Of executing and Pop's pre-game classic

Good game, no?

But how good must it feel to be the Spurs knowing that when crunch time comes, you’re going to execute with purpose and precision and win?

Bet it feels good.

Just like you will after you read all of this.

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THREE POINTERS

Gentle words

Ed Davis absolutely bricks a free throw (I thought he might have been shooting blindfolded) with about three minutes left in the third quarter and for some odd reason the Spurs call a timeout before he shoots his second.

As he’s getting close to the bench, Alex English is on his feet on his way out to greet him, telling him to take his time, follow through, calm down and go through his routine.

And Ed goes out and misses the second.

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Good execution

Not too many little things about the Raptors often work out so why not look at one that did.

With about 31 seconds left in the third quarter, they’ve got the ball out of bounds and a perfect chance to go two-for-one on final possessions. Now, sometimes they inbound the ball, there’s some confusion and too much dribbling and the opportunity is lost.

Not this time.

Jay draws up a play where DeRozan inbounds to Johnson (Amir, not Trey) takes an immediate hand-off and goes right to the rim and scores.

Raps get a steal on the next possession, DeRozan again goes to the bucket and is fouled, makes one of two and they end the quarter up three and feeling good about themselves.

Not big, but something.

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Tough way to get hurt

I love the way Amir Johnson plays and his double-double last night was impressive, given the opposition.

And given the fact he hurt his ankle early in the game.

But to hurt it after trying to reach up through the net and knock away a ball that was already in the basket?

Silly.

Good guy, sometimes he just does, you know, things.

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And on we go …

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Just wondering.

How good would it have been if Barbosa has missed that second free throw with 21.2 seconds left, the Spurs had won by – yep – 12 and fans would have been denied cheap food after an entertaining game?

Just about perfect, I say.

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We all know Matt Bonner is going to go on and do great things when his playing career is over.

He’s just got that kind of personality.

Maybe politician?

Well, he hopes to start that in the next couple of weeks because he told us before the game that he plans to run for a vacant vice-president’s job with the NBA Players Association during elections at the all-star break.

He says he doesn’t have to have do a lot of campaigning because it’s one of those “nominate yourself, show-of-hands” kind of election.

Too bad; bet his “chicken in every pot” stump speech would be a good one.so

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What’s up in San Antonio?

This is up in San Antonio.

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Ah, Pop.

No one quite like him; not sure I’d want to cover him every day but every now and then …

He’s a verbatim transcript of most of his pre-game media scrum, which was the best of the season in this arena so far this season.

Me: We have the obligatory Matt Bonner is back question? How’s he been playing since his knee injury and have you been seeing improvement/

Him: Last night was his first night back and he did fine.

Me: There was some suggestion he might be interested in being in the three-point contest all-star weekend. As a franchise … would you like to see him there or did you lobby to get him there?

Him: We don’t do much lobbying but if he went to it, that’d be fine, I don’t really care one way or the other.

Me: Neither do I, I’m just trying to elicit a quote.

Him: Yeah. I know, I’m not that helpful, I realize.

Me: That’s quite all right.

Him: But I just don’t care.

(Me, to myself: okay, let’s try another angle)

This rodeo trip, do you get used it as the years go by? Is it easier to manage players?

Him: I don’t think about it. I’m a real simple guy.

Me (to myself) Arrgh!

You’re killing me here.

Him: I’ll make up some stuff so you’ll have something good. I’ll get funny.

Time to let someone else have a shot:

Guy: Gary Neal’s had a sore knee. How is it?

Pop: Why don’t you ask Gary, I really don’t know how his knee feels, I really don’t know. He plays.

Guy: How’s he been playing for you?

Pop: Pretty good, pretty good.

Guy: Seems his defence is good …

Pop: His defence stinks. His defence stinks.

Guy: Is that because he’s a rookie

Pop: No, he’s just bad at it, he’s just bad at it. We’re on him, trying to get it better – that’s a decent quote, isn’t it? – … we’re rolling now.

Guy: What’s he do well

Pop: He shoot very well.

Guy: He seems to shoot a lot of threes, is that the main part of his game?

Pop: You’re right on it. That’s what he does.

Now I’m rolling my eyes, laughing a bit, Pop’s chuckling and the whole thing is spiraling out of control.

It ends like this:

Fellow: Seems to be your style, but you seem to fly under the radar despite having the best record in the NBA, does it bother you hearing all talk about the Heat and Lakers and those other teams?

Pop: We’ve only been together here for about a four-minute period but what do you think? Do you really think I give a damn about what anybody says about anything?

And off we go, shaking out heads, to see Jay.

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Did you notice that the Spurs are likely to have as many, if not more, wins by the all-star break than a Toronto team has ever won in an entire season?

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Not sure than any of you can possibly have any questions left after yesterday afternoon’s session (and you were a cranky lot, I must say) but, if you do, click here and send ‘em because I cannot wait to hear what’s on your mind.

Really.

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So Ray Allen’s probably going to pass Reggie Miller as the all-time leader in three-point field goals tonight (I know, I screwed up yesterday, hope not too many of you were clicking around dial looking for the game) and there’s been a lot written about him in the past few days.

Nothing will beat this and you’d better read it.

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Comments

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Hi again, Doug,
Absolutely, Reggie counts. Just like getting Barbo back counts.
I'm just thinking some additional insurance, mostly for health reasons, to help spread minutes, but also to bolster bench scoring. Reggie won't help a lot there. Right now, it's entirely Barbo. Bayless will have his nights on occasion; Sonny will maybe be a bench contributor again too but, like Bayless, he's having his nights only on occasion.
Dorsey, Solo, Ajinca – two out of three would seem to be immediately expendable if none of them are ever going to see the floor, and three out of 15 represents a solid 20% of an already thinned roster. Just one more usable player... (I know, I know, who's pounding on the door clamoring for Dorsey, Solo or Ajinca...). Maybe working Wright back into some regular rotation minutes will help too, but, just one more usable player...
I just think the starters need to be able to count on some kind of relief for the few minutes when they're off the floor. They're shot by the end of every game the way it's playing out right now, and accumulating fatigue just makes them more susceptible to injury. I'd want to protect the assets I expect to have back next year, and give them at least a whiff of something positive to work with and build on for the remainder of the season – 29 games is an eternity if you're losing, beat up and too pooped to give a s**t.
Cheers. Go Raps...

[Leaf Fan in Van]

Let me be the first to say that if the rumours are true about Jerry Sloan stepping down - I would want him to be coach here in Toronto - AT ALL COSTS.

[Anthony R]

Hey Doug,

I hope you get a full article or blog for this whole Sloan vs Williams fiasco tomorrow.
I would really like to know your take on this whole thing. I hope its along the lines of: Coach gets too much blame for losing. Coach gets too much praise for winning and some Players have too much control. eg. HWSNBN
Thanks!

[Geoff M]

Doug, any chance you caught the half-time show dunk competition.

OK yes 2 of the guys actually could not dunk, but that third guy.....who was that??? A front-flip into picking-up the basketball off the ground dunk probably could've got some 10's in the actual NBA dunk competition no? Hopefully Demar was taking some notes!

[kelsey]

@ Sam Yes that the Raptors are one game closer to finishing this horrid season and that the more they loose the more people will see that changes from Management, scouting, coaches and players.

I will be negative again, In the last 5 years who have Raptors got in the draft that has use other than DeRozan and Bargnani...NO 2nd round gems, none...Go further back..How about the last 8 yrs which Gem have Toronto selected?????

There is a serious issue with scouting on this team, San Antonio always finds late round Gems why not Toronto!!!
Ahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AK]

Doug, how would you like to cover Jerry Sloan every day?

AK

Blogger's note: It'd be trying, I bet

[Manale]

I always cheer for free pizza at a Raptors game.
In fact, everybody in my section does.
It's fun.

Sometimes when there's a fun basketball team in town, the basketball is fun, too.

[G Beck]

Sign Jerry Sloan, please! Haha

[Mike D.]

Doug, I can't help thinking that people will put up with Pop being a curmudgeon because he has all those rings and his Spurs are dominating the league, but that if a coach early in his tenure, with a losing record (say Triano) gave the same answers to a media scrum it would accelerate the calls for his head. Has Pop become gruffer as his resume has grown, or was he always like that with reporters' questions?

Blogger's note: He's been like that almost every time I've seen but it's not at all vindictive or angry or confrontational; he's a fun curmudgeon, like me :)

[LeeZ]

Oh please oh please oh PLEASE, Jerry, come to Toronto! It's WAY nicer than Salt Lake City. Granted, you're only allowed one wife up here, yes, fair enough, but...oh just come and coach our basketball team. I'm BEGGING you. Doug, in the words of the great Captain Picard, make it so.

[CARLoS M.]

This is such a sad statement... "Did you notice that the Spurs are likely to have as many, if not more, wins by the all-star break than a Toronto team has ever won in an entire season?"

[DMcCalgary]

@Peter
Thank you very much for taking the time to try and help me out. I've been uploading 50x50 px images, but maybe I should try lowering the quality.

[james lannin]

Wow Doug,
You screwed me up a bit. At first glance as a "Rap Head" I thought you were interviewing 'POPS' not 'POP'S'. Fortunately it only took a few confusing Q&A's before I realized who you were talking to. Either way, that would have been a stunning 'pops mensa' interview.

[Jean-Marie]

Jerry Sloan resigning is a typical case of a team – and a coach – blackmailed by the players.

Keeping in mind all this
1) Utah untypically losing too many games lately
2) A well known fight between Sloan and Deron W. just few days ago
3) A first assistant coach deciding to resign as well
4) Ty Corbin rapidly named the new head coach

I think you can make the case that all this, up here, meant this down here
1) The head coach “losing” the full support of players
2) As they whisper, Deron W. going up to the team and saying ”It’s me or him”
3) Phil Johnson involved cause is a super-faithful of Sloan, not allowed to stay
4) The team's fast in meeting the players’ request and naming a new coach of their taste: an afro-american coach, a players-friend coach.

The “golpe” has perfectly succeeded. Another great feature of authority goes down.

[onemanweave]

This bit of nonsense that Ray Allen's ability to shoot threes is just the result of hard work feeds into the old pro athlete's line that " I am better than the average Joe, not because I have superior genetic gifts but because I work harder, am smarter and have more character'. Bunk.
Thousands of rec league players, high school players, college players, pros have worked very hard on their shots over the years. None was born with the athletic gifts Ray Allen possesses.
Yes, I'm sure he works hard. Maybe even harder than all of the other genetic exceptions that populate the NBA, BUT he WAS born with a certain amount of ability that made the work pay off.
It's an old delusion and not all limited to Ray Allen who is an admirable player and person.