Spurs moving right along

Spurs moving right along: Starting Oberto, playing Barry prove key to team's victory over Raptors

Web Posted: 11/05/2006 10:02 PM CST

Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer

TORONTO — Somewhere between the last game of the playoffs and the first day of training camp, Fabricio Oberto moved from the end of the Spurs' bench to the starting lineup.

Oberto can cite a number of reasons for his rapid rise through the rotation, including the most obvious: For about a week in July, he was the only center on the roster. Gregg Popovich, however, has his own theory.

"His coach," Popovich said, "got a clue."

Oberto gave his coach even more reason to be confident in him Sunday after producing a career-high 12 points and matching a personal best with nine rebounds in the Spurs' 103-94 victory over Toronto at Air Canada Centre.

"He's the most productive ugly player I've ever seen," Popovich said. "He looks like a bull in a china shop out there, but he sets good picks, rebounds his fanny off and makes great passes. He just knows how to play."

Starting Oberto wasn't the only decision by Popovich that paid off Sunday. After not playing Brent Barry at all in the season opener against Dallas, Popovich pulled him off the bench in the first quarter then sat back and watched him make all five of his 3-pointers.

Tim Duncan scored 26 points in another aggressive performance and Tony Parker scored 10 of his 19 in the fourth quarter. But it was Oberto and Barry, Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said, who "killed us."

After Duncan left midway through the first quarter with his second foul, Toronto quickly pulled out to a 25-14 lead. With Manu Ginobili, Michael Finley and Parker all struggling with their shot, Popovich turned to Barry.

Barry slowed the run by burying his first 3-pointer just before the end of the quarter. He started the second quarter with another. By the time he added two more 3-pointers — giving him four in about eight minutes — the Spurs had wiped out the deficit.

"We let him come into the game and shoot threes," Mitchell said. "That's what he does. That's the disheartening thing. Our guys know that after we go over the scouting report."

Oberto likely didn't appear on too many scouting reports last season. After signing with the Spurs, he averaged only 8.3 minutes. On Sunday, he played 24.

With the Raptors frequently sagging off Oberto, he had room to cut to the rim. He missed only one of his five shots and 10 of his 12 points came during the Spurs' second-quarter rally.

"He probably hasn't changed in 10 years, he's been doing the same stuff game after game," Popovich said. "I just didn't put him on the floor last year. We had Rasho (Nesterovic) and Nazr (Mohammed). He was just the new, low man on the totem pole."

Realizing they needed to get more athletic, the Spurs traded Nesterovic to Toronto after the season — and later watched Mohammed sign with Detroit. They signed Francisco Elson, who scored six points and took eight rebounds Sunday.

The Spurs needed a couple of big men who could run the floor to keep pace with the Raptors. After overhauling its roster, Toronto has a fast, attacking lineup that features six international players.

For one stretch in the third quarter, only three American-born players were on the floor.

"I think I was the only guy with one vowel in my last name," Barry said. "When (Jose) Garbajosa went to the free-throw line, I was trying to spell (his name) in my head without looking at the back of his jersey.

"I couldn't do it, but it was interesting."

The Spurs did a better job of controlling the tempo in the second half. Duncan deserved a lot of that credit, scoring 13 points in the third quarter. Unlike during Friday's loss to Cleveland, he also made all but one of his free throws, converting 6 of 7.

On consecutive possessions in the third quarter, Duncan took Raptors forward Chris Bosh to the block, then spun by him for a short shot.

"It's great to see Timmy with that sort of quickness again," Barry said, "and knowing that the bank shot probably isn't that far behind."

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/bask ... 688f9.html

You have to like the way Barry brings that little bit of a different slant to proceedings when it comes to interviews.... hes worth keeping as our Press Allstar.

Ironically, Garbajosa is much easier to spell than Barry. If you know Garbajosa is a Spanish last name, then there is only one way to spell it. There are several ways to spell a surname that sounds like Barry.

BTW, the English pronunciation and hence unintended meaning of Garbajosa is unfortunate.

It was good to see my boy Bones get some PT and knock down all those 3 balls.

Actually, knowing Garbajosa is a Spanish surname doesn't help me spell it at all! Why would it?

Actually, knowing Garbajosa is a Spanish surname doesn't help me spell it at all! Why would it?

In Spanish there is only one way to spell a word that sounds like 'Garbajosa.' Spanish is in general much easier than English for spelling. Almost all of the time, words are spelled exactly how they sound. That's not true in English, a language with myriad spelling rules that are often contradictory and not always used.