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The San Antonio Spurs today announced that Manu Ginobili is expected to miss three-to-four weeks with a strained right hamstring. The injury occurred during the first quarter of the Spurs vs. L.A. Clippers game on March 29.
The team also announced that Tim Duncan (sore left knee) and Kawhi Leonard (sore left knee) are both out for tonight’s game at Memphis.
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Often the forgotten member of Miami’s ”Big Three,” Chris Bosh stepped up with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade sitting out to get the Heat a big win and move closer to securing home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs.
Bosh scored 23 points, including the winning 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds remaining, and the Heat beat San Antonio 88-86 on Sunday night with James, Wade and Mario Chalmers watching from the locker room as they sat out with injuries.
”We are the defending champs no matter who we put out there,” Bosh said. ”We are still the Miami Heat. We believe in ourselves. Each one of these guys is a professional. We played bigger roles in other cities but we came together and accepted lesser roles to win a championship here. We can still tap into that.”
Ray Allen added 14 points, Norris Cole had 13 and Mike Miller 12 for Miami (58-15), which swept the season series with San Antonio (55-18). By earning the head-to-head tiebreaker with San Antonio, the Heat have a four-game cushion with nine remaining for the league’s best record…
Miami beat San Antonio 105-100 on Nov. 29 when the Spurs opted to rest Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green.
All but Ginobili (strained right hamstring) played Sunday.
Duncan had 17 points and 12 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard added 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who had a seven-game home winning streak snapped. Green and Parker added 12 points apiece and Stephen Jackson had 11.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Spurs coach Gregg Popovich puts Manu Ginobili’s timetable to return from a strained right hamstring at weeks rather than days, a significant setback to the team’s pre-playoff preparation.
“It’s a huge blow for us,” he said, “because he’s the guy that allows our second team to do what they’ve been doing all year long.
“It’s a huge loss for that group, and in game situations it’s a tough one because he’s one of two guys, he and Tony (Parker), are the creators who make things happen for everybody else on the court. It’s an unfortunate loss at this point of the season.”
Popovich said it is unknown if Ginobili’s injury will stretch into the postseason, which begins on April 20. Excluding Sunday’s home game against Miami, the Spurs have nine games remaining in the regular season, with the last coming on April 17 against Minnesota.
— Reported by Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News (Blog)
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San Antonio Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan is a man of little emotion and even fewer words.
The Los Angeles Clippers brought out a demonstrative side rarely seen from the 16-year veteran and it helped lead to their downfall.
Duncan had a season-high 34 points, including a game-winning three-point play with 2.2 seconds left, and San Antonio outlasted Los Angeles 104-102 on Friday night.
Sparked by a pair of hard fouls in the second quarter, Duncan was 12 for 19 from field and also had 11 rebounds in leading San Antonio (55-17) to its seventh straight home victory.
”There was a stretch where they put the whistle away,” Duncan said. ”It gave me a little energy to kind of play a little harder. I got some shots to go early and it just kind of snowballed from there.”
Tony Parker added 24 points and eight assists, and Tiago Splitter had 14 points for San Antonio.
The Spurs extended their lead in the Western Conference to 2 1/2 games over Oklahoma City, which lost 101-93 to Minnesota.
Blake Griffin scored 18 points, Jamal Crawford added 16 and Chris Paul had 14 for the Clippers (49-24), who remain fourth in the West. Caron Butler added 11 points and Willie Green had 10.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich treats the stretch run of the regular season like a series of final exams for his team.
The Spurs passed their latest – just barely.
Tim Duncan had 23 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks and the San Antonio Spurs escaped with a 100-99 win over Denver on Wednesday night when Nuggets veteran guard Andre Miller missed a short jumper at the buzzer.
”The schedule that we have is something that should be embraced and considered a great opportunity,” Popovich said, ”because it’s like taking a final exam every day or most days. To get ready for the playoffs, understanding the physicality, aggressiveness and competitiveness that’s necessary night after night in the playoffs.”
Denver dished out a heavy dose of that playoff intensity.
Danny Green added 20 points and Tony Parker had 18 points and 11 assists for the Spurs, who remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Oklahoma City in the race for the top spot in the Western Conference. Kawhi Leonard had 11 points and Tiago Splitter 10.
JaVale McGee had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Wilson Chandler scored 15 points and Miller 14 for the Nuggets, whose reserves outscored their Spurs counterparts 59-18. Kenneth Faried and Danilo Gallinari added 12 points apiece and Andre Igoudala had 10.
— Reported by Raul Dominguez of the Associated Press
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The Houston Rockets got contributions from several players Sunday night against the Spurs.
In closing time, they turned to James Harden again.
Harden sank an off-balance jumper with 4.5 seconds left to lift the Rockets to a 96-95 victory over San Antonio. Harden scored 18 of his 29 points in the second half as the Rockets rallied from three down in the final minute to snap a four-game losing streak to their state rivals.
Houston has won three in a row and inched closer to clinching a postseason berth.
”Tonight was a great environment, great crowd,” Harden said. ”Hopefully, we can continue to build off this lead. It’s momentum.”
Tony Parker scored 23 points, including 10 in a row to put San Antonio ahead with just under 2 minutes left. The Spurs led 95-94 when Harden got the ball from Omer Asik, drove to the free throw line and hit the winning jumper between Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard…
Chandler Parsons scored 20 points and Asik grabbed 14 rebounds for the Rockets. Backup point guard Patrick Beverley had 11 points and blocked Danny Green’s layup attempt with 1:22 left to keep Houston within one.
Duncan had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Spurs, who shot 42 percent (33 of 78), gave away 18 turnovers and were held below 100 points for just the third time in 12 games.
— Reported by Chris Duncan of the Associated Press
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Not long before tipoff of what would become his team’s 29th consecutive loss in San Antonio, Golden State coach Mark Jackson was asked his chief concern in facing a Spurs team minus All-Star point guard Tony Parker.
Jackson responded with an answer straight out of 1997.
“Big guy by the name of Duncan,” Jackson said. “I heard he’s pretty good.”
Duncan turns 37 next month.
His line in Wednesday’s 104-93 victory over the Warriors — 25 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, four blocks — could have been lifted from the first half of his 16th season, which in turn could have been lifted from his MVP heyday.
Over his past three games, Duncan is averaging 27.7 points, 14.7 rebounds, 3.3 blocks and shooting 64.3 percent (36 of 56), a sure sign he has regained his All-Star form from before his Feb. 2 knee injury.
— Reported by Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (Blog)
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The San Antonio Spurs just keep winning, especially when they face the Golden State Warriors at home.
Tim Duncan had 25 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and four blocks, and San Antonio beat Golden State 104-93 on Wednesday night for its 29th straight home win against the Warriors.
Golden State has not won in San Antonio since Feb. 14, 1997, the season before Duncan was selected No. 1 overall by the Spurs.
”He’s a Hall of Fame player, an all-time great,” Warriors coach Marc Jackson said. ”He certainly had a big game tonight.”
Tiago Splitter added 17 points and Manu Ginobili had 16 points and seven assists for San Antonio (52-16), which has won three straight and seven of nine overall. Nando De Colo had 10 points.
The Spurs are right behind Miami (53-14) for the league’s best record.
Stephen Curry had 24 points for Golden State (39-31), which remains sixth in the West. Jarrett Jack had 14 points, and David Lee added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Golden State closed to 92-88 when Curry went 1 for 2 at the line, but Duncan threw in a running hook and a 16-foot jumper to give San Antonio an eight-point lead with 2:37 remaining.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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All-Star point guard Tony Parker participated in his first full practice since suffering a Grade 2 left ankle sprain almost three weeks ago, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said Tuesday.
Popovich ruled Parker out for Wednesday’s home game against Golden State, but said again that the Frenchman will likely beat the initial one-month timeline given after his injury against Sacramento on March 1. The Spurs follow the Warriors with Utah at home on Friday, Houston on the road on Sunday and Denver at home next Wednesday.
“I think it will be sooner than four weeks, but it won’t be tomorrow,” Popovich said. “He did everything today. It’s very encouraging.”
The Spurs are 5-2 without Parker, a likely MVP candidate in the midst of arguably his best season.
— Reported by Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News (Blog)
The San Antonio Spurs today re-assigned center Aron Baynes and guard Nando De Colo to the Austin Toros, San Antonio’s NBA Development League affiliate. The assignments are the record 156th and 157th of the 2012-13 NBA and NBA D-League seasons, while the pair are two of the record 56 NBA players to be assigned to the NBA D-League this season.
Baynes (6-10, 260, Washington State) has played in 11 games for the Spurs, averaging 2.2 points, 1.4 rebounds and 6.5 minutes. Signed by San Antonio on Jan. 23, Baynes rejoins the Toros following two previous assignments, when he averaged 17.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 26.7 minutes.
De Colo (6-5, 200, Saint Catherine, France) has appeared in 57 games for the Spurs this season, averaging 3.4 points, 1.7 assists, 1.6 rebounds and 11.5 minutes. He returns to the Toros averaging 14.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 36.5 minutes in two games during two previous assignments.
Baynes and De Colo are expected to join the Toros today and be available when the team hosts the Los Angeles D-Fenders in Austin tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET.