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  1. #1
    Esse quam videri ploto's Avatar
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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Tim Duncan stretched for what he couldn't touch. But he reached something anyway.

    He couldn't get to Kevin Martin's game-winner, the ball just arcing over all fingertips. But even as this series is extended — even if Friday rearranges the order of things — don't the Spurs have to celebrate the return of Duncan?

    Gregg Popovich didn't take that tone afterward. After his Euro-backcourt flinched — with Manu Ginobili committing what he called the "worst turnover of my career" — Popovich looked at Duncan's statistical line and groaned.

    "I feel like we wasted it," Popovich said.

    Popovich used to say the same at the end of David Robinson's career, and that fits. Duncan has looked, at times, as if he's on a downward slide.

    It seems to be going around. Shaquille O'Neal wobbled the night before in Chicago, playing perhaps the worst playoff game of his career. He looked like a man who knows he will earn $20 million a year until 2010 no matter what he does, though he didn't sound that way later. "I'm very, very humiliated," O'Neal said.

    Friday night was supposed to be Duncan's turn. He's on the same pay scale, after all.

    The Spurs have never believed any of it, even as Duncan went through a series of 14-point scoring nights this season. They say his foot is not a problem now, nor is his age.

    They say it's still about the mysterious doubt inside of him, and they point to last year as an example. Then he wobbled worse, returning from a severely sprained ankle, and he struggled in the opener against Denver.

    But his game came back just in time. In Game 4 in Denver, when the Spurs all but clinched the series, Duncan scored 39 points. That also came against big men, Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby, who are more athletic and defensive-oriented than Sacramento's big men.

    Given that, why had Duncan looked so human in the first two games? Partly because looks are deceiving. Duncan was fine in the first game, playing about 24 minutes in a blowout. But his 11 points also made him just one of seven Spurs in double figures, and that's not a role he's known for.

    He struggled in Game 2, scoring 14 points. But he rebounded and stayed in the game with five fouls, culminating with the back pick that freed Brent Barry for his three.

    Still, he stumbled with his own footwork, and seemingly lost all confidence in his jumper. Other superstars have the arrogant belief that they are the best. Shaq does, for example, a reason he took the night off in Chicago.

    But Duncan? After all the years, after all his success, he still goes through these crises, then comes out the other side.

    The same happened Friday, and this happened partly because the Kings threw fewer double teams at him. Allowed to work in the low block, he did what he's done for a decade, which is put opposing big men in foul trouble.

    Another vision of the past came from teammates. They didn't keep up. Outside of Rasho Nesterovic and Beno Udrih — the Croatian Couple — Duncan was mostly by himself in the first half. He stopped Bonzi Wells' assault of the rim, blocking him at least three times. And once, with a Kings' double team coming at him, Duncan turned to the baseline for a smooth jump hook that looked like something out of 2003.

    If the Spurs are to defend their le, if they are to go deeper than this first round, they need this from Duncan.

    He stayed at it, defending on one end, posting on the other. He threw in two free throws in the final minutes, then ducked between a double team to tie the game at 90. When other Spurs joined him, most notably Michael Finley with a clutch 3-pointer, it should have been enough to win.

    Then Ginobili was stripped. Duncan took off to make one final save, only to have Martin throw in a layup as improbable as Barry's 3-pointer on Tuesday. "I don't even know how he got it off," Duncan said afterward.

    He lost, all right. As he found his game.

    http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/c...s.398a64e.html

    While it is nice to finally have Buck say anything nice about Rasho and Beno, does he have any clue at all about just what a huge faux pas he made here?

  2. #2
    Spur-taaaa TDMVPDPOY's Avatar
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    croation couple?? buck harvey did he even do any research b4 writin this up?

  3. #3
    Argentina Spurs Fan Athenea's Avatar
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    croation couple?? buck harvey did he even do any research b4 writin this up?

  4. #4
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  5. #5
    I am a locopatriot
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    Slovenia vs USA

    preview of non proffesional journalism - or how Pop puts it.. You are a biased fan.

  6. #6
    Free Throw Coach Aggie Hoopsfan's Avatar
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    I so hate him more, if he was trying to piss me off.
    Yeah, that's it, Buck was sitting around trying to figure out how he could piss someone on a Spurs board off

    It was late, he had a deadline to make, and he tried to come up with some cute anecdote. Get over it.

  7. #7
    Five Rings... Kori Ellis's Avatar
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    Yeah, that's it, Buck was sitting around trying to figure out how he could piss someone on a Spurs board off

    It was late, he had a deadline to make, and he tried to come up with some cute anecdote. Get over it.

    I guess you don't get how insulting that is. Pick up a book and read some history of the region.

  8. #8
    Veteran velik_m's Avatar
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    I guess you don't get how insulting that is. Pick up a book and read some history of the region.
    ???
    i don't know about any historical problems between slovenians and croatians.

    it's just stupid - like calling amercans canadians.

  9. #9
    Five Rings... Kori Ellis's Avatar
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    ???
    i don't know about any historical problems between slovenians and croatians.

    it's just stupid - like calling amercans canadians.
    Rasho's background is Serbia-Montenegro. There was never a problem between Serbia and Croatia????

  10. #10
    Veteran velik_m's Avatar
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    true, but Rasho is not the one acting insulted in this forum.

  11. #11
    Free Throw Coach Aggie Hoopsfan's Avatar
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    Kori, I know there's some 'history' there (understatement). Buck ed up. There will be a retraction/correction in the paper tomorrow. I'm just saying people shouldn't be acting like Harvery was trying to piss them off. He ed up. happens.

  12. #12
    Five Rings... Kori Ellis's Avatar
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    true, but Rasho is not the one acting insulted in this forum.
    I know. But the article is insulting to Rasho.

    Rasho doesn't have a Croatian background. And considering the history between Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia etc I would think that someone could look it up and see that he's not Croatian before writing it.

  13. #13
    Esse quam videri ploto's Avatar
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    I know. But the article is insulting to Rasho.

    Rasho doesn't have a Croatian background. And considering the history between Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia etc I would think that someone could look it up and see that he's not Croatian before writing it.
    Last edited by ploto; 05-03-2006 at 09:12 PM.

  14. #14
    Veteran velik_m's Avatar
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    Rasho has ties to Bosnia, as well.
    he's a full blooded Yugoslavian!

  15. #15
    Esse quam videri ploto's Avatar
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    he's a full blooded Yugoslavian!
    Last edited by ploto; 05-03-2006 at 09:13 PM.

  16. #16
    God Talks To Me. angel_luv's Avatar
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    Wow! That is really bad.

    I'm shocked and dissapointed in Buck

    It seems like he used Croation to go with couple, like he couldn't think of a catchy noun to go with Slovenian .



    Slovenian Stars immediately comes to my mind.

  17. #17
    Five Rings... Kori Ellis's Avatar
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    Wow! That is really bad.

    I'm shocked and dissapointed in Buck

    It seems like he used Croation to go with couple, like he couldn't think of a catchy noun to go with Slovenian .



    Slovenian Stars immediately comes to my mind.
    Well I don't think they are a "couple" either. The whole thing was weird to write.

  18. #18
    God Talks To Me. angel_luv's Avatar
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    Very true

  19. #19
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    He probably wrote it late at night on no sleep and a stomach full of sugar -- give him a break
    I wrote a e-mail to correct the mistake. Mr.Harvey corrected his mistake in his article. He corrected the mistake very soon and efficiently, so I have to give him his due. He is obviously a nice fellow.

  20. #20
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  21. #21
    Veteran velik_m's Avatar
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    I wrote a e-mail to correct the mistake. Mr.Harvey corrected his mistake in his article. He corrected the mistake very soon and efficiently, so I have to give him his due. He is obviously a nice fellow.
    he was fast because i emailed him earlier

  22. #22
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  23. #23
    Damn You Commies T Park's Avatar
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    Wow! That is really bad.

    I'm shocked and dissapointed in Buck

    It seems like he used Croation to go with couple, like he couldn't think of a catchy noun to go with Slovenian .

    shocked?

    oh good lord.

    Ok how about

    the slovenian s?

    slovenian stiffs?


    That one fits better.

  24. #24
    I am a locopatriot
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    he was fast because i emailed him earlier



  25. #25
    I am a locopatriot
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    shocked?

    oh good lord.

    Ok how about

    the slovenian s?

    slovenian stiffs?


    That one fits better.
    s:

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