duncan228
05-18-2008, 12:12 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA051808.Spurs.en.37bc346.html
Spurs: Back-talking Horry defends pick on West
By Jeff McDonald
With a day off in the Western Conference semifinals, Spurs forward Robert Horry used Friday afternoon to take care of some business of utmost importance for an on-the-go NBA player.
“It was my catch-up-on-TV day,” Horry said.
About the time he settled in for some recorded episodes of the police drama “CSI,” Horry was surprised to learn the NBA was conducting a crime scene investigation of its own.
And Horry had once again been cast as the bad guy.
Early in the fourth quarter of the Spurs' season-saving victory in Game 6 Thursday, Horry set a hard back-pick on New Orleans star David West. The unsuspected blow sent West — who already was battling back issues — to the locker room for good.
Horry would spend the next 24-hour news cycle being publicly fitted for a black hat, vilified as a cheap-shot artist in newspapers, on television and the Internet.
In his first comments about the incident Saturday, Horry defended his actions, saying he harbored no ill intentions toward West.
“It was a regular back-pick,” said Horry, a 16-year veteran and the league's all-time leader in postseason games played. “I wasn't trying to hurt him. I'm sorry he got hurt, but that's the game of basketball.”
The NBA obviously agreed with that assessment. Upon review, Stu Jackson — the league czar charged with meting out punishment in such instances — ruled no penalty was warranted.
West, meanwhile, was apparently injured none too seriously. He announced after the game his intention to play in Game 7 on Monday.
Coming a year after his hip-check on Phoenix's Steve Nash changed the complexion of another conference semifinal series, the Game 6 pick placed Horry at the eye of another swirl of controversy.
And it left the Spurs to again defend themselves against what seem to be annual charges of serial impropriety.
Inspired by Horry's pick on West, the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Saturday displayed on its Web site a list of the top 10 “questionable” plays in Spurs history, complete with YouTube video links.
“We're maybe the dirtiest team in the NBA; we always have been,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, his voice sopping with sarcasm. “We're known for that, our physicality. We wear black.”
After Game 6, New Orleans players teetered on the brink of calling the Horry play dirty. Many seemed to be more upset with Spurs fans, who continued to chant Horry's name while their teammate remained prone.
After further review Saturday, New Orleans coach Byron Scott, who played one season with Horry in Los Angeles, had cooled a bit on the dirty talk.
“Stu Jackson said it wasn't; that's all that matters,” Scott said. “I've known Robert for a long time. I've played with him. So I know he's not a dirty ballplayer.”
Horry was oblivious to the fuss he caused until Friday afternoon, when several friends interrupted his TV time with text messages informing him of his newfound status as Public Enemy No. 2 in New Orleans (Bruce Bowen, after an alleged kick at Chris Paul in the regular season, will forever be No. 1).
In the wake of what he believes to be an unfair rush to judgment, Horry came out swinging after Saturday's practice, accusing fans and the media of “trying to blow things out of proportion.”
“You've got some reporters out there saying it was cheap shot,” Horry said. “Those people don't know anything about basketball. It was just a back-pick.”
The play in question occurred less than two minutes into the fourth quarter of the Spurs' 99-80 victory.
Spurs guard Manu Ginobili drove from the left corner, directly toward West. Horry, as he is instructed to do, wandered over to set a screen.
At the last moment, Ginobili lofted a cross-court pass over West, who leaped to deflect the ball. Horry's pick sent West, who was already stretched airborne like a wide receiver reaching for a too-high pass, sprawling to the floor.
“If I had tried to have some kind of malicious intent, I would have put a forearm in his back or something,” Horry said.
In truth, the play had less in common with Horry's hit on Nash last season than it did another play from this series. In Game 5, New Orleans' Tyson Chandler blindsided Spurs guard Tony Parker with a back-pick that looked a lot like the one Horry laid on West.
“That was ‘X' times more physical (than what Horry did),” Popovich said.
Chandler, like Horry, was whistled for a foul on the play. The key difference?
After a few seconds of shaking out the cobwebs, Parker stayed in the game. West required help to the Hornets' locker room.
“If he would have got up, the question would be moot right now,” Horry said.
Popovich called the hubbub surrounding Horry's back-pick “very silly.”
“It's typical of where we live,” Popovich said. “This is our country. We're sensationalistic.”
Spurs: Back-talking Horry defends pick on West
By Jeff McDonald
With a day off in the Western Conference semifinals, Spurs forward Robert Horry used Friday afternoon to take care of some business of utmost importance for an on-the-go NBA player.
“It was my catch-up-on-TV day,” Horry said.
About the time he settled in for some recorded episodes of the police drama “CSI,” Horry was surprised to learn the NBA was conducting a crime scene investigation of its own.
And Horry had once again been cast as the bad guy.
Early in the fourth quarter of the Spurs' season-saving victory in Game 6 Thursday, Horry set a hard back-pick on New Orleans star David West. The unsuspected blow sent West — who already was battling back issues — to the locker room for good.
Horry would spend the next 24-hour news cycle being publicly fitted for a black hat, vilified as a cheap-shot artist in newspapers, on television and the Internet.
In his first comments about the incident Saturday, Horry defended his actions, saying he harbored no ill intentions toward West.
“It was a regular back-pick,” said Horry, a 16-year veteran and the league's all-time leader in postseason games played. “I wasn't trying to hurt him. I'm sorry he got hurt, but that's the game of basketball.”
The NBA obviously agreed with that assessment. Upon review, Stu Jackson — the league czar charged with meting out punishment in such instances — ruled no penalty was warranted.
West, meanwhile, was apparently injured none too seriously. He announced after the game his intention to play in Game 7 on Monday.
Coming a year after his hip-check on Phoenix's Steve Nash changed the complexion of another conference semifinal series, the Game 6 pick placed Horry at the eye of another swirl of controversy.
And it left the Spurs to again defend themselves against what seem to be annual charges of serial impropriety.
Inspired by Horry's pick on West, the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Saturday displayed on its Web site a list of the top 10 “questionable” plays in Spurs history, complete with YouTube video links.
“We're maybe the dirtiest team in the NBA; we always have been,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, his voice sopping with sarcasm. “We're known for that, our physicality. We wear black.”
After Game 6, New Orleans players teetered on the brink of calling the Horry play dirty. Many seemed to be more upset with Spurs fans, who continued to chant Horry's name while their teammate remained prone.
After further review Saturday, New Orleans coach Byron Scott, who played one season with Horry in Los Angeles, had cooled a bit on the dirty talk.
“Stu Jackson said it wasn't; that's all that matters,” Scott said. “I've known Robert for a long time. I've played with him. So I know he's not a dirty ballplayer.”
Horry was oblivious to the fuss he caused until Friday afternoon, when several friends interrupted his TV time with text messages informing him of his newfound status as Public Enemy No. 2 in New Orleans (Bruce Bowen, after an alleged kick at Chris Paul in the regular season, will forever be No. 1).
In the wake of what he believes to be an unfair rush to judgment, Horry came out swinging after Saturday's practice, accusing fans and the media of “trying to blow things out of proportion.”
“You've got some reporters out there saying it was cheap shot,” Horry said. “Those people don't know anything about basketball. It was just a back-pick.”
The play in question occurred less than two minutes into the fourth quarter of the Spurs' 99-80 victory.
Spurs guard Manu Ginobili drove from the left corner, directly toward West. Horry, as he is instructed to do, wandered over to set a screen.
At the last moment, Ginobili lofted a cross-court pass over West, who leaped to deflect the ball. Horry's pick sent West, who was already stretched airborne like a wide receiver reaching for a too-high pass, sprawling to the floor.
“If I had tried to have some kind of malicious intent, I would have put a forearm in his back or something,” Horry said.
In truth, the play had less in common with Horry's hit on Nash last season than it did another play from this series. In Game 5, New Orleans' Tyson Chandler blindsided Spurs guard Tony Parker with a back-pick that looked a lot like the one Horry laid on West.
“That was ‘X' times more physical (than what Horry did),” Popovich said.
Chandler, like Horry, was whistled for a foul on the play. The key difference?
After a few seconds of shaking out the cobwebs, Parker stayed in the game. West required help to the Hornets' locker room.
“If he would have got up, the question would be moot right now,” Horry said.
Popovich called the hubbub surrounding Horry's back-pick “very silly.”
“It's typical of where we live,” Popovich said. “This is our country. We're sensationalistic.”