We’ve heard Pop use the phrase “appropriate fear” before. Its about respecting your opponent and appreciating that, on any given day, their strengths and your weaknesses can conspire and lead to your team’s defeat.
Appropriate fear is what Tim Duncan and Chris Paul speak about in the latest NBA split screen commercial.
Last night I didn’t see an appropriately fearful Spurs team. Maybe it was because they played so well for the last four minutes of the first quarter and most of the second quarter. I watched the game with most of the SpursDynasty crew and a few, I won’t name names, were downright giddy when the Spurs went up 43-36 with just 1:49 left in the half on a reverse layup and-one free throw by Manu Ginobili. Not me, though, I was worried.
I recalled the second half of game one in New Orleans, what it felt like in the Hive to be wearing Spurs black in a sea of gold, with the constant chatter of Hornets fans in my ears as my Spurs were outscored 29-17 in an offensive and defensive blitzkrieg. Leading at halftime in New Orleans felt eerily familiar.
In each of the three games played in New Orleans, the Spurs have led at the half. And in each of those games, the Spurs have been run out of the building in the third quarter, outscored 17-29, 18-36 and, last night, 11-28 in what were all losing efforts.
What I saw last night was a Spurs team that was celebrating way too soon, that lacked the appropriate fear any team needs to win a seven-game series. David West was a holy terror, scoring seemingly at will, but that didn’t seem to bother the team. I feared that he would continue playing at a career-high level, and he did. I feared that Chris Paul was a sleeping giant, bound to wake up any minute, and he did. But the Spurs were up by three at the half, so why worry, right?
Pop isn’t talking fear anymore, he’s talking bottom line.
“The bottom line is that the better team wins in a seven-game series,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “I’ve always said that. So whoever wins the series it will be because they’re the better team.”
If the Spurs are to win tomorrow night, demonstrating that they are the better team, it will only be because they’ve found the appropriate fear and played accordingly in the third quarter.
