Tag: San Antonio Spurs

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.”

Hot-shooting Heat claim 49-39 halftime lead

The Miami Heat look like a different team from the one that was blown out in San Antonio only 10 days ago.

Chris Bosh has scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds and Dwyane Wade has added 15 points and five rebounds as the Heat have cruised to a 49-39 halftime lead over the Spurs.

The Heat, which lost by 30 points at the ATT Center in the earlier game this season, hit 52.6 percent in the first quarter and 47.2 percent in the half as they outhustled the Spurs.

Tim Duncan leads the Spurs with 11 points, who have struggled offensively, hitting only 39.1 percent from the field.

The Spurs’ perimeter game has been frigid in the first half and they have had trouble getting to the line. San Antonio missed its first five 3-pointers en route to a 1-for-10 effort behind the arc. And the Spurs didn’t get their first free throw attempts until 2:17 was left in the first half as Miami has outscored them from the line 14-2.

Duncan scored six quick points to boost the Spurs to a quick 14-9 lead for their largest in the half. But Miami ran off 11 straight points before the end of the quarter to claim a 22-19 lead after one quarter.

Miami pushed its lead to as high as 13 midway through the second quarter, making most of the points when James was on the bench.

The Spurs blistered Miami for a team-record 17  3-pointers in their 30-point victory in San Antonio 10 days ago. But it hasn’t been nearly that easy today.

In order to get back in the game, the Spurs will need a better effort from guards Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, who have combined for only nine points on 4-for-shooting.

And they must do a better job against Wade and Bosh, who have thrived as LeBron has struggled through a subpar first half with six points, two rebounds and one assist.

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.