Tonight at 9:00 p.m. the San Antonio Spurs (40-15), possibly the league's best team in terms of dealing with injuries, will take the court against arguably the biggest surprise in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns (32-21). Live stream the game by clicking this link; Spurs fans can listen to the game on 1200 WOAI, while Suns fans can find the radio broadcast on 92.3 KTAR.
San Antonio has won three straight games without All-Star point guard Tony Parker, and are already without a slew of major contributors from last year's Western Conference Finals squad. Backup point guard Patty Mills came to the rescue in the Spurs' last game, hanging 29 on the Blazers.
"If it wasn't for him the last couple nights, we would have really struggled," Danny Green said. "He's doing what Tony usually does, in taking over in that fourth quarter."
Mills was humble when asked about his emergence in Parker's absence, crediting his teammates and a winning atmosphere for fostering his success. "For me, it's just been learning from great guys," Mills said. "We've got three future Hall of Famers and a great coach, so I've just sat back and learned."
The Spurs will have future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan back after he rested vs. the Blazers, as he normally does on the second game of back-to-backs. He leads the Spurs in rebounding with 10.1 boards a night, and is scoring 15.6 points nightly.
Phoenix has been run a little ragged as well, showing some fatigue when they struggled to a narrow win over the lowly Celtics Wednesday. "Coming off the back-to-back we were a little tired, a little exhausted," said big man Channing Frye, who scored 22 vs. Boston. "And I think we had some mental breakdowns, but other than that, I think we just battle and grind it out."
They aren't likely to survive mental breakdowns against Gregg Popovich's bunch, even if they are 18-9 at home.
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