Spurs are home from the range
The last bull rider has been bucked, the last bronc busted. Both Brooks and Dunn have left the building. The AT&T Center has been cleaned, swept and — hopefully — thoroughly Lysol-ed. The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo is over, which means so is the Spurs' rodeo road trip. The AT&T Center's primary occupants will resume their home slate Tuesday against Dallas. Spurs beat writer Jeff McDonald provides some highs and lows of what's gone down since the Spurs last played at home:
A thrilling beginning
- WHEN: Feb. 2
- WHERE: At Golden State
- RESULT: Won 110-105 (OT)
- THE SKINNY: The Spurs kick of their rodeo fling with a drama-packed shootout in Oakland. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili each score 32 points as the Spurs need overtime to outlast Golden State.
Rest in the Rockies
- WHEN: Feb. 3
- WHERE: Denver
- RESULT: Lost 104-96
- THE SKINNY: Gregg Popovich takes the uncommon step of resting four of his top five scorers. Only Ginobili (hip contusion) is mentioned on the pregame injury report, and the move causes a minor furor across the league. Later, Popovich reveals Duncan had a sore knee, Michael Finley had a sore back and, with the team shorthanded, he thought it would be a good time to rest Tony Parker.
Wicked awesome in Beantown
- WHEN: Feb. 8
- WHERE: Boston
- RESULT: Won 105-99
- THE SKINNY: The Spurs claim arguably their biggest victory of the season when Matt Bonner explodes for a season-high 23 points. Roger Mason Jr.’s late 3-pointer and Ginobili’s even later theft of Ray Allen seal the win.
Yo, Roko
- WHEN: Feb. 11
- WHERE: Toronto
- RESULT: Lost 91-89
- THE SKINNY: The high times end in Canada, at the hands of a Croatian. Earning his minutes with Jose Calderon hurt, Raptors rookie Roko Ukic throws in a season-high 22 points — including the game-winner with 20.8 seconds left.
Missing Manu
- WHEN: Feb. 17
- WHERE: New York
- RESULT: Lost 112-107 (OT)
- THE SKINNY: Ginobili does not make the trip to New York while nursing a sore right ankle, curious because he’d just poured in 32 points in Toronto, and had five days off for the All-Star break. Later, his injury is diagnosed as a stress reaction, and he is declared out 2-3 weeks. Without him, the Spurs drop an OT decision.
No trade zone
- WHEN: Feb. 19
- WHERE: Detroit
- RESULT: Won 83-79
- THE SKINNY: The trade deadline comes and passes, and despite an 11th-hour run at Marcus Camby, no roster moves transpire for the Spurs. Rejuvenated, they scoot by Detroit.
Mason is on
- WHEN: Feb. 21
- WHERE: Washington
- RESULT: Won 98-67
- THE SKINNY: Mason, the Washington native and erstwhile Wizard, makes his homecoming special, scorching his former team for 25 points and making 5 of 9 3-pointers. The Spurs slam the Wiz to finish the rodeo trip 5-3.
Crappy trip overall. The only positive is that we beat Boston. Then we lost to the freaking Raptors, who then turned around and got thumped by the Clippers. Then Manu goes down, then we lost to the Knicks.
No excuse for blowing that game against Toronto, who was without Bosh and Calderon. Parker gets lit up by yet another opposing PG. He has a very bad habit of letting guys career on him.
Toronto loss was one of the more pathetic in recent Spurs regular season history.
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