Battle for TP’s chief back-up

SAN ANTONIO – While guard Tony Parker sat on the bench in civvies, the hometown Spurs tested Cory Joseph and Patty Mills at the point in a preseason game at the AT&T Center here Tuesday night (yesterday morning, Manila time) with coach Gregg Popovich juggling his rotation to prepare for the season opener against Memphis on Oct. 30.

Parker, Joseph and Mills are among 10 foreign players in the Spurs lineup. San Antonio has the most foreign players in the league. Parker is from France as are teammates Boris Diaw and Nando de Colo. Joseph is Canadian while Mills and teammate Aron Baynes are Australians. Other foreigners are Tim Duncan of the Virgin Islands, Tiago Splitter of Brazil, Manu Ginobili of Argentina and Marco Belinelli of Italy. Popovich’s father is Serbian and mother is Croatian. Two assistant coaches are foreigners – Sean Marks of New Zealand and Ime Udoka of Nigeria.

A team source said Popovich has enlisted a slew of foreigners because the Spurs haven’t had a lottery pick in over 10 years. Besides, Popovich likes the international style of play which is team-oriented with a lot of motion and passing unlike the typical American game where players try to overpower defenders with one-on-one moves. Last season, the Spurs led the league in average assists with 25.1 feeds a game. San Antonio’s record was 14-1 in games where the Spurs compiled at least 30 assists. Overall, the team’s record was 58-24 and the Spurs went all the way to the NBA Finals where they lost to Miami in seven.

Joseph started for the Spurs against the Orlando Magic in Parker’s place. He looked shaky in the early going and was scoreless when Mills checked in with San Antonio on top, 21-19, midway the first quarter. The period ended with the Spurs ahead, 33-23, and Mills contributing a triple. Mills opened the second quarter with back-to-back baskets as San Antonio pulled away. The Spurs led, 71-46, at the half. Mills had seven points in 6:37 and Joseph, two with four turnovers in 17:23. San Antonio went on to win, 123-101, as Mills hit 22 points, including 4-of-7 triples, in 23:07 and Joseph had four points in 25:17.

Mills, the London Olympics leading scorer with a 21.1 clip, also chalked up three rebounds, two assists, five steals and two blocked shots. Late in the game, Popovich deployed Joseph and Mills together in a speed combination to complement Diaw, de Colo and Belinelli. Mills tallied seven of the Spurs’ last 12 points. From all indications, Mills outplayed Joseph and appeared to be a better choice as Parker’s main reliever.

San Antonio erected its biggest lead, 95-62, in the third quarter on five straight points by Belinelli. Duncan and Ginobili didn’t bother to play in the last period, allowing reserves to earn their keep. Only Belinelli and Jeff Ayres (formerly Pendergraph) are the Spurs’ new hires this season as Popovich is returning 12 veterans. One slot remains vacant as the NBA allows a team to maintain a 15-man roster with any 13 to play at any given game.

 Popovich used every player in his cast except Parker. Diaw was the only scoreless Spur as even Baynes netted two points. Six players wound up in double figure points – Mills with 22, Kawhi Leonard 19, Belinelli 16, Danny Green 14, Ginobili 12 and Duncan 10.

Duncan, 37, unravelled a new facet of his play as he dished out seven assists. He took only eight shots from the field compared to 15 apiece by Leonard and Mills. Duncan moved gingerly around the court, his left knee braced. He seemed slow and may not be 100 percent. Duncan took only eight shots – four teammates had more attempts.

Popovich’s passing emphasis resulted in 28 assists leading to a .534 field goal marksmanship. The Spurs were aggressive in attacking the basket and went 18-of-22 from the line compared to Orlando’s 8-of-9. Even as there was a heavy concentration of close-in baskets, San Antonio shot 11-of-26 threes in an inside-outside assault that left the Magic in a shambles.

For Orlando, the bright spot was rookie 6-4 guard Victor Oladipo of Indiana University. Oladipo, 21, was the second overall pick in this year’s draft. His father Christopher is from Sierra Leone and holds a doctorate in behavioral science while his mother Joan is a nurse from Nigeria. Oladipo played three years with the Hoosiers before joining the draft. Against the Spurs, he exploded for 22 points in 36:29, playing point guard alongside Arron Afflalo. Orlando coach Jacque Vaughn didn’t suit up stars Jameer Nelson and Nikola Vucevic, giving Oladipo the green light to puncture the hoops or at least try.

Orlando was hardly magical as the team was totally outplayed by San Antonio. Vaughn has a lot of work to do in transforming the Magic into a contender. The way Orlando played, it doesn’t look like the Magic will go over .500 this season. It’s hard to imagine that Orlando once advanced to the NBA Finals with Shaquille O’Neal. This franchise also had stars like Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway and Dwight Howard. Today, it’s just a shell of what it was before. Orlando lost 62 games last season and there is no positive sign of a turnaround in the near future.

La Salle head coach Juno Sauler and assistants Allan Caidic and Jun Limpot were Chip Engelland’s special guests at the game. Spurs owner Peter Holt gave up his floor seats for the visitors who were given VIP access to dine at the Courtside Club (a by-invitation only lounge for first and second row ticket-holders) and enjoy the amenities at the Black and Silver Club (reserved for the Spurs owners and their guests). Both Clubs are situated on the ground level of the AT&T Center.

Caidic met former Spurs center and minority owner David Robinson at the Black and Silver Club. They recalled playing a game on opposite sides at the FIBA Clubs Championships in Gerona, Spain, in 1985. Caidic said he exchanged jerseys with US cager Dell Curry after the game which the Americans won, 81-73. Robinson, 48, said he was only 20 at that time and it was his first international competition. “I can’t believe that was 28 years ago,” said Robinson. The US finished sixth in the 10-team tournament and the Philippines, seventh.