"Gregg Popovich has thrown down the gauntlet, telling anyone who would listen that he plans regular rests for Tim Duncan as part of his lockout schedule strategy.

The only problem might be that the 35-year-old Duncan still prefers playing a lot more than sitting on the bench and practically vowed to play Thursday night against New Orleans.

By looking at the substitution patterns after the Spurs' 99-91 victory over Houston Wednesday night, it appeared that Duncan might be ripe for a night off against the Hornets and Emeka Okafor Thursday night."