Fran Session: Sitting Spurs' stars raises several questions
By Fran Blinebury, for NBA.com
Posted Feb 5 2009 10:31AM
Gregg Popovich gave Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Michael Finley Tuesday night off in Denver.
Did Coach Pop give himself a mini-vacation as well?
After all, he spent the entire night smiling and relaxing on the bench as his San Antonio Spurs "leftovers" put on an entertaining display of hustle and energy. When the TV cameras zoomed in, the only thing missing from Popovich was a ukulele in one hand and an umbrella drink in the other.
They say you can't tell the players without a scorecard. Then again, sometimes you can't tell the winners even with a box score.
Was that victorious coach George Karl who emerged from a heated locker room discussion with his Denver Nuggets following their 104-96 victory over the Spurs?
"I don't think I have anything on my mind except anger," he said.
Meanwhile, Popovich might as well have been lying on a beach with waves lapping at his toes.
Is there such a thing as a good loss? Or maybe a loss that proves a point? Or even a loss that doesn't really mean anything at all?
Those were all the questions that Popovich tossed up into the air with the opening tip when he sent his "Spurs Lite" lineup out onto the floor at the Pepsi Center without a single member of his "Big Three."
Ginobili, he said, was "legitimately banged up" after bruising his left hip the night before at Golden State.
The other two?
"Parker makes the All-Star team and becomes hard to deal with, so we're going to sit him and teach him a lesson," Popovich cracked before the game. "Duncan says he wants to renegotiate his contract, so I said, 'Sit. I'm not talking to you.' "
And for good measure, he let the venerable Finley rest his weary legs, too, even if it did end a streak of 284 consecutive games played.
Then Popovich got coy.
"For a variety of reasons, I don't think Timmy and Tony should play tonight," he said.
It was, after all, just stop No. 48 in the meandering 82-game journey that is the NBA regular season schedule that often has no rhyme or reason.
Was Popovich's motivation to tweak the nose of the schedule-makers at the league office back in New York who had forced his team to play in Oakland -- a high-intensity affair against the up-tempo Warriors that went into overtime -- on Monday night, then lose an hour traveling across a time zone for a Tuesday night game in Denver?
Then toss another log on the silly fire when you consider that the Spurs won't play their next game until Sunday in Boston.
Popovich wasn't copping to anything, just enjoying an evening where he didn't have to wince when one of his All-Stars had to limp off the court with a sprained ankle. That was Denver's Chauncey Billups, and that was just one more reason why Karl's head was ready to explode.
So was it fair to the NBA fans that plopped down their hard-earned dollars in Denver to see Duncan, Parker and Ginobili and instead got Kurt Thomas, George Hill and Ime Udoka?
Was it fair to the spirit of competition throughout the league for the Spurs to mail one in? Except that as Popovich's beatific smile and Karl's post-game rant showed, it was the Nuggets who FedEx-ed in an effort that barely got them to their destination.
Everyone knows it's a hard-knock life for the NBA's fresh princes, being forced to crisscross the country in custom charter jets. Sometimes the geography and the calendar are more than a little wacky.
But in the 1971-72 season, when the Lakers set the all-time record with their 33-game winning streak, they played back-to-back-to-back games -- three in three nights -- on three different occasions.
Popovich doesn't care what they did in the old days. Frankly, he doesn't care about anything that isn't in the absolute best interest of his team right here and now. He has never liked playing all of the corporate games, about making money for the league, about being a good NBA partner. He doesn't really care what others think. He just wants to take care of his players and win. Which is one reason why he's so very, very good.
In a way, it's funny. For so many years, people have complained about having to watch Duncan, Parker and Ginobili's "dull and boring" style while they won championships. Now there are peeps of complaint when you don't get to watch them.
But who won and who really lost? The victory gave the Nuggets the season series 2-1 and the first tie-breaker over the Spurs in a tight Western Conference race. But what did this game prove to San Antonio or to Denver that will matter in the playoffs? In the Nuggets' other win, back in November, Ginobili and Parker were both out. The only time both teams were at full strength, the Spurs went into Denver and whipped the Nuggets by 17.
So do the Nuggets feel that they have an edge in a potential playoff meeting? Have the Spurs given up anything at all?
Go ahead and ask a grinning Popovich. And get him a refill and a new umbrella for his drink while you're at it.
Fran Blinebury covers the NBA for the Houston Chronicle.
