back in college about trying to get a press pass for the games."

Worth the trip: Spurs center Nazr Mohammed said he was uncertain about a lot of things when he was traded from the Knicks at midseason. But as he prepared Tuesday to play in his first NBA Finals, he said he was pretty sure he still would be playing in June.

"I thought I would be here," Mohammed said.

One surprise for Mohammed has been the way people seem to come out of the woodwork to ask for Finals tickets. He said he didn't have to wait long after Detroit beat Miami in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals for the bombardment to begin.

"As soon as the buzzer rang," Mohammed said, "my phone started ringing."

Baby on board: Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said he was flattered to hear that a local couple, Renee San Miguel and Jorge Ramirez, named their newborn son Ginobili.

"That's what happens whenever your team is so important in the community," Ginobili said.

He said he's pretty sure he's not the only Spurs player to be so honored.

"(The attention) is just because my name is so particular," Ginobili said. "I bet there are many Duncans and Robinsons out there."

Ginobili said he planned to talk to expectant parents Tim and Amy Duncan about naming their child after him.

"Ginobili Duncan," he said. "That sounds good."

[Kori Ellis]

Pistons notebook: McDyess reaches his first NBA Finals
Web Posted: 06/08/2005 12:00 AM CDT


San Antonio Express-News


There was nobody inside American Airlines Arena on Monday night more nervous than Pistons backup forward Antonio McDyess.

The one-time NBA All-Star has had a star-crossed, injury-plagued career since being the second selection in the 1995 NBA draft. Promise never became reality for McDyess, with the notable exception of his gold medal-winning performance with the U.S. Olympic team at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

So when the Pistons, who signed McDyess to a free-agent contract last summer in anticipation of what he could provide off the bench, were in the final moments of a dramatic victory against the Heat, McDyess could barely watch.

"When it was down in crunch time, everybody else was calm," McDyess said of his playoff-tested teammates. "I was still pumped up, nail biting, couldn't hardly watch. It just means so much more to me."

McDyess, whose putback basket in the final moments of Team USA's 2000 Olympic semifinal game preserved a victory over Lithuania, said making it to the NBA Finals surpassed even that.

"Never in my life have I felt this good," McDyess said. "The only thing close to this was winning a gold medal in the Olympics."

McDyess' Olympic experience came courtesy of Tim Duncan's misfortune. A knee injury prompted Duncan to pull out of the 2000 Games. So McDyess has an Olympic gold medal, Duncan a bronze.

"I hadn't thought about it that way," McDyess said. "Maybe it should have been switched."

Frequent fliers: The Pistons flew back to Detroit late Monday night after their Game 7 victory over the Heat, arriving in the wee hours Tuesday morning. They didn't practice but returned to the airport Tuesday night for a flight to San Antonio.

They were scheduled for a practice this afternoon at the SBC Center.

Relatively speaking: Pistons center Ben Wallace was asked about facing Duncan.

Will it be a bigger challenge than Shaquille O'Neal?

"Duncan is a great player; he'll eventually be a Hall of Famer," Wallace responded.

"Shaq is Shaq. That's a tall task."

[T Park]

"Ginobili Duncan," he said. "That sounds good

how about just Emanuel, manu?

[timvp]

If Brown can play, that'd be huge for the Spurs. He's a very good matchup for the Pistons.

But that's a pretty big if...