| Udrih Spurs An Upset |
Beno Udrih grabbed the ball and ran.
He ran past Manu Ginobili, ran past Michael Finley, then ran past Brent Barry, twisting through contact with his former teammate at the last instant as his end-to-end three-point play put the Kings up by 14 and made the unlikely seem possible after all.
Putting his past behind him in the best way he knew how.
The Kings would, in fact, upset the defending champion San Antonio Spurs 112-99 Monday night at Arco Arena, surprising enough, considering the polar-opposite plights of these two teams. But this was Udrih's moment even more than the rest, an all-timer when it comes to former players facing their old teams, as Udrih was against the Spurs.
A career-high 27 points wasn't even the end of it for the player who spent his first three seasons in San Antonio, as Udrih efficiently ran a Kings offense that shot 55.1 percent and received a combined 54 points from Ron Artest, Brad Miller and Mikki Moore.
Yet this, Udrih wanted to make clear, was no grudge match.
In mid-August, Udrih met with Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to discuss his career. In essence, he asked for his freedom, for Popovich to let him go if he had no plans of utilizing his talents.
"I was like, 'Pop, I just want to play,' " Udrih said. "If I'm still here. I'll be professional as much as I can be, practice hard, do everything. But if you don't need me, I just want to play. I want to show myself for everybody, and that's it."
His phone rang just two hours before teams had to finalize their regular-season rosters on Oct. 27. Udrih had been traded to Minnesota, signing the official papers just 30 minutes before the deadline. He was immediately waived by the Timberwolves and signed days later by the Kings.
"They didn't let me go in a bad way," he said. "That's why I wasn't trying to go back at them (on Monday night). I just wanted to play the game and help my team win. It wasn't personal. ... They didn't need to trade me. They could've kept me, and I'd still be sitting on the bench."
Instead, he was facing off with the player he once was content to back up in Tony Parker, outplaying the Spurs point guard, who had just 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting and seven assists and four turnovers. Even Popovich – who joked before the game that maybe Udrih would have a breakout night – had to be impressed.
As Popovich neared the end of his pregame media session, he laughed at the notion that no one had asked him about the former player whom he so often conflicted with, then said seemingly sarcastically, "That's all right. We'll talk about him after he scores 30 (points)."
Udrih nearly did it, hitting 8 of 12 shots and 9 of 9 free throws.
"Beno had a great game," Popovich said afterward. "The difference in the game tonight was Beno Udrih. He fed everybody. He scored and did everything they needed. ... He is a hell of a player."
The Kings survived an 0-for-8 shooting start from Kevin Martin, who hit his first shot during a 15-0 run that put the Kings up 69-56 midway through the third quarter. Udrih – whose three-pointer started the run – found Martin on the break for a layup that put the Kings up 63-56, Miller found a cutting Moore for a layup, followed by a hand-fed pass from Artest to Miller for a three-point play that ended the run.
After three threes from Michael Finley and another from Manu Ginobili cut the Kings' lead to 99-92 with 4:50 remaining, swingman John Salmons' runner from the left side regained the momentum after Miller found him with a behind-the-back pass through the paint. The Kings improved to 5-2 at home, while the Spurs – who were 4-0 on the tail end of back-to-backs coming in – lost for just the third time this season.
"That could've been the best 48 minutes we've had all season," Kings coach Reggie Theus said. "It was an absolute, total team win."
Used courtesy of: Sacramento Bee |
|
