Reply With Quote
Spurs must move on to advance
Web Posted: 04/30/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...s.8199dbc.html
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — By the time the Spurs gathered Saturday morning, Tony Parker had seen Kevin Martin's shot nearly a dozen times.
Manu Ginobili's drive. Mike Bibby's steal and crosscourt pass. Martin twisting around Tim Duncan to release his shot.
Everyone looking up, helplessly, as the ball took four soft bounces around the rim before falling through the net.
"I still couldn't believe it," Parker said.
As hard a time as the Spurs had comprehending their Game 3 loss to Sacramento, they have to accept it. Fretting about what happened Friday isn't going to help them when they return to Arco Arena tonight with a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.
"A loss is a loss; a win is a win," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "You go on to the next one. There's no time to give them any more meaning than that."
When the Spurs met to watch film in a conference room at their downtown hotel, Popovich showed the team's final possession only once. He mentioned how the Spurs didn't space the floor well. He pointed out that Ginobili rushed his drive. He second-guessed himself for not using another timeout and switching sets.
And then he moved on.
"You can't say much about it," Ginobili said. "He all knew we had played it in our heads many times."
Perhaps no one more so than Ginobili. Ginobili's turnover created Martin's winning shot, and Parker said he never had seen his backcourt partner so upset as he was after the game. Ginobili ranted long and loud at himself in the locker room — "He was talking Spanish," Parker said, "and I didn't understand it at all" — and Duncan was concerned enough to dispatch Fabricio Oberto to check on him.
Unlike Parker, Ginobili didn't turn on any highlight shows after returning to the hotel Friday, choosing instead to watch an Argentine movie before falling asleep.
"I'm still very upset," he said. "I feel like I let my teammates down. But I guess that it happens to everybody once or twice."
Ginobili has missed his share of game-winning shots, but never does he remember committing so costly a mistake in such a big game. Not in Argentina, Italy or the NBA.
"I should have thrown the ball in the air — anything," Ginobili said. "But to make a turnover on the top of the key ..."
The turnover was Ginobili's seventh, one fewer than his point total. He said he played "kind of soft" and vowed to be more aggressive tonight.
"He was very mad at himself; I understand that," Parker said. "But we did not lose the game because of him."
Parker knows that because he also contributed greatly to the loss. He made only 4 of 13 shots and watched from the bench as Beno Udrih paced the team's second-half comeback.
Not since the second quarter of Game 1 has Parker made a shot longer than 8 feet. That wouldn't be a problem if he could get to the rim, but the Kings are playing under the Spurs' pick-and-rolls and daring him to beat them from perimeter.
The Spurs have seen this before. In each of the previous four years, Parker struggled in the playoffs after opponents packed the lane against him. So far, despite the improvement he made in the regular season, this year hasn't been any different.
"I'm planning to come back strong tomorrow and take my shots if they're open," Parker said. "I've been working hard with (shooting coach) Chip (Engelland) all season long. It's been working great for me, so I'm going to try to do the same thing."
The Spurs' guards also are going to have to refocus their efforts on keeping Bonzi Wells and Ron Artest off the boards. Thanks largely to Duncan's help-side defense, the Spurs did a better job of double-teaming Wells and Artest on Friday, but the two still combined for 26 rebounds.
In the past two games, Wells has 15 offensive rebounds.
"We've done a little bit of everything," Popovich said, "and nothing's worked."
The Spurs' first priority is to put Friday's loss behind them. The core of the team was around when Stephon Marbury banked in a 3-pointer to beat them in the opening game of the 2003 playoffs. A year later, Derek Fisher haunted them with his famous 0.4 shot.
If the Spurs want another lesson in how to respond, they need only look across the court tonight. On Tuesday, the Kings watched Brent Barry bounce in a 3-pointer to steal a game they thought they had won. Three nights later, Sacramento used its frustration as motivation.
"Hopefully," Ginobili said, "it will do the same for us."
. 30+ on Artest? i doubt it very seriously. he will probably have a good game but lets not get carried away.
