Spurs Basketball

Winford Boynes tossed in 21 points, Tom LaGarde grabbed 14 boards, and the Mavericks beat San Antonio by 11. I was in a half-full Reunion Arena that night 25 years and nearly eight months ago when Dallas joined the world of big-time pro basketball.

Of course, that wasn’t the biggest news of the day in Dallas, certainly not to a reporter for the Daily Oklahoman. The University of Texas beat the Sooners, 20-13, at the Cotton Bowl that afternoon in 1980. This would be one of many Dallas events to overshadow the city’s new basketball franchise for years to come.

It took two decades and the arrival of Don Nelson and Mark Cuban and Dirk Nowitzki and Avery Johnson to finally get this thing right. It’s not Red Sox or White Sox in terms of waiting 80-plus years for redemption, but 26 years is a good test of faith in itself.

By that alone, the Mavericks should beat the Miami Heat in this intriguing matchup of teams that arrived in the league after Magic Johnson. Miami fans had only to wait 18 years to see their team win a conference title.

Those extra eight years should count for something in terms of courting destiny, especially considering the lean times that Mavericks fans endured.

In the decade of the ’90s, Dallas had the lowest winning percentage of any team in the NBA. Or NFL. Or NHL. Or Major League Baseball.

From 1990 through 1999, the Mavericks never made the playoffs and won 30 games once in that dismal stretch. The Heat has had some down times, too, but nothing compared to the Mavericks’ wander through the wilderness.

Nowitzki could not recite all those numbers in the wake of his team’s 102-93 victory over Phoenix. But he made it clear that he understood where this team had come from.

“When we first got here, it was rough,” he said. “I mean, we were in that old arena. It stunk. It was bad.

“When I first got to Dallas, nobody really knew us and you could go out anywhere. Nobody was paying attention to the Mavericks really.”

That was eight years ago. Everyone’s paying attention now. Everyone in Dallas. Everyone who follows the NBA.

The Mavericks – this still seems startling when you think about it in the grand scheme of things – are actually favored to win the NBA title.

Dallas won more games than the Heat this season. They beat the Heat twice, one of them so bad that Pat Riley questioned whether his team had what it took to become an elite team equal to the Mavericks.

That was a long time ago, and Riley has the Heat playing much better now, and the team does have Shaquille O’Neal, who loves to beat up on Erick Dampier in particular and Dallas in general. So this is no cakewalk to a trophy presentation for the Mavericks.

But this is a team that understands where winning comes from. It started under Nelson, and the team almost overachieved its way into the Finals three years ago before losing to the Spurs in six games.

Nowitzki was the star of that team, too, but that’s where the similarities to the 2003 team end. The 2006 edition is a team that went to San Antonio and won a Game 7 in overtime against a team as formidable and as championship-worthy of any team in the league.

This is a team that could speed up the Spurs when it needed to, could slow down the Suns when it had to.

This is a team that has believed it when Avery Johnson started talking about winning championships from the first day he was hired to replace Nelson.

This is a team four wins removed from joining the Cowboys and the Stars as Dallas teams to celebrate championships. Those four victories won’t be easily obtained, but beating Miami four times with the home-court advantage won’t be more difficult than beating San Antonio four times without it.

It has been a long wait. Since the Mavericks came to life 26 years ago, 15 franchises have been to the Finals.

Two new names will be added to the list later this week. If longer waits and humble roots count for anything, then Dallas fans deserve to be the ones cheering at the end.

A look at the adjustments that NBA playoff teams will make going into Game 7 of their respective Western Conference semifinal series Monday night:
Dallas Mavericks (4) at San Antonio Spurs (1)

Game 7: Monday night, 8 ET, TNT

Series: 3-3

Pressure point: The Mavericks get Jason Terry back, and that changes everything. With Terry missing Game 6 because of a one-game suspension, the Mavericks were without one of their top shooters — and that put a lot of pressure on point guard Devin Harris. The Spurs pressured Harris and forced him into 3-for-14 shooting and four turnovers.

Countermove: Harris has to go back to being a penetrator, and that should happen with Terry back. Tony Parker has to have a big game for the Spurs, as he was only 3-for-15 in Game 6. He is the quickest Spur and has to take advantage of that. He needs to get into the paint but also has to make the medium-range jump shot the Mavericks are going to let him have.

The big fundamental: Tim Duncan is averaging 30.8 points and 11.2 rebounds and is shooting 56.7%.

Countermove: The Mavericks are reluctant to double-team Duncan all of the time, but he is not only eating them up inside but getting them into early foul trouble as well. They have to try to force him a step farther from the basket, and whenever he puts the ball on the floor, they have to go after him. At the other end, Dallas has to attack him and try to get him into foul trouble.

Small ball: The Mavericks have a huge advantage in the quickness department and have to take advantage. They have made the Spurs adjust to them and play a smaller lineup, basically four guards and Duncan.

Countermove: Dallas has to force the tempo as much as possible and not let the Spurs walk the ball up and get it to Duncan whenever they feel like it. San Antonio cannot afford to let Dirk Nowitzki get off to a hot start. If he is making shots early, that opens up everything else.

***

Los Angeles Clippers (6) at Phoenix Suns (2)

Game 7: Monday night, 10:30 ET, TNT

Series: 3-3

Brand name: Elton Brand has been the dominant force of the series, averaging 30.0 points, 10.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.5 blocked shots while shooting 58.5% from the field.

Countermove: Brand is getting good position down low and just turning and shooting over whomever is guarding him. The Suns have to deny the ball more and make him get it as far from the basket as possible. He has to be double-teamed, but they have to mix it up and make Brand make a decision. He is averaging so many assists in the series because he is reading where the double team is coming from. They still have to attack him and try to get him into foul trouble, at least. Also, Tim Thomas, the Sun he is guarding much of the time, has to start making shots to draw him away from the basket.

Board game: The Clippers are outrebounding the Suns by an average of 23 a game in their three wins.

Countermove: The Clippers are taking advantage of their size by pounding the ball inside and crashing the boards. Phoenix is so eager to run that it isn’t dedicating itself to screening out the Clippers and getting the ball first.

MVP attack: The Clippers are attacking Steve Nash at the defensive end, using Sam Cassell and Shaun Livingston to post him up. With Nash down low, it means he is the double-teamer a lot on rotations inside, and that is keeping the Suns at a disadvantage. That strategy is also not permitting the Suns to run because Nash is on the baseline so much that the outlet passes to him are more shallow, giving the Clippers a chance to get back in transition defense.

Countermove: The Suns still have to force the tempo and take those opportunistic three-pointers. They also cannot let Nash get stuck on the baseline. They might even have to put him on a bigger man to keep him outside, but whomever he guards just goes down to the low post.

In the NBA’s new dispensation, speed and quickness rule. And that’s the primary reason why Dallas prevailed over the Spurs 119-111 Monday in Game 7 in another overtime squeaker to advance to the Western Conference finals.
The Mavs made their intentions known from the get-go by pushing the ball at every opportunity. Josh Howard and Jason Terry ran, drove, and shot the visitors into an early 20-point lead. Another early adjustment from Avery Johnson was to present Dirk Nowitzki with a baseline screen whereby his resulting cut forced Tim Duncan into switching out on him. Nowitzki burned Duncan for two big hoops (out of three tries) to help the Mavs jump ahead.

After the Spurs adjusted to this (by doubling Nowitzki), the Mavs moved their All-Star forward to a position in the middle of the court a step above the 3-point arc. The spacing thusly created made doubling him a risky business and allowed plenty of open lanes for cutters.

When the Spurs adjusted to this (by doubling Nowitzki and zoning the baseline), the Mavs’ next trick was to use Nowitzki in high screen/rolls. The resulting switches created big-little mismatches, and once again compelled the Spurs to double-team. Some heads-up ball movement by all the Spurs generated open shots, layups, and spaces for the likes of Howard and Terry to operate one-on-one.

When the Spurs adjusted to this (by battling their way through the screens), the Mavs sent Nowitzki either into the low- or mid-post areas.

The Mavs, meanwhile, two-timed the posted Duncan on every catch, daring the Spurs to hit perimeter shots.

So, then, kudos to Johnson and his staff for coming up with an early game plan that maximized the Mavs’ primary advantage (speed), mostly neutralized the reigning champs’ greatest asset (Duncan), and forced San Antonio to succeed with the weakest aspect of their offense (their outside shooting).

Eventually, however, Duncan got into a pass-first rhythm, and Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley, and Manu Ginobili made enough long-distance buckets to cause the Mavs to play TD straight-up. Dallas, though, occasionally two-timed Duncan on the move, just to keep him slightly off-balance.

But the Spurs had too much heart, resourcefulness, and self-respect to go belly up. In the second half, their doubles were quicker and tighter, their rotations more coordinated, their passing-lane-sniping more effective, and their offense more precise.

Meanwhile, Duncan was busily fouling out Keith Van Horn (who hit three triples before leaving) and hanging foul trouble on Erick Dampier. And the Spurs began pushing the ball.

As the game wore on, instead of running virtually every play through Duncan, Gregg Popovich dusted off the 1-4 formation that had Ginobili up top, and ready to shoot or drive, that had been so successful in Games 5 and 6. MG roared into the paint for a couple of lefty layups, then when the Mavs clustered in the lane, he made accurate passes to Duncan in traffic and Bowen and Finley on the outskirts.

Johnson tried to staunch the Spurs’ advance by going small, then going big, then going small again. But nothing seemed to work. It was a trey by Finley that put the Spurs up by three as the fourth quarter raced toward the buzzer.

But the Mavs weren’t done either. They showed their own resilience. If Terry and Stackhouse were having trouble locating the basket, Nowitzki became the hub of their offense. For 45 minutes Nowitzki was virtually unstoppable — hitting pull-ups, drives, fadeaways, turnarounds, and even climbing the offensive glass. It sure looked like Nowitzki had matured from being a softie into being a gamer.

Thanks AJ!

But then, in the last three minutes of regulation time, the No-Man apparently reverted to his habitual choke-in-the-clutch mode. That’s when he shot an airball on a short flipper, missed a pair of open 17-footers, and committed a foolish foul while trying to capture an offensive rebound. After Terry missed a critical 20-footer, the Mavs seemed destined to disintegrate at the worst possible time.

Here we go again!

With Dallas down by three, however, and only seconds remaining, Nowitzki was the featured performer in the game’s most important play. Operating under the duress of Bowen’s ferocious defense, Nowitzki nevertheless drove to the ring, made a tight spin, hit a complicated layup despite being clobbered — then calmly buried the subsequent free throw.

The Spurs had a chance to salvage the game, and opted to set up Ginobili in their 1-4 spread. But Ginobili missed a very makeable lefty baby hook, and Duncan couldn’t quite corral the rebound in time to put up a meaningful shot.

The overtime belonged to Dallas. The Spurs were worn out by their game-long chase, while Stackhouse and Terry still have lively legs and were too quick to be stopped. After Dampier fouled out, Johnson also made a big move when he inserted DeSagana Diop into the action.

Diop, who had been used sparingly in the game, paid immediate dividends: Dunking on a nifty S/R run in tandem with Terry. Snatching a tough offensive rebound and netting one of his two subsequent free throws. But, most of all, using his fresh legs to swarm Duncan’s several attempts to score in the pivot.

Here’s what TD managed against Diop in the extra period: Two missed flip-shots, a blown layup under heavy pressure and a missed put-back that followed, a hard-driving hook that rattled through the hoop. And a traveling violation. That’s 1-of-5, plus a turnover.

Duncan, Ginobili, and the rest of the Spurs had run out of gas and out of miracles.

Throughout the series, the Mavs were clearly the better team. They were quicker, had a deeper bench, and had a much more diverse group of scorers. Somehow, Johnson had managed to fashion a quick-handed, fleet-footed defense out of a bunch of previously inept defenders. And that’s exactly why he deserved his Coach of the Year award.

Credit the Spurs’ courage, experience, relentless will-power, as well as the expertise of their coaches for extending a superior team to OT in Game 7.

Luck had nothing to do with the results, for as Branch Rickey famously said, “Luck is the residue of design.” And the Dallas Mavericks now have designs on the championship.

The first round failed to provide an upset, as each team with home-court advantage moved along to the conference semifinals. Despite the lack of upsets, there was no lack of drama, as Phoenix became just the eighth team to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win an NBA playoff series.
The Suns’ comeback against the Lakers means that the Los Angeles Clippers will have to leave their home city during the conference semis. The Clippers, who are looking to reach the conference finals for the first time in franchise history, are coming off of their first playoff series victory in 30 years.

Meanwhile, in the most-anticipated conference semifinal series, the teams with the top two records in the West square off. The Spurs, who won Game 1 on Sunday by two points, will have to take care of the dangerous Mavericks in order to keep their hopes for a return to the NBA Finals alive.

The San Antonio Spurs are the best franchise in sports, according to ESPN The Magazine’s annual Ultimate Standings fan poll, an online poll ranking all 92 MLB, NBA and NFL franchises. This marks the second time the Spurs have come away with the honor since the debut of the poll in 2000 - making them the first repeat winner. The top 10 consists of two NBA teams, the Spurs and the Detroit Pistons (last year’s winner), five NFL teams and three MLB teams. The NHL was not included in the poll this year due to the lockout.

In addition to being named the top franchise, the Spurs also took home the No. 1 spot in three other categories - Fan Relations, Ownership and Players. Fans love Coach Gregg Popovich, who has moved up from No. 72 in the Coaching category to No. 3 since the rankings began in 2000. The Spurs finished third in the Bang for the Buck category, which, rather than being voted on by fans, is determined by wins in the past three years per revenues received directly from the fans.

“Fans told us louder than ever this year that they care more about owners who show their appreciation and players who act professionally on and off the field than pretty stadiums or even winning championships,” said Peter Keating, senior writer, ESPN The Magazine. “Our top-ranked teams, including the Spurs, have made fans believe in their commitment and effort. The bottom-ranked teams fall short in that effort.”

More than 30,000 fans participated in the Ultimate Standings poll online through ESPN.com from October to November, 2005, giving grades to their favorite teams. Fans voted in seven categories - Fan Relations, Ownership, Affordability, Stadium Experience, Players, Coaching and Winning. The Bang for the Buck category is based on financial analysis for three years calculated by the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon and ESPN The Magazine.

The Magazine also conducted an online SportsNation poll of more than 1,500 fans with the help of Markitecture, a research and consulting firm, to paint a comprehensive portrait of the State of the Fan. For more information on Ultimate Standings and State of the Fan, log on to www.espn.com keyword: SportsNation.

Top 10 Franchises:
1. San Antonio Spurs (last year’s rank: 2)
2. Detroit Pistons (last year’s rank: 1)
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (last year’s rank: 9
4. Indianapolis Colts (last year’s rank: 3)
5. Los Angeles Angels (last year’s rank: 5)
6. Atlanta Falcons (last year’s rank 7)
7. St. Louis Cardinals (last year’s rank 11)
8. Carolina Panthers (last year’s rank 12)
9. Atlanta Braves (last year’s rank: 16)
10. New England Patriots (last year’s rank: 4)

Bottom 10 Franchises:
82. Los Angeles Dodgers (last year’s rank: 52)
83. Philadelphia Phillies (last year’s rank: 78)
84. Toronto Raptors (last year’s rank: 75)
85. Tampa Bay Devil Rays (last year’s rank: 73)
86. Arizona Cardinals (last year’s rank: 82)
87. Atlanta Hawks (last year’s rank: 88)
88. New York Knicks (last year’s rank: 77)
89. Portland Trail Blazers (last year’s rank: 79)
90. Minnesota Vikings (last year’s rank: 81)
91. New Orleans Saints (last year’s rank: 87)

(** The Charlotte Bobcats are not included in the overall
standings; three full seasons of data is needed to calculate teams’
Bang for the Buck - which is one of the eight categories used to
calculate the Franchise Rankings.)

Biggest Jumps:
— Chicago White Sox, from 70 to 13
— New York Giants, from 71 to 33
— Houston Rockets, from 56 to 21
— Seattle Seahawks, from 59 to 24
— Chicago Bulls, from 74 to 44

Biggest Drops:
— Orlando Magic, from 44 to 77
— Baltimore Ravens, from 22 to 54
— Los Angeles Dodgers, from 52 to 82
— Baltimore Orioles, from 50 to 80
— Florida Marlins, from 25 to 53

In 2002, the first SportsNation poll was held to measure the state
of the fan. Findings from this year’s SportsNation poll include:

— Fans now spend an average of 6.5 hours a week following sports
on TV, up from 5.3 hours from the first SportsNation poll in
2002;
— The most expensive ticket to a sporting event paid for by fans
in the poll was $112- up 67% from $67 three years ago;
— 72% of fans follow sports for “pure entertainment,” leaving
options such as escape from everyday life (47%) and an
appreciation of athletics (44%) far behind;
— 62% of fans say they like to keep up with new technology;
— One-third of fans agree with the statement “the bigger the
television, the better the game;”
— 57% would prefer getting a large-screen TV and satellite
sports package to four season tickets to their favorite team.

THE South Dragons are not backing away from the big targets as they start assembling a team and coaching staff for the 2007 NBL season.

Former North Melbourne Giants and Sydney Kings coach Brett Brown is on the new club’s hit list, while the Dragons yesterday confirmed they had made an offer to Australian NBA aspirant Luke Schenscher.
While the Dragons admit Brown, on the coaching staff of NBA champions the San Antonio Spurs, is a long-shot to be their first head coach, they are optimistic about signing 216cm centre Schenscher.

“We know Luke’s excited about the prospect of playing with the Dragons, and it’s really just a matter of coming to an agreement that’s acceptable to both parties,” Dragons co-owner Mark Cowan said yesterday.

“Discussions have progressed through a couple of rounds of proposed contracts.”

After four years of strong progress at Georgia Tech, Schenscher was signed and released by the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings in the NBA pre-season.

He is now playing with Fort Worth in the NBA’s development league.

“The Dragons understand that Luke’s committed to a career in the NBA and would be delighted if he were to use our club as a stepping stone to the big show,” Cowan said.

“Home-grown big men are really starting to become a trademark of Australian basketball. You only have to look at what (Andrew) Bogut’s already achieved in the NBA.”

A former assistant coach at two Olympics with the Boomers, American-born Brown has been with the Spurs for four seasons.

He may be tempted to bring his Australian-born wife Anna and their three young children back home.

While it would be an appealing challenge for Brown to be the Dragons’ first coach, it is likely the NBA package of working with the Spurs will keep him in San Antonio.

Even so, the Dragons will at least ask the question of Brown, who won the 1994 NBL championship with the Giants and took them back to the grand final in 1995.

“We think Brett would be a long shot, but we intend to go through the process,” Cowan said. “Someone like Brett is the kind of coach we want.”

Michael Finley scored 19 points and the San Antonio Spurs shot 56 percent Wednesday night in their 109-96 victory over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks have lost seven straight games.
Tony Parker added 18 points and 10 assists as the Spurs’ starting guards combined to make 15 of 22 shots against the Knicks’ dismal perimeter defense. Finley was 8-of-12 in another start in place of Manu Ginobili, and Parker was 7-for-10.
San Antonio was shooting 63 percent after three quarters and was easily on its way to bettering its season high of 56.3 percent against Boston on Nov. 11 before its reserves were only 8-of-21 in the final 12 minutes.
Tim Duncan played only 22 minutes and scored 13 points for the Spurs, who rebounded from consecutive losses and salvaged the final game of their three-game trip. They return home Friday to host Toronto before traveling to Detroit for their NBA Finals rematch with the Pistons on Christmas.
Larry Brown’s old team will certainly provide more of a test than his current one.
The Knicks trailed by as many as 32 points, and the only reason they avoided their worst loss of the season was because the Spurs’ starters were on the bench in the fourth quarter. New York trailed by 31 points after the third.
Jamal Crawford scored 16 points for New York, and Channing Frye and Stephon Marbury each added 14.
San Antonio got off to a quick start, a night after losing in overtime at Milwaukee. Finley scored nine points in the first 4 minutes as the Spurs opened a 13-4 lead, and that was essentially it. The Spurs shot 63 percent in the first quarter in building a 29-16 lead.
The Knicks used a brief flurry to close within five points in the second period, but the Spurs scored the next 11 points and had a double-digit lead the rest of the way. They finished the half on a 23-7 run and went to halftime with a 56-35 cushion after Finley’s 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds to go.
The Spurs shot 65 percent in the half and Finley scored 14 points.
The only fight the Knicks put up came from Antonio Davis, who fouled Parker with 8:18 left in the third quarter. The Spurs thought the foul was too hard, and as players from both teams huddled to talk about it, Davis gave Duncan a little shove as he was walking away.
By then, San Antonio already led by 23 points. The lead grew to 86-54 when Brent Barry made a 3-pointer with 2:09 left in the quarter. Barry finished with 13 points.