Mental Focus: Spurs Stay Alive in NBA Playoffs

"You really don't think about the magnitude of making or missing it, you just think about trying to get the best shot that you can get.  It went in today, but I think it's the best shot I could have got in that situation."

--Gary Neal, San Antonio Spurs rookie, who miraculously sent the fifth game of the NBA series into overtime with a three-point shot on Wednesday night.  

Neal is an undrafted 26-year-old rookie and former European journeyman who the Spurs signed this season after giving him an audition on their summer league team.  Neal's shot tied the score and helped the Spurs to rally to keep them from elimination.  


Neal was the NBA rookie leader in three-point shooting percentage this year.  

Peak performance in any sport requires a tremendous amount of mental energy to maintain focus on the multiple factors that need your attention. Split-second decisions regarding play selection, direction and speed of your shot, best steps for execution, an assessment of your opponent's capabilities, the condition of the court, etc. all require one to maintain a high level of focus during actual play.

Researchers in psychology and physiology have determined that individuals must regulate this high focus or it will lose its overall effectiveness and potency through continual use, resulting in "focus fatigue."

The time between plays or points needs to be used to relax, to wind down, to move into a lower level focus state and to regroup in preparation for the next point or play. The next play or point will again require a high level of focus.




Excerpts from the HuffingtonPost.com (April 28, 2011) and Focus:  Peak Performance Field Guide #4.  

NBA Opening Round Requires Team Peak Performance Mindset

A look at the NBA playoffs this weekend shows what mental preparation and conditioning is going on behind the scenes as teams look to find or maintain an emotional edge.  


Boston Celtics

“I love our team.  We do some things that are a little nuts, but they have a way to play together and they trust each other and as a coach; that’s all you can ask for.”
--Doc Rivers, head coach of the Boston Celtics, after beating the New York Knicks and sweeping the opening round series with their Eastern Conference rivals, 4-0. 

Despite a subpar regular season, the Boston Celtics are moving forward to the second round in the NBA playoffs.   

The Three C's of Team and Organizational Wisdom

"Compete with your competitors, but collaborate with your customers, and cooperate with your colleagues."

Competition.  You see it at home in children.  It's called sibling rivalry.  It is natural.  You see it at school with students.  The school system instills it in us and reinforces it.  At work, bosses insist on it.  Competition is the name of the game.  "Winning" as Charlie Sheen calls it.  I see it in the workplace.  It's everywhere.  It particularly comes out when resources are scarce.  I win, you lose.  It is the law of the jungle.  It gets played out in every company there is.

Unfortunately, my experience as a corporate consultant has been that in the workplace, this type of "winner take all, all the time" mentality is very destructive and is likely to keep your company from succeeding and being profitable.  I have seen it time and time again.

Why?  Because the competitive behavior that has been learned so well is difficult to tone down, even when it is necessary for success.  In order for companies to be successful they have to rein in their competitive streaks, at least internally with customers and colleagues. But, most bosses, businesses and organizations don't believe it...until it is too late.    

So, several years ago, I developed a game, "Pass and Shoot," that I play with teams during team training and retreats, etc.  This game is derived from the Prisoner's Dilemma game that was popular years ago.  At the beginning of the game, the instructions are to win.  The way to win is through trust, cooperation, communication, information sharing.  Teams can win if they are willing to cooperate and communicate, rather than being naturally adversarial and overly competitive.  However, once the players' competitive juices (and a little paranoia) start to flow, it is very difficult to control.  Players in the game with do whatever is necessary to avoid cooperation and will find it more important to block another team from looking good, rather than work for a win-win scenario (which is what the stated objective of the game is).  In most instances, participants would bet on their instinct to mistrust and protect.  They would rather see the entire ship go down than let down their guard and collaborate.  

"Pass and shoot" and other games of this type prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that competitive instincts are very difficult to control and can be the downfall of most teams if one is not aware of the pitfalls and consequences.

So, what is to be done?  First of all understand that the competitive nature of humans must be acknowledged as well as harnessed and directed at the competition outside the company not within the company or with customers.  Secondly, make sure that people learn how to collaborate with customers to determine what they need and how they need it delivered. After all, you are there for the customer and the customer is buying your product or service with their money. Thirdly, it is important to curb your competitive nature when working with colleagues. You need each other to succeed.  Lastly, though it is difficult to do, it is more important that you work toward a common goal than it is to be seen as an overly competitive, stab you in the back person who loses control, steps on others, assumes the worst of others and can't "play in the sandbox."

So, like I said, remember:  Be competitive with competitors, but be collaborative with customers and cooperative with colleagues.  Doing anything else will jeopardize your team and create barriers to success.

What do you think?  

 



 

 

Rory McIlroy: Will he bounce back?

"It was a character-building day, put it that way, I'll come out stronger for it." 

 --Rory McIlroy, 21-year old professional golfer, who was leading the 2011 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on the last day only to falter out of contention on the last nine holes.   

McIlroy began Sunday's final round with a 4-stroke lead. By the end of the tournament he was 10 strokes behind the eventual winner, South African Charl Schwartzel.  McIlroy shot a final round 8-over-par 80 to fall into a tie for 15th place. 

However, based on this interview, I predict that Rory McIlroy will bounce back from this failure quickly and have the focus, perseverance and tenacity to fight his way back in the world of professional golf.

It appears he will put it behind him and learn from his mistakes. More importantly, he is not reading too much into his play on the back nine.  

Though he is young and inexperienced, he put a positive, philosophical spin on the loss.

"For 63 holes of this golf tournament I was leading," said McIlroy.

Excerpts from ESPN.com (April 10 & 11, 2011).

Confidence: How Important Is It?

"I didn't have any doubts, but I wasn't sure I was going to win."  

 --Gabriella Sabatini, a former professional Aregentine tennis player, who was one of the top players on the women's circuit in the late-1980s and early-1990s. She won a women's singles title at the U. S. Open in 1990, the women's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1988, two WTA Tour Championships in 1988 and 1994, and a silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games. 

Despite considerable athletic talent, strong popularity and the beauty of a screen star, Sabatini seemed to consistently conflicted about her ability to win.  Many critics and experts had expected much more from Sabatini and felt that her overall career performance had left something to be desired.  

"Confidence isn't optimism or pessimism and it's not a character attribute. It's the expectation of a positive outcome. It is essential" - Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of the book, Confidence.

Framing and optimism are everything, as Andre Agassi demonstrates in this great quote from a panel (with Lance Armstrong) at the Milken conference in April 2006:

After wrist surgery, Agassi was ranked number 141 in the world in 1998. As Agassi said, he tried to look on the bright side, "only 140 people in the world could beat me."

A lack of confidence effects capability and reduces all-round ability. When confidence is high, real breakthroughs are possible.

It's possible to affect and, thus, manufacture confidence. Indeed it is a vital process to avoid the kind of expectation trap described below.

According to psychologist Albert Bandura, performers' situational-specific confidence, or 'self-efficacy', is based on four primary sources of information.

The first and most important factor is past performance accomplishments. What we have achieved in training and competition forms the basis of future expectations of success or failure. Repeated success naturally leads to positive expectations of further success, higher motivation and enhanced self-belief.

Unfortunately, the drawback of this principle is that failure can give rise to a downward performance spiral and a 'snowball effect' whereby a performer starts to believe that success is unattainable.

Of course, such an athlete does not mysteriously lose his or her physical skills and talents, but without confidence in these abilities high-level performance is rarely achieved. This is the 'expectation trap', which has put many a gifted athlete into permanent decline.

In research, confidence has been shown to consistently distinguish between highly successful and less successful athletes. Although many people mistakenly assume that confidence reflects performance - i.e. we become confident once we have performed consistently well - it is becoming increasingly evident that confidence can be established, or 'manufactured' beforehand.


Several assumptions that can interfere with self-confidence and positive ways of thinking are:

ASSUMPTION: I must always be successful at every challenge that I undertake. This assumption is a totally unrealistic assumption. In life each person has his strengths and his weaknesses. While it is important to learn to do the best that one can, it is more important to learn to accept yourself as being human, and deficient. Let yourself feel good about what you are good at, and accept the fact that you don’t know everything and you don’t need to.

ASSUMPTION: I must be perfect, and loved by everyone, and satisfy everyone. Again, this assumption is a totally unrealistic assumption. All human beings are less than perfect. It’s well advised to develop personal standards and values that are not very dependent on the approval of other people.

ASSUMPTION: Everything that happened to me in the past remains in control of my feelings and behaviors in the present.

ALTERNATIVE: While it is true that your confidence was especially vulnerable to external influences when you were a child as you gain maturity appreciation and point of view on what those influences have been. In doing so, you can choose which influences you will continue to allow to have an effect on your life. You don’t have to be helpless based on what happened in the past.

HERE ARE SOME STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING CONFIDENCE 

Emphasize Your Strengths. Grant yourself credit for everything that you can do. And bestow upon yourself credit for every new experience you are willing to try.

Take risks. Adopt the attitude of: I never fail, because there are NO failures. However, sometimes I find out what doesn’t work and once I’ve learned what doesn’t work in a given situation, I can test something else.

Use Self-Talk: Use self-talk as a tool to counter harmful assumptions. Then, tell yourself to stop. Substitute more reasonable assumptions. For example, when you catch yourself expecting yourself to be perfect, remind yourself that it is impossible to do everything perfectly, and that it’s only possible to do things to the best of your ability. This allows you to accept yourself as you are working towards improvement.

VISUALIZATION (Make mental movies): Picture yourself in scenes that you currently have low levels of self confidence in. But see yourself behaving in the way that a person who has tremendous confidence  would. There are powerful Self-hypnosis and NLP processes that you can use to instill a sizable amount of self-confidence from within your subconscious mind. There are even NLP techniques that will let you take confidence that you do have in areas of your life, and then transplant that confidence to areas of your life that require more self-confidence!

Excerpts from Inside Tennis (April 2011) and the Peak Performance eCoach.  

I Know, I Know, You Were Expecting Something Pretty

The NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Final is supposed to be a thing of athletic beauty and artistic splendor.  It is expected to be spliced into an awe inspiring "One Shining Moment" video.  Right?  


If you read what has been written and hear what has been said about the game between Butler and champion UConn, the words "ugly," "embarrassing,' "bad basketball," "poor shooting," etc. are most frequently used.  For many it was uninspiring and, certainly, not an exciting brand of basketball.  You aren't going to have many people looking at the game films or the highlights over and over, year after year.  


However, I suggest that you should look at this game very closely.  Despite the lack of beauty, one team was going to be champion.   One team would take home a trophy that every team and player in the country covets and few possess.  


What I learned from this game, is that this championship and every championship is about two teams slugging it out for supremacy. This game was about mental toughness.  It was about keeping your head in the game and never giving up.  It was about believing in your system and executing, and dealing with setback after setback.  Both teams took leads that they could have built upon.  Only one team did.   

Jeremy Lamb, UConn freshman, who gave his team a much needed spark in the second half, said, “I saw one time we scored, one of them put his head down. I said, ‘We got ‘em.’” 

This game was mental as well as physical.  This game was about effort in the face of adversity.  

"Every time we play hard, great things always happen to us," Kemba Walker, the MVP of the NCAA tournament, said.

This game was about perseverance.  It was about overcoming barriers.  It was about dealing with strong defensive pressure.  Every shot was contested.   Both teams wanted it, both teams gave maximum effort.  Both teams continued to run their offense and make adjustments to take advantage of their opponents. 


Despite being down by 3 points at halftime, Coach Jim Calhoun of UConn understood the championship would hinge on which team was able to mentally withstand the other.

"The halftime speech was rather interesting," Calhoun said. "The adjustment was we were going to out-will them and outwork them."

In the second half, UConn responded and took home the trophy.


We were unstoppable," Walker said. "That's why we're national champions."



Excerpts from CBSsports.ca and ESPN.com (April 4, 2011).

Jimmy Connors Comments on Pro Tennis Player, Rafael Nadal

"I look at Nadal and the way he goes about his business, the way he trains, the way he looks every time he walks out on court -- what he gives and expects of himself.  If anybody's going win, it's going to be him.  He's not afraid to do whatever it takes.  Tennis is one part of it -- the desire, the sacrifice, the willingness to learn, to train, to take your knocks to be better.  Even when he lost at Wimbledon and the French, he comes back stronger and better to the point where he wants to prove to himself that he's the best. He's only 24.  He hasn't even reached his prime. That's scary.

"He brings more than just the tennis.  He brings that excitement, that electricity and the feel of walking into a stadium and having more than just a tennis match going on.  I'm not saying anything disrespectful about the other guys.  I'm just saying that he might have a little big more of that, just by his enthusiasm and passion.

"You don't see guys like him jumping around and running out to the baseline and diving and trying after every ball.  That's a long lost art.  Nadal grinds it point to point, and shows his passion when he wins a big point and isn't afraid to let you know how he's feeling.  That's old school attitude.  Today, being cool is probably more important.  He might be a one-of-kind, and any time you're a one-of -a-kind, it's not a bad thing."      

Number-one-ranked Rafael Nadal is currently competing in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. He appears headed toward a potential semifinal round showdown with rival and friend Roger Federer.

Do you bring a Nadal-like intensity, desire, and determination to whatever you do? No, what if you did? Would it make a difference? Are you willing to do what it takes to win?

Excerpts from Inside Tennis (March 2011).

Rick Barnes and Texas Longhorns make another early NCAA exit - College Basketball News | FOX Sports on MSN

Rick Barnes and Texas Longhorns make another early NCAA exit - College Basketball News | FOX Sports on MSN

Oh, No! Not Again!

"Some of the breakdowns are baffling to be honest with you.  I can't tell you why because we've proven we can be really good defensively and offensively."

--Rick Barnes, head coach of the Texas Longhorns men's basketball team.

Kansas State sent the Longhorns to their second straight loss and third in four games on Monday night.  This is the second straight year that the Longhorns have nose-dived after an impressive start to the regular season.  

An 11-0 start in conference play had the Longhorns among the top contenders for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. They were, at one time, ranked #1 in the country.  Now they're trying to understand what has gone wrong.  They have to make sure that they don't worry about how far they may fall.

Last year, the Texas Longhorns' basketball team was ranked #1 in January with a 17-0 record. After that they slumped to a 7-9 finish down the stretch and lost to Wake Forest in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.


Here is what Rick Barnes had to say last year during that swoon when asked about the team's mindset:  

"I'd really be guessing if I did. Going into every game, I think that they've have the right mindset and when I watch some of the things happen I'm surprised where it comes from. I don't understand it, because I think we've got a group of guys, you would think with the way they have prepared that they would have things down. But when we do some things during the game it makes me wonder, and I don't know how I can answer that."

Prior to his arrival in at the University of Texas , Barnes' teams had undersachieved twice before. The first time was with Providence during the 1988-89 season when the Friars began 13-0 but ended the season losing seven of their last eight including a first round NCAA Tournament exit. 


The second time was with Clemson during the 1994-95 season when his Tigers began the year 10-0 – including a win at Duke – but lost seven of its last nine games, including a first round exit in the NIT.


Barnes' first disappointing swoon in Texas wasn't until year #3 in Austin, the 2000-01 season.  

This time, Texas was on a red-hot streak coming into the NCAA Tournament.  The Longhorns had ended the regular season with eight straight wins. As it so happened, No. 11 seed Temple was also on a hot streak, winning ten of its last 12 games. The Owls hit their first four three-pointers and the Longhorns were soon down 19 in another season-ending loss.  

Disappointment struck again in the 2004-05 season. After a promising start to the year, star player P.J. Tucker became academically ineligible and LaMarcus Aldridge suffered a hip injury. From mid-January on, Brad Buckman and Daniel Gibson carried the team.

By the time the conference tournament and NCAA Tournament rolled around, the Longhorns appeared to be spent and overworked. They fell to Colorado in their opening game of the Big 12 Tournament and then lost to Nevada in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

Once again, I advise Coach Barnes that recruiting and teaching basketball is only part of the job.  It's not just about the X's and O's.  Coach Barnes also needs to learn about how to handle the psychological aspect of his team and get them emotionally ready to play a tough conference schedule, a tougher Big-12 tournament and an even tougher NCAA tournament.  The Longhorns need to understand mental conditioning and learn skills for emotional resilience.  


If he doesn't, he may never get another chance at a Final Four appearance, much less an NCAA title.  


Excerpts from ESPN.com, Dallas Observer, and LostLettermen.com (February, 28, 2011 and March 1, 2011).

  

Tim Duncan Video: The Big Fundamental Uses the Backboard

The Dangers of Violating Chemistry Laws

"I hate to lose a teammate like [Kendrick] Perkins," Pierce said. "He meant so much. People don't understand chemistry is from the bus to the plane to the locker room, so it's definitely a blow. It depends on how the other guys make the adjustment."

--Paul Pierce, veteran Boston Celtic great.  

The Boston Celtics were held scoreless over the final six-plus minutes Thursday night by the Denver Nuggets who closed the game with a 16-0 run for an 89-75 win.

The Celtics suited up just nine players and had to fight through the emotions of losing Perkins, who was dealt to Oklahoma City for forward Jeff Green in the biggest of Boston's trio of trades Thursday.

"Tough day to play basketball," Kevin Garnett said. "Very tough day to play basketball, to even concentrate. Just being bluntly honest. You feel like you lost a family member today. Tough day."

"It was very emotional, especially for me being that I had a chance to see Perkins grow up from day one, fresh out of high school, coming in here and seeing the level he got to, a championship team," said Pierce. "It's definitely emotional. I had a chance to talk to him this afternoon a little bit, he was definitely hurt. The guys around this locker room were definitely hurt to see Perk go."

Pierce also said this is an example of how the business of basketball and ruthlessness of the NBA cuts both ways.

"It's the nature of the business," he said. "People thought LeBron James was cold for leaving Cleveland the way it is. This is an example of how it happens on the management end. You can't get mad at the players because it can happen to them unexpectedly, just like a player can go where he wants. It's just the nature of the beast."

The Eastern Conference-leading Celtics also mysteriously dealt reserve Nate Robinson to the Thunder and received Nenad Krstic, a future first-round draft pick and cash in the Perkins deal.

Earlier in the day, the Celtics acquired draft picks by sending forward Luke Harangody and rookie center Semih Erden to Cleveland and injured swingman Marquis Daniels to Sacramento.

Why would the Celtics do that to a team that was known for chemistry and had performed so well for the past four years, including one NBA championship?  Was it about money?  Or was it about making a serious run for the championship.  Time will tell.  

Excerpts from ESPN.com (February 24, 2011) 

NBA TV Top 10: February 23rd

A Winning Mindset Keeps Spurs As Winningest Team in the NBA

The NBA San Antonio Spurs' season record of 46-9 record is tops in the NBA and the best 55-game mark since the Dallas Mavericks had the same mark in 2006-07 en route to a franchise-best, 67-win season.

This record includes the current long road trip. 

"They're feeling a few bumps and bruises, but they're character guys.  They're professionals, and they know what's expected of them. They know where they want to be at the end of the year and they're working towards that. So no game can be left without trying to get better."

--Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of the lengthy trip that started in Portland and which will end in Chicago this Thursday.

"We just have to stay focused, that's going to be the main thing for us.  Focus on defense, we have a lot of room for improvement. Even if I think we're on the right track, I think we can do a lot of stuff better and we just have to stay motivated because we have to get all those wins and make sure we take advantage of our good start."

--Tony Parker, Spurs' point guard (13 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists).  

Despite many blow-out games and the league's best record, the Spurs don't seem to be experiencing complacency.

"I was kind of shocked, not that we won or we played well, but that at the kind of effort and hustle in the third and fourth quarter.  We played hard and rotated very well, went hard to the rebounds so it was a very complete second half for us."

--Manu Ginobili, veteran Spurs player.  

Ironically, the game also benefited their opponent, the losing New Jersey Nets, who came away with a glimpse of how a good team should play.

"They've been doing it for years.  They've been playing together for years. They know one another extremely well. They are battle tested. What makes them so impressive is they don't really care who scores. They move the ball and whoever gets the open shot, so be it. That's what makes them so good."

--Devin Harris, Nets' point guard.  

"This is a terrific team we played.  They have the best record in the league for a reason. They don't beat themselves. They're pros. They go about their business and they're very methodical in their approach." 

--Avery Johnson, the Nets' head coach, who is trying to rebuild the Nets, who had the NBA's worst record last season. 

So, what are the secrets to the Spurs' success?  What keeps the Spurs' playing at a peak level all season long?  

• Professional attitude
• Character
• Continuous improvement mentality
• Sense of urgency
• Consistent focus
• Continuity of talent and personnel
• Heightened motivation
• Unselfishness
• Discipline 

These traits should serve the Spurs well the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs.


Excerpts from ESPN.com (February 14, 2011)

Tom Brady's Success Is Due to the Talents and Help of Others

"To me it comes down to the mental toughness and determination of the players and coaches."

--Tom Brady, New England Patriots' quarterback, the 2007, and the new 2010 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, identifying the reason for his award.  

A unanimous choice for the NFL All-Pro team, Brady threw for 36 touchdowns while being intercepted just four times. When he won the award in 2007, Brady set an NFL mark with 50 touchdowns passes as New England went undefeated in the regular season.  Brady led the Patriots to a 16-0 mark in 2007 then and a league-best 14-2 this season.  In three other seasons, the Patriots have won the Super Bowl.  Brady is the only quarterback and the only active player to win the Offensive Player of the Year award twice. In addition, he has won 2 Super Bowl MVP awards, 1 NFL MVP award, and has been to 5 NFL Pro Bowls.     

"Tom studies a lot.  We get the bulk of it in the meeting rooms with just the players when we sit down to go over the things that he's been looking at. It carries over to the practice field as well. Tom is a dork when it comes to that, so I'm going to leave that alone, but Tom is a dork in that meeting room."

--Deion Branch, Patriots' veteran wide receiver.

• Do you recognize these qualities in your business or professional life?
• Do you acknowledge that your success is directly attributable to the talents, teamwork and help of others?
• How do you exhibit mental toughness?  
• Are you a student of your business or professional craft?

Excerpts from ESPN.com (February 2, 2011).  

For more on the New England Patriots franchise, click on the New England Patriots:  Peak Performance Case Study.  

For more on the Peak Performance System for mental conditioning, click on The Handbook of Peak Performance.

  

Why The San Antonio Spurs May Go All the Way to the NBA Championship

The San Antonio Spurs are the NBA's first team to 40 wins this season.  In their 40th win, Manu Ginobili scored 22 points and the Spurs beat the Houston Rockets 108-95 on Saturday night.

The Spurs reached 40 wins in just 47 games, tying the record for the sixth fewest games needed to reach 40 wins in NBA history. They got there faster than the four-time NBA champions ever have before. 

Of the previous seven teams to reach 40 wins in 47 games or fewer, six went on to win the NBA title.  The last time the Spurs were the first NBA team to reach 40 wins was the 2004-05 season, when they went on to win the NBA title.  The Spurs won their 18th straight home game, extending the longest home winning streak in the NBA this season.  The Spurs moved two wins from tying the franchise record of 20 straight home wins, set during the 1989-90 season.  

"We were in the game all they way into the third quarter. But they were too solid. They are too solid," Scola said. "Most solid team in the NBA. They're the best team in the NBA, period."

--Luis Scola, Houston Rockets.  

Next up is their annual Rodeo Road Trip, a nine-game stretch of road games.  Maybe three weeks on the road will make things more challenging.

So, what makes the Spurs so good?  

Spurs Pride

"I'm just speechless right now," said Spurs center DeJuan Blair, who had 14 points and 12 rebounds. "Because it's just such an honor to be on this team, on this quest for greatness, and we've just got to keep it going."

Continuous Improvement Mentality

"No coach or team thinks in terms of happy or comfort, those are not words that exist. You keep competing, executing, and trying to improve. It doesn't matter if you have the best record or the worst record."

--Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs head coach.

Fundamental, Mistake Free Basketball

"They don't beat themselves. We were right there with them for a half and we were playing pretty good basketball.The lull that we had in the third quarter where we just couldn't answer any of their three's and their big shots create separation. We were playing from behind and it's tough because they don't make any mistakes to allow you to get back into the game. Tonight was a pretty classic textbook Spurs victory."

--Shane Battier, Houston Rockets veteran.

Focus

“We’ve never been one to say, ‘Hey, we’re on the road, we’ll wait till we get back home to win games.  But in this respect, we’ve got so many of them in a row on the road, I think it is all about our focus and trying to get those games, those wins and put them in our pocket and try to become a better team on that trip.”

--Tim Duncan, Spurs veteran.  

Emphasis on Defense

“It’s goal No. 1 all the time and we’ve been a little lacking on it,” Duncan said. “We’ve been winning and that’s been great, but it comes down to the end of the season and the playoffs, we want to be the best defensively as possible. That’s our best chance to win games in those situations. We have to keep working on that and we will, obviously Pop is not going to let up on that.”

Excerpts from projectSpurs.com, SportingNews.com  and ESPN.com (January 31, 2011).