The aftermath: What happens after Tony Parker goes supernova?
Andrew Bynum once grabbed 30 rebounds in a game and the world wondered whether the San Antonio Spurs would ever rebound again.
These Spurs struggle with size, it was written, as if matching up with the All-NBA pairings of Pau Gasol/Andrew Bynum and Marc Gasol/Zach Randolph were a problem exclusive to the San Antonio Spurs and Tim Duncan was chopped liver.
Given a few days to adjust, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich answered by pairing Tiago Splitter and Tim Duncan in the starting lineup; a combination that makes sense when listing measurements on paper, but lasted all of a few minutes when executed on the court.
When the length failed to slow Bynum in the post, it was the Spurs smallest starter that produced the biggest rebound.
Shaking off an embarrassing performance from last week, Tony Parker returned to shaking all defenders in his path, leading the Spurs to a 112-91 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
While the two games merely traded one outlier (Bynum’s 30 rebounds) for another (did you see Tony Parker last night?), each set both teams down their respective paths for beating the other.
On a national stage Tony Parker crammed an entire season’s worth of significant improvement at the point guard position into a single performance.
And just as the 30-rebound performance from Andrew Bynum was an exaggerated demonstration of his tangible improvements, there is a lot that can be carried over from Parker’s performance against the Lakers even if the otherworldly statistics do not.
Parker has always been able to score in bursts, the open court crossover that froze and obliterated Steve Blake has long been in his bag of tricks. But it is the more subtle nuances that demonstrate Parker’s staying power at an elite level and mastery of the point guard position.
Things like slowing down just a fraction of a second at the right angle on a fast break to allow a trailing Stephen Jackson into the play, presenting the Spurs with a numbers advantage similar to the way John Stockton once ran the Utah Jazz fast break.
Or Parker working the baseline Nash-like, drawing defenders, and threading a beautiful pass to Danny Green on the wing for a corner three-pointer when the Lakers shut off the corner.
Or showing shades of Chris Paul’s playoff performance last year, there was Parker setting up his screens at just the right angle to lose a defender or force a switch, at which point the defense laid at his mercy.
And in a captivating display of his grasp of an offense and knowing his opponent’s defense, there was Parker verbally positioning Matt Bonner on the court like a chess piece at the end of the clock, knowing full well that his next dribble move would free a teammate at that exact spot, and leaving enough time for Bonner to execute a fake and dribble for a pull-up jumper.
The Spurs are not 20 points better than the Lakers, just as the Lakers were not that significantly better than the Spurs. Last night was the result of parts of Parker’s game going unexpectedly supernova. But when the lights dim, and the explosion settles, what’s left still remains a star.
