Duncan requires rest, not surgery
Mike Monroe
The good news from the doctors who examined Spurs All-Star Tim Duncan's sore right knee Wednesday morning: no initials.
No ACL, MCL, PTL, or any other combination of letters typically used to describe a torn ligament or damaged cartilage.
Rather, Duncan has tendonosis in his right quadriceps tendon, a degenerative condition.
Technically, the injury could be described as a minor problem with Duncan's RQT, but the diagnosis requires rest, not surgery. For that, the Spurs are grateful.
“It's none of those letter things,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He's got (tendonosis), so we'll see how he feels on Friday.”
Asked if Duncan would have been able to suit up had Tuesday's and Wednesday's games been playoff games, Popovich guessed that Duncan would have threatened him with physical harm in an effort to play.
Nothing would have changed Popovich's resolve to prevent it.
“I don't think he would (have played),” Popovich said. “(Tuesday) night, he had no strength in the leg. It didn't loosen up at all, and he wouldn't have been able to do a damn thing, so it would have been detrimental.
“He would have wanted to play. He would have tried to beat me up to play, probably, but it wouldn't have done any good.
“It's not quite as bad (Wednesday). Hopefully, by Friday he'll be in better shape.”
Newest Spur: While the timing suggested otherwise, Duncan's injury had nothing to do with the Spurs' decision to sign forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu.
Mensah-Bonsu, a 6-foot-10 forward who played eight games with the Spurs' Austin Toros team of the NBA D-League, was on his way to San Antonio long before Duncan's knee flare-up happened. He signed a 10-day contract Wednesday morning.
He averaged 26.6 points and 13 rebounds for the Toros.
Mensah-Bonsu was activated for Wednesday's game when Duncan was declared out for the second straight night.
Mensah-Bonsu, 26, said his time in Austin was long enough to gain a rudimentary knowledge of the Spurs' systems. The Spurs own the Toros, and coach Quin Snyder runs most of the same plays and defenses that the Spurs utilize.
“I'm at a great advantage right now,” said Mensah-Bonsu, “because 80 percent of the whole system we use in Austin is the Spurs system. This morning, when we were going over things, it was second nature to me. I knew all the offenses; I knew all the defenses. I was pretty much ahead of the game, which helps this 10-day process.”
The newest Spur played 12 games for the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006-07 season. A native of London, he played college basketball at George Washington in Washington.
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