San Antonio Spurs

[kamikaze426]

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gipahuway kay back to back game na.

[skyblue_lord]

piti pud............................

[johnphil7]

gipahuway? pildi nuon.

[footlose]

ngano gi pa pahuway man si Tim "Boring" ay este "Mr. Fundamental" diay Duncan?hehehe wa man to siya injury.

haya haya pud naman day off hehehe

[Archer sensAtion]

.


way lami ang daug sa Nuggets...wala inyo big 3... ahak oi...

mura ra man to gi hatag nga game...

Popovich "hala cgi mga bench warmers, praktisi ninyo ang Nuggets, kay sayon ra na pildihon..."


.

[tackielarla]

^Ehehe sige lang bro. It was almost a game man sab thanks to Mason and the scrubs.

[tackielarla]

Short-handed Spurs hang with Nuggets
Jeff McDonald

DENVER – Not long before tipoff Tuesday night, Denver coach George Karl stood before a gaggle of reporters with a confession to make. Playing the Spurs, he said, always makes him nervous.

“The butterflies are bigger,” Karl said. “You feel them today.”

And it doesn’t seem to matter who is wearing the Spurs silver and black uniforms.

Playing without their four of their top five scorers – one of them banged up, the others taking a Gregg Popovich-prescribed health day – the Spurs played the Nuggets within two points in the fourth quarter before falling 104-96 at the Pepsi Center.

Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points to lead the Nuggets, who also got 17 points and 11 rebounds from Nene.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Spurs, but comes with a Tim Duncan-sized asterisk.

Manu Ginobili did not play with what was called a left hip contusion, suffered in a spill a night earlier in the Spurs’ overtime victory at Golden State. Neither did Duncan or Tony Parker, the team’s two All-Stars, presumably to recharge after the taxing – and late – win in Oakland. Ditto for veteran Michael Finley, who missed only his sixth game since joining the team.

When initially asked about his decision to trot out a preseason lineup in February, Popovich went for a laugh.

Ginobili, Popovich said, was “legitimately banged up.” As for his other two sidelined stars?

“Parker makes the All-Star team and becomes hard to deal with, so we’re going to sit him and teach him a lesson,” Popovich joked. “Duncan says he wants to renegotiate his contract, so I said, ‘Sit, I’m not talking to you.’”

Pressed further, Popovich played coy.

“For a different variety of reasons, I don’t think Timmy and Tony should play tonight,” Popovich said before the game. “I think they need a break.”

Roger Mason paced the Spurs with 26 points, his highest-scoring outing since Nov. 21, and very nearly helped bring the Spurs back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter.

It was a battle of division leaders in name only.

The Nuggets had looked to Tuesday’s game as a measuring stick for a team that was leading the Northwest Division, but didn’t own many signature victories. Narrowly defeating Spurs Lite won’t count.

Still, the Nuggets tried hard to level the playing field as the game went along.

Already without one starter – the tonsillitis-stricken Kenyon Martin – the Nuggets saw All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups leave the game with a sprained ankle in the second quarter.

Billups’ exit allowed the Spurs, down 12 at the half and 10 at the end of three quarters, to make a last run at the Nuggets. They made seven of their first eight shots in the fourth quarter, and when Jacque Vaughn threw in a jumper with 8:58 to play, the Spurs were within 80-78.

Denver answered, with J.R. Smith throwing in a 3-pointer, and then Linas Kleiza, to get the lead back to 11.

Pesky, the Spurs rallied back to within four on a Mason 3-pointer with two minutes to go, but could get no closer.

[tackielarla]

Spurs sit, and NBA lies down
Buck Harvey

They talked about Gregg Popovich and his JV team in the league office on Wednesday, and they cracked a few jokes.

“Pop is the leading candidate,” kidded one, “for employer of the month.”

NBA execs left it at that. They didn't call the Spurs on Wednesday to protest, and they didn't consider a fine, because there was nothing to say.

After all, how can the NBA lecture Popovich about hurting the product — when the league hurts it more?

The NBA can't fine a franchise for not playing certain players, especially after an inactive list replaced a system that once encouraged teams to invent phantom injuries. The league had even less leverage this time; the Spurs almost won with an Oberto-Hairston frontline combo.

The remaining Spurs worked their system, and they were within four points late. Then George Karl looked as if he, not Popovich, was the one who had arrived at his hotel at 4 a.m.

“I don't think I had anything on my mind except anger,” Karl told reporters afterward.

So the issue became nothing more on Wednesday than a part of the usual ESPN debate shows, albeit with a twist. Usually everyone complains when they have to watch the Spurs play. This time, they complained when they had to watch them sit.

They wanted to know if Popovich had done a disservice to the Nuggets fan who paid $90 to see a showdown of divisional leaders, and the answer is clear. Yes. The NBA should hope others don't copy this, and so should Spurs fans.

For example: The Cavaliers play in San Antonio later this month, after a game the night before in Houston, and maybe Cleveland thinks LeBron James should rest on the only night he's in San Antonio.

But the league is probably safe from such a future. Popovich is one of the few coaches who so casually trades a loss in February for the promise of more.

This time, he may have traded a head-to-head edge that could affect playoff position. Kenyon Martin was out with the flu, and Chauncey Billups left with a sprained ankle, and the Spurs still had a lineup made for October.

Popovich could have rested his older players. But Tony Parker? And without another game until Sunday in Boston, Popovich could have simply started the usual lineup and adjusted as the game went along.

The Spurs were tired, sure, but that's the history of the game. In 1972, when the Lakers were putting together their historic 33-game winning streak, they flew commercial — and twice in that stretch, they played three games in a row.

But none of it matters to Popovich. Not history, not business, not the standings. He manages the energy of his team with a sense of the physical and emotional.

Tuesday, instead of pushing his guys, he chose to push them into chairs. During all of it, Popovich looked more relaxed than he has in months. By giving the Big Three the night off, he had given himself the night off, too.

There was also something else going on. Coming off an overtime win in Oakland, losing an hour in the air, landing in an airport that is an hour from downtown Denver, Popovich saw the madness.

In mid-December, the Spurs faced the same. They played in New Orleans on ESPN, and the game started an hour later than usual. The next night, they played in Orlando, on TNT, and this time, it was an early tip.

There were only 211/2 hours from start to start — and in between, there was a game and a flight. This is what the league chose to sell on national television.

The unfairness is usually spread around when cramming 82 games into six months. Though not always. A year ago, the Cavaliers, for example, were matched against nine teams who were playing the second of a back-to-back. Some other teams had nearly 30.

There are also specific moments when the schedule is more than a nuisance. It's a blockade. And somewhere after OT in Oakland and before the tip in Denver, the employer of the month made a decision.

Why not bench the core of his team? The league, in effect, already had.

[footlose]

I hope they will be tough come playoff time to kick the kobe's ass.. not a spurs fan, but a Suns fan..

so Spurs all the way ko karon sa West bahala boring hehehe.

But I want LBJ to win his first title this year nya Spurs ang contra haron nindot og dungog.

[EvenStar]

I hope they will be tough come playoff time to kick the kobe's ass.. not a spurs fan, but a Suns fan..looy akong suns ron ..

so Spurs all the way ko karon sa West bahala boring hehehe.

But I want LBJ to win his first title this year nya Spurs ang contra haron nindot og dungog.

mao na diha wa pa gani nahuman ang season nisurrender naka sa imong team na Suns.nya ni sakay na dayon sa bandwagon sa Spurs kay maayo man ang streak sa Spurs.toinks kaayo ka bai.what if makasud sa finals imong Suns vs Spurs? kuntrahon nasad nimo ang Spurs?wa ko nagpakialam nimo but youre not a true fanatic.BANDWAGONER ka hunting for glory.you have to whip,cry or die for your team.