With injured guard Tony Parker sidelined for an expected four weeks, the San Antonio Spurs (48-14) haven't missed a beat in terms of winning as the Spurs have defeated their last two opponents by an average of 28.5 points per game.
The Spurs will host the visiting Portland Trailblazers (28-32) who have been inconsistent on both sides of the ball this season, but did defeat the Spurs once already in Portland.
Here are a few pregame tweets live from the AT&T Center of Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and Blazers Coach Terry Stott's media sessions. First, Coach Stotts spoke on Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard's progression and how the Spurs are still so effective without Parker.
Coach Popovich talked about Blazers rookie Damian Lillard, Tony Parker's current health status, Danny Green, and I even asked coach Pop about what Tiago Splitter is doing defensively that statistics may not show.
#Blazers coach on what he's observed in Kawhi Leonard year 2: "He's confident, assertive, and aggressive." #Spurs
— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) March 9, 2013
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Stotts on #Spurs w/o Tony Parker: "They have been very consistent in how they play the games (no matter who is on the floor)." #Blazers
— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) March 9, 2013
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Coach Pop on #Blazers rookie Damian Lillard: "He's had a wonderful year. He'll be a heck of a player for long time in Portland." #Spurs
— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) March 9, 2013
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Coach Pop also said trainer Will Sevening's goal today was to get Tony Parker walking on the treadmill, he can't confirm it though. #Spurs
— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) March 9, 2013
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Coach Stotts on Kawhi: "It looks like he's becoming even more confident. Pop gave him a lot of trust last year and he's accepted that."
— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) March 9, 2013
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Coach Pop on Danny Green's shooting: "When he shoots it, I think it's going in. If he's not shooting it, I'm not happy." #Spurs #Blazers
— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) March 9, 2013
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Pop on Splitter's D: "He does his work early. He ducks people from getting easy buckets, he changes their shots, (&) he gets loose balls."
— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) March 9, 2013
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Pop on Tiago: "He takes people away from their primary move that they want to make and makes them go to their secondary or tertiary move."
— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) March 9, 2013