Tweet of the Day: Tony Parker

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While most of the national media attention continues to go to the Chicago Bulls and Derrick Rose, whether or not he will play against the defending champion Miami Heat, quietly the San Antonio Spurs are preparing for their second round series against the upstart Golden State Warriors.

Granted, the Spurs have never needed fanfare to get up for a playoff series. And, considering that they boast an impressive 29-0 home record against the Warriors in the Tim Duncan era, internally they may not be too concerned with their second round matchup. However, it doesn’t negate the fact that it is a big-to-do. It could, potentially, be the most entertaining series of the second round.

[Spurs-Warriors Preview: Five Key Factors]

All-Star point guard Tony Parker isn’t overlooking tonight’s game.

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Spurs-Warriors Preview: Five Key Factors

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Tim DuncanThe San Antonio Spurs are in the second round of the playoffs. That’s pretty much the biggest non-story of the postseason, given that they’ve failed to move past the first round just three times in the Tim Duncan era.

For the Golden State Warriors, it’s nearly uncharted territory – they’ve made it to the conference semifinals only twice in the last 22 years: once back in 2007, when they upset the Dallas Mavericks as an 8th seed, and once back in 1991, when they beat the Spurs in the first round. The last time Golden State went beyond the semifinals was back in 1975, when it won the only championship in its 41-year history.

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Hubbard: In the give-and-take with Popovich, reporters usually take

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gregg popovichSAN ANTONIO – After each Spurs practice, the media assembles in a corner of the facility and prepares for an encounter with famously gruff San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. Other teams call it an interview session. With Pop, it’s more like a duel at 10 paces.

Pop is the only one armed. Verbally.

Within the word “intimidate” is the word “timid,” and that combination exists at each get-together. Pop has a naturally irritated look that has been refined by years of repetition. And San Antonio reporters, blistered consistently when questions don’t seem to measure up to Pop standards, approach each session like they have to walk barefoot across a bed of hot coals.

Pop opened the session Saturday by announcing that Tim Duncan had to leave practice because of a stomach bug. Someone asked if that concerned him.

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Spurs’ Ginobili out 3-4 weeks

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manu ginobiliAll season, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has rested his players during tough stretches of the schedule to have them healthy for the postseason.

A sound strategy, no doubt. But it may not be working.

The Spurs announced Monday that do-it-all guard Manu Ginobili – who already has missed most of the last two games with a hamstring injury – will be out three to four weeks with a strained right hamstring.

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Tweet of the Night: Danny Green

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Dwight HowardNote to coaches who wish to employ the Hack-A-Dwight strategy: if the man starts making his free throws – and he is capable of making them if you send him there frequently enough – ditch the stubborn tactic and go to something else.

For some reason, Orlando Magic coach Jacque Vaughn kept going to this play, despite Howard’s gradual increase in success rate. The Los Angeles Lakers center eventually made 16 of his final 20 attempts at the line, finishing 25-of-39 overall – matching the record he set last season against the Golden State Warriors for the most free throws attempted in a regular season game.

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