马刺1997-98赛季实录（680+篇）

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-16, By Buck Harvey

等待诱饵先生：如何度过一个深秋

我告诉肖恩·艾利奥特很明显他不想搬家，他的反应也很配合这个玩笑。“我吓跑了所有人，”他开玩笑道。

我告诉他这确实很奏效，但他不再需要通过这种方式来确保自己能永久居住在南德克萨斯。沙加缅度和金州勇士队都不想要他，而且照目前的样子，韦恩堡和苏城也很动摇。

我告诉这位诱饵先生，现在可以安全跳槽了。当他这么做的时候，马刺队就会好起来，将到西部参加比赛，也许就根本不需要进行任何交易。

我告诉艾利奥特，这件事现在交给他了。

他读到这句话时会翻白眼，因为他以前听过。他认为我太经常对他进行髋部检查。他会阅读周日的报纸，并注意到查克·佩森在对阵明尼苏达时投得更差（这是需要做出一些努力的）。他可能还会对自己说，周六晚上是马刺队本赛季第一次在四节比赛后落后。会有这样的事发生对吗？

然后他会揉揉膝盖，并回忆起为什么周六晚上无法绕过道格·韦斯特。艾利奥特会说，他的双腿恢复得比较慢，但正在好转。此外，如果有一件事大家在这里已经学会，那就是与 5 月相比，11 月无关紧要。

但抛开所有逻辑，他比任何人都更清楚自己正处于投篮低迷期。他知道这一点，因为他每个赛季都经历过这种情况，而这已经成为了他职业生涯的曲线图。在某个月中，他是一位不知所措的佛罗里达海滩狗，而在下一个月中，他便成为了一位全明星。

对于联盟来说，这不是一个令人印象深刻的模式。在自己的年龄和他获得的薪水下，国王队并没有看到任何涉及他的交易方案会比米奇·里奇蒙德更有价值，而勇士队对拉特雷尔·斯普雷维尔的看法也是如此。

但在两年前，当他每场比赛平均得分超过 20 分时，他的地位带来了会被里奇蒙德和斯普雷维尔引以为豪的包夹。因此，马刺队现在很疑惑。如果艾利奥特找回了自己的 1995 年比赛状态，同时大卫·罗宾逊在一侧，蒂姆·邓肯在另一侧会发生什么？

“我们达到了一个全新的高度，”艾弗里·约翰逊用艾弗里·约翰逊的语气说道。

为什么没能实现这一目标有很多细节因素。艾利奥特的体能状况。没人熟悉的新进攻阵容。艾利奥特点并不是新攻击阵容的重点。

选一个。但当艾利奥特在边线接球时——当他以前会轻巧地滑行进入一个近距离上篮或后退进行一个跳投时——什么都不会发生。

在第三节的最后，格雷格·波波维奇让艾利奥特一人单打，并观察着他。艾利奥特错过了一次进攻。一个跳投进了，又出来了。斯蒂芬·马布里将他抢断，并走到了另一边。

“如果我没有糟糕的运气，”艾利奥特后来说道，“我不会有任何运气。有一次我准备投篮时，汗水让我睁不开眼睛。好像我需要帮助我投丢球一样。”

他勉强挤出一丝微笑，尽管他知道那是马刺队错失一场可以取胜的比赛的时候。下面是会让艾利奥特今天早上感到痛苦的一项数据：在马刺队的比赛输赢记录中，他共 32 次投篮命中 8 次。

但与波波维奇在那个晚上看见“令人尴尬”一样，他也认为第三节的徒劳无功是令人鼓舞的，因为艾利奥特正在努力让自己变得富有攻击性。“如果说那天晚上有什么让我喜欢的，”波波维奇说道，“那就是看到这一点真是太好了。”

尽管如此，波波维奇知道除非他的射手们做出一些动作，否则他的七英尺长的球员会腐烂。“蒙蒂 (威廉姆斯)、查克 (佩森) 和肖恩之间，”波波维奇说，“有人必须投中一球。”

威廉姆斯从未成为一名射手。佩森将获得更少的上场时间。当文尼·德尔·内格罗回来时，马刺队将迎回他们最好的中距离射手。

但能带他们更进一步的那个人？他正是没人想要的人。艾利奥特确保了这一点。

点击查看原文：Waiting for Mr. Bait: How to spend a Fall

Waiting for Mr. Bait: How to spend a Fall

I tell Sean Elliott that it’s clear he doesn’t want to move, and he plays along with the joke. “I’m scaring everybody off,” he kids.

I tell him it’s worked well, but he no longer has to go out of his way to insure a permanent South Texas residence. Neither Sacramento nor Golden State want him and, the way he’s going, Fort Wayne and Sioux City are wavering.

I tell the Mr. Trade Bait it’s safe to make a jumper now. And when he does? Then the Spurs will be fine, will contend in the west and - maybe - won’t need to make a trade at all.

I tell Elliott, now, it’s on him.

He’ll roll his eyes when he reads this, because he’s heard it before. He thinks I hip-check him too often. He’ll read the Sunday newspaper and note that Chuck Person shot worse against Minnesota (that took some doing). And he’ll probably say to himself that Saturday night was the first time the Spurs have trailed this season after four quarters. It happens, doesn’t it?

Then he’ll rub his knee and remember why he couldn’t get around guys named Doug West Saturday night. Elliott would then say he’s slowly getting his legs and getting better. Besides, if there’s one thing everyone has learned around here, it’s that November doesn’t matter compared to May.

But for all the logic, he knows better than anyone he’s in a shooting slump. He knows because he’s been through this every season, and that’s been the graph of his career. One month he’s a confused Florida Beach Dog, the next he’s an All-Star.

It’s not a pattern that overly impresses the league. At his age and at his salary, the Kings don’t see any package involving him being worth Mitch Richmond, and the Warriors feel the same about Latrell Sprewell.

But two years ago, when he averaged over 20 points a game, his status brought double-teams that would make Richmond and Sprewell proud. And so now the Spurs wonder. What happens if Elliott gets his 1995 game back - with David Robinson on one block, with Tim Duncan on the other?

“We’re on a whooole-nother level,” said Avery Johnson in Avery Johnsonese.

There are various details why that hasn’t happened. Elliott’s conditioning. The new offense that no one knows well. The new offense that doesn’t make Elliott the focal point.

Pick one. But when Elliott has the ball on the wing - when he once would have glided in for a point- blank layup or pulled back for a jumper - nothing happens.

Late in the third quarter Gregg Popovich isolated Elliott for that very thing, and watched. Elliott missed a drive. A jumper went in- out. Stephon Marbury stripped him and went the other way.

“If I didn’t have bad luck,” Elliott said later, “I wouldn’t have any. Once I went up to shoot and sweat blinded me. As if I need help missing shots.”

He forced a weak smile, though he knew that stretch is when the Spurs let a winnable game go away. And here’s the stat that would make Elliott wince this morning: In the Spurs’ losses he’s shot a combined 8-for-32.

But the same Popovich who saw the evening as “embarrassing” saw that third-quarter futility as encouraging because Elliott was trying to be aggressive. “If there was anything I liked about the night,” Popovich said, “it was great to see that.”

Still, Popovich knows his seven- footers will rot unless his shooters do something. “Between Monty (Williams), Chuck (Person) and Sean,” Popovich said, “somebody has to knock down a shot.”

Williams has never been a shooter. Person will get a smaller ration. And when Vinny Del Negro returns, the Spurs get their best mid-range shooter back.

But the guy who could take them farther? He’s the same one that no one else wants. Elliott made sure of that.

By Buck Harvey, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-17, By Glenn Rogers

糟糕的投篮表现继续困扰马刺

马刺队周日休息了一天。

他们没有进行训练，但全队下午 2 点聚集在阿拉莫穹顶，观看了比赛录像，并讨论了战术，持续了大约 1 个半小时。

这场比赛录像并不精彩，只是马刺队周六晚上以 94-105 不敌森林狼队的比赛重播。

森林狼队几乎从一开始就控制了比赛，要么压制住了马刺队的每一次反扑，要么是马刺队自己放弃了反超的机会。

“我们继续着糟糕的投篮表现，包括罚球，”波波维奇周日说。“这给防守带来了很大压力。我们的防守一直帮助我们保持在比赛中，帮助我们赢得比赛，但昨晚它让我们失望了。”

“我不知道为什么，但我们让对方轻松突破上篮；防守时没有人协防，”大卫·罗宾逊(David Robinson)赛后说。“我们必须在接下来的训练中弄清楚该怎么做。

“我们还需要弄清楚我们的新进攻，”他说。“我们还不是最好的球队，我们必须明白我们还有很多工作要做。”

马刺队对阵森林狼队的比赛中投篮命中率仅为 39%，大多数得分来自于近距离投篮。肖恩·埃利奥特(Sean Elliott) 13 投 4 中，查克·珀森(Chuck Person) 13 投 2 中。

“我们一直在打很多势均力敌的比赛，这是因为我们没有投进该进的球，”波波维奇说。“我们对阵明尼苏达的比赛并没有懈怠。如果我们罚球命中率更高，没有那么多的失误，比赛情况就会有所不同。”

马刺队整赛季的罚球命中率都很低，周六晚上仅命中 51 球中的 32 球。他们进入比赛前的罚球命中率仅为 68%。

“我认为队员们一直都在拼尽全力，但当你不断地在比赛中让自己陷入困境时，早晚会自食恶果，”波波维奇说。“你不能指望每场比赛都靠防守来撑到最后。”

波波维奇说他没有考虑周日安排训练。

“我认为没有必要进行惩罚性的训练，”他说。“我们有周一和周二的训练时间（马刺队将在周三晚上对阵金州勇士队），所以观看录像和制定战术就足够了。”

罗宾逊说训练对替补球员尤其重要。

“我们的替补球员是我们的火花，当你没有训练时，你就很容易失去这种火花，”他说。“替补球员在比赛中上场时间并不多，但他们在训练中一直都在场上进行对抗。这会让他们找回状态。

“每个人都参与到训练中，每个人都很开心，你又能感觉到那种活力，”他说。

点击查看原文：Shooting slump still stymieing Spurs

Shooting slump still stymieing Spurs

The Spurs had a partial day off Sunday.

They didn’t practice but the gang gathered at the Alamodome at 2 p.m. and spent about 11/2 hours watching game film and talking strategy.

This film was no classic, just a replay of the Spurs’ 105-94 loss Saturday night to the Timberwolves.

The Wolves had control almost from the start and either stymied every Spurs rally or the Spurs themselves aborted comebacks.

“We continue to shoot poorly, including from the line,” Popovich said Sunday. “That puts a lot of pressure on the defense. Our defense has been keeping us in games, helping us pull games out, but it let us down for the first time last night.”

“I don’t know why, but we were letting them drive to the hoop; nobody was helping on defense,” David Robinson said after the game. "We have to figure out what we have to do during our next practice.

“And we still have to figure out our new offense,” he said. “We are not one of the best teams yet and we have to understand that we have a lot of work to do.”

The Spurs shot just 39 percent from the field against the Wolves, and most buckets came from up close. Sean Elliott was four of 13 and Chuck Person just 2 of 13.

“We’ve been playing a lot of close games and that’s because we haven’t been knocking down our shots,” Popovich said. “We didn’t have a no- effort game against Minnesota. Things would have changed if we had made some free throws and didn’t have those turnovers.”

The Spurs, struggling all year from the line, made just 32 of 51 free throws Saturday night. They had been hitting just 68 percent entering the contest.

“I think the guys have been busting their butts all along but when you keep putting yourself into the hole during the game, it’s going to bite you in the butt sooner or later,” Popovich said. “You can’t continue to depend on your defense down the stretch in every game.”

Popovich said he didn’t consider calling a practice for Sunday.

“I didn’t see any reason for a punitive type practice,” he said. “We have Monday and Tuesday to practice (the Spurs play Golden State Wednesday night), so a film and strategy session was enough.”

Robinson said the practice sessions would be particularly helpful for the reserves.

“Our bench has been our spark guys and you tend to lose that when you don’t practice,” he said. "The bench doesn’t play that many minutes during games but they are on the floor all the time scrimmaging during our practices. It gets their flow back.

“Everybody gets involved in practice, everybody has fun and you get that friskiness again,” he said.

By Glenn Rogers, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-17, By Glenn Rogers

电视协议让圣路易斯幽灵困扰前ABA球队

过去几十年里，马刺队的历任老板肯定不止一次哼过几句圣路易斯布鲁斯。

曾经有一支名为圣路易斯幽灵的ABA球队。这支球队因马文·巴恩斯(Marvin Barnes)和弗莱·威廉姆斯(Fly Williams)等奇葩球员而永远留在了职业篮球的历史中。

NBC体育的鲍勃·科斯塔斯(Bob Costas)永远不会忘记这支球队。他第一份播音工作就是为圣路易斯幽灵担任解说员。

圣路易斯幽灵经历了很多艰难时刻。他们只存续了两年。但马刺队也永远不会忘记这支球队。他们仍然在向圣路易斯球队的原老板们支付巨额资金。

原因如下：

1976年，ABA和NBA合并，只有四支球队被接纳进入联盟——圣安东尼奥马刺队、丹佛掘金队、印第安纳步行者队和纽约网队。ABA不得不与另外两支剩余的ABA球队，肯塔基上校队和圣路易斯幽灵队进行财务结算。

简而言之，ABA的结算方案：

肯塔基队的老板约翰·Y·布朗(John Y. Brown)获得了300万美元的补偿，以换取他放弃加入NBA。布朗后来利用这笔钱收购了波士顿凯尔特人队。

圣路易斯队的老板奥齐·西尔纳(Ozzie Silna)、丹尼·西尔纳(Danny Silna)和唐·舒帕克(Don Schupak)获得了220万美元的现金，并签署了一份协议，让他们获得四支前ABA球队从NBA获得的任何全国电视转播费的七分之一份额。这些支付将永久持续下去。

“永久！ ”前马刺队副总裁、总经理兼主教练鲍勃·巴斯(Bob Bass)喜欢大声唱出来。“而且他们什么也不用做。没有开销，没有球员，没有运营。他们只需收钱。永久！ ”

他们一直都在收钱，或许永远都会。

圣路易斯队的老板们可能无意中完成了体育史上最伟大的交易之一。这就像把石油开采权卖给一块荒芜的草地，然后看着钻探者开采到石油一样。

根据合并协议，ABA球队在最初三年内不允许从全国电视转播合同中获得收入。但在20世纪80年代，圣路易斯团队获得了约800万美元的收入。

NBA的受欢迎程度不断提高，并吸引了足够多的电视巨头，在1990年获得了丰厚的利润。当圣路易斯幽灵队的原老板们看到自己每年可以获得约440万美元的份额时，他们兴奋得彻夜跳舞。

现在他们可以跳探戈了。从下赛季开始，这笔金额将增加到每年1200万至1300万美元之间，这得益于最近与NBC和TNT签署的26.4亿美元的电视转播协议。

丰厚的积蓄。

四支NBA球队试图摆脱这笔交易。他们试图协商解决。他们仍在努力。

“当然，我们尝试过几次摆脱它。”前马刺队总裁兼部分老板加里·伍兹(Gary Woods)说。

步行者队副总裁多尼·沃尔什(Donnie Walsh)说：“过去十年左右，我们一直在来回协商。但是，你难道不希望成为他们那样的群体，没有任何开销吗？”

因此，支票一直在发放。

西尔纳兄弟拒绝就此事发表评论。舒帕克没有接听电话。

四支NBA球队没有看到钱流向西尔纳兄弟。电视网络在赛季期间定期向联盟办公室支付款项，联盟从中扣除七分之一的份额，并将其转交给西尔纳兄弟。

四支球队几乎在1982年达成了一项结算协议。西尔纳兄弟似乎同意以300万美元的价格取消合同，但马刺队的老板安吉洛·德罗索斯(Angelo Drossos)拒绝了。

1989年又进行了一次尝试。他们聘请了一位纽约律师调查如何打破合同。

最终结果是：合同几乎不可破。

“最初的协议是由一名联邦法官起草的。”伍兹说。“它就像一项宣告性判决，就像最高法院的判决，不仅仅是一份合同。它不可逆。”

四支球队在20世纪90年代初再次尝试。

他们向西尔纳兄弟提供约1800万美元的补偿。双方都开始收集文件。似乎有可能达成协议。

但就在那时，棒球与CBS达成了一项非凡的协议。圣路易斯幽灵队的老板们眼睛一亮。他们的大脑思考着未来的可能性。

他们退出了。

几年后，四支球队认为，如果他们停止支付，西尔纳兄弟或许会被迫起诉，也许会达成某种协议。也许会请来一位仲裁员，他的客观观点会迫使双方达成某种协议，因为圣路易斯这伙人什么也不做就拿钱。

这种做法被放弃了，因为联盟办公室可能会介入，也许会起诉，而各支球队的老板们退却了。

总的来说，四支球队估计已经花费了约25万美元的律师费，试图找出如何摆脱这笔交易。

到目前为止，他们还没有成功。

最新的想法是，随着兄弟们年龄的增长，他们在去世后会难以对自己的遗产进行估值。他们可能确实会遇到困难，但现在他们可以肯定地估计出四年的1200万至1300万美元的收入，然后根据未来可能出现的电视转播协议，在空气中随意编造一些数字。

点击查看原文：TV deal allows Spirits to haunt ex-ABA teams

TV deal allows Spirits to haunt ex-ABA teams

There must have been many times over the past couple of decades when the various owners of the Spurs have hummed a few bars of the St. Louis blues.

There used to be an American Basketball Association called the Spirits of St. Louis. That team lives forever in pro basketball lore mainly because of bizarre players like Marvin Barnes and Fly Williams.

NBC Sports’ Bob Costas can never forget that team. His first announcing job was as play-by-play man for the Spirits.

There were plenty of blue times for the Spirits. They lasted only two years. But the Spurs will never forget that team, either. They are still sending money - big bucks - to the former owners of that St. Louis franchise.

Here’s why.

When the ABA and NBA merged in 1976, only four teams were accepted into the established league - the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and New York Nets. The ABA had to settle financially with the two other remaining ABA teams, the Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits.

In brief, the ABA’s settlement:

Kentucky owner John Y. Brown received $3 million for not going into the NBA. Brown would use his money to later buy the Boston Celtics.

St. Louis owners Ozzie and Danny Silna and Don Schupak received $2.2 million in cash and signed an agreement that would give them one-seventh of a share of any national television money that each of the four former ABA teams got from the NBA. The payments would be made in perpetuity - forever.

“In PERpetuity,” former Spurs vice president, general manager and coach Bob Bass loves to sing out. “And they don’t have to do anything for it. No overhead. No players. No operations. They just get the money. In PERpetuity.”

And they have. And perhaps always will.

Unknowingly, the St. Louis owners may have pulled off one of the greatest hauls in sports history. It’s kind of like selling oil rights to a barren patch of scrub grass and watching drillers strike it rich.

Under the merger agreement, the ABA teams were not allowed to receive money from national television contracts for the first three years, But during the 1980s, the St. Louis group received about $8 million.

The NBA grew in popularity and attracted enough interest from TV moguls to earn a nice pie in 1990. The former Spirits owners could dance into the night when their slice was calculated at about $4.4 million each year for four years.

They can segue into tango steps now. That amount will triple to anywhere between $12 million to $13 million annually beginning next season, thanks to the recent $2.64 billion television package signed with NBC and TNT.

Nice nest egg.

The four NBA teams have tried to get out of the deal. They’ve tried to negotiate settlements. They’re still trying.

“Sure, we tried to get out of it a couple of times,” says Gary Woods, former Spurs president and part owner.

Says Donnie Walsh, vice president of the Pacers: “We’ve been going back and forth for the last decade or so. But, wouldn’t you like to be that bunch, (with) no overhead?”

So the checks keep coming.

The Silnas declined comment on the situation. Schupak did not return telephone calls.

The four NBA teams don’t see the money going the Silnas’ way. The television networks send their payments to the league office periodically during the season, the league deducts the one-seventh and sends it along.

The four teams almost negotiated a settlement in 1982. The Silnas apparently agreed to wipe out the contract for $3 million, but the Spurs’ owner, the late Angelo Drossos, said no.

Another attempt was made in '89. A New York attorney was hired to look into breaking the contract.

The upshot - the contract is all but unbreakable.

“The original agreement was written up by a federal judge,” Woods said. “It’s like a declaratory judgment, like a supreme court judgment, not just a contract. It’s just not reversible.”

The four teams tried again in the early '90s.

They made an offer to the Silnas, for about $18 million. Both sides started gathering documents. It appeared something might be done.

But, at about that time, baseball made a fantastic deal with CBS. The eyes of the Spirits owners widened. Their brains mulled over future possibilities.

They backed out.

A couple of years later the four teams figured that maybe if they just stopped paying, the Silnas would be forced to sue and perhaps something would give. Maybe an arbitrator would be called in and his objective view would force some kind of deal, because the St. Louis guys were doing nothing for the money.

That approach was abandoned because the league office probably would have become involved, perhaps sued, and the various team owners backed away.

In all, the four teams figure they have spent about $250,000 in legal fees trying to figure out how to wiggle out of the deal.

Thus far, no luck.

The latest thinking is that as the brothers age, they will have trouble putting a value on their estate, in the event of death. They may have trouble, all right, but right now they can definitely estimate the $12 million to $13 million for four years and then just maybe pull numbers out of thin air based on future television deals to come.

By Glenn Rogers, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-18, By Glenn Rogers

海军上将的表现令人满意，目前为止马刺的罗宾逊重新找回全明星的状态

如果最近圣安东尼奥的风似乎有些大，这可能是因为马刺球迷都松了一口气。

去年大卫·罗宾逊遭遇了背部拉伤和脚部骨折，度过了一个糟糕的赛季，现在人们不禁担心他今年无法重返全明星的状态。

但是，早期的成绩表明罗宾逊的表现远远超出了所有人的预期。一如既往，罗宾逊在圣安东尼奥效力期间再次成为了马刺的关键力量。

他的跳投回来了，而且他还突破和切入篮下。他扣篮。他再次成为了对手的重大威胁。

罗宾逊率领马刺（战绩为 6-3）在星期三晚上 7:30 在阿拉莫圆顶迎战金州勇士（战绩为 0-8），目前他的每场比赛得分领先全联盟，为 26.4 分。他还有队内最高的每场 12.0 个篮板和 2.7 个盖帽。

这些统计数据甚至让罗宾逊自己都有些惊讶。

“我担心的是每场比赛只能得到大约 15 个篮板，”他说。“我认为蒂姆（邓肯）会得到很多分。我打算让他去做这件事。但我确实希望自己能表现得很强。波波（马刺教练格雷格·波波维奇）给了我时间恢复状态。”

当然，轻微的伤病总是存在的。罗宾逊缺席了星期一在圣言大学的大部分训练，左肩感到疼痛。

“那里有点拉伤，”他说。“当我抬起手臂时会很痛。我认为是在最近的一场比赛中受的伤。但是，是的，我应该能在（星期三晚上）的比赛中打好。”

当罗宾逊抬起手臂时，他痛苦地皱了皱眉，马刺队的训练师约翰·安德森检查了他的肩部上方。这个左撇子在训练场上的短暂停留中主要是用右手扣篮和传球。

“大卫今天有机会稍微休息一下，”波波维奇说。“他的肩膀有点痛。”

到目前为止，罗宾逊的表现并没有让波波维奇感到惊讶。

“我不认为这是一个出人意料的开局，”波波维奇说。“我一直都知道他会比大多数人猜测的要好。但他确实很好地应对了节奏……四晚三赛，连续两场比赛。”

罗宾逊在星期六 105-94 负于明尼苏达的比赛中得到 29 分和 18 个篮板，平均每场比赛 36.2 分钟。

“波波知道我喜欢在下低位和正面面对一些对手打球，他让我去做了，”罗宾逊说。“感觉很轻松，我希望一直保持这种感觉。我会继续保持背部的训练。”

罗宾逊爆发般的表现并没有让文尼·德尔·内格罗感到惊讶。

“我看到了他在夏天付出的努力，所以我知道他做好了准备，”德尔·内格罗说。“现在仍然为时过早。他还有很多事情要处理。在缺席一整年后想要重新回来非常困难。他只需要坚持自己正在做的事情。”

马刺笔记： 格雷格·波波维奇在星期一晚上打破了交易的沉默，他说该团队不太可能与不满的国王后卫米奇·里奇蒙德达成交易。

“我们给萨克拉门托打了电话，就像联盟中的每支球队一样……并说，‘嘿，需要什么？你打算怎么处理米奇？’”波波维奇在 WOAI-AM 的广播节目中说。

“他们对我们不感兴趣。那是不会发生的。他们有大约三或四支球队，他们真的很喜欢自己能够得到什么回报。而那正是他们最终会做的事情。”

波波维奇说，马刺与国王的会谈从未达到任何一方提出要约的程度。

他说：“他们在这一点上对与我们讨论米奇·里奇蒙德不感兴趣。”“如果情况发生变化，就会发生……（但是）我不知道他们想要从我们团队中得到谁，因为他们还没有说，‘如果你给我们这个人和这个人，’或者其他什么，我们会给你这个人。”

- 文尼·德尔·内格罗仍然因右脚踝扭伤而无法上场。预计他不会在周三晚上对阵勇士队时上场，并且也可能缺席马刺队在周五和周六对阵西雅图和犹他队的比赛。

德尔·内格罗说：“我现在正在接受大量治疗，并且正在慢跑，”他星期一在 UIW 沿着边线跑，并且投了一些罚球。

快报新闻记者杰瑞·布里格斯为本文做出了贡献。

追踪罗宾逊

大卫·罗宾逊在所有九场比赛中都成为马刺队的得分王，并且在六场比赛中成为他们的篮板王：

@丹佛（胜）：21 分，13 个篮板。

克利夫兰（胜）：22 分，9 个篮板。

@芝加哥（负）：21 分。

温哥华（胜）：22 分，17 个篮板。

犹他（胜）：28 分。

@多伦多（胜）：32 分。

@明尼苏达（胜）：36 分，16 个篮板。

洛杉矶湖人队（负）：27 分，14 个篮板。

明尼苏达（负）：29 分，18 个篮板。

点击查看原文：Admiral's game looks like it's in shipshape So far, Spurs' Robinson regaining All-Star form

Admiral’s game looks like it’s in shipshape So far, Spurs’ Robinson regaining All-Star form

If it seems to have been a little gusty around San Antonio lately, it could be from all that air Spurs fans have been exhaling.

More than a few were worried that David Robinson wouldn’t return to his all-star form this year after a disastrous season in which he suffered a strained back and broken foot.

But the early returns show Robinson far ahead of anybody’s expectations. Robinson, as has been customary during his time in San Antonio, is again the Spurs’ prime force.

His jumper is back and he’s driving and slicing to the basket. He’s dunking. He again is a major deterrent to driving opponents.

Robinson, who leads the Spurs (6-3) against Golden State (0-8) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Alamodome, is leading the league in scoring at 26.4 points per game. He also is averaging a team-high 12.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocks.

Those statistics even surprise Robinson a little.

“My concern was to get about 15 rebounds a game,” he said. “I figured that Tim (Duncan) would be scoring a lot. I was going to let him do that. But I did expect to be strong. Pop (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) let me take time to get into playing shape.”

Nagging injuries, of course, are always there. Robinson sat out most of the Monday’s workout at the University of the Incarnate Word with a sore left shoulder.

“It’s a little pinch up there,” he said. “It’s sore when I lift my arm up. I think I did it sometime during the last game. But, yeah, I should be all right for the (Wednesday night) game.”

Robinson grimaced in pain when he raised his arm and Spurs trainer John Andersen examined the top of the shoulder. The left- hander primarily used his right hand to dunk and pass during his brief stays on the practice court.

“David got a chance to heal a little today,” Popovich said. “His shoulder is a little sore.”

Popovich isn’t completely taken aback by Robinson’s showing thus far.

“I don’t think it’s a faster start than I expected,” Popovich said. “I always knew that he would be better than most people speculated. But he is really handling the pace well … the three games in four nights, the back-to-back games.”

Robinson, who had 29 points and 18 boards in Saturday’s 105-94 loss to Minnesota, is averaging 36.2 minutes a game.

“Pop knew that I like to play in the post and facing up some, and he has me doing that,” Robinson said. “I feel fresh and I expect to continue to feel that way. I’ll continue to maintain work with my back.”

Vinny Del Negro isn’t surprised by Robinson’s burst from the gate.

“I saw the work he put in over the summer, so I knew he was prepared,” Del Negro said. “It’s still real early. He still has a lot to work out. It’s extremely difficult to come back after a whole year out. He just has to maintain what he’s doing.”

- Spurs notes: Gregg Popovich broke his silence on the potential of a trade Monday night, saying it isn’t likely the team will deal for disgruntled Kings guard Mitch Richmond.

“We’ve called Sacramento, just like every team in the league … and said, ‘Hey, what would it take? What are you going to do with Mitch?’” Popovich said on his radio show on WOAI-AM.

“They’re not interested in us. That’s not going to happen. They have about three or four teams where they really like what they can get back. And that’s what they’re going to do eventually.”

Popovich said the Spurs’ talks with the Kings never got to the point where either team made an offer.

“They’re not interested in talking to us about Mitch Richmond at this point,” he said. “If that changes, it changes … (But) I don’t know who they’d want off our team because they haven’t said, ‘We’ll give you this guy if you give us this guy and this guy,’ or, whatever it is.”

- Vinny Del Negro is still sidelined with a sprained right ankle. He is not expected to play Wednesday night against the Warriors and is questionable for the Spurs’ trip to Seattle and Utah on Friday and Saturday.

“Right now, I’m undergoing a lot of therapy and I’m jogging lightly,” said Del Negro, who ran along the sidelines and shot some free throws Monday at UIW.

Express-News Staff Writer Jerry Briggs contributed to this report.

Tracking Robinson

David Robinson has been the Spurs’ leading scorer in all nine games and their top rebounder in six:

@Denver (W): 21 pts., 13 rebs.

Cleveland (W): 22 pts., 9 rebs.

@Chicago (L): 21 pts.

Vancouver (W): 22 pts, 17 rebs.

Utah (W): 28 pts.

@Toronto (W): 32 pts.

@Minnesota (W): 36 pts., 16 rebs.

L.A. Lakers (L): 27 pts., 14 rebs.

Minnesota (L): 29 pts., 18 rebs.

By Glenn Rogers, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-19, By Jerry Briggs

无胜之师正合马刺胃口 马刺迎战联盟最差防守

这是不是一部廉价小说的情节？

一位有抱负的作家可以通过剖析今晚马刺与无胜的勇士队的比赛剧情，展开对悲剧、阴谋和人道精神的深入探讨。

比赛将在阿拉莫穹顶体育馆的晚上7:30开始。

如果NBA有特蕾莎修女奖，那么勇士队（0-8）可能是领跑者。

本赛季至今，他们已经抹去了疲惫和无精打采的进攻的焦虑。

勇士队的防守慷慨至极，以联盟最差的场均108.9分屈居联盟倒数第一。

这对马刺队（6-3）来说是一个完美的良药，他们在周六晚上以94-105输给了明尼苏达森林狼队，他们的进攻看起来营养不良。

“我根本不在乎他们是0-8还是8-0，”马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇说。“他们是一支我们必须面对的球队，我们必须全力以赴去赢。人们的战绩无关紧要。”

在阴谋方面，波波维奇坚持说，目前关于马刺队与勇士队进行交易传闻，特别是关于后卫拉特雷尔·斯普雷维尔的传闻，没有任何进展。

同时，他说，如果交易有助于球队，他会在任何时候进行交易。

“我的球队知道这一点，”波波维奇说。“我的教练组也知道这一点，我认为球迷应该对此提出要求。但在这特殊时刻，并没有进行任何交易。”

包括斯普雷维尔？

“我的声明涵盖了所有人，”波波维奇说。

波波维奇谈论任何交易传闻都属反常。但他周二训练后强调，马刺队的活动已经停滞。

“我们与各支球队的任何讨论都已结束相当长一段时间，已经超过两三周了，”波波维奇说。

马刺队在上赛季的20胜62负的伤病缠身赛季中，可能还记得他们输给了勇士队的所有四场比赛，而勇士队毫不介意以此来羞辱他们。

事实上，就在一年前的今天，勇士队在阿拉莫穹顶体育馆以102-92战胜了马刺队。斯普雷维尔在比赛结束时走过马刺队的替补席，并开怀大笑。

马刺队前锋肖恩·埃利奥特耸耸肩，将这段回忆视为去年他更愿意忘记的另一段回忆。

“他们就是这样的，”埃利奥特说。“我们并没有想要报复他们。我们只是努力去赢球。”

埃利奥特的姓名出现在了与国王队和勇士队的交易传闻中，他说他对波波维奇淡化交易谈判没有任何感觉。

“我并没有期待着它，坐在那里双手紧握，屏住呼吸，”埃利奥特说。“我知道关于勇士队传闻的故事，底特律试图撮合一笔（三方）交易。所以我知道事情是怎么运作的。”

马刺队中锋大卫·罗宾逊预计将在他的左肩疼痛缓解后上场，他在周二的训练中已经能够投篮。这位NBA联盟的得分王，一个天生的左撇子，在周一的一些训练中缺席了。

罗宾逊说，他不想成为勇士队本赛季的首个受害者。

“他们有一些危险的球员，比如乔·史密斯和拉特雷尔·斯普雷维尔，”他说。“我们已经连续输了两场（对阵洛杉矶湖人和森林狼）。我们需要赢得这场比赛。”

在对阵马刺队的19场比赛中，斯普雷维尔场均得到21分、5.3个篮板和4.4次助攻。史密斯自1995年被选中为状元秀以来，在与马刺队的8场比赛中场均得到17.5分、9个篮板和1.13次盖帽。

点击查看原文：Winless Warriors just what doctor ordered Spurs face league's worst defense

Winless Warriors just what doctor ordered Spurs face league’s worst defense

Is this the stuff of a cheap novel, or what?

An aspiring author could get into some serious discussions of pathos, intrigue and humanitarian spirit by dissecting the storylines in tonight’s matchup between the Spurs and the winless Golden State Warriors.

Tipoff is at 7:30 in the Alamodome.

If the NBA had a Mother Teresa Award, the Warriors (0-8) might be the leading candidates to receive it.

So far this season, they have mopped the fevered brow of tired and listless offenses everywhere.

The Warriors’ defense has been so generous, it has given up a league-worst average of 108.9 points a game.

Sounds like a perfect remedy for the Spurs (6-3), whose offense looked malnourished during a 105- 94 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.

“I could care less if they are 0-8 or 8-0,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They are a team we have to play and we have to play to win. People’s records are immaterial.”

In the intrigue department, Popovich insisted nothing is going on at present in regard to recent rumors linking the Spurs to trade talks with the Warriors - in particular, guard Latrell Sprewell.

At the same time, he said he would make a trade at any moment if it would help the team.

“My team knows that,” Popovich said. “My coaching staff knows that, and I think the fans should demand that. But at this particular point, there is no trade being made.”

Including Sprewell?

“My statement covers everybody,” Popovich said.

It is out of character for Popovich to address any trade speculation. But he made a point of saying after Tuesday’s practice that the Spurs’ activity is at a lull.

“Any discussions we’ve had with teams have been dead for a relatively long time, for more than two or three weeks,” Popovich said.

The Spurs, playing on last season’s 20-62 injury-induced trauma unit, may remember they lost all four games to the Warriors, who didn’t mind rubbing it in.

One year ago this week, in fact, the Warriors beat the Spurs 102-92 at the Alamodome. Sprewell capped off the evening by walking past the Spurs’ bench and laughing.

Spurs forward Sean Elliott shrugged off the memory as just another one about last year he would rather forget.

“That’s just how they are,” Elliott said. “It’s not like we have anything burning in us to go back and do the same thing to them. We’re just trying to go get the win.”

Elliott, whose name has been mentioned in trade rumors with both the Sacramento Kings and the Warriors, said he doesn’t have any feelings about Popovich downplaying the trade talks.

“It wasn’t like I was waiting on it, sitting on my hands and holding my breath,” Elliott said, “I knew the story about the Golden State rumor, that Detroit was trying to broker a (three-team) deal. So I know how things work.”

Spurs center David Robinson is expected to play after his sore left shoulder loosened up enough for him to shoot at Tuesday’s practice. The NBA’s leading scorer, a natural left-hander, sat out some of Monday’s session.

Robinson said he doesn’t want to be the Warriors’ first victim of the season.

“They have some dangerous players, guys like Joe Smith and Latrell Sprewell,” he said. “We’ve lost two in a row (to the Los Angeles Lakers and Timberwolves). We need to get this win.”

In 19 career games against the Spurs, Sprewell has averaged 21 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists. Smith, in eight Spurs matchups since he was drafted No. 1 overall in 1995, has averaged 17.5 points, nine rebounds and 1.13 blocks.

By Jerry Briggs, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-20, By Jerry Briggs

马刺轻取勇士 罗宾逊、邓肯在大胜中证明了绝对的优势

马刺不想成为本赛季金州勇士队第一个受害者。

他们甚至不想给他们任何希望。

周三晚上，马刺凭借着稳健的内线表现以及外线投手的复苏，在第三节后半段完成了这项任务，他们轻松地领先 23 分，随后以 108 比 87 的比分在 15,326 名观众面前轻松获胜。

中锋大卫·罗宾逊和前锋蒂姆·邓肯控制了禁区，帮助马刺终结了两连败。罗宾逊得到 21 分和 11 个篮板。邓肯得到 19 分和 10 个篮板，带领中西部赛区领先的马刺战绩提升至 7 胜 3 负。勇士队则以 0 胜 9 负继续位居垫底。

后卫拉特雷尔·斯普雷维尔为勇士队得到 20 分，与丹佛掘金队并列为 NBA 中唯一一支尚未取得胜利的球队，苦苦寻找着答案。

“他们并没有那么糟糕，”马刺队前锋肖恩·埃利奥特说道，“我认为除了几场比赛之外，他们在其他所有比赛中表现得都势均力敌。我们不想让他们在场上待太久。”

尽管对手实力堪忧，但这场比赛对马刺来说意义重大。

凭借这一努力，他们在周五和周六晚上连续在西雅图和犹他进行客场比赛时，积攒了足够的信心。

这场比赛也为球队进攻的开局创造了一个良好的机会——而且他们做到了。

马刺创下了本赛季最高的得分和三分球命中数（八个）。这是埃利奥特（18 分）和查克·珀森（11 分）这两名外线威胁球员在同一场比赛中都得到两位数得分的第一场比赛。

“感觉很好，”埃利奥特说，“我投了一些好球。传球快了一些。投篮节奏很好，而且都进了。希望我们能继续这样传球。”

埃利奥特 8 投 7 中，其中三分球 2 投 2 中。珀森本赛季在场上投篮命中率仅为 23%，而与勇士队的比赛中 11 投 4 中，表现有所回暖。

珀森在三分线外 9 投 3 中，让他有些许失望。

“那些都是空位投篮，但我只投进了三个，”珀森说，“我本应该投进五个或六个。但这是朝着正确的方向迈出的一步。”

在前两场分别输给洛杉矶湖人队和明尼苏达森林狼队的比赛中，珀森和埃利奥特都没有太好的进攻表现。

“我们需要肖恩打出好的表现，我也需要打出好的表现，”珀森说，“当我们投进球时，一切都变得容易多了。”

马刺全场投篮命中率为 51%，这是他们在最近的五场比赛中首次投篮命中率达到一半以上。与此同时，他们将勇士队的投篮命中率限制在 40.4%。

只有斯普雷维尔（20 投 9 中）在对阵马刺时表现出色。部分原因可能是蒙蒂·威廉姆斯在胃部不适的情况下试图防守他。

1995 年选秀状元，勇士队的乔·史密斯在面对邓肯时完全受挫。邓肯是去年夏天的状元秀，在史密斯犯规陷入麻烦的 18 分钟里，他将史密斯的投篮命中率限制在了 10 投 3 中，只得到 7 分。

“我没有在场上待足够长的时间来找到节奏，”史密斯说，“我当时试图阻止蒂姆拿到球，结果过早地陷入犯规麻烦。”

由于勇士队在半场上为了阻止内线进攻而变得疲惫不堪，马刺全季低迷的外线射手们开始发力。

埃利奥特上篮得手，然后在第一节中连续投进两记中投。贾伦·杰克逊和珀森从替补席上下来，各命中两个三分球。

马刺在第一节领先 8 分，半场领先 13 分，三节结束时领先 21 分（82 比 61）。

“肖恩和查克今晚真的发挥出色，”马刺队教练格雷格·波波维奇说，“希望他们能恢复到过去的自己。”

罗宾逊是 NBA 场均得分最高的球员，场均 26 分，他在与勇士队中锋埃里克·丹皮尔的对抗中度过了几周以来最艰难的一晚。丹皮尔将罗宾逊的投篮命中率限制在了 12 投 4 中。不过，罗宾逊经常走上罚球线，并16 罚 13 中。

马刺队消息

教练格雷格·波波维奇说，后卫文尼·德尔·内格罗因脚踝扭伤可能会再休息五到七天。

自德尔·内格罗在 11 月 3 日芝加哥的比赛中受伤以来，他精准的外线投篮一直备受怀念。他在赛季初的 23 次出手中有 14 次命中。

波波维奇表示，这位老将后卫已经缺席七场比赛，至少还将再缺席接下来的两场比赛。

马刺队将于周五在西雅图比赛，周六在犹他比赛。

点击查看原文：Spurs turn Warriors inside out Robinson, Duncan prove too dominant in blowout victory

Spurs turn Warriors inside out Robinson, Duncan prove too dominant in blowout victory

The Spurs didn’t want to be the Golden State Warriors’ first victim of the season.

They didn’t even want to give them any hope.

Riding their steady inside game and the return of their outside shooters, the Spurs accomplished the mission by late in the third period Wednesday night, cruising to a 23-point lead and then coasting to a 108-87 victory in front of 15,326 at the Alamodome.

Center David Robinson and forward Tim Duncan controlled the paint, helping the Spurs break a two- game losing streak. Robinson scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Duncan added 19 points and 10 boards as the Midwest Division-leading Spurs improved to 7-3. The Warriors fell to 0-9.

Guard Latrell Sprewell scored 20 points to lead the Warriors, who kept pace with the Denver Nuggets as the only winless teams in the NBA groping for answers.

“They’re not that bad,” Spurs forward Sean Elliott said. “I think they’ve been in all their games except for a couple. We didn’t want them to hang around too long.”

Even though the opposition was questionable, the game was significant for the Spurs.

With the effort, they mustered some confidence going into back-to-back road contests at Seattle and Utah on Friday and Saturday nights, respectively.

The outing also provided a good chance for the offense to start clicking - and it did.

The Spurs registered season-highs in points and three-pointers (eight). It was the first game that both outside shooting threats - Elliott (18 points) and Chuck Person (11) - scored double figures in the same game.

“It felt good,” Elliott said. “I got some good shots. The ball moved a little bit better. The shots were in rhythm and they went in. Hopefully, we’ll continue to move the ball like that.”

Elliott hit 7 of 8 from the field and 2 of 2 from long distance. Person, who had been a frigid 23 percent shooter from the field this season, warmed up with a 4-of-11 showing against the Warriors.

Person nailed 3 of 9 from outside the arc, leaving him a little dissatisfied.

“I got those open looks and I only made three,” Person said. “I should have made five or six of them. But this is a step in the right direction.”

Neither Person nor Elliott managed much offensive output in consecutive losses to the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves.

“We need Sean to play well and I need to play well,” Person said. “It’s a lot easier when we make shots.”

The Spurs connected on 51 percent from the field, the first time in five games that they made at least half their shots. At the same time, they limited the Warriors to 40.4 percent.

Only Sprewell (9 of 20 from the field) got much done against the Spurs. That may have been partly because Monty Williams was trying to guard him while playing with a stomach disorder.

The Warriors’ Joe Smith, the top pick in the 1995 draft, was totally frustrated against Duncan. Duncan, the No. 1 pick last summer, held Smith to 3-of-10 shooting and seven points in 18 foul-plagued minutes.

“I wasn’t out there long enough to get into a rhythm,” Smith said. “I was trying to keep Tim from getting the ball and that got me in foul trouble early.”

As the Warriors collapsed to stop the inside game in the first half, the Spurs’ outside shooters - slumping badly all season - started to hit.

Elliott cut for a layup, then nailed two jumpers in a row in the first quarter. Jaren Jackson and Person came off the bench to knock down a pair of three-pointers apiece.

The Spurs led by eight at the quarter, by 13 at the half and by 21 at the end of three periods (82-61).

“Sean and Chuck really let it fly tonight,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Hopefully, they can return to their old selves.”

Robinson, the NBA’s leading scorer at 26 points a game, had his toughest night in a few weeks battling against Warriors center Erick Dampier. Dampier held Robinson to 4-of-12 shooting. Robinson went to the line often, however, and knocked down 13 of 16.

Notes

Spurs notes: Guard Vinny Del Negro could be out another five-to- seven days with a sprained ankle, Coach Gregg Popovich said.

Del Negro’s perimeter shooting has been sorely missed since he suffered the injury on Nov. 3 at Chicago. He hit 14 of his first 23 shots of the season.

The veteran guard has missed seven games and will be out at least the next two, Popovich said.

The Spurs play at Seattle on Friday and at Utah on Saturday. - Jerry Briggs

By Jerry Briggs, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-20, By Jeanne Jakle

赞扬罗宾逊为卡弗社区捐赠的礼物

最有价值球员(MVP)。奥运金牌得主。全明星。

这些头衔固然不错，但《人物》杂志即将为圣安东尼奥马刺队的戴维·罗宾逊(David Robinson)颁发一个更棒的头衔：“慷慨的巨人”。

《人物》杂志关于“大卫”的文章将于下一期发表，该期杂志发行日期为 12 月 1 日，预计将于本周末在报摊上发售。文章的中心内容是马刺队中锋最近向卡弗社区文化中心捐赠了 500 万美元，以创办，正如该杂志所说，“一所市内预备学校”。

据信，这是运动员个人为慈善事业捐赠的最大一笔款项，这将罗宾逊塑造成一个真正特别的榜样，激励着孩子们和成年人。

文章的作者是《人物》杂志特约撰稿人约瑟夫·哈姆斯(Joseph Harmes)——他曾就读于圣安东尼奥的圣三一大学，并在《新闻周刊》工作过一段时间（顺便说一下，他的同事是《快报》执行编辑鲍勃·里瓦德(Bob Rivard)）。当他在《人物》杂志找到工作后，他选择将基地设在圣安东尼奥。他是在卡弗社区文化中心采访的罗宾逊。

文章将包括罗宾逊在卡弗社区文化中心的照片以及他和妻子瓦莱丽(Valerie)以及三个孩子的全家福。可能还会有其他照片，展示过去十年罗宾逊在篮球场上取得的里程碑式的成就。预计该特写报道将跨越三页。

马刺队公关总监汤姆·詹姆斯(Tom James)认为《人物》杂志的文章特别棒，因为罗宾逊在卡弗社区的善举并没有得到太多全国范围的宣传，“因为人们对好消息的兴趣远不如对坏消息的兴趣”。

这，嗯，是坏消息。

邓肯登上全国荧幕

另一位备受全国电视和印刷媒体关注的马刺队“巨人”是蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)。以下是一些即将发布的关于这位王牌球员的简介：

在感恩节后的周末——11 月 29 日星期六——全新的“儿童版《体育画报》”电视节目将以邓肯为主角，展现他作为青少年的榜样。该节目每周六上午 10 点在 KENS 频道播出。

邓肯在 9 月份接受了阿拉莫圆顶球场的采访，并将出现在“体育聚光灯”栏目中。《体育画报》公关总监罗宾·沙洛(Robin Shallow)表示，节目强调了邓肯是如何成为首轮选秀的，尽管他拥有非凡的技巧和人气，并接到了许多职业联赛的邀请，但他仍然选择留在大学里完成学业。沙洛说，这一期的“儿童版《体育画报》”节目主持人是罗杰·克莱门斯(Roger Clemens)。

杰伊·莱诺(Jay Leno)的节目也迫切希望尽快让邓肯再次登上节目。如果你还记得，邓肯之前在“今夜秀”中的亮相引发了阵阵笑声。

马刺队公关总监汤姆·詹姆斯表示，最快的时间点可能是球队 12 月份前往洛杉矶地区参加与快船队和湖人队的比赛时。

但目前还没有达成任何协议。我会随时关注进展并告知大家。

哦，如果你在 11 月 24 日的《体育画报》杂志上看到了成人版——该杂志于周三在报摊上发售——你将会看到一篇关于邓肯和罗宾逊的报道，介绍他们作为篮球界的新兴强队。

点击查看原文：People to laud Robinson for gift to Carver

People to laud Robinson for gift to Carver

MVP. Olympic gold medalist. All-star.

As nice as those titles are, national People magazine soon bestows probably the nicest on San Antonio Spur David Robinson: “Generous giant.”

People’s article on big Dave, set to run in the next issue - dated Dec. 1, and expected on newsstands as early as this weekend - centers on the Spur center’s recent $5 million donation to the Carver Community Cultural Center to start, as the magazine puts it, an “inner-city prep school.”

It’s believed to be the biggest donation that an athlete has personally made to a good cause and sets Robinson apart as a truly special inspiration for children and adults alike.

It’s written by People correspondent Joseph Harmes - who attended Trinity U. here, did a stint at Newsweek (with, incidentally, Express-News Executive Editor Bob Rivard) and when he caught on at People, chose to be based in San Antonio. He interviewed Robinson at the Carver.

It will include a pic of the athlete at the Carver center as well as a family shot of him, his wife, Valerie, and their three kids. There also may be other pictures of David, showing the basketball milestones he’s reached over the past decade. The feature is expected to be spread over three pages.

Tom James, publicist for the Spurs, considers the People article particularly neat because Robinson’s great Carver deed didn’t get much national publicity “because it’s much harder to get people interested in good news than in bad.”

Which is, well, bad news.

Duncan on national tube

The other Spurs “giant” who’s being clamored after by the national TV and print folks is Tim Duncan. Some upcoming profiles of the ace hoopster:

In the weekend following Thanksgiving - Saturday, Nov. 29 - the new “Sports Illustrated for Kids” TV show features Duncan as a terrific role model for young people. The show airs Saturdays at 10 a.m. on KENS.

Interviewed on the Alamodome court in September, Duncan will be featured in “Inside the Sportlight.” According to SI director of publicity Robin Shallow, it emphasizes how Duncan was the first-round draft choice, yet, despite his incredible skill and popularity - and offers galore to go pro - he decided to stay in college and get his degree. That particular “SI for Kids” installment, Shallow said, features host Roger Clemens.

Jay Leno’s show also is eager to get Duncan back on as soon as possible. If you’ll recall, Dunc’s previous appearance on “Tonight” got plenty of laughs.

The quickest that could happen, says the Spurs’ Tom James, is when the team is in the L.A. area in December for games with the Clippers and Lakers.

But so far nothing has been worked out. I’ll keep you posted.

Oh, and if you pick up the Nov. 24 issue of the adult Sports Illustrated magazine - which hit newsstands Wednesday - you’ll see a feature on both Duncan and Robinson, as the hot new team in basketball.

Dynamite TV concert

Not since the old “Swingtime” dance show on local television has a TV station been so musical.

I’m talking about the hourlong outdoor concerts that have been featured on Tanji Patton’s midday show every Friday for the past couple of weeks. This week, the public is invited to listen and swing to “Hotcakes,” a rousing contemporary band out of Austin.

And on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, at 11 a.m. on KMOL, San Antonians can enjoy a special performance by peppery songstress Patsy Torres.

The place is KMOL’s back lot, edged by North St. Mary’s and Richmond, which has a wonderful view of the San Antonio river. Hey, visitors might just see Tanji herself shake a leg, as she did last week with weatherman Mike Hernandez.

By Jeanne Jakle, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-21, By Glenn Rogers

马刺队现实检验：对阵超音速和爵士的比赛即将到来

周三晚上的比赛对马刺队来说是一场不错的热身。

圣安东尼奥马刺队利用与实力薄弱的金州勇士队的比赛，磨练防守能力，并提升进攻火力，最终以108-87的大比分获胜。

现在，马刺队（7胜3负）将面对两支强劲的对手。

球队于周四下午前往西雅图，将在今晚9点对阵战绩为8胜3负的超音速队。随后，马刺队将飞往盐湖城，并在周六晚上对阵犹他爵士队。

“这两场比赛将让我们看看我们的真实水平，”主教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)在周四上午圣母无原罪大学的训练结束后说道。

的确如此。

超音速队是一支非常具有侵略性的防守球队。他们会紧逼持球者，并频繁地穿梭于传球路线中。他们平均每场抢断近12次，迫使对手出现失误，他们的造成失误率高达每场19次左右。

“西雅图的防守一直都很凶猛，他们会采取包夹和陷阱战术，我们一直在训练如何保护球，如何传球，”大卫·罗宾逊(David Robinson)说道。“这场比赛的关键在于我们要打出侵略性的篮球，无论面对的是西雅图还是犹他。”

“我们接下来要面对两个强劲的对手，我们希望让球队调整好状态，而训练能帮助我们做到这一点。”

肖恩·埃利奥特(Sean Elliott)从周三的低迷状态中走出，对阵勇士队时8投7中。在周四上午的训练中，他继续保持着良好的状态，在人群中投篮，以及在底角接到空位球都命中了。

“我们练习了一些西雅图会采取的防守战术，”埃利奥特说道。“希望我们能延续昨晚对阵金州队的状态。我们传球更流畅了，一直在谈论空间问题，昨晚的比赛证明了这一点。”

艾弗里·约翰逊(Avery Johnson)将面临超音速队控球后卫加里·佩顿(Gary Payton)的严防死守，他表示西雅图的防守既狡猾又具有侵略性。

“超音速队是一支冠军级别的球队，”约翰逊说道。“他们还通过引进了杰罗姆·克西(Jerome Kersey)和戴尔·埃利斯(Dale Ellis)加强了板凳实力，他们在内线拥有维恩·贝克(Vin Baker)这样的强力球员。”

通常情况下，马刺队会在前往西北地区之前讨论如何防守肖恩·肯普(Shawn Kemp)。但肯普在季前交易中被送到了克利夫兰，换来了来自密尔沃基的贝克。

至少到目前为止，这个改变并没有损害西雅图的实力。

“维恩让球队有了不同的战术选择，”波波维奇说道。“他的防守能力不如肖恩。肖恩凭借他的封盖和篮板球可以掌控比赛。

“但贝克的加入可能让他们的进攻更加稳定。他们知道贝克的位置，进攻会更加流畅。他们之前不得不让肯普自由发挥，让他随机应变，其他球员并不总是知道该做什么，以及应该在球场上哪个位置。”

贝克场均得分超过19分，篮板球超过8个。当他面对罗宾逊和蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)的组合时，可能很难打出优势。超音速队的进攻将取决于埃利斯、赫西·霍金斯(Hersey Hawkins)、佩顿和萨姆·帕金斯(Sam Perkins)的投篮发挥。

而马刺队的进攻也需要发挥出色。

“我们对阵金州队投进了在其他比赛中没有投进的球，”波波维奇说道。“我们的投篮机会一直都有，但我们没有把握住。”

对阵实力相对较弱的勇士队投进球，和面对强劲对手的防守压力下投进球，是截然不同的概念。

点击查看原文：Reality check for Spurs: Visits to Sonics, Jazz loom

Reality check for Spurs: Visits to Sonics, Jazz loom

That was a nice little tuneup the Spurs had Wednesday night.

San Antonio took advantage of its bout with the woeful Golden State Warriors, sharpening its defensive prowess and loosening up its offense during a 108-87 runaway victory.

Now the Spurs (7-3) face a couple of contenders.

The team traveled to Seattle on Thursday afternoon and will take on the 8-3 Sonics at 9 tonight. The Spurs then fly down to Salt Lake City and will face the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.

“We will see where we are during these two games,” Coach Gregg Popovich said after a Thursday morning workout at the University of the Incarnate Word.

Indeed.

The Sonics are a voracious defensive team. They attack ball handlers and zip in and out of the passing lanes. They steal, averaging almost 12 a game. They force bobbles and errant passes, pushing their caused-turnover rate up to about 19 per game.

“Seattle is always aggressive on defense with double-teams, traps, and we worked on taking care of the ball, on moving it around,” David Robinson said. “It will be a matter of us playing some aggressive basketball against both Seattle and Utah.”

“We have two tough opponents coming up and we wanted to get ourselves right, and practices help you do that.”

Sean Elliott emerged from a slump Wednesday, hitting seven of his eight shots against the Warriors. He continued popping them in Thursday morning, hitting open looks from the corners in addition to shots in traffic.

“We worked on some of the things that Seattle will throw at us,” Elliott said. “Hopefully, things will continue like they did last night against Golden State. We moved the ball better. We’ve been talking about spacing and last night it paid off.”

Avery Johnson, the man who will feel the scorching defensive heat of Sonics point guard Gary Payton, said Seattle utilizes a tricky, as well as generally hostile, defense.

“The Sonics are a championship- caliber team,” Johnson said. “And they’ve added some strong bench help with Jerome Kersey and Dale Ellis. They have a solid post-up player with Vin Baker.”

Normally, the Spurs would be talking about how to defend Shawn Kemp prior to the leaving for the Northwest. But Kemp was shuttled to Cleveland in a preseason deal that brought in Milwaukee’s Baker.

Thus far at least, the change hasn’t damaged Seattle.

“Vin does give them a different look,” Popovich said. "He’s not quite the defensive player that Shawn is. Shawn could take over games with his blocked shots and rebounding.

“But their offense probably has stabilized some with Baker. They know where Baker is, there will be a better flow. They had to kind of give Kemp his head, let him improvise, and the other players didn’t always know what they should be doing or where they should be on court.”

Baker is averaging more than 19 points and eight rebounds per contest. He probably will find the going pretty rugged when he meets up with the tandem of Robinson and Tim Duncan. The Sonics’ attacks will have to be sparked by the shooting of Ellis, Hersey Hawkins, Payton and Sam Perkins.

And the Spurs’ offense will have to click.

“We made some shots against Golden State that we missed in other games,” said Popovich. “The shots have been there but we hadn’t been able to put them down.”

Making shots against the almost non-challenging Warriors can be far different than making them against incessant contesting.

By Glenn Rogers, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-22, By Jerry Briggs

超音速队大胜马刺队 - 西雅图首节命中率高达69%，最终以20分优势取胜

西雅图 - 西雅图超音速队周五晚上几乎将圣安东尼奥马刺队送入了太平洋。

凭借精准的防守和流畅的进攻，超音速队在西雅图球馆轻松地以94-74大胜马刺队，让马刺队苦不堪言。

可惜超音速队主教练乔治·卡尔(George Karl)无法坐在场边亲眼见证这场胜利。

卡尔是1973-74赛季马刺队最初的成员之一，在上半场还剩3分54秒时，由于与裁判发生激烈争执，被罚出场外。

“当我们领先时，裁判的判罚就变了，我认为这不公平，”卡尔说。“年轻的裁判(Rashan Michel)似乎对我们吹罚了所有不利判罚。他的傲慢让我抓狂。”

如果卡尔都快要失去理智，你可能会好奇马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)是如何保持冷静的。

波波维奇试图在暂停时激励他的队员，但似乎收效甚微。

“西雅图打得很好，”波波维奇说。“他们以各种方式击败了我们。”

马刺队(7-4)没有时间沉溺于失落。他们今晚将在盐湖城迎战犹他爵士队，这对他们来说一直是联盟中最难打的地方之一。

马刺队中锋大卫·罗宾逊(David Robinson)对这场失利感到沮丧，但他仍然保持积极的心态。当被问及他期望马刺队以什么样的心态进入犹他州时，他说：“我知道我将以什么样的心态出战。我想从一开始就定下基调。我们显然今晚没有做到这一点。”

比赛的第一球，马刺队传球给罗宾逊，完成了空中接力扣篮。

这也是他们全场比赛唯一领先的时刻，因为超音速队(9-3)在首节的前9分钟里就以29-12领先于失误连连的客队。

之后的暂停也无济于事。超音速队保持着压力，并在首节结束时将比分拉开至36-16。

前锋文·贝克(Vin Baker)本场比赛为超音速队贡献了最高的22分，他在上半场还剩8分35秒时命中了一记10英尺跳投。这使马刺队陷入了令人尴尬的44-18的落后。

事实上，他们从未从这个落后中恢复过来，在过去的四场比赛中输掉了第三场。在6-1的开局之后，马刺队只战胜了实力糟糕的金州勇士队，并输给了洛杉矶湖人队、明尼苏达森林狼队和现在的超音速队。

如果你听罗宾逊的话，马刺队需要忘记他们潜在的可能性。他说球员们需要记住，他们是一支上赛季战绩为20-62的球队。

“我从一开始就说过，我认为我们不是顶级球队，”罗宾逊说。“我们有新的进攻体系，新的理念，还有很多工作要做。”

西雅图队在比赛的早期就打出了教科书般的篮球，首节投篮命中率高达69%。

随着马刺队难以将球传给罗宾逊和新秀前锋蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)，超音速队拦截了传球并将其转化为轻松得分。

西雅图队的后场组合，加里·佩顿(Gary Payton)和赫西·霍金斯(Hersey Hawkins)，在比赛初期就撕裂了马刺队的防线。在开场的前12分钟里，佩顿贡献了6分和6次助攻，霍金斯得到12分。

“我不知道是怎么回事，”邓肯说。“我们真的非常沮丧。他们开局就投进了几个球。篮板球四处乱飞，我们似乎无法控制住。然后他们继续投篮命中。”

罗宾逊是本场比赛开始前联盟的得分王，最终只得到9分，12投4中。他在27分钟内还抢下了11个篮板。邓肯在31分钟内得到8分和9个篮板。

“我们试图让他们投一些他们不想投的球，”西雅图队中锋吉姆·麦克伊尔维恩(Jim McIlvaine)说。“我们想把他们从禁区里推出去，让他们投跳投，防止他们用他们最擅长的右手突破 (投篮)。”

在第三节，超音速队将半场时60-37的领先优势扩大，并将领先优势扩大到31分。当德特勒夫·施雷姆夫(Detlef Schrempf)投进一记三分球，将比分拉开到76-45时，全场观众沸腾了，当时的比赛时间还剩4分14秒。

贝克在休赛期交易中被送到了克利夫兰，换来了肖恩·坎普(Shawn Kemp)。他在本场比赛中前七次出手全部命中。他在37分钟内12投8中，抢下7个篮板，并贡献了2次抢断。

佩顿再次打出了精彩表现，他突破得分并送出14次助攻，得到17分。霍金斯得到18分。杰罗姆·克西(Jerome Kersey)给马刺队制造了不少麻烦，替补出场得到4分和4次抢断。

备注

大个子球员身体不适：犹他队今晚在盐湖城对阵马刺队的比赛中可能无法派出中锋格雷格·奥斯特塔格(Greg Ostertag)。这位身高7英尺2英寸的球员患有上呼吸道感染。他没有跟随球队前往萨克拉门托参加爵士队周四晚上以97-95输给国王队的比赛。

尽管爵士队战绩为5-6，而且由于受伤的控球后卫约翰·斯托克顿(John Stockton)缺阵，球队一直存在问题，但马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇仍然对本赛季的第一个客场比赛——对阵卫冕西部冠军的爵士队感到警惕。

“犹他在三角洲中心总是很难打，”波波维奇说。“除了(芝加哥)公牛队之外，他们在过去几年中可能拥有联盟最好的主场战绩。”

点击查看原文：Sonics lower boom on Spurs - Seattle shoots 69 percent in first quarter, wins by 20

Sonics lower boom on Spurs - Seattle shoots 69 percent in first quarter, wins by 20

SEATTLE - The Seattle SuperSonics nearly blew the Spurs into the Pacific Ocean on Friday night.

Trapping with precision on defense and executing a fluid offense, the Sonics generally made life miserable for the Spurs in an easy 94-74 rout at KeyArena.

Too bad for Sonics coach George Karl that he wasn’t around to see all of it from his seat at courtside.

Karl, one of the original Spurs in 1973-74, was ejected with 3:54 remaining in the first half after a heated exchange of words with officials.

“When we get a lead, the refereeing changes and I don’t think that’s fair,” Karl said. “The young ref (Rashan Michel) was seemingly making every call against us. His arrogance was driving me crazy.”

If Karl was losing it, you might wonder how Spurs coach Gregg Popovich kept his composure.

Popovich tried to get his team going during timeouts, but nothing seemed to work.

“Seattle just played great,” Popovich said. “They beat us every way a team can be beaten.”

The Spurs (7-4) don’t have time to sulk. They meet the Utah Jazz tonight in Salt Lake City, traditionally one of the toughest places in the league for them to play.

Spurs center David Robinson took the loss hard, but he stayed positive. Asked what kind of mindset he expected the Spurs to carry into Utah, he said, “I know what kind of mindset I’ll have. I want to set the tone from the beginning. We obviously didn’t do that tonight.”

On the first play of the game, the Spurs lobbed to Robinson for an alley-oop dunk.

It was the only lead they would have all night, as the Sonics (9-3) outscored the woefully out-of-sync visitors 29-12 in the first nine minutes.

A timeout at that juncture didn’t do any good. The Sonics maintained the pressure and turned it into a 36-16 advantage after one period.

Forward Vin Baker, who scored a game-high 22 points for the Sonics, nailed a 10-foot jumper with 8:35 left before halftime. It put the Spurs in an embarrassing 44-18 hole.

In reality, they never crawled out of it, losing for the third time in their last four outings. After a 6- 1 start, the Spurs have beaten only woeful Golden State and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves and now the Sonics.

If you listen to Robinson, the Spurs need to forget thinking about their potential. He said the players need to remember they were a squad that finished 20-62 last season.

“I’ve said from the beginning that I didn’t think we were one of the top teams,” Robinson said. “We’ve got a new offense, a new philosophy and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Seattle executed a basketball clinic early, shooting 69 percent from the field in the first quarter.

As the Spurs struggled to get the ball to Robinson and rookie forward Tim Duncan, the Sonics picked off passes and turned the errors into easy baskets.

Seattle’s backcourt of Gary Payton and Hersey Hawkins picked the Spurs apart early. In the opening 12 minutes, Payton had six points and six assists and Hawkins scored 12 points.

“I don’t know what it was,” Duncan said. “We just got really frustrated. They made some shots early. The rebounds bounced all over the place, and we couldn’t seem to get any. Then they just kept making their shots.”

Robinson, the league’s leading scorer coming into the game, finished with only nine points on 4 of 12 shooting. He also had 11 rebounds in 27 minutes. Duncan produced eight points and nine rebounds in 31 minutes.

“We tried to make them shoot shots they didn’t want to take,” Seattle center Jim McIlvaine said. “We wanted to try to push them off the block, make them shoot jump shots and prevent them from driving (and shooting) with their favorite hand.”

During the third quarter, the Sonics expanded what had been a 60-37 halftime lead and kicked it up to as many as 31 points. The crowd went wild during a 7-0 run capped by Detlef Schrempf’s three- pointer that made it 76-45 with 4:14 left.

Baker, acquired in an off-season trade that sent Shawn Kemp to Cleveland, hit his first seven shots from the field. He finished with 8 of 12 shooting, seven rebounds and a pair of steals in 37 minutes.

Payton had another strong game, cutting and slashing for 17 ponts and passing for 14 assists. Hawkins scored 18. Jerome Kersey was a pain for the Spurs, getting four points and four steals off the bench.

Note

Big man ailing: Utah may be without center Greg Ostertag in tonight’s game in Salt Lake City against the Spurs. The 7-foot-2 Ostertag is suffering from an upper respiratory illness. He did not make the trip to Sacramento for the Jazz’s 97-95 loss Thursday night.

Despite the Jazz’s 5-6 record and continuing problems caused by the absence of injured guard John Stockton, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is wary of his first road game of the season against the defending Western Conference champions.

“Utah is always tough at the Delta Center,” Popovich said. “Outside of the (Chicago) Bulls, they may have the best record at home in the league over the last several years.” - Jerry Briggs

By Jerry Briggs, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-23, By Jerry Briggs

马刺确实想念主场 - 爵士将20分领先优势扩大为29分大胜

盐湖城 - 马刺应该花32美分买个邮票。这样，他们就可以把第一场耻辱性失利的复印件寄回去。

这可能比在第二场耻辱性失利中落后32分，最终以74比103输给犹他爵士要好得多。

最终，为期两天的旅行和在西雅图和盐湖城的连续比赛给马刺带来的只有痛苦，他们在两场比赛中总共输了49分，分别输给了超音速队和爵士队。

马刺主教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich) 对这两场惨败负起责任。

“这两场比赛的责任在我，”他说。“我认为我在防守方面对球队进行了很多调整和补充，让球员们感到困惑。我已经让他们困惑了一周或一周半了。”

在三角洲中心，19,911名球迷对马刺的不幸感到高兴。

他们被当地新闻报道误导，认为马刺队是一支有竞争力的冠军球队。

然而，马刺再次证明，他们可能只是在租用中西部赛区的第一名位置。他们在过去的五场比赛中输掉了四场，战绩降至7胜5负。

“赛季初，当我们投篮不佳时，我们击败了一些应该击败的球队，”马刺中锋大卫·罗宾逊(David Robinson) 说。“现在，我们遇到了强劲的对手。我们仍然投篮不佳，而且被对手击败。”

爵士队在本赛季表现最好的比赛之一中，将比分提升至6胜6负。他们在第三节中段以73比41领先。他们此后一直保持着至少22分的领先优势。

大前锋卡尔·马龙(Karl Malone) 在第三节末被判第二次技术犯规被罚出场前，得到20分和11个篮板。

在周五晚上的类似情况下，超音速队主教练乔治·卡尔(George Karl) 在第二节被罚出场。

马龙和卡尔可能认为，由于对手落后太多，裁判对马刺的判罚过于宽容。

他可能不应该如此强烈地抗议，因为根据大多数人的说法，马刺已经无药可救了。

“我们还有很长的赛季，”马刺控球后卫艾弗里·约翰逊(Avery Johnson) 说。“我们队有很大的潜力。总有一天，我们会停止说这是成长的烦恼，并且会取得进步。”

对阵超音速队时，马刺队的投篮命中率为34.1%。对阵爵士队的表现并没有好多少。他们的投篮命中率为27投73中，仅为37%。

“现在，即使篮筐像阿拉莫穹顶一样大，我们也投不进，”约翰逊说。“这就是现状。我们可以继续说我们正在适应新的进攻，诸如此类。但我敢肯定，我们在第一节错失了10个上篮。”

罗宾逊以22分和11个篮板领衔马刺。他是首发阵容中唯一一位命中率超过一半的球员（15投8中）。

点击查看原文：Spurs sure do miss home - Jazz turn 20-point first-quarter lead into 29-point laugher

Spurs sure do miss home - Jazz turn 20-point first-quarter lead into 29-point laugher

SALT LAKE CITY - The Spurs should have spent 32 cents on a stamp. That way, they could have mailed in a carbon copy of Humiliating Loss No. 1.

It might have been much less embarrassing than falling behind by 32 points before going down 103- 74 to the Utah Jazz Saturday night in Humiliating Loss No. 2.

In the end, a two-day trip and consecutive games in Seattle and Salt Lake City produced little except misery for the Spurs, who lost by a combined 49 points to the SuperSonics and the Jazz.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich took the blame for the two blowout defeats.

“Those two games are on me,” he said. “I think I’ve confused my team with a lot of adjustments and additions defensively. I’ve had them confused for week or a week and a half.”

A crowd of 19,911 at the Delta Center delighted in the Spurs’ misfortune.

They were led to believe in local news accounts that the Spurs ranked as a championship contender.

Once again, the Spurs showed they may just be renting the top spot in the Midwest Division. They fell to 7-5 and lost for the fourth time in their last five outings.

“Early on, we beat some teams that we should have beaten when we weren’t shooting well,” Spurs center David Robinson said. “Now, we’re playing good teams. We’re still not shooting well and we’re getting killed.”

The Jazz, improving to 6-6 in one of their best games of the season, charged to a 73-41 lead midway through the third quarter. They never let the Spurs get closer than 22 the rest of the way.

Power forward Karl Malone scored 20 points and pulled down 11 rebounds before getting kicked out with his second technical foul late in the third quarter.

In a similar situation Friday night, Sonics coach George Karl was ejected in the second quarter.

Malone, like Karl, may have figured the Spurs were getting too much benefit of the doubt from referees because they trailed by such a wide margin.

He probably shouldn’t have protested so vigorously because the Spurs, by most accounts, were beyond help.

“We have a long season,” Spurs point guard Avery Johnson said. “We have a huge upside on this team. One of these days we’ll stop saying it’s growing pains and it’ll kick in.”

Against the Sonics, the Spurs shot 34.1 percent from the field. Things didn’t improve much against the Jazz. They hit 27 of 73 from the floor for 37 percent.

“Right now, if the rim was as big as the Alamodome, we still couldn’t hit it,” Johnson said. “It’s just the way it is. We can continue to say that we’re getting used to a new offense and things like that. But I bet we missed 10 layups in the first quarter.”

Robinson led the Spurs with 22 points and 11 rebounds. He was the only member of the starting lineup to hit at least half of his shots (8 of 15).

By Jerry Briggs, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-23, By Jerry Briggs

1996 年季后赛，犹他州对大卫·罗宾逊来说仅仅是痛苦吗？

马刺队的中锋大卫·罗宾逊(David Robinson)周六晚上回到了他最恐怖的季后赛噩梦之一的发生地。

这场对阵犹他爵士的比赛是自 1996 年季后赛以来，罗宾逊首次在盐湖城的三角洲中心球馆比赛。

在 1996 年 5 月，罗宾逊表现不佳，马刺队在西部半决赛2-4输给了爵士队。

罗宾逊因这场失利而受到广泛批评，他承认自己和其他人一样负有责任。

但关于那轮系列赛，特别是关于罗宾逊当时的健康状况，却一直没有得到解决。

那年春天早些时候，罗宾逊开始感受到疝气的影响。这被认为是严重的，马刺队决定对他进行手术修复。

最终，他在亚特兰大夏季奥运会后，于 8 月份进行了手术。直到罗宾逊在梦之队金牌赛前夕抱怨不适，手术的可能性才被人们知晓。

冒着听起来像罗宾逊辩护者的风险，我一直想知道，海军上将在那场对阵犹他的系列赛中是否身体状况良好。

他上周承认，在赛季后半段，他有时会感到一些不适。

“感觉就像胃里塞满了石头，”他说。“比赛结束后，我不能坐太久。”

他在季后赛期间到底有多难受，如果难受的话，这仍然是一个谜。

马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)拒绝讨论这个问题，称之为“陈年往事”。

罗宾逊对此一笑置之，说：“我希望我能用这个作为借口，但我不能。”

旧闻？波波维奇否认了周五流传的关于米奇·里奇蒙德(Mitch Richmond)加盟马刺队的最新谣言

在西雅图的 KeyArena 竞技场，有传言说马刺队将得到里奇蒙德，他是萨克拉门托国王队的全明星得分后卫；底特律活塞队将得到马刺队的替补中锋威尔·珀杜(Will Perdue)；而国王队则将得到马刺队的前锋肖恩·埃利奥特(Sean Elliott)、活塞队的前锋格兰特·朗(Grant Long)以及选秀权。

“绝对没有此事，”波波维奇说。“我们没有和萨克拉门托谈过。”

重返球场： 马刺队的后卫科里·亚历山大(Cory Alexander)由于教练的决定，在三场比赛中缺席了两场，但在周三对阵金州勇士队的比赛中，他重新上场并得到了 10 分。

“对我来说，抖掉锈迹很好，”亚历山大说。

他起伏不定的表现让马刺队感到担忧，他们正在寻找一个稳定的替补控球后卫。

科尔宾幸存： 在 25 周年纪念的注脚中，看到前马刺球员泰伦·科尔宾(Tyrone Corbin)在 NBA 生存了 13 个赛季真是令人惊叹。

在他职业生涯中，他经常被告知他不会投篮，也没有体型优势，但他现在是领跑联盟的亚特兰大老鹰队的首发小前锋。

马刺队在 1985 年的选秀大会上，在第二轮第 35 位选中了科尔宾，那一年，首轮被选中但最终成为水货的球员是阿尔弗雷德里克·休斯(Alfredrick Hughes)。休斯和科尔宾都没有在马刺队待满两年。

但休斯逐渐淡出联盟，而科尔宾却一直保持着工作，辗转于一支又一支球队。由于老鹰队的出色开局，他可能有机会在本赛季赢得一枚冠军戒指。

差几百万美元： 联盟从 1997-98 赛季开始的新电视转播合同，预计将给马刺队带来每年 800 万美元的额外收入，这将减轻他们日益增长的球员薪资的负担。

但埃利奥特说，这并不能解决问题。在 1999 年夏天，马刺队可以开始与新秀巨星蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)谈判长期续约。

“我不是经济学专业的，”埃利奥特说。“但我们必须在下个赛季之后重新签下那个大块头。我相信他会要求超过 800 万美元。”

点击查看原文：Was Utah only pain for Admiral in 1996 playoffs?

Was Utah only pain for Admiral in 1996 playoffs?

Spurs center David Robinson returned Saturday night to the scene of one of his most frightening postseason nightmares.

The game with the Utah Jazz marked the first time since the 1996 playoffs that Robinson has performed at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

In May of '96, Robinson played poorly, and the Spurs lost in six games to the Jazz in the Western Conference semifinals.

Roundly criticized for the loss, Robinson agrees he was as much to blame as anyone.

But there are questions about that series - about Robinson’s health at that point, in particular - that never have really been addressed.

Earlier that spring, Robinson started to feel the effects of a hernia. It was deemed serious enough that the Spurs decided he should have it surgically repaired.

Eventually, he had it done in August, after the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The prospect of surgery never was brought to light until Robinson complained of discomfort on the eve of the Dream Team’s gold-medal game.

At the risk of sounding like a Robinson apologist, I always will wonder whether the Admiral was OK physically during that Utah series.

He admitted last week that there were times during the second half of the season he felt some discomfort.

“It kind of felt like I had rocks in my stomach,” he said. “After games, I couldn’t sit down for too long.”

How much it bothered him during the playoffs, if any, still is a bit of a mystery.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich declined to discuss the issue, calling it “ancient history.”

Robinson brushed it off, saying, “I wish I could use that as an excuse, but I can’t.” Old news? Popovich denied the latest Mitch Richmond-to-the- Spurs rumor that circulated Friday.

The rumor floating around Seattle’s KeyArena had the Spurs getting Richmond, the Sacramento Kings’ All-Star shooting guard; the Detroit Pistons getting Spurs reserve center Will Perdue; and the Kings picking up Spurs forward Sean Elliott, Pistons forward Grant Long and draft picks.

“There is absolutely nothing going on,” Popovich said. “We haven’t spoken to Sacramento.” Back on the court: Spurs guard Cory Alexander did not play in two of three games because of coach’s decision before emerging to score 10 points against Golden State on Wednesday.

“It was good for me to shake off the rust,” Alexander said.

His erratic play has been of concern to the Spurs, who are looking for steadiness at reserve point guard. Corbin survives: In a 25th anniversary footnote, it’s amazing to see former Spur Tyrone Corbin has survived 13 seasons in the NBA.

Told alternately during his career that he couldn’t shoot and didn’t have the size to compete, he is starting at small forward for the front-running Atlanta Hawks.

The Spurs picked Corbin 35th, in the second round of the 1985 draft - the same draft that produced first-round bust Alfredrick Hughes. Neither Hughes nor Corbin lasted two years with the Spurs.

But while Hughes faded out of the league, Corbin stayed employed, latching on with team after team. The way the Hawks have started, he may have a chance to win a ring this season. A few dollars short: The extra $8 million a season the Spurs are expected to receive from the league’s new TV contract, starting in 1997-98, will ease some of the burden of increasing player salaries.

But it won’t solve the problem, Elliott said. In the summer of 1999, the Spurs can begin to negotiate a long-term extension with rookie phenom Tim Duncan.

“I’m not an economics major,” Elliott said. “But we still have to re-sign that big fellow after next season. I’m sure he’ll command more than $8 million.” To leave a message for Jerry Briggs, call ExpressLine at 554- 0500 and punch 7292, or e-mail to jbriggs@express-news.net

By Jerry Briggs, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-24, By Jerry Briggs

波波维奇为马刺糟糕的客场表现承担责任

周日清晨，马刺提前返回主场，寻求答案，以解决他们在客场度过的糟糕周末。

他们分别在西雅图和盐湖城输球，在周二晚对阵达拉斯之前，他们需要找到一些解决方案。

马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇试图承担责任，减轻球员压力，他接受了周五对阵超音速队输 20 分和周六对阵犹他爵士队输 29 分的指责。

波波维奇认为，他在过去一周半的时间里，通过安装新的防守理念让球队感到困惑，随后没有给球员足够的时间在训练中吸收这些技巧。

但对球员来说最令人困惑的可能是，他们为什么投不进大空位的投篮。

对阵犹他，马刺队在半场超过六分钟未能得分，目睹爵士队打出 19-0 的得分高潮，并在第二节初以 39-12 落后。

波波维奇说：“这看起来像 60 分钟。我们在很多比赛中都有投不进球的问题。我们只能努力克服它。”

在对阵西雅图 74-94 输球以及对阵犹他 74-103 输球的比赛中，马刺队创造了本赛季单场比赛的最低得分。

波波维奇说：“除了继续尝试投篮…继续投篮，你没有什么可做的。我们有很多出色的投篮机会，只是最近一段时间它们对我们来说都没有命中。”

在对阵爵士队的比赛前奏中，马刺队在對陣西雅圖第二節初以 18-44 落後。

中锋/前锋蒂姆·邓肯说：“连续第二晚，我们在开局阶段表现得缓慢，而他们则领先我们。一旦我们的比分落后这么多，我们很難再重新回到比赛中。”

马刺队今天将在主场进行训练，为九连败的弱旅小牛队做准备。随后进行两场主场比赛，分别在周三对阵华盛顿，在周六晚再次对阵达拉斯。

11 月 3 日以来因右脚踝韧带拉伸而缺席了九场比赛的后卫文尼·德尔·内格罗，可能会在周二晚上迎来自己的首次亮相。

这对马刺来说将是一个受欢迎的补充。德尔·内格罗在前三场比赛中命中率为 60%。

波波维奇说：“今天我们会比他受伤以来更多地测试他。他会通过在训练中的表现说明一切。”

蒙蒂·威廉姆斯在对阵犹他时，在下半场与几名爵士球员相撞后离开了球场。威廉姆斯抱怨自己的脖子有些疼痛和麻木。但波波维奇预计威廉姆斯今天会进行训练。

尽管输掉了五场比赛中的四场，但马刺队还是以 7 胜 5 负的战绩领先于中西部赛区。在他们的十二场比赛中，球场的投篮失误以及罚球线上的投篮失误一直是他们烦恼的根源。

但即使是马刺队的防守，在允许的投篮命中率方面联盟排名第二，在这次客场之旅的每场比赛上半场都以 61% 的命中率折戟。

波波维奇认为，他试图在太短的时间内改进太多方面，这阻碍了球队的发展。

他说：“在前四或五场比赛中，我们在防守方面非常稳固。然后我们比以前提高了三到四个档次，却几乎没有时间练习。这让人感到困惑。发生的事情是，球员们不再相信对方（能够帮助防守其他球员）。”

波波维奇说，有时混乱会让马刺队看起来好像没有付出必要的努力。球员对阵犹他时在球场上互相指责，以应对一些崩溃。

中锋大卫·罗宾逊说：“我认为在进攻端，我现在不期待我们的球队表现出色。但在防守端，我确实希望我们的球队能够付出努力并阻止对方得分。我们在本赛季初做到了。最近，我们丢掉了太多快攻得分。”

点击查看原文：Popovich takes blame for Spurs' ugly road show

Popovich takes blame for Spurs’ ugly road show

The Spurs returned home early Sunday morning searching for answers to a lost weekend on the road.

Routed in Seattle and Salt Lake City, they will have until Tues day night, when they play at Dallas, to find some solutions.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich tried to take some pressure off his players by accepting blame for a 20-point loss to the SuperSonics on Friday and a 29-point defeat to the Utah Jazz on Saturday.

Popovich feels he has confused the team by installing new defensive concepts over the last week and a half, then not allowing the players enough time to absorb the techniques in practice.

But what may be most confusing to the players is why they can’t hit a wide-open shot.

The Spurs went more than six minutes without scoring in the first half against Utah, watched the Jazz streak off on a 19-0 run and fell behind 39-12 early in the second quarter.

“It seemed like 60 minutes,” Popovich said. “We’ve had this problem with not putting the ball in the hole for a lot of games. We’ve just got to work through it.”

In the 94-74 loss at Seattle and the 103-74 setback at Utah, the Spurs established season-lows for points in a game.

“There’s not a lot you can do except keep letting it fly … keep shooting,” Popovich said. “We’ve had a lot of great shots and they just haven’t been going down for us, for awhile.”

In a prelude to the Jazz game, the Spurs fell behind 44-18 early in the second period at Seattle.

“That’s the second night in a row where we started off slow and they jumped on top of us,” center/forward Tim Duncan said. “Once we’re down that much, it’s hard for us to get back into it.”

The Spurs will practice at home today in preparation for the lowly Mavericks, who have lost nine in a row. Two home games follow, against Washington on Wednesday and Dallas again Saturday night.

Guard Vinny Del Negro, out nine games with stretched ligaments in his right ankle, could see his first action since Nov. 3 on Tuesday night.

It would be a welcome addition for the Spurs. Del Negro was hitting 60 percent from the field in the team’s first three games.

“We’ll test him more (today) than we have (since he got hurt),” Popovich said. “How he practices will tell the tale.”

Monty Williams left the floor against Utah in the second half after colliding with a couple of Jazz players. Williams was complaining of some pain and numbness in his neck. But Popovich expects Williams to practice today.

The Spurs, despite losing four of five, lead the Midwest Division at 7-5. In their dozen games, shooting woes from the field and the free-throw line have been constant sources of irritation.

But even the Spurs’ defense, second in the league in field-goal percentage allowed, folded by giving up 61 percent in the first half of each game on the trip.

Popovich thinks he tried to install too many new wrinkles in too short a period of time and it set the team back.

“In our first four or five games, we were very solid (on defense),” he said. “Then we went three or four steps beyond what we had been doing, without as much time to practice it. It was confusing. What happens is that players stop trusting each other (to help out on another player’s man).”

At times, Popovich said the confusion makes it appear as if the Spurs aren’t giving the necessary effort. Players reacted to a few breakdowns against Utah by sniping at one another on the court.

“I think, offensively, I don’t expect our team to be great right now,” center David Robinson said. “But defensively, I do expect our team to give a good effort and stop teams. We did it earlier in the season. Lately, we’ve been giving away too many fast- break baskets.”

By Jerry Briggs, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-25, By Glenn Rogers

马刺获得重返状态的机会 - 混乱的小牛队在接下来的四场比赛中两度被击败

本周马刺队的赛程并没有轻松多少。

圣安东尼奥将面对两场背靠背的比赛，今晚和周三进行一场，然后在周六和周日再进行一场。

但其中一个对手的名字引人注目——达拉斯。

当马刺队（7-5）今晚 7:30 在达拉斯的 Reunion Arena 面对小牛队时，他们应该会扳回一些最近的失利。小牛队（3-9）已经连输九场。

马刺队将于周三回到主场，在阿拉莫圆顶面对战绩低于 0.500 的华盛顿奇才队，然后于周六晚上在主场再次迎战小牛队。周日的比赛可能会有点棘手，对手是在亚特兰大的老鹰队（11-2）。

圣安东尼奥在被西雅图和犹他击败后于周日返回了阿拉莫城。马刺队最近五场比赛中输掉了四场。

圣安东尼奥的防守很差。由蒂姆·邓肯和大卫·罗宾逊领衔的进攻需要再添一两个火力点。

以下是过去五场比赛中进攻产出的一些令人沮丧的数据：埃弗里·约翰逊得到 39 分（32 次投篮命中 16 次）和 32 次助攻；肖恩·艾利奥特得到 54 分（47 次投篮命中 20 次）和 17 个篮板；查克·佩尔森得到 24 分（35 次投篮命中 8 次）和 14 个篮板。

文尼·德尔·内格罗是后场急需的射手，他已经因脚踝扭伤错过了过去九场比赛。德尔·内格罗周一会同球队在道成肉身的圣母大学进行了一些训练，但他对阵达拉斯的出场仍不确定。

德尔·内格罗说：“（星期一）我感觉还不错，但到最后还是有些疼痛。” “我们看看（今天）感觉如何，看看是否会肿胀，然后再决定。”

很明显，球队对进攻火力不足感到担忧。但他们防守端的下降是意料之外的。

罗宾逊说：“我们想让防守恢复到最初的状态。” “我们必须收紧快攻，必须阻止长距离跑动。”

马刺队在周一的训练中专注于他们的防守策略，重点是失球后封堵快攻。

罗宾逊说：“我们只是需要重新树立信心，相信我们可以在任何时候阻止一支球队。”

马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇已经为防守失误承担了责任，并指出教练组在一个原本有效的药剂中加入了一点过多的香料。但罗宾逊倾向于摆脱这种想法。

他说：“你不能因此责怪任何一个人。” “球员们必须去场上并让事情发生。我们会回到我们（过去）的状态。然后进攻就会开始好转。可以保证肖恩和查克的投篮将会开始命中。”

佩尔森对于提升远距离投篮至关重要。

佩尔森说，(一些投篮问题)可能是由于长时间的休息造成的，但我必须尝试在每晚更少的出场时间内找回节奏，他在上个赛季因背部手术缺席了所有比赛，今年的前五场比赛则因背部肌肉痉挛而缺席。

“我对此并不是特别担心。也许我必须去投一些简单的上篮，从 15 到 16 英尺开外投一些球。我想在投篮方面更有侵略性。我在几场比赛中确实获得了得分上双的数据。”

被称为“神枪手”的那个男人也不担心自己的状态。

他说：“投篮是正的。” “如果他们向右或向左走，我就会担心。但他们没有。一旦我们在快攻中开始轻松得分，我们的整个进攻就会好转。这有点令人沮丧，因为我们在过去的比赛中都被淘汰出局。

“大卫仍然是我们的主要得分手。我们其他人必须在进攻中找到自己的位置。”

波波维奇的目光直视前方。

他在周一的训练后开玩笑地谈到了西雅图和犹他输掉的比赛，“我不记得那两场比赛了”。 “事实上，我们从中得到了很多。显然，我们的投篮很糟糕。最主要的是，我们的防守必须恢复到过去的状态。这是我的工作。

“我们变得有点聪明过头了。我们加了很多东西，队员们感到困惑并失去了信任。在投篮方面，队员们只需要放手去做，希望他们能开始命中。”

点击查看原文：Spurs get chance to return to form - Muddled Mavs up twice in next four games

Spurs get chance to return to form - Muddled Mavs up twice in next four games

The Spurs’ schedule doesn’t ease up much this week.

San Antonio is facing a pair of back-to-back games, playing tonight and Wednesday, then again Saturday and Sunday.

But the name of one opponent graciously stands out - Dallas.

The Spurs (7-5) should right some of their recent wrongs when they hit the road to face the Mavericks at 7:30 tonight at Dallas’ Reunion Arena. The Mavericks (3-9) have lost nine straight.

The Spurs return Wednesday to face the sub-.500 Washington Wizards at the Alamodome, then play the Mavericks again Saturday night at the dome. The Sunday game could be a little tricky, coming against the Hawks (11-2) in Atlanta.

San Antonio arrived back in the Alamo City on Sunday after being battered by Seattle and Utah. The Spurs have lost four of their last five.

San Antonio’s defense has been porous. The offense, featuring David Robinson and Tim Duncan, needs another prong or two.

Some of the grim gristle of the offensive output in the past five games: Avery Johnson had 39 points (16 of 32 shooting) with 32 assists; Sean Elliott totalled 54 points (20 of 47) and 17 rebounds; and Chuck Person scored 24 points (8 of 35) and had 14 rebounds.

Vinny Del Negro, a needed shooter in the backcourt, has missed the last nine games with a sprained ankle. Del Negro practiced some Monday with the team at the University of the Incarnate Word, but his appearance against Dallas remains uncertain.

“I felt pretty good (Monday), but there was some pain at the end,” Del Negro said. “We’ll see how it feels (today), see if it swells up, and then decide.”

The team obviously is concerned with the lack of offensive firepower. But its dropoff on the defensive end was not expected.

“We want to get the defense back to where it was at the beginning,” Robinson said. “We have to tighten up on the fast breaks and have to stop the long runs.”

The Spurs concentrated on their defensive strategies during Monday’s workout, zeroing in on shutting down fast breaks after missed shots.

“We just have to regain the confidence that we can stop a team any time we want to,” Robinson said.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich already has shouldered the blame for the defensive lapse, noting that the staff sprinkled in a little too much spice in an already-effective potion. But Robinson tended to shake off that notion.

“You can’t blame any one person for this,” he said. “The players have to go out there and make things happen. We’ll get back to where we (were). Then the offense will start to come around. It’s a guarantee that Sean’s and Chuck’s shots will start falling.”

Person is vital to the long-distance shooting coming around.

“Some of (the shooting troubles) could be due to the long layoff, but I have to try to get the timing back with less playing time on a nightly basis,” said Person, who missed all of last season after back surgery and the first five games this year with back-muscle spasms.

“I’m not overly concerned about it. Maybe I’ll have to go for some easy layups, shoot some shots from 15 to 16 feet out. I want to be more aggressive in getting the shots. I did get double-digit shot totals in a couple of the games.”

The man known as “The Rifleman” isn’t worried about his form, either.

“The shots are straight,” he said. "If they were going to the right or left, I’d be concerned. But they are not. Our whole offense will come around once we start making some easy buckets off the fast breaks. It’s been a little frustrating because we’ve been blown out in the last two games.

“David is still our primary scorer. The rest of us have to find our niches within the flow of the offense.”

Popovich is looking straight ahead.

“I don’t remember those two games,” he said jokingly about the Seattle and Utah losses after Monday’s practice. "Actually, we got a lot out of them. Obviously, our shooting is very poor. Mainly, we have to get back to where we were on defense. That’s my job.

“We got a little too clever. We added a lot, the guys got confused and lost that trust. Shooting-wise, the guys just have to let them fly and hope they start falling.”

By Glenn Rogers, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-25, By Buck Harvey

怪兽的益处？

如果鲍勃·巴斯(Bob Bass)还在，他一定会满脸通红，低声抱怨。他会对一位名叫格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)的教练感到好奇。

巴斯还没有准备好解雇。至少现在还不行，只要马刺队还在联盟第一。但最近的两场比赛已经让巴斯坐立不安。他会听到教练解释失误的原因，但他不会真正听进去。波波维奇还没有执教过一个完整的赛季，是吗？巴斯只会认为只有菜鸟才会在拥有大卫·罗宾逊(David Robinson)和蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)的情况下输得这么惨。

哦，对了，如果鲍勃·希尔(Bob Hill)还是教练，波波维奇可能不止坐立不安。

所以，欢迎来到马刺队历史上第一次，总经理将永远对他的教练充满耐心。这就是独眼怪兽的力量。波波维奇感到如此安全，他不仅承担了责任，还公开了令人不快的细节。

如果缺点很明显 - 如果塔克(Tark)能够留下来会怎样？- 那么还有一种动态在起作用。这一次，过去笼罩在更衣室里的紧张气氛将不复存在。这一次，球员们不会看着教练，感受他的焦虑。这一次，要在午餐前解决所有问题的渴望将被一些冷静所抑制。

以帕特·莱利(Pat Riley)的名义：看看怪兽的概念是否有什么道理。

这不是这首歌通常的演奏方式，每个人都知道歌词了。你不能解雇球员，所以你就会把站在他们旁边的人钉死。此外，用一只废物来运行一个社区，是一种奇妙的社区宣泄。巴里·斯威策(Barry Switzer)和约翰·麦科维奇(John Mackovic)被公开驱逐，显然是提高所有德州人的士气的最佳方式。

南德克萨斯州了解宣泄；马刺队解雇了比18世纪法国以外任何地方都多的领导者。斯坦·阿尔贝克(Stan Albeck)和约翰·卢卡斯(John Lucas)在断头台落下之前就逃脱了，拉里·布朗(Larry Brown)安排了自己的半粉色滑条。否则，其他人都会失去脖子和挂在脖子上的哨子。

他们中的一些人罪有应得，尤其是莫·麦克霍恩(Mo McHone)和杰里·塔坎安(Jerry Tarkanian)。但即使是他们最深的深渊，也不可能比马刺队上周在西雅图和犹他州经历的更糟糕。马夫·阿尔伯特(Marv Albert)的头发还留得更久。如果马刺队没有教练和三个穿着西装的助理出现，他们也不会比现在更丢脸。

波波维奇指出，是自己陷入了太多的防守战术。这可以解释一些事情，特别是马刺队希望给超音速队和爵士队尽可能多的空位投篮。

然后就是他们说的这种新进攻，可能需要几个月才能掌握：与去年的基本单边进攻相比，让蒙蒂·威廉姆斯(Monty Williams)突破创造机会简直不可思议。所以即使没有约翰·斯托克顿(John Stockton)、沙奎尔·奥尼尔(Shaquille O’Neal)和哈基姆·奥拉朱旺(Hakeem Olajuwon)，马刺队现在也没有准备好利用这些优势。

是教练的问题？还是新体系引入一个新秀，两个上赛季大部分时间都缺席的首发球员，一个上赛季全部缺席的替补球员，以及一个等待交易来完成自己的阵容的轮换阵容时，自然而然出现的混乱？

波波维奇会说后者。波波维奇还会说，他一直把今年 11 月看作是试错期。

但了解人性，塔克和他那些被砍头的俱乐部成员也有类似的想法。如果有时间 - 有充分的支持，让他们按照自己的节奏执教 - 他们难道不会也扭转局面吗？

如果巴斯还在，他会摇摇头，准备迎接另一个赛季中期危机。相反，波波维奇正在为对阵小牛队的比赛做准备。

点击查看原文：Post Bass: The benefits of a monster?

Post Bass: The benefits of a monster?

If Bob Bass were still around, he’d be red-faced and muttering. He’d be wondering about a coach named Gregg Popovich.

Bass wouldn’t be ready to terminate. Not yet, not while the Spurs were still in first place. But the last two games would have Bass twitching. He’d be hearing his coach explain what’s going wrong, but Bass wouldn’t really be listening. Popovich hasn’t even coached a season-worth of games yet, has he? Bass would be thinking only a novice could lose this badly with David Robinson and Tim Duncan.

Oh, yes, if Bob Hill were still the coach, Popovich might be more than twitching.

So welcome to a first in franchise history, when the GM will be forever patient with his coach. That’s the power of the one- headed monster. Popovich feels so secure that he not only takes the blame, he also reveals the nasty details.

And if the downside is clear - what if Tark could have stayed around? - then there’s another dynamic at work, too. This time the nervousness that hung in the locker room in the past won’t be there. This time the players won’t be looking at the coach and feeling his anxieties. This time the desire to fix everything by lunch will be quieted by some calm.

In the name of Pat Riley: Wait to see if there’s something to the concept of a monster.

That’s not the way this song is usually played, and everyone knows the lyrics by now. You can’t fire the players so you impale the guy standing nearest to them. Besides, it’s a wondrous community catharsis to run a bum. The public deportation of Barry Switzer and John Mackovic is clearly the best way to raise the spirits of Texans everywhere.

South Texas knows about catharsis; the Spurs have axed more leaders than anyone outside of 18th-century France. Stan Albeck and John Lucas got out before the guillotine fell, and Larry Brown arranged his own semi-pink slip. Otherwise, the rest lost their necks and the whistles that hung on them.

Some of them deserved it, most notably Mo McHone and Jerry Tarkanian. But even their deepest depths couldn’t have been beneath what the Spurs went through last week in Seattle and Utah. Marv Albert’s hair hung around longer. Had the Spurs showed up without a coach and three assistants in suits, they wouldn’t have been humiliated more than they were.

Popovich points to himself for rushing into too many defensive schemes. That would explain a few things, especially the Spurs’ desire to give the Sonics and Jazz as many open shots as possible.

And then there’s this new offense they say might take months to grasp: Last year’s basic clear-a-side, let-Monty Williams-drive creation seemed wondrous by comparison. So even with John Stockton, Shaquille O’Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon out, the Spurs are in no shape right now to take advantage.

Is it coaching? Or is it the natural confusion that comes when a new system is introduced to a rookie, two starters who missed most of last season, a backup who missed all of last season and a rotation that waits for a trade to make itself whole?

Popovich would say the latter. Popovich would also say he always saw this November as trial and a lot of errors.

But knowing human nature, Tark and those in his beheaded club left with similar thoughts. Given time - given full support that allowed them to coach at their pace - wouldn’t they, too, have turned things around?

If Bass were still around, he’d shake his head and prepare for another midseason crisis. Popovich, instead, prepares for the Mavericks.

By Buck Harvey, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-26, By Jerry Briggs and Glenn Rogers

又一笔交易告吹 勇士似乎对将斯普雷维尔送至马刺的交易不感兴趣

金州勇士队的一位官员周二暗示，任何将后卫拉特雷尔·斯普雷维尔(Latrell Sprewell)送至马刺的交易提议都极不可能实现。

“我们希望阵容年轻化，降低薪资帽，”勇士队助理总经理加里·菲茨西蒙斯(Gary Fitzsimmons)说道。“我们想要培养一支年轻球员的核心阵容，帮助我们未来取得成功。”

菲茨西蒙斯没有否认勇士队计划交易斯普雷维尔和强力前锋乔·史密斯(Joe Smith)。他也否认了勇士队与马刺队进行过谈判。

但他的言辞似乎暗示，关于马刺队重新对斯普雷维尔感兴趣的报道不会带来交易。

“如果我们要交易球队的两名最佳球员，那么我们必须对回报的要求有明确的标准，”菲茨西蒙斯说道。“我们现在处于不能进行糟糕交易的境地。我们必须得到能帮助我们未来的优质球员。”

此前，马刺队曾参与过一项涉及三支球队的交易，交易方案如下：马刺队替补中锋威尔·珀杜(Will Perdue)转会底特律；马刺队首发小前锋肖恩·埃利奥特(Sean Elliott)和底特律替补前锋格兰特·朗(Grant Long)转会勇士队；斯普雷维尔转会马刺队。

但一位接近马刺队的消息人士透露，虽然马刺队可能讨论过用选秀权来完善这笔交易，但勇士队并不想要埃利奥特或朗。

埃利奥特将在2月份年满30岁。朗将在3月份年满32岁。

“这几乎就像需要一支第四支球队参与（才能给勇士队想要的球员），这将使交易变得非常困难，”该消息人士说道。

菲茨西蒙斯对此表示同意，他指出：“两支球队之间的交易已经够难了。我无法想象四支球队的交易。这将需要非常独特的方案。我认为这几乎是不可能的。”

马刺队主教练兼总经理格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)在上周表示斯普雷维尔传闻已经结束，这次他表示不愿对此事进行讨论。

“正如我之前所说，”波波维奇说道，“对我们来说，最好不要证实或否认任何猜测。我们没有时间浪费在这种事情上。”

最新的猜测中涉及的其他球队包括活塞队、明尼苏达森林狼队、多伦多猛龙队和洛杉矶快船队。

一位联盟消息人士表示，马刺队“迫切”需要像斯普雷维尔这样的得分手，因为他们需要另一位进攻武器才能争夺总冠军。

该消息人士称，马刺队认为他们无法得到萨克拉门托国王队后卫米奇·里奇蒙德(Mitch Richmond)。

点击查看原文：Another trade bites the dust Warriors appear uninterested in deal to make Sprewell a Spur

Another trade bites the dust Warriors appear uninterested in deal to make Sprewell a Spur

An official of the Golden State Warriors hinted strongly Tuesday that any proposed trade that would send guard Latrell Sprewell to the Spurs is a long shot.

“We are looking to get younger and lower our numbers on the salary cap,” Warriors assistant general manager Gary Fitzsimmons said. “We want to develop a core of young players that will help us in the future.”

Fitzsimmons didn’t deny that the Warriors plan to trade Sprewell and power forward Joe Smith. He also wouldn’t deny that the Warriors had talked to the Spurs.

But he seemed to indicate that reports of renewed interest by the Spurs in Sprewell would not yield a trade.

“If we are going to trade the two best players in our franchise, then we have to have parameters on what we ask for in return,” Fitzsimmons said. “We’re in a position where we can’t make a bad trade. We have to get quality players for the future.”

Previously, the Spurs had been in discussions about a three-team trade that would have played out like this: Spurs reserve center Will Perdue going to Detroit; Spurs starting small forward Sean Elliott and Detroit reserve forward Grant Long going to the Warriors; and Sprewell going to the Spurs.

But a source close to the Spurs said that while the Spurs may have discussed throwing in draft choices to sweeten the deal, the Warriors didn’t want either Elliott or Long.

Elliott will turn 30 years old in February. Long will be 32 in March.

“It’s almost like there has to be a fourth team involved (to send the Warriors the players they desire), which would make it extremely difficult,” the source said.

Fitzsimmons agreed, noting: “It’s hard enough to make a two- team trade. I can’t imagine four teams. It would have to be unique. I’d say it’s almost impossible.”

Spurs coach/general manager Gregg Popovich, who indicated last week that the Sprewell rumor was dead, said he didn’t want to discuss it this time.

“As I’ve said before,” Popovich said, “it’s best for us not to confirm or deny any speculation. We just don’t have time for it.”

Other teams involved in the latest speculation included the Pistons, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Toronto Raptors and the Los Angeles Clippers.

One league source said the Spurs “desperately” want a scorer like Sprewell because they need another offensive weapon to make a championship run.

The source said the Spurs don’t think they can acquire Sacramento Kings guard Mitch Richmond.

By Jerry Briggs and Glenn Rogers, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-29, By Jerry Briggs

马刺希望德尔内格罗点燃战火

近期，马刺队深受数次困扰性的伤病、赛程和自身缺乏稳定性的困扰。

在最近的七场比赛中输掉了五场比赛之后，马刺队将在今晚 7:30 在阿拉莫穹顶主场挑战状态不佳的达拉斯小牛队，以发泄自己的挫败感。

后卫维尼·德尔内格罗此前因脚踝扭伤缺席了 11 场比赛，预计将在今晚首发。

他将出场多少时间还有待观察，但在星期五早上的训练中，德尔内格罗的状态不错。

“我预计将出场很多时间。”德尔内格罗表示，“我预计我们会赢下这场比赛，然后前往亚特兰大并努力赢下比赛。”

在疯狂的赛程中的最新怪事中，马刺队将在与小牛队比赛后立即离开。他们将前往亚特兰大在星期日下午 5 点对阵老鹰队。

这将是本月马刺队连续两个晚上进行背靠背比赛的第五次两场比赛顺序。

“我们不会以赛程为借口。”马刺队教练格雷格·波波维奇说，“联盟中的每个人都有一个艰难的赛程。”

达拉斯也不例外。在星期五晚上的主场对阵多伦多的比赛中，小牛队可能已经有点疲惫了。

小牛队（4-10）以击败猛龙队结束了 10 连败。

而马刺队则有几天时间来反思星期三在主场令人困惑的 98-94 负于华盛顿奇才队。这让圣安东尼奥的战绩变成 8-6。

“我们对此并不满意。”马刺队中锋大卫·罗宾逊说道，“但话又说回来，这还不是世界末日。我们正在学到很多关于我们自己的东西。我们正在努力找出如何适应不同的事物，还有如何在场上调整队员。”

德尔内格罗场均 10.7 分和外线投篮 - 在受伤之前是 61% 的命中率 - 一直被人所怀念。

但一个更大的问题可能是：疯狂的赛程、27 天内 14 场比赛和不稳定的轮换阵容。

不稳定的阵容主要是由德尔内格罗以及前锋查克·佩尔森和卡尔·赫雷拉的伤病引起的。

“毫无疑问，让所有球员恢复健康将有所帮助。”罗宾逊说，“当这种情况发生时，我们将知道我们有哪些轮换阵容以及球员们将出场多少分钟。这绝对是问题的一部分。”

尽管德尔内格罗已经重新进入阵容，但在一段时间内可能不会形成稳定的换人模式。

赫雷拉因左肩后侧肌肉撕裂而进入伤病名单，至少还会缺席四场比赛。

此外，教练组正在调整佩尔森的出场时间，他在背部疼痛缺席今年前五场比赛后，他的不稳定投篮一直令人担忧。

尽管存在问题，但该队在感恩节后的第二天进行了激烈的训练。

波波维奇对队员的态度很满意。

“我们进行了地狱般的训练。”他说，“你看到了。这在外面是身体的对抗。球员们努力而聪明地比赛。我们做了很多事情。”

德尔内格罗说他并未注意到输给奇才队的比赛留下太多阴影。

“我们不想让挫败感渗透进来。”德尔内格罗说，“这些事情会发生。我们只需要纠正这些情况。你想对自己感到失望，但你同时也必须考虑大局并坚持下去。”

在连续两个晚上进行的比赛中，马刺队的战绩为 5-3。但他们在这些比赛的第二天晚上开始表现出一些疲态，输掉了过去的两场比赛。

“这是 NBA。”罗宾逊说，“你不能担心赛程。如果你有这样的赛程，当每个人都处于新鲜状态时，尽早安排是好的。”

点击查看原文：Spurs hope for spark with Del Negro

Spurs hope for spark with Del Negro

Lately, the Spurs have battled against a few nagging injuries, the schedule and their own inconsistencies.

Losers of five of their last seven games, the Spurs will try to take out their frustrations on the struggling Dallas Mavericks at 7:30 tonight in the Alamodome.

Guard Vinny Del Negro, out the past 11 games with a sprained ankle, is expected to start.

How much he plays remains to be seen, but Del Negro looked good in practice Friday morning.

“I expect to play a lot,” Del Negro said. “I expect us to win the game, then go on to Atlanta and try to get that one.”

In the latest quirk in a screwy schedule, the Spurs leave town immediately after they play the Mavs. They will travel to Atlanta to meet the Hawks at 5 p.m. Sunday.

It will be the fifth two-game sequence this month in which the Spurs have played on back- to-back nights.

“We won’t use the schedule as an excuse,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Everyone in the league has a tough schedule.”

Dallas is no exception. The Mavs may be a bit weary after playing at home against Toronto on Friday night.

The Mavs (4-10) ended a 10-game losing streak by beating the Raptors.

The Spurs, meanwhile, have had a few days to mull Wednesday’s confounding 98-94 home loss to the Washington Wizards. It left San Antonio with an 8-6 record.

“We’re not thrilled with that,” Spurs center David Robinson said. “But then again, it’s not the end of the world. We’re learning a lot about ourselves. We’re trying to find out how to adjust to different things, to guys we have out on the floor.”

Del Negro’s 10.7 points a game and his perimeter shooting - 61 percent from the field before the injury - have been missed.

But a larger problem may be this: a crazy schedule, 14 games in a 27-day stretch and an unstable rotation.

The instability has been caused, primarily, by injuries to Del Negro and forwards Chuck Person and Carl Herrera.

“Definitely, having all the guys back healthy will help,” Robinson said. “When that happens, we’ll know what rotations we’ll have and how many minutes guys will play. That’s definitely been part of the problem.”

Even with Del Negro back in the lineup, a consistent substitution pattern may not develop for some time.

Herrera, on the injured list with a muscle tear in the back of his left shoulder, will miss a minimum of four more games.

Also, coaches are regulating the playing time of Person, whose erratic shooting has been a concern since he missed the first give games of the year with back pain.

Despite the problems, the team went through a spirited practice on the day after Thanksgiving.

Popovich was happy with the attitude.

“We had a helluva practice,” he said. “You saw it. It was physical out there. Guys played hard and smart. We got a lot done.”

Del Negro said he didn’t notice much of a hangover from the loss to the Wizards.

“We don’t want to let the frustration seep in,” Del Negro said. “Those things will happen. We just have to rectify those situations. You want to be disappointed in yourself, but you also have to consider the big picture and stay with it.”

In games played on consecutive nights, the Spurs are 5-3. But they have started to show some fatigue in the second night of those sequences, dropping the last two.

“It’s the NBA,” Robinson said. “You can’t worry about the schedule. If you’re going to have a schedule like that, it’s good to have it early when everyone should be fresh.”

By Jerry Briggs, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-30, By Jerry Briggs

小牛队让马刺队付出努力赢得胜利

马刺队需要一场大胜。他们希望通过一场统治性的比赛来摆脱长时间的低迷。

然而，实力低下的达拉斯小牛队，虽然缺少了受伤的 7 尺 6 中锋肖恩·布拉德利，但拒绝配合。

在周六晚上的 48 分钟内，马刺队花了很多时间才能完全控制比赛。最终，他们在最后阶段投篮轰炸，在阿拉莫圆顶体育馆以 96-87 击败小牛队，16,270 名观众见证了这场比赛。

虽然这不是一场轻松的胜利，但至少马刺队在第三节比赛中表现出了很大的能量，并在最后阶段击退了小牛队的反扑。

在过去的几周里，能量和专注力在一些令人尴尬的失利中消失了。

「我们不希望更多的挫折渗透进来，」小前锋文尼·德尔内格罗说，他在脚踝扭伤缺席 11 场比赛后回到了首发阵容。「我们只需要一场胜利。比赛过程并不漂亮。我知道我们可以打得更好。」

德尔内格罗在 31 分钟内得到 8 分，并抢下 4 个篮板。

「也许我们可以继续努力，完成轮转，并打出更稳定的比赛，」他说。

凭借这场胜利，马刺队的战绩提高到 9 胜 6 负。在过去的五天里，这两场胜利都是对阵 4 胜 11 负的小牛队取得的。马刺队在周二晚上的达拉斯以 102-91 击败小牛队。

马刺队今天下午 5 点还将与老鹰队在亚特兰大的佐治亚圆顶进行另一场比赛。

当老鹰队以 98-80 击败夏洛特黄蜂队时，他们的战绩提高到了东部联盟最佳的 13 胜 2 负。

「我们必须打得很好——非常好，」马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇说。「我们必须投篮命中并全力以赴。他们是一支非常棒的球队，是一支争夺冠军的球队，也许是目前东部最好的球队。

「我们的表现必须比我们在西北部的比赛时更好。」

马刺队在最近一次客场之旅中，对阵竞争对手球队时遭遇了两次严重的失利。在连续的周末晚上，他们在西雅图被轰炸了 20 分，在犹他州被轰炸了 29 分。

「我们已经忘记了那些比赛，」马刺队的新秀前锋蒂姆·邓肯说。「我们心里明白这种事可能发生。但我们也知道我们可以赢。我们希望（对阵老鹰队）时处于上升期，而不是下滑期。」

在最近七场比赛中输掉五场后，马刺队在对阵小牛队的比赛中采取了一些正确的措施。

这是一个不同的达拉斯队，而不是马刺队本周早些时候遇到的那支球队。小牛队没有布拉德利，他在周五晚上战胜多伦多的比赛中撕裂了小腿肌肉。

尽管没有大个子，小牛队还是从早期的 10 分落后中反弹，在中场休息时将比分扳平为 41-41。马刺队在第三节投篮命中率达到 70%，将领先优势扩大到 72-59。

然而，达拉斯没有放弃。

小牛队在迈克尔·芬利的 35 分的支持下，一直保持在打击距离之内，直到比赛的最后几分钟。事实上，在比赛还剩 3:16 时，小牛队还落后 11 分。

但马刺队替补后卫贾伦·杰克逊快速得到三个篮板，帮助球队坚持了下来。

「在下半场，我们只是投进了我们的投篮，」波波维奇说。「能量在整场比赛中都很旺盛。没有神奇的战术，没有任何神奇的东西。球只是进了篮筐。」

马刺队中锋大卫·罗宾逊与邓肯联手，以总共 35 分、26 个篮板和 8 次盖帽挫败了小牛队。邓肯（17 分、14 个篮板、5 次盖帽）在比赛后半段尤其具有威胁。

另外，控球后卫艾弗里·约翰逊自由游走，切入篮下获得了一些轻松的上篮。他得到了 16 分——这是他自开幕之夜在丹佛得到 19 分以来的最佳进攻表现。

「在新进攻体系中，球不在我手里那么多，」约翰逊说。「今晚我们做了一些事情，让我的手更多地接触球。希望我们能继续这样做。」

芬利展示了一堂跳投课程。他在 23 次投篮中命中 13 球，在 5 次三分球中命中 4 球。身高 6 英尺 7 英寸的后卫芬利，在比赛的最后三节中得到 30 分。

点击查看原文：Mavericks make Spurs work for victory

Mavericks make Spurs work for victory

The Spurs needed a runaway victory. They wanted a dominating performance to shake themselves out of a prolonged funk.

But the woeful Dallas Mavericks, playing without injured 7-foot-6 center Shawn Bradley, refused to cooperate.

It took most of the 48 minutes Saturday night for the Spurs to assume complete control. Finally, they shook the Mavs with a shooting barrage down the stretch in a 96-87 victory in front of 16,270 at the Alamodome.

If it wasn’t a romp, at least the Spurs displayed a good deal of energy in blowing the game open in the third quarter and then fighting off the Mavs down the stretch.

In the last few weeks, energy and concentration have been missing in a few embarrassing losses.

“We don’t want any more of that frustration to seep in,” said Spurs guard Vinny Del Negro, returning to the lineup after missing 11 games with a sprained ankle. “We just needed a win. It wasn’t that pretty. I know we can play much better than that.”

Del Negro scored eight points and pulled down four rebounds in 31 minutes.

“Maybe we can keep building on this, get our rotations down and get some more consistent play,” he said.

With the win, the Spurs improved to 9-6. Two of the victories have come against the 4-11 Mavericks in the past five days. The Spurs whipped the Mavs 102-91 Tuesday night in Dallas.

Another game awaits the Spurs at 5 this afternoon, when they take on the Hawks in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.

The Hawks hiked their record to an Eastern Conference-best 13-2 when they beat the Charlotte Hornets 98-80.

“We’re going to have to play well - real well,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We’re going to have to make shots and bring our energy with us. They are a heckuva team, a championship contending team, maybe the best team in the East right now.

“We’re going to have to perform better than we did in our trip to the Northwest.”

The Spurs absorbed two severe whippings in their last road trip against contending teams. They were bombed by 20 at Seattle and by 29 at Utah on consecutive nights last weekend.

“We’ve forgotten about those games,” Spurs rookie forward Tim Duncan said. “In the back of our minds, we know it can happen. But we also know we can win. We want to play (against the Hawks) on an upswing, not on a downswing.”

Coming off five losses in their last seven games, the Spurs took some steps in the right direction against the Mavericks.

It was a different Dallas team than the one the Spurs played earlier in the week. The Mavs were without Bradley, who tore a calf muscle in Friday night’s victory over Toronto.

Despite the big man’s absence, the Mavs rallied from an early 10- point deficit to tie the game 41-41 at intermission. The Spurs broke it open by hitting 70 percent of their shots in the third period and taking a 72-59 lead.

Dallas, however, wouldn’t go away.

The Mavs, bolstered by 35 points from Michael Finley, stayed within striking distance until the final minutes. In fact, it was an 11-point game with 3:16 to play.

But Spurs reserve guard Jaren Jackson scored three quick baskets to help his team hold on.

“In the second half, we just made our shots,” Popovich said. “The energy was there the whole game. There was no magic play, no magic nothing. It was just going in the hole for us.”

Spurs center David Robinson teamed with Duncan to frustrate the Mavericks with a combined 35 points, 26 rebounds and eight blocked shots. Duncan (17 points, 14 boards, five blocks) was particularly menacing late in the game.

Also, point guard Avery Johnson roamed freely and cut to the basket for some easy layups. He scored 16 points - his best offensive showing since he had 19 on opening night at Denver.

“In the new offense, the ball hasn’t been in my hands as much,” Johnson said. “Tonight we ran some stuff to keep my hands on it a little more. Hopefully we can continue to mix that in.”

Finley put on a jump-shooting clinic. He hit 13 of 23 shots from the floor and 4 of 5 from beyond the arc. Finley, a 6-foot-7 guard, scored 30 in the final three quarters.

By Jerry Briggs, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-30, By Jerry Briggs

马刺话题：糟糕的表现导致了“疯狂”的谈话

如果您是大卫·罗宾逊-蒂姆·邓肯时代的马刺队不满意球迷，请排队。

我从新闻发布会上就能听到你的声音。

你坐在昂贵的座位上撅着嘴，想知道受伤的文尼·德尔内格罗的缺阵以及罗宾逊-邓肯替补阵容中的一些成员开局缓慢，为什么会造成目前这种身体不适。

在周六对阵达拉斯的比赛开始之前，马刺队的战绩太接近0.500了，这让你感到不舒服。他们最近七场比赛中输掉了五场。

那段时间的唯一胜利是对阵垫底的金州勇士和达拉斯小牛。

失利包括连续几晚在西雅图和盐湖城的一对闹剧，马刺队在第一节落后20分，在第三节落后30多分。

另一个重大失误发生在周三对阵华盛顿奇才的比赛中，连输六场的奇才队进入阿拉莫穹顶，并在曾经引以为傲的马刺队防守中大开杀戒。

马刺队主教练格雷格·波波维奇承认对输给超音速队和爵士队的比赛负有责任，声称他在太短的时间内在防守中设置了太多错综复杂的战术。

我的朋友们，那是胡说八道。

马刺队只是碰到了非常热情的超音速队，然后像往常一样在三角洲中心对阵爵士时软弱地投降。

波波维奇说他上周早些时候简化了防守，这只是让奇才队在周三晚上的比赛中以54.7%的命中率投篮，以98-94惨败。

奇怪的是，教练并没有为输给华盛顿承担责任。至少，这比他之前的借口更接近事实。相反，他谈到了缺乏强度。疲倦更合适。

没有人提出这个问题，但球队那天早上不需要投篮训练。球员们在前一天晚上在达拉斯进行了一场快节奏的比赛，当晚搭乘包机回家，然后出现在阿拉莫穹顶的早晨训练中。

但对于球员来说，这意味着在球队27天里的第14场比赛前夜，在睡了六七个小时后起床。在对阵达拉斯的比赛中投篮命中率为19投11中的肖恩·埃利奥特和查克·珀森对阵华盛顿仅投进了9投1中。

最终，大卫·罗宾逊和邓肯合砍52分和24个篮板，而马刺输给了一支在东部联盟季后赛中能幸运拿到第八名的球队。

与此同时，波波维奇又回到了拒绝评论交易传闻的立场上。几个星期前，还记得吧，他公开谈论过这些问题。

当时，他承认参与了交易讨论。但他表示没有正在进行的交易。

他们说，那是那时。这是现在。在现实中，教练可能已经厌倦了对一支球队大发雷霆，因为这支球队的季后赛首轮系列赛很可能在明年4月轻而易举地被淘汰。

皮蓬交易话题已取消：不要费心了。甚至不要想它。马刺队不会交易不满的芝加哥公牛队前锋斯科蒂·皮蓬。

公牛队不会听马刺队的意见，除非通话一开始就出现了两个名字中的一个：大卫·罗宾逊或蒂姆·邓肯。

当被问及上周是否考虑用罗宾逊或邓肯交易皮蓬时，波波维奇转身离开，眼神中充满了“你疯了吗？”的表情。

点击查看原文：Spurs Beat: Poor performances lead to 'crazy' talk

Spurs Beat: Poor performances lead to ‘crazy’ talk

If you are an unfulfilled Spurs fan in the David Robinson-Tim Duncan era, stand in line.

I can hear you from press row.

You are pouting in your expensive seats, wondering how the loss of injured Vinny Del Negro and slow starts by a few members of the Robinson-Duncan supporting cast could cause the current malaise.

Coming into Saturday’s matchup against Dallas, the Spurs were languishing way too close to .500 for your comfort. They had lost five of their last seven games.

The only wins in that stretch came against bottom-feeding Golden State and Dallas.

The losses included a pair of charades in Seattle and Salt Lake City on consecutive nights, when the Spurs fell behind by 20 points after one quarter and by more than 30 in the third quarter.

Another major glitch developed Wednesday against Washington when the Wizards, losers of six straight, entered the Alamodome and shot large holes in the once- proud Spurs defense.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich accepted blame for losses to the Sonics and the Jazz, claiming that he had installed too many intricacies in the defense in too short a period of time.

That, my friends, was baloney.

The Spurs simply ran into a red- hot Sonics team and then folded meekly, as usual, in the Delta Center against the Jazz.

Popovich said he simplified the defense early last week, which simply allowed the Wizards to shoot 54.7 percent from the field in a 98-94 debacle Wednesday night.

Curiously, the coach didn’t take the blame for the loss to Washington. That, at least, would have been closer to the truth than his previous excuse. Instead, he talked about a lack of intensity. Tired legs would have been more to the point.

Nobody raised the issue, but the team didn’t need a shootaround that morning. Players went through a fast-paced game at Dallas the night before, took a charter flight home that night and then showed up for a morning drill at the Alamodome.

But for the players, it meant getting out of bed after six or seven hours sleep on the eve of the team’s 14th game in 27 days. Sean Elliott and Chuck Person, who shot a combined 11 of 19 from the field against Dallas, hit only 1 of 9 against Washington.

In the end, David Robinson and Duncan combined for 52 points and 24 rebounds, and the Spurs lost to a team that will be lucky to earn the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Popovich, meanwhile, is reverting back to his position of declining comment on trade rumors. A few weeks ago, remember, he talked about them openly.

At the time, he admitted engaging in trade discussions. But he said there were none in the making.

That, as they say, was then. This is now. And in reality, the coach is probably getting tired of taking the rap on a team that looks as if it could easily blow a first-round playoff series next April.

- Pippen talk scuttled: Don’t even bother. Don’t even think about it. A Spurs trade for disgruntled Chicago Bulls forward Scottie Pippen will not happen.

The Bulls wouldn’t listen to the Spurs unless the telephone call started with either of two names: David Robinson or Tim Duncan.

Asked last week if he would consider trading Robinson or Duncan for Pippen, Popovich turned and walked away with an “Are you crazy?” look in his eye.

By Jerry Briggs, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-11-30, By Glenn Rogers

NBA 观察：除了稳稳当当的球队，其他都在寻找答案

NBA 中，一些球队令人惊喜，一些球队则如预期般发挥，而还有不少球队仍然在摸索中。

惊喜球队包括凯尔特人、篮网、活塞，甚至还有老鹰。

那些如预期般发挥的球队，一方面是湖人、超音速、尼克斯、热火，也许还有黄蜂；另一方面则是表现糟糕的勇士、国王、快船、掘金和独行侠。

马刺、森林狼、公牛和骑士则还在努力寻找方向。按照他们的表现，他们都可能在赛季末为了争夺乐透签而拼尽全力。

凯尔特人，在里克·皮蒂诺(Rick Pitino) 的鞭策下，加上新秀们的出色表现，徘徊在胜率五成左右。问题是，他们可能会后悔这种徘徊，并在几个月后努力提高胜率。

他们不可能进入季后赛，而不错的选秀权在六月会显得非常诱人。一旦对手适应了他们的压迫防守，他们就会开始平庸。

篮网，依靠与小牛（萨姆·卡塞尔(Sam-I-Am Cassell)和克里斯·加特林(Chris Gatling)）和76人（基斯·范霍恩(Keith Van Horn)和迈克尔·凯奇(Michael Cage)）的明智交易，尽管他们缺少中锋——注意，他们可能会再次尝试得到威尔·珀杜(Will Perdue)——正在让梅多兰兹成为一个避之不及的地方，即使只是为了看球。大多数人对东卢瑟福感到厌恶，现在没有人想在那里比赛。

活塞，已经疲惫不堪，而且正在消耗过度情绪化和自我中心的道格·柯林斯(Doug Collins) 的精力，他们已经记不得以前是如何赢球的，而且可能来不及找回这种记忆，无法在本赛季成为一支劲旅。

球员们私下里说，柯林斯正在放弃他们。但是，当情况变得过于艰难时，球员们就会说这种话。

活塞在得到布莱恩·威廉姆斯(Brian Williams) 之后应该会变得更好；如果他们得到一个中锋，让威廉姆斯可以打大前锋，也许他们真的会变得更好。有人提到珀杜了吗？

老鹰原本预计会争夺分区冠军，但他们的出色表现震惊了所有人。当史蒂夫·史密斯(Steve Smith) 和艾伦·亨德森(Alan Henderson) 缺席时，他们状态不佳，但他们回归后会造成更大的破坏。穆托姆博(Dikembe Mutombo) 依然拥有全明星级别的表现，甚至克里斯蒂安·莱特纳(Christian Laettner) 也似乎正在找回稳定性。

湖人怎么样？

当然，许多人选择他们在这个赛季从西部脱颖而出，但关键因素是沙奎尔·奥尼尔(Shaquille O’Neal)。然而，让他们真正令人恐惧的是后场组合，这支后场组合让马刺感到羡慕：尼克·范埃克塞尔(Nick Van Exel)，科比·布莱恩特(Kobe Bryant) 和埃迪·琼斯(Eddie Jones)。这支组合，如果像现在这样打球，完全可以在去年六月的总决赛中击败公牛。

超音速凭借快速适应文·贝克(Vin Baker) 并忘记肖恩·坎普(Shawn Kemp) 的表现，让很多人大开眼界。

热火凭借防守和没有阿朗佐·莫宁(Alonzo Mourning) 的情况下依然保持着火热的状态，而尼克斯则继续展现力量，有趣的是，他们甚至打起了快攻并得分。

热火会变得更好，但显然他们不会考虑得到拉特雷尔·斯普雷维尔(Latrell Sprewell)。

“那不可能是真的，”蒂姆·哈达威(Tim Hardaway) 在谈到交易传闻时说道。“如果他来这里，我就走。”

黄蜂队开局缓慢，但现在他们正在蓬勃发展，戴夫·考文斯(Dave Cowens) 对这支球队有了很好的感觉。他在比赛中做出了一些关键的调整，甚至让弗拉德·迪瓦茨(Vlade Divac) 打出了充满活力的表现。

森林狼队的走向与人们的预期相反。他们开局还不错，看起来已经准备兑现查尔斯·巴克利(Charles Barkley) 的预言，他们拥有未来。未来看起来有点遥远。

森林狼忘记了，他们有时需要打一点防守。他们也知道，他们需要一两个有天赋的强壮球员来加入他们的锋线。嘿，现在总经理格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich) 的办公室电话响了吗？“嗯，关于威尔·珀杜……”

马刺怎么样？的确，他们怎么样呢？

他们原本预计会掀起波澜。他们一直沉默不语，击败弱旅，被一些弱旅击败或吓到。在约翰·斯托克顿(John Stockton) 和哈基姆·奥拉朱旺(Hakeem Olajuwon) 从伤病中恢复过来之前，他们并没有威胁到爵士和火箭。

他们的后场需要帮助，他们的进攻需要一名射手——至少需要一名得分手——来帮助大卫·罗宾逊(David Robinson) 和蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)。他们最好尽快得到帮助。

奇才队，依然没有首发中锋盖奥尔基·穆雷山(Gheorghe Muresan)，似乎无法确定一个战术。他们拥有丰富的才华，但比赛的基本功却难以捉摸。

森林狼队开局很快，但现在正在啃噬着自我怀疑的骨头。

“我们需要一些爱，比继续踢他们更需要爱，因为我们现在的信心处于历史最低点，”主教练弗利普·桑德斯(Flip Saunders) 说。

也许价值 1.26 亿美元的凯文·加内特(Kevin Garnett) 开始意识到，他需要一名与他并肩作战的球队领袖。

点击查看原文：Around the NBA: Beyond sure things are teams looking for answers

Around the NBA: Beyond sure things are teams looking for answers

There are a few surprise teams, a few I-told-you-sos and a handful of teams that haven’t quite made up their minds skirmishing in the NBA.

The surprises have to include the Celtics, Nets, Pistons and even the Hawks.

Those told-you-sos are the Lakers, Sonics, Knicks, Heat and maybe the Hornets at one end and the execrable Warriors, Kings, Clippers, Nuggets and Mavericks at the other.

Still trying to figure things out are the Spurs, Wolves, Bulls and Cavaliers. At the rate they’re going, they all could be jostling for lottery position during the final weeks.

The Celtics, pushed and prodded by Rick Pitino and getting some free and easy play from rookies, are hovering around .500. Problem is, they might regret this hovering and try to get deeper into the tank a few months from now.

No way will they make the playoffs and nice picks will look pretty come June. They’ll start settling anyway, once opponents get used to the pressure defense.

The Nets, due to deft trades with Dallas (Sam-I-Am Cassell and Chris Gatling) and Philadelphia (Keith Van Horn and Michael Cage) and despite their lack of a center - watch 'em, they may make another try for Will Perdue - are making the Meadowlands a place to avoid even in terms of hoops. Most grimace when considering East Rutherford, now nobody wants to play there.

The Pistons, worn out by now and wearing out the overly emotional and self-absorbed Doug Collins, can’t remember how they used to win games and may not get the recollection in time to become a force this year.

Players say, privately of course, that Collins is bailing out on them. But players say such things when the going gets a little too tough.

The Pistons should be better after adding Brian Williams; maybe they will be if they get a center who can allow Williams to play power forward. Did somebody say Perdue?

The Hawks were expected to contend for division honors but their extraordinary play shocked all. They faltered when Steve Smith and Alan Henderson were on the sidelines but they’ll inflict more damage still when they return. Dikembe Mutombo has his all-world games and even Christian Laettner seems to be settling into a level of consistency.

How about those Lakers?

Sure, they were picked by many to come out of the West this time around, but the big factor was Shaquille O’Neal. But creating horror for all is a backcourt that the Spurs truly envy: Nick Van Exel, Kobe Bryant and Eddie Jones. This gang, playing like they are now, could have ousted the Bulls in the finals last June.

The Sonics opened a few eyes with their quick adaption to Vin Baker and forgetting of Shawn Kemp.

The Heat stayed hot with their defense and without Alonzo Mourning, while the Knicks continue to muscle, and interestingly, even run-and-gun and score.

The Heat will get better but apparently they won’t be looking to acquire one Latrell Sprewell.

“That can’t be true,” Tim Hardaway said of the trade rumors. “If he comes here, I’m going.”

Charlotte’s Hornets started slow but they’re buzzing now and Dave Cowens is getting a pretty nice feel for this team. He’s making some key adjustments during games and even getting some spirited play from Vlade Divac.

The Timberwolves are going in the opposite direction everybody expected. They started OK, looked ready to fulfill Charles Barkley’s prophecy that they owned the future. The future looks a little distant.

The Wolves forgot they sometimes have to play a little defense. They also know they need a talented bigger guy or two to stick in the frontline. Hey, is that the phone ringing in General Manager Gregg Popovich’s office right now. "Uh, about Will Perdue … "

How about those Spurs, anyway? How, indeed?

They were expected to make some noise. They’ve been silent, beating bad teams, getting beat or scared by some bad teams. They’re not threatening to run away from the Jazz and Rockets while John Stockton and Hakeem Olajuwon recover from injuries.

The backcourt needs help, the offense needs a shooter - at least a scorer - to help David Robinson and Tim Duncan. It better come quick.

The Wizards, still playing without starting center Gheorghe Muresan, can’t seem to nail down a game plan. They are loaded with talent but the fundamentals of the game escape detection.

The Wolves started fast but now are gnawing on the bones of self- doubt.

“We need some lovin’, more than we need to keep kicking 'em, because we’re at an all-time low in confidence right now,” Coach Flip Saunders said.

Maybe the $126 million Kevin Garnett is realizing he needs a franchise player next to him.

By Glenn Rogers, via San Antonio Express-News

[这也将成为过去]

1997-12-01, By Glenn Rogers

马刺无力展翅 - 鹰队高飞轻松战胜圣安东尼奥

亚特兰大 - 一些人听到或读到最终比分，会认为马刺在周日下午在乔治亚巨蛋的比赛中表现得还不错。

他们错了。

这场比赛最终以 108-96 的比分进入记录，亚特兰大获胜，但这场比赛与他们在西雅图和盐湖城的比赛一样糟糕。

“像这样的令人尴尬的失利，对我们所有在这里待过一段时间的人来说都是令人失望的，”马刺中锋大卫·罗宾逊(David Robinson)说道。

比赛开始阶段，鹰队有条不紊地撕裂了马刺的防守，由此确定了比赛的基调。亚特兰大连续九次得分，取得 18-5 的领先。

这一主题在整场比赛中持续出现，将马刺的势头扼杀。

马刺的进攻最终命中了一些空位投篮，在第二节初一度将比分缩小至七分。鹰队再次打出一波得分高潮，将领先优势扩大到 17 分。

亚特兰大在第三节彻底击溃了圣安东尼奥，打出两波进攻高潮，将马刺的比分落后至 26 分，并在第三节末领先。

“自从常规赛的前六场比赛以来，我们的防守意识和专注力已经明显下降，”主教练格雷格·波波维奇(Gregg Popovich)说道。“这非常令人不安。这支球队必须面对现实。很明显，我们无法阻止任何对手，我们必须解决这个问题。”

鹰队中锋迪肯贝·穆托姆博(Dikembe Mutombo)享受着比赛。穆托姆博投进了那些“鱼叉”般的钩射，砍下了 22 分。

后卫史蒂夫·史密斯(Steve Smith)也享受着比赛。史密斯拿下了 15 分，更值得注意的是，他贡献了 8 次助攻，放弃了自己的空位投篮机会，而是用精准的传球将球传给了其他空位的队友。

前马刺球员泰·科宾(Ty Corbin)成为这些传球的受益者之一，他拿下了 14 分。克里斯蒂安·莱特纳(Christian Laettner)得到 18 分，查基·布朗(Chucky Brown)得到 14 分，鹰队全体队员都表现出色。

波波维奇表示，他在西雅图和犹他比赛前过于复杂化了防守，之后他简化了防守，回归最初的形式。但这并没有帮助。

周日，马刺无法跟上鹰队的传球，眼看着球被送入空位射手的手中。到了空位射手手里，马刺通常连喊都不喊，更别说上前防守了。

当马刺球员接近空位的鹰队球员时，他们甚至连举起双手或在射手面前挥动手臂这样简单的动作都懒得做。

鹰队全场比赛的投篮命中率高达 57%，创赛季新高，在第四节还剩 5 分 21 秒时，他们的命中率达到 60%，当时比分是 102-80，已经是垃圾时间了。

57% 的命中率也是本赛季马刺对手的最高命中率。

“我不知道我们如何才能回到之前（的防守水平），”新秀前锋蒂姆·邓肯(Tim Duncan)说道。“我们只能继续比赛，继续训练。我们必须做到彼此信任。”

邓肯拿下了 20 分，其中 10 分是在比赛最后 4 分 27 秒内得到的。但他确实刺激了鹰队主教练莱尼·威尔肯斯(Lenny Wilkens)，导致威尔肯斯在最后四分钟里叫了两个暂停。

罗宾逊也指出了同样的防守问题。

“这只是失去信任，”他说道。“一个人犯了一个错误，然后是另一个人，再然后是另一个人，我们就失去了信任。他们让史密斯单打，我们知道如何包夹他并轮转防守。但我们没有做到。

“如果我们犯错，我们必须是主动犯错。我们不能因为犹豫而犯错，也不能因为我们让对方投篮而犯错。我知道当我有球时，其他球员会过来防守我。我们也要在防守端做到这一点。”

鹰队对比赛结果非常满意。

“我们已经做好了准备，”威尔肯斯说道。“每个人都很活跃。我们做到了我们想做的一切。”

马刺出场后几乎做到了鹰队想要他们做的一切。他们花费了太多时间站着观看鹰队做他们想做的事情。

点击查看原文：Spurs unable to wing it - High-flying Hawks cruise past S.A.

Spurs unable to wing it - High-flying Hawks cruise past S.A.

ATLANTA - Some will hear or read the final score and figure the Spurs didn’t have that bad a game Sunday afternoon at the Georgia Dome.

They’ll be wrong.

It goes in the books as a 108-96 Atlanta victory, but this was an- other outing in the realm of the disasters in Seattle and Salt Lake City.

“Embarrass ing losses like this are disap pointing to all of us who have been here awhile,” Spurs center David Robinson said.

The tone was set through the early minutes of the first quarter when the Hawks sys tematically picked apart the Spurs’ de fense. Atlanta scored on nine consecutive possessions and led 18-5.

The theme continued in long, killing spurts throughout the game.

The Spurs’ offense, finally hitting some open jumpers, closed to within seven early in the second quarter. The Hawks bunched together another string of scores and bumped the lead back up to 17.

Atlanta took San Antonio completely out of the game in the third period, putting together two runs that pushed the Spurs behind by 26 late in the quarter.

“Our defensive mentality and concentration has dissipated significantly since the first six games of the regular season,” Coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s very disturbing. This group just has to face it. It’s obvious to people we are not stopping anybody, and we have to cure it.”

Hawks center Dikembe Mutombo enjoyed it. Hitting those harpoon hooks, Mutombo scored 22 points.

Guard Steve Smith relished it. Smith had 15 points. Most pointedly, he mixed in eight assists, giving up his open shots with bullet passes to still another open teammate.

Former Spur Ty Corbin found himself the recipient of some of those passes - he had 14 points. Christian Laettner had 18 and Chucky Brown had 14 in the all- around Hawks scamper.

Popovich said he had overly complicated the defense before the Seattle and Utah games, but then had cleared out some of the complications and reduced it to its original form. It hasn’t helped.

On Sunday, the Spurs couldn’t keep up with the Hawks’ ball, watching it zip along into the hands of open shooters. Once there, the Spurs regularly failed to even shout at the shooters, let alone run at them.

When a Spur did get close to an open Hawk, he neglected even the simple measures of throwing up his hands or waving them in the shooter’s face.

The Hawks hit a season-high 57 percent of their shots through the entire game but were hitting 60 percent with 5:21 left in the fourth quarter - garbage time - and the score 102-80.

The 57 percent also was a season high for a Spurs opponent.

“I don’t know how we get back to where we were (on defense),” rookie forward Tim Duncan said. “We just have to keep playing, practicing. We have to get to where we can count on each other.”

Duncan scored 20 points, but 10 came in the final 4:27 of the game. But he did help irritate Hawks coach Lenny Wilkens enough to call two timeouts through the final four minutes.

Robinson picked at the same defensive bone.

“It’s just a loss of trust,” he said. "One guy will make a mistake, then another, then another and we lose the trust. They posted up Smith and we know the way we double down on him and rotate. But we didn’t accomplish it.

“If we make mistakes, we have to make them out of aggression. We can’t make them because we’re hesitant, because we let somebody shoot over us. I know that when I get the ball, other guys are coming at me. We have to have that at the other end, too.”

The Hawks were more than quite satisfied with the happenings.

“We came out ready,” Wilkens said. “Everybody was lively. We did exactly what we wanted to do.”

The Spurs came out and did almost exactly what the Hawks wanted them to do. They spent too much time standing and watching the Hawks do what they wanted.

By Glenn Rogers, via San Antonio Express-News