http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...n.38c5501.html
Pro basketball: Spurs' March gets tougher with Celtics
Jeff McDonald
San Antonio Express-News
Manu Ginobili doesn't have to whip out his handy Spurs pocket schedule to know this is the most grueling month he has ever faced as an NBA player.
His body tells him as much every time he takes a step.
"I'm feeling it," Ginobili said. "It's never an excuse, but March has been pretty tough."
The Spurs are 10 games into the cruelest month in franchise history, an 18-game grind through March that comes just as the tightest Western Conference playoff race in recent memory is hitting its home stretch.
They can feel the burn in the standings.
On the heels of an 0-for-3 road trip so troubled it should have been piloted by Chevy Chase, the Spurs have fallen from first in the West to sixth.
Their welcome-home present? A date tonight with the big, bad Boston Celtics, they of the NBA's best record (52-13) and an already-sewn-up Atlantic Division crown.
On St. Patrick's Day, no less.
If the Spurs are bothered by the symbolism inherent in that green-tinted scheduling quirk, they aren't letting on. The Celtics, in a different, more pitiful incarnation, chose St. Patrick's Day last season to break a 17-year drought in San Antonio.
"It's always good to play great teams," point guard Tony Parker said. "To be honest with you, I like that game. It's going to be playoff atmosphere, lots of intensity. It's going to be good."
A victory — any victory — would be good for the Spurs about now.
Since polishing off a season-best 11-game winning streak earlier this month that vaulted them to the top of the West, the Spurs have dropped five of six. Another loss tonight would push their losing streak to a new season high (or, perhaps, low).
The Spurs' record has slipped to 44-22, which most years would be a lock for a high playoff seed. This year, it has left them fighting simply to secure home-court advantage in the first round.
Still, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich doesn't seem to be reaching for the panic button yet. He acts, in fact, as if he doesn't know where the panic button is.
Popovich judges his team most often by its compe iveness and consistency. By that measure, he considers the team's 0-3 road trip to be somewhat of a success.
"You'd always rather win than lose, but I'm not real concerned about that," Popovich said. "I'm more concerned about us playing consistently, being compe ive no matter what the situation. And I think we've done that. I'm really proud of what they've done, even though the record doesn't show it."
The Celtics seem to agree. They don't plan on looking past the Spurs, losing streak or not.
"Always, the San Antonio Spurs are a measuring stick for the league," said Paul Pierce, who scored 35 points when the Celtics beat the Spurs in Boston last month. "They set the standard of what everyone wants to do."
The Spurs' most glaring problem on the road trip was simply closing out games.
New Orleans outscored them 24-8 in the fourth quarter to hand them a 100-75 defeat, the Spurs' most lopsided of the season. Against Detroit, the Spurs overcame a 12-point deficit in the fourth to take a brief lead but couldn't finish it off. At Philadelphia, the Spurs spent the entire night trying to dig out of a 13-point hole, and nearly did, but couldn't get the requisite stops in the final minutes.
Ginobili admits even the Spurs' closing problems go back to the schedule.
"It's not the same closing a game against Minnesota as it is closing a game against Detroit," he said.
Popovich's biggest concern, meanwhile, is to keep his weary team fresh throughout a punishing March, without having it slip further in the standings.
"The worst thing we could do," Popovich says, "is overplay our players now trying to get wins. Then you don't get the wins, and you enter the playoffs worn out."
So what can a coach do to strike that balance?
"You just grab on to the seat of your pants and go for it," Popovich said. "There is no formula."
When it comes to dealing with the most punishing March he's ever known, Ginobili does have a plan.
It is two-pronged: Hold on for dear life, and wait for April.
"We're trying to hang in there, grab a couple more wins," Ginobili said. "And April is going to be better."
Uh yeah, how about practicing what you preach?"The worst thing we could do," Popovich says, "is overplay our players now trying to get wins. Then you don't get the wins, and you enter the playoffs worn out."
Gonna need more than a "couple" before April begins. That's a odd defeatist at ude ... especially from a compe or such as Manu."We're trying to hang in there, grab a couple more wins," Ginobili said. "And April is going to be better."
I don't think Manu intended to sound defeatist when asked. He simply meant that if the team guts out the rest of March they can get some very necessary wins. I think "a couple" was meant as an arbitrary number. Have faith.
Tony is gonna have a monster game, i can feel it
To the people closer to the spurs.
Are they having shootarounds in game day?
I find quite strange to hear Pop being quiet and with a positive at ude. I don't know at all what to think about that.
He may play CIA with Barry.
Pop! - Everybody knows Barry is coming back!
Seriously IMO
Pop thinks that the whole Western conference will be bit tired after fighting for posiotion in the conference so he is not letting the players to go for the "fools gold"
No way. It gets easy. The Spurs are hungry from revenge against the Celtics. Hard is the four game Southwest swing the Celtics are doing. They'll go home either 0-4 or 1-3 at best on this road swing.
Why will they? Boston have a great team with the leagues best record. They aren't the knicks. It's possible Boston may well win 3 of 4. 0-4 will not happen.
I dont like the spurs at ude. They aren't showing the pride or even the slight arrogance that defending champs should show.
"It's not the same closing a game against Minnesota as it is closing a game against Detroit," Ginobili said.
It should be exactly the same, regardless of how experienced the other team is we should be competing with the same high intensity for every game. Every team plays us like we insulted their mothers so we need to drop the modest good guy fronts and start hating our opponents' guts. Maybe then we'll see a little fire and the desire to not only win but to crush the opposition.
"The worst thing we could do," Popovich says, "is overplay our players now trying to get wins. Then you don't get the wins, and you enter the playoffs worn out."
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