spurs with best start ever, expense of former spur terry p..

i figured porter would be a coach soon when he retired. i'm honestly
surprised the bucks are doing better this year. they used to be one of the
best midrange jumpshooting teams. not anymore.

good for the spurs though. after getting pushed (literaly) by the pistons
the night before, i was wondering if the road game would be too tough.
here's to the best start ever! spurs may be 15th in ppg, but they're 1st in
points allowed and diffential. nice.

dave

http://www.sportsline.com/nba/gamecenter/recap/NBA_20041204_SA@MIL


Duncan leads Spurs to best start in franchise history
Dec. 4, 2004
SportsLine.com wire reports
MILWAUKEE -- Even on tired legs, the San Antonio Spurs were too much for the
Milwaukee Bucks.

San Antonio cruised past the outmanned Bucks 104-83 Saturday night behind
Tim Duncan's 20 points, a balanced, productive offense and a stingy-as-usual
defense despite playing for the fourth time in five days and less than 24
hours after a hard-fought, last-second win over Detroit.

"Professionalism," coach Gregg Popovich said after his team improved to 15-3
for the best start in franchise history. "I'm a fortunate guy. I've got a
group of guys who are of the age that it's important to them every night.
They really do believe it's their job. And I don't have to convince them or
fire them up or do anything like that.

"So, it's a compliment to their character more than anything."

The Spurs shot 57 percent from the floor and got 13 points apiece from Tony
Parker, Beno Udrih and Devin Brown and 12 from Manu Ginobili in winning
their NBA-best seventh straight game.

The Spurs looked tired and slow at first, but still were more energetic and
quicker than the Bucks, who lost for the ninth time in 10 games despite the
return of Joe Smith (hip, groin) from a three-game absence.

"We were tired, definitely," Ginobili said. "We got here at 3 a.m. It's not
easy after a big effort like (Thursday night) against Detroit. After five or
six minutes that we started slow, things started going well. We started
making big shots. And our defense was very efficient."

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As usual.

Smith scored 10 points in 23 minutes, but the Bucks were without forward
Keith Van Horn, who hurt his right ankle in practice.

That's been the problem with the Bucks all season: they can't get healthy
enough to get any rhythm.

"It seems like we get one healthy, one goes down," Smith said.

Desmond Mason led Milwaukee with 18 points and Michael Redd had 15.

Shooting 67 percent, the Spurs took control in the second quarter and built
a 48-40 halftime lead on the strength of 12 points from Duncan and 10 from
Ginobili. It was still an eight-point game midway through the third quarter
when Udrih scored nine points during a 17-8 run the Spurs used to erase any
doubt.

San Antonio shot 74 percent in the third quarter to stretch the lead to
80-60, and the Bucks never got closer than 18 in the fourth quarter.

"I thought it was going to be a lot tougher game, but we found a way to kind
of pull it away," Duncan said.

The Bucks fell to 4-10 but are holding out hope that once healthy, they can
get better.

"Stay focused - you've got to," guard Mike James said. "This is our
profession. Ain't no point in giving up now. I've known teams that have
started worse than this and ended up in the playoffs."


Notes

The Spurs' halftime margin was attributable to a 10-2 advantage in
second-chance points.
The Spurs' previous best start through 18 games was 14-4 in 1999-00.
San Antonio took a 31-30 lead in the all-time series.
San Antonio is 7-0 when topping 100 points.
Milwaukee is 1-6 against the Western Conference.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

Copyright 2004, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved

San Antonio Spurs
STARTERS M FG FT TR A PF PTS
R. Nesterovic, C 30 2-4 0-0 7 1 4 4
T. Duncan, PF 29 9-16 2-2 7 4 1 20
T. Parker, PG 29 6-10 0-0 1 8 2 13
M. Ginobili, SG 28 4-8 3-3 1 3 1 12
B. Bowen, SF 23 3-6 0-0 2 3 1 7
BENCH M FG FT TR A PF PTS
D. Brown, SG 30 6-9 0-0 5 4 1 13
M. Rose, PF 19 4-4 1-2 5 1 3 9
B. Barry, SG 15 1-5 3-4 1 1 3 5
R. Horry, PF 14 0-1 4-4 1 1 1 4
B. Udrih, PG 13 6-9 1-1 1 1 1 13
M. Wilks, PG 6 2-3 0-0 0 1 0 4
T. Massenburg, C 4 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0
Totals 43-75 14-16 32 28 19 104
57.3% 87.5%
Complete Box Score


Milwaukee Bucks
STARTERS M FG FT TR A PF PTS
M. Redd, SG 36 7-18 1-2 3 2 2 15
D. Mason, SF 32 7-12 4-4 6 1 0 18
D. Gadzuric, C 27 0-2 4-6 7 1 5 4
J. Smith, PF 23 4-6 2-3 5 1 1 10
M. Williams, PG 22 1-6 0-0 0 5 2 2
BENCH M FG FT TR A PF PTS
M. James, PG 30 5-9 0-0 0 4 3 11
E. Strickland, PG 24 1-5 0-0 2 3 4 2
M. Fizer, SF 21 4-8 0-0 4 0 1 8
Z. Pachulia, PF 17 2-4 3-4 0 1 0 7
Z. Hamilton, C 8 1-2 4-5 2 0 2 6
K. Van Horn, PF Did Not Play
D. Santiago, C Did Not Play
Totals 32-72 18-24 29 18 20 83
44.4% 75.0%