San Antonio Spurs

[juan penduko]

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it doesnt matter if spurs win or lose. because the spurs and the fans are proud when they win and humble in defeat. PERO ANG LAKERS. humbogero kun mo daug unya MAG.LAGOT KUN MA PILDI. HAHAHAHA. BEAT LA BEAT LA.

[menderouv]

^ sakto jd ka bro juan penduko

anyway just an update. si Timmy di kadua karon vs timberwolves. gidugo ra gyapon siya.hehe joke
Here's the details:


SAN ANTONIO (AP)—Spurs forward Tim Duncan sat out Tuesday night’s game against Minnesota to rest his knees that have sporadically troubled the veteran All-Star this season.

Coming off a loss Monday night at Oklahoma City, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he wanted to limit the number of back-to-back games Duncan plays down the stretch. But he said his big man wanted to play.

“He doesn’t love it, but it’s important for him to be fresh and healthy at the end of the season,” Popovich said.

Duncan, 32, missed three games in late February with a right quad injury, and his scoring average is down nearly five points since coming back March 1. Duncan is averaging 19.9 points and 10.1 rebounds for the season, and 15.1 points in his past nine games.

Popovich said Duncan’s occasional knee troubles is something he’s had to deal with “more than people would know.” Duncan’s official diagnosis last month was right quad tendonosis.

“He’s done a great job of always being there for us,” Popovich said. “I’m forcing him to sit.”

The Spurs have three more back-to-backs the rest of the season, but Popovich suggested that doesn’t mean Duncan will sit out one game of each of those sets. When Duncan is out, newly acquired forward Drew Gooden gives the Spurs another frontcourt presence.

The Spurs have reason to be injury-conscious with less than a month remaining in the regular season while trying to hold on to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

Manu Ginobili missed his 16th straight game Tuesday with a right ankle injury that has kept him out longer than the Spurs originally forecast. He is now expected to miss at least another week.

[menderouv]

Spurs will always bounce back...Popovich will get his 1000th win game on next match with Minnesota

well... daog me sa Minnesota and Popovich earned his 1000th win game sa NBA. Congrats!

[juan penduko]

congrats sa coach. ayaw lang lipay mau kai maglagot ang taga LA FAKERS. maglagot bya na sila dayun. hehehe
GO SPURS GO.

[tackielarla]

SA Spurs: The Scrub Slayers!

Current Standings:
1. LA
2. SA
3. Hou
4. Denver
5. Portland
6. NO
7. Utah
8. Dal

Go Dallas!!! Get that 7th seed!!!

[tackielarla]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...PERDiem-090318

San Antonio: This one comes with an asterisk, because much of San Antonio's edge in bench points has come from Manu Ginobili, and he's effectively a starter. However, it goes much deeper than that. Manu has been hurt so often that three other Spurs reserves (George Hill, Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas) have played more minutes, and San Antonio's plus-267 disparity between starters and subs is the smallest of any Western contender except the Jazz.Of course, the Spurs will have a couple of positives to offset that if everything goes according to plan -- Manu's again-delayed return being most prominent, and a likely No. 2 seed also proving helpful. Nonetheless, a rematch against the Hornets, Rockets or Blazers -- all of whom have outscored the Spurs with their starters on the floor -- could prove problematic based on the data above.

[kamikaze426]

Naa ba kaha ang mga stars inig Spurs vs Celtics. Basi wala ghapon si Duncan and Allen. If ever Garnett will play, for sure limited limits ra gyud ni

[MalditohoN]

all the speculations, everything will be clear when the right time comes and thats when its PLAYOFF!

[tackielarla]

Ginobili practices, but won't play against Celtics
Jeff McDonald

For the better part of the past month, Manu Ginobili has been the Spurs' version of Sasquatch.

Reports of his existence were legendary, but unsubstantiated. Some folks of dubious reliability had claimed to have seen him. Occasionally, there would materialize a grainy video of him pedaling a stationary bike, but nothing conclusive.

That is, until Thursday, when there was a bona fide Manu sighting at the Spurs' practice facility.

For the first time in his glacially paced recovery from a sore right ankle, Ginobili emerged from his behind-the-scenes rehabilitation regimen for a substantial on-court practice session, huffing and puffing though a full team workout and reaffirming his being to a skeptical world.

“It's the next step in him getting back to whole,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

It was a D-Day of sorts for Ginobili, who has missed 16 games and counting with a stress reaction in his distal right fibula.

Popovich had said that if Ginobili were not up and about on the practice floor by Thursday, he would officially begin to worry about the star guard's availability for the start of the playoffs.

Ginobili met that deadline, going through some one-on-one and scripted drills as the Spurs prepared for tonight's home game against Boston.

At one point, he punctuated a drill with a left-handed power dunk.

“He looked like he was moving around pretty good,” Matt Bonner said. “It was good to see him back out there.”

Still, it would be premature to expect Ginobili back in all his glory anytime soon. His gait was a bit tentative at times Thursday, and he was sucking wind by the end of full-court drills.

Ginobili has not played since Feb. 11. Popovich says it will be “at least a week” before he will consider ending Ginobili's hiatus.

“When he's able to play without fear of making it worse, that's when he'll play,” Popovich said.

Ginobili's return to the practice court Thursday threatened to obscure a visit from the defending NBA champions — or what's left of them anyway.

Like the Spurs, who are expected to get Tim Duncan back from a one-game sabbatical to rest his sore knees, Boston comes to town tonight with a medical staff on the verge of burnout.

Kevin Garnett has missed 14 games with a right knee strain. Ray Allen is day-to-day with a hyperextended right elbow. Tony Allen (left thumb), Leon Powe (right knee) and Brian Scalabrine (concussion) have been ruled out.

That's not to mention Rajon Rondo, Glen Davis and Eddie House, all of whom are playing through various bumps and bruises.

“The good thing about it is that these guys are going to be fresh,” said Paul Pierce, Boston's last All-Star standing Wednesday in Miami. “Maybe it could be a blessing in disguise that these guys got some time off, especially Kevin.”

The Spurs so far have survived their latest Ginobili-less stretch, going 11-5 and clinging to a slim lead in the Southwest Division.

The Celtics have not been as lucky. The injury epidemic likely has cost them the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. They have lost four of their past six, and six of 11.

“Every team suffers a little bit when they have key injuries to people, so I don't think it's amazing they've dropped a couple games here and there,” Popovich said. “When they're healthy, you still have to count them as the best team in the NBA until somebody has proven differently.”

There is strong speculation the Celtics could get Garnett back tonight. It will be awhile until the Spurs get Ginobili back.

Still, Thursday's practice session — and others like it to come — will go a long way toward helping the Spurs' medical staff clarify a timetable for Ginobili's return.

“You can tell if someone is ready or not,” Popovich said. “The court is what gives us those answers. For him to finally get on the court today, and play a little of both offense and defense, it starts to make a picture for us to at least look at.”

The Spurs just hope what they've captured on film is their Sasquatch, at long last ready to emerge from hibernation.

[tackielarla]

Spurs get taste of strong bench attack
Mike Monroe

Spurs practice officially had ended, but for an additional 20 minutes assistant coach Mike Budenholzer directed a foursome of bench players as they ran through some offensive sets.

Manu Ginobili, Drew Gooden, George Hill and Malik Hairston took part in an after-work session that signals what may be a potent second unit for the Spurs.

For Gooden, who signed with the Spurs on March 5, it was his first chance to work with Ginobili, who practiced Thursday for the first time in more than a month. The prospect of an off-the-bench scoring punch made Gooden smile.

“I think it can be a great second unit, with Manu and me being out there, especially if we build some chemistry,” Gooden said. “It's going to take some time being in that second group, but it will be a powerful group. I'm cool with it. As long as I'm helping this team I'm cool with it.”

Gooden has played a total of 40 minutes in four games since joining the Spurs. He expects coach Gregg Popovich to increase his workload in the remaining 15 games, and with it, his efficiency.

“It's something Pop and I talked about,” Gooden said. “I was overcoming an injury myself, and he wanted to make sure I was close to 100 percent before going out there trying to push, going 20 or 25 minutes a game. When Manu had an ankle sprain earlier this year, from the outside looking in, it looked like he did the same thing with him.

“It's more of a precautionary thing right now, as far as my minutes.”

A bus too far: Starting center Matt Bonner, who grew up a Celtics fan in New Hampshire, won't have busloads of friends and relatives from the Granite State cheering him on when the Spurs play the Celtics tonight at the AT&T Center.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “the 35-hour drive from New Hampshire wasn't feasible this time around.”

A few dozen of Bonner's fans made the trip to Boston when the Spurs beat the Celtics, 105-99, in a nationally televised game on Feb. 8.

He said he needs no additional motivation from the stands against the team he grew up supporting.

“I'm equally motivated,” he said. “It's still the Celtics, and they're still the team to beat. It's going to be a big game.”

March mad: Spurs players are following the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament, with brackets filled.

Matt Bonner, a former Florida star, feigned outrage when asked which team the Gators were playing in the first round.

Florida did not make the field.

Gooden, who played for Roy Williams during his days as a Kansas Jayhawk, admitted he had Williams' team, North Carolina, advancing further in the tournament than his old school.