From The Daily Six Shooter at PlaymakerOnline.com:

The opener of tonight’s double-header on TNT is a matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics. As we mentioned in yesterday’s Daily Six Shooter, both teams aren’t playing well. San Antonio has lost four games in a row, the first such losing streak for the team in a long time, because Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, and Antonio McDyess have been handled delicately by the coaching staff with the playoffs nearing. While Boston has missed Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal, the guys missing from their roster don’t nearly have the impact of those missing games for the Spurs. In essence, you’re left wondering… What’s Boston’s excuse?

While most Celtics fans are blowing this current funk off, those in the know are far more concerned. Yes, Boston went through a stretch like this last season where they went from looking like they’d get eliminated in the first round to holding a lead in the 7th game of the NBA Finals. But that’s not the case this year. The word is that the team is hurting more than they’re letting on. With a slim bench and nowhere to turn if Paul Pierce and Ray Allen aren’t lighting it up, they’re being exposed. And after trading Kendrick Perkins, they aren’t nearly as strong on the defensive end anymore. They’re counting on Shaq to be healthy by the time to the playoffs come around so that they can lean on him to carry them in the paint on defense.

More bad news for Boston is that the “Big 3″ might be back tonight. According to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News, all three participated in practice yesterday. While Pop said that only Parker and McDyess would be back for sure, there’s a chance the team would play with a full roster tonight. My guess would be that Duncan comes off the bench while Ginobili is in the starting lineup. There’s no way Duncan plays tomorrow though, with a game in Houston scheduled.

This would be quite a surprise considering how serious Duncan’s injury looked and how conservative Gregg Popovich is about his veterans and dealing with injuries. I had previously predicted that it would be another week before Duncan’s return, so this would be a welcome surprise. We’ll see how he looks against Boston tonight though before we declare the season officially saved.

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