Gregg Popovich doesn't love what he saw in preseason. (USATSI)
The San Antonio Spurs ended their preseason with a 96-87 loss against the Houston Rockets on Friday. They only won two of their seven preseason games. For the defending champs, this likely isn't a huge concern, but head coach Gregg Popovich hasn't been pleased. He called five -- five! -- timeouts in the third quarter against Houston, signaling that he wanted his team to ramp up the intensity. From the San Antonio Express-News' Jeff McDonald:
Asked to assess his team's preparedness heading into Tuesday's regular-season opener against Dallas, Popovich was blunt.
“We look very poor,” he said. “We look like we're not very interested.”
Some obvious reasons for the Spurs' apparent championship hangover: Kawhi Leonard has been out with an eye infection, Tiago Splitter has been out with a strained calf and Patty Mills has been out with a shoulder injury that will keep him sidelined until January. There's also the fact that Manu Ginobili shot 7-for-38 from the field in the preseason.
Tim Duncan did not sound as worried as his coach, again via the San Antonio Express-News:
“We haven't played well, but it's preseason,” Duncan said. “We'll hopefully chalk it up to that. We'll show up for the first game and we'll figure it out, and we'll have 81 after that.”
Duncan, who is heading into his 18th year, knows better than to overreact to a slow start. Especially when the real games haven't even begun. San Antonio has been through this before, as Matt Bonner pointed out last week:
Matt Bonner, to #Spurs fans freaked out by 1-3 mark: "This is my 9th yr. on team; as far as I recall, we've never done well in preseason"
— Mike Monroe (@Monroe_SA) October 19, 2014It's kind of funny that the Spurs' struggles have barely registered on the radar, but they've earned that. This team should still be considered the favorite in the West, and it should be fine once Leonard and Splitter are back in the lineup. It's worth paying attention to how Ginobili progresses, but it's not worth getting too worked up about.
Basketball Hot News
Nets head coach Hollins believes Brook Lopez will be ready for opening night
Brook Lopez suffered a soft tissue injury to his surgically-repaired foot back on Oct. 16, and hasn’t practiced with the team since.
Originally, the timetable for him to return was 10 days, which would have him back in time for Brooklyn’s season-opener in Boston on Wednesday.
Nets head coach Lionel Hollins isn’t a doctor, but discussions he’s had with the team’s big man leads him to believe that he can pencil Lopez into his opening night starting lineup.
From Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York:
“He was on the [anti-gravity] treadmill, but he’s doing fine,” Hollins said Friday. “I think he’ll be ready by opening day, but that’s my opinion to talking to with him, but the doctors [still have to clear him].”
So what does Hollins need to see in Lopez before he returns? “That he’s healthy. That’s all. If he’s healthy, he’s gonna play,” Hollins said. “I’d prefer [he practice], but if he doesn’t, it doesn’t matter.”
The Nets announced that Lopez did not practice on Saturday.
Brooklyn had a bit of an odd preseason, which included a trip to China, the NBA’s experimental 44-minute game, and three games in four nights to end its exhibition schedule.
Lopez should undoubtedly play and start if he’s healthy enough to do so, but it might be an adventure of sorts getting him reacclimated during the first handful of games to start the season.
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