Bulls limit Spurs, Parker
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA011607.01D.spurs.2bd6d34.html
Web Posted: 01/15/2007 09:30 PM CST
Johnny Ludden
Express-News
CHICAGO — Tony Parker always has considered the Spurs’ annual game in the Windy City a homecoming of sorts. His father grew up here, his younger brothers played college ball here, and Parker spent more than a few summer vacations here.
As a result, Parker sometimes has distributed as many as 30 tickets to his grandparents and other relatives and friends. He has also usually delivered one of his better performances of the season.
Monday’s game, however, likely won’t be included in the family scrapbook. Limited to a season-low six points and unable to slow Chicago point guard Kirk Hinrich, Parker spent much of the fourth quarter on the bench as the Bulls beat the Spurs 99-87 in front of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day crowd of 22,218 at the United Center.
“It was maybe my worst game of the year,” said Parker, who lost for the first time here in his six NBA seasons. “I had nothing going.”
His coach agreed. While the Spurs’ shooters contributed to the loss by missing 17 of 23 3-pointers, Gregg Popovich directed most of his postgame criticism at his point guard, who missed 6 of his 9 shots and had three turnovers to just two assists.
“It would have made more sense if he was hurt,” Popovich said. “But he’s fine — which is not the way that he played, if you catch my drift.”
Popovich sounded almost as amused as angry after the team’s first loss in five games. Asked if Chicago did anything unusual to limit Parker, Popovich replied: “Not a damn thing.”
“He came up with that game all by himself,” Popovich said. “It was quite creative.”
Parker missed a game early last week because of a right hip strain, but, like Popovich, said the injury didn’t contribute to his performance. Hinrich, meanwhile, had little trouble directing the Bulls’ offense, contributing 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Parker “just wasn’t as aggressive as he usually is,” Hinrich said. “Tony is always on the attack, but he seemed to have deferred more to other teammates today.”
That would have been fine had any of Parker’s teammates been able to consistently hit a shot. Tim Duncan totaled 21 points and 16 rebounds, but his impact was limited because the Spurs — who began the day leading the league in 3-point accuracy — couldn’t loosen Chicago’s defense with their perimeter shooting.
Manu Ginobili, though aggressive while scoring 22 points, made only 7 of 20 shots and none of his four 3-point attempts. Michael Finley went 1 of 6 behind the arc.
Popovich played Brent Barry, who has made nearly half his 3-point attempts this season, only 91/2 minutes through the first three quarters.
“Tim was in a bad spot,” Popovich said. “They clogged the lane on him, they fronted him. When people choose to do that, you have to make some shots. We didn’t do that tonight.”
The Bulls’ defense deserved a lot of credit for that. Even with four-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace sidelined by a sore back, Chicago limited the Spurs to just 39.5 percent shooting.
With P.J. Brown taking the initial assignment to guard Duncan, rookie Tyrus Thomas started in Wallace’s place. The rangy, energetic forward grabbed four offensive rebounds, blocked five shots and goal-tended three others.
Chicago’s perimeter defenders also were athletic enough to crowd Duncan and recover in time to contest many of the Spurs’ outside shots.
“All in all, they just outplayed us,” Duncan said. “I thought they did a great job of bringing the energy.”
The Spurs, meanwhile, continued their sloppy play from Saturday’s victory over Washington by committing 10 first-half turnovers, which the Bulls turned into 15 points. Chicago also scored 16 second-chance points in the first half off eight offensive rebounds.
“We gave them the ball back 18 different times,” Popovich said, “and said, ‘Try again.’”
Ben Gordon took advantage by scoring 20 points, and Luol Deng added 17 as the Bulls shot 49.4 percent. With Parker held in check and no one else filling his void, the Spurs couldn’t generate nearly enough scoring to counter.
“We’ve been spoiled by Tony’s good play all year,” Finley said. “Tonight was just an off night. Hopefully, he can learn from it and bounce back.”