Taking time to unwind
Self-care more important than ever amid tough second-half schedule.
Fresh off a hard-fought, physical 100-97 loss to Charlotte on Monday night, Derrick White wasted no time putting himself in the right mindset for the Spurs’ looming back-to-back with the Los Angeles Clippers.
“The schedule is crazy, but there ain’t a lot of time to sulk about it,” he said. “We just got to recover and get right back at it.”
Recovered or not, the Spurs took the court Wednesday night against the Western Conference power to kick off the third of the 11 back-to-backs they face in the second half of the NBA’S pandemic-shortened 72-game regular season.
“This is where being a pro comes in and understanding how to take care of your body and understanding how to eat the right way,” Patty Mills said after Monday’s game.
Mills and the club’s other veterans have stressed the importance of self-care ever since they learned last month that the Spurs’ second-half schedule calls for them to play 40 games in 68 days with no more than a day off between outings.
“When you need a rest, you need a rest, and when you need to get away from it, get away from it,” Mills said of his approach to navigating the exhausting schedule, which ends May 16 with the second game of a backto-back against Phoenix.
Mills applauded coach Gregg Popovich’s decision to give him and Dejounte Murray the night off Saturday in Milwaukee. Popovich indicated before the game that more such rest days will be forthcoming for various players.
“As you can imagine, it takes its toll,” Popovich said of the schedule. “We just decided with this increased density in the schedule since the All-star break, we needed to help them stay in good shape.”
The second-half schedule is so dense for the Spurs because they are making up five games postponed in the first half due to COVID-19 protocols.
“We need to look at the big picture and where we want to be at the end of the season, and there are some games that guys will need to sacrifice a game just have a rest and get away from it,”
Mills said. “We want to be in the playoffs, so if there are certain games that we need guys to rest, that’s going to be the deal. The schedule brutal.”
The Spurs are also bracing for players missing games due to an accumulation of bumps and bruises in the second half. Lonnie Walker IV (sore right wrist) and Rudy Gay (sore left foot) sat out Wednesday’s game.
“There are going to be these minor injuries that just, like, stick around because you don’t have as much time between games to let it heal,” said Jakob Poeltl, the only player on the team who has not missed a game this season.
“That’s definitely tough,” he added. “But, I have said this before, we definitely have a very deep squad. We have a lot of guys who can contribute. Even when we had a bunch of guys out due to COVID, we had young guys stepping up and coming in and playing really big minutes for us, so I am not worried about it.
But it’s obviously not easy to deal with.”
Former Spurs player cites Pop’s outreach
Former Spurs player and North Carolina product Danny Green has presented the Tar Heels with $1 million toward endowing a men’s basketball scholarship.
A member of North Carolina’s 2009 national championship team, Green cited the giving-back examples set by Tar Heels coach Roy Williams and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich as an influence in his decision to make the gift.
“Coach Williams had us working with the Special Olympics and doing Christmas shopping for those less fortunate,” Green told Goheels.com. “Coach Pop in San Antonio was very similar. Those things helped raise me. If you make it, you have a responsibility to take care of those who need help. It was a way to change a person’s day and maybe even change a person’s life. I’ve been one of those kids.”
Green starred for the Tar Heels from 2005-09. A threetime NBA champion who won his first title with the Spurs in 2014, Green is in his 12th NBA season and first with the Philadelphia 76ers.
“It’s a great way for me to honor something that I’m very passionate about,” Green said. “It was an easy decision for me because if I can help a kid and help the program that means so much to me, why wouldn’t I? Carolina is in my blood, and it’s an honor to be part of it.”
Green played eight seasons with the Spurs before they traded him to Toronto in 2018 as part of the Kawhi Leonard blockbuster. He won a title with the Raptors in 2019 and another with the Lakers in 2020 after signing with Los Angeles as a free agent.