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Spurs' Popovich last don of hoops
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 06/10/2007 12:37:13 AM MDT
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* Jun 10:
* Pin blame on Jake's mistakes
San Antonio - Tony Soprano, the mobster we love, is America's favorite wise guy.
Gregg Popovich, whose stare can kill, is the NBA's last don.
"Yes, he's a son of a gun," San Antonio assistant P.J. Carlesimo said of his boss. "He's very tough."
Everybody, including superstar LeBron James of Cleveland, is worried Tony is going to get killed in tonight's final episode of "The Sopranos."
"My friends think that either the feds are going to come and get him, or he's going to make friends with the feds and maybe snitch on a lot of people, or he's going to get whacked," said James, who maybe should worry more about escaping the cement sneakers the Spurs slapped on him during that opening-game beat down at the NBA Finals.
But you think Big Tony is gonna be the toughest guy on television tonight?
Fuhgetabou .
No Soprano is tougher than "Pop." He's the coach of the Spurs. The godfather of the men in black.
Don't mess with Texas? Whoever wrote that slogan back in the day must have anticipated Popovich was coming to town.
He sets the tone for pro basketball's most feared operation, sneers at the fawning San Antonio electronic media who trip over themselves to kiss his championship rings, then goes home and sips a glass of fine vino.
Why does the theme song from "The Sopranos" start playing in my head every time Popovich barks orders in the San Antonio huddle? Talk about a dude who was born under a bad sign with a blue moon in his eye.
"You've got a lot of coaches in this league who won't yell at superstars on their team. They fear their superstars because they fear for their jobs. And 'Pop' doesn't worry about that," Spurs veteran Robert Horry said.
What makes the Spurs murder to play is not their defense so much as their steel-toed-boots at ude.
Any dope with something besides seeds in his melon knew five years ago that Popovich was smarter than Pat Riley or Phil Jackson on the bench. But a little more than 24 hours before Game 2 of the Finals, some fool finally got around to asking "Pop" if he wasn't more famous because he failed to wear Armani suits and preach Zen.
"No," replied Popovich, trying not to be annoyed by the flattery.
Then, the Spurs coach punctuated his disdain for celebrity, saying, "I'm not being a wise-(aleck). I don't care."
The Spurs, from the gutter tactics of Bruce Bowen to the 1,000-yard stare of Tim Duncan, are not easy to cuddle.
Popovich can be engaging, condescending, fascinating and infuriating. All in the same breath.
And, no, "Pop" does not really give a flip about what you think of him or his team.
Thanks for asking.
In a league where it's generally believed millionaire players now run the show, Popovich is the last don, straight from the Soprano iron-fist school of management.
And I mean that in a good way.
"Those three banners speak volumes," said Bowen, staring at the championship laundry hanging from the rafters of his home arena. "The banners allow (Popovich) to do what he does as far as discipline. Everybody receives it ... from Tim, Tony (Parker), Manu (Ginobili), me. When guys come to this team and see, 'Wow, Pop's getting on those guys, and they have rings?"' it really sets the boundaries."
The Spurs, as playoff victims from Denver's Carmelo Anthony to little Steve Nash of Phoenix would gladly testify, do not defeat you so much as they grind you into tiny shards of psychological wreckage.
Those Bad Boys from Detroit had nothing on San Antonio when it came to messing with a foe's mind. And maybe that is the most intriguing facet of Popovich's genius. Somehow, he bullies both the athletes on his team and the opposing bench into playing the game his way.
What "Pop" instills in the Spurs is an undeniable feeling that anywhere between the baskets is their turf. "It makes you feel you can just take the life out of individuals or out of teams," said Cleveland coach Mike Brown, marveling at what Popovich does best.
Nobody buys HBO to watch James Gandolfini walk around in his boxer shorts, but since 1999 we have not been able to take our eyes off the actor.
"Pop" doesn't exactly qualify as a dashing leading man himself. The way his team plays is often far from pretty.
Popovich, however, has a stage presence so huge it can incite paranoia, because no team in recent U.S. sports history seizes on a mistake in a single moment of weakness, then steps on your neck with the wicked effectiveness the Spurs do.
Horry recently was asked San Antonio's approach to business against King James and his court of Cavaliers.
Somehow, I'm betting the answer would have brightened the mug of Tony Soprano with a satisfied smirk.
"LeBron is the head of the snake," Horry reported. "And we need to cut that head off."
Bada.
Bing.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or [email protected].
lol
Other than his habit of putting "Pop" in quotes, it was a pretty entertaining read.
He also wrote this article:
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 06/08/2007 12:32:05 AM MDT
San Antonio
David Stern, the hanging judge, came to Texas to see what his harsh brand of basketball justice has done to the game we all once loved.
Cover your eyes. It's ugly.
The San Antonio Spurs were at it again Thursday night, boring LeBron James and Cleveland into submission, turning America off on hoops, one television at a time.
Hope commissioner Stern is happy now.
The men in black are back, sucking all the life and beauty from the NBA Finals.
Grudgingly, we must admire the Spurs, whose unsightly 85-76 victory in the best-
of-seven series put them one victory closer to their fourth league le since 1999.
But that doesn't mean we have to like it.
Please, somebody. Stop them. How the Spurs play basketball makes ultimate fighting look like ballet by comparison.
"Even though people are picking us, people aren't rooting for us," San Antonio veteran Robert Horry said on the eve of the NBA Finals. "We've got San Antonio, maybe Argentina and maybe Paris. But the rest of the world, they're rooting for Cleveland. Everyone wants to see Cleveland win and the new MJ come to life."
The new Michael Jordan? The Spurs made the man who would be king appear as if the young emperor had no clothes or clue.
Frustrated by San Antonio's clutch-and-grab defense, James clanked eight shots before he made one and finished with a buzz-killing 14 points.
"They're selling out on LeBron," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said of the defensive strategy of the Spurs, whose aggressive double-teams so effectively forced James to dribble toward the sideline that one of the few times he could attack the rim, Cleveland's flustered superstar clumsily bounced the ball off his own foot. "They're saying: 'Hey, somebody else beat us."'
Hey, it's not a bad strategy. San Antonio's Gregg Popovich is not the smartest coach in the NBA for nothing.
But has any national act based in Cleveland so relied on the talents of a single man since "The Drew Carey Show"?
The Cavs might be the worst team to appear in the Finals since a young Shaquille O'Neal was in over his head with Orlando in 1995.
The Spurs showed open disdain for the teammates of James.
It was almost funny.
In fact, when James and teammate Drew Gooden appeared together in the interview room following the defeat, there were snickers that grew into belly laughs with each passing question.
Seven consecutive queries were directed at James, as if Gooden were invisible. When his presence was finally acknowledged after several minutes, Gooden said thanks for noticing.
"For us to win, me being the leader of this team, I have to play better in order for us to have a chance down the stretch," said James, who misfired on 12-of-16 shots from the field.
The suffering of James was a group effort. The Spurs do work as a team, in much the same way ants swarm a summer picnic.
What San Antonio does best is ruin everyone's fun.
Should the Spurs go on to win the le, as expected, the trophy deserves to be painted with a big, black asterisk.
Because we all know the championship was probably decided weeks ago in NBA offices rather than on the court, when Stern not only applied the letter of the law, but threw the book at the Phoenix Suns and knocked them out by suspending Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for stepping a little out of line in response to a cheap shot on Steve Nash by Horry.
Asked if that ruling would taint the legitimacy of San Antonio's championship run, Stern insisted he did not want to make light of the feeling Phoenix was robbed, then did precisely that, suggesting that the only people angered were irrational Suns fanatics.
Furthermore, Stern added, there has been no proposal to change the draconian rule that cost the Suns so dearly.
So the Spurs are back in the NBA Finals, looking to win the championship for the fourth time, and if King James isn't brave enough to stop them, who is?
Somehow, you get the feeling we've already seen this movie. Call it "Men in Black IV," starring Will Smith as Cheap-Shot Rob and Tommy Lee Jones as Popovich.
The franchise might soon qualify as a dynasty.
But it's also nearly unwatchable.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or [email protected].
What...you can't say ASS in the Denver Post?
"gutter tactics"
you, Kiszla. You ARE an ASS
lebron was unwatchable. His game and the cavs offense were an insult to the game of basketbal. They are ruining the nba.
Good thing the Spurs played some exciting half court ball with great cuts and passes and then turned it up to run some fast breaks for dunks and layups. The Spurs are saving the Finals.
Spurs make other teams look boring.
Against a lesser opponent, King J goes for a gazillion points. What Fun! This is exciting basketball! Rating's galore!
Against the SPURS, Lebron's a bore.
"Damn those Spurs, they play boring basketball."
and so it goes...
So Pop is a Serbian-Italian-American basketball crime lord?
Kizla's brain in on display, in a jar, at the NBA carnival sideshow led "Round 1 & 2 Oddities, Believe It Or Not"
Kizla maintains that his job of loser's rant spokesperson doesn't entail needing a brain and that he feels that the best way to showcase his minature walnut is to donate it to that freak sideshow, where it would be most appreciated by their season ticket holders.
(am I pissed?)
i'm surprised that he wrote a nice article. well, a little bit nice.
Who gives a what this clown -- or any of the clowns -- think of the Spurs? Being resented is something that happens when you're good enough to be a widespread threat. With that being the case, it's a huge compliment.
Go, Spurs, Go!!!
Ok, I'm chilled down about half a notch, then a little bit nice, maybe he used his brain stem a little bit to backpedal a little bit,,,,,,,,que cabron eres tu, kizla
Yet another showing of his hypocrisy. I am so ing sick of that guy.
-Mars
I still love that Mike Freeman from Sportsline, in his column about the hypocrisy in sports media, specifically quoted from Kizla's June 8 column and then beat him like a rented mule over the assertions made in that column:
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70584
This dude is going down pretty quickly now. He is like the clown of the sports writers.
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