Tag: Manu Ginobili

TP, TD, Manu combine for 80 for first time in regulation game

Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili produced a game for the ages in the Spurs’ 97-91 victory over Dallas.

The good folks at STATS LLC did some late checking at deadline in their extensive database and found that the 80 combined points that Parker, Ginobili and Duncan scored against the Mavericks was the first time the trio had scored at least 80 points in a regulation game.

It was the fifth time that Parker, Ginobili and Duncan have combined for 80 points or more in a game (in games where all three players have played). All of the other previous games were overtime contests.

Here’s a chart for those games.

Date                           Opponent                 Individual Points                                                  Total                      Score

Feb. 2, 2009          at Golden State       Duncan 32, Ginobili 32, Parker 23                   87                       110-105    (OT)

Jan. 7, 2008          at Golden State       Duncan 32, Parker 31, Ginobili 20                   83                       121-130     (OT)

Dec. 27, 2008       Memphis                   Parker 32, Duncan 29, Ginobili 20                   81                        106-103    (2 OT)

March 18, 2011   at Dallas                Parker 33, Ginobili 25, Duncan 22        80                           97-91

Jan. 21, 2005         at Phoenix               Ginobili 48, Duncan 30, Parker 2                     80                        128-123    (OT)

Note: Parker scored 55 and Duncan scored 30 in a 129-125 double-overtime victory on Nov. 5, 2008, at Minnesota. Ginobili did not play in that game.

Source: STATS LLC

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.

Duncan earns night on bench

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

After starting the first 53 games of the season with the same starting five, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich over the last 16 games has replaced each of those five for at least one game, each for different reasons.

Spurs captain Tim Duncan was the last to watch the tipoff from the sidelines, in his case in league-mandated sport coat and collared shirt while sitting behind the bench to view the team’s 109-98 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday at the ATT Center.

The official notification that Duncan would be inactive came with a tongue-in-cheek explanation that required translation by Parisian-grown point guard Tony Parker.

Trop vieux read the one-page notification from the media relations staff — French for “too old.”

In truth, the 35-year-old 12-time All-Star earned his night off with a 31-minute, 52-second performance on Friday in Dallas that produced 22 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

“It’s late in the year, and back-to-backs are probably not the best idea for some of our players at this point,” Popovich said. “So in an effort to regenerate some energy and stay from situations that might be more conducive to energy, playing fatigued, we’re going to try to do what we can to limit those situations, and this is a good example.”

Rookie Tiago Splitter got the start in Duncan’s spot and produced eight points, six rebounds and a block. He was effective working pick-and-roll plays with Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, a factor in the Spurs’ ability to spread the floor for 3-point shooters who tied a club record by making 17 shots from beyond the 3-point line.

“It’s hard to play when you don’t have continuity,” Ginobili said of his Brazilian-born teammate. “You feel a lot of pressure, and you want to do good and show everybody that you can play. Considering that, he did very well, but it’s not easy to start as he did in that situation, because he hasn’t played for about five games.

“He did great. He finished at the rim. I completely trust him. He just needed to be out there to feel good about himself.”

Splitter, joked Parker, was an improvement over Duncan in rolling to the rim.

“He’s definitely better than Timmy,” Parker said. “Timmy is so slow.”

BLAIR INJURED: Second-year center DeJuan Blair couldn’t decide what hurt most after Saturday’s game: His sprained left wrist or the news that his No. 1 seed Pittsburgh Panthers had suffered a crushing defeat in the NCAA tournament, falling to Butler on a controversial foul call in the final seconds.

“Don’t tell me,” Blair said of Pittsburgh’s loss in the college tournament. “I don’t even want to know how it happened.”

Blair was equally confused about how he had injured his left wrist. He thought the injury may have happened on an emphatic dunk in the first period but wasn’t sure.

He is to have the wrist examined today, a day off for the Spurs before they play the Golden State Warriors on Monday at the ATT Center, their third game in four nights.