Spurs have too much time on their hands

November 5, 1:29 AMSan Antonio Spurs ExaminerMichael Chartier

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George Hill leads a potent Spurs' bench versus the Kings last Saturday.
AP Photo/Darren Abate

San Antonio is set to begin their second back-to-back set of games this season with a visit to Utah and Portland starting today. Both nationally televised games, TNT and ESPN respectively, the Spurs will have had four days between games after their home thumping of Sacramento on Saturday.

Only three games into the 82-game schedule, head coach Gregg Popovich wasn’t too excited about having so many days off this early in the season.

“The time you don’t want those breaks is now,” Popovich told reporters at practice on Tuesday. “You want to have them in March, in April.”

Through Wednesday, only Golden State and Milwaukee had played as few games as the Spurs (2-1). In addition, San Antonio’s two home blowout wins have minimized the minutes of veteran All-Stars Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili.

“At least we have practice time.”

Spoken like a true coach.

The Bat Man

With over 1.5 million You Tube hits alone, Manu Ginobili’s legend grew with his Halloween night bat encounter.

“When you can’t dunk anymore, you got to find some way to make it to the news,” Ginobili joked after the game.

Things weren’t so funny, however, when the bat could not be found after the game and no rabies tests could be conducted. Manu is now facing a month-long session of shots for preventative treatment.

“He’s a little sore right now, but better safe than sorry,” Popovich said.

Unless he’s a fan of needles, my guess is Manu is feeling sorry, too.

Eating Crow

While San Antonio declined to pick up the club option on Ian Mahinmi’s rookie deal, the club didn’t hesitate to decide on George Hill. The second year guard out of IUPUI is seeing an expansion of his role and an extension to his contract.

Hill is ninth on the team in minutes played but fourth in field goals attempted and is averaging nearly 12 points off the bench.

Most notably, however, has been Hill’s defense through the first three games. Hill seemed to bother both Chris Paul and Derrick Rose with his quickness and wingspan. His four steals are tied for tops on the team and his three blocks trails only Tim Duncan and Theo Ratliff, who have four apiece.

Hill’s improvement and confidence from year one to year two has this reporter rethinking an earlier assessment.

Based purely on watching the 2007-08 college basketball season, my target was Chris Douglas-Roberts. If Derrick Rose was good enough to be the first overall selection in the 2008 Draft, there was no way CDR should have slipped to the tenth pick of the second round.

I also liked Dallas native Darrell Arthur and Texas A&M center DeAndre Jordan. Both would have brought youth, size, and athleticism to a frontcourt devoid of it.

Point guard? Wasn’t that the team’s youngest, most durable talent?

And wasn’t Mario Chalmers, fresh off helping Kansas win the National Championship, a real one?

Don’t get me wrong, I still think I’m right. Those kids can play and will contribute in the NBA.

But George Hill is beginning to flash some special talent, especially on defense where he is far superior to Tony Parker. His shooting stroke looks smooth and only Richard Jefferson rivals Hill in explosiveness among Spurs who have seen action this year.

I will always measure Hill’s career with the four mentioned previously, and I’m certainly not calling for him to replace Parker, but right now, Hill is looking and playing just fine in a Spurs’ uniform.

Miller Time

During the Los Angeles Lakers’ season opening victory over the cross-town rival Clippers, TNT analyst and former NBA star Reggie Miller declared the Lakers would go 20-1 in their first 21 games.

How’s that going, you ask?

The Lakers proceeded to drop a 94-80 decision to the visiting Mavericks three nights later and have been taken to overtime in their last two contests, at Oklahoma City and at Houston.

However, Miller isn’t wrong yet. Needing to win 19 straight after the Dallas loss, the Lakers (4-1) have reeled off three wins in a row.