Spurs end mini road trip in New Orleans

Leonard makes return tonight

Kawhi Leonard will make his return to the spurs after missing the past two games with an “injury that’s not an injury,” per Head Coach Gregg Popovich, but what is really a minor hand injury.  Tony Parker is also probable after nursing a sore ankle.

“We just decided it was the safe thing to do,” Popovich said of his decision to withhold Leonard from Tuesday’s win over the Raptors. “I’d rather err on the side of being conservative than lose him for three weeks because he gets whacked again.”

For the Spurs, it’s the end of a four game road trip in which they have won three of the four and number four is tonight.  The Spurs will return home to face the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday evening at 7.  The Mavericks are coming off an 11 point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder

Tickets for the IH-35 rivalry game with the Mavericks are still on sale as the Spurs look to sell out this game as they have 99.2% of all home games.

Spurs overcome injuries to take out Nuggets

Gasol injures finger in warm ups

The San Antonio Spurs keep humming along even through injuries from two of their starting players.  Pau Gasol broke a finger during pre-game warm ups while Tony Parker is still dealing with a left foot sprain.  Kawhi Leonard took up the slack as he completed his fifth consecutive 30-point game of the season.

“I’m just happy that my hard work has paid off,” Leonard said. “It’s just another stepping point to my career. Hopefully, I can keep going from here.”

The Spurs hit the road for a four game road trip that will have them visit Cleveland, Brooklyn, Toronto and Ne Orleans before returning home on the 29th to face their IH-35 rival Dallas Mavericks.  They will be home until the 4th of February facing Oklahoma City, Philadelphia and Denver before hitting the road for a long stretch.

Rodeo Road Trip

The Spurs begin their annual pilgrimage known as the Rodeo Road Trip.  This year the road trip kicks off o February 6th and will close February 26th.

 

 

Spurs dismantle Raptors

Nuggets and Hornets on tap

The San Antonio Spurs (28-7, 2nd Western Conference) recovered from their two point loss to the Atlanta Hawks (19-16, 5th Eastern Conference) by taking it out on the Toronto Raptors (23-11, 2nd Eastern Conference) with a 110-82 whipping.  Kawhi Leonard had 25 points and LaMarcus Aldridge chipped in 23 as the Spurs held them to a season low 82.

”That was a championship performance by a championship team,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. ”That’s the way you come out with a championship approach and desperation mode and we didn’t meet it. It started from the first play of the game.”

Tony Parker looked like a younger version of himself as he weaved his way through the Raptors defense, dishing out eight assist and scoring 15 points in 23 minutes of work.  The Spurs were deadly shooting 55% and collected 32 assists on 43 shots.

”Even when he’s not making (his tear-drop shot), guys always have to respect him getting to the lane,” Leonard said. ”He has a vision to see us out there. He’s always drawing two guys and someone’s always open.”

The Spurs had Wednesday off to travel and take on the Denver Nuggets (14-21, 10th Western conference) tonight at the Pepsi Center.  They will return home and face the Charlotte Hornets (20-16, 4th Eastern Conference) at the AT&T Center.

Plenty of great seats and affordable tickets are still available for Saturday’s game against the Hornets, so grab yours today and help cheer on your San Antonio Spurs!

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