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[SIZE=+2]Kings focus on stopping Spurs' big man
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[SIZE=-1]Web Posted: 05/05/2006 12:00 AM CDT
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[SIZE=-1]Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer[/SIZE]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Defending Tim Duncan is so difficult that the Sacramento Kings devoted most of Thursday's practice considering ways to do so.
With two off days between Tuesday's Game 5 loss at the AT&T Center and tonight's Game6, Kings coach Rick Adelman said he divided the practice sessions into two phases.
Phase A, addressed Wednesday, involved devising ways to stop Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, even Bruce Bowen, from penetrating.
Phase B?
"Tim is Phase B," Adelman said.
The Kings double-teamed Duncan in Games 1 and 2 of the best-of-7 series and got burned when he found open shooters. The Spurs made 11 3-pointers in a Game 1 victory; 12 when they won Game 2.
Double teams on Duncan were minimized in the next three games, and Duncan had a total of 70 points — 24 in the Game5 victory that earned a 3-2 series lead.
Nobody was tipping the Phase B plan after Thursday's practice, except to say the Kings understand they have to make it more difficult for Duncan to score.
"Obviously, there are not a lot of secrets," Adelman said. "We're going to have to mix things up on Tim: Try to make him work to get the ball; try to make him work one-on-one; come at him different ways. We went through all that stuff today. He was very aggressive and very effective last game, so we've got to find ways to make him work for everything and make sure there are people around him when he shoots the ball."
The Kings' best defender, Ron Artest, hinted that he would ask for a crack at being the doubler on Duncan, who has been guarded each of the first five games by power forward Kenny Thomas.
Thomas, who was on the bench for most of the fourth quarter of Game 5, bristled a bit at the suggestion he needed a lot of help on Duncan.
"I think I've done a pretty good job on him, I and Shareef," Thomas said, crediting reserve forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim. "We've just got to contain him. He's going to get his shots. He's going to get touches."
Abdur-Rahim is bigger than Thomas and more of an offensive threat, but he also struggled to keep Duncan from getting the ball in deep post position in Game 5.
"We're going to fight him," Abdur-Rahim said. "I don't think Coach (Adelman) wants us to broadcast what the plan is, but we're going to make it tough for him."
Their preparations and adjustments made, the Kings believe they are well positioned to win and send the series back to San Antonio for Game 7 on Sunday.
"We covered a lot of stuff we wanted to work on for tomorrow, and we're ready to go," Adelman said. "Now this is a must-win. We've been saying that all season, but now this really is a must-win. They're going to try to close this out, but we've got to win if we're going to stay around."
Link
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[SIZE=-1]Web Posted: 05/05/2006 12:00 AM CDT
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer[/SIZE]
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Defending Tim Duncan is so difficult that the Sacramento Kings devoted most of Thursday's practice considering ways to do so.
With two off days between Tuesday's Game 5 loss at the AT&T Center and tonight's Game6, Kings coach Rick Adelman said he divided the practice sessions into two phases.
Phase A, addressed Wednesday, involved devising ways to stop Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, even Bruce Bowen, from penetrating.
Phase B?
"Tim is Phase B," Adelman said.
The Kings double-teamed Duncan in Games 1 and 2 of the best-of-7 series and got burned when he found open shooters. The Spurs made 11 3-pointers in a Game 1 victory; 12 when they won Game 2.
Double teams on Duncan were minimized in the next three games, and Duncan had a total of 70 points — 24 in the Game5 victory that earned a 3-2 series lead.
Nobody was tipping the Phase B plan after Thursday's practice, except to say the Kings understand they have to make it more difficult for Duncan to score.
"Obviously, there are not a lot of secrets," Adelman said. "We're going to have to mix things up on Tim: Try to make him work to get the ball; try to make him work one-on-one; come at him different ways. We went through all that stuff today. He was very aggressive and very effective last game, so we've got to find ways to make him work for everything and make sure there are people around him when he shoots the ball."
The Kings' best defender, Ron Artest, hinted that he would ask for a crack at being the doubler on Duncan, who has been guarded each of the first five games by power forward Kenny Thomas.
Thomas, who was on the bench for most of the fourth quarter of Game 5, bristled a bit at the suggestion he needed a lot of help on Duncan.
"I think I've done a pretty good job on him, I and Shareef," Thomas said, crediting reserve forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim. "We've just got to contain him. He's going to get his shots. He's going to get touches."
Abdur-Rahim is bigger than Thomas and more of an offensive threat, but he also struggled to keep Duncan from getting the ball in deep post position in Game 5.
"We're going to fight him," Abdur-Rahim said. "I don't think Coach (Adelman) wants us to broadcast what the plan is, but we're going to make it tough for him."
Their preparations and adjustments made, the Kings believe they are well positioned to win and send the series back to San Antonio for Game 7 on Sunday.
"We covered a lot of stuff we wanted to work on for tomorrow, and we're ready to go," Adelman said. "Now this is a must-win. We've been saying that all season, but now this really is a must-win. They're going to try to close this out, but we've got to win if we're going to stay around."
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