San Antonio – Unlike teammate Robert Horry, who has won six championships in 14 previous NBA seasons, San Antonio Spurs guard Michael Finley, in his 12th season, has never been to the league finals. The idea of finally getting there, Finley said, is providing the motivation for his play this postseason, but he quickly added he wasn’t expecting his teammates to jump on the same bandwagon.
“I don’t think it’s a case of winning one for ‘Fin,”‘ Finley said Tuesday. “Even if I wasn’t here, I would hope that these guys would still want to win the championship. Every team that wins the title has some chip on its shoulder, something that motivates them. I’ve never been to the Finals. The Nuggets haven’t been past the first round in a long time.”
Mystery man
Although Finley said history shows Spurs center Tim Duncan should rebound from a poor performance in the series opener against the Nuggets, he admitted he didn’t really have any first-hand indication from the laconic all-star forward to prove the point.
“I’ve been trying to figure Tim out for two years now,” Finley said. “I just haven’t been able to.”
What’s the rush?
The three-day layoff between games can be helpful for players who need to rest or recover from injuries, but Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he wished playoff series would move a bit faster. The first four games between the Nuggets and Spurs will take nine days.
“I guess I’m used to it now because that’s been the nature of the beast the last few years, but I’d rather be playing every other day,” Popovich said. “With so much time in between games, you start thinking about things too much.”
