Tim Duncan | SAN ANTONIO SPURS TICKETS

Spurs’ prodigious depth denies Kings

By Jeff McDonald

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – An hour before tipoff at Power Balance Pavilion on Wednesday, Spurs center Tiago Splitter went through a series of exercises with team strength coach Matt Herring.

The object was to test Splitter’s balky back, which had kept him out of four consecutive games. After a workout that was heavy on sweat but not on tears, Splitter pronounced himself good to go.

“Everything’s in place,” Splitter said. “I feel good now.”

The same might be said of the team that signs his paychecks.

Playing with a full deck for the first time in 11 days, the Spurs used their prodigious depth to outlast Sacramento, 117-112, extending the NBA’s longest active winning streak to six.

Having endured their most grueling stretch of the lockout-sardined season, adding five wins to the ledger in six nights, the Spurs now have a chance to catch their breath.

Wednesday, the Spurs’ youngest set of legs helped get them over the top.

Kawhi Leonard, a 20-year-old rookie small forward apparently too young to tire, had 19 points and nine rebounds, and supplied enough energy to power the whole of northern California.

“I just try to do what I can to contribute and bring energy,” Leonard said.

It was also another big night for the Spurs’ venerable Big Three, with Manu Ginobili scoring 20 points, Tim Duncan adding 18 points and eight rebounds and Tony Parker providing a 10-point, 10-assist double-double.

Heading into the five-game gauntlet, the Spurs (35-14) couldn’t have envisioned a sweep. Overall, the Spurs have won nine of their last 10, and 13 of their last 15 on the road.

“This is as deep as I’ve ever had a team here,” said Duncan, in his 15^th season, “and we’re using everybody possible.

Wednesday, the Spurs got key first-half contributions from players who, either by age or inactivity, were less affected by the compressed schedule.

Leonard was a sparkplug, offering active minutes on both ends. Splitter had seven points and six rebounds in the first half. Even backup point guard Patrick Mills, playing his second game since joining the team, got to the act with seven points in six minutes.

In the first quarter, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich deployed 11 players. Nine of them scored.

“I don’t think we’d be hanging in like are now last year, with this kind of schedule,” Popovich said. “We didn’t have this kind of depth.”

Behind 28 points from Isaiah Thomas and 25 from DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings (17-33) hung around, though never led. Each time Sacramento would sneak within striking distance, however, the Spurs had an answer.

After a Thomas 3-pointer brought Sacramento within one again midway through the fourth, Gary Neal found Parker for a layup. That sparked a 15-6 run that put the Spurs ahead by 10 with 2:18 to go.

“Down the stretch in the fourth quarter, our experience probably showed,” Popovich said.

For Popovich, the quest over the season’s jam-packed final month is to somehow balance the need to whip his team into playoff shape with the need to keep older players fresh.

“There’s no formula for it,” Popovich said. “You just do the best you can.”

But first for the Spurs, some downtime. And perhaps a nap.

They play just once in the next four nights, Saturday at home against Indiana. Even so, Popovich anticipates several short-handed nights between now and the postseason.

“You just roll with whoever is available,” Popovich said. “There’s no other choice.”

Wednesday night in Sacramento, for the first time in a while, that meant everyone.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN

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Spurs 117, Kings 112: March 28, 2012

San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker, left, and Kawhi Leonard center, question official Mike Callahan about a foul call during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (AP)

Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, center, tries to pull down a rebound against San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs forward Manu Ginobili, of Argentina, left, and Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans scramble for the ball during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair, left, goes to the basket against Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs forward Manu Ginobili, of Argentina, left, leans in for the layup past Sacramento Kings’ Donte Greene, center, and Chuck Hayes during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (AP)

Sacramento Kings guard Marcus Thornton, left, is fouled by San Antonio Spurs guard Danny Green during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker, left, goes to the basket against Sacramento Kings forward Jason Thompson during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (AP)

San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan, right, leans around Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins to make a pass during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, March 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (AP)

Parker on brink of assists milestone

By Mike Monroe

Enjoying a career season distributing the basketball, Spurs point guard Tony Parker has moved within striking range of passing Avery Johnson as the Spurs’ leader in career assists.

With seven assists in the Spurs’ 93-81 victory over the Hornets on Thursday, Parker has 4,468 for a Spurs career that began in 2001. That is six shy of Johnson’s mark of 4,474, established in 10 seasons in silver and black that stretched from the 1990-91 season through 2000-01.

Parker is averaging 7.9 assists per game, a career high.

The timing of Parker’s arrival after the Spurs made him the 28th pick in the 2001 draft made it impossible for him not to immediately understand Johnson’s legacy.

“When I first arrived that’s all anybody talked about: Avery,” Parker said. “He meant a lot to this city, so it’s nice to be in the same category with him.

“I know Avery Johnson and know he was very big in this community and one of the best point guards ever in San Antonio. It will definitely be a great honor.”

Rest for the weary: After playing four games in five days, the Spurs didn’t practice Friday and will skip the typical morning shootaround before tonight’s game against the Thunder.

Even in a compressed season in which days available for practice are few and far between, the coaching staff’s decision to maximize recovery time between games was appreciated by the players.

“You know what?” team captain Tim Duncan said after Thursday’s victory. “I think we had some tired legs tonight. You could tell our shooters were worn out a little bit. It will be good for us.

“This is a crazy season and it’s taking a lot out of a lot of people. Any rest is good rest. I don’t think we’re going to lose much in just a day, so it’s good to get some rest under our belt because there’s a lot of games coming up and (we know) the kind of season that’s ahead of us.”

Learning for Leonard: After starting 13 consecutive games, rookie swingman Kawhi Leonard was replaced by Gary Neal in the starting lineup for Thursday’s game against the Hornets.

Popovich said the change was based on situational tactics rather than Leonard’s recent level of play.

“There’s some games another player doesn’t play a lot of minutes,” he said. “It’s just part of the game. In Dallas, Tony (Parker) and Tim (Duncan) didn’t play a minute in the fourth quarter. That’s just the way games go sometimes.

“Certain groups are doing well, people out there doing what you want them to do. You don’t just change it to be changing it, to give somebody minutes. It’s what you’ve got to do that night to try to win.”

Leonard, who had played a little more than eight minutes in Wednesday’s game against Houston, logged nearly 12 minutes in his reserve role on Thursday.

Neal came off the bench and played more than 34 minutes against Houston. He got 29 minutes as a starter on Thursday.

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Spurs have important homework assignment

Unlike many of his NBA counterparts, Spurs point guard Tony Parker admits to looking at the standings almost every day.

What he’s seen so far in this topsy-turvy, lockout-truncated season has shocked him.

Lose in overtime in Dallas, drop from third in the Western Conference to ninth. Win the next night in Memphis, jump from ninth to sixth and one game out of fourth.

What the turbulence has taught him is, this season more than most, the standings watching that has become part of his daily routine is an exercise in futility.

“It doesn’t matter, the standings,” Parker said. “You just want to make the playoffs. Once you make it, you know anything can happen.”

For the Spurs, the road to the playoffs runs through their home arena.

In the midst of a stretch of 16 of 21 games on the road that ranks as one of the most travel-weary in team history, the Spurs return to the ATT Center tonight to kick off a three-game homestand against Houston.

With the annual rodeo road trip looming next week, which includes nine straight games out of town, it will mark the Spurs’ last chance for home cooking until after the All-Star break.

With the Spurs struggling to gain traction on the road — they are 3-8 away from home, even after Monday’s resounding win in Memphis — every game at the ATT Center takes on added premium.

“Every year before the rodeo trip, those last home games, it’s important we finish well,” said Parker, whose team will also face New Orleans and Oklahoma City before turning the ATT Center over to the bulls and broncs.

“These three games are huge, because then we go on the road forever.”

The Spurs aren’t yet overly concerned with their good-but-not-great record of 13-9, a game behind Dallas in the Southwest Division.

For the Spurs and other teams, this season — with its every-night-is-game-night feel — has become about survival.

Finish in the top eight of the conference, make the postseason field, and let the playoffs sort it out.

“It is a bit of a circus,” said Spurs captain Tim Duncan, the only player on the team around for the league’s last lockout in 1999. “A lot of guys are worn down and beat up. In the West, you’ve just got to try to get in the playoffs as best you can.”

To Duncan’s point: In the last lockout-shortened season, the New York Knicks became the only team in league history to make a run from the eighth seed to the NBA Finals.

The top-seeded Spurs beat them in five games to claim their first NBA championship. Still, coach Gregg Popovich believes that title had more to do with a 23-year-old Duncan and a David Robinson still in the same zip code as his prime, and not necessarily seeding.

“You just try to be the best team you can be, and be healthy going into the playoffs,” said Popovich, whose team is a league-best 10-1 at home. “Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case last year, but I’m not sure we can control the health part.”

Indeed, if any season demonstrated to the Spurs the overrated value of seeding, it was 2010-11. They won a conference-best 61 games, lost All-Star guard Manu Ginobili to a sprained right elbow in the season finale in Phoenix and got bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the No. 8 Grizzlies.

As Duncan put it, “Seeding is irrelevant, but health means a lot.”

Still, day in and day out, Parker will cue up the NBA standings and take a peek.

It is a habit he just can’t seem to break, even if he knows, at this point, it’s pointless.

“This year, it really doesn’t matter where you finish, so long as you just make the playoffs,” Parker said. “I really believe that.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net