Spurs plan to rest, recharge: First leg of rodeo trip ends

[ace3g]

Spurs plan to rest, recharge: First leg of rodeo trip ends with back-to-back losses

Johnny Ludden
Express-News

Well that was fun, wasn't it?

Having discovered the road also doesn't offer much comfort, the Spurs returned home early Friday morning, hoping to use a five-day break between games to recharge and sort out their problems on the practice court. If they're lucky, they might even find someone besides Tim Duncan capable of grabbing a rebound.

After opening the first leg of their rodeo trip with a rousing comeback victory in Los Angeles against the Lakers, the Spurs quickly gave back any momentum with back-to-back losses in Utah and Phoenix. The Spurs were in position to win in the fourth quarter of both games, but were done in by untimely turnovers and defensive breakdowns.

"We haven't been able to close games as well as we're going to have to, obviously," Duncan said. "You have to go through the ups and downs and we've been through a whole lot of downs this season, so hopefully we'll get better from it and learn from it."

The team's morale has understandably dipped, but hasn't reached a crisis level yet. Although with another 34 games on the schedule, there's also plenty of time to get there.

"It's tough," Duncan said. "But we've got a lot of positive guys, so it's not going to hurt this team.

"Guys are compe ors, guys want to do well, guys expect to do well and we're going to stay with that at ude and find a way to turn it."

Given Friday and today off, the Spurs will return to work Sunday for three days of practice. They resume their travels Tuesday, but at least this time they're flying east.

The losses to the Jazz and Suns — and perhaps even Sunday's narrow victory over a Lakers team missing two starters — again raised questions about whether the Spurs have the personnel to survive among the Western Conference's elite. The Spurs are a combined 5-9 against Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, Utah and the Lakers, and three of those victories came in the season's first two weeks.

The Spurs already have lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Lakers and are assured of no better than a split of their series with the Mavericks, Rockets and Jazz. They're tied 1-1 with the Suns with one game remaining between the teams.

"We're usually right there for the No. 1 spot, so this year seeing (Dallas and Phoenix) so far away from us is kind of hard," Manu Ginobili said. "But we're not going to do that every single year. We just have to forget about the standings, try to improve and use every minute of every game to try to take a step forward."

Ginobili thinks the Spurs made some modest progress in Thursday's 103-87 loss to the Suns. The Spurs were playing on the second night of a back-to-back and were coming off a grueling game against Utah, but were in position to win until Phoenix broke them with about four minutes left.

In both games, however, the Spurs couldn't keep their opponent off the boards. They were outrebounded a combined 101-73 while giving up 33 offensive boards and 43 second-chance points.

The Jazz, despite missing All-Star forward Carlos Boozer, were too strong. The Suns were too quick.

The Spurs have continued to struggle even though Duncan has played at a significantly higher level than last season, when he was slowed by a foot injury. The conference's coaches think Parker has had an All-Star worthy season and Ginobili's performance suggests he was just as deserving.

What the Spurs have lacked, however, is consistency from their supporting cast.

Starting center Fabricio Oberto didn't get a single rebound in 23 minutes against Utah and went scoreless in both games. Backup Francisco Elson put his athleticism to good use against the Suns by blocking three shots, but dropped at least two passes and missed a shot at the rim.

The backup point guard position also remains a concern.

Still, the Spurs continue to preach optimism even as their doubters grow.

"We're improving, not as significantly we want to, but we're inching there," Robert Horry said. "By the end of the year, hopefully we'll have this thing rolling like we want."

* * *
BEEN THERE, WON THAT

So the Spurs are 32-16 through 48 games and 6 1/2 games behind Dallas in the Southwest Division. That's down compared with the past two seasons, but recent history says 'Big deal.' Only once in the previous four seasons did the Spurs have the outright division lead at this point. In all but one season (2003-04), they won division les:

Through 48 games Season W-L In division Final result

2002-03 -- 32-16 2nd Midwest, 6 behind Dallas NBA champions

2003-04 -- 30-18 3rd Midwest, 3 behind Minnesota Conference semifinalists

2004-05 -- 38-10 1st Southwest, 6 ahead of Dallas NBA champions

2005-06 -- 38-10 T1st Southwest with Dallas Conference semifinalists

2006-07 -- 32-16 2nd Southwest, 6 1/2 behind Dallas

Season resumes Wednesday @Washington

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...n.1f0585c.html

HMMMMMM being down 6 games isn't always a bad thing

[objective]

HMMMMMM being down 6 games isn't always a bad thing

big difference between this team and that team. That team had young players learning and getting better. As Pop can be seen saying in the dvd, they were making a lot of 'young type mistakes'. Trying to fit in Claxton and deal with his injury, starting Stephen Jackson only after injuries to guys like Steve Smith, working in a rookie Manu Ginobili.

There's no youth on this team that's getting time to even get better. By the time the playoffs are here, Oberto will be 32 and Elson 31. They won't be getting better, they will still be what they are, marginal 3rd string talent.

And Finley and Barry aren't getting any younger either.