DeJuan Blair: Making his bones in the Playoffs

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Spurs rookie forward DeJuan Blair came through big for San Antonio in Game 4 against Dallas

AT&T CENTER – A year ago, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said about then-rookie George Hill, “these playoffs aren’t for George.” And through three playoff games this season, current Spurs rookie DeJuan Blair hadn’t done much to prove that this year’s playoffs fit him very well either.

But on Sunday night, Blair left his mark on the 2010 NBA Playoffs, providing the motor for a big second half in the Spurs 92-89 win in Game 4 against the Dallas Mavericks.

Blair scored seven points and hauled down seven rebounds in the contest, with most of his damage coming in a second half stretch that, after battling back from a 14-point third quarter deficit, helped the Spurs build a seven point lead at the end of the period.

“He reacted well for being such a young guy in a big playoff game,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Blair postgame. “He did a great job for us.”

Through four playoff games this year, Blair put up averages of 3.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in less than nine minutes per game. But his primary role is to bring energy off the bench and buy San Antonio some time to rest Tim Duncan.

And, apparently, show some toughness.

During the second half run that put the Spurs in control of of the game, Blair got tangled up with Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki after a free throw. Nowitzki seemed to swing his arm in the direction of Blair after getting tied up and was assessed a technical foul. Blair, for his participation, received a scolding from Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

“It’s just Dirk being Dirk, me being me, and that’s not good,” Blair said. “I was smiling, I didn’t say nothing.”

The skirmish led to a physical stretch of play that featured three flagrant fouls, including a flagrant type 2 and the ejection of Mavericks forward Eduardo Najera, and the wonder if the game would get out of hand.

Luckily, it didn’t and the Spurs were able to make enough plays down the stretch to win the game and take a soul-crushing 3-1 lead in the series versus the Mavericks. The Spurs now have three opportunities to close out the series and face the winner of the Portland Trail Blazers – Phoenix Suns matchup.

And much of the credit goes to the energy and tenacity emanating from DeJuan Blair. Though his per game numbers don’t jump off the page, it’s not often that rookies feature prominently for playoff teams led by Gregg Popovich.

If the way Blair has responded to what’s been put on his plate this season is any indication, don’t expect this to be the last time The Beast leaves his prints on the playoffs.

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  • idahospur

    Maybe Cuban will fire Carlisle and put himself in at coach? That might be interesting…

  • Manolo Pedralvez

    Dejuan “Mexican Jumping Bean” Blair? How does that grab you.
    Levity aside, Blair, as we said in a previous post, reminds us so much of Wes Unseld, who led the Washington Bullets (now known as the Wizards thanks to their politically correct late owner) to their first and only NBA title in 1978.
    At 6-foot-7, Unseld was also a bear of man at the post, contesting every rebound and finding ways to put it back into the rim even if he was relatively undersized as a center. Look up what legendary New York center Willis Reed said when Unseld was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 1988 (it’s on Youtube) and you see just how tough he was.
    Blair, for all his perceived shortcomings (pun intended), has the makings of becoming like this small “Big Man” who was ahead of him.

  • rj

    i like Heavy D. the l’s are too squential in grizzly blair and the beast just sounds lame. sometimes nicknames aren’t necesarrily flattering. big baby davis, the fridge anyone?

    i like Indy-G as bill schoening refers to him. sugar hill is kinda queer.

  • Mexico fan

    Guys of 48MOFH, we have play-off fever, can’t you post anything new now?
    Thanks!

  • VP of Common Sense

    I’m with Mexico on this one.

  • catty

    Before game four with the MAVs I was very fearful the plan would be to finish off Manu with another elbow to the nose. Just wouldn’t put it past Dallas, which remind me of the Pistons of old.
    Now I am thinking Manu is sacred territory(his throw down by Najera made the jaded national media)…..but now concerned about injuries for all the Spurs on the court tonight. Seriously. I will be holding my breath nobody gets creamed.

  • idahospur

    Ditto.

  • http://www.48minutesofhell.com Timothy Varner

    We get a lot of requests for more, more, more. We like this. It’s good to have readers. And it’s better to have readers who genuinely appreciate our efforts. But we’re also four guys with careers and lives and studies and families and all that. This is a labor of love. And if it ever morphs into something more, than I suppose ‘more, more, more’ will turn into ‘whoa fellas slow down’. We’re trying to push it to that point, but it’s one slow step at a time.

    This is probably a cultural reference that won’t carry any weight, but there is a fantastic Belle and Sebastian song called ‘This is Just a Modern Rock Song‘ that has a fitting line: “We’re four boys in our corduroys/we’re not terrific but we’re competent.”

    @Mexico fan, We’ll see if we can’t increase the volume of content. In addition to your comment, I received two emails today asking the same thing. Time to man up, I guess.

  • Bushka

    Put some concrete in that Late Tim and harden the F*** up :)

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