duncan228
12-27-2008, 12:04 AM
Spurs Notebook: Popovich gives Spurs day off to rest after win (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Notebook_Popovich_gives_Spurs_day_off_to_res t_after_win.html)
By Mike Monroe
That the Spurs took Friday off after getting a dramatic victory over the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day hardly was a surprise, but it had nothing to do with coach Gregg Popovich's being in a holiday mood.
The NBA's schedule makers loaded up the Spurs with seven games in an 11-day stretch that ends with tonight's game.
Rest, not celebration, was behind Friday's hiatus from the gym.
“The schedule for us has been loaded,” Popovich said. “Six in nine days, three in five nights; we've got one in January that's like five in six nights, the way it works out; five in 61/2 nights, because the next game is a noon game.
“So the guys are definitely a little bit tired, but that doesn't matter. Nobody cares. At the end of the season you don't get handicap points for how much you were tired, or what your schedule was like. We don't talk about it with the team. Everybody has periods in their schedule where they think they're getting screwed. You've just got to let that go.”
And, if you're a veteran team like the Spurs, you let off days pass without practicing.
After their game at 7:30 tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Spurs won't play again until a Tuesday night game against the Bucks at the AT&T Center, the first time in almost two weeks they have had at least two consecutive days without a game.
Hairston assigned: Swing man Malik Hairston got to spend Christmas in Phoenix with the Spurs, who signed him to a free-agent contract Dec. 22, but Friday he was assigned to the team's NBA D-League affiliate, the Austin Toros.
Before being signed by the Spurs, Hairston had played in 11 games with the Toros, averaging 19.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
By signing Hairston, whose rights the Spurs acquired in a draft night swap of second-round picks with the Suns, they don't have to worry about another NBA team offering him a free-agent contract.
By Mike Monroe
That the Spurs took Friday off after getting a dramatic victory over the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day hardly was a surprise, but it had nothing to do with coach Gregg Popovich's being in a holiday mood.
The NBA's schedule makers loaded up the Spurs with seven games in an 11-day stretch that ends with tonight's game.
Rest, not celebration, was behind Friday's hiatus from the gym.
“The schedule for us has been loaded,” Popovich said. “Six in nine days, three in five nights; we've got one in January that's like five in six nights, the way it works out; five in 61/2 nights, because the next game is a noon game.
“So the guys are definitely a little bit tired, but that doesn't matter. Nobody cares. At the end of the season you don't get handicap points for how much you were tired, or what your schedule was like. We don't talk about it with the team. Everybody has periods in their schedule where they think they're getting screwed. You've just got to let that go.”
And, if you're a veteran team like the Spurs, you let off days pass without practicing.
After their game at 7:30 tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Spurs won't play again until a Tuesday night game against the Bucks at the AT&T Center, the first time in almost two weeks they have had at least two consecutive days without a game.
Hairston assigned: Swing man Malik Hairston got to spend Christmas in Phoenix with the Spurs, who signed him to a free-agent contract Dec. 22, but Friday he was assigned to the team's NBA D-League affiliate, the Austin Toros.
Before being signed by the Spurs, Hairston had played in 11 games with the Toros, averaging 19.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
By signing Hairston, whose rights the Spurs acquired in a draft night swap of second-round picks with the Suns, they don't have to worry about another NBA team offering him a free-agent contract.