Speeding things up is Spurs’ goal for Game 2
San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich strolled into his media session Thursday and when a cameraman shined a light a tad too bright, he recoiled and shielded his eyes.
He was momentarily blinded and asked the cameraman to dim them. The cameraman obliged.
For a moment, Popovich was kind of like his Spurs during the second half of Wednesday’s Game 1 in the Western Conference finals.
Only the Lakers never turned off the lights once they started making a 20-point Spurs’ margin disappear.
“We were too slow down the stretch,” guard Manu Ginobili said.
“We did things great for a good part of the game and then kind of stopped and [watched] them play better and better. That’s the part that hurts. We would all love to have that opportunity again -- to be up 20 with 15 minutes to go.”
To that end, the Spurs said they would look to speed things up in tonight’s Game 2 at Staples Center, while looking to get point guard Tony Parker freed out of traps.
The Spurs did not practice Thursday, instead opting to watch film and rest some aching bodies. And to find a quick prescription for insomnia.
“We have to forget it,” Parker said. “If not, there’s nothing that’s going to help us for Game 2.”
Tim Duncan, who had 30 points and 18 rebounds in Game 1, said his team made a lot of mistakes, but they were all fixable.
“The goal is to get to four games and that’s the only goal,” he said. “However it gets done.”
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Ginobili says he’s still hurting. And he’s still refusing to make excuses for his Game 1 performance.
He tweaked a jammed left ankle in the first quarter on Wednesday and struggled throughout before ending with 10 points.
“You always want to play,” Ginobili said. “In such a big game, even if you are not doing good, you think you are going to change things. I still felt like I could help the team and do things, but I didn’t play good. That’s the bottom line.”
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It just wasn’t Popovich’s night Wednesday, even when the coach returned to his team’s hotel.
Popovich ordered some wines he likes and they weren’t available.
“That was worse than having to sit on the airplane [with mechanical problems Monday night], let me tell you. We had wine on the airplane,” Popovich said.
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