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Spurred on Game 1 loss brings defending champions to reality
Posted: Tuesday April 25, 2000 10:14 AM
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Avery Johnson wants the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs to be down on themselves tonight. It might help them win Game 2 against the Phoenix Suns. "We are a team, historically, that when we don't feel good about ourselves, we tend to play better," the Spurs starting guard said. "But when we feel good about ourselves and believe we're the favorites and we are invincible, we tend not to play as good." The Spurs felt good Saturday, and they proved Johnson's theory by losing Game 1 72-70 without injured Tim Duncan, their leading scorer, while the Suns prospered without their star, guard Jason Kidd. "I think what has happened was for us to have to win all those games to get the homecourt and then believe too much about how the media has said we are the Goliath and Phoenix, they are the David," Johnson said. "We got sucked up into that and we just didn't have a good effort. They deserved to win Game 1." The Spurs shot poorly, especially at the free-throw line (12-for-21) and they missed Duncan's inside presence, allowing the Suns to double-team David Robinson. Suns guard Kevin Johnson, reviving his career after it seemingly ended two seasons ago, would be satisfied with another game like Saturday's, but he doubts it will happen. "We'd be better served if there is a resemblance between Game 1 and Game 2, but I think they'll come out and be aggressive and try to move the ball," Kevin Johnson said. "Their intensity level will be higher and they'll remind themselves 'we are the world champions and we've got to go out and take this ball game.'" The Spurs already are in a hole after losing the first game at home. If they fall behind 2-0, they would have a bigger hill to climb. Only 12 teams have survived an 0-2 start to win a best-of-five playoff series. "In the playoffs, you have to be the kind of team that you improve with each round," Kevin Johnson said. "We haven't left our best basketball on the court in Game 1. It was good enough to win Game 1, but to win Game 2 you have to play better." The Suns are hoping hat Kevin Johnson, who signed March 25 after Kidd suffered a broken left ankle, will give them good minutes until Kidd is ready to play. Samaki Walker, with only one playoff game in his career, will try to fill the gap left by Duncan's loss to a torn cartilage in his left knee. His first job is to control his nerves. "You walk out there see the NBA logo, and you know this for real," Walker said. "You hear guys talk about it the whole season. But until you experience it, it's something totally different. "It's overwhelming. You have to come out and calm yourself down. Some games, you come out and try to work yourself up to get the energy. But in the playoffs, the energy is there." Suns guard Penny Hardaway said that losing Duncan has forced the Spurs to change. "All the plays they're running for Samaki and Malik Rose are the plays that Tim would get," Hardaway said. "They can't score like him. They are hustle players and they play hard, but his (Duncan's) lack of presence is very noticeable." The Suns miss Kidd, too. And they are trying to squeeze another postseason out of Johnson, who's been in 97 playoff games. Johnson played 25 important, calming minutes for the Suns in Game 1. "My last NBA game was here," Johnson said. "We get put out of the playoffs in the first round and I leave the arena on the bus feeling like the end of my career. Like the Alamo, they got me. "Two years later, I'm coming back to the same place to continue my career right where I left off, basically against the same ballclub. It would be great to get out of this first round somehow, but it's very pleasing to be returning to San Antonio."
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