Sixers visit the San Antonio Spurs tonight
The Sixers will be looking for their second straight win after Friday's impressive win over the Boston Celtics. And they might be catching a break in doing so.
Sixers visit the San Antonio Spurs tonight
Bob Cooney
The San Antonio Spurs will be playing their third game in three nights when they host the Sixers tonight, and because of the grind of that part of the schedule it appears coach Greg Popovich will rest starting center Tim Duncan.
The Spurs (32-14) are already shorthanded due to injuries to Gary Neal (foot) and Tiago Splitter (back). In the previous two games, Popovich has rested veterans Tony Parker (Friday) and Manu Ginobili (Saturday).
It will be interesting if Sixers coach Doug Collins gets back to using rookie Nikola Vucevic tonight. The backup center has been a DNP the last two games after struggling for the past few weeks.
This begins one of the least hectic weeks for the Sixers during this compressed season, as they'll host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday before going to Washington on Friday and hosting Atlanta on Saturday.
More to come...
Earlier this season Popovich held out BOTH Parker and Duncan as they played three in a row 6 weeks ago...The Spurs got torched...But their bench is strong (they've added Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw)and they're a confident group...Time for the Sixers to make em feel real old.— bearsfriend- No AI9 so 76ers will be hurting as well. DC needs to go with a 10 man rotation and use that depth of Lavoy/Vucevic and use Thad/Lou more off the bench. ET is going to need near 40 minutes to help fill in for AI9. Bad sign Brand has 0 and Meeks is getting minutes at the F spot? Ugh sometimes DC needs to go with the common-sense move. Hopefully the bench can save the team yet again!— joecooler2u
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
