Basisphilosophie » d that some cannot reach, those who lean on

DENVER -- As the winning streak climbs, so does the stress level for San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. At least, that was Tim Duncans assessment after the Spurs ran their streak to 16 straight by beating the Denver Nuggets 133-102 on Friday night. This is their longest regular-season win streak since reeling off 17 in a row from Feb. 29 to March 31, 1996. And Popovich seems to be growing more antsy with every victory. "Oh, very. Very, very, very. Very much," Duncan said. "Hes a teacher and wants to teach. He wants the good and the bad. Even through this streak, hes been on us a tremendous amount, making sure we dont rest on just the wins, but were learning from game to game." Popovich found a teaching moment in the third quarter with the game well in hand. His team relaxed on one possession and allowed an easy transition basket by Randy Foye. Popovich quickly called timeout and voiced his displeasure to his team. "Even as much as were up, he was still on us the entire game," Duncan said. Hard to find too much fault with the Spurs effort in this one. Marco Belinelli scored 27 points, Duncan had 20 and the Spurs scored a season high in points. San Antonio also maintained a three-game lead for the top seed in the Western Conference. Its a quick turnaround for the Spurs, who host New Orleans on Saturday. "This (winning streak) is great challenge," Duncan said. "Its a big challenge. People can get lackadaisical and look past certain games. Weve done a good job of not doing that." Foye scored 20 for a banged-up Nuggets squad that lost for the fourth time in five games. Wilson Chandler was out with a strained groin, while Timofey Mozgov and Kenneth Faried were hampered by an illness. Faried still finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. "Theyre devastated, injury-wise," Popovich said. "Its not a fair deal." Still, a 31-point loss was hard for Nuggets coach Brian Shaw to absorb, even if he is missing quite a few starters to season-ending injuries. "That was an embarrassing loss," Shaw said. "Just from every standpoint of the game -- defensively, body language, energy, just embarrassing, and it starts with me, just doing whatever I need to do to get our guys prepared and to come out and give the kind of energy and effort we need, especially playing the top team in the league." Belinelli stepped into the starting lineup with Danny Green hobbled by an inflamed right foot and quickly found his rhythm. Belinelli scored 14 in the first quarter and finished 10 of 15 from the field. "We really love to move the ball together, thats why were winning together right now," Belinelli said. Popovich insisted before the game that hes not going to overextend his players to secure the No. 1 seed in the West. His goal is to keep them "as healthy and energetic as possible at this time of year." The veteran coach didnt have to worry about taxing his team too much in this one, building a 25-point lead midway through the third quarter and resting most of his starters for a majority of the fourth. All this winning so close to the playoffs is making Popovich a little anxious because, "maybe this comes too easy," he said. "Losing is not a bad thing at this point of the year." Trailing 20-14 in the first, the Spurs closed out the quarter on a 17-3 run. The Nuggets couldnt rally back into the game, like they did Wednesday in San Antonio when they trailed the Spurs by 24 only to make it close down the stretch, before falling 108-103. "We just let them do basically what they wanted to do," Foye said. "We had more fight on their court last game than we did on our court tonight. Thats unacceptable. We didnt bring it tonight and against a team like that if you dont bring it, its going to be a long night for you." NOTES: San Antonio kept Matt Bonner (strained calf) at home because, "he wasnt going to play anyway," Popovich said. ... The Spurs finished with 37 assists, including seven by C Tiago Splitter. ... Nuggets F Jan Vesely (bruised rib cage) was back on the court after missing two games. He finished with five points. ... Reserve G Evan Fournier had 15 points for the Nuggets. ... Denver trailed by as many as 35 points. Cheap Adidas Ducks Jerseys . Not that Durant cared. The only streak he cares about is still intact. Cheap Ducks Jerseys . The former Edmonton Oilers defenceman was with the St. Louis Blues in training camp on a professional tryout. Whitney, 30, had four goals and 13 points in 34 games with the Oilers last season. http://www.cheapducksjerseys.com/ . - In about six minutes, the Memphis Grizzlies had allowed their 23-point lead to be cut to seven. Cheap Ducks Jerseys China .com) - The Chicago Cubs reportedly signed recently-acquired outfielder Dexter Fowler to a one-year contract on Friday, avoiding arbitration. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . Tortorella told The Vancouver Province hell be cheering for Team Sweden to win gold when they take on the defending Olympic champions on Sunday morning. "I hope Sweden wins, cause I dont think Hammer (Dan Hamhuis) is going to play, judging by whats happened.Watching the Montreal Canadiens lose goaltender Carey Price to injury this week reminded me of what I often think is the great weakness of North American sports. The reliance of individuals in team sports. Hockey is obsessed with goaltenders. A team loses and the first place people look at for blame is in between the pipes. Baseball? As they say, momentum is all about the next days starting pitcher. NFL? Find an elite quarterback if you want to win the Super Bowl and stop using Trent Dilfer as an example (unless you can find one of the greatest defences to go alongside him). Basketball? You wont find many NBA championship teams that doesnt feature a current or future hall of famer. The global game of soccer is often very different, as the achievements of Atletico Madrid this week have shown. A sport that is so reliant on teamwork rarely allows a figurehead to rise to such prominence to make a championship be about them. Sure, domestic leagues have outstanding players who take over games, weeks, even months of a campaign, but without their teammates they are just one man with a ball at their feet. Even the greatest players in the world today are surrounded by players close to their level that allows them to perform brilliantly so often. For some reason, however, every four years many forget the common sense around this belief and two words are the reason for it. World Cup. There have only been nineteen of these in history and, specifically for the last 16 of them, it has been considered as the ultimate thing in the sport to win. However, the World Cup is not without its failings. Many games produce predictable, sterile games dominated by defensive-minded teams, unable to replicate the teamwork earned by club teams over long periods of time, who, subsequently, know its far easier to stop than score. It is a tournament that lasts one month every four years. The best team plays seven games and does not even have to win them all. Yet, because it is so short in time and so infrequent on the games calendar, the World Cup cares little for reputations, instead choosing to make them. This allows the sport to be much more North American in terms of individuals stamping their authority on it. With this in mind, collectively, we owe it to future generations to be extremely careful with the evidence provided (and this is not always easy with the lack of video available to us once the tournament ends). First of all we must remember that players can have excellent tournaments without actually winning it. This rule is for all, not just for those you didnt expect to win it anyway. Take Lionel Messis 2010 World Cup. Many adjectives have been used to describe this including poor and disappointing. What nonsense. Messi was excellent in South Africa but because he didnt score a goal some thought he was disappointing. When his out-of-his-depth manager, Diego Maradona, decided to play without a central midfield, Argentina were sent home packing in the quarterfinals. They never had a chance of winning the World Cup and none of that fell on the shoulders of Messi. Since leaving South Africa, Messi, with Barcelona, has won everything there is to win in club football, and added three more Ballon DOr awards. He has consistently succeeded in the most competitive tournament, the Champions League, the sport has to offer. He is described by many as one of the greatest players to play the game but suddenly he is removed from such a camp, by some, the closer a World Cup gets to starting, when a new hurdle is put in his path to reach the pantheon of greatness; a hurdle he simply cannot jump himself.dddddddddddd Messis countryman, Ossie Ardiles, who won the World Cup in 1978, hit the headlines last week with this gem of a quote: "To be considered alongside the top, top guys like Pele and Diego Maradona and so on, Messi not only needs to be in the World Cup but to win it." Mr Ardiles isnt the only one who feels this way, of course, and in fact there is an alarming chance he is in the majority rather than the minority when it comes to this topic. What a pity. And while we are on this quote, who is so on exactly? When Pele played, the World Cup was everything. He changed the sport and is arguably the greatest player to play the game. The World Cup made him the global star that he simply couldnt reach himself at Santos. Maradona graced four World Cups and is forever remembered as the face of Mexico 1986. It is fitting for a man so talented that he had that event to catapult him towards the legends of the game but many who celebrate Maradonas greatness, because of those 30 days in Mexico, often, conveniently, forget his 1982 and 1994 World Cups ended in disgrace. 1990? Dont let their runner-up spot fool you. His team was even worse than Messis 2010 side and his performances werent even close to the ones shown by Barcelonas current star in South Africa. There is no disputing Maradonas greatness on the field but if the guardians of football history and, subsequently, the makers of reputations are going to base so much on what happens at World Cups then they need to be fair about it. In a sport that cares so often about who wins and loses this seems like an impossible task. Only one team can lift the trophy when it all finishes on July 11. Of course, Messi will be considered as one of the true greats if that team proves to be Argentina but why should we wait to find out what some of his flawed teammates can do for him before we give him such an honour? Just because Maradona, Pele and so on won the World Cup? The game is full of true, elite greats who never did. Pele and Maradona call Alfredo Di Stefano the most complete player ever and what of Johan Cruyff, who was magnificent in the 1974 World Cup and did everything but win the tournament? Rather than holding the World Cup to a higher standard that some cannot reach, those who lean on individual quality, should enjoy its beauty at producing other stars whose solo acts can carry their teams far. Garrincha, Eusebio, Cruyff, Paolo Rossi, Toto Schillaci, Roberto Baggio, Romario, Davor Sukur, Ronaldo, Oliver Kahn, Fabio Cannavaro, Diego Forlan and David Villa are just some examples of that. Some won, some didnt. Some are true greats, some arent. Their reputations were enhanced by their World Cup play but also because their team was able to get to the final week of the event. Neither Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo needs to win a World Cup to be graced amongst the greatest ever. It appears, before the tournament already starts, that Ronaldo doesnt have the team to get him to the trophy, and if the tournament proves the same for Argentina why should Messi be judged differently to Ronaldo? This special group, created by the likes of Ardiles, that features Maradona, Pele and so on is a hindrance to football history and an ignorance to the game itself. ' ' '