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Spurs’ Coach Popovich Dunks On GOP, Manchin And Sinema Over Voting Rights

Spurs’ Coach Popovich Dunks On GOP, Manchin And Sinema Over Voting Rights

The fact that not everyone in Texas is a far-right Republican was evident on Sunday, January 23, when San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was interviewed by reporters and spoke his mind about voting rights — slamming not only Republicans, but also, two centrist Democrats: Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Before the Spurs’ game against the Philadelphia 76ers — the basketball team known for everyone from Julius Erving, a.k.a. Dr. J., to Allen Iverson — the 72-year-old Popovich told reporters:

“As many have said, it’s been time, it’s past time for hardball. The Republican Senate will just not participate, they just will not. So, whatever can be done needs to be done. And Sinema and Manchin, they get it, but they don’t get it. They know what’s going on. They understand. But there are more important things to them, and it’s damn selfish and dangerous to our country," said Popvich.

Although Manchin and Sinema have voiced their support for voting rights — Manchin has pushed the Freedom to Vote Act as an alternative to the more comprehensive For the People Act — they are adamantly opposed to altering the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for most legislation to pass. And Democrats, with their narrow Senate majority, don’t have 60 votes.

Some voting rights activists have proposed a compromise to Manchin and Sinema: keep the filibuster on the whole, but create an exception for voting rights. Manchin and Sinema, however, are even opposed to that.

Popovich, who is vehemently opposed to the voter suppression bills being proposed by Republicans in state legislators, told reporters, “It’s ironic, but as much as the community of color has been oppressed and denigrated, those are the people who try to save this damn country from itself. It’s just ironic to me.”

Popovich continued, “Every time we take steps forward, you get the backlash. The fact that the voting rights issue is in the situation it’s in is just mind-boggling to me in one sense, because we’ve already gone through this back in the ‘60s — and we know what the Supreme Court did earlier in gutting it. But it's like, we don’t get it. It’s like, maybe there wouldn’t be a democracy if it wasn’t for Black people.”

Popovich, a U.S. Air Force veteran, has been the Spurs’ coach since 1996.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

With Fifth Title In Hand, Duncan To Return For Spurs

With Fifth Title In Hand, Duncan To Return For Spurs

San Antonio (AFP) — San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan is ready to return for a run at a sixth NBA title next season.

The Spurs announced on Monday that Duncan has decided to exercise his contract option to play another season — at a salary of $10.3 million.

Duncan, the number one overall selection in the 1997 NBA draft, has played his entire 17-year career with the Spurs.

But some had speculated that after San Antonio’s NBA championship triumph over Miami, Duncan might elect to head off into the sunset with his five titles.

While the 38-year-old player is undoubtedly in the twilight of his career, Duncan has remained extremely effective.

The 14-time All-Star averaged 15.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks over 74 regular-season games in 2013-14.

He averaged 16.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists while starting all 23 playoff games, helping the Spurs to the club’s fifth NBA title since 1999.

Duncan is the Spurs’ all-time leader in games played with 1,254, points scored with 24,904, and rebounds with 13,940.

He is one of five players, along with Hall of Famers Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, to win five NBA titles and five Most Valuable Player awards for either the regular season or NBA finals.

AFP Photo / Andy Lyons

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Spurs’ Fifth Title Is One For The Ageless

Spurs’ Fifth Title Is One For The Ageless

By Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times

SAN ANTONIO — The healing began with about five minutes left in the third quarter, Manu Ginobili rising for a three-pointer that gave the San Antonio Spurs a lead simply too massive to overcome.

As a barrage of Patty Mills three-pointers accentuated the rout Sunday night, the decibels rose inside the AT&T Center to levels that hadn’t been experienced here since 2007.

The Spurs were champions once again, a 104-87 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals giving them their first title in seven years and all but erasing the sting of last year’s soul-crushing defeat against the same opponent on the same stage.

As black-and-silver confetti fell from the rafters, Spurs forward Tim Duncan embraced his children, teammate Kawhi Leonard accepted congratulatory pats all over his body for being named Finals most valuable player and coach Gregg Popovich tucked away his grumpy side to crack a wide smile.

“It makes last year OK,” Duncan said in a televised interview on the court after becoming the first player to win a championship in three different decades, having also won titles in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007.

Winning Finals MVP on Father’s Day may have also had a therapeutic effect for Leonard, the onetime Riverside (CA) King High star whose father was murdered at a Los Angeles-area car wash in 2008. The crime is unsolved.

“It is a very special meaning for me knowing that he’s gone and I was able to win a championship on Father’s Day,” said Leonard, who finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. The forward who turns 23 in two weeks became the second-youngest player to win Finals MVP behind Magic Johnson, who won it at 20 and 22, after averaging 17.8 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 61.2 percent in the series.

Unlike Miami’s LeBron James, essentially a one-man operation with 31 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, Leonard had plenty of help. Ginobili finished with 19 points and Mills had 17, making four of five three-point attempts in the fourth quarter as the Spurs built a 22-point cushion.

Miami was unable to overcome the psychological toll of back-to-back blowouts on its home court in Games 3 and 4 as well as an equally disheartening 38-point turnaround in Game 5 after the Heat had seized an early 22-6 lead. The 70-point differential between the teams in the five games was the biggest in Finals history.

“They were the much better team,” said James, now 2-3 in Finals after the Heat fell short in its three-peat bid. “That’s how team basketball should be played.”

Heat guard Dwyane Wade looked slow and old for a second consecutive game, finishing with 11 points on four-for-12 shooting. Miami’s Chris Bosh, who had predicted victory in the morning shootaround, was also largely a non-factor with 13 points.

Duncan had 14 points and eight rebounds on the way to fulfilling his pre-series pledge that his team would avenge last season’s Finals defeat. It was the fifth title for Duncan and Popovich and the fourth for the trio of Duncan, Ginobili and Tony Parker, who scored 16 points.

Miami started Ray Allen instead of the struggling Mario Chalmers in an effort to get off to a better start than it had in the previous two games, and the plan worked flawlessly in the early going.

Well, mostly because the Heat still had James on the court. He had 17 first-quarter points on five-for-seven shooting to go with six rebounds and an assist while acting as the primary point guard.

But an early 16-point lead was gone by late in the second quarter, the Spurs surging ahead, 47-40, by halftime and never trailing again.

James’ lack of support was an ongoing issue throughout the series, triggering questions he quickly dismissed about whether he would opt out of his contract this summer.

As for the Spurs, with Duncan, Parker and Ginobili all under contract for one more season, they may not be finished with their championship tally.

“It’s amazing to think about having done this five times,” said Duncan, who called this title his sweetest. “The span between them, to still be in a situation where we can win or I can win another championship is just an amazing blessing, and it’s not taken lightly.”\

Photo via Al Diaz/Miami Herald/MCT