San Antonio Spurs

[juan penduko]

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para dili mo libug. after michael jordan era. ang spurs na akong team sugod atong 1999 against the ny knicks. then i choose other team in playoff because of these players that i also want to advance. pero'g ang spurs ang kontra sori nalang i will be rooting for spurs jud.

east:
1.orlando - dwight howard
2. cavs - king james
3. celtics - kg and rey allen
4. heat - dwade

west
1. spurs
2. rockets - yao
3. portland - roy
4. nuggets - carmelo

nindot kung ang spurs mo lusot bt any of these teams

AYAW LANG KOBE AND THE LAKERS. beat LA BEAT LA

[ju-Luis]

ma-sumpo ra nya na ang li-og ni kobe.. nawa nya.. hahaha.. bali-an nang bowen...

[MalditohoN]

the only way the spurs can get their 5th ring this season is PLAY PHYSICAL, literally and figuratively and one more thing, the BIG 3 should be HEALTHY!

[cainez]

i saw tim donaghy on that play..haha

[dave_ong88]

awh hahahaha

[tackielarla]

i saw Joey Crawford on Game 4 - WCF last year on that play..haha

Fixed foh ya.

[tackielarla]

Spurs are in third, but don't get too comfortable
By Jeff McDonald

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Spurs woke up in the Bay Area this morning technically in third place in the Western Conference. But only technically, and probably not for long.

By virtue of their 95-92 victory in Sacramento on Friday night, which the NBA says probably should have gone to overtime, the Spurs are back in a three-way tie with Portland and Houston for the third through fifth seeds.

The Spurs win that tiebreaker, for now. But if all three teams win out, the Spurs will drop to fifth. How can that be?

A primer: The first step in breaking a three-way tie is to first settle the division championship. That squares off the Spurs and Rockets. At the moment, the Spurs own that tiebreaker by virtue of their superior record against the Southwest Division (9-6 vs. 8-6).

That's why they are technically in third place right now.

If both the Spurs and Rockets win out, each team will be 10-6 against the division, moving things down the tiebreaker line. They would each own the same record against the conference as well, meaning the tiebreaker comes down to which team has the best combined record against Western Conference playoff teams.

That would be the Rockets.

In that case, the Rockets get the third seed, the Blazers get fourth, and the Spurs slide to fifth -- and would open the playoffs on the road against Portland.

There are still a couple of scenarios that end with the Spurs in third place, but all of them involve the Rockets losing at least once.

UPDATE: There is one fairly plausible scenario in which the Spurs could wind up third. If the Spurs win out, and the Rockets lose at least one of their final two games, they are the No. 3 seed -- regardless of what happens to Portland.

If Portland also loses one or more games, the Spurs obviously take the third seed outright.

If Portland also wins out, it would create a two-way tie with the Spurs for third and fourth. The Spurs would win that tiebreaker based on an NBA rule, new for this season, that gives division winners an automatic tiebreaker over non-division winners. As such, the Spurs would gain third place over Portland, despite the fact the Blazers took three of four from them this season.

[tackielarla]

Spurs win vs the W's! The question now is just by how many points.

[MalditohoN]

as much... big win by the spurs...

[tackielarla]

Expect Spurs' Hill to be playoff spectator
Jeff McDonald

OAKLAND, Calif. — Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has spent the past few weeks fine-tuning his rotation as the playoffs approach.

As things stand today, rookie guard George Hill won't be in it. If that wasn't made obvious by Hill's flagging playing time lately, Popovich all but made it official before Monday's game at Golden State.

“This playoff probably isn't for him,” Popovich said.

As the 26th overall pick in last year's NBA draft, Hill had been a revelation, filling in for an injured Tony Parker at point guard to start the season and later sliding over to provide depth at the other guard spot. He remains one of the team's best on-the-ball defenders.

Still, Popovich doesn't believe Hill is comfortable enough at either spot to get serious minutes in the pressure cooker of the playoffs.

“He's working at the one guard, working at the two-three,” Popovich said. “Playoffs is a time for people who feel very confident about what they're doing, and George isn't in that category yet. He needs more time.”

Over the past 12 games, Hill has surrendered playing time to Ime Udoka and Bruce Bowen on the wing, logging more than nine minutes just three times. One of those came in Monday's win over the Warriors, as the Spurs opened up a 20-point lead in the first half.

Unwanted help: Popovich got some unwanted help in solidifying his rotation — from Manu Ginobili.

When Ginobili went down with a season-ending stress fracture a week ago Monday, it had the side effect of clarifying other people's roles.

“Manu's out, so you know that's the way it is,” Popovich said. “Bruce and Ime are going to be the wings that are going to play. Roger (Mason) is back at the point. Drew Gooden is obviously in the rotation. It's a lot more set now, mostly because we know Manu is out.”

The biggest benefactor of Ginobili's season-ending injury, in terms of minutes, has been Bowen.

Bowen had fallen out of the rotation until Ginobili went down, taking an occasional DNP-CD along the way.

“He's been a pro,” Popovich said. “We've talked about it. He understands what we're trying to do. Him being back in the lineup is basically a function of Manu being out. It changes not just for him, but for everybody.”

Homeward bound: The Spurs stayed over a night in the Bay Area after Monday's game, using today as a travel day to get home.

The New Orleans Hornets will be waiting for them. They played in Houston on Monday, giving them a 45-minute plane ride to San Antonio for Wednesday's game.