Spurs head to Houston for back-to-back tilt
Update: The Spurs have announced Tim Duncan (rest), Manu Ginobili (rest), Tiago Splitter (calf), Marco Belinelli (mild groin strain), and Patty Mills (shoulder) are all out for tonight’s game in Houston.
This is old hat by now. Yes, it’s early in the season, but a weird schedule, heavy minutes against the Hawks, and (obviously) the back-to-back scenario heading into this matchup with the Rockets made this a likely rest game for the 38-year-old and 37-year-old playing significant minutes for a title contender.
It always becomes a big storyline around the NBA blogosphere when Pop makes decisions like this, but it’s been going on for quite some time and I’m not quite sure why there’s always such a stir. This methodology has proven to work in a league whose schedule is too long and too taxing in the first place. The Spurs consider it a health risk to play their dinosaurs on back-to-backs, or in three-in-four- or four-in-five-night stretches, and I can’t disagree.
I’m not putting any blame on the Spurs for doing the smart thing. Popovich isn’t doing this out of spite or to send a message or because it’s a nationally televised game; this strategy is effective, and not enough teams practice it throughout the course of the season.
I can’t believe we’re still talking about this. Sorry, I’ve hijacked Trevor’s preview. - M.T.
Here we go, the first back-to-back of the season for the Spurs and oddly enough, it couldn’t have come at a worse time given where we are in the schedule. They’re coming off a really close victory over the Atlanta Hawks (Spurs East), Marco Belinelli and Tiago Splitter both walked away from last night’s game early and banged up and they’re playing an undefeated division rival on national television in the Houston Rockets.
OK, that third reason couldn’t matter less to the Spurs, especially in November. However, Tim Duncan played 35 minutes last night and if Tiago Splitter can’t play (his status after aggravating his calf injury is up in the air) you’re going to see a lot of Jeff Ayres and Aron Baynes. That’s good for those guys to get meaningful minutes, but not so good for actually defending Dwight Howard. Marco Belinelli tweaked his groin last night. That means more Manu Ginobili minutes which is good because Manu is still knocking off some early season rust. It could also be bad because back-t0-backs typically aren’t friendly to 37 year olds. Belinelli’s absence will mean some more Cory Joseph at shooting guard. That one’s definitely not a bad thing since it’s a role he’ll be playing in the second unit with Ginobili until Patty Mills returns.
So there’s pros and cons to these injuries happening early in the season, but the fact remains is the Spurs haven’t had a full squad with rotations Pop wants since the very first preseason game in Germany. Shortened rotations aren’t great on back-to-backs especially when you’d like to sneak in some rest for your start players. Having said that, it’s early in the season and the Spurs have only played three games in eight days. These aren’t exactly tired legs they’re running on.
As for the opponent, well the Rockets are one of three undefeated teams left in the league. They’ve played the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat. So not the most challenging of teams, but four of their five games have been on the road. They lost Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik but this is still a talented team and they seem to be in a good rhythm early in the season. Should be fun. We likely won’t know Belinelli or Splitter’s status until shortly before tip-off, which is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen on TNT.
