San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made it a habit to rest his veteran stars this season, come what may. Up until Game 3, the Coach of the Year had been treating the playoffs much the same way.
Tim Duncan played 35 minutes in San Antonio’s 102-90 Game 3 victory Saturday night, and Tony Parker played 40. But during the first two games against the Utah Jazz, the only Spur to play more than 31 minutes was Parker, who logged 37 in the opener. That number wasn’t lost on Popovich, who has been managing his roster’s minutes all season.
In the third quarter of San Antonio’s blowout win in Game 2, TNT’s microphones picked up this exchange between Popovich and Parker.
Popovich: “If you play the whole quarter, it will be 29 minutes.”
Parker: “That was my point. I didn’t play for three days, Pop. I’m 29 years old.”
Parker didn’t play the entire period, subbing out with 2:05 remaining and never returning. He played a mere 28 minutes, a luxury for the Spurs now that the postseason has begun.
“He wanted to get the whole quarter, but we compromised and got two more minutes,” Popovich said. “He’s been special for us all year, obviously. We got to keep him ready to go.”
Compare Parker’s workload to Kevin Durant (41.8 minutes), Paul Pierce (44.3), Carmelo Anthony (40.7) and Joe Johnson (40.7). Even Miami’s LeBron James is averaging 36.3 minutes despite two blowouts and foul trouble.
For Parker, winning a pair of games by a combined 46 points certainly helps. However, Popovich also is willing to rest Parker and fellow veteran stars Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili longer than other coaches sit their stars because he spent the entire season doing just that while developing confidence and trust in his young players and the veteran reserves general manager R.C. Buford added in late March.
Two of those players are rookie Kawhi Leonard and castoff Danny Green, who are not only playing, but starting. And they are not only starting, they are contributing.
“They don’t just play guys,” Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin noted. “The guys they put on the floor are very effective in what they are trying to do and they do a great job of executing the offense. On defense, they’re all aggressive on what they’re trying to do.”
Leonard has assumed the starting small forward slot since Richard Jefferson was shipped to Golden State at the trading deadline. His athleticism allows Stephen Jackson to come off the bench and use his veteran savvy and toughness against overmatched reserves.
After a relatively quiet Game 1 in which he scored six points, Leonard broke out in Game 2 with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-4 on 3-pointers.
Even though the Spurs dealt George Hill to Indiana to snare Leonard with the 15th pick, Popovich wasn’t quite sure about how the 20-year-old would fit in with San Antonio’s strait-laced operation.
“I guess it’s fair to say (he) surprised us because you don’t really know when you draft someone,” the coach said. “You do your best job to research it and when that player comes in that’s when you really learn about him. In Kawhi’s case, he’s absorbed information really well. He performs his role, he plays defense, he runs down the floor and he’s got a way about him where he’s not so anxious to show us that he has every move in the world or that he’s so good at offense, you should go to me more.
“He’s level-headed and takes things when they come. This is great because he blends in with everybody else. Like I said, he plays his role and a lot of rookies can’t do that and he’s been really good at it.”
Green was a 2009 second-round pick who was waived by Cleveland in October 2010 prior to his second season and signed and waived by San Antonio a month later. Popovich revealed that Green didn’t have the required toughness until he returned four months later.
“He came into training camp (this season) and played great,” Popovich said. “He was aggressive, he was physical and he was determined. Some of that had been lacking in the past, where he was maybe a little lackadaisical. He has gone through some tough times or some situations where he’s been cut a couple times with us. This time it clicked with him.”
While unemployed, Green got a friendly nudge in the right direction from Roy Williams, his coach for four years at North Carolina.
“Coach Williams did a good job of helping him understand,” Popovich said. “It’s a great example of a college coach sticking with a player well beyond the college days. He tried to help him be successful. I think that his respect for coach Roy Williams was such that he kept hammering away and he came back to us, as I said, very aggressive.”
In Saturday’s road win, Leonard was quiet with two points but Green contributed 14. Parker had to play 40 minutes but helped move the Spurs one win away from a sweep, which will provide rest for everyone on the roster.
“I think that’s what I like the most about our team this year from last year,” Parker said. “We are a lot deeper, everyone is healthy and fresher. It makes a big difference.”
TRIVIA: Name the six players in Lakers history who have had playoff triple-doubles. Answer below.
THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: At the Heat’s postseason opener, all fans sitting courtside at American Airlines Arena, where the seats cost a mere $7,000, received a pair of Nike sneakers — the model being worn by LeBron James during the playoffs. God forbid we give a pair of $170 kicks to someone who can’t afford them.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks, remembering his days in the CBA when his roommate was Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle: “He was a good roommate. He didn’t snore. That’s all it takes. Buy me a meal every now and then and not snore, you’re a perfect roommate.”
LINE OF THE WEEK: Paul Pierce, Boston at Atlanta, 44 minutes, 12-26 FGs, 1-5 3-pointers, 11-13 FTs, 14 rebounds, four assists, eight turnovers, 36 points in an 87-80 win. With teammates Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen on the sidelines, Pierce singlehandedly helped Boston avoid an 0-2 
deficit. He scored the Celtics’ first nine points to give them belief, then outscored the Hawks, 18-15, over the final 15 minutes as the C’s erased an 11-point deficit. “The only way we were going to win a game like that without Ray and Rondo was if Paul had a game like this,” coach Doc Rivers said.
LINE OF THE WEAK: New York Knicks, May 3 vs. Miami, second half: 120 minutes, 8-33 FGs, 2-10 3-pointers, 12-18 FTs, two assists, 11 turnovers, 30 points in an 87-70 loss. In a must-win game, the Knicks squandered an 11-point lead late in the first half with an absolutely awful offensive performance after halftime that included basket droughts of 3:15, 6:59 and 4:29.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Memphis at LA Clippers, Monday, May 7. During the season, the Grizzlies were 6-2 in games decided by three points or less and 3-0 in one-point games. But both of their losses to the Clippers have been by one point following fourth-quarter collapses. They need a win to avoid falling into a 3-1 hole.
TRILLION WATCH: The biggest non-effort of the week belonged to Boston Celtics center Ryan Hollins, who had a 4 trillion in Friday’s home win over Atlanta. Utah’s Blake Ahearn and Jeremy Evans and the Lakers’ Andrew Goudelock all had 2 trillions Sunday.
TWO MINUTES: Scottie Pippen’s open letter to the Bulls tried to draw a parallel between the current squad, which will have to make the rest of its playoff run without injured superstar Derrick Rose, and his 1993-94 club, which was without retired superstar Michael Jordan. Pippen noted “that there was never a moment where we felt sorry for ourselves or let anyone push us into any self-doubt. We stayed positive and believed that if we stuck together and played good, hard defense, we could beat any team out there.” Pippen’s letter conveniently overlooked the fact that he sat out the final 1.8 seconds of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals vs. New York in an egotistical hissy fit, upset that coach Phil Jackson was not drawing up a final play for him, opting instead for Toni Kukoc. So in truth, back in 1994 Pippen was “feeling sorry for himself” while not “staying positive” and “sticking together.” Maybe I’m too much of a cynic or a historian, but I find it beyond odd that not one major media outlet even mentioned Pippen’s selfish actions in that series in their stories about his letter. … Here’s how hard Atlanta’s frontcourt has been hit by the injuries to centers Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia and forward Josh Smith: Veteran center Erick Dampier, signed to help plug the holes, scored two points in 83 minutes over 15 games during the regular season. He scored six points in 23 minutes in Friday’s loss at Boston. … The Clippers began the postseason with four rotation players – Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Randy Foye and Eric Bledsoe – making their playoff debuts. That does not include deep reserve Ryan Gomes, who also is in his first playoff after seven seasons; Nick Young, who had played in four postseason games; and Bobby Simmons, who had played in five. “It is definitely a learning experience,” Jordan admitted. “Only three or four people have been to the playoffs on this team, and the rest of us have just been home in April. We are still getting used to it.” … In case you were wondering, the Grizzlies lost by an average of 13.0 points during their 12-game playoff losing streak from 2004-06. The Knicks have lost by an average of 12.0 points during their record 13-game skid, which began in 2001. … Think Ray Allen lost his legs while missing nearly a month with bone spurs? In his first game back Friday, he was 0-of-4 on 3-pointers and 1-of-3 from the line. During the season, his worst oh-fer from the arc was 0-of-2, and he missed two free throws in the same game once. … In the Knicks-Heat 
opener, LeBron James scored 32 points while New York’s starters managed just 30. Since the NBA began recording starting lineups in 1970, it was just the second time a player outscored the opposing starters in a playoff game. The first time was on May 16, 2001, when Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson scored 52 points vs. Toronto, whose starters managed 50. … After the Grizzlies blew a 24-point lead with under eight minutes to play on their home floor in their playoff opener, coach Lionel Hollins was given an accidental motivational tool for Game 2 – his 1977 championship ring as a player with the Portland Trail Blazers. “I lost it, and I just found it,” he said. “It was brought to me at the game. I didn’t find it. Somebody else found it and brought it to the game, so that’s why I wore it.” The Grizzlies never trailed over the final 30-plus minutes of Game 2 and evened the series. … Carmelo Anthony’s all-time record in playoff games is 16-36, the worst of any player who has played at least 50 postseason games. His teams are just 9-13 at home in those games. The only time he has advanced past the first round was 2009, when the Nuggets reached the Western Conference finals. He is 0-7 with the Knicks and on the verge of being swept out of the playoffs for the third time overall. … This is the 11th time the Hawks and Celtics have met in the playoffs, with Boston winning nine of the previous 10, including all six since the Hawks moved from St. Louis to Atlanta. The only time the Hawks have beaten the Celtics in a postseason series was the 1958 Finals, which they won in six games and interrupted what would have been 10 straight titles by Boston. … Interesting logic from Sixers coach Doug Collins, who doesn’t want his limited number of scorers to shy away from attacking just because they miss a shot or three. “As a player, I was a shooter,,” Collins said. “I live by the adage of ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich, who was a hero of mine. He said if you are a 50 percent shooter and you miss 10 in a row, it means that sometime you are going to make 10 in a row.”
Trivia Answer: Magic Johnson has 30, Elgin Baylor has four, and Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, James Worthy and Andrew Bynum have one each. … Happy 26th Birthday, Goran Dragic. … In Amar’e Stoudemire’s thesaurus, “great chance” and “doubtful” are synonyms.
Chris Bernucca is a regular contributor to SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Wednesday and Sunday. You can follow him on Twitter.