From time to time, in my interviews or story research, I came across great notes or quotes that may not be relevant for the current article, but they’re also too good to be left on the cutting room floor. The leftover notes and quotes title is used as an homage to former Express-News sports editor Barry Robinson.
San Antonio Spurs’ Gary Neal on the differences between international basketball and the
NBA:
“Athleticism night in and night out. When you play in the NBA everybody’s more athletic all across the board from bigger point guards to bigger longer and more athletic centers. I think that’s the biggest adjustment a lot of guys who played in Europe have to deal with. If you asked Tiago the same thing he would probably say the athleticism because that’s not something you see night in and night out. You might see one player but you won’t see it on a consistent basis. It just takes time to adjust and get used to playing at that speed and that pace.”
Austin Toros and Spurs players on rookie James Anderson:
“He’s good, James is really good. He’s playing limited minutes but he’s still close to our leading scorer,” Toros rookie Lance Thomas said. “I love his game. The way he’s playing, he won’t be here too long but we still gotta compete. He’s competing out here for as many minutes as he’s playing and everyone’s gotta take that approach when they’re out on the floor.”
“James coming back is definitely going to help us. He’s a skilled scorer and in the NBA you know you need as many players as you can especially in situations where you play back to backs,” Gary Neal said. “We’ve been 4-4 on back-to-backs and maybe if James was there it would give us some more energy maybe he would’ve helped us with a spark and we would’ve won two of those games and been 6-2 instead of 4-4 so it’s definitely great to have more firepower so we embrace James and were happy he’s back.”
“It’s always great to have guys come down from the Spurs. He definitely adds to our team on both ends of the floor but his offense really stood out yesterday,” Toros forward Michael Joiner said. “He’s playing limited minutes so I can only imagine if he played the whole game with us what it would be like.”
New Jersey Nets guard Ben Uzoh on how his childhood favorite Spurs are doing this season:
“They’ve done a great job, they really have. They’ve been monitoring Tim’s minutes and he’s been real efficient with the minutes they’ve been giving him. Manu and Tony have been playing unbelievable and they got strong bench play. So everyone knows their roles and they do a good job playing together.”
Milestones:
The San Antonio Spurs extended their streak of consecutive seasons with a winning road record to 14, dating back to the 1997-98 season. It is two seasons longer than the previous record set by the Lakers.
The Spurs have one of the toughest remaining schedules over the next few weeks, as they prepare for the playoffs. Over the next 15 games, the Spurs will face 11 teams with .500-or-better records and 11 potential playoff teams.
Tim Duncan appeared in his 1,000th regular season game vs. Portland on December 12. Antonio McDyess joined Duncan in the millennium club last week against the Detroit Pistons.
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