The Spurs

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

    I held off doing a Dallas preview just in case it was jinxing the
team, but since we lost anyway I guess it won't hurt to go back to doing
this again or Alex Wang can take over or we can rotate if he's up for
it. Still miss Bill Cooper's game reports, but I appreciate Kevin's
comments on last night and hope others do that as well.

     San Antonio (35-18) is coming off a loss on Wednesday to the
Kobe-less Lakers, and they'll be even more focused on getting back in
the win column at home tonight. Old Boston friends, Rick Fox (17 points
9 boards and 5 assists) and Brian Shaw (11 points 5 rebounds and 6
assists) stepped up in place of Kobe.

    Tim Duncan is still shooting an inexplicable .568 on free throws
this year. Along with "Hack a shack", it's "Rim a Tim".  Derek Anderson
was one of the best offseason steals this year (14.8 ppg 4.2 rpg 3.7
apg). He's probably as valuable a two-way player for the Spurs as All
Star Latrell Sprewell is to New York. That's one guy I wish Pitino could
have talked into coming to Boston.

    The Twin Towers combine for 20.5 boards and 4.7 swats this season.
Comeback kid Sean Elliot is averaging 10.1 points and 4.0 boards, but
he's injured right now. So is Malik Rose (injured list), a 6-7 guy who
is a plus rebounder (6.7) but wild shooter (just .417 to get his 9
points per game). Former lottery pick Samaki Walker gets minutes in
their place.

    Pointguard Antonio Daniels (picked in between Chauncey and Battie in
the 1997 draft), has gone from major bust to a capable starter ahead of
Avery Johnson, another key player on the injured list. He's shooting
.472 (second on the team behind Duncan) and averaging 10.4 points and a
team-high 4.7 assists. He has pretty good hops and decent size 6-4.

    The Spurs have a wily old roster that is still very productive.
Terry Porter, Avery Johnson, Steve Kerr and Danny Ferry chip in a
combined 21 points and 8.6 assists per game. The ageless Terry Porter is
listed as a starter in a three guard type offense (with Derek Anderson
and Antonio Daniels).

    I wonder if Wallace even tried to move Kenny's contract. I get the
impression Pond and Gaston are running the entire show. If that's the
case, then Wallace should just resign now. The way to have moved Kenny
would have been to offer cash to pay part of his salary for a year.
That's what Portland did in order to dump Kenny on us. But there is no
way on earth that Gaston would go for that.

    We need a miracle performance to bag our tenth road win and seventh
under Obie. Just keep the Spurs close until halfway through the fourth
and then try all out to win this thing, knowing we'll have all the time
in the world until Monday to rest and/or bum out about the result. I'm
really sick with what's happening right now. It's painful. Boston will
need more than a 15-minute governor's review before this week's Texas
triple-execution goes ahead as scheduled.  In case you haven't noticed
it, our next three games after this one are home versus a revenge-minded
Seattle, away at the Knicks, and then a b2b against Utah. A potential
seven-game losing streak is simply unacceptable. We have a ridiculous
schedule the rest of the way. It would be almost comical if it weren't
so depressing. The Celts dug themselves a really deep hole in the first
half (the 12-24 start). Can't quit now, we're still in the thick of
things. Celtics Pride.

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