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Nice to see the Spurs at least did something regarding officiating... the bad calls at the end of the game were out of control.
Of course not. We believe Manu!
Close losses give Spurs some hope
Web Posted: 05/17/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b....1770eccd.html
Tony Parker's phone rang Tuesday morning, and he didn't need to look at the number to know who was calling: Boris Diaw, friend, countryman and amateur psychologist.
Earlier this month, Diaw's Phoenix Suns found themselves in a similar predicament to the one Parker and the Spurs face. Down 3-1. Coming off a heart-wrenching overtime loss. Thinking they had been cheated by inconsistent officiating. Wondering if their season had slipped away.
"He said you feel like everything is not going your way, like it's not your year," Parker said. "But they came back. It's a good example to follow."
But while the Suns became just the eighth NBA team to rally from a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series, there is one noticeable difference between the challenge they overcame and the one confronting the Spurs tonight at the AT&T Center.
Phoenix was playing the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers. Not the Dallas Mavericks, whose combination of talent and confidence has pushed the league's defending champions within one loss of elimination.
If the Spurs hope to extend their reign, or, at least, their Western Conference semifinals series, they'll have to bury the frustration of losing two games in Dallas they could have won. After falling 104-103 on Saturday, they failed again to close out the Mavericks in Monday's 123-118 overtime loss.
Three of the four games — the Mavericks' 22-point rout in Game 2 being the exception — have been decided by a total of eight points. In each, the losing team had a shot to win on the final possession of regulation.
"I think we're right on the cusp of doing something special here," Bruce Bowen said. "I think we're playing well enough to get back (to Dallas) ... It's a situation where it comes down to small things, and if we can recover from those small things, I think we'll be successful."
Among those "small" things: Parker falling on a likely layup; a botched dribble handoff between Manu Ginobili and Robert Horry; a bad inbounds pass from Brent Barry; two key offensive rebounds by the Mavericks; and a handful of disputed calls.
"We've played well enough to win," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "So I feel good about everything."
Well, not everything. Parker strained his groin Monday and was limping noticeably by the end of the game. He remained sore Tuesday and planned to spend the rest of the day undergoing ultrasound and massage treatment.
Parker already was playing with a hip strain and contusions on each thigh.
"My body is just bruised up," he said. "But at the end of day, nobody cares. I just have to go out there and play."
Spurs officials also were still fuming over at least three calls in the fourth quarter Monday: a blocking foul on Tim Duncan they felt should have been a charge against Dirk Nowitzki; a delay-of-game technical; and a bumping foul on Bowen that led to Nowitzki tying the game with two free throws with 8.5 seconds left in regulation. After the call, Bowen walked to midcourt, looked into the stands at NBA commissioner David Stern and shouted, "Eight-point-five seconds? Eight-point-five seconds?"
"I voiced my opinion," Bowen said.
Ginobili fouled out with 2:28 left in the fourth quarter. Duncan did the same with 1:05 left in Game 3 when Nowitzki stumbled into him after stepping on his foot.
The Spurs complained Tuesday through official channels: director of officials Ronnie Nunn and senior vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson. But, as Popovich said, "All that matters is who got the 'W' and who got the 'L.'"
"Let me just say that some things at the end of games are in the teams' control and some things aren't in the teams' control, and it's best to probably concentrate on what can be controlled by us," Popovich said. "That's why we're going to concentrate on the rebound we didn't get at the end of the game, just like the rebound we didn't get at the end of Game 3.
"We can't think about what might have been done right or wrong by forces that can't be controlled by us."
Of course, the main force the Spurs have yet to control is the Mavericks themselves: Dallas has scored 113, 104 and 123 points the past three games.
Popovich junked his traditional defense anchored by two shot blockers and almost exclusively employed a small lineup Monday. Parker (33), Duncan (31), Ginobili (26) and Michael Finley (14) combined for 104 points Monday only to be matched by Jason Terry (32), Nowitzki (28), Jerry Stackhouse (26) and Devin Harris (18).
"It's like that thing, the hydra, with all those snakes coming out of the head," Horry said. "You cut one off and you've got four more to deal with."
The Spurs would like to break down the challenge facing them to more manageable terms. Win tonight, get to Game 6. Win in Dallas, come home for a winner-take-all Game 7.
"I don't see it as that impossible," Ginobili said.
The Spurs are 2-5 when facing elimination in Duncan's nine seasons. But the two games they won (Game 7 in last season's NBA Finals and Game 5 of their 2002 first-round series against Seattle) came when the other team faced the same.
While Parker looked to Diaw for a few words of wisdom, Horry has his own experience to share. In 1995, the Houston Rockets fell behind Phoenix 3-1 in the Western Conference semifinals before rallying to take the series. They went on to win the championship.
"As long as time's ticking and you've got a possession," Horry said, "you've got a shot."
Nice to see the Spurs at least did something regarding officiating... the bad calls at the end of the game were out of control.
Of course not. We believe Manu!
i have no doubt whatsoever that the spurs can and will beat the mavs three straight games. the spurs have already outplayed the mavs in three of the four games this series. if it wasn't for some ridiculous calls and mental mistakes down the stretch, this series would be the other way around.
damm is this the first time spurs sent in a tape
You know what's funny, the Spurs sound like Dallas usually did in past years. Always trying to pull positives out of a total crap ass situation, when in actuallity they are in deep and probablly won't win this series. Championship teams win games like game three and four, the Spurs didn't and will fall by the way said because of it.
Deep ? It's only the 2nd round.
Championship teams also don't give up in situations like this.
A win tonite changes everything. Then we'll see how well _allas plays with some pressure on them.
dallas will have all the pressure on them to close the deal
spurs have nothing to lose and can be loose
Nice quote by Bruce. Let's hope he's right"I think we're right on the cusp of doing something special here," Bruce Bowen said. "I think we're playing well enough to get back (to Dallas) ... It's a situation where it comes down to small things, and if we can recover from those small things, I think we'll be successful."
OK tell me where I'm wrong here (seriously). Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.
Start the other 7 footer (Nazr/Rasho, your choice). Have Duncan guard Howard. He hasn't been as offensively killing as other Mavs. And when Duncan guards Dirk, so be it. Tim is a how many time All-Star, 3 time Finals MVP, All-Defense, etc. At some point he has to be a big boy too. We can't be protecting him all the time. He is a top player in the league and should be able to defend Dirk at least some of the time.
And besides what good has been keeping him from guarding Dirk done? He still has 4-6 fouls at the end of every game anyway.
It was fine to experiment with small ball to see if it would work (Phoenix last year) and if it did, fine stick with it. Nothing wrong with trying. It's obvious it's not working this series. Some one else in this thread mentioned Nazr's/Rasho's stats in two wins over Mavs this season.
IT'S TIME TO PLAY SPURS BALL!!!
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