In The News | SAN ANTONIO SPURS TICKETS

Magic won’t shave until their playoff run ends

Taking a cue from their counterparts in the NHL, members of the Orlando Magic are opting to stop shaving until the end of the NBA playoffs as a show of team unity.

It was Orlando forward Quentin Richardson’s idea to put away the razors for the next few weeks.

“It’s one of those team things,” Richardson told the Orlando Sentinel. “Togetherness. It’s something fun at the same time. It’s going to definitely look funny, I know.”

The team considered different options before deciding on the facial adornments, All-Star center Dwight Howard told the Sentinel.

“We thought about the bald heads, but some of us — myself — don’t look right with a bald head,” Howard said. “Then we thought about letting our hair grow out; then [we realized] we’ve got a lot of guys who are going bald, so [it would] look funny with just patches in their head.

“So the beard is the only way to go. It’ll be tough for me and the young guys to really get it going, but we’re all in this together.”

Hedo Turkoglu already has a head start on the rest of the team. How much more unkempt can he really become?

I’ll be curious about how Howard looks and handles the facial growth. Considering his well-known self-interest – or vanity — in himself, it will be interesting to see if he really will join his teammates in this endeavor.

And I’ll wonder if Coach Stan Van Gundy joins them in this as well. Van Gundy with a beard could look like one of those beatnik poets back from th early 1960s.

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.

Spurs went Gaga over Tuesday’s concert

Several Spurs forgot about their disappointing performance in Miami with a respite from basketball after returning back to San Antonio the following night.

Spurs guard Tony Parker said about half of his team attended the Lady Gaga concert Tuesday night at the ATT Center. Parker posted several pictures of the concert at. And Manu Ginobili uploaded several pictures of the headliner.

“It was great. She’s a great performer,” Parker said of the concert. “She did great. I like her stuff.”

Ginobili didn’t talk to the media Wednesday as he recovered from a sore throat that was noticeable after the Miami game. But Parker said he couldn’t tell if Ginobili was screaming during the show.

“I don’t know,” Parker said. “He was sitting in front of me. I don’t know if he was screaming. But he was moving his head. I could see that.”

Eldest Spur Antonio McDyess was one of those who didn’t attend.

“Maybe the young guys were there, but not me,” McDyess said, chuckling. “I don’t know one of her songs.”