DERRICK WHITE

on

PAUL MILLSAP

I

f you watch a Spurs game closely, you will
observe many things that will help your own
game. The Big Fundamental may be gone,
but the fundamentals remain. You’ll see proper
rotations on defense, crisply executed screen-
and-rolls, and, of course, coast-to-coast dunks
on opposing bigs.
What? You think that’s not a fundamental?
The point of the game is to score more than the
opponent, and to score efficiently, and there’s
nothing more efficient than throwing it down on
some flat-footed forward’s face. Manu Ginobili
knew this, and while he occasionally exasperat-
ed Gregg Popovich with his freestyle forays to
the basket, even Pop recognized that Manu’s
discordant notes were an equally important
part of the symphonic whole. Derrick White,
granted the same creative leeway, caught Paul
Millsap sleeping, and got 2 the easy way in a
Spurs Game 1 road win. The Spurs lost the
series in seven, but everyone knows who
Derrick White is now. Remember, dunking is
fundamental. —Russ Bengtson

APRIL 13, 2019PEPSI CENTER

DENVER, CO

SLAM

ADAMONTH

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