The San Antonio Spurs are coming off a slim win against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, and per their standard rule on the second night of a back-to-back, coach Gregg Popovich will use Thursday night to rest some of the senior members of the team.
The Spurs are resting Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili for a TNT game again
The San Antonio Spurs were fined $250,000 in 2012 for resting players during a highly-anticipated TNT broadcast. It’s happening again.
Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports
Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili will be held out for rest as the Spurs play the Houston Rockets, joining injured players Tiago Splitter (calf), Marco Belinelli (groin) and Patty Mills (shoulder) on the bench, according to USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt.
The early TNT game has lost its luster before it's begun, and of course this isn't the first time Popovich has pulled his aging stars for a big matchup. Then-commissioner David Stern fined the Spurs $250,000 in 2012 for yanking his best players for rest during a TNT broadcast of San Antonio and the Miami Heat. In that regular season game, the Spurs rested Duncan, Ginobili, Tony Parker and Danny Green.
The Spurs will still roll on Thursday with Parker, Green and reigning NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, but Popovich will likely be irking the league higher-ups -- and NBA owners -- by keeping his players fresh and focusing on the longterm.
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