Costly rest
League fines Spurs $25K for sitting three players.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s decision to hold out three healthy players, including Demar Derozan, in Saturday’s surprising romp over Phoenix resulted in a fine from the NBA.
The Spurs clobbered the Suns 111-85 without their leading scorer and playmaker, starting center Jakob Poeltl and sixth man Patty Mills, all of whom received the night off for what the team called “rest” in its injury report.
On Sunday, the NBA announced it had fined the Spurs $25,000 for violating the league’s player resting policy by “resting three players in the same road game.”
The game was the second of a back-to-back and the fifth in seven days for the Spurs, who are in the midst of a grueling second-half schedule that requires them to play 40 games in 68 days, including 11 back-tobacks, without any more than one day of rest between games. The Spurs play at Indiana on Monday night.
“People need to take a break,” Popovich said before Saturday’s game. “We did this with (point guard) Dejounte (Murray) a bit in the past, and these guys need it tonight. They have hit the wall.”
In a memo obtained by ESPN in November 2019, the NBA told teams it was requiring them to rest players at home absent some “unusual circumstances,” the reasoning being that home fans get many chances to see their teams’ stars, ESPN reported.
The league also instructed teams not to rest multiple healthy players in the same game, barring those same “unusual circumstances,” ESPN reported.
The NBA, however, did not take any action against the Spurs when Popovich decided to give Murray and Mills the night off in Milwaukee on March 20, the second game of a backto-back
that the Spurs lost 120113.
“As you can imagine, it takes its toll,” Popovich said of the schedule before the Milwaukee game. “We just decided with this increased density in the schedule since the All-star break we needed to help them stay in good shape. We have been in constant contact with the league, and they’ve been great about understanding that sort of a situation. They know full well what everybody is going through.”
The NBA famously fined the Spurs $250,000 in November 2012 for sitting out Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green against Miami in the last game of a six-game road trip that was televised nationally.
Then-commissioner David Stern said the Spurs had done a “disservice to the league and our fans” by sending the four players home in advance of the game.
Eubanks makes most of rare start
Spurs backup center Drew Eubanks made sure his first start of the season and just the fourth of his career was a memorable one.
Filling in for Poeltl, Eubanks shockingly won his battle with the Suns’ Deandre Ayton in impressive fashion.
The two entered the league in 2018 in much different manners. Eubanks joined the Spurs as an undrafted free agent from Oregon State. Ayton was the No. 1 overall pick by the Suns after starring for a season at Arizona.
“I played against him twice my last year at Oregon State, so I was familiar with his game, what he likes to do,” Eubanks said.
Eubanks finished with 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting and a career-high 13 rebounds for his second double-double in his last three games. He also had two assists, two steals and one block in a career-high 28 minutes.
Ayton had eight points and nine rebounds in 27 minutes after entering the game averaging 15.1 points and 10.8 boards.
“He’s been excellent,” Popovich said of Eubanks, who is a combined 13-of-13 from the field in the last two games. “He is playing confidently, feeling a little bit more comfortable with what is going on out on the floor.”
One of Eubanks’ most impressive plays came in the third quarter when he thwarted a dunk attempt by Ayton by forcing a jump ball.
Eubanks entered the game averaging 13 minutes per game.
“I told (Poeltl), ‘Bro, I’ve got so much more respect for you now,’ because he plays 30 minutes every night, and I did it this one time and I was gassed,” Eubanks said. “He laughed. It’s tough, and on a back-to-back, it’s even harder.”