Notebook

Spurs one swat from record books

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Tim Duncan and David Robinson controlled the paint, allowing the San Antonio Spurs to take early control of the NBA Finals.

Led by their tandem of 7-footers, the Spurs fell just short of a finals record with 12 blocked shots in their 101-89 victory over the New Jersey Nets in Game 1 on Wednesday night.

Duncan finished with seven blocks, including three in the first quarter and three more in the fourth. The finals record for blocks in a game by one player is eight -- and it's been done four times, most recently by the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal in Game 2 of the finals June 8, 2001.

The Spurs' 12 blocks were one short of the NBA Finals record that's been reached six times, most recently by the Lakers against Philadelphia in Game 2 of the 2001 series.

Robinson blocked four shots, and 5-foot-11 point guard Speedy Claxton had the Spurs' other block.

Doc and Ice

Using a red, white and blue ball, Hall of Famers George Gervin and Julius Erving participated in a ceremonial tip-off before Game 1. It's the first finals between two former teams from the rambunctious circuit that helped redefine basketball.

Gervin was the San Antonio Spurs' beloved "Iceman," while Erving won three Most Valuable Player awards with the New York Nets. They met as teammates on the ABA's Virginia Squires, and they developed a long-standing rivalry that blossomed into a friendship.

"Although the NBA is the greatest league in the world," Erving said, "the ABA flavor exists, and we really appreciate the opportunity to talk about it."

Gervin and Erving began their Hall of Fame careers with the Squires -- though Erving didn't quite know what to make of Gervin when the rookie guard joined the team midway through the 1972-73 season.

"I've seen a lot of long, skinny guys -- but George came in about 6-(foot)-7 and a half, and 155, 160 (pounds)," Erving recalled. "Ice palmed the ball fairly easily, but he was so thin and so wiry, the ball looked huge in his hand, but he had the ability to just move with it like he was going down the court with a yo-yo."

As a rookie still adjusting to the professional life, Gervin remembers other aspects of that season.

"Doc wouldn't let me go home after practice," Gervin said. "He made me play him one-on-one all the time. So credit Doc, it really made me a better ballplayer. Doc was like my mentor coming in, so I've got a lot of props for him, and a lot of respect."

San Antonio and the Nets last met in a playoff series in 1976, with Erving's Nets beating Gervin's Spurs in seven games.

As both players recalled, the series included a bench-clearing brawl in Game 4. As the story goes, New York's Rich Jones -- a former Spurs captain who was among several players on both teams who had been traded for one another in previous seasons -- bloodied four different Spurs before order was restored. Fourteen players were fined a total of $2,200 for the fight.

"We always played each other hard," Gervin said. "(Erving) was my (former) teammate, so I wanted to beat him, and he wanted to beat me, so it was always a competitive game."

"The guys knew one another so well, which made it a shoo-in for being a long series and a hard-fought series," Erving said. "You can't be great unless you're playing against somebody great to bring it out of you."

Erving didn't go with the Nets to the NBA. He spent just three seasons with the Nets, who sold him to the Philadelphia 76ers as part of a contract dispute when the NBA absorbed four ABA teams in 1976. Still, his No. 32 was retired by the franchise.

Gervin still is a hero in San Antonio, where his number also hangs from the rafters at the new SBC Center.

"To be back here playing against an old rival," Gervin said, "that really makes it even more special."

Different Nets

"Last year, first game, (they were) just looking like, 'This is unbelievable,' like they were just happy to be here," Scott said Wednesday night. "I don't see that this year. I see a group of confident young men. We have a great opportunity to win a championship, and that's how we're looking at it."

The Nets fell behind by 23 early in Game 1 of last season's finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. New Jersey got blown out by 23 in Game 2, then blew a fourth-quarter lead in Game 3 before the Lakers completed the sweep.

Balls in play

Some wondered whether the league might permit the Spurs and Nets to play Game 1 with a tri-colored ball, in keeping with the retro trend and in honor of the first NBA Finals between two former ABA teams.

"I think they ought to go with the tradition," Gervin said. "The NBA Finals is too important to throw up a gimmick basketball. I think it should be played like it's always been played with that NBA ball."

The rating game

Compared to the last postseason, which was carried largely by NBC, viewership is down sharply. That's partly a result of more games being shown on cable, where money from subscriber fees minimize the harm of lower ratings.

Still, USA Today reported that the disappointing ratings forced ABC and ESPN to give compensatory ads to their clients during the playoffs.

On its own network, NBA TV, the league debuted an hour-long pregame show from San Antonio before Game 1. Ahmad Rashad and Kurt Rambis were joined by Gervin, Erving and players from both teams -- as well as Joumana Kidd, the wife of Nets point guard Jason Kidd.

 

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