Spurs: Spurs players lose to disabled basketball players

**Thebesteva** · 09-25-2013

da fak?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ba...0571--nba.html

Three San Antonio Spurs are trounced by a trio of veterans in a game of wheelchair basketball

Kelly Dwyer 7 hours agoBall Don't Lie

LOSERS. (Getty Images)

It’s true that sitting in a wheelchair can’t help but take some of the height advantage away, but how badly do you think a team consisting of San Antonio Spurs big men Matt Bonner (at 6-10), Aron Baynes (ditto) andTiago Splitter (6-11) would beat a wheelchair basketball team in a game of three-on-three? After all, Bonner is one of the most accurate NBA shooters of all time, Baynes is a highly-regarded reserve center, and Splitter is one of the league’s best young offensive centers.
This is where you find out that some skills don’t translate, and that wheelchair basketball is an entirely different sport. A fascinating, entertaining, engaging sport. Seriously, if you ever get to see a game of wheelchair basketball down at your local YMCA or student rec center, take it in.
[Photos: Top 10 NBA players of 2014]
Oh, and those three Spurs lost by a 28-6 count to a group of army veterans, playing at a rehabilitation center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio on Tuesday. The Spurs got their tails handed to them.
From Scott Huddleson at the San Antonio Express-News:

The clinic, presented by Valero, San Antonio Sports, the Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Paralympics, has come to San Antonio for the first time, after similar events were held in Durham, N.C.; San Jose, Calif.; and Chicago. To add some fun and local flavor, organizers called on three Spurs to take on amputees who survived the double-elimination basketball tournament.

“We're here to win,” Bonner said Tuesday.

After a 20-minute game, the three veterans, Edwin Gonzalez, Matt Spang and Chris Pettway — all amputees — trounced the Spurs, 28-6. Gonzalez, from New York state, said it was generous of the Spurs to compete in wheelchairs.

Army Sergeant Delvin Maston explained to Huddleson just why three NBA pros were demolished in a game of wheelchair basketball:

“You have to really dig into your mental game and be fundamentally sound,” Maston said. “Your athleticism is limited because you no longer have your legs. You have to be more technical.”

**AchillesHeel** · 09-25-2013

Splitter,Bonner and Baynes...Nothing else needs to be said.

**ChumpDumper** · 09-25-2013

Seriously?

**lefty** · 09-25-2013

**HI-FI** · 09-25-2013

kind of cool they did it though tbh

**Rogue** · 09-26-2013

The spurs played 3 bigs on the court, but none of them could dribble and they couldn't even move past the half court without losing the ball first, that's why bigs are mostly useless in street ball imho. If you play 3 guards, even the last 3 on the bench (Joseph, Nando and whoever else) you would've won the game by landslide.

**-21-** · 09-26-2013

Class tbh.

**DMC** · 09-26-2013

Was Cobbler there?

**Axegrinder** · 09-26-2013

Originally Posted by Rogue

The spurs played 3 bigs on the court, but none of them could dribble and they couldn't even move past the half court without losing the ball first, that's why bigs are mostly useless in street ball imho. If you play 3 guards, even the last 3 on the bench (Joseph, Nando and whoever else) you would've won the game by landslide.

lol its WHEELCHAIR basketball, not street ball. There is actually very little dribbling.

**Kool Bob Love** · 09-26-2013

Originally Posted by DMC

Was Cobbler there?

DMC

**hooperflash** · 09-27-2013

Spurs swept a team of many disabled players last May, tbh.

**hyhy** · 09-27-2013

Wheelchair basketball basically depends on how well/fast you ride a wheelchair. I played in a wheelchair basketball match before and the professionals are actually tough and plays rough against you, whereas we would be less rough and gentle as we see that they are handicap.