drpill
04-21-2005, 10:46 PM
Here's an article from the ESPN web site regarding Duncan's health; hope it hasn't been posted already... Good to note the series schedule gives the Spurs 2 days off between games 1 and 2 and games 2 and 3. Plenty of guys on this team can use the rest...
Updated: April 21, 2005, 7:45 PM ET
Center still feels limited entering playoffs
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs dropped three of their final four games going into the playoffs, but no biggie.
The team's priority down the stretch had less to do with winning and more to do with getting Tim Duncan into rhythm after the star forward missed a dozen late-season games with a badly sprained right ankle.
Duncan, who played limited minutes in the four games, said he is still recuperating as the Spurs prepare for their first-round series against the Denver Nuggets, the NBA's hottest team. The series opens Sunday night in San Antonio.
"I'm probably 75 to 80 percent," he said after San Antonio's 95-73 loss to Minnesota in its regular-season finale Wednesday. "There are still a couple of things I'm tentative on doing, but a lot of it is more conscious than anything, trying to protect myself."
Coach Gregg Popovich also has been trying to protect the two-time league MVP, and in doing so, the Spurs (59-23) conceded the best record in the Western Conference to Phoenix without a real fight.
Popovich kept an eager-to-play Duncan on the bench during crunch time in final-week road games against Utah and Memphis, which San Antonio lost by two points each.
In his four games back, Duncan averaged about 12 points and 6.8 rebounds in 23 minutes, well under his season marks of 20.3 points and 11.1 rebounds.
His scoring and rebound averages were the lowest of his eight-year NBA career, and his 66 games were the fewest he played in a non-strike season.
He missed seven of his eight shots and scored only three points Wednesday, but Popovich sounded happy and a little relieved that Duncan didn't do anything against the Timberwolves to set back his recovery.
"It's something he's going to have to work through -- work through the pain and get it loose again," Popovich said of Duncan's still-tender right ankle. "It's not going to be a quick process, but he's going to get through it. He's a competitor, and he's going to do what he can do."
Duncan was hurt March 20 in Detroit. He crumpled to the floor a couple of minutes into the game after landing on the foot of Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace while coming down after scoring a layup.
The Spurs lost that game and went 8-4 before Duncan returned with 17 points and seven rebounds in a 93-91 loss at Utah on April 13.
Given the condition of his star player, as well as injuries to center Rasho Nesterovic (sprained left ankle) and guard Devon Brown (herniated disk), Popovich appreciated a first-round schedule that gives the Spurs two days off before Wednesday's Game 2 and another two days before Game 3 in Denver.
"Any other year I would just want to play the games, but we can use the time for a lot of guys," he said. "Hopefully we can use it to our advantage."
Nuggets coach George Karl, whose team won 25 of 29 games after the All-Star game, recognized that the schedule could favor San Antonio because it gives Duncan more time to recuperate.
"I wish we were playing every other day early in the series rather than late," he said Thursday.
Karl called Duncan "a low-maintenance, selfless, team-oriented superstar" who is always in control and quietly effective in making his team better.
"He does what he needs to do to win," Karl said. "If it means being a playmaker at the high post, super. If (Popovich) needs me scoring down low, OK. If you want me to set pick and rolls, OK. He just does it."
Denver split the four-game season series against San Antonio, with both of the Nuggets' wins coming in March and early April while Duncan was out.
Nuggets center Marcus Camby will have at least part of the task of defending Duncan in the playoffs, and he understands that's a big job even when Duncan is less than 100 percent.
"The guy's going to get his numbers," Camby said. "It's mainly about trying to shut down the guys around him."
Updated: April 21, 2005, 7:45 PM ET
Center still feels limited entering playoffs
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs dropped three of their final four games going into the playoffs, but no biggie.
The team's priority down the stretch had less to do with winning and more to do with getting Tim Duncan into rhythm after the star forward missed a dozen late-season games with a badly sprained right ankle.
Duncan, who played limited minutes in the four games, said he is still recuperating as the Spurs prepare for their first-round series against the Denver Nuggets, the NBA's hottest team. The series opens Sunday night in San Antonio.
"I'm probably 75 to 80 percent," he said after San Antonio's 95-73 loss to Minnesota in its regular-season finale Wednesday. "There are still a couple of things I'm tentative on doing, but a lot of it is more conscious than anything, trying to protect myself."
Coach Gregg Popovich also has been trying to protect the two-time league MVP, and in doing so, the Spurs (59-23) conceded the best record in the Western Conference to Phoenix without a real fight.
Popovich kept an eager-to-play Duncan on the bench during crunch time in final-week road games against Utah and Memphis, which San Antonio lost by two points each.
In his four games back, Duncan averaged about 12 points and 6.8 rebounds in 23 minutes, well under his season marks of 20.3 points and 11.1 rebounds.
His scoring and rebound averages were the lowest of his eight-year NBA career, and his 66 games were the fewest he played in a non-strike season.
He missed seven of his eight shots and scored only three points Wednesday, but Popovich sounded happy and a little relieved that Duncan didn't do anything against the Timberwolves to set back his recovery.
"It's something he's going to have to work through -- work through the pain and get it loose again," Popovich said of Duncan's still-tender right ankle. "It's not going to be a quick process, but he's going to get through it. He's a competitor, and he's going to do what he can do."
Duncan was hurt March 20 in Detroit. He crumpled to the floor a couple of minutes into the game after landing on the foot of Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace while coming down after scoring a layup.
The Spurs lost that game and went 8-4 before Duncan returned with 17 points and seven rebounds in a 93-91 loss at Utah on April 13.
Given the condition of his star player, as well as injuries to center Rasho Nesterovic (sprained left ankle) and guard Devon Brown (herniated disk), Popovich appreciated a first-round schedule that gives the Spurs two days off before Wednesday's Game 2 and another two days before Game 3 in Denver.
"Any other year I would just want to play the games, but we can use the time for a lot of guys," he said. "Hopefully we can use it to our advantage."
Nuggets coach George Karl, whose team won 25 of 29 games after the All-Star game, recognized that the schedule could favor San Antonio because it gives Duncan more time to recuperate.
"I wish we were playing every other day early in the series rather than late," he said Thursday.
Karl called Duncan "a low-maintenance, selfless, team-oriented superstar" who is always in control and quietly effective in making his team better.
"He does what he needs to do to win," Karl said. "If it means being a playmaker at the high post, super. If (Popovich) needs me scoring down low, OK. If you want me to set pick and rolls, OK. He just does it."
Denver split the four-game season series against San Antonio, with both of the Nuggets' wins coming in March and early April while Duncan was out.
Nuggets center Marcus Camby will have at least part of the task of defending Duncan in the playoffs, and he understands that's a big job even when Duncan is less than 100 percent.
"The guy's going to get his numbers," Camby said. "It's mainly about trying to shut down the guys around him."