Tag: Gregg Popovich

Celtics veteran O’Neal returning to lineup

For Spurs starters Tony Parker, Antonio McDyess and Manu Ginobili, the prospect of returning to the lineup for tonight’s game against the Boston Celtics could be as simple as lacing up their sneakers.

For Boston’s Jermaine O’Neal, just finding the bus to the arena could be a problem.

“I can’t remember the last time I was on the team bus,” the Celtics center said after surviving a two-hour practice at the ATT Center on Tuesday afternoon, his first full workout in nearly three months.

O’Neal last played on Jan. 10, when he logged 21 minutes in a game in Boston against the Houston Rockets. A free-agent signee of the Celtics last summer, O’Neal has appeared in only 17 games this season because of problems with his left knee.

He tried to play through the pain through the first two months of the season but agreed to arthroscopic surgery in January.

The Celtics’ plan to have O’Neal close to game shape and rhythm by the time the playoffs begin, and that process will begin with tonight’s game.

“He had a good practice,” said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. “He missed shots and all that stuff, but overall, I thought he was terrific. I’m going to start him and play him 40 minutes.”

The part about starting and playing 40 minutes was a joke, and O’Neal laughed at it himself.

“Today I felt pretty good, but tomorrow I know I’m going to be gassed,” he said.

DUNCAN PRACTICES: Wednesday marked Tim Duncan’s first time on the practice court since spraining his left ankle March 21 against Golden State. Duncan received positive reviews, though coach Gregg Popovich pronounced the 13-time All-Star a game-time decision.

Parker reported his longest-tenured teammate was beginning to look like his old self.

“We have to see how he’s going to react tomorrow and if there’s no swelling,” Parker said. “Hopefully, he can go.”

BUMP, SET, SPIKE: Popovich has agreed to allow Parker to return to the lineup after missing the Portland game with a left patella contusion. He made just one request of his fashion-conscious point guard, which was ultimately rebuffed.

“I wanted to give him some of those volleyball knee pads,” Popovich said. “It was uncool, he said.”

MR. ROGERS RETURNS: Celtics assistant coach Roy Rogers looked forward to renewing his ties with his former University of Alabama teammate, McDyess.

“I can’t pass up an off night in San Antonio without making ‘Dyess buy dinner for me, and I’m not talking Applebee’s,” Rogers said. “He’s going to have to reach pretty deep into that wallet.”

Rogers got his coaching start with the Spurs’ NBA D-League team, the Austin Toros, before landing a job on Lawrence Franks’ New Jersey Nets staff in 2008. After Franks was hired to replace Tom Thibodeau on Rivers’ staff, he recommended Rogers be hired to work with Boston’s big men.

Staff writer Jeff McDonald contributed to this report.

Rookie Anderson keeps head up despite lost season

Rookie guard James Anderson earned his second career start Monday, replacing the injured Manu Ginobili in the Spurs’ 100-92 loss to Portland, but he knows not to make too much of it.

Someday soon, perhaps as early as Thursday’s game against Boston, Ginobili will be back in the lineup and Anderson will be back on his customary seat near the end of the Spurs’ bench.

“I’ll just wait for my name to be called,” Anderson said. “I’ll do whatever I can to support the team. If that’s standing on the sideline, cheering my guys on, that’s what I’ll do.”

For the player nicknamed “Big Game James” at Oklahoma State, this new role of glorified cheerleader takes some getting used to. Certainly, his first NBA season hasn’t gone as planned since the Spurs made him the 20th pick in last June’s draft.

Anderson has appeared in 23 games, averaging 3.7 points in 10:41 per outing. He scored five points Monday against Portland, going 2 of 4 from the field.

A stress fracture in his right foot, suffered in early November, cost Anderson 39 games. While he spent 10 weeks in rehabilitation, then another two on Development League assignment in Austin, the Spurs’ season went on without him.

Coach Gregg Popovich’s rotation took hold. Another sharpshooting rookie guard, Gary Neal, has enjoyed a breakout season off the bench.

Suddenly, Big Game James became No Game James.

“It’s a big adjustment, going from playing a lot of minutes to just playing every now and then,” said Anderson, a three-year starter and 2010′s Big 12 Player of the Year at OSU. “It’s just part of it. I’m just learning from sitting on the sidelines, picking up things here and there.”

In a way, third-year guard George Hill can relate to Anderson’s struggles. In another way, he can’t.

Hill remembers how difficult it was to learn the Spurs’ system as a 22-year-old rookie two seasons ago, and that was without a 21/2-month injury to overcome.

“That’s tough, especially with this system,” Hill said. “It takes you a year to really get it under your belt. I think James is coming along. He’s showing he wants to be here, working hard every day. That’s all you can ask from him.”

HOME OF THE FLOPPER: Finally, some of Ginobili’s best work has been officially recognized by a jury of his peers.

In this week’s edition of Sports Illustrated, the magazine anonymously polls NBA players on the question of, “Who is the best flopper in the game?”

Ginobili finishes second in the poll, drawing 18 percent of the vote, behind Cleveland forward Anderson Varejao. Houston forward Luis Scola, Ginobili’s teammate on Argentina’s national team, Lakers guard Derek Fisher and another Rocket, guard Kevin Martin, round out the top 5.

According to the magazine, 12 of the 32 floppers named in the poll played basketball outside of the United States before joining the NBA.

Splitter facing critical stretch run

DENVER — It has taken rookie center Tiago Splitter nearly an entire season to learn all the devilish details of the Spurs’ offense, as well as the intricacies of their defense. In between, he’s had to adjust to a new hometown, a new country and a new league.

There was at least one thing Splitter did not require much time to learn when he joined the Spurs in July. In fact, he knew it long before he had ever set foot in South Texas.

“Tim Duncan is a great player,” Splitter said. “Nobody can play like him.”

Over the next few games, and perhaps more, Splitter vows to give it his best shot.

Duncan was on crutches Tuesday, a day after suffering a sprained left ankle in a victory over Golden State. With Spurs officials ruling him out for at least the three-game road trip that opens tonight in Denver, he was not on the team’s charter plane leaving San Antonio International Airport.

An MRI taken earlier in the day revealed no structural damage in conjunction with Duncan’s sprain, which doctors rated somewhere between a Grade 1 and the more severe Grade 2. Duncan suffered a similar injury to his right ankle on March 20, 2005, but returned in time to fuel the Spurs’ run to their third NBA championship.

“It structurally looks good,” general manager R.C. Buford said. “We’ll have a better idea of what the timeline is in the next 48 hours.”

In the meantime, the absence of a first-ballot Hall of Famer in the middle of the lineup should afford Splitter the chance he’s been awaiting all season.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich could start the 6-foot-11 Splitter in Duncan’s place, as he did Saturday against Charlotte, when the perennial All-Star was given a routine night off. Or Popovich could return to DeJuan Blair, who started the first 63 games.

Either way, Splitter is set to face a stretch that, for better or ill, could define his rookie season.

“This,” Manu Ginobili said, “is the opportunity he’s been waiting for.”

In a way, the stakes are higher for Splitter than they are for his team. Given that the Spurs boast a seven-game lead over the L.A. Lakers in the Western Conference race with 12 to play, Duncan’s injury poses no clear and present danger to their pursuit of a top playoff seed.

If Splitter can earn Popovich’s faith now, perhaps he will be ready to make a contribution once the playoffs roll around.

Splitter, a 26-year-old Brazilian who was the Spurs’ No. 1 draft pick in 2007, arrived in July amid fanfare generally reserved for visiting heads of state.

He came billed as the Spurs’ missing ingredient — a long, tall counterpart to Duncan whose 10 years of pro experience overseas would allow him to become an immediate rotation piece. He had just led his Spanish League team, Caja Laboral, to a championship and earned MVP honors for the regular season and league finals.

A calf injury set him back during training camp, and after the Spurs raced to the top of the standings without him, Splitter found himself affixed to the end of Popovich’s bench.

“I think everybody wants to have a big role on the team,” said Splitter, who has appeared in 49 of a possible 70 games. “Sometimes, it’s not possible. Sometimes, it’s a situation where you have better guys to play that time at that position.”

Popovich has been pleased with the workmanlike Splitter, calling him “a grunt that every team needs and every coach loves.”

In his first start Saturday against Charlotte, Splitter logged a solid eight points and six rebounds. After Duncan went down in the first quarter against the Warriors, Splitter took his spot in the rotation — even starting the second half — and finished with his first double-double (10 points, 14 rebounds).

In two games as a de facto starter, Splitter has also displayed impressive IQ and footwork on defense.

“As I said a million times, he’s a good player,” Ginobili said. “He’s just got to be out there and feel confident and know the team trusts him. That’s what happened to me, what happens to everyone who comes here for the first time.”

Splitter’s value, teammates say, is that he knows who he is. Just as importantly, he knows who he is not.

“I’m not Tim Duncan,” Splitter said. “I’m just the new guy here who wants to help the team.”