Spurs look forward to a tough weekend schedule

It wasn’t flashy nor pretty but the San Antonio Spurs victory over the Denver Nuggets set the tone for the rest of the weekend which features NBA heavyweights the LA Clippers and the Miami Heat.

The clock continues to turn back for Spurs PF Tim Duncan who finished the game with 23 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks and a steal.

“It’s a great win to start this homestand here,” Duncan said. “We’ve got some really tough games this part of the schedule down the stretch here. It’s going to be tough for us, so we need to win everyone we can get.”

The Clippers come to the AT&T Center tonight and are coming off a 105-91 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.  The extra emphasis for the Clippers (if one is needed against the top seeded Spurs) it’s that with a victory over the Spurs, the Clippers can clinch the best season in franchise history.

“At the beginning of the season, we set some goals for the team,” coach Vinny Del Negro told the team’s official website Tuesday. “Obviously, to win the division. It’s all about improving throughout the season. I expect a lot from this team, but more importantly they expect a lot from themselves. We just want to play as consistently as possible, count them up at the end and hopefully be healthy going into the playoffs.”

The Miami Heat are coming off a 97-101 loss to the Chicago Bulls and face the New Orleans Hornets Friday night and the Spurs on Sunday.

Be sure to get your tickets and support your San Antonio Spurs!

Slideshow: NBA coaches with Spurs ties








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Express-News staff writer Mike Monroe runs down the seven NBA teams with a head coach with ties directly to the Spurs:

Doc Rivers, Celtics: Played two seasons, 1994-96; broadcaster, 1996-97

Avery Johnson, Nets: Played 10 seasons, 1999-2001

Vinny Del Negro, Clippers: Played six seasons, 1992-98

Mike Brown, Lakers: Assistant coach three seasons, 2000-03

Monty Williams, Hornets: Played three seasons, 1995-98; assistant coach, 2004-05

Jacque Vaughn, Magic: Played three seasons, 2006-09; assistant coach, 2010-12

Alvin Gentry, Suns: Assistant coach, 1988-89

Spurs look to experience and the deepest bench in the NBA for the Western Conference Semi’s

The San Antonio Spurs can finally work off of one game plan and as of the final buzzer on the LA Clippers/Memphis Grizzlies set out to work at their practice facility on Sunday night.

Head Coach Vinny Del Negro knows exactly what his team is facing come Tuesday night at the A T&T Center.

“Different type of team, different type of series,”  Del Negro said during the  Clippers’ postgame interviews. “San Antonio has played as well, if not the most consistently, of anybody throughout the year. They’ve won championships for a reason. They’re not going to beat themselves.”

And they won’t.  Sure there will be those folks out there that say so much time off will only hurt their game and there is something to that but this is a team that strongly remembers their exit from last year’s playoffs and rest assured they will not let it happen again. Plus, the Clippers struggled against a Memphis squad with no stars.  To the Clippers, the Spurs must look like a stellar constellation.

The Clippers, meanwhile, are ever mindful of the four-time NBA Champions and feel they have a shot and one veteran of many playoff battles, Kenyon Martin, (whom the Spurs actively pursued in the offseason) has appreciated his young team’s growth.

“The thing about Game 7 of a series, if you didn’t learn anything from Game 1, then you don’t deserve to be here in the first place,” Martin said. “I think guys really, really embrace the moment.”

Be sure to get your tickets for a potentially explosive playoff series. a