Morning Wrap: Sixers Lose 17th Straight Game--Barely

The Philadelphia 76ers continued their losing ways Monday night, dropping a close game at home to the San Antonio Spurs.

The final score was 109-103, but it should be noted the Spurs played without their two best players, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. Third wheel Manu Ginobilli only played 12 minutes.

But all that meant is that it was time for Kawhi Leonard to shine.

Leonard had 26 points and 10 rebounds leading the Spurs to their 13th win of the season.

For the Sixers, quite possibly the worst team in NBA history, it's their 17th straight loss which puts them just a game away from tying an NBA record. They were led Monday night by Michael Carter-Williams who scored 24 points and had 11 boards.

They face Minnesota Wednesday and could break the record with a game against Oklahoma City at the end of the week.

 Highlights from NBA.com:

Suns Owner Apologizes to Fans For Spurs

((ht: cbssports.com))

Wonder how well this will go over in sports motivation land?

Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver apparently felt the San Antonio Spurs short changed his fans Thursday night during an exhibition game by not bringing or playing most of their starters. Coach Greg Popovich stayed home sick and Tim Duncan along with a couple other starters didn't make the trip.

So he took to the P.A system late in the 4th quarter to apologize to them for having to pay for a "Lopsided" game.

Hmmm...

While we sort of understand the sentiment, it WAS an exhibition game. And much like in football and other sports it isn't always about letting your starters play like it's the regular season.

For that very reason, we don't watch NFL preseason football and if the Hawks had their preseason games televised here at the OSG Global HQ (Atlanta), we wouldn't watch that either.

Here's video of Sarver talking to the huddled masses:

ICYMI: Spurs Sit Big 3, Win Anyway...

((HT: NBA on TNT))

The last time this happened, the Spurs sat practically everyone at Miami, sent Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, and Green and only lost by five. That didn't sit well with the Commish who fined the team a quarter of a million bucks...

It was a marquee match-up and he wanted the stars on the floor, gosh darned it...

It kinda happened again last night when the Spurs took on Golden State...

Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili sat and it took a Tiago Splitter bucket with less than three seconds left for the Spurs to win 104-102


Apparently, it was the first time that three Australians started in an NBA game with Andrew Bogut, Aron Baynes, and Patty Mills... but the Warriors are more concerned about letting one slip away that they should have won in the first place...

But it will be interesting to see if the Commish's office will do anything this time...

ICYMI: Parker Puts Away Heat: Spurs Win Game 1

The game went down to the final 5 seconds. And it finished on a shot by San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker that had to be reviewed.

But it counted. And that's all that mattered.

The running, lunging bank shot gave Parker 21 points for the game and led the Spurs to a 92-88 win in Game One of the NBA Finals.

Did we mention it was played in Miami? Or that the Spurs have been off for nine days after an easy Conference Finals win?

Tim Duncan added 20 points and Kawahi Leonard played smothering defense on LeBron James, holding him to 18 points in the win.

For those of you who weren't able to see the game, here are your comprehensive highlights from our friends at NBA.com:

Popovich Looking Out For His Team, NBA Mad... (UPDATE: Spurs Fined $250k)

((HT: WOAI-TV))

Everyone, including the Commissioner of the NBA David Stern, seems to be getting bent out of shape about the idea of San Antonio Spurs head coach looking out for his team come June...

Except here at the HQ...

We were listening to the very sly, sports talk radio network late last night when their overnight host was throwing "bricks" at the Spurs for not being there for the fans...

Which we thought was absolutely ludicrous...

And if the late night host actually believed that, then he's there for entertainment purposes only and has no journalistic integrity whatsoever...

This host was throwing his bricks at the Spurs telling them that if any of their fans thought that holding out four starters and sending them home early- for a game that was far more important this weekend- actually approved of the move, then they're not "real fans."

Which is a laughable argument...

As coach and GM, Popovich was looking out for his veteran squad come the playoffs against Western Conference opponents- which Miami is not...

The league is promising hell to pay... which we'd like to see, personally... since it's the league's fault for scheduling this mess in the first place...

Here's Barkley's interview with Coach Pop about his decision...
((HT: NBA on TNT))


Let's see...

Which would you choose...??? Getting ready for Memphis in a game that matters in a seven game-10 day stretch, or sitting stars for a TV game against Miami...???

Thought so...

The league should fine the schedule maker and not the Spurs...

SATURDAY UPDATE: But, they didn't...

The league fined the Spurs $250,000...

NBA Commissioner David Stern came out with a statement: "The result here is dictated by the totality of the facts in this case. The Spurs decided to make four of their top players unavailable for an early-season game that was the team's only regular-season visit to Miami. The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way. Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans."

San Antonio folks and fans are understandably disagreeing...
((HT: WOAI-TV))