Spurs MUST rest Duncan

[xtremesteven33]

Actually, I can't stand when Manu and Oberto are on the floor together. It seems Manu makes it a point to try and force passes to Oberto when he rolls to the basket, which usually results in turnovers.

[baseline bum]

If Gooden and Ginoboli were healthy, I would be all for giving Duncan a week of rest. As it stands now, The Spurs would lose HCA in the first round if they sat Duncan out for an extended period of time. I really don't think this team is good enough to do any damage in the playoffs without any home court advantage whatsoever...

This isn't last year when the West had LA, SA, NO, and Phoenix all as le threats. I could care less about being the 8-seed, because there's no way the Spurs aren't going to have to go through LA to come out of the West, and there's no way they're going to make up the difference to get homecourt. They also won't catch Boston or Cleveland, so no matter what happens the Spurs will not have homecourt in any series against a real contender. I know sitting Tim won't do any good, but I hope the team stays extra-cautious with Manu. There's no way Pheonix is going to make up being 11 down in the loss column (10 + the tiebreaker) to the Spurs with 18 games to go, so the Spurs are guaranteed to be in the playoffs.

[mexicanjunior]

This isn't last year when the West had LA, SA, NO, and Phoenix all as le threats. I could care less about being the 8-seed, because there's no way the Spurs aren't going to have to go through LA to come out of the West, and there's no way they're going to make up the difference to get homecourt. They also won't catch Boston or Cleveland, so no matter what happens the Spurs will not have homecourt in any series against a real contender. I know sitting Tim won't do any good, but I hope the team stays extra-cautious with Manu. There's no way Pheonix is going to make up being 11 down in the loss column (10 + the tiebreaker) to the Spurs with 18 games to go, so the Spurs are guaranteed to be in the playoffs.

I disagree...I think Utah, NO and Houston could be very dangerous with HCA against us. The Spurs will need every advantage they can get against those teams in a 7 game series...

[HiLouis!]

Tim has shot 40 of 92 since he returned...so you do the math.

43.478% - consider the math done. Are you not capable of such complicated calculations? Then consider the fact that we've played three contenders for the playoffs in that stretch, and he's shooting around .50 for the season...and your stats disprove your own point.

By the way, try to spell idiot correctly the next time you're attempting an insult.

THANKS!

[Chomag]

If Gooden and Ginoboli were healthy, I would be all for giving Duncan a week of rest. As it stands now, The Spurs would lose HCA in the first round if they sat Duncan out for an extended period of time. I really don't think this team is good enough to do any damage in the playoffs without any home court advantage whatsoever...

I can understand what you are saying but if Tim is the way he is now I highly doubt we can get deep in the playoffs anyway. I say screw seeding its overrated anyway. In a playoff series the best team wins and seeding really has nothing to do with it other then maybe getting a jump on the first or so wins. Healthy players imo outweighs home-court advantage.

[K-State Spur]

I really dont care if we drop to the 8th seed. When I saw the pads on the knees I knew he was going to have a bad game. He just looks so old and slow...and he gets no lift off the ground. Maybe its his age finally catching up to him, I dunno but he needs a break. It doesnt matter if the Spurs had the #1 seed, with Duncan playing like this....we aint winning .

The main reason why we need Duncan somewhat healthy is Manu. I cant trust on Manu coming back at full strength this season, so we at least need one of those guys somewhat healthy. I'd take a rested Duncan and a so-so Manu over a hurt Duncan and a hurt Manu. Spurs just wont make it far in the playoffs. We need one of those guys healthy. We cant afford BOTH of them being hurt and basically ineffective come playoff time.

I say rest him until April.....That gives him 10 games of rest. 2 1/2 weeks of rest should give him some fresh legs.

If this happens, you start both Gooden and Thomas....Its just an idea, but Duncan needs rest really bad. He just does not look the same and we need him dearly if we want to even sniff another one of these

...because Pop is famous for pushing injured players and risking the playoffs for short term success.

i'm not one to trump out the 'always trust the organization' card. but it's probably safe to say that Tim, Pop, and the trainers are more on the ball with this situation than any body on this board could ever hope to be.

[Fabbs]

I do think Dunks played better then the stats showed last night.
The refs allowed several no calls, the most notable being Lamar Scrotums hacking of Tim being called a jump ball. We had the ball with a chance to tie at 93-95.

Anyone got stills on this? TNT made no attempt to replay and Doug Laker Collins and the other ass just babbled on and made no attempt to shed light on the play.

[Spursmania]

The fact that 2 weeks of rest will help the injury is a quite wild assumption.

Reports were that Duncan injury was a tendinosis. Google that term and you will see that it is an injury that takes months to heal.

Tendonosis=months to heal (2 weeks rest will not help)

[exstatic]

buddy where did you get 40 games? we only got 18 games left. get your facts straight.

He may be obtuse for the most part, but I'm sure he's factoring in the playoff run.

[The Truth #6]

I don't see how Tim can truly heal his knees when he has a degenerative condition. Given that, rest, any rest, should help him in some form. Unless people want to admit that this is as good as he's going to be from here on out, I don't see why letting him take some games off, at least as an experiment to see how he responds, is a bad idea.

The team is showing their age and wear faster we'd like. There's really no great situation. If we overplay Tony while Tim rests then he could be spent too by the time playoffs start.

Honestly, if the doctors say Ian is healthy by late April then playing him might need to be an option if Tim and Gooden can't get and stay well. Ha!

[baseline bum]

I disagree...I think Utah, NO and Houston could be very dangerous with HCA against us. The Spurs will need every advantage they can get against those teams in a 7 game series...

The Spurs can beat Utah and Houston without Manu, so they're no major concern. NO could always make a strong push, but Chandler looks horrible this year and Posey hasn't fit in well at all. However, If Manu's not near 100%, the Spurs will have absolutely zero shot at LA, Bynum or not. I'd rather not take my chances for meaningless positioning and hope to have a healthy and fresh Ginobili; the kind of shot in the arm the Lakers got in '01 when Derek Fisher came back from injury with about 10 games left.

[Thomas82]

I do think Dunks played better then the stats showed last night.
The refs allowed several no calls, the most notable being Lamar Scrotum's hacking of Tim being called a jump ball. We had the ball with a chance to tie at 93-95.

Anyone got stills on this? TNT made no attempt to replay and Doug Laker Collins and the other ass just babbled on and made no attempt to shed light on the play.

That was funny as .

[exstatic]

I don't see how Tim can truly heal his knees when he has a degenerative condition. Given that, rest, any rest, should help him in some form. Unless people want to admit that this is as good as he's going to be from here on out, I don't see why letting him take some games off, at least as an experiment to see how he responds, is a bad idea.

The team is showing their age and wear faster we'd like. There's really no great situation. If we overplay Tony while Tim rests then he could be spent too by the time playoffs start.

Honestly, if the doctors say Ian is healthy by late April then playing him might need to be an option if Tim and Gooden can't get and stay well. Ha!

Tendonosis is not degenerative, and won't get worse playing on it. It also won't get better by resting it for any period of time that doesn't include the word "months". This is probably as good as he'll be, allowing for incrementally better days and worse days. Thank heavens we've won a 'Ship with Tim mostly immobile already (2005) and know we can do it.