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Tough road trip now tougher for Spurs

DENVER — Even before their captain went down in a heap Monday against Golden State, the Spurs viewed their upcoming three-game road trip with a wary eye.

On the docket: Denver, then Portland, then Memphis — three teams still fighting for Western Conference playoff seeding and, in the case of the eighth-place Grizzlies, their playoff lives.

With All-Star power forward Tim Duncan likely out for all three games with a sprained left ankle, an already tough trip got that much tougher for the Spurs.

“It’s going to be very hard, because all three teams are playing great,” Manu Ginobili said. “They are all tough at home, and they need wins. Hopefully, we can win at least two.”

Two of the three teams on the itinerary — Portland and Memphis — have handed the Spurs two of their more embarrassing losses of the season.

The Trail Blazers smacked the Spurs 99-86 on Feb. 1, the first night of their rodeo road trip. On March 1, the Spurs went into Memphis and, with Tony Parker sidelined, were blasted 109-93.

The Spurs are 3-0 this season against Denver, tonight’s opponent at the Pepsi Center. However, the Nuggets are 10-4 — and undefeated at home — since dealing Carmelo Anthony to New York at the trade deadline.

All three of those opponents feature fearsome big men against whom Duncan would have been of use.

“With Tim out, everybody is going to have to pick up the slack,” said Antonio McDyess, who will slide to the power forward slot to make way for a new starting center. “The bench, the starters, everyone.”

Either rookie Tiago Splitter or second-year man DeJuan Blair will likely take Duncan’s place in the starting lineup, but Parker said it will be up to him and Ginobili to shoulder most of the extra burden.

Blair back: After missing Monday’s game with a sprained left wrist, Blair is expected to be available tonight in Denver. After Tuesday’s practice, Blair and general manager R.C. Buford called the decision to sit him against Golden State precautionary.

“I could have played but picked a night to sit out,” Blair said. “I’m back now and just going to fight through the pain.”

What’s up, Docs?: Citing team doctors, Spurs TV analyst Sean Elliott told FSN Southwest viewers in the second half Monday that Duncan could miss two weeks with his injury.

“If he’s that good as a doctor, I think he should change jobs,” Ginobili cracked.

Parker, meanwhile, couldn’t resist a playful jab at the team’s medical staff, which earlier this month offered a prognosis of 2-4 weeks on his calf injury that healed in five days.

“We’ll see if the doctor is accurate this time,” Parker said. “He wasn’t accurate with me.”

The numbers don’t lie: Spurs’ D has taken a dip

There’s no doubt the Spurs are coming off one of their worst defensive efforts of the season. They allowed Miami to hang 110 points on them in a convincing 110-80 loss that ranks as the team’s largest margin of victory of the season.

It continues a couple of noticeable trends. Miami hit 53.8 percent from the field, becoming the fourth consecutive team to improve the field-goal percentage from the previous game. A streak like that hasn’t happened for the Spurs’ defense all season.

The Spurs also have allowed their last four opponents all to score at least 100 points against them. That’s the second longest streak of the season, topped only by five straight 100-point performances allowed from Dec. 16-23.

But the best way to judge the effectiveness of a defense is to look at the number of points scored per 100 possessions.

Matt Moore of CBS Sports.com’s Eye on Basketball . And he found that the Spurs’ defense has taken a noticeable step back in its March games.

Moore writes that the Spurs entered Monday night 7th in the league at defensive efficiency (which estimates points per 100 possessions, removing the element of pace and providing a more true image of defensive productivity). That’s not as good as Gregg Popovich’s defenses typically are, but it still ranks among the leaders in the league.

But they also entered Monday night’s game against Miami having averaged giving up 102 points per game in March, as opposed to their typical mark of 97. Their season defensive efficiency has been a solid 101.1.

In March games, the Spurs have averaged a 108.5 defensive efficiency, including marks of 117 to Memphis, 112 to the Lakers, 114 to Detroit and their worst score of 122 to the Heat Monday night.

Moore notes that the worst team in the league, the Cleveland Cavaliers, average a 110 defensive efficiency. So in a supremely small sample of the recent games, the Spurs are surrendering a defensive efficiency that would be the worst in the league if spread over the season.

And looking at the Spurs’ defensive efforts per game, there were some noticeably stolid efforts betrayed with huge breakdowns. Most notable was a two-possession series against the Heat capped by thunderous dunks by LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the fourth quarter Monday night.

These defensive struggles are something that have rarely been seen around the Spurs franchise — especially in their championship seasons.

The Spurs will have their work cut out over the next several days to rectify those woes before facing Dallas, which ranks fourth in the NBA in field-goal percentage, seventh in 3-point percentage and 11th in scoring.

The Mavericks have had their own slumps in recent games, failing to score 100 in two of their last three games in losses to the Lakers and New York heading into their game Tuesday at Portland. But before that, the Mavericks had scored at least 100 points in 19 of their last 20 games.

The Spurs will get one more edge that should help their defense improve. San Antonio will be coming in on three days of rest for Friday’s game. And the Mavericks will be playing their third game in four nights Friday, after games against Portland on Tuesday night and Golden State on Wednesday.

The Spurs’ defense should improve. If not, Popovich might have some major worries heading into the playoffs.

Splitter plays big minutes again

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

Spurs rookie Tiago Splitter had about an hour before Saturday’s game to prepare himself to replace Tim Duncan in the starting lineup against Charlotte. Coach Gregg Popovich had opted to rest his starting power forward for the first time all season.

When Duncan went down with a sprained left ankle in the first quarter of Monday’s game against the Warriors at the ATT Center, Splitter had no time to ponder.

The response from the former MVP of the Spanish League was the first double-double of his NBA rookie season, a 10-point, 14-rebound performance in 26 minutes and 34 seconds of solid play.

“It wasn’t good when Tim got injured in the game, and I just came out to try to do my best and help the team with the dirty job,” Splitter said. “Grab the rebound, (play) defense and score when my teammates pass me the ball. Easy layups. Tony (Parker) did a great job, and Manu (Ginobili) also.”

Popovich was not surprised Splitter gave the Spurs a lift.

“Tiago is going to give you that (effort) every night,” Popovich said. “He’s going to bust his butt to rebound and play defense. He’s going to give you that grunt that every team needs and every coach loves.

“That’s nothing different from him. That’s just what he does.”

Parker, who had a career-high 15 assists, and Ginobili played to Splitter’s strength on offense, involving him in a lot of pick-and-roll action.

“He’s one of the best at rolling to the basket,” Parker said. “He played physical and went to the boards. He did his best on defense. He’s still learning, but tonight he did pretty good.”

BLAIR SITS: Duncan’s injury put the Spurs in a big-man bind Monday when he joined DeJuan Blair on the injured list. Blair, the second-year center, sat out with a sprained left wrist.

Popovich said the club scratched Blair from the lineup for precautionary reasons, not wanting him to get the wrist “whacked” while it is still sore.

A MILESTONE IN WAITING: Before he departed, Duncan grabbed three rebounds, catching Dennis Rodman for 11th place on the NBA’s all-time rebound list. He has 11,954. Rodman played the bulk of his career with the Pistons and Bulls but also had two seasons with the Spurs, 1993-94 and 1994-95.

BONNER’S WOES: The 3-point slump continued for Matt Bonner on Monday.

After making only 2 of 11 shots from long range in the previous five games, the NBA’s leader in 3-point accuracy made his first 3-point attempt against the Warriors but missed his next seven.

He finally added a second 3-pointer with 2:10 remaining.

“I was wondering if I was ever going to make another three,” Bonner said, “but I’m not going to stop shooting them. If I stop shooting them when I’m open, I know I’m coming out of the game.”