Spurs’ home effort too sour for tastes
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Web Posted: 01/09/2007 12:03 AM CST
Johnny Ludden
Express-News
Home, sweet home?
Try telling that to the Spurs. While the AT&T Center was once considered one of the NBA’s most intimidating venues to visit, it’s become a house of horrors for the local team this season.
The Spurs enter tonight’s game against Portland having already lost six times at home, just one less than they did all of last season. Only two seasons ago, they went a franchise-best 38-3 at the since-renamed SBC Center.
The Spurs and, coincidentally, the Trail Blazers, are the only teams with better records on the road than at home.
“You always want to be able to protect your own gym,” Manu Ginobili said. “We haven’t done that this season.”
The Spurs have instead played the role of accommodating hosts, often stopping just short of leaving a mint on their opponent’s pillow.
Tired and weary of being on the road? Looking for a relaxing weekend getaway? Visit Casa de Spurs.
More than a few opposing teams have left town satisfied this winter:
Cleveland won in San Antonio for the first time since 1988.
Houston ended a 17-game losing streak here, beating the Spurs on their own floor for the first time since Tim Duncan joined the team.
Dallas swept its two games here for the first time in 11 years.
Milwaukee won in the AT&T Center for the first time.
Charlotte has only three road victories this season, one of which came against the Spurs.
Sacramento, Philadelphia and Memphis erased second-half deficits of 17, 17 and 19 points to throw a scare into the Spurs before losing.
“It used to be teams would say, ‘Man, we’re in San Antonio. It’s tough here,’” Bruce Bowen said. “Now they may say, ‘We’re down 10, we got a chance.’”
The Spurs are shooting better on the road than at home, but what concerns them more is the discrepancy with their defense. In the team’s 17 road games, opponents have shot a combined 43.3 percent.
In the Spurs’ 18 games at the AT&T Center? They’ve watched their opponents shoot 46.8 percent, a number disappointingly high for a team that has built its success on getting stops.
“I think we get comfortable,” Michael Finley said. "What I mean by that is we get leads on sub-par teams, and we get into a comfort zone knowing we can still win the game if we just play average. But then when we play a top-caliber team like Dallas … if you do that against them, they’re going to take advantage.
“It bit us in the butt a little bit against Dallas, but I think we’ve learned from it — hopefully.”
The Spurs lost to the Mavericks despite leading by 11 at halftime. A little more than a week earlier, they lost to Milwaukee after leading by 13 with less than five minutes left in the third quarter.
The Spurs have blown double-digit second-half leads in five of their past 11 home games. They won three of those games, but that didn’t leave them feeling much better.
The Spurs’ worst lost of the season — a 97-78 setback to Houston in which they trailed by 17 at halftime — also came at the AT&T Center.
“When we don’t get leads, we get impatient,” Ginobili said. “And sometimes when we get leads, we get a little cocky and too overconfident.”
Ginobili thinks the Spurs have been “giving life to a lot of teams.”
Finley understands, having visited the AT&T Center and Alamodome numerous times as an opposing player.
“You knew when you were coming to San Antonio that you had to play one of your best games,” Finley said. "So from a mental standpoint, your whole mindset changes when you come into San Antonio.
“We’ve been getting some of the teams’ better games of the year. But it’s not surprising because I know how those teams feel.”
Opposing teams began to enjoy more success in San Antonio about the same time the Spurs changed the name on the front of their arena. Under the SBC sign, the Spurs went 135-23 (.854 winning percentage), not including the playoffs. Since the AT&T logo went up, they’re 15-9 (.625).
Robert Horry knows of one cosmetic change the Spurs could make to possibly improve their fortune.
“I think,” he said, “we need to wear black shoes or our black uniforms at home.”
Parker update: The Spurs’ starters didn’t practice Monday, so Tony Parker will have his right hip strain re-evaluated at this morning’s shootaround. Team officials are optimistic he’ll be able to play tonight. Parker missed Sunday’s victory in Memphis.