Harvey: On roads out of Texas, AJ knows all of the potholes
Express-News
CLEVELAND — Avery Johnson says Gregg Popovich doesn't need his advice, and he's serious and respectful.
Does that mean AJ won't pass along his Finals road strategy of last year?
When things go wrong, switch hotels?
AJ laughed as if the joke was not yet funny. "Pop needs to put them in the right hotel the first time," AJ said.
But AJ still has a message as the Finals move out of Texas for Game 3 for the third consecutive June. And it's about what happened a year ago, when another product of the 2003 draft surged, and AJ saw his world come apart.
"Trust me," AJ said. "It can happen."
These last two springs have turned on Dallas with momentous cruelty, and most in America don't mind. Mark Cuban can have that effect.
But tied to the same fate has been AJ, and he says he'll never get over this year's first-round collapse. "Because I don't think you ever do," he said. "I don't think I've ever gotten over the Spurs' 1995 loss to the Rockets."
At least he's had time to calm down, and now he says he's rooting for the Spurs. "I'm Western Conference," he said. "I'm Popovich. I'm for him, for Texas and for the Spurs."
He said from the start of these Finals he thought the Spurs would beat Cleveland, and there's no reason for him to change his opinion now. But, as it is when any coach has too much time, he always saw potential doom.
"Cleveland is a dangerous ballclub right now," he said. "You only need really seven, eight days of good basketball for any team to come through. And we saw that with us last year."
AJ's Mavericks led the Finals 2-0, just as the Spurs do now, and just as the Spurs did two years ago when they headed to Detroit. Dallas city leaders were already planning a parade, and most in Dallas were convinced the Finals were over, just as most in San Antonio are now.
The Mavericks were up 13 points with just over six minutes left in Game 3, with Cuban poised to go into full gloat. Then the Mavericks took a turn the way John Daly's marriages do.
"I'm not telling the Spurs anything they don't know," AJ said. "But beware. It can change."
There are differences, of course. AJ had never been on that stage as a coach, and Popovich has been through this Finals pressure three times before.
The franchises reflect the same contrast. The Mavericks, for example, wrestled last year with the best way to celebrate their first Western Conference championship. They delayed a ceremony until the next season, and then they delayed that. Instead of raising the banner when the Spurs were in town for the opener, they waited for their second home game.
That was Golden State. Appropriate karma followed six months later.
The Spurs? They hung their 2007 conference banner before these Finals began, as if they were hanging a curtain.
Other differences are more clear on the court. Miami was the experienced team last year, for example, whereas the Spurs are now. And while the flu weakened Dwyane Wade in the first two games in Dallas last year, Bruce Bowen weakened LeBron James.
Yet another: Wade had Shaquille O'Neal on his side, and even an older, slower Shaq is better than anyone James has.
The setting differs, too. The Mavericks faced the distractions of South Beach, prompting AJ to move his players out of the area in mid-trip and pair them with roommates. Popovich not only has a team of professionals, he also has Cleveland on his side.
Still, as it is with the Spurs now, there was nothing in the first two games in Dallas to suggest the Mavericks would ever lose. Then Gary Payton hit his first and second meaningful shots of the season. More meaningful was Wade.
He's never been much of a 3-point shooter, with a career average of less than 25 percent. But in that Game 3, facing elimination, Wade turned in the corner and threw in a late three that changed everything.
Suddenly he couldn't be stopped, and in those last four games he scored 36, 43, 36 and 42 points. Wade was, if anyone from that draft class deserves such a name, The Chosen One.
Can James be the same? Can his teammates chip in? Can the Spurs lose what seems to already be theirs?
"Miami was the best team on the planet when it mattered," AJ said.
And he wasn't laughing when he said it.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...y.3605776.html
AJ's true Spurs loyalty has shown through a couple times lately.But tied to the same fate has been AJ, and he says he'll never get over this year's first-round collapse. "Because I don't think you ever do," he said. "I don't think I've ever gotten over the Spurs' 1995 loss to the Rockets."
At least he's had time to calm down, and now he says he's rooting for the Spurs. "I'm Western Conference," he said. "I'm Popovich. I'm for him, for Texas and for the Spurs."
AJ sucks. Go figure out how to beat the Warriors. These Spurs are not those Mavs and these Cavs are not those Heat. The Cavs are a one man show, period.
Me thinks at this point, the possibility of eating crow with regards to the Spurs beating the Cavs is pretty damn slim. On the other hand, if it does happen, its going to be a crow of such massive proportions, most Spurs fans will just choke...
Having said that, the Spurs are going to sweep those ers!
I might have to reconsider his jersey retirment worthiness if he's finally going to stop being a disgruntled peckerhead. This process would go a lot faster if he'd just say, I owe my entire career of being more than a third string scrub, to David Robinson and the Spurs. And I'm sorry Spursfans for never developing a J(or any other part of my game besides bossiness) while my bigman got gangraped in the post.
In the meantime...babysteps...getting his ass kicked into the dirt the last 2 seasons has certainly improved the at ude he's been copping since his final couple of years with this team.
Props AJ...and I mean that, legitimately. Keep that at ude and your jersey might just barely deserve to hang up there alongside Gervin, Silas, Drob and Elliott.
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