Monroe: Spurs Notebook: Frustrated Parker looks likely to return to Spurs

[duncan228]

Frustrated Parker looks likely to return to Spurs (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Frustrated_Parker_looks_likely_to_return_to_Spurs. html)
Mike Monroe

Pleased that an MRI examination of his left hip Monday revealed only a mild muscle strain, Spurs starting point guard Tony Parker reported to Tuesday's practice session determined to show coach Gregg Popovich he would be ready to suit up for tonight's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the AT&T Center.

Parker scored 28 points against Indiana a week ago but was slowed by the hip injury in a loss at Philadelphia last Friday. He sat out the final game of the Spurs' rodeo road trip, an overtime loss at Detroit on Sunday.

“I never like to say when I'm hurt because you feel like a baby, saying an excuse, but sometimes you just have to say it,” Parker said Tuesday. “I tried to play through it in Philadelphia. Obviously, it didn't work out too well.

Team doctors told Parker his availability the rest of the season will be determined mostly by his tolerance of pain.

“I felt OK today,” he said before the Spurs' afternoon practice session. “I'll practice and see how it feels. If I feel OK tomorrow, I will go.”

The three-time All-Star acknowledged his season-long battle with nagging injuries has begun to wear on him.

“It's just one more thing this year, after my plantar fasciitis and my knee and my ankle. It's just one of those years. I'm just going to try to stay positive, keep working on my body, do my treatments and stretching and all that stuff and try to not have nothing else the rest of the year.”

Schedule watching: Most of the Spurs know what awaits them over the next two weeks and through the remainder of the regular season. Their next six opponents all have winning records, and of their final 24 games, only eight will be at home.

“The schedule is not that good for us, but we always play pretty well on the road, so I'm not worried,” Parker said. “I think we should focus more on us and try to get better than look at the schedule.”

Playoff guarantee? Though the Spurs enter tonight's game in seventh place in the Western Conference and teeter close to being pushed out of the playoff picture altogether, Parker virtually guaranteed they will make the postseason.

“We'll make the playoffs,” he said. “I'm not worried about that. That doesn't even cross my mind.”

[boutons_deux]

"We'll make the playoffs"

very probably not. Enjoy the long summer.

[SenorSpur]

Bold prediction

[DesignatedT]

well get it!!!!

[Spursmania]

“It's just one more thing this year, after my plantar fasciitis and my knee and my ankle. It's just one of those years. I'm just going to try to stay positive, keep working on my body, do my treatments and stretching and all that stuff and try to not have nothing else the rest of the year.”


How about stop playing in the summer so you can be prepared for a whole season with the Spurs? Thanks.:toast

[Fpoonsie]

“I never like to say when I'm hurt because you feel like a baby, saying an excuse, but sometimes you just have to say it,” Parker said Tuesday.

I appreciate Tony's contributions to the team and all, but...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oSj_u41UfrU/R56IYcjDetI/AAAAAAAAAPU/IXs9YohnjlM/s320/Tony%2BParker.jpg

...this comin from a guy who winds up on the floor hobbled after every drive to the lane followed by a blown whistle.

[ElNono]

Good to hear he'll be healthy for the summer...

[spursfan09]

I appreciate Tony's contributions to the team and all, but...

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oSj_u41UfrU/R56IYcjDetI/AAAAAAAAAPU/IXs9YohnjlM/s320/Tony%2BParker.jpg

...this comin from a guy who winds up on the floor hobbled after every drive to the lane followed by a blown whistle.

:lol the point is, he keeps on doing it...

And that's not a pic of him driving the lane anyway. Thats from when Steve Nash's nose hit Tony Parker's big ol head.

[nkdlunch]

“We'll make the playoffs,” he said. “I'm not worried about that. That doesn't even cross my mind.”

he was talking about World Championship Playoffs in Turkey

[spursfan09]

Also I just want to say. Those jokes about Tony Parker staying fresh for summer play were funny. But no so much anymore. I hope he truly does not play, and just says he is going to; to avoid any controversy from not playing.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Oh man. I read wayyyyyyy in to the thread title. Whew.

[Agloco]

Playoff guarantee? Though the Spurs enter tonight's game in seventh place in the Western Conference and teeter close to being pushed out of the playoff picture altogether, Parker virtually guaranteed they will make the postseason.

“We'll make the playoffs,” he said. “I'm not worried about that. That doesn't even cross my mind.”


Bold prediction

Methinks Tony needs to take a closer look at the remaining schedule. This team definitely needs to play better than they have so far if they're going to get in. As it is, they need to go 19-9 the rest of the way just to win 50 games. And it's probably going to take 50 to get in this year.....Thats a significantly higher winning percentage than they've had thus far, and it's going to have to come against better competition.

Tony fails.

[spursfan09]

Yea I wish Tony would say things more along the line "We won't make the playoffs, we Suck ass." That's telling it like it is, and not showing any confidence whatsoever.

[duncan228]

Spurs don't rope Rodeo Trip (http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/art_garcia/02/24/insider/?ls=iref:nbahpt1)
Art Garcia
NBA.com

San Antonio returned from its annual rodeo-induced excursion with more questions than answers. That's not the way these trips usually work out.

The Spurs went 4-4 during the march that's taken all of February, which wasn't good enough to tread water, leaving them seventh in the West. The trek ended with losses at Philadelphia and Detroit -- both teams are under. 500 -- and with another injury to point guard Tony Parker.

Tension is growing in the Alamo City. Fan dissatisfaction has centered on prized offseason pickup Richard Jefferson, who was reportedly on the trading block before the deadline. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has taken shots at the team's defense. The offense, one player groused, feels like four shooting guards and Tim Duncan. Others have wondered about the locker room vibe, which has never been in question during the Duncan Era.

"Everybody is a little bit right on everything," Duncan said. "Our defense is what we've always based our whole team on. Our chemistry hasn't been there. We've not played well through stretches. We've had real bad lulls through games and quarters.

"So it's all those things combined. Everybody has a point and everybody has something there. How do you clean up all those things at once? You don't. You just keep working on little things."

Duncan and the Spurs thought they turned a corner after blowing out Denver right before the All-Star break. It became "one step forward, two steps back," he said, but the team isn't dwelling on the setbacks.

"It's not hard to keep plugging along," Duncan added. "It's hard with the results, postgames and looking back at the ones we let slip away. To get back to work and to keep plugging away isn't hard because I know we want to get it right. I know we want to play the right way and we want to start moving in the right direction."

So does Parker, especially after being slowed by a hip strain last week. He's dealt with plantar fasciitis, ankle and knee sprains and a drop in production. The playmaker hopes to return Wednesday night against Oklahoma City in the Spurs' return to the AT&T Center, their first home game since Jan. 31. San Antonio (31-23) has only a half-game lead on eighth-place Portland.

Parker admitted that extending the Spurs' run of 50-win seasons to a league-best 11th year will be tough, but scoffed at the idea they may miss the playoffs.

"We'll make the playoffs," he said with a good bit of French bravado. "I'm not even worried about that."

[Blackjack]

The offense, one player groused, feels like four shooting guards and Tim Duncan.

:lmao

[portnoy1]

If your hurt, run the offense like Manu does and stop ruining your body by going 1 on 5. Manu learned that, now its your turn. Oh, thats right I forgot your still wearing blinders. Its kinda hard to see the court like that. In that case, drive and shoot or as a last resort when your surrounded by 5 guys you can kick out.

[toki9]

“It's just one more thing this year, after my plantar fasciitis and my knee and my ankle. It's just one of those years. I'm just going to try to stay positive, keep working on my body, do my treatments and stretching and all that stuff and try to not have nothing else the rest of the year.”

What was wrong with his knee? When was that?

[dbestpro]

The Art Garcia article just pizzes me off. One more media muck calls everybody out but Pop and his 4 dwarf offense.

[timtonymanu]

i want to see someone write an article on the downfall of Pop. I wonder how he will react to that.