By Mike Monroe
PORTLAND, Ore. — When Spurs coach Gregg Popovich announced a starting lineup for his team’s game against the Trail Blazers that didn’t include anyone named Duncan or Parker, there were Portlanders who believed he had lost his mind.
How could the coach of a team that had won 11 games in a row and already was short three regular members of his playing rotation possibly leave his two best players on the bench, with no intention to play either?
With shooting guard Manu Ginobili, center Tiago Splitter and point guard T.J. Ford injured and one-third of the Spurs’ offensive production ruled out of action, the streak hit a brick wall as the Trail Blazers scored a 137-97 victory that extended a streak of their own.
The victory was Portland’s seventh straight over the Spurs at the Rose Garden. It was also their largest margin of victory ever over the Spurs.
What the uninformed didn’t understand about Popovich’s banishment of his two stars was the utter lack of significance he places on anything as pedestrian as a win streak, even one that has reached double digits.
“We’ve had the same goal for 15 years: To be the best team we can possibly be come playoff time,” Popovich said before the game. “We’ve never ever talked about what our record should be, whether we are going to win a championship, or not. Never. It’s never come up in any practice or game for 15 years.
“We just try to get better every day, and whatever happens, happens.”
Nothing that happened on the court mattered to Popovich as much as his concern for the physical toll the season has been taking on Parker, who leads the Spurs in minutes played, and Duncan, his oldest player.
“(Tim) and Tony need a rest,” he said before tipoff. “Everybody’s played a lot of games, and somewhere along the line, everybody gives somebody a rest, and I think we’ve reached that point.
“Whether it’s three games in four nights or X nights before, I don’t know, I’ve lost track. But we’ve been going and going and going, and if we don’t do it now, I think we’re asking for trouble later.”
The fact Duncan had played 41 minutes and 20 seconds in Saturday’s overtime victory in Los Angeles over the Clippers and 37:52 in Monday’s win over the Jazz factored into Popovich’s thinking.
Replacing Duncan and Parker were 20-year-old rookies Kawhi Leonard and Corey Joseph, with Danny Green, DeJuan Blair and Richard Jefferson on the floor at tipoff.
The Spurs actually managed to hang with the Blazers through the first seven minutes and led 20-19 after a 3-point basket by Gary Neal.
Thoughts of stealing a 12th straight win were doomed when the Trail Blazers followed with a 22-0 run that included five 3-point baskets.
The Spurs’ biggest blowout loss since a 111-69 setback at Chicago on March 5, 1997, didn’t diminish what Popovich’s team had done in winning the first seven games of its annual rodeo road trip. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, teams have played at least seven consecutive road games more than 250 times, but the Spurs are one of only two teams to have a stretch of seven wins on such trips.
The other team: the 2002-03 Spurs, who won the first eight on the initial rodeo trip before losing the final one. The Spurs can match that Thursday in Denver.
Duncan and Parker are expected to be available.
mikemonroe@express-news.net
– Associated Press
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Trail Blazers 137, Spurs 97: Feb. 21, 2012
San Antonio Spurs’ Cory Joseph, right, shoots as Portland Trail Blazers’ Nicolas Batum (88) defends in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP)
Portland Trail Blazers’ Gerald Wallace (3) drives to the basket as San Antonio Spurs’ Matt Bonner, left, and teammate Eric Dawson (23) defends in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair (45) lays the ball up as Portland Trail Blazers’ Nicolas Batum, right, defends in the second quarter of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP)
Portland Trail Blazers’ Wesley Matthews (2) drives as San Antonio Spurs’ Eric Dawson (23) defends in the second quarter of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP)
Portland Trail Blazers’ LaMarcus Aldridge (12) shoots as San Antonio Spurs’ Eric Dawson (23) defends in the second quarter of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich shouts to his team in the fourth quarter during an NBA basketball game with the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in Portland, Ore. The Trail Blazers defeated the Spurs 137-97. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker, left, looks on as teammate Tim Duncan, right, yawns in the fourth quarter during an NBA basketball game with the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in Portland, Ore. The Trail Blazers defeated the Spurs 137-97. Both Parker and Duncan sat the game out on the bench. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Richard Jefferson towels off in the second half during an NBA basketball game with the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012, in Portland, Ore. The Trail Blazers defeated the Spurs 137-97. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP)
