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the nba has to rule if duncan can or can not play before this game
Coming off a loss to the team with the NBA's best record, the San Antonio Spurs look to bounce back against the team with the league's worst.
The Spurs visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday in a matchup between Southwest Division rivals experiencing vastly different seasons.
With their 91-86 loss to Dallas on Sunday, the Spurs (58-22) locked themselves into the third seed in the Western Conference with two games left in the regular season. Memphis (20-60), meanwhile, has lost six of seven to clinch the worst record in the NBA.
San Antonio enters its regular-season road finale with a 27-13 record away from home. The Spurs, though, have dropped two of their last three road games, including their defeat in Dallas.
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San Antonio went without a field goal in the final 6:30, closing the game with nine straight misses. The Spurs scored only 10 points in the fourth quarter, and none in the last 4:15.
A major factor in the Spurs' fourth-quarter struggles was the absence of Tim Duncan, who was ejected in the third period after picking up two technical fouls for arguing with official Joey Crawford. Duncan had 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 27 minutes before his second technical, which he received while laughing with teammates on the Spurs bench.
It was only the second ejection in Duncan's nine-year career.
"(Crawford) came into the game with a personal vendetta against me," Duncan said. "It had to be because I didn't do anything the entire game. I said three words to him and the three words were, 'I got fouled' on a shot. ... That's all I said to him the entire game."
The loss snapped San Antonio's six-game win streak and was only the Spurs' second defeat in 14 games. They enter Monday's contest with a league-best 23-4 record since the All-Star break.
While the Spurs are coming off a tough loss, the last-place Grizzlies upset a streaking Denver team on Saturday.
Memphis had lost six in a row to clinch the league's worst record, but snapped both that skid and the Nuggets' eight-game winning streak with a 133-118 win on Saturday. Tarence Kinsey matched a career high with 28 points, leading six Grizzlies in double figures.
Kinsey, an undrafted rookie from the University of South Carolina, is averaging 19.3 points in 11 games since March 24.
"The only people that believe we can win is us," Kinsey said. "We've been beat up and let down all season, and to bounce back and get a win like this on a team that was on a hot streak ... feels real good."
The Grizzlies, who have won back-to-back games only once this season, might be hard-pressed to accomplish that feat again on Monday. Mike Miller has missed 10 straight games with tendinitis in both of his knees, while Rudy Gay has sat out the last three games with an ankle injury and could be done for the season.
"If he's not 100 percent, he's not playing," coach Tony Barone said of Gay. "I don't think it's fair to him. Eighty percent. Ninety percent. That doesn't work now."
Memphis has lost seven straight games to the Spurs, including all three meetings this year. Duncan had 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead San Antonio to a 112-96 win over the Grizzlies when the teams last met Jan. 26.
the nba has to rule if duncan can or can not play before this game
Is this the game blog? I hope so. Let's start talking about the end of the regular season and start of the playoffs. I'm actually tired of all the Crawford talk...
After the game yesterday and the cir stances, the better team's fans should be very confident in their team right now.
No Duncan, Parker or Manu tonight. Hopefully Terance Kinsey doesnt go off on us
Smart move by Pop. The Spurs are more than ready, nothing left to prove as far as regular season goes. A confident team with 58 wins, as opposed to an insecure team despite having 66 wins needing to play its starters. I like it.
He is not going to play anyway because everything is wrapped up.
Starting Lineup?
PG Vaughn
SG Finley
SF Bowen
PF Oberto
C Elson
Does that sound right?
Oh and is Horry expected to play, on the second night of a b2b?
That sounds about right. I guess we will see the deadly combo that is Ely and Butler. Could you imagine.....
pg-Vaughn
sg-Finley
sf-White
pf-Butler
c-Ely
Going straight to the Finals with that line-up
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