Fourteen Port
2019 NBA West First Round, Game 3
Ticket to Ride - When Number Two sat down in an undisclosed private dining room this past summer with Popo, the best weapon in the organization told his general that he wanted out. He confessed, "This isn't the life I want anymore. I've got my family to think about." Popo tried to talk him out of it but there was no changing Number Two's mind. The silent assassin looked his teacher squarely in the right shoulder and timidly mumbled, I'm grateful for all of the time you invested in developing my talent, but in the end, man, I just want to go home. I'm paraphrasing, of course. Number Two has never said that many words in one day, much less in one conversation. With a poker face that would make Doyle Brunson blush, Popo stared directly into Number Two's eyes and pierced them so deep, it was as if he had launched into a flawless cliff dive into Number Two's soul. After pausing long enough to have taken a bath in his soldiers's deepest insecurities, Popo chuckled softly to lighten the mood and then chased his silence-breaker with a warm smile. He asked his pupil, "Do you like the wine?" Number Two answered, "Honestly, Popo, I couldn't care less about the wine. I just want to go home. Will you please just send me home to California?" Popo, still smiling warmly, looked down at his wine glass as if it had just asked him a more urgent question than the man sitting across the table from him. He picked up the glass, sniffed it longingly and then swirled the blood red liquid with the precision of a sommelier. With his smile still intact, Popo glanced back up at Number Two and then abruptly returned his attention to his glass, taking it to his lips and slowly drinking it dry. After returning his glass to the table, the aging general leaped up out of his seat with the exuberance of a man half his age. Popo walked across the table, patted his soldier reassuringly on the shoulder, leaned down to his ear and answered, "I'll see what I can do. Let me get back to you in a few weeks." With that, he was walking for the exit. Before reaching out to open the door to leave, Popo paused, turned, looked at Number Two, and gave the now disgruntled student whom he'd once loved like a son one final order. "Pay the check."
Outside the restaurant, Popo's second-in-command Robert Canterbury was waiting in an unmarked black sedan. Popo jumped in the passenger seat and said, "Hey, Robby. Let's go." Unable to hide his anticipation, Robert Canterbury nervously asked, "Well, what happened?" Popo replied, "He wants us to send him to California." His face sinking, Robert Canterbury nervously said, "So it's as bad as we had feared. This is a major setback. It's going to take years to develop another solider to replace what we're losing from Number Two. So do you want me to contact the organizations in Los Angeles?" Ignoring the question, Popo instead instructed his subordinate, "I want you to get Number Five on the phone. I want to start working on training him as Number Two's replacement tomorrow." Robert Canterbury replied, "Done. I'll let him know as soon as we get to the airport." Popo continued, "It's not going to take years to replace Number Two. I'll have Number Five ready by next April. And to answer your earlier question, we're not sending Number Two to Los Angeles. He wants to go home? Not on my watch. We're sending him as far away as possible. Make a call to the organization in Canada. We're sending him to Toronto."
Five months later, it seemed like everything was progressing perfectly in Number Five's development. He had worked night and day all summer on the covert operation to replace Number Two as Popo's greatest combination of offensive and defensive weapon. The skill set he was unleashing during his rigorous training exercises had everyone in the organization buzzing and the other asset Popo had deported out of the country in August was quickly becoming a distant memory. Then, out of nowhere, disaster struck. On October 7th, during a simulation drill, Number Five was severely injured. The following day, it was determined that the weapon Popo had invested the entire summer in (to replace what had been lost when Number Two absconded his position) would be unable to participate in the entire upcoming campaign while rehabbing a torn ACL. Everyone inside and outside the organization assumed all was lost. The organization would need a year to regroup and the immediate campaign it was preparing for was a lost cause that would surely end in brutal defeat.
Everyone, except Popo. The day of Number Five's injury, the old pedagogue spent the morning in his office alone, reflecting on it in silence; not to bemoan the problem but rather to construct its solution. After a few hours alone with his thoughts, Popo abruptly stood up, left his office, and started walking over to the organization's training facility. As he expected, the person he was going to speak to was in the weight room, diligently preparing for the upcoming campaign. When the soldier stood up from the weight bench after noticing that his general had entered the room, Popo walked up and greeted him with a fatherly embrace, putting his arm over his pupil's shoulder. Popo asked, "How are you?" He was answered with a nod that revealed the soldier's concern for his wounded brother. Popo continued, "Look, the news is as bad as we'd feared. Number Five is out indefinitely." Popo removed his arm from his pupil's shoulder as the younger man raised his hands to cover his face in disbelief. Trying to quickly move past his pupil's display of emotion, Popo said, "There's no time for that. What's happened is in the past and we still have a mission to complete. I want you to take his place. We are going to put you through Number Five's training regimen, only, you're going to have to go through it while also leading our platoon out in the field every other night because summer is over and the campaign begins in two weeks. Learning on the job while simultaneously performing Number Five's training regimen is going to be brutal. It's going to damn near break you. But if you're willing to accept the challenge and unequivocally commit to everything I'm going to ask you to do, I give you my word that I will have you ready to do everything we were planning to ask of Number Five by next April." Skeptical, the soldier protested, "That's impossible, Popo. Number Five has been working towards this assignment for two years already. I mean, it took Number Two four years of training before he was ready to take on that responsibility." Popo shot him a determined glare and countered, "Well we don't have four years, son, we have six months. Look, I know I'm asking you for a huge commitment but the reason I'm asking is because I know you're capable of rising to the challenge. I see something in you. Same as Number Five. More than Number Two. Why don't you sleep on it and if you're willing to accept the challenge, meet me here tomorrow morning at 4:00 am and we'll begin your preparation. And soldier, don't show up tomorrow unless you believe in yourself as much as I believe in you and unless you're ready to work." With that, Popo turned and walked out of the training facility in search of a nice afternoon glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. The next morning, Popo arrived at the organization's training facility at 3:30 am expecting to have a half an hour to prepare for the arduous road ahead. To his amusement but not to his surprise, his pupil was already in the weight room working out. The soldier turned to greet his general and said, "Hey, Popo. I do believe in myself and I will do every last thing you ask of me every single day for the next six months to be ready for April or I will break my back trying." Nodding in approval, Popo pulled his whistle out of his pocket and responded, "Okay. Let's get started, Number Four."
* * *
Last night, the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Denver Nuggets 118-108 in front of a raucous, Fiesta-immersed crowd at the AT&T Center to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven first round matchup. Do I even need to announce who was the player of the game? If you're reading this post and you don't already know, that would mean you know nothing about the Spurs or the results of last night's contest and are just reading this because you enjoy the brilliance of my writing. On second thought, my writing is kinda brilliant so there's a decent chance you are reading this despite not having any knowledge of Game 3. As I was saying, the player of the game was Derrick White. Number Four was flat-out sensational. So much so that last night, he was the best player on the court. Our second-year point guard lit up the Alamo City with a career-high 36 points on 15-21 shooting. Most of those shot attempts were at the rim as Derrick got wherever he wanted on the court facilitating a masterpiece offensive performance that also included five assists and only one turnover. Derrick was equally dominant on the defensive end, grabbing five rebounds, collecting three steals and adding a block for good measure. The most impressive indication of his defensive impact was his performance as the primary defender on Denver's second leading scorer and Game 2 hero, Jamal Murray. Murray finished with an underwhelming six points on 2-6 shooting.
After Derrick obliterated the Nuggets for 26 points in the first half, Denver made the adjustment of putting Gary Harris (their best perimeter defender) on him in the third quarter. The focus on slowing down White allowed DeMar DeRozan to go nuts in the period, enjoying the freedom to unleash his offensive arsenal against single-coverage from lesser Denver defenders than Harris. DeMar had 19 of his 25 points during the third frame and finished the game shooting an efficient 9-18 from the field and 7-8 from the line. Back to Derrick, I'm still in awe of what he did last night after having nearly 24 hours to process it. His development this season has been astonishing and last night he put everyone in league and casual basketball fans around the globe on notice: another two-way star has arrived in San Antonio.
Given everything that has transpired in the last twelve months, from Kawhi Leonard's abandonment of his teammates and inexplicable trade demand, to also losing our next best perimeter defender Danny Green in the trade with Toronto, to losing our next best perimeter defender and best prospect to replace Leonard's two-way abilities on the court Dejounte Murray to a season-ending injury in October, I'm equally in awe of Coach Pop. Everyone in the basketball-viewing world believed the Kawhi Leonard trade was utterly devastating for the Spurs. Everyone, except Gregg Popovich. That's the magic of being the greatest coach in the history of the game of basketball. It's not devastating to lose a disgruntled superstar when you're the one who turned that raw, athletic wing-defending prospect without a jump shot into Kawhi Leonard. While everyone else was bemoaning the loss of a player of Leonard's caliber, Coach Pop was focused on developing another one in Dejounte Murray. While everyone else was bemoaning the bad luck of Dejounte's preseason injury and the loss of a player of Murray's caliber for a year, Coach Pop simply started over again in with Derrick White. Through three games, Derrick White has been the best player in the series and maybe the best two-way player in the 2019 NBA Playoffs thus far. He plays with a poise beyond his years and is doing things Leonard could have only dreamed about during his second season with the Spurs. Derrick White is becoming an NBA superstar before our very eyes and it only took Coach Pop six months to orchestrate a solution for the giant two-way hole in our lineup that was created when he was forced to ship a disgruntled superstar (one who would likely not be an NBA superstar at all but rather playing in China right now had the Spurs not decided to give him the golden ticket of seven years of Pop's coaching when we traded beloved Spur George Hill for his draft rights). And guess what Spurs fans? The silver lining in Dejounte's injury is that with Derrick's development, next season we will have two budding two-way superstars in our backcourt in Murray and White. The silver lining in Leonard's trade is DeMar DeRozan will be lining up alongside them. The future is bright and as long as Coach Pop is roaming the sidelines, a bright future is eternal.
For now, however, we can't look ahead. The Denver Nuggets are coming back tomorrow afternoon for another crack at pooping the Fiesta-Coming-Out party Derrick White started yesterday at the AT&T Center. The Nuggets will be angry and desperate tomorrow. If we let up, even a smidge, they are going to be ready to capitalize on the opportunity to even this series up before returning home to Denver. Jamal Murray in particular has accepted the challenge to answer Derrick's answer to his Game 2 fourth quarter heroics and will be poised to repeat them in our building if given the opportunity. Something tells me Derrick is going to be ready for Murray's answer to his answer. If the #BlackAndSilver come out prepared to protect the home court advantage we worked so hard to secure in Game 1 and follow the lead of our starting point guard and our newest budding NBA superstar, we will make tomorrow Derrick White's curtain call for the Fiesta-Coming-Out party he threw yesterday. Derrick said in his first-ever trip to the postgame press conference last night, "I'm just trying to stay in the moment." I have full confidence he can and if he does, I like our chances to continue the job of defending our home court as if it were the Alamo. After all, the moment Derrick is trying to stay in is ascending to NBA superstardom and the best way to stay in it is for him to take the court tomorrow night and ask himself one simple question: "Who Gon Stop Me?"
Featured Image Source: The Spectrum
Headline Image Source: StatMuse
Fifteen Port
2019 NBA West First Round, Game 1
Eternal - Oh how I love this time of year. I love the way a perpetual immersive tension is perfectly counterbalanced by an efficacious radiating exhilaration so that my resulting disposition is a delicious zen, a refreshing calm. I love the way my artistic senses are heightened, permeating my creativity like rich, dark ink saturating my quill. This time of year, melodies dance with prose through my mind in rebellious defiance of their forbidden love. They waltz with precision through my memories and leave me salivating for new ones. I love the way the air tastes better, as does the beer. This time of year, I'm more present in every breath, more thoroughly quenched by every sip. I love the way the blues and yellows and reds and greens of ordinary day-to-day concerns fade into the background as the blacks and silvers of one larger purpose move acutely into focus, front and center, all-consuming. This time of year, there's only one thing that is multiple things that are many things which is everything. One mission. Four series. Sixteen wins. One title. Have you heard the good news? The playoffs are here. All things former have come to pass and we begin anew in the steadfast faith that anything, everything, all things are possible. Indeed, the delicious, refreshing, permeating, saturating, all-consuming playoffs are here. Oh how I love this time of year.
For those of you who have the privilege of living in the meritorious Alamo City, let me begin by wishing you and yours a happy and intoxicating Fiesta 2019! May all of your oysters be baked and all of your Niosas be dressed in salt of the earth laughter and fellowship. I wish I could be there right now to celebrate with you. Perhaps next year? I'm going to make a mental note to make getting back to San Antonio for Fiesta next year a priority. Fiesta 2020 has a nice ring to it, don't you think? I need to be a part of it. It's been too long. Especially to be missing out on the greatest party on Earth on nights like Saturday night. How exhilarating was that? Seven months of hard work and consistent effort devoted to climbing the mountain up to home court advantage and the West's second seed only to have it stolen in the blink of an eye. Derrick Freaking White.
In a thrilling feeling-each-other-out slugfest, the San Antonio Spurs stole home court advantage away from the team with the NBA's best regular season home record (34-7) on Saturday night, defeating the Denver Nuggets 101-96 at the Pepsi Center here in my hometown of Denver. A couple of housekeeping notes: 1) Yes, we're thrilled that, in the fifth year of playoffs after Jenn and I made our move from San Antonio to Denver, the dream of the Spurs playing the Nuggets in the playoffs (providing us with the opportunity to attend a Spurs road playoff game) has been realized. 2) No, we didn't attend Game 1 and no, we will not be attending Game 2. If Game 5 becomes necessary, we are planning to purchase tickets to attend Game 5. With that out of the way, the Game 1 victory was huge. It was a massive accomplishment to walk out of the NBA arena in which visiting teams have had the least amount of success this season with the road win that is necessary in order to advance. While I recognize that this was a huge push forward (and I'm ecstatic about it) we are still an entire ocean's voyage away from winning this series. Look, this was the first playoff game for most of Denver's rotation players and it clearly showed. No knock on their preparation, it's to be expected that a team led by a group of players experiencing their first playoff game ever are going to underperform. It was widely believed heading into the playoffs that Denver might be vulnerable in Game 1 because of their collective lack of experience. That being the case, and with the Spurs consistently holding a slim lead for most of the first three quarters, it became glaringly clear by early in the fourth that this was a must-win for the Spurs. We could not afford to squander away the opportunity to steal a road win against a team whose stars had no playoff experience because tomorrow night, that team ceases to exist. Tomorrow, this talented group of lethal offensive weapons will suit up with playoff experience and you better believe the next chance Nikola Jokić has to start serving up his shooters with open looks, his teammates will start knocking down some shots. It only gets harder from here. So, yes, given the opportunity that was presented to us on Saturday night, it was critical that we were able to secure a victory in what was more-than-likely our best opportunity to steal a game in the toughest road arena in the NBA. It was the push forward we absolutely needed but series are never won in Game 1. We are still an entire ocean's voyage away from advancing to the next round. We need to get mentally prepared for a more confident Denver Nuggets team for the rest of the series and we need to play much, much better starting tomorrow.
I want to single out DeMar DeRozan's performance in his first playoff game as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. While DeMar didn't have a great shooting game (6-17 from the field), he played an excellent all-around game pouring in a team high 18 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, and one block. After taking the court in the 2018 playoffs undermanned, it was really refreshing to have such dynamic, unselfish star suiting up in the spot that was abandoned last season by a player who quit. While Double D was deserving, the player of the game was Derrick White. It's safe to say the Denver-native was comfortable at home. It's also safe to say, Number 4 has arrived. Derrick was sensational, filling the stat sheet with 16 points, five assists, three rebounds, and one victory-clenching steal.
Congratulations to Coach Pop on becoming the National Basketball Association's all-time winningest coach (regular season and playoffs combined). The Game 1 victory was Pop's 1413th of his career and moved him past the 1412 combined regular season and playoff wins of former SuperSonics, Trail Blazers, Cavaliers, Hawks, Raptors, and Knicks coach Lenny Wilkens. This is a tremendous accomplishment, one that every Spurs fan should be proud of and celebrate. Much like the tide, #BlackAndSilver is eternal. The biggest reason why is our coach. As Gregg Popovich enters immortality in the record-books, there is unquestionably nothing further from his mind than his own accolades. It's almost self-evident. He entered immortality in the record books not by seeking it but rather by focusing squarely on what is in front of him and then bulldozing it down. Yes, we are eternal and yes, the biggest reason why is our coach. He's also the biggest reason why we will take the floor at the Pepsi Center tomorrow with the focus, the appropriate fear, and the fire to give ourselves a chance to win Game 2.
Featured Image Source: Cee So Dope
Headline Image Source: Pounding The Rock