"A career high in assists. Afterward, a heating pad on his sore back.

Tony Parker had never looked so much like Steve Nash, had he?

Parker laughed. "If I could finish my career that way, like Steve," he said, "I'd sign up right now."

Parker said this the way the relieved do. Tim Duncan sits out a game to rest, and Manu Ginobili won't return until February, and Parker keeps grinding. He's closer to today's Nash than he wants to admit, propping up an ordinary team, and Monday was another example in a recent string of them."