The Spurs have a quick turnaround with a game tonight in Houston. They brought an almost full squad against the Hawks, but Marco Belinelli strained his groin and Tiago Splitter re-aggravated his calf injury so they won't be available against the Rockets. The Spurs, already without Patty Mills, will also be without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili as Popovich is resting his veterans, so we won't get to see Duncan make history again tonight or notch his 800th double double.
Last night, Tim posted a 17-13-4-3-6 line, which was the first time in his career that he finished with those numbers. The last time someone posted that line over the age of 31 was on April 14, 1994 when Hakeem Olajuwon did it. That particular feat has been accomplished just 66 times since the 1985-86 season and get this -- David Robinson and Olajuwon combined for 44 of those. Just a little love for The Admiral a day after the 25th anniversary of his Spurs debut. That Timmy did it over the age of 38 and with no turnovers (only done five times) is remarkable.
So we'll have a short. Tim-heavy Gif Breakdown before the shorthanded Spurs try to steal one in Houston.
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Let's start with Boris Diaw making his way through the lane. Diaw gets Mike Scott to bite on his pump fake and then one dribble, three steps and a pretty finger roll.
Nice sharing of the ball from the Spurs. Timmy passes to Splitter as Tony cuts to the hoop and scores off the hand-off.
Here's one of Tim's six blocks. Great timing from the big fella for the clean block.
This Dennis Schroder dunk was really impressive. He beat Kawhi from the three-point line and then took it through the lane with no fear of Tim.
Kyle Korver wasn't as successful on his foray into the lane. Kawhi is again chasing the ball handler and Tim's back in the paint, but this time Duncan takes the ball for the good guys in crunch time.
The Spurs were up by four here with four and a half minutes left in the game and Jeff Teague had just forced a Parker turnover. Instead of running back to defend, Duncan stays in the back-court and proceeds to slap the ball away from Teague as he's running by. Tim then gathers the ball, measures the three-on-one he has and makes a beautiful behind-the-back bounce pass to Boris, who is then fouled on his attempt.