The San Antonio Spurs have put out a valiant effort throughout 13 games without their star player Kawhi Leonard, but head coach Gregg Popovich is still playing a rather careful approach to his quad injury, as expected.
The long-tenured helmsman noted his star forward is “gonna be back sooner than later,” according to Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio News-Express, but warned his team shouldn't have the mentality of holding down the fort until his return.
“A team just has to play in a sense like he doesn’t exist,” Popovich said. “Nobody cares if you lost a good player, right? Everybody wants to whip you. So it doesn’t do much good to do the poor me thing or to keep wondering when he is going to be back or what are we going to do.”
“We have to play now, and other people have to take up those minutes and we have to figure out who to go to when in a different way, and you just move on.”
The Spurs have gotten to an 8-5 start without Leonard; good for third in the West, riding LaMarcus Aldridge as their go-to option on offense while making a series of adjustments to make up for the absence of starting point guard Tony Parker.
San Antonio has pushed through its struggles, bouncing back from a four-game skid earlier this season to win four of their last five games, including a recent 39-point spanking of the Chicago Bulls.
Follow Us
Subscribe