Ginobili promoting ‘Coffee Gang’ apparel

Manu Ginobili, a founding father of the Spurs’ “Coffee Gang,” is still rocking with the crew.

The Spurs launched a new, limited edition line of apparel and novelty items last week to honor the team tradition of grabbing coffee together on the road.

The coffee custom started back when Ginobili and Boris Diaw were teammates. Patty Mills, who also helped start the group, carried on the tradition with the new guys, although it’s on hold this season because of the pandemic.

On Thursday, Ginobili showed support for the next generation of brew brothers. He tweeted a photo of himself modeling a hat from the collection that says “Get your morning cuppa with the Spurs.”

The hat is currently available online or in the Spurs Fan Shops at the AT&T Center and the Shops at La Cantera.

“It’s something we can do as a team and enjoy each other’s company and not take all day,” Mills said of the Coffee Gang in an interview with the Express-News in April 2019. “Guys learn about each other and have coffee, hot chocolates, tea, whatever it may be. And doing that in different places in a city, that’s the cool experience.”

Mills drinks a double espresso before every game.

“I have one at halftime as well to just keep it going, to pick up the juice,” he said.

Mills isn’t the first Spurs player to drink the hard stuff before and during games. When Diaw was with the team, he had an espresso machine installed in his locker.

But no Spurs player, present or former, has stronger ties to the local coffee scene than Mills, who has attended the San Antonio Coffee Festival with his wife and has been known to patronize Don Martin’s Coffee Co. in Southtown.

DeRozan adept at drawing fouls

Spurs forward DeMar DeRozan entered Saturday night’s game against Indiana 16th in the NBA with 258 free throw attempts.

DeRozan often uses his signature pump fake to draw contact, but his basketball IQ also is a huge factor in the number of charity shots he gets.

“You just got to understand the time of the game, possessions, what is going on, reading it, understanding what you can do offensively … being aggressive,” he said. “It’s just reading (situations). Forty eight minutes, it’s going to be a different game at some point of each quarter, last few minutes, whenever, just read, trying to figure out what you can do, when you can pick it up.”

DeRozan is hitting a career-best 88.0 percent of his free throws to rank 17th in the league while averaging 6.6 attempts per game. He’s 11th in free throws made with 227.

He sank 8 of 10 in the 134-129 double-overtime loss to Atlanta on Thursday

en route to 36 points. It was the ninth time this season he’s attempted 10 or more free throws in a game.

Eubanks out with a migraine

Backup center Drew Eubanks was a late scratch Saturday because of a migraine.

With Eubanks and recently acquired Gorgui Dieng (shoulder) out, the Spurs had no true backup for starting big man Jakob Poeltl.

The Spurs also were without Lonnie Walker IV (wrist), Trey Lyles (ankle) and Keita Bates-Diop (hamstring).

Team to honor Duncan in May

The Spurs will hold a “special celebration” May 15 to honor franchise icon Tim Duncan on the same day he’s set to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The Spurs host Phoenix that day in their next-tolast regular season game. Fans in attendance will receive a yet-to-be-announced souvenir.

The Spurs promotional giveaway schedule for April and May also includes Rudy Gay bobblehead night on April 16, Fiesta sunglasses on April 21, Fiesta socks on May 2 and Fiesta court beach towels on May 16.

The schedule also features several theme nights, including Military Appreciation Night on

May 10.

Kin Man Hui / Staff photographer Patty Mills drinks double espresso before games and at halftime. Mills is a leader of the Spurs’ “Coffee Gang,” which is on hold because of COVID-19.