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I'll put up some post-game audio tomorrow.
Spurs work on rhythm in loss to Suns
By Johnny Ludden
Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni watched Tim Duncan bank in a 17-footer. He saw him bury a fadeaway jumper on the baseline. He stood silently as Duncan did his best point-guard impersonation by dribbling the ball between his legs.
But when Duncan followed by calmly tossing in a 3-pointer? Even D'Antoni threw up his hands in what-was-that resignation.
The Suns went on to beat the Spurs 104-96 Tuesday night at the SBC Center. But if Duncan's 25 points in 22 minutes are any indication, the home team shouldn't spend much time fretting about whether its star has lost his shooting touch.
"He wasn't shaking at all," Manu Ginobili said of Duncan's 3-pointer. "He just saw it and took it. If he can do that, too, he's welcome to it."
Offensively, there isn't much Duncan hasn't helped himself to in the first two preseason games. Of the 25 shots he has taken, he's missed only eight.
His defense, he said, remains a work in a progress.
"I feel pretty good offensively," Duncan said. "But my rebounding timing is just not there yet. Defensively, I'm just not moving my feet. I can't anticipate things yet, but it's coming back.
"It's all about playing games and getting that muscle memory back."
He's not alone. The Spurs looked like what one would expect after two preseason games. Fluid at times. Out of sync at others.
Brent Barry, after missing all five of his 3-pointers in New York on Saturday, hit his first in a Spurs uniform with 1:55 left in the third quarter. Ginobili, in case anyone wondered, still knows how to dribble behind his back.
Rookie point guard Beno Udrih got his first look at Steve Nash, who had 11 assists in his first game since returning to Phoenix.
"He walks in the door from Slovenia and it's like, 'Go take Nash — he's not very good,'" Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said with a laugh. "It's a pretty tough assignment, but he stuck his nose in there. He did pretty well sometimes. Other times, Nash blew by him. So it was a good education."
The Spurs didn't need another preseason game to teach them that they're a much better team with Duncan than they are without him. In the first 6:45 of the third quarter, Duncan totaled 11 points, five rebounds, four blocks and two steals, helping turn a three-point deficit at halftime into a 10-point lead.
The Spurs led 67-57 when Duncan went to the bench with 5:14 left in the third quarter. Less than five minutes later, the game was tied.
"Our defense isn't where it will be at the end of the year," Popovich said. "But we always start out this way. I think they all understand what we want. Right now we're paying attention to execution on offense and small fundamental things: setting screens, rolling off screens, making cuts.
"I think our basketball quotient is getting higher every year. We just want to make sure we don't skip any steps. We can't assume we're going to be in a specific position at the end of the year just because we're the Spurs. You have to do all that work over again to be sure you're ready to go."
Though Popovich limited Duncan's court time — along with Ginobili's — early in training camp to keep him from getting too fatigued after pulling Olympic duty, the Spurs' star forward hasn't needed long to find his offensive rhythm. On one possession, Duncan took one dribble between his legs then nonchalantly buried an 18-footer over the head of Suns center Jake Voskuhl.
When the Suns went to a four-guard lineup, Duncan stepped out to the perimeter to guard the 6-foot-6 Quentin Richardson. Richardson got by him once, but Duncan recovered quick enough to block his layup attempt.
A couple of minutes later he nearly stripped Nash above the 3-point line.
"Tim is Tim," Suns forward Shawn Marion said. "He's going to get it done time in and time out. There's no flash. He just gets it done and that's how it's always been.
"Tim's an MVP in this league. What else can you say?"
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...s.61bde18.html
I'll put up some post-game audio tomorrow.
There's no flash. He just gets it done and that's how it's always been.
The way it freakin outta be too.
Props to Duncan for being the "perfect" pro.
PS
Right on, &^*%^% FIBA
I was listening to the game and had a similar reaction to TD's 3 pointer. Imagine TD being able to do that regularly on top of his more classic moves - how do you guard him???Even D'Antoni threw up his hands in what-was-that
Best definition of on the job training yet"He walks in the door from Slovenia and it's like, 'Go take Nash — he's not very good,'"
Pop was actually answering a question by me there. The whole thing is kind of funny. I'll post the audio of it when I wake up.Quote:
"He walks in the door from Slovenia and it's like, 'Go take Nash — he's not very good,'"
Best definition of on the job training yet
Looking forward to it! Good night!
Yeah bring on the multimedia, is there any video Kori?
Quit the winning already. Its getting old and boring.
PS
If you don't like the way games are called in international b-ball or if you don't like their rules, don't send a ing team.
No disrespect... but Basketball is OUR game.... why did the rules have to get changed by a governing body outside the US?
Closer 3 pt line...
Oddly shaped lane...
No charging/blocking line in paint...
Goal tending alteration....
Simple question, Why change them....???
bite it smeagol.
The officiating at the olympics was horrendous.
And yes, basketball is AMERICA's GAME!!!
If we want to , guess what, we are going to.
The international officiating is horrendous to the point of hair extraction by hands.
Pop was in a very jovial mood last night. Every question that was asked, he gave a funny, joking answer. When I asked him about Beno ...
Hear for yourself.
http://cctvimedia.clearchannel.com/w...vich101904.mp3
For the first 50 years since basketball was invented, in the last decade of the XIX century, the rules were pretty much in flux (amount of players, pts per FG and FT, glass backboards, etc).
FIBA was ceated in 1932, the NBA in 1946. The US decided not to be part of FIBA, therefore developing its own rules while FIBA was doing the same thing in parallel.
If the US would have chosen to be part of FIBA we would not be having this discussion.
But you missed my point regarding TPark's whinning. Everybody new the FIBA rules going into the Olympics. Everybody new officiating sucked. Team USA new this in 2004 and in every other Olympic game the competed in. But everybody choses to be vocal about the rules this year because Team USA lost.
That's why I say it's time to quit the whinning.
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