Harvey: The Spurs embrace their role

[deepsouth]

Harvey: The Spurs embrace their role
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http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...y.cb8e04a.html

Buck Harvey: Art of losing large: The Spurs embrace their role
Web Posted: 12/12/2004 12:00 AM CST
San Antonio Express-News

Tony Parker threw a towel in disgust at Tim Duncan in the final minutes Saturday, then made fun of an earlier Duncan pass. "What is this?" asked Parker, imitating Duncan with a twist of a left hand.

Duncan stood up, determined to prove himself. He left the bench to enter the game again, this time as The Point Guard.

Gregg Popovich grabbed Duncan around the waist, pulling him back with exaggerated effort. All of them laughed, and Houston seemed forgotten.

But Houston is not forgotten. Not for a franchise whose losses are far more memorable than its many victories. Beating LeBron James and Cleveland on a December night will not change that, nor would another 58-win season.

Parker nodded at this truth, then said: "I take that as a good thing."

This time he wasn't kidding.

Parker and the Spurs will also take a 17-5 start. They played Saturday night as they have most of this season, with faster ball movement and a faster understanding of who they are.

And when Parker reached his season high in assists at halftime — when the Spurs missed only five shots in the first half — most pointed to the Houston loss as the reason. "That was their catalyst tonight," said the Cavaliers' Drew Gooden. "Having that one stolen from them and being embarrassed by that, they took that out on us tonight."

It's the natural reaction, all right, but why didn't Cleveland plug into its own catalyst? The Cavaliers lost to the Bulls by 28 points in their previous game, and that qualifies as embarrassing, too.

In truth, the Spurs weren't embarrassed against the Rockets. They were playing their role.

Over the past eight years, or since Duncan arrived in San Antonio, no team in the four major sports has a higher winning percentage than the Spurs. Not the Lakers, Yankees, Red Wings nor Patriots.

That's an achievement, especially since Duncan obviously can't play point guard.

But the most notable Spurs games in recent years are, curiously, losses. Two years ago, Amare Stoudemire banked in a 3-pointer to send a Suns-Spurs playoff game into overtime, and Stephon Marbury won it by banking in another 3-pointer. Last year Derek Fisher made the number ".4" famous, and then came Thursday. Tracy McGrady scored on a pace that, if spread out over 48 minutes, would come to about a 1,300-point night.

Parker has lived through them all. "And I remember those more than our wins," he said.

He certainly remembers Thursday easily enough. The Spurs had beaten the Rockets only to burp, and most point to a play Devin Brown made as the cause. Instead of dribbling, only to stumble, couldn't Brown have simply waited to be fouled?

At least, Brown had some logic on his side. He was trying to stay away from a double team in the corner.

Parker's lapse earlier was less forgivable. The Rockets had scored to close to eight points down with 47 seconds left when Parker threw a careless inbounds pass. Steal, dunk, and only a couple of seconds had gone off the clock.

"We thought the game was over," Parker said sheepishly. "It was a big mistake."

Lesson learned. At the end of the first half Saturday, with the Spurs winning easily, Parker took nothing for granted. He missed the first of two free throws, then slapped at the ball and talked to himself.

But he says Houston was less a "catalyst" than his own standards. Saturday morning Parker shot 200 free throws. He's shooting 68 percent this season, and he knows that's not good enough. So, another miss got to him.

It's the personality of a franchise with this kind of winning percentage. But it's this personality and winning percentage that make for the perfect foil, too. The Spurs grind and work and win — and then fall to the mystical.

The reaction, to Parker, is a kind of compliment. "We win so many times," Parker said, "it's a bigger deal when he lose. And I like that. It's not so bad if winning is considered normal."

So, Parker joked with Duncan on Saturday in the final minute, and Popovich played along, and the Spurs left with another win.

Just another win.

[whottt]

The Cavaliers lost to the Bulls by 28 points in their previous game, and that qualifies as embarrassing, too

Why am I not surprised? Cleveland played some bad D...I'm sure they'd rather give us credit than admit they played that badly. They played bad. I can't believe they are a division leader if that is how they play night in and night out.

But more importantly, why hasn't Houston been beating anyone else like they did us?

They went back to being a whipping boy in their next game...against the Mavs.

[1Parker1]

I think it's because ALL the teams tend to bring their A game whenever they play the Spurs because they know that beating them would count as a huge team win for them.

[slayermin]

I think it's because ALL the teams tend to bring their A game whenever they play the Spurs because they know that beating them would count as a huge team win for them.

I agree. Also, if they don't bring their 'A' game, they are gonna get a beat down.

[ShoogarBear]

Plus, both Pop and Van Gundy, given their druthers, prefer a grind-it-out game.

When you have two coaches with that philosophy, games tend to be close, if if one team is clearly superior.