duncan228
02-18-2010, 12:59 AM
Ailing Parker pours in 28 (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/Ailing_Parker_pours_in_28.html)
Jeff McDonald
INDIANAPOLIS — Spurs guard Tony Parker spent his All-Star break in a manner in which he had become completely unaccustomed.
He flew out to Malibu, Calif., to spend four days with his actress wife, eschewing all physical activity more strenuous than lifting the remote. Instead of playing in the NBA's midseason classic, as he had three of the previous four years, Parker watched the first five minutes on TV, then headed out to Valentine Day's dinner.
“I had a great time off,” Parker said Wednesday after the Spurs resumed their rodeo trip with a 90-87 victory at Indiana. “Four days in the NBA feels like a month.”
By that equation, Parker might have been better off with eight days rest. If it wasn't various ankle sprains bothering him throughout the season's first half, it was the plantar fasciitis in his left foot. A new injury, a strained left hip flexor, kept Parker out of the Spurs' final game before the break.
Re-energized, if not completely rehabilitated, Parker scored 28 points to help the Spurs fend off the Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Equaling the second-best scoring night of the season, Parker shrugged off the flaring pain in his hip to lift the Spurs past their first-game-after-the-All-Star-break blues, pushing them 10 games over .500 (31-21).
“Tony was tired,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “I'm not sure what he did in L.A., but it didn't involve a Stairmaster or a court or anything like that. He needed the rest, because of his hip.”
For several stretches, Parker — who finished 11 of 20 and made two 3-pointers — was the only Spur who seemed able to put the ball in the basket. The Spurs shot 35.4 percent, marking the first time this season they won while shooting worse than 40.
Manu Ginobili contributed 18 points and three huge fourth-quarter plays, while Tim Duncan, the only Spur to actually spend All-Star Sunday playing basketball, compensated for one of the worst shooting nights of his life (4 of 23) by collecting 26 rebounds.
That total would have been a career high for Duncan, if not for the 27 he grabbed in a Jan. 27 win over Atlanta, a game in which he shot 5 of 20.
“I went Mo Malone on 'em,” Duncan joked.
Popovich opened with his 17th unique starting lineup, and one he said he plans to keep for the time being: Matt Bonner for Antonio McDyess at center, Keith Bogans for Richard Jefferson at small forward. The tweak didn't have quite the desired effect.
Indiana (18-35) raced to a 10-point lead, which the Spurs erased with a 20-4 run to take a 14-point edge of their own. The Pacers erased that with a 23-3 spurt in the second half and led 75-69 with 9:44 to play.
The game was knotted at 82 with 3:03 remaining when Jefferson nailed a tie-breaking 3-pointer. From there, Ginobili took over, completing a basket-and-a-foul over 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert, then burying a 20-footer to put the Spurs up 90-84.
With Indiana behind by three in the final 30 seconds and needing the ball, Ginobili kept a George Hill miss alive for Duncan to swat to midcourt, draining what was left of the clock.
“It was a battle, the whole game,” Parker said.
For Parker, the entire season has been one. Having not played since Feb. 8, he figured the extended layoff would heal him. Instead, the hip began to bother him in the second half.
“He doesn't look 100 percent, but he made plays at the right time,” Duncan said. “I think he's missing a gear, but he's still getting by people.”
With no more Malibu vacations scheduled until after the season, this will be Parker's life, night in and night out.
“I can't do every movement; I can't go full speed,” Parker said. “But I'm a vet. I know how to get by.”
Jeff McDonald
INDIANAPOLIS — Spurs guard Tony Parker spent his All-Star break in a manner in which he had become completely unaccustomed.
He flew out to Malibu, Calif., to spend four days with his actress wife, eschewing all physical activity more strenuous than lifting the remote. Instead of playing in the NBA's midseason classic, as he had three of the previous four years, Parker watched the first five minutes on TV, then headed out to Valentine Day's dinner.
“I had a great time off,” Parker said Wednesday after the Spurs resumed their rodeo trip with a 90-87 victory at Indiana. “Four days in the NBA feels like a month.”
By that equation, Parker might have been better off with eight days rest. If it wasn't various ankle sprains bothering him throughout the season's first half, it was the plantar fasciitis in his left foot. A new injury, a strained left hip flexor, kept Parker out of the Spurs' final game before the break.
Re-energized, if not completely rehabilitated, Parker scored 28 points to help the Spurs fend off the Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Equaling the second-best scoring night of the season, Parker shrugged off the flaring pain in his hip to lift the Spurs past their first-game-after-the-All-Star-break blues, pushing them 10 games over .500 (31-21).
“Tony was tired,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “I'm not sure what he did in L.A., but it didn't involve a Stairmaster or a court or anything like that. He needed the rest, because of his hip.”
For several stretches, Parker — who finished 11 of 20 and made two 3-pointers — was the only Spur who seemed able to put the ball in the basket. The Spurs shot 35.4 percent, marking the first time this season they won while shooting worse than 40.
Manu Ginobili contributed 18 points and three huge fourth-quarter plays, while Tim Duncan, the only Spur to actually spend All-Star Sunday playing basketball, compensated for one of the worst shooting nights of his life (4 of 23) by collecting 26 rebounds.
That total would have been a career high for Duncan, if not for the 27 he grabbed in a Jan. 27 win over Atlanta, a game in which he shot 5 of 20.
“I went Mo Malone on 'em,” Duncan joked.
Popovich opened with his 17th unique starting lineup, and one he said he plans to keep for the time being: Matt Bonner for Antonio McDyess at center, Keith Bogans for Richard Jefferson at small forward. The tweak didn't have quite the desired effect.
Indiana (18-35) raced to a 10-point lead, which the Spurs erased with a 20-4 run to take a 14-point edge of their own. The Pacers erased that with a 23-3 spurt in the second half and led 75-69 with 9:44 to play.
The game was knotted at 82 with 3:03 remaining when Jefferson nailed a tie-breaking 3-pointer. From there, Ginobili took over, completing a basket-and-a-foul over 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert, then burying a 20-footer to put the Spurs up 90-84.
With Indiana behind by three in the final 30 seconds and needing the ball, Ginobili kept a George Hill miss alive for Duncan to swat to midcourt, draining what was left of the clock.
“It was a battle, the whole game,” Parker said.
For Parker, the entire season has been one. Having not played since Feb. 8, he figured the extended layoff would heal him. Instead, the hip began to bother him in the second half.
“He doesn't look 100 percent, but he made plays at the right time,” Duncan said. “I think he's missing a gear, but he's still getting by people.”
With no more Malibu vacations scheduled until after the season, this will be Parker's life, night in and night out.
“I can't do every movement; I can't go full speed,” Parker said. “But I'm a vet. I know how to get by.”