San Antonio Spurs News

Spurs seek to get nude player's pics off Web
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February 9
San Antonio Express-News
 
"TMZ.com is reporting the San Antonio Spurs are seeking to have nude photos of player George Hill taken down off a Web site. The photos allegedly show Hill's private parts and were taken with a cell phone."
Spurs sputter while stuck in the muck
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February 9
Los Angeles Times
 columnist Mark Heisler
"They don't make marquee matchups in the Western Conference the way they used to. The Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs, winners of eight of the last 11 NBA titles, renewed the rivalry that defined the West on Monday night, just with a few things missing, like the old Spurs, the Lakers' franchise player and the Lakers' center. The Lakers were without the injured Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. The Spurs had all their old core players, the problem being they were all older. Coach Gregg Popovich, whose team started the night No. 6 in the West, now paces his team, like the time he didn't put Tim Duncan in until the second quarter on the second night of a back-to-back, noting, "Not that much ..."
Lakers make the Spurs feel their pain
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February 9
Los Angeles Times
 
"They did it again, indelibly, as if to show the first time wasn't a fluke. Two days after weathering a typically stormy game in Portland without Kobe Bryant (when it started) and Andrew Bynum (when it ended), the Lakers undercut a more refined San Antonio team Monday night. They played again without their two starters, but it didn't matter, in case the raucously appreciative Staples Center crowd didn't demonstrate it with a series of ovations. Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and Ron Artest took turns pushing and prodding the Lakers in a 101-89 victory over the Spurs, a testimony to their depth, 36 minutes of strong defense and a dose of hustle that isn't always associated with this team. With a game ..."
Lakers' Bryant held out with injured ankle
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February 9
San Antonio Express-News
 
"After playing in 235 consecutive games, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant has now missed two in a row. Bryant, the NBA's fourth-leading scorer, sat out Monday's game against the Spurs with a sprained left ankle. It was the culmination of about two months of maladies for Bryant, ranging from a fractured finger to a bad back. That Bryant is just now taking time off underscores the divergent approaches of Lakers coach Phil Jackson and the Spurs' Gregg Popovich when it comes to resting stars. Though after Monday only one game remained between Bryant and the long layoff of the All-Star break, Jackson wouldn't rule him out for Wednesday's game against Utah. "If he feels he can play, he's going ..."
Spurs have little to feel good about
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February 9
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Lakers coach Phil Jackson received some bad medical news before Monday's game against the Spurs. Gregg Popovich did, too. It was, in fact, the same bit of news. Jackson learned he'd again be without star guard Kobe Bryant and starting center Andrew Bynum. In the other locker room, Popovich was hardly licking his chops. "I'd rather have it the other way," Popovich said. "It's more a situation where if you win the game, I'm not sure you take a lot from it. And if you lose the game, you feel like hell." Given the choice, the Spurs would have gladly taken option A. Instead, they left Staples Center on Monday feeling like hell. The Lakers' three best remaining players picked up the slack for ..."
Spurs still feeling Gasol deal
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February 8
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Two years and one week ago, Kobe Bryant received a present he will never forget. A 7-foot Spaniard with floppy hair and a point guard's passing skills arrived on his doorstep in Los Angeles, all but gift-wrapped with a card that read, "From Memphis, with love." Pau Gasol, it turned out, was just what Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers needed to return to the NBA's pinnacle. "If we could have designed a player to make us a contender, it would have been him," Bryant said. "It was an absolutely perfect fit." Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was understandably less enthralled with the events of Feb. 1, 2008. At the time, he called what Memphis did — swapping an All-Star to the Lakers for a collection ..."
Spurs' Hill ready for Bryant to play
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February 8
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Spurs guard George Hill is still a young pup by NBA standards, but he already has a little history going with Lakers MVP Kobe Bryant. Sort of. "I wouldn't say we have a history," Hill said. "He's been in the league a long time. I'm just in my second year." The two have waged some memorable battles in that short time. One ended with Bryant sinking a game-clinching 3-pointer over Hill last season. Earlier this season, Hill highlighted the Spurs' 105-85 victory over the Lakers by picking Bryant's pocket and zooming for an uncontested dunk. Whether the two can make more history together when the teams renew acquaintances tonight at Staples Center remains to be seen. Bryant, nursing a litany of ..."
Clippers stuck running in place
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February 7
L.A. Daily News
 
"Become the head coach, tell the players that this will be a team that runs. Nothing could ingratiate a new leader of an NBA team more, right? "I hope we run like crazy," Kim Hughes said before his first game as the Clippers' head coach. It wouldn't be long before the fans were running for the exits like crazy. Of course, first they had to boo their team as they walked off the court at halftime on their way to a 98-81 defeat to the San Antonio Spurs at Staples Center on Saturday night. After back-to-back embarrassing losses to New Jersey and Minnesota on their eight-game road trip, the Clippers decided Mike Dunleavy wouldhis coaching duties and serve only as general manager. Dunleavy ..."
Clippers' new era looks a lot like the old one in loss to Spurs
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February 7
Los Angeles Times
 
"Kim Hughes said he hoped the Clippers would play hard for him Saturday night in his first game as interim coach. And for the most part, most of them did. Now if he could only get them to play well. Because while the Clippers were looking for a new beginning under their new coach, what they got instead was a stale replay of the kind of inconsistent performances they got far too often under old coach Mike Dunleavy. And the result was familiar too -- a 98-81 defeat by San Antonio at Staples Center, the Clippers' 15th straight loss to the Spurs and their sixth in seven games overall. "It wasn't a whole lot of fun," Hughes said. The Clippers looked awful from the start, scoring just 10 points ..."
Hot Hill ignites Spurs' blowout
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February 7
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Before George Hill left for the summer following his rookie season with the Spurs, his coaches sent him home to Indianapolis with quite a going away present. It was a stat sheet that showed he had been one of the team's worst open jump shooters that year. That realization had a profound impact on Hill. "They always say numbers don't lie," Hill said. "I knew I could make those shots. It was just a confidence thing, second-guessing it. I saw a lot of that when I watched film in the summer." There was no second-guessing what Hill did in Saturday's 98-81 clobbering of the Clippers at the Staples Center. Hill scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting - including 17 in the first quarter that were the ..."
Popovich says Bowen not answer for Spurs
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February 7
San Antonio Express-News
 
"In Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's estimation, the biggest problem facing his team going forward is on defense. Heading into Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers, the Spurs were giving up 96.5 points per game, a Popovich-era record, and were tied for 13th in the NBA in field-goal defense (45.7 percent). For a team that is typically one of the best defensive teams in the league, and began the season vowing to return to those heights, this season's futility has been a bitter pill to swallow. "It's been a big disappointment this season that we have not jelled as a group, defensively," Popovich said. "And it shows in our record." Popovich has only scant clues as to why the defensive ..."
Spurs' Parker learns to live with pain
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February 6
San Antonio Express-News
 
"In the midst of the most injury addled season of his career, Tony Parker considers himself lucky. Since September, the Spurs' point guard has suffered three sprained ankles and one nasty bout of plantar fasciitis in his left foot. "If I can finish the year with only this nagging stuff, I'll sign right away," Parker said. In Thursday's loss at Portland, Parker returned from his latest layoff - a three-game absence necessitated by a mild left ankle sprain - and emerged intact and ready to face the Clippers tonight. He scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half before tiring in the second. That continued a string of solid games for Parker, who had scored at least 20 in four straight games ..."
Ginobili almost himself again
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February 6
San Antonio Express-News
 
"The ball swung to Manu Ginobili in the corner, followed by the sound of 20,572 fans at the Rose Garden inhaling at once. The Spurs trailed Portland by three with 10 seconds left Thursday, and Ginobili was loading up for a 3-pointer that couldn't have been more uncontested had it come during shootaround. As has been the case with the Spurs for much of the season, Ginobili's potential game-tying shot came with a glitch. He hadn't been expecting the pass from George Hill, who had eschewed an open look, and the surprise threw him out of rhythm. The ball bounced off the rim, and Portland hung on to a 96-93 victory. "I had plenty of time; I stayed with the shot," Ginobili said. "But it didn't ..."
Portland 96, San Antonio 93: Martell Webster's biggest moment
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February 5
Oregonian
 
"Martell Webster has made 380 three-pointers in his Trail Blazers career, but none have been bigger than the one he connected on in the closing seconds Thursday at the Rose Garden. Webster's three from the top of the arc with 22.6 seconds left pushed an 88-87 lead to 91-87 and proved to be the decisive play in the Blazers' crucial 96-93 victory over San Antonio. Webster blew a kiss to the rafters after his shot -- aimed, he said, at his fiancee, Courtney Clarke -- but his job wasn't finished. Webster made two pressure free throws with 10 seconds left to give the Blazers a 94-89 lead, putting the finishing touches on a night when he made all five of his three-pointers and scored 21 ..."
It's Webster time in the clutch
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February 5
Portland Tribune
 
"Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili had their dominating moments for San Antonio Thursday night, and Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge played like a man possessed. But at the end, it was Martell Webster time. Webster knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and four straight free throws, all in the final 3:38, and the Trail Blazers needed all of it in a 96-93 victory at the Rose Garden. Aldridge had one of his best performances of the season with 28 points and 13 rebounds and Webster scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter for Portland (30-22), which finished 3-0 against the Spurs this season. The Blazers - going without injured Brandon Roy for the 11th time in the last dozen games - were playing ..."
Deadline deal for Spurs unlikely
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February 5
San Antonio Express-News
 
"When the Spurs tipped off Thursday night's game against the Trail Blazers, there were exactly two weeks remaining until the Feb. 18 trade deadline. The Spurs are sure to at least test the trade winds, but if coach Gregg Popovich had to guess, his roster on Feb. 19 probably will look a lot like it does now. "There's a whole lot of talk that goes on between all 30 teams," Popovich said before Thursday's game. "As we all know, come trade deadline, very little ever happens. So I wouldn't hold my breath or anything like that." Popovich stopped short of guaranteeing a roster freeze, as he did before the 2007 trade deadline. After an uneven first half of the season, and with a handful of expiring ..."
Spurs fizzle late against Blazers
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February 5
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Spurs coach Gregg Popovich began night talking about belief. He was riffing on the Portland Trail Blazers, and their uncanny ability to survive injury after injury, but he might as well have been preaching to his own team. "That's what this journey is about," Popovich said before tipoff Thursday. "It's an exercise in commitment to each other, and having the character to continue to believe, and not try and moan and blame, but to try and be the best group you can be, no matter what." Given a chance to put the power of positive thinking into action later that night at the Rose Garden, the Spurs – like most everything else during this frustrating stretch of the season – let it slip through ..."
Parker returns from injury, Spurs still fizzle late against Blazers
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February 5
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Spurs coach Gregg Popovich began night talking about belief. He was riffing on the Portland Trail Blazers, and their uncanny ability to survive injury after injury, but he might as well have been preaching to his own team. "That's what this journey is about," Popovich said before tipoff Thursday. "It's an exercise in commitment to each other, and having the character to continue to believe, and not try and moan and blame, but to try and be the best group you can be, no matter what." Given a chance to put the power of positive thinking into action later that night at the Rose Garden, the Spurs – like most everything else during this frustrating stretch of the season – let it slip through ..."
Spurs' Parker likely to play tonight
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February 4
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Injured point guard Tony Parker participated fully in the Spurs' light shootaround Wednesday morning and came away without any ill effects on his sprained left ankle. That wasn't enough to get him into uniform against Sacramento later that night, as coach Gregg Popovich opted to keep Parker out for the third consecutive game. Parker, however, does at last have a clearer idea about when he might be ready to return to the court after his latest bout with the injury bug. "Tomorrow," he said after the shootaround. Tomorrow, of course, would mean tonight, when the Spurs continue their annual rodeo road trip at Portland. Popovich said that timetable sounded plausible to him. "I think he's ..."
Blair, Hill spark Spurs past Kings
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February 4
San Antonio Express-News
 
"From his perch on the sidelines at Arco Arena on Wednesday night, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich saw many things he did not like. The Sacramento Kings' Tyreke Evans-led layup parade would be one of them. Popovich also saw at least two things he did like. Their names are George Hill and DeJuan Blair. Led by near career games from two of their youngest two players, the Spurs held on to beat Sacramento 115-113 on Wednesday night, opening their rodeo road trip with a victory that was mandatory. Hill, a second-year guard starting at point in place of the injured Tony Parker, matched a career high with 23 points and set one with nine assists. Blair, a 6-foot-7 rookie from Pittsburgh, added 20 points ..."
Best may be yet to come for Spurs, McDyess
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February 3
San Antonio Express-News
 columnist Mike Monroe
"The Spurs left Tuesday for the first long leg of the rodeo road trip, five new players getting their first taste of an annual trek that began in 2003. Inquiring minds wanted to know: What do the newcomers make of an experience that has helped to define a team that won three titles since the trip began? Antonio McDyess briefly rolled his eyes, then mouthed a response impossible to refute: "Road games are tough, but it's not something I'm not used to." Indeed, McDyess has been in the NBA for 14 seasons, on good teams and bad. He's experienced nearly everything, including long road trips. There are patterns to every season for every team. For the Spurs, team chemistry always seems to coalesce ..."
Spurs' shooters won't grow passive
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February 3
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Perhaps nobody was looking forward to tonight's start to the Spurs' rodeo trip more than the Spurs' shooters. The rims at the AT&T Center have not been kind to the home team of late. During the 2-4 homestand they completed before hitting the road, the Spurs shot 42.9 percent and made just 29.4 percent of their 3-pointers. Given the Spurs are built to be a 3-point team, the power outage from long range has been most disconcerting. The Spurs are 16-3 this season when shooting better than 40 percent from beyond the arc, compared to 2-10 when shooting less than 30 percent. A 3-of-17 clangfest in Sunday's loss to Denver prompted coach Gregg Popovich to finally growl, "people have got to step up ..."
Spurs hit the road in search of consistency
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February 3
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Based on the knowledge gleaned from his three previous rodeo road trips, Matt Bonner has devised a simple system of packing for the Spurs' annual barnstorming tour of America. The first lesson: Don't overpack. "I'll wear a different shirt to each game," Bonner said. "Leave it at that." Even before he boarded the team's charter flight to Sacramento for the start of this year's rodeo trip, first-year Spurs forward Richard Jefferson was resigned to hitting the Laundromat at least once on the road. Rookie DeJuan Blair made sure not to leave home without his charge card and, perhaps, an extra suitcase. "I shop enough," Blair said. "On a two-day trip, I get 13 days' worth of stuff. I'll be all ..."
Duncan: Most important rodeo road trip
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February 2
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Tim Duncan has been a part of seven previous rodeo road trips, the extended journey that makes tourists of the Spurs while the AT&T Center is filled with the twang of country music and the tang of equine excrement. Not once has the Spurs captain felt a more compelling need for the team to use the trip to turn around its season. And with good reason: Never have the Spurs arrived at embarkation day with a worse record. Aware that no rodeo road trip has produced a losing record and each has been an attendant jump-start to the season-ending push, Duncan agreed that this year's seven-game trip — which begins Wednesday in Sacramento after a six-game homestand produced only two victories — is the ..."
Parker will return on trip
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February 2
San Antonio Express-News
 
"When the Spurs board their charter plane this afternoon, bound for the opening game of this year's rodeo road trip Wednesday at Sacramento, point guard Tony Parker is expected to be with them. When he might rejoin his teammates on the court, however, remains uncertain. Team officials expect Parker, who has missed the past two games with his latest left ankle sprain, to play at some point on the trip, an eight-game trek that straddles the All-Star break and concludes Feb. 21 at Detroit. There is no specific game targeted for Parker's return, but the prevailing belief is he will be back sooner than later. The Spurs are 1-1 during Parker's most recent absence and 3-3 overall. Parker, a ..."
Sleepless in SA, Spurs start slowly
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February 1
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Tipoff for Sunday's game against the Denver Nuggets was still 90 minutes away, but Spurs power forward Antonio McDyess moved slowly in front of his locker at the AT&T Center. "I'm tired," McDyess said as he changed into his game uniform. "We're not used to getting up so early." Sunday's noon start, dictated by the national telecast on ABC, disrupted the sleep pattern the Spurs have nurtured all season, with afternoon practices and the elimination of shootarounds on game-day mornings. The Spurs' wake-up calls didn't seem to be delivered until the first six minutes and 40 seconds of the first period already were in the books. By then, they had missed 10 of their first 14 shots and fallen ..."
Nuggets change, as does West
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February 1
San Antonio Express-News
 
"The Spurs were once better. They were once smarter, too. They especially were when they played a Nuggets franchise that couldn't spell IQ. The Spurs beat Denver in the first round in each of their last two championship runs with superior poise and patience and discipline. Now the Nuggets have all of these qualities, and credit goes to George Karl. He lets Chauncey Billups play point guard for him. Karl raged in the dumb Denver days, and sometimes at the Spurs. Once, after Manu Ginobili shredded the Nuggets in a 2005 playoff game, Karl announced Ginobili had effectively ruined the sport of basketball for a generation. "I don't like watching him," Karl said then. Who he really didn't like ..."
Spurs 'can't make a bucket'
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February 1
San Antonio Express-News
 
"By nature, NBA coaches spend their lives complicating the game of basketball. They pore over tape, scour scouting reports and come up with countless permutations of X's and O's. At the end of the day, however, the winners and losers are defined by one unbending rule. "If you can't make a bucket," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said, "you can't win." The Spurs learned that lesson — again — during another clank-filled game Sunday afternoon, a 103-89 loss to Denver at the AT&T Center in which they might as well have been trying to fit the ball through the eye of a needle. The Spurs went 34 of 79 (43 percent), including a dismal 3 of 17 from the 3-point line, while the Nuggets shot 53.6 percent ..."
Hawks provide blueprint
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January 31
San Antonio Express-News
 
"When ice storms disrupt travel in Oklahoma City and Memphis, you know it is no ordinary winter. While the Spurs strained Friday to get past the Grizzlies at the AT"
Ship righted, Spurs on even keel
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January 31
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Unlike the majority of their fan base, the Spurs did not fall into full-scale, freak-out mode when they lost three games in a row at home earlier this month. Now that they've stopped the skid with back-to-back quality victories over Atlanta and Memphis, the Spurs aren't exactly crowing about turning a corner, either. If nothing else, they've learned over the past few games the fine line between winning and losing. "There's going to be ups and downs, smiles and frowns," forward Richard Jefferson said. "When we were struggling, we weren't shooting the ball particularly well, but we weren't getting blown out. We were in every single game. It was coming down to one or two shots here and there ..."
Parker expected to miss game today
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January 31
San Antonio Express-News
 
"The final horn had long since sounded Friday, and the sweat had long since dried on the Spurs' much-needed victory over Memphis, but George Hill's work was not yet over. Towel wrapped around his waist, Hill stood in front of the video screen in the Spurs' locker room and, surrounded by teammates in various stages of re-dressing, was conferring with assistant coach Mike Budenholzer on a defensive assignment he had improperly executed half an hour before. His shower could wait. "Just learning the different things to do when I'm out there and in that moment," Hill said. "That can only make you better." Hill, a second-year player who was close to brilliant against Memphis in place of injured ..."
Spurs' Gregg Popovich rethinks Pau Gasol deal
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January 30
Memphis Commercial Appeal
 
"San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich still believes the Grizzlies changed the landscape of the Western Conference for the foreseeable future. Once a major critic of the February 2008 decision to trade Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers, Popovich now concedes Memphis also made out good in the deal. "They gave up a great player but it helped them extend the franchise's success into the future," Popovich said. "It's shown that they've done a good job. Whatever they were thinking a couple of iterations ahead at the time has paid off for them." Popovich's immediate reaction to the Gasol deal wasn't as kind. Popovich, who also serves as the Spurs' president of basketball operations, called ..."
San Antonio Spurs turn back Memphis Grizzlies, 104-97
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January 30
Memphis Commercial Appeal
 
"It is certainly safe to assume that the Grizzlies no longer fly under the radar among the NBA elite, which is to say they aren't taken lightly. Nothing could have been more evident Friday night as the San Antonio Spurs, even as they played without starting point guard Tony Parker, set a serious tone early and methodically beat the Grizzlies, 104-97, in the AT"
Jefferson surprised by kudos from Popovich
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January 30
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's assessment of Richard Jefferson's defensive work on Memphis' high-scoring forward, Rudy Gay, in Friday's game at the AT"
Hill, Mason boost Parker-less Spurs
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January 30
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Roger Mason Jr. spent most of last summer in Miami, which was no day at the beach. He worked with a personal trainer, hired at his own expense, waiting for his moment to come. At about the same time, 1,200 miles away in his hometown of Indianapolis, George Hill also was working out, and also waiting. When their moments converged Friday night at the AT"
Spurs' McDyess finding his comfort zone
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January 29
San Antonio Express-News
 
"For Antonio McDyess, the moment of truth came in a flash. He was streaking on a fast break in the Spurs' loss to Chicago earlier this week. Manu Ginobili was leading the way. Without warning, Ginobili whipped the ball across the paint, through a thicket of bodies and toward McDyess' head, leaving its intended recipient with two options. "Either I was going to catch it," McDyess said, "or it was going to hit me in the face." Unlike other out-of-nowhere Ginobili passes he'd missed, fumbled or otherwise botched this season, McDyess made the catch, and finished the play with a pretty reverse layup. For McDyess, it was an important Spurs rite of passage, a sign that — at long last — he is ..."
Spurs Parker to miss time, but injury not serious
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January 29
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Tony Parker's self-diagnosis in the immediate aftermath of spraining his left ankle in the third quarter of Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Hawks was worthy of a board certified physician. Parker told teammates he didn't think his injury was serious and did not believe he would miss much playing time. The official injury report on Thursday: mild sprain with minimal swelling; structurally everything looks good; no time line yet, but will return sooner than later. Parker definitely will miss tonight's game against the Memphis Grizzlies at the AT&T Center and likely will sit out the Sunday afternoon game against the Denver Nuggets, the last game before the Spurs depart on the first leg ..."
Spurs jump Hawks from start for 105-90 victory
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January 28
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
 
"In about the same time it takes Tony Parker to drive to the basket, those stories about the slumping Spurs and streaking Hawks were outdated. After the Spurs ran the Hawks out of the AT"
Trade up: Popovich gets what he wanted
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January 28
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Gregg Popovich shrugged at the mention of Amare Stoudemire. Trade? Popovich dismissed an Internet story as merely the season for speculation. Besides, Popovich had other concerns. He was still working on his previous big-money, big-name trade. He was still trying to do something with another scorer not previously known for playing defense. Which is why Wednesday mattered. For the first time in a while, Richard Jefferson looked to be exactly what Popovich always wanted him to be. Jefferson has shown flashes, and sometimes brilliant ones. Earlier in the season, with both Tim Duncan and Tony Parker out against Dallas, Jefferson scored a season-high 29 points. But that has been Jefferson's ..."
Duncan helps Spurs end slide
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January 28
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Gregg Popovich left the AT&T Center on Wednesday night with his eyebrows intact. Unlike Mike Woodson, his Atlanta counterpart, he didn't need to shave anything to motivate his team. After the Spurs lost three in a row at home, Popovich didn't do anything special to catch his players' attention. "Besides flipping over tables and cursing us out?" center Antonio McDyess said, in jest (maybe). "No." Whatever Popovich did or did not do, the Spurs responded with one of their finest games of the season, crushing the surging Atlanta Hawks 105-90 to put an emphatic end to a discouraging skid. As has often been the case over the past 12-plus seasons, when the Spurs hit their darkest hour, they ..."
Ankle likely to shelve Spurs' Parker
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January 28
San Antonio Express-News
 
"The Spurs won't know until today or Friday how long Tony Parker will be out with another left ankle sprain, but Manu Ginobili offered a hint. "Tony said it wasn't so bad, but he will probably miss a couple of games," said Ginobili, one of three Spurs who will be asked to fill in at the point until the All-NBA guard returns. Parker's ankle rolled as he drove to the basket with 2:29 remaining in the third quarter of the Spurs' 105-90 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at the AT&T Center. X-rays taken at the arena were negative, but a timetable for Parker's return won't be established until he is re-examined by the team's medical staff. Parker missed two games in November after mildly spraining ..."
Amare a Spur? Not so fast
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January 27
San Antonio Express-News
 
"While Spurs president of basketball operations Gregg Popovich acknowledges that every NBA team discusses nearly every potentially tradeable player, this is what we know to be true this morning: There has been zero conversation between the Spurs and the Suns about any trade that would bring All-Star center Amare Stoudemire to San Antonio. A report on the Yahoo! Sports Web site that the Spurs front office had "researched and debated pursuing Stoudemire to play alongside Tim Duncan" created an Internet buzz, but the two teams have not had even a preliminary talk about a deal. NBA sources say Stoudemire's agent, Happy Walters, has been doing his best to create leverage for his client. ..."
Spurs consider bidding for Stoudemire
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January 27
Yahoo! Sports
 
"Another intriguing suitor could emerge in the bidding for Phoenix Suns star Amar'e Stoudemire, the San Antonio Spurs. Multiple league sources say the Spurs' front office has researched and debated pursuing Stoudemire to play alongside Tim Duncan. There are questions for the Spurs to answer: Would they be willing to part with the personnel – including possibly Manu Ginobili – to make a deal happen? Do the Spurs want to re-sign Stoudemire to a contract extension and swell their payroll? Do they believe Stoudemire could be the difference for their fifth championship? All questions with no clear answers for the Spurs – yet. Nevertheless, the possibility of an athletic, offensive force like ..."
For Spurs, home is where the heartache is
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January 27
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Tim Duncan never has seen this, so it's not surprising he doesn't know quite how to explain what has made the Spurs so vulnerable on their home court this season. The last time the Spurs lost three straight, their home court was the Alamodome and Duncan was college Player of the Year at Wake Forest. Then, consecutive homecourt losses to Portland, Seattle, Phoenix and Houston were part of a six-game losing streak that closed out the 1996-97 season and enhanced the Spurs' chances in the Duncan draft lottery. Now, Duncan ponders why even a solid defensive strategy against Chicago backfires and keeps the losses coming at the AT&T Center, where the Spurs have dropped the first three of a ..."
Simple solutions for Spurs' swoon
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January 27
San Antonio Express-News
 
"In his quest to decipher what is wrong with his team during its three-game losing streak, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has been able to determine one thing that is not. "They're competing," Popovich said Tuesday before final preparations for tonight's game against Atlanta. "That's got nothing to do with the losses or the wins. Guys always compete." In Popovich's estimation, the Spurs' recent swoon comes down to the simplest of explanations. The Spurs are having trouble putting the ball in the basket and preventing opponents from doing the same. Utah, Houston and Chicago combined to shoot 51.9 percent against the Spurs. Over the same span, the Spurs shot 41 percent from the field, including ..."
Spurs looking for confidence boost
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January 27
San Antonio Express-News
 
"On the night of Jan. 13, the Spurs left Oklahoma City's Ford Center awash in optimism and confidence. They had just held on for an overtime win over the Thunder, an up-and-coming team that seemed to have the Spurs' number of late, and they had done it without Tim Duncan. A night earlier, the Spurs had won the first round of their season-long battle against the defending champion Lakers, a 20-point victory at the AT&T Center. The world seemed sweeter then. The future looked bright. The early-season struggles appeared a thing of the past. The Spurs couldn't have known it, but they'd win just once more over the next 13 days. Heading into tonight's game against Atlanta, the Spurs are bordering ..."
Spurs gored once again
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January 26
San Antonio Express-News
 
"By this point in the Spurs' regularly unscheduled losing streak, the details have become a blur. The names on the front of the jerseys change, as do the names of the players hitting back-breaking daggers against them. Leads come and go. One last-gasp charge falls short. Such was the scene — again — Monday night at the AT&T Center, as the Chicago Bulls held on for a 98-93 victory that sent the Spurs sprawling to their third consecutive defeat at home. "We have the team that can win games, especially games like tonight," Spurs forward Tim Duncan said. "We just have to find a way to kind of get it done. There's no two ways about it." Derrick Rose had 27 points, Kirk Hinrich — filling the role ..."
Kerosene burns up the Spurs' system
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January 26
San Antonio Express-News
 
"Gregg Popovich went from irate to I-resign within a dribble. Angry with a call, he walked down the sideline to shake the winner's hand as the clock still ticked. He should be getting used to this. As he once congratulated Avery Johnson and Doc Rivers after losing to them, he congratulated another former Spurs guard Monday night, Vinny Del Negro. But this was different. This was a man once called Vinny El, because he had no D. This was the sweet jumpshooter who Popovich once exchanged for someone more rugged. This was someone who, a year ago, coached little defense in Chicago — and who has exactly what Popovich can't get back. When Del Negro played in San Antonio, the Spurs weren't known ..."
Tinkering Popovich plays only eight
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January 26
San Antonio Express-News
 
"By his own estimation, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich never has tinkered with player rotations more than he has this season. "No, never," the Spurs coach said before tipoff of Monday's 43rd game of the season, against the Chicago Bulls at the AT&T Center. The experimentation continued Monday, as Popovich used only eight players in a third straight home loss, the Bulls winning 98-93. Roger Mason Jr., who had played only 13 minutes and 36 seconds in the previous two games, played 25:36, including the entire fourth quarter. Keith Bogans, who started 36 of the first 42 games, did not play at all. Neither did Matt Bonner, who had logged only 19:22 in three games since coming off the injured list ..."
Bulls pushed to their limits, but hold off Spurs
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January 26
Chicago Sun-Times
 
"The Bulls' improbable road winning streak became even more improbable Monday with a 98-93 victory over the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. That's three straight wins on the seven-game trip -- all against teams with winning records in the tough Western Conference -- and there's little question that this one was the most impressive. Despite ailments to a few key performers, the Bulls went toe-to-toe with the veteran Spurs down the stretch and made more plays at both ends to pull out the victory in a game that had an intensity level not usually seen in a January NBA game. ''Hopefully, it means we're growing a little bit,'' Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said about the way his team was able ..."