Finley’s hot shooting guides Spurs to win
Web Posted: 10/27/2007 01:11 AM CDT
Jeff McDonald
Express-News
Eager to at last get to the games that actually count for something, most Spurs players are glad that the regular season begins Tuesday against Portland.
Except for Michael Finley.
Finley probably wishes the regular season had started Friday night.
Shaking off the rust that had followed him for most of the preseason, Finley scored 16 points — and hit seven of his first 10 shots — as the Spurs beat Houston 99-92 at the AT&T Center in their final tune-up for the regular season.
On a night in which Spurs coach Gregg Popovich rested most of his veterans, Finley supplied an old, steady hand.
“I just like to play, I wanted to play,” Finley said. “I like to keep my rhythm going as much as I can.”
Finley seems to have rediscovered his shooting stroke, and just in the nick of time.
After shooting little better than 35 percent from the field in his first five exhibitions, Finley hit seven of 12 shots Friday.
At one point in the second quarter, he made five shots in a row, including a pair from 3-point range. It wasn’t eight 3-pointers against Denver, but it was a start.
“He wanted to play and get some shots up,” Popovich said. “It worked out pretty well.”
It was the second night of a back-to-back for the Spurs, who lost in Orlando on Thursday. That meant lots of action for the second team, and lots of bench time for the team’s stars.
Tim Duncan, like Finley, used his minutes Friday to smooth out the yips in his jumper, hitting four of his first five shots and finishing with 11 points.
Duncan did not play after halftime, neither did Tony Parker. Manu Ginobili,Fabricio Oberto and Bruce Bowen did not dress at all.
And this from the Inconsequential Statistics Department: With the victory, the Spurs finished their preseason 5-2, the second-best exhibition record under coach Gregg Popovich. The Spurs went 7-1 in 1997.
For the most part, the Spurs are just happy it is over.
Asked, on a scale of 1 to 10, to gauge his weariness with playing exhibition games, Popovich said he was “somewhere in double digits.”
“We can’t wait to get the real thing started up,” echoed guard Brent Barry, who completed his most successful preseason with the Spurs with a 13-point night against Houston. “We’ve worked hard to get to this point, and we’re ready to go.”
The evening provided a sneak peak at the new-look Rockets, who have added a new coach (Rick Adelman) with a new high-octane offense, and welcomed back a long-lost point guard (Steve Francis).
Except Francis didn’t play, and the Rockets couldn’t shoot.
Houston (3-4) missed 53 of 90 field goals. The Spurs needed 12 fewer shots to make three more baskets. Tracy McGrady led Houston with 21 points, but made just 9 of 22 field goals.
At night’s end, the Rockets’ veterans left the building sounding much like the Spurs’ veterans did.
“The best thing about tonight,” Shane Battier said, “is that the preseason is over.”
Luis Scola, the former Spurs’ draft pick who was traded to Houston in the offseason, logged 14 points and 10 rebounds in his first San Antonio appearance. With Ginobili and Oberto limited to spectator duty, however, there was no on-court reunion of the Argentine national team.
Instead, the Spurs enjoyed a different kind of reunion — that between Finley and his jump shot.
His renaissance night didn’t start as such. He misfired on three of his first five attempts, including an ugly airball.
Finley, however, recovered nicely. He caught fire in the second quarter, making most everything he attempted.
He finished with his best performance of the preseason, and with just one regret.
It wasn’t Tuesday yet.