SAN ANTONIO (AP) – If the San Antonio Spurs are going to win a fifth championship, Tony Parker says this season is the last chance for this group.
Easy words for a guy in the final year of his contract? Maybe.
After years of Tim Duncan and the Spurs batting down the predictable are-they-too-old questions every October, is San Antonio really down to its final shot?
“We are probably not the No. 1 favorites,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “But heading into the playoffs we can beat anybody. Nobody’s that much better than us.”
Gone are the days when San Antonio started off better than anybody else.
Three years after the Spurs’ last championship in 2007, the winningest NBA franchise of the last 13 years might be embarking on one last run with its Big Three. Parker is in the final year of his contract, and the Spurs are unlikely to immediately decide whether to offer an extension to their star point guard.
But San Antonio isn’t putting everything off.
“I think we’re going to have a stronger start than last year,” Ginobili said.
Waiting to get it right around April is a luxury the Spurs are finding more costly.
Stumbling into the playoffs last season as the No. 7 seed in the West – the lowest in the Duncan era – reminded the Spurs how much they enjoy home court advantage. San Antonio briefly looked as strong as any contender after rolling past Dallas in the first round, but then was swept in the West semifinals by Phoenix in a series that was the final act in an uneven season.
Nothing came easy for the Spurs last year: swingman Richard Jefferson never quite got the hang of a new system. The biggest roster overhaul in a decade provided more headaches blending in new players than a jolt. Even Ginobili looked like a goner before carrying the Spurs after the All-Star break and earning a three-year extension.
The Spurs don’t want to be so patient waiting for everything to fall in place this time.
“I was the big addition last year, and it’s taken us some time to get adjusted to each other,” Jefferson said. “There’s a lot of talent spread out through this league. Chicago got better. Knicks got better. Miami got better. So for everyone in this league, it’s a matter of who can get adjusted the quickest.”
Coach Gregg Popovich said 7-footer Tiago Splitter, a former MVP in Europe and San Antonio’s marquee summer addition, should hit the ground running in the NBA. Jefferson’s teammates expect him to look more like the All-Star he was in New Jersey.
And Duncan, who will turn 35 once the playoffs roll around, has incentive for the Spurs not to sputter out of the gate: the better the start for San Antonio, the fewer minutes he plays and he can save his legs for the playoffs.
Duncan puts “staying healthy” as his top priority entering his 14th season. He averaged a career-low 31.3 minutes last season – along with career lows in scoring (17.9 points) and rebounds (10.1) – but Popovich still wasn’t able to sit his perennial All-Star as much as he preferred.
The Houston Rockets vowed to limit Yao Ming to just 24 minutes a game in hopes of keeping their centerpiece healthy. Duncan says he can’t be on that regimented a plan.
Then again, he understands.
“I’d go batty. I’d lose it. No way,” Duncan said. “But at least he’s on the court, right? They’re trying to keep him healthy, and same thing with us. Pop is going to do his best to keep me healthy. Hopefully it’s closer to 32 than 24. But we’ll see what happens.”
The Big Three will at least be off to a healthy start. Neither Ginobili nor Parker played for their national teams last summer, and Duncan said he put on weight after playing too thin a year ago. Parker is especially eager to regain his All-Star form from 2009 before a sharp drop last season, playing a career-low 56 games because of injuries.
“It’s always like that. You miss five games and they forget you,” Parker said. “They think you retired or something. It’s the same thing with Manu. Everyone wanted to get rid of Manu last season. That’s crazy. You can’t get rid of Manu.”
Parker sized up this season as the last chance for this group because of Duncan’s age – and not because of his uncertain future in San Antonio, where George Hill is an emerging option in the backcourt. The 28-year-old Parker has insisted he wants to remain with the Spurs, where Duncan has two more seasons under contract, Ginobili has three and Jefferson is starting a new four-year deal.
“I like our chances,” Parker said. “But 10 other teams are saying the same thing.”
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