NBA vows to penalize San Antonio Spurs for resting team core in game against Miami Heat – NBA News
The NBA announced on Thursday night, around the same time that the San Antonio Spurs tipped off their game against the Miami Heat at the American Airlines Arena, that the Spurs would be punished and penalized for deciding to send
their four core players back home and not playing them in the game against the Heat. San Antonio Head Coach Gregg Popovich decided to rest Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green, the core of the Spurs team, and hence sent them back home to
San Antonio straight from Orlando, where they played the night before.
"I apologize to all NBA fans. This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming,” said Stern about the incident.
Popovich was of the view that his team core needed the rest after a month that has seen them go on two long trips and play a lot of basketball, and hence decided to rest his veteran players. Duncan is in his 16th NBA
season, Parker in his 12th and Ginobili in his 11th. Green is rather young compared to those guys but Popovich said that he had played many minutes so far in the season and hence, needed the rest.
“Everybody has to make decisions about their schedule, about players playing and back-to-backs and trips and that sort of thing. In our case, this month we've had 11 away games, after tonight. We've had an eight-day trip and a
10-day trip, and we're ending it with four (games) in five nights here. I think it'd be unwise to be playing our guys in that kind of a situation, given their history,” said Popovich.
This is not the first time that Popovich had decided to rest his team core altogether in the middle of the season. Last season, Popovich rested the same players apart from Green near the end of the season as he thought that the
lockout shortened season had a vigorous schedule and the team needed to be rested before the playoffs.
Popovich also added that the team are to play the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night, and hence wants his players to be well rested by then so that they can stay on the court with those guys, who currently have the best record
in the western conference.
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