Tony Parker's Team

The statline read 38 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists in 33 minutes of game play. What it didn’t say, but seemed perfectly clear last night, is that the 2008-2009 San Antonio Spurs are Tony Parker’s team.

Forget all those cliches about winning as a team. Yes, there are five players on the court and 13 on the roster. But just as certain as we are that the Cavaliers are LeBron’s team and the Lakers are Kobe’s, so the Spurs are Tony’s team.


“Trust me.”
(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

We suspected as much back in November, when Parker scored a career-high 55 points against the Timberwolves. We knew almost for certain in March, when Parker dropped 42 against the Hawks, even with Manu Ginobili back in the lineup.

Parker said then:

“In San Antonio there are high expectations. Nobody cares if Manu is out for 30 games and Timmy is in and out. They want to see us in the top and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

After witnessing Parker’s stellar playing from the court that night, instead of the bench, Ginobili said that Parker, “managed the game from the opening tip to the last whistle.”

Parker managed the game last night, too, starting by scoring the first five points for the Spurs, a four-foot jumper And-1 against Antoine Wright, followed by a layup. By the end of the first quarter, Parker had scored 19 and the Spurs led by 11. With 5 minutes left in the fourth, Parker left the game to a standing ovation and the Spurs leading 95-73.

If Parker believes I shouldn’t care whether Manu is out or Timmy is playing well, then I trust him. All he cares about is winning, and I trust he’ll do whatever it takes to win. I trust that Tony Parker’s team will reclaim its home court advantage this Thursday in Dallas.

(Editor’s notes: It looks like AP writer Jaime Aron stole some of my notes (“Parker’s evolution becoming obvious for Spurs”)).

2 Comments

  1. secretchord53

    I agree completely. I touched on it a bit in my post. Having watched Tony his whole career, it’s really rewarding to watch the great player he has truly become. He orchestrates our offense with a maestro’s touch, and he has truly earned his place among the Big 3.

  2. JT

    He’s playing his best basketball yet, which is pretty amazing when you think about it.

    Great post.