Spurs defense could cause fits for Sonics

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs took down one of the NBA’s top offenses when they eliminated Denver in the first round of the playoffs.

Their reward is a Western Conference semifinals matchup against the Seattle SuperSonics, another high-scoring team that likes to run and has more perimeter threats than the Nuggets.

Game 1 of the best-of-7 series is tonight in San Antonio, with Game 2 on Tuesday.

The Spurs dropped Game 1 at home in the Denver series before sweeping the next four.

“Sometimes it takes a smack in the face to open your eyes,” forward Robert Horry said. “It’s opened our eyes and made us realize you have to respect all of your opponents. We have to take it four or five steps above normal.”

Brent Barry played five years in Seattle before signing with the Spurs last summer. It looked like he was leaving a lottery-bound team for a title contender, but the Sonics have exceeded expectations.

“People can stop saying ‘Are they for real?’ ” he said. “They’re in the second round of the playoffs.”

The Sonics averaged 99 points a game during the regular season and nearly 107 points in their five-game elimination of Sacramento in the first round. But they didn’t play much defense, allowing the Kings to break 100 points in three of the five games.

They won’t see as many open jumpers against San Antonio’s high-energy defense, which clamped down on Denver’s transition scoring while holding the Nuggets to 90 points per game.

“We’re going to have to really limit our turnovers and really execute, meaning set solid screens, a lot of screens to free each other, to free the ball, to free our shooters up,” Seattle coach Nate McMillan said. “Our cuts, they’ve got to be hard, because this team will try and take you out right from the start, pressure you and take your confidence.”

The teams split their four regular-season games, with the Sonics being one of only three teams to beat San Antonio at home. The Spurs won the last two meetings.

“The last two games they’ve kept us from running,” said Seattle’s Ray Allen, the leading playoff scorer at 32.4 per game. “I think a lot of that is rebounding. When we rebound the ball and we can run, we get those easier shots.”

The Spurs will likely use Bruce Bowen, who finished second to Ben Wallace for this year’s defensive player of the year award, to shadow Allen.

San Antonio’s star seems to be finding his rhythm after an injury. Tim Duncan missed a dozen late-season games with a sprained ankle but looked more like himself as the Nuggets series progressed.

The Sonics will use rugged forward Danny Fortson to try to disrupt Duncan.

“Danny is strong enough to get (Duncan) off the block, which is always the key,” McMillan said. “If he’s establishing deep post position, then we’ll be forced to double-team, and that team is set up to play against double teams with the shooters they’ve got.”

Those shooters include Barry, All-Star Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, who averaged 25 points on 56 percent shooting in the last two wins over Denver.

Parker said, while his offense has picked up of late, his first priority is to limit Seattle point guard Luke Ridnour’s ability to run the Sonics’ offense.

“Then I’ll attack him, that’s for sure, come right back at him,” Parker said. “We’re in the semifinals, so it’s time to play our best basketball.”